Garcia finally wins a big event
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Anybody else see a bit of similarity in what happened to Sergio Garcia on Sunday at the Staduim Course and what transpired at last year's British Open Championship? The outcome was totally different, but the story was the same, just with some name changes.
Nine months ago on a Sunday afternoon in Carnoustie, Scotland, Sergio Garcia was in the final group and went into the final nine with a very good chance to win the Open. Unfortunately, he suffered an untimely bogey on 15 and while Padraig Harrington was making a clutch eight-footer on the final hole, Garcia had a chance to win if he could of made an eight-footer for par on the 72nd hole. But Garcia missed, forcing a playoff that Harrington won, depriving Garcia his first major championship.
On Sunday afternoon at Ponte Vedra, Florida this past Sunday, Garcia was once again the main character in The Players' plot, but the roles were a bit different. This time around Garcia was in the second to last group and when he bogeyed the 13th hole at about the same time Paul Goydos was making birdie at 12, Goydos took a three-shot lead and was in the driver's seat. But just like nine months earlier at the British Open, Garcia scrambled hard on the 72nd hole and made a splendid seven-foot putt. And even though Garcia was one shot back, it saved any kind of chance of victory. Moments later Paul Goydos, just like Sergio at Carnoustie, had an eight=footer on the 72nd hole that would have handed him the championship -- if he made it. But just like Sergio at Carnoustie, Goydos missed the putt, setting up a playoff that he lost that by hitting it in the water on the first playoff hole.
And as the saying goes, the rest is history.
| Interesting to note that for the following six players, the Players Championship was a stepping stone for them as they would soon after win a major championship. How long will it take for Garcia to join this list? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year won Players | Champion | Major won | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Hal Sutton | 1983 PGA Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1984 | Fred Couples | 1992 Masters | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1989 | Tom Kite | 1992 U.S. Open | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1991 | Steve Elkington | 1995 PGA Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1992 | Davis Love III | 1997 PGA Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999 | David Duval | 2001 British Open | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Many wondered after he lost at Carnoustie if that could be the sign that maybe, just maybe winning big tournaments wasn't in the cards for him. But as we saw on Sunday that isn't the case. As amatter of fact, we have to wonder now with a Players title under his belt if this will lead to winning a major championship, maybe as soon as next month in San Diego.
Sergio Garcia still doesn’t have a major championship, but he got the next best thing as he captured the Players Championship in dramatic fashion on Sunday. The 28-year-old Spaniard shot a 34 on the back nine for a 71 in windy conditions to catch leader Paul Goydos. Garcia then parred the first playoff hole, the island-green 17th, after Goydos watched his pitching wedge tee shot come up short and land in the water.
The best news for Garcia, whose struggles with the putter have been well documented, was that he holed so many key putts during the final round, including a 16-footer for a birdie on the 12th, a 46-footer for birdie on the 14th, and a vital seven-footer for par on the 18th.
Goydos had a one-stroke lead going to the 18th hole, but with the finishing par-four playing almost like a par five in the brutal left-to-right wind, he couldn’t match the pitch-and-putt par that Garcia made ahead of him. Jeff Quinney also bogeyed the 18th and finished one shot out of the playoff. The 43-year-old Goydos, who has only two career victories to his name, hung in gamely after holding his first-ever 54-hole lead. He had a 38 on the front nine, but birdies on 10 and 12 netted him a three-stroke lead. That evaporated with bogeys on 14 and 15 and Garcia’s birdie on 14, but Goydos regained the edge with a birdie on 16. Goydos had three birdies, bogeys, and pars on the back nine as he finished with a 74, which was not bad considering some of the scores players in contention entering the final round were posting -- Bernhard Langer 77, Boo Weekley 77, Phil Mickelson 78, Kenny Perry 81. The best round among players in the hunt was Quinney’s 70.
It was Garcia’s 71 that ultimately got the job done. For the week, ball-striking was the key for Garcia, as he led the field in both fairways hit and greens in regulation. But he was able to come away with the victory on Sunday thanks mostly to his eight one-putts.
The victory ended a drought of nearly three years for the 28-year-old Garcia, whose career had stalled after the "wunderkid" stage. He now has seven PGA Tour wins, but this was his first since the Booz Allen Classic in June of 2005. His last European Tour victory came later that summer at the Omega European Masters.
Here are some of the keys to Garcia's victory:
- The most important moment for Garcia and his victory had to be his par on the 9th hole. At the time he was very close and had just 71 yards left to the pin. Despite hitting what he thought was an OK shot, it went over the green and into a greenside bunker. He blasted 14 feet away and made the putt, which was an important step for him as he didn't ruin the momentum he had gained.
- Garcia led the fairways hit and greens hit categories.
- He played the par 5s in nine-under, second best of the week (Ernie Els played them in 12-under)
- One dubious stat that Garcia had this week that was his ugly play on par 3s where he was 7 -over. He played the 8th hole in 3-over, the 13th hole in 1-over and the 17th hole in 3-over. Seven-over is a big figure. Going back to 1997 it's the highest number that a winner has played the par 3s on the PGA Tour. The previous high mark was five-over by Trevor Immelman at the Masters last month.
- Another key stat for Garcia in his victory is the way he putted in the final round. In other important events, Garcia’s putter has let him down and this cost him dearly in losing a lot of majors. But on Sunday, Garcia’s putter didn’t let him down. Here is a look at all the putts he made:
9 feet, 7 inches for par on the 5th hole
6 feet, 8 inches for birdie at 7th hole
14 feet, 10 inches for par at 9th hole
7 feet, 4 inches for birdie at 11th hole
16 feet, 8 inches for birdie at 12th hole
46 feet, 9 inches for birdie at 14th hole
3 feet, 4 inches for par at 17th hole
7 feet, 3 inches for par at 18th hole
- Speaking of putting, it's hard to believe that Garcia took 124 putts, 18 more than runner-up Paul Goydos
| Very important to note that Garcia led the greens hit category, hitting 77.8% of the greens. In the 26 years that the event has been played at the Stadium course, he becomes the eighth winner to do it while leading that category. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year | Player | # of Greens hit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Jerry Pate | 54 of 72 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1985 | Calvin Peete | 57 of 72 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1991 | Steve Elkington | 64 of 72 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2000 | *Hal Sutton | 54 of 72 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Adam Scott | 54 of 72 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 | *Fred Funk | 58 of 72 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | *Stephen Ames | 52 of 72 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | *Sergio Garcia | 56 of 72 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Garcia stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 43 of 56 ..... (1st)Driving average: 283.0 ..... (41st)
Greens hit: 56 of 72 ....... (1st)
Putts: 124 (31.00 a rd).... (T69th)
Putting breakdown:
0-putt greens: 0
1-putt greens: 23
2-putt greens: 46
3-putt greens: 3
Play on par 3s: +7
Play on par 4s: -3
Play on par 5s: -9
Eagles: 0
Birdies: 17 ................ (T5th)
Scrambling: 16 of 22 (72.73%)... (5th)
Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.
Other odds and ends:
- Paul Goydos will have the dubious stat this week of being the first player to hit it into the water on 17 Thursday morning and was the last to hit it in the water on 17 in the playoff. For the week there were 65 balls hit in the water on 17.
- With his runner-up finish, Goydos got $1,026,000 which is the biggest payday of his career.
In comparison, last year -- including his victory in the Sony Open in Hawaii -- Goydos won a total of $1,229,355 for the year. Goydos has played on the PGA Tour since 1993 and it took him 130 events and 14 years before winning a million dollars. He accomplished that mark at the 1997 Sony Open in Hawaii. - The playoff ends what was the longest playoff drought on the PGA Tour. Prior to Sunday, the last playoff at The Players Championship came in 1987 when Sandy Lyle beat Jeff Sluman with a par on the third playoff hole. The Memorial Tournament now has the longest active playoff drought on Tour, dating back to 1992, when David Edwards defeated Rick Fehr with a par on the second playoff hole.
- Only four players were able to finish the tournament with an under-par score. This is the second-fewest number of players to do so in a single year since the tournament moved to TPC Sawgrass in 1982 (In 1999: Two players finished under par).
- Phil Mickelson shot 78 on Sunday and went on to finish T21st. With that finish, he continues the streak of the Players' defending champion failing to defend his title the next year. As a matter of fact, the defending champion has finished better than T5th three times — Jack Nicklaus (1977), Tom Kite (1990) and Hal Sutton (2001). Only six of the previous 34 winners of this event have finished in the Top-10 in the year following their victory.
- Last month when Tiger Woods announced that he was having knee surgery, PGA Tour veteran Fred Funk was one of the first to talk when he said, "I actually got two blown cartilages and I'm playing through it." Guess it was too much for him to bear anymore. After shooting 74-77, he went to see the doctor and he is checking himself in and having surgery. We still don't know how long he will be out, but he has withdrawn from the Senior PGA Championship next week in Rochester, N.Y.
E-mail us at: Golfersal@aol.com
Not a very good week for John Daly
A different Trevor Immelman misses the cut again
Paula Creamer wins again this year
Golf Channel wins big award
Big win for Anthony Kim at the Wachovia
Not a very good week for John Daly
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After that, this gem of a video was posted on Ozarks first.com that showed Daly playing golf shirtless, shoeless and with cigarette dangling from his mouth for all to see. Of course for the "Hooters" crowd this is top-notch video, but for any other companies that would of thought of using Daly as their spokesperson, they may think twice after seeing this.
After that it was off to Spain to play in the Spanish Open, but of course on Wednesday Daly tried to put some positive spin on his break with Butch Harmon by telling reporters that "Butch didn't have his facts straight. We've spoken since and he has apologized to me."
It didn't take long for a response from Butch in this Yahoo story, where he said “That story is complete BS.” Now if that wasn't bad enough the next morning, Daly got caught up in the problems of Roger Clemens when in this New York Daily News story it reported that The Rocket was linked to Daly's ex-wife Paulette. We never really got a response from Daly on that, probably because Daly shot 75-70 in Spain and missed another cut and wasn't around long enough to talk with reporters. But it shouldn't take very long for Daly's next talk with reporters because he is in Milan, Italy this week playing in the Methorios Capital Italian Open, where you know he may say something that once again makes news. There is no two ways about it, this soap opera seems to reach new heights each week with scripts that people wouldn't even think of writing about a golfer.
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Immelman comes down quickly from Masters win
It was just a short three weeks ago that Trevor Immelman was enjoying the fruits of his Masters win. First it was a whirlwind trip to New York were he hit the TV talk show interview circuit, appearing on shows like David Letterman and Regis & Kelly.But the reality of all that hit Immelman hard when he returned to the PGA Tour at the EDS Byron Nelson and shot 78-75 to miss the cut. Making things even worse, at the Wachovia last week, Immelman shot 76-73 and missed his second straight cut. In looking back at the history books, the last player to win the Masters and then miss the cut on the PGA Tour was Jose Maria Olazabal, who in 1994 won the Masters and then in his next two starts two months later at the Barclays and the U.S. Open he missed both cuts. But technically Olazabal didn't miss a cut after the Masters since his next event was on the European Tour when he finished T34th at the Benson & Hedges.
So looking further in the history books, other than Olazabal, the last player to win the Masters and miss the cut the next event back on the PGA Tour was Larry Mize in 1987. Mize missed the Verizon Heritage cut the week after his Masters win.
In trying to see if someone ever missed his next two cuts after winning the Masters, we went back to 1960 and didn't find one, so Immelman is the only player to miss two straight cuts (unless you count Olazabal) after the Masters and Larry Mize is the only other player to miss the cut right after the Masters.
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Second time a charm for Paula Creamer
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For the second week in a row, Paula Creamer was in a playoff with another Hall-of-Fame player. Last week in the Stanford Pro-Am it was Annika Sorenstam, who beat her on the first hole of the playoff.
This week Creamer was able to hold things together in the windy first three rounds, but she had some problems down the stretch on Sunday. Creamer said she erased the memory of her first LPGA playoff loss before she stepped off the plane in Tulsa, but a bogey on the 72nd hole of regulation at Cedar Ridge CC brought those memories flooding back in. It took Creamer two sudden-death playoff holes, but eventually she prevailed over good friend and U.S. Solheim Cup teammate Juli Inkster at the SemGroup Championship.
“I was not going to lose this week,” said Creamer, who shot rounds of 70-71-69-72 on the week. “I was going to win this golf tournament, and I did in the playoff. Unfortunately, it had to go into a playoff, but I can tell you I was 120 percent prepared going into that from last week.”
Now the playoff brought up some weird things. First, it was Inkster who was looking to become the oldest winner on the LPGA Tour at the age of 47 years, 10 months. It's interesting to note that when Inkster won the 1986 ShopRite LPGA Classic, Paula Creamer was just 19 days old. That win was Inkster’s eighth LPGA victory as she had already won two majors before Creamer was born.
As for Creamer, this was her sixth LPGA victory. At age 21 years and 9 months it’s the fastest anyone has won this many times on the LPGA since Nancy Lopez won nine events on the LPGA in 1978 before her 22nd birthday. In between that time, Karrie Webb won four times in 1996 before her 22nd birthday.
Creamer becomes the third multiple-winner on the LPGA in 2008. A strange footnote to all of this is thhat in the Tour's first 10 events this year there have only been four different winners (Creamer, Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa and Louise Friberg).
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Congratulations to Golf Channel for winning a Sports Emmy
Last week the Golf Channel was honored by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences by winning its first Sports Emmy Award with its AimPoint technology. The award was for technical achievement for the virtual putting-line technology it used on some PGA Tour events.
For the Golf Channel, which launched 13 years ago, it was the second time it's ever been nominated for the prestigious award, which recognizes the best in television in both announcing, high quality of shows due to great ideas and achieving a good show in concept and for technical breakthroughs. This being the first time in the winner's circle for the Golf Channel we just hope that it doesn't take another 13 years before it wins another.
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Everyone now knows who Anthony Kim is
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Many are wondering how a person like Anthony Kim won the Wachovia. Since the event first started in 2003, every year it has been won by a cagey veteran player with a long list of achievements. So when the 22 year-old Kim won last week, some might say it was a fluke. But it won't be.
Many golf insiders have seen a boatload of talent from this young, rather cocky kid since his days at Oklahoma State. In some circles he wasn't really considered a team player. He was looked at like a lot of teenager out there with a ton of raw talent but lacking the maturity to understand how to put it all together.
After his junior year at Oklahoma State, Kim turned pro and in his first start in the 2006 Valero Texas Open he finished T2nd. The next week at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic he again played well and finished T16th. Two good finishes, but it didn't help him get his PGA Tour card. He had to go through qualifying school and he had to do it from the bottom, playing all three qualifying events, making him one of just eight players that year to do so.
At 21, Kim was the youngest rookie in 2007 and had a rather slow start, beginning with a T9th at the Nissan, a T5th in Houston and then a T3rd at Zurich Classic. Still his brashness didn't help him make many friends and some thought that he lacked the work ethic that is neccessary to win. Over the course of the year his game seemed to get worse. After finishing T5th at the Wachovia, he never had a top-fifteen finish.
Most of his peers didn't want much to do with him. But when he was teamed up with Mark O'Meara in the Merrill Lynch Shootout, O'Meara, who has a knack of taking in up and coming golfers (like Tiger), gave him some advice. That was followed by the same kind of advice from Jeff Sluman. Kim took it to heart and has made an effort to practice more while he got his body in better shape. Also helping him get a dose of reality, his girlfriend got seriously injured stepping on glass and severed a muscle in her foot. All of the problems made Kim realize that you can't take anything for granted.
During the drama of his girlfriend's problems, Kim came close to winning the Verizon Heritage and if it wasn't for Boo Weekley and his good play the storyline could of been different. So again Kim came to another event in which insiders knew that he had the talent to win, he just needed to realize how to do it.
He found out how to do it in a big way as he blew away the field with a five-shot win. Kim entered the final round with a four-stroke lead, and left little doubt about the outcome as he blitzed the front nine with a four-under 32. A couple of meaningless late bogeys on Quail Hollow’s tough finishing stretch left him with a 69 and a 16-under 272 total that set a tournament record.
Kim finished 43rd in the FedEx Cup standings as a rookie last year. A second-place finish at the Verizon Heritage two weeks ago showed that his game was on the upswing, and he took the next step at the Wachovia thanks to good ball-striking combined with a hot putting week (second in putts per round).
Ben Curtis claimed second place at 277 thanks to a final-round 65, while Jason Bohn (71) was third at 278 and Robert Allenby fourth at 279.
The victory came in Kim’s 38th PGA Tour event as he became the youngest player to win on Tour since Sergio Garcia at the 2002 Mercedes Championship. Impressively, he beat one of the year’s strongest fields at a non-major championship, though defending champion Tiger Woods was absent because of recent knee surgery.
Kim was 22 years, 10 months and 15 days old making him won of the youngest winners in the annuals of PGA Tour history. Here is a list of those that won on the PGA Tour since 1957, below the age of 23:
Tony Lema won the 1957 Imperial Valley Open at age 22 years, 11 months
Gary Playerwon the 1958 Kentucky Derby Open at age 21 years, 5 months
Jack Nicklaus won the 1962 U.S. Open at age 22 years, 4 months
Ray Floyd won the 1963 St. Petersburg Open at the age of 20 years, 7 months
Lanny Wadkins won the 1972 Sahara Invitational at the age of 22 years, 10 months
Ben Crenshaw won the 1973 Texas Open at the age of 21 years, 10 months
Jerry Pate won the 1976 U.S. Open at the age of 22 years, 9 months
Seve Ballesteros won the 1978 Greensboro Open at the age of 20 years, 11 months
Bobby Clampett won the 1982 Buick Challenge at the age of 22 years, 5 months
Scott Verplank won the 1985 Western Open at the age of 21 years, 26 days
Robert Gamez won the 1990 Touchstone Energy Tucson Open at the age of 21 years, 5 months
Phil Mickelson won the 1991 Touchstone Energy Tucson Open at the age of 20 years, 6 months
Tiger Woods won the 1996 Invnsys Classic Las Vegas at the age of 20 years, 10 months
Sergia Garcia won the 2001 MasterCard Colonial at the age of 21 years, 4 months
David Gossett won the 2001 John Derre Classic at the age of 22 years, 3 months
Sean O’Hair won the 2005 John Deere Classic a day before his 23rd birthday
Anthony Kim won the 2008 Wachovia at the age of 22 years, 10 months, 15 days.
Here are some of the keys to Kim's victory:
- He was third in putting average for the week and second in putts per round, averaging 27.00 per round
- Kim had 40 putts from five feet and in and didn’t miss any. On putts inside of 10 feet, he was 64 of 70, which ranked T6th.
- He was fifth in scrambling. He also overpowered both the par 4s and par 5s, leading both categories at 7-under on the par 4s and 11-under on the par 5s.
- He played the front nine in 15-under par and the back in 1-under. Even better, Kim played the first 12 holes in 16-under and the remaining six holes in even par.
- Along with Joey Sindelar in 2004 (69-69-70-69) and Jim Furyk in 2006 (68-69-68-71), Kim is the only other player in the history of the Wachovia to produce four rounds under par and three rounds in the 60s (70-67-66-69).
| Winning the Wachovia is a pretty good barometer for what can happen in the U.S. Open as all the past champions - except for Joey Sindelar - were in contention at the Open. Here is what the winners at Wachovia have done the next month in the U.S. Open | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year | Player | U.S. Open finish | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | David Toms | T5th in 2003 U.S. Open | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Joey Sindelar | Missed cut in 2004 U.S. Open | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 | Vijay Singh | T6th in 2005 U.S. Open | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Jim Furyk | T2nd in 2006 U.S. Open | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 | Tiger Woods | T2nd in 2007 U.S. Opens | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kim stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 32 of 56 ..... (T27th)Driving average: 305.5 ..... (22nd)
Greens hit: 50 of 72 ....... (T17th)
Putts: 108 (27.00 a rd).... (2nd)
Putting breakdown:
0-putt greens: 2
1-putt greens: 34
2-putt greens: 33
3-putt greens: 3
Play on par 3s: +2
Play on par 4s: -7
Play on par 5s: -11
Eagles: 0
Birdies: 22 ................ (1st)
Scrambling: 16 of 22 (72.73%)... (5th)
Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.
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Darren Clarke's comeback in China
Sorenstam wins again
Scott's win and what does it mean?
Clarke beats all odds to win again
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Clarke has worked hard the last couple of years with Sky analyst Ewen Murray on his swing, plus in the gym with his fitness doctor Rob Watts, to take off 25 pounds to get him back to his old self.
In Sunday's round, Clarke hit 10 of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens, but his major problem was putting as he missed a lot of easy putts and took 32 for the day. Still it was a happy and emotional victory for the Irishman, his first since the 2005 Taiheiyo Masters and his first on the European Tour since the 2003 WGC-NEC Invitational. In the time since his victory in Japan, Clarke has been on a emotional rollercoaster with his wife Heather fighting breast cancer for five years before her death in August of 2006. Since that time Clarke has done everything in his power to make sure to give his sons all of the love they needed while trying to make up for the loss of their mother.
This was a great victory for Clarke, who is one of the most popular players in the world. Coming into the BMW Asian Open, he was 241st in the Official World Rankings, his worst ranking ever. To think how bad things have been, just two years ago at this time he was 20th and in 2003 after his win at the WGC-NEC he was 13th. The best he has ever gotten was 8th, which cmae during a nine-week span during the summer of 2001. Following this week's victory he improved to 112th.
In speaking with Murray, who also was on a emotional rollercoaster as he watched his pupil on TV during the wee hours of the morning in his home in London, he had nothing but joy for Clarke. Murray has been talking for a long time about the commitment that Clarke was making in golf and finding his lost game. He also mentioned the fact that despite all of the hard work Clarke has put in, he's had nothing to show for it. Murray related how grim things were for Clarke after the Maybank Malaysian Open last month when he was tied for the lead in the later stages of the final nine holes only to drop into a T10th, four off the winner after he finished bogey, par, bogey, bogey. So as Murray said he had a "sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach" when Clarke started missing those short putts in China . Murray knew that the memories of Heather were coming back, making things more difficult for Clarke. As Murray said, "he had a guardian angle on the putt at 18 and we all knew who that was." Murray enjoyed a nice phone call with Clarke from China after the victory. The two will be together on Tuesday on a flight from London to Seville, Spain for the Spanish Open. Murray had one more funny story about China and how Clarke was going to celebrate with friends who were with him. After the victory one of the first things Clarke did was cancel his Sunday night flight to Germany and "would drink Shanghai dry" celebrating the victory before taking a direct flight to London on Monday. So as Murray put it, "there are a lot of things about Clarke that will never change."
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Annika's back! Can see go head-to-head with Ochoa?
Many didn't take Annika Sorenstam very seriously last year when she said that she was looking forward to 2008.
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That is because she won in Dubai in December, then in Hawaii in February followed by her win this week in Florida. So just like that she goes from a possible candidate for early retirement to a contender for the top player in the game, once again. Of course the hardest part of winning is losing and having someone take your title as the top golfer in the world and that is what has happened in the last year with Lorena Ochoa rise to the top of the rankings. But Sorenstam has told everyone that she still feels that she has some good golf left in her and we aren't doubting her anymore as she won the Stanford International Pro-Am.
It took a one-hole, sudden-death playoff over Paula Creamer to become the second multiple winner on the LPGA Tour this season. But what Sorenstam showed on Sunday was that she has't lost any of that magic touch that helped her record 70 wins entering this week. Sorenstam closed with a 70 on a very windy day in a round in which she recorded just two birdies and one bogey. For the week she only had five bogeys in tough conditions that were compounded by playing with amateurs, as the rounds lasted almost six hours. But if there is one thing about Sorenstam it's that you will see her at her the best in adverse conditions.
Now the interesting thing will be to see if Annika can contend against Ochoa and if this is going to create some interesting scenarios. They have played in the same events together four times and Ochoa has won all four with Sorenstam finishing as runner-up at both the HSBC Women's Champions and the Kraft Nabisco Championship. What this win did is put in everyone's minds that a one-on-one final round duel between Annika and Lorena could be in the cards. If that were the case it would be interesting to see if Annika's experience could prevail over Ochoa. There are no two ways about it, Ochoa came out strong in 2008 and nobody is doubting that she will continue to play so well. The question is can Sorenstam curtail Ochoa's success?
It won't happen this week in Oklahoma as Sorenstam is not playing in the SemGroup Championship, but the following week in Kingsmill, Virginia at the Michelob Ultra will be a time to see what happens. Right now Sorenstam's two wins have come in events that Ochoa hasn't played in.
It's going to be very interesting watching in the future, not only for the possible match-up of two great players, something that we haven't been able to get on the PGA Tour with Tiger and Phil, but also for historic purposes. Right now Sorenstam is at 71 wins, needing nine more to catch Mickey Wright and 17 more to catch Kathy Whitworth, who owns the LPGA record.
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Is Adam Scott the real deal?
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In a way Adam Scott is also having a tough time finding his place in golf. Many feel that he is on the cusp of joining Tiger, Phil and Vijay as a superstar, while others think of him as a good player that wins every now and then but can't perform at the top of his game all the time and, even worse, never plays well in big events. Yes he did win the Players Championship once upon a time but he really hasn't contended in a major or a stroke-play WGC event.
So with this most recent win at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship the focal point is on Scott once again. People want to know if Scott can figure out some way to bring himself into a higher dimension in golf and find the fortitude to win a U.S. Open or a WGC-Bridgestone. There is no two ways about it, if you were to draw a picture of what a great champion would be, Adam Scott would be the picture you would draw. At birth he was given a great body in which he is not too big to be clumsy or awkward and he is big enough to possess a lot of power but still has a degree of finesse. He has the right attitude to make the right decisions and knows when he could pull off shots that are calculated through skill and not luck. He has also been given the gift of looking like a Hollywood star with a million dollar smile that woos the ladies, making him one of the "hotties" on the PGA Tour. Still the only thing that we question is if Scott has the natural instinct to go for the kill and to have the Tiger attitude that every event he tees up in he expects to win.
After the Masters, Scott flew home to Australia and after playing a couple of great rounds came to the realization that it was being wasted at home and at the last minute entered the Nelson. In 2006 he was in contention at the Nelson, his only time playing in the event and he finished third, giving him the feeling that the course was good for his game. The feeling was right on as Scott ended up winning the EDS Byron Nelson Championship in spectacular fashion with a birdie on the final hole of regulation forcing a playoff and then making a 48-foot birdie putt on the third extra hole to beat Ryan Moore in a battle of young guns.
Scott began the round with a three-stroke lead, but squandered it by playing the first five holes in 3-over, including a double bogey at the fifth hole. When he later bogeyed the 15th, he was again at 3-over for the round and tied with Moore. That’s when both players turned it on.
Both birdied the par-five 16th and Moore nosed ahead with a birdie on the par-three 17th. But Scott squared it by hitting his approach to nine feet on the 18th hole and sinking the putt. After the pair parred 18 and then 17 in the playoff, it was back to No. 18. Scott drove into a fairway bunker and was well outside of Moore on the green, but he rammed the birdie putt home. The Australian hadn’t made much noise on the PGA Tour this year, but he hasn’t been playing badly. He had made only five previous starts, and in one of those, the Shell Houston Open, he led after the first round but had to withdraw after two rounds due to illness. In his other four starts, he finished no worse than 25th; the best coming with his win at the Qatar Masters on the European Tour in January.
So with the season at the halfway point, but with three majors and a WGC event left on the docket, Scott could be on the verge of a great year. As Butch Harmon once said of the youngster that he has been coaching since he was a teen, "All he needs is a bit of confidence and experience." Well now he has the experience and with his sixth PGA Tour win should have the confidence. We will see if it all works out this year in the remaining majors.
Here are some of the keys to Scott's victory:
- His play on the back nine. He played the front in 2-over and the back nine in 9-under. Scott played the par 4s in five-under, best of anyone in the field and most dominate because if you look at the next best it was one-under.
- He may of not been impressive in any one stat other than scrambling in which he was 3rd. He finished T35th in fairways hit, T9th in greens hit and 9th in putting, but for the week Scott was 4th in total driving, 2nd in ball striking and 2nd in all-around ranking.
- Scott has either had a share of the 54-hole lead or had the lead seven times now in his career and has ended up prevailing in five of them. The only ones he has lost were the 2006 Nelson when he shot 71 in the final round and the 2007 Stanford St. Jude Classic when he shot 75.
- Scott seems to have a knack of playing well on TPC courses. Of his six official wins, four of them have come on TPC courses. As a matter of fact, in 19 starts on TPC courses he has 10 top-10 finishes with earnings of $6.3 million. Only Tiger Woods ($.6.9 million), Vijay Singh ($9.7 million) and Phil Mickelson ($12.9 million) have earned more than Scott on TPC courses.
- Since 2000 the PGA Tour has only seen two players have the most wins in their 20s, Tiger Woods and now Sergio Garcia with six. With his victory Scott now ties Garcia for that title and with Adam just 27 years, 9 months old you have to think that Scott may just top Garcia, who hasn’t won since 2005.
Here is the list of most wins for players in their 20s:
6 – Adam Scott
6 – Sergio Garcia
2 – Aaron Baddeley
2 – Charles Howell III
2 – D.J. Trahan
2 – J.B. Holmes
2 – Trevor Immelman
2 - Sean O'Hair - Officially Scott has six wins and has won at least once for the last three years now. But if you count his unofficial win in the 2005 Nissan Open, Scott has a victory every year since 2003.
- Unfortunately for Ryan Moore, he now has had at least one runner-up finish in ever year since 2005 (four straight years).
- Adam Scott shot 71 on the final day, of all the winners of the Nelson since 1985 and only two others have been over par in any round - Scott Simpson (71) in the final round in 1993 and Sergio Garcia (71) in 2004.
Scott stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 31 of 56 ..... (T35th)Driving average: 302.6 ..... (7th)
Greens hit: 46 of 72 ....... (T9th)
Putts: 110 (27.50 a rd).... (T19th)
Putting breakdown:
0-putt greens: 1
1-putt greens: 35
2-putt greens: 33
3-putt greens: 3
Play on par 3s: +2
Play on par 4s: -5
Play on par 5s: -4
Eagles: 0
Birdies: 18 ................ (2nd)
Scrambling: 19 of 26 (73.08%)... (3rd)
Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.
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Monty ties the knot again in lavish ceremony in Scotland
Fujikawa finally makes a cut in a big way
Jordan and Tiger will be neighbors soon
Watson wins again in Florida
Another victory for Lorena
Boo does it again
Monty ties the knot again in lavish ceremony in Scotland
Two years ago under the big oak tree at Augusta National the "Buzz" witnessed a big fight between Colin Montgomerie and his then wife Eimear when it was obvious that it was only a matter of time that divorce proceedings would begin. Many wondered what would become of Montgomerie, who has a bit of Jeckel and Hyde in him, but the big question was, who would have Monty?.
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Going into the Masters last year, Montgomerie was 22nd in the world rankings but his game just wasn't very sharp. After missing the cut in the Masters he missed seven more cuts the rest of the year and even with a win at the Smurfit Kappa European Open he dropped to 70th in the rankings last month. With that he didn't get an invite to the Masters.
Still he may be unlucky in golf but to the surprise of many he was very successful in love. Two and a half years ago, Dougie Donnelly, a golf commentator in Scotland and a friend of Monty, introduced him to Gaynor Knowles, who was a widow of Scottish furniture tycoon George Knowless, who died of a heart attack in 2003. A year later at Gleneagles Monty popped the question to Knowless with a 6 carat, quarter of a million dollar ring and she excepted.
The couple was wed on Sunday at Loch Lomond Golf Club in Scotland in a ceremony that included British celebrities like Jackie Stewart, rugby hero Gavin Hastings and supermodel Jodie Kidd. Many other important people from the Duke of York to Hugh Grant to rocker Robbie Williams were on the guest list, but didn't attend. A lot of players were invited but didn't make it either, so the ones that did all were part of a group from IMG. Some tabloids say it was the Scottish social event of the year, others would probably disagree even though the cost of the early evening wedding was well over a million dollars as it ended with a dramatic fireworks display that cost more than $20,000.
Security was tight at Loch Lomond, which upset a lot of folks since the course and the general area was shut down for five days. The couple was off to Venice, Italy for a short honeymoon and it's being rumored that golf clubs have been banned for the week. Monty's next event is the Spanish Open, the first of nine events in a row that he will play making a run to make the Ryder Cup team. It will be interesting to see what all of this will do for his golf game. Just a couple of weeks ago Montgomerie was complaining that he should of gotten a invite to the Masters over some Asian players, a comment that didn't go over very well and made him look like a poor sport. Monty has three kids from his first wedding and his new wife has four children living with him, so with Monty's game not very good right now and his added home responsibilities it will be interesting to see what direction his game goes. With the combined fortune of himself and that of Knowless, which is reportedly $40 million, the new couple doesn't exacly have to worry about were their next pound will come from. Still, knowing how Monty is, don't expect him to just fade away to some Scottish estate.
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Fujikawa finally makes a cut in a big way
Not much has been heard from Tadd Fujikawa since he missed the cut at the Honda Classic. On the PGA Tour he is 0 for 6 in cuts made while around the world as a professional he is 0 for 11. But now he can drop that tag as he not only made is first check as a professional, but he did it with a bang.Fujikawa not only made the cut but won for the first time as a professional last week. Yes, it was a small event in Hawaii for local professionals called the Mid-Pacific Open in which he only won $13,500, about the same amount that last place wins at a PGA Tour event, but still a win is a win.
Ann Miller in the Honolulu Advertiser has all the details of the win in which Fujikawa shot 76 in the windy final round for a seven-shot victory. Now the final round seems high but nobody else in the field broke par.
Following the victory Fujikawa was off to play in Japan at the Chunichi Crowns, then the Munsingwear Open SKB Cup. With his play in Japan he will pass on any chance to get into the U.S. Open qualifiers.
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Jordan and Tiger will soon be neighbors
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Tiger and Michael have been buddies for years and love to play golf together. The two played in the Wachovia pro-am last year. The Bear's Club is not for those that have to count their money as villas start at $2 million and private homes start at $7 million. According to Palm Beach County records Jordan has bought two lots and paid $4.8 million for them.
A report in the Palm Beach Post reported that Jordan bought into the development because he likes the course, but most of all because of the security. It's rumored to be the most secure place in the United States with former Secret Service agents handling security.
Jordan isn't going to be the only famous athlete at the Bear's Club. Ernie Els supposedly bought an $8 million home there and is planing on moving his family from Wentworth, England to Jupiter in the near future.
So with pals like Woods and Els around, all Jordan needs to find is one more to complete what would be a fun foursome.
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Watson wins again in Florida
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Last year going into the Outback Championship,Watson was 0 for 92 in Florida. With back-to-back wins in the Outback, Watson improves his Florida record to 2 for 96. But for Jay Haas, his quest to win in Florida once again came up short with his runner-up finish. It was his fourth Floridian runner-up finish as Haas has now gone 113 starts in Florida (on both the PGA & Champions Tours) without a win.
As for Hoch, who has two wins in Florida this year alone, a short putt cost him the tournament (shall he ever forget the short one at the Masters?). On the final hole he had a four-footer that would of forced a playoff but he missed it, dropping him into a tie with Haas.
As for Watson it was his 11th win on the Champions Tour and his 50th in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event (39 on regular tour). Watson has now won at least one event in eight of his 10 seasons on the Champions Tour with multiple wins in three of these years (2003, 2005 and 2007). More importantly he is showing that at the age of 58 years, 7 months and 16 days he still has game. Speaking of age, it's funny that Watson went all those years, 57, before he won in Florida and now he has won twice in the last year.
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Another victory for Lorena
What can you say about Lorena Ochoa these days?
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She is determined...
She is focused...
She is Tigeristic...
She is simply the best.
This week she looked human. It was only a three-shot victory at the Ginn Open. In previous weeks she won the HSBC Women's Champions and the Corona Championship by 11, the Safeway International by seven and five at the Kraft Nabisco.
In Florida, Ochoa won thanks to hitting 59 of 72 greens, which ranked T2nd, and her putting, which ranked T15th. She also overpowered the par 5s playing them in 12-under par. She finished the week at 19-under-par 269, which shattered the Ginn Open 72-hole scoring record previously held by Mi Hyun Kim (-12, 276). More importantly she shot another four rounds in the 60s. That's 19 out of 23 rounds played.
Looking at the stats for the year, Ochoa leads five of the big eight categories. She is first in birdies, averaging 5.39 a round, driving distance, averaging 277.5 a drive, greens in regulation, hitting 81% of them and scoring average with 67.87 per round. In putting per greens hit she is T8th with a 1.74 average. She's also 8th in sand saves at 64.7%. The only stat she lags in is driving accuracy as she ranks T75th. All of this adds up to her being No. 1 on the LPGA with $1.4 million in earnings.
Now the big key for her this year is consistency. Look at the stats for the year: In 23 rounds (414 holes played) she has made three eagles, 124 birdies, 259 pars and only 28 bogeys (no doubles). In her last eight rounds of 144 holes she has only made four bogeys; nobody can get closer to perfection than that.
In this age in which Tiger Woods has dominated the sport, Ochoa is making a valid bid to be recognized and it's starting to show as Ochoa is getting top-billing ahead of some on the PGA Tour. So many will ask, can she run the table this year like many thought Tiger could do a couple of months ago?
As we talked about Tiger winning the Grand Slam, could it be Lorena? She is a quarter of the way home with her Kraft Nabisco win. Before Tiger lost in Doral, many were wondering if Byron Nelson's streak of 15 straight was in jeopardy with Tiger. Could Ochoa achieve that mark?
With her victory at the Ginn Open, Lorena Ochoa joins some elite company with the most wins in a row in scheduled LPGA events. She joins Annika Sorenstam, who won four in a row in 2001; Kathy Whitworth, who did it in 1969; and Mickey Wright, who did it twice, in 1962 and 1963.
But this good little gem could be a better barometer for what Ochoa has achieved:
The LPGA has played nine times in 2008 and already Lorena Ochoa has won five of them. Here is the list of best starts in the history of the LPGA Tour and you can see that Ochoa ranks right up there:
Babe Zaharias won six of the first ten events on the LPGA Tour in 1950, 1951
Lorena Ochoa won five of the first nine events on the LPGA Tour in 2008
Louise Suggs won five of the first ten events on the LPGA Tour in 1961
Mickey Wright won six of the first ten events on the LPGA Tour in 1963
Lorena Ochoa won five of the first nine events on the LPGA Tour in 2008
Now many are probably wondering what was the best start Annika Sorenstam ever had. Well, she had four wins in her first 10 events on the LPGA Tour in 2001 and four of the first 10 events in 2005.
So with one-third of the LPGA season in the books, the other players have a lot of ground to catch up with Ochoa. But instead of thinking that others could possibly catch her, we just wonder if Ochoa will run the table this year by winning 14 or more events, which would give her the most wins in a single season on the LPGA Tour. There's also the possibility of achieving 12 wins in a row to break Nelson's mark and possibly winning the remaining three majors. Boy, wouldn't that be a story.
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Boo does it again
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In a time when the PGA Tour is trying to find players that make people want to care, Boo Weekley is just that, someone that people care about. In a way he reminds us all of Yogi Berra, the great catcher and then manager for the New York Yankees. Yogi always answered everyone's questions and most of the time it was in a funny manner that would make people would wonder: Is this guy for real?
For those old enough, remember back in time to the 1960s and the TV show, The Gomer Pyle Show, with the dumbstruck expletives "Gawwwleee" and "Shazzayam," in a way Boo Weekley is just like him. A good natured guy, Weekley always gives us a treat every time he talks and every time he plays golf. He has become a great replacement for John Daly, but in a non-destructive way. If you meet Weekley outside of a golf course you would never think of him as a professional golfer. He talks more about hunting and fishing, his two big passions. Gary Van Sickle gave us this great Boo Weekley story in which CBS commentator Jim Nantz went into the scorer's tent to introduce himself and Weekley didn't know who Nantz was. Of course if ESPN's Mark Zona popped in Weekley would have recognized him as the famous ESPN fishing show host, but not Nantz. This reminds us of the best Weekley stories when he was playing with British Open champion Paul Lawrie just a week before the British Open. In talking with Lawrie, Weekley said how excited he was playing in the British Open and wondered if Lawrie had to qualify. As a matter of fact, Weekley didn't even know that Lawrie had even won the British Open.
It is these kinds of stories that make Weekley a writer's dream come true, but mostly a great person who everyone can root for, something that is lost to anyone that roots for John Daly, unless you are one that has had a few beers while rooting for Daly.
So it was nice to see Weekley master the tough Harbour Town links. We found out one of the reasons that Weekley has played the course so well, it's just like the course he grew up on, Tanglewood Golf Club in the Florida Panhandle. It seems that Tanglewood has tight fairways, just like Harbour Town. Tanglewood also has very small greens, they range from 2,500 to 3,000 feet. Harbour Town's are about 3,500, the smallest on the PGA Tour.
Last year, Weekley became the first player to earn a Masters berth via the reinstated tournament winner category when he won the Verizon Heritage. Last week, he finished tied for 20th at Augusta National, barely missing out on an invitation for next year that goes to the top 16 finishers. Not to worry, Weekley went out and won the Heritage again on Sunday to earn a Masters spot for 2009.
Weekley joined Davis Love III (1991-92) and Payne Stewart (1989-90) as the only players to win the Heritage back-to-back. Weekley has done it in his first two appearances at Harbour Town.
This time Weekley opened up a three-stroke lead thanks to rounds of 69-64-65. He had an up-and-down final round with five birdies and five bogeys for an even-par 71, but two of those bogeys were meaningless ones down the stretch as he remained comfortably ahead all day. Anthony Kim (71) and Aaron Baddeley (69) tied for second, with Jim Furyk another stroke back in fourth. In 2007, Weekley chipped in on the 71st and 72nd holes to take a one-stroke win over Ernie Els. On Sunday, the chip-in came earlier, on the 10th hole of the final round, to maintain a comfortable advantage.
There may be other rewards from the victory other than the Masters for Weekley. The 34-year-old self-proclaimed redneck from Milton, Fla., who played the PGA Tour in 2002, lost his card, and didn’t get it back until 2007. He is now is in good position to make the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
Here are some of the keys to Weekley's victory:
- A lot had to do with the way he played his 2nd and 3rd rounds. In that span of 36 holes he was 11-under, but more importantly only made one bogey
- Stats-wise nothing is really glaring except for the fact that he was average in most of them. If you look at his all-around ranking for the week it was 3rd, if you look at his ball striking rank it was 3rd. On a course like Harbour Town that is great.
- Weekley overpowered the par 5s, playing them in 9-under as only one played them better.
- He made the most birdies of anyone in the field.
- On putts inside of 10 feet he made 65 of 73, which doesn't seem that good, but on small greens it is. More importantly, Weekley didn't have a single three putt and he managed to chip in three times.
- Wrapping it up:
Weekley becomes the third player in Verizon Heritage to win in back-to-back years, joining Payne Stewart (1989-'90) and Davis Love III (1991-'92)
Weekley joins a list of players since 1970 that have made their first two PGA Tour victories the same: Hale Irwin - 1971 & '73 Verizon Heritage
Dave Eichelberger - 1971 & '77 U.S. Bank Championship Milwaukee
Calvin Peete - 1979 & '82 U.S. Bank Championship Milwaukee
Loren Roberts - 1994 & '95 Arnold Palmer Invitational
Brian Henninger - 1994 & '99 Viking Classic
Vaughn Taylor - 2004 & '05 Legends
J.B. Holmes - 2006 & '08 FBR Open
Boo Weekley - 2007 & '08 Verizon HeritageMaking Weekley's list even more intriguing is the fact that Weekley joins just Vaughn Taylor as the only players to not only do it back to back but also to win the same event the first two times he has played in it. Taylor has not been back to Reno since his wins so he and Weekley are also at the moment the only players to win a single tournament both times that they have ever played in it.
Weekley stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 40 of 56 ..... (T26th)Driving average: 281.1 ..... (20th)
Greens hit: 47 of 72 ....... (T8th)
Putts: 107 (26.75 a rd).... (T23rd)
Putting breakdown:
0-putt greens: 3
1-putt greens: 31
2-putt greens: 38
3-putt greens: 0
Play on par 3s: -4
Play on par 4s: -2
Play on par 5s: -9
Eagles: 0
Birdies: 23 ................ (T1st)
Scrambling: 17 of 26 (68.00%)... (28th)
Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.
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