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October 29th was a very important date for Paul Goydos. Going into the final round of the Chrysler Championship, "Sunshine" his nickname on tour was tied for 2nd place, just one off the lead held by K.J. Choi. For Goydos this final round was going to be an important aspect of his PGA Tour career, it was do or die for him as he knew that a poor round would spell another trip to Q-school.
It's hard to pin-point the time when things starting getting rough for him. After winning the 1996 Bay Hill Invitational he had five years of top-125 finishes on tour but in 2001 things started slipping. He finished 132nd on the money list and then 139th in 2002. He recaptured a bit of his game in '03 finishing 88th on the money list but in 2004 he had the double whammy of sinus problems that required surgery and hip problems. He only played twice in 2004 and 15 times in 2005. Both times the top-125 slip through his fingertips and the same seemed true for 2006. After 23 starts he was 160th on the money list with just a shade under $424,000. But the prospects of him doing the deed in his last event of the year weren't looking very good. He came into the Chrysler Classic missing two straight cuts but still he was ready to let it all "hang-out".
With rounds of 68-68-69 he was tied with Ernie Els and Brian Gay for second and he was playing in the second to last group with Ernie Els. Goydos shot a final round 70 which didn't win him the tournament but with the round he was able to finish T2nd. The $216,000 was not only his largest paycheck on tour but enough for the single dad of two teenage girls to let him keep his PGA Tour card for 2007.
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As for the Sony Open in Hawaii, Goydos has had some success before with three top-ten finishes in 11 starts before this week. As for winning it never crossed his mind, especially when he three putted two of his first three holes. It wasn't until he birdied 15 that he thought that he was close to Charles Howell III, who had just bogey two holes in a row at 12 and 13. But he didn't think that 13 under would win so that was why making birdie at 18 was important.
As for the rewards and excitement of winning, Goydos felt that it ended on the 18th green. "The exciting part of what we do is doing it, not basking in the glory of what we did," Goydos said afterwards. "What excites me is testing myself, going out and playing the game, especially I think this golf course again, very challenging, you have a lot of different things you have to do out here. That to me is the high that you get from winning, the competition per se, not the interviews and not the people shaking your hands."
As for winning it was a short lived party as Goydos rushed off to the airport to fly back on the red-eye to Southern California and sneak a day with his girls before the start of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. One other fun thing that Goydos said in his press conference, "I set some goals and one of my goals was to win every decade, and so far I've accomplished that." Now you can see why they call him "Sunshine".
Keys to victory for Goydos
The major keys for Goydos was his play on the back side, shooting 3 under par including a birdie at 12, then 15, 16 and 18. His victory was strange because the Golf Channel didn't have a single shot of him until the 11th hole, a hour and 20 minutes into the telecast. On top of that the Golf Channel only gave him a 1% chance of winning the tournament right before he birdied the 12th hole so in a way it didn't even seem that he was in contention. Here are some other keys for his victory:
- 1.667 putting average, 2nd best. Had 36 one-putts, T1st.
- Hit 37 of 56 fairways, 2nd best in field.
- Hit 51 of 72 greens, T9th. But of the 21 greens he missed he got it up and down 17 times 2nd best of field.
- Made 21 birdies, most of anyone this week.
- Played the par 3s in four under, best of anyone for the week.
- A stroke of good luck on 18 when his chip shot hit the pin solidly and left him only a couple of feet instead of 15 feet.
Goydos's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 37 of 56 ..... (2nd) Driving average: 289.4 ..... (50th) Greens hit: 51 of 72 ....... (T9th) Putts: 109 (27.25 a rd) .... (4th) Putting breakdown: 0-putt greens: 1 1-putt greens: 36 2-putt greens: 32 3-putt greens: 3 Play on par 3s: -4 Play on par 4s: -4 Play on par 5s: -6 Eagles: 0 Birdies: 21 ................ (1st) Scrambling: 17 of 21 (88.95%) (2nd)
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.
What This Win Means
- Goydos earned $936,000 for his victory. It was not only his biggest paycheck for a single event but in 14 years on tour he hasn't made higher than $890,392 so in his first event of the year he has earned more money than any other year.
- Goydos likes the Sony Open, in 12 starts he has finished in the top-ten four times.
- Win comes 10 years, 9 months and 28 days since his last victory at the 1996 Bay Hill Invitational. A span of 256 starts in between.
- Both his wins have been come-from-behind and both were two stroke comebacks
