|
In the case of Watney's win, it was a lot like when David Toms won the 1997 Quad City Classic or when Chris DiMarco won the 2000 SEI Pennsylvania Classic. Both of them were wins by players that we didn't know a whole lot of other than the fact that both of them had won on the Nationwide Tour and then came out to win on the PGA Tour.
No two ways about it, Watney fits into the same mold of a player that could become a star on the PGA Tour in the coming future. For those that don't know anything about Watney, here is a look at his career, it's probably best to start learning about him now.
He is one of those players that eats, sleeps and drinks nothing but golf. From the moment that he wakes up to the moment that he goes to sleep he has very little on his mind, other than golf. He wasn't born with the Golf-given skills that a Tiger Woods or Ernie Els was lucky enough to receive, but still Watney possesses something that very few have, the heart to work himself silly to show constant improvement in his game.
An example of that was when he finished high school and was looking for a college to attend and play golf for. Only one division I school, Fresno State, who just happens to be coached by Nick's uncle was interested in him. No problem, Watney was happy that they were interested, when to school there and worked his tail off. By the time he was a senior he was the number one ranked college player in the country winning five times, more than any other player in the nation. That senior year he helped Fresno State to the Western Athletic conference title. In the WAC conference he became the first three-time player of the year. In his four years at Fresno State he won a total of 11 times.
On graduation in June of 2003 Watney turned pro and tried to get on tour the way Tiger Woods did, winning enough money in his eight tries on the PGA Tour. He fell way short of his goal as he made only two cuts in the 8 events. So after that Watney went through the grid of Q-school and didn't do very well finishing 104th. It was enough to give him non-exempt status on the Nationwide tour.
Still it was a start but things didn't start out very well as he only made two cuts in his first seven events. Still Watney worked hard on his game and halfway through the year things clicked for him when he finished T9th at the Knoxville Open. A month later Watney finished T5th in the Reese's Cup Classic, then in the last month of the year finished with a flourish. Watney was T4th at the Mark Christopher Classic, T40th at the Gila River Classic, 2nd at the Miccosukee Championship and then won for the first time at the Nationwide Tour Championship. He entered that season ending event 19th on the money list which put him on the bubble for getting one of the 20 exemptions for the following season but with the win he cruised up to 5th on the Nationwide Tour money list and a pass to play on the PGA Tour in 2005.
Again, Watney started slowly on the PGA Tour. Going into the third to last event in Las Vegas, he was 143rd on the money list but moved up to 118th when he finished T6th at Vegas. Still Watney needed a good finish to retain his card and missed the cut in his next two events finishing the year 127th on the money list, not good enough to retain his status. So he found himself back at Q-School but this time the experience was a bit better as he finished T5th to retain his card for 2006.
After that Watney started working with Butch Harmon and saw improvement in 2006 finishing the year 75th on the money list. Again he did that only with a good finish at the end, finishing T8th at the Southern Farm Bureau, T6th at the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro, T5th at Walt Disney and T58th at Chrysler Championship. Still it was a good sign, his game had drastically changed for the better. Showing what kind of a guy Watney was, after the year in which he earned over $1.2 million he was still living in an apartment near Fresno State with his old roommate and was driving around in the same old beat up Honda that he had during college.
Things started changing in 2007 when he first upgraded his style of transportation, getting an endorsement deal with Lexus which gave him a new car and he is now looking to move to Las Vegas to be closure to his teacher, Butch Harman. Still 2007 has been on slow grind for him as he had only finish once inside the top-30 in eight starts, a T9th at the Buick Invitational. Still going into this week Watney could not image what was going to happen to him. He didn't show in 2005 that he was going to play well at the TPC Louisiana as he finished T47th and last year was T15th in this event at English Turn.
Still Watney started with a 69 and followed that up with rounds of 67-68-69 to win for the first time on the PGA Tour. For him it accomplished a dream that he told his caddie, Tim Goodell about and that was to win before he turned 26. He accomplished that goal but cut it close as his 26th birthday is Wednesday, three days after his win.
Keys to victory for Watney
|
The key to his winning had to be the 14th hole. At that time he was tied with Ken Duke and hitting first on the 14th hole. He drilled a 4-iron on the par 3 within eight feet. Duke was short of the green and chipped up to 7 feet. Watney then made his putt and Duke missed his for a two shot swing. In Duke's case it broke a streak of getting it up and down 20 of 20 times and probably proved fatal.
Here are some other keys for his victory:
- One key stat that is important jthat not many consider was his bounce back ability. Yes he was 50% in making 2 birdies and a eagle after a bogey, but that stat needs to be looked at carefully in his final round. That's because he bogied three and four then followed it up with an eagle at five. But the most important one was when he had a ugly bogey at ten with a three putt. At this point he could of easily cracked but he didn't following it up with a birdie at 11.
- Going into the week Watney was ranked 154th in this stat but during the Zurich Classic he finished 13th in that stat this week.
- If this amounts to something, Nick Watney is 1st in a PGA Tour stat called ball striking. What this stat is a combination of Driving Accuracy, Driving Distance and Greens hit.
- On Sunday hit 14 of 18 greens including the last 11 in a row.
- Played the par 5s in 9 under, only one player was better at 10 under.
- One other thing that if you believe in superstition you will like this. All week Watney was using a 40 year-old silver quarter to mark his ball with. Starting on Sunday he marked it with a different coin and after making bogey at four, caddie Tim Goodell went through the bag and found the silver quarter and gave it to Watney before he holed out his shot at 5 for eagle.
- Over the weekend made 30 of 34 putts of ten feet and under.
Watney's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 37 of 56 ..... (T32nd) Driving average: 287.4 ..... (20th) Greens hit: 51 of 72 ....... (T9th) Putts: 108 (27.00 a rd) .... (T14th) Putting breakdown: 0-putt greens: 4 1-putt greens: 29 2-putt greens: 38 3-putt greens: 1 Play on par 3s: +1 Play on par 4s: -7 Play on par 5s: -9 Eagles: 1 Birdies: 19 ................ (1st) Scrambling: 16 of 21 (76.19%)... (T16th)
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 for Watney
- Becomes the 16th first-time winner of the Zurich Classic and the 4th in the last 5 years.
- Not a bad paycheck for Watney, the $1,098,000 is the largest non-major, non-WGC that has been given this week. It just happened to be just over $100,000 less than he won on Tour last year.
- Watney is the 2nd player to win and get a invite to play in the Masters. In his career he hasn't played in either a major or a Players Championship or even a World Golf event. That will change as he will now play in the Players Championship.
- Watney's win marks the 203rd PGA Tour win by a former Nationwide Tour play and the 7th this year.
- Watney was the only player with four rounds in the 60s. It was the 32nd time that someone has posted four rounds in the 60s at New Orleans since 1970 and Watney is the first winner to accomplish the feat since Carlos Franco did it in 2000.
Ken Duke - Why he lost
|
No too ways about it Ken Duke stayed in the game with his chipping and putting. On the 68th hole he missed the green, chipped up and was under a lot of pressure to make a seven foot par putt right after Watney make a eight footer for birdie. In a way he was looking to continue and fabulous streak, in the previous 20 holes that he missed in regulation he got it up and down all 20 times. But when he missed the putt, he not only ended the streak but found himself 2 down to Watney with just four holes left.
Another fatal blow was his play on the back nine of Sunday. After shooting four under 32 on the front, he wasn't able to make a single birdie on the back and shot a 2 over 38.
Here are some other reasons for losing:
- After wonder how important it was not making birdies at 10 and 11. At both holes he had nine feet and eight feet for birdies and wasn't able to convert, ten could of been important because it would of been a two shot swing with the Watney bogey.
- Duke is probably kicking himself for his play on the par 5s. He played them in 2 under par, seven worst than Watney did
- Only made four bogeys and a lot of that has to be because he was 91.30 in scrambling getting it up and down 21 of 23 times.
Duke's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 32 of 56 ..... (T70th) Driving average: 273.4 ..... (58th) Greens hit: 49 of 72 ....... (T16th) Putts: 109 (27.25 a rd) .... (T20th) Putting breakdown: 0-putt greens: 0 1-putt greens: 37 2-putt greens: 33 3-putt green: 2 Play on par 3s: -2 Play on par 4s: -8 Play on par 5s: -2 Eagles: 1 Birdies: 16 ................ (T13th) Scrambling: 21 of 23 (91.30%) (1st)
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 means for Duke:
- Ken Duke's second place finish was his PGA Tour best in 51 starts. Duke's previous best finish was T9th at the 2004 Reno-Tahoe Open.
- Coming into the week, Duke had played in 50 PGA Tour events and earned $665,172. With his 2nd place check of $658,800 he doubled his career PGA Tour earnings.
- Duke's 12 under-par score marks his second best effort for his PGA Tour career. His best just happened to be 14-under at the 2004 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
