This was a week with a lot of golf events the happened. There was the Byron Nelson Championship on the PGA Tour, the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour, and the Senior PGA Championship on the Senior Tour. As usual, there are always a lot of surprising / interesting / significant golfer performances. Here is a countdown of the Top 10.
10. BMW PGA Championship: Alvaro Quiros. After two rounds, Quiros tied for the lead. And at one point in the third round he had a 2-shot lead, but some very big and costly mistakes were what prevented him from winning. He made 2 triple bogeys in the third round -- one on the 9th and one on the 17th -- that dropped him well out of contention. He was unable to rebound in the final round and finished the tournament with a T18.
9. Byron Nelson Championship: Sergio Garcia. After two good rounds of 66s that gave him a share of the lead, Sergio shot 74-77 over the weekend. He dropped like a bullet in the final round, dropping all the way to 20th place. This has been Sergio's M.O. all year in 2011. He plays very well for the first 2 rounds, and then drops well out of contention the last 2 rounds. This exact same trend also happened earlier this year at the Dubai Desert Classic, Transitions Championship, The Masters, Volvo China Open, and Quail Hollow Championship. He is becoming such a predictable player, because in 2011 you almost know exactly how he is going to perform on a week-to-week basis - 2 good rounds followed by 2 bad rounds.
8. BMW PGA Championship: Scott Jamieson. This relatively unknown golfer was in contention after 2 rounds. After 36 holes, he was just 5 back, with a tie for 8th. However, he had a very disappointing weekend, shooting 85-78 over the weekend, and dropped from 8th all the way to 65th (second last place). That 85 included a quintuple bogey on the 8th hole when he hit it into the water twice. Tough weekend for him that's for sure.
7. Byron Nelson Championship: Steven Bowditch / Rory Sabbatini. The windy second round really provided dramatic changes by players up and down the leaderboard. After a first round 75 that left Steven Bowditch well below the cut line, Bowditch rebounded with a nice 65 under very tough conditions with helped him jump up 111 spots up the leaderboard. Meanwhile, after a 69 that got Rory Sabbatini in the hunt on Thursday, Sabbatini followed up that round with a scintillating 82 that made him not even close to making the cut. He dropped 111 spots down the leaderboard. What a change.
6. BMW PGA Championship: Lee Westwood. Lee Westwood yet again proved to the world why he was NOT the #1 player in the world. Having a one-shot lead with 3 holes to play, all he needed to do was to play the last 3 holes even par and he would win the title. Instead, Westwood three-putted the 16th hole for a bogey. Then failed to birdie 17 when his 2nd shot on the par 5 landed in a very difficult chipping area. And he missed a 7-foot birdie putt on the last hole which would have given him an outright win. Then Westwood lost the playoff with Luke Donald in dramatic fashion. He hit a good approach shot during the playoff hole, but it had too much sidespin and spun into the water, resulting in the loss. So, after arguable undeservedly holding the #1 ranking since Halloween of 2010, all except for Kaymer's 8 week reign in between, about time Westwood finally lost the #1 ranking to Luke Donald this week.
5. BMW PGA Championship: Luke Donald. It was not a surprise that Donald won, but rather, the WAY Donald won was the surprising thing about this win. After shooting an opening round 64, Donald looked like he was in cruise control. But then after an indifferent second round 72 he left the door open for lots of competitors. And then he REALLY let the door open in the third round, when he shot 5 over after 6 holes that round, and after these 6 holes he had dropped all the way to 9th place. For a while looked like Donald won't win the tournament anymore, but then he made 4 VERY excellent birdies on the back nine to retain the share of the lead. Then in the final round, Luke Donald trailed Lee Westwood for the majority of the round but he managed to come through and win the tournament and took over the #1 ranking from Westwood.
4. Byron Nelson Championship: Jordan Spieth. This guy's so amazingly talented it's incredible how well he plays despite being only the age of 17 and being an amateur golfer. After a nice T16 finish in 2010, he looked to be on the way to have another good encore in 2011. And he did play very well, being in contention for the majority of his week. But the reason why he didn't have a finish as high as last year was the fact that his game was spotty and inconsistent, which is expectant from an amateur like him. Believe it or not, he made 20 birdies. However, those birdies were offset by 14 bogeys and 6 double bogeys. He showed a lot of short game brilliance but also showed a lot of amateur inexperience. And he had quite a tough finish, playing his last 4 holes 6 over par. Surely this was a great learning experience for him.
3. Byron Nelson Championship: Ryan Palmer. What made Ryan Palmer's week so surprising was the fact that he played this event ever year since 2004, yet he MISSED THE CUT all but one time. And that one time he finished 73rd place. So his high finish this week came COMPLETELY out of the blue. It should be noted that he had a very interesting strategy this week, letting his caddie tell him to hit every single shot. He listened to the caddie every shot and stayed committed to his shots that way. He played very solidly for the first 2 days, but missed a few opportunities the last 2 days. He was 1 shot back of the lead when he got to the last hole of the final round. He hit a perfect drive, and stuffed a perfect approach shot to 4 feet and made a birdie in grand style (on the toughest hole of that day, I may add) to force a playoff with Keegan Bradley. However, Bradley won when Palmer hit his second shot in the water on the playoff hole.
2. Byron Nelson Championship: Ryuji Imada / Joe Ogilvie. It's quite a surprise to see Imada and Ogilvie be in contention for this tournament. The reason being was the fact that Imada and Ogilvie have almost been completely unheard of since 2008. So this week of high finishes by these two golfers were almost completely out of the blue after not contending for three years! Ogilvie at one point had a share of the lead but fell back at the back nine. And Imada actually had a 2 shot lead with 4 holes to play. Then he bogeyed 3 of his last 4 holes to lose by 1 stroke. He bogeyed 15 when he hit his drive in the rough, had to punch out, and then airmailed his third shot. He bogeyed the 17th when he pulled his 3 foot par putt. And another poor tee shot on 18 led to another bogey.
1. Senior PGA Championship: Kiroshi Mirota. Although there were a lot of surprising storylines over at the PGA and European Tours, I still think the MOST surprising story of the week happened at the Senior Tour, at the Senior PGA Championship at Valhalla. The huge surprise was Japanese golfer Kiroshi Mirota, whom, despite being unknown just about everywhere but in Japan, was actually leading a Senior Tour major for the first three rounds! A lot of people had no idea who Mirota was. He surprised everybody with his brilliant play, even himself. He actually had a four-shot lead after 36 holes! But he fell back in the final two rounds and finished the tournament 1 stroke behind the winner.
Sunday, 29 May 2011
Tom Watson Winning the 2011 Senior PGA
Tom Watson was the winner of the 2011 Senior PGA Championship at Valhalla. The same Tom Watson who missed a 8 foot par putt on the last hole at the 2009 British Open which would have made him the oldest major championship winner in golf history.
The same Tom Watson who whined about announcer Gary McCord at the 1995 Masters which resulted in McCord kicked out of the Masters broadcasting.
And, for a lesser known fact, the same Tom Watson that was reported to have urinated on Augusta National property in a practice round before the 2011 Masters. Yes, you read that correctly.
Apparently today, Tom Watson had better bladder control. Because Watson had better bladder control, it meant that there wasn't any lucky grasses at Valhalla that got an extra dose of fertilizer, if you know what I mean!
Tom Watson was tied with David Eger after 72 holes. They went into a playoff. Tom Watson felt an urgent desire to take a wazz. His urine would have been great fertilizer for the rough, but Tom decided not to pee in a public property, unlike what he did at Augusta. The grass at Valhalla already had enough moisture because of all the rain earlier in the week. More water from Watson's urine would be extraneous.
Therefore, Watson, holding his urine and trying very hard not to do the potty dance, managed to get through the playoff hole with his pants high and dry. There was no party in his pants. Desperately trying to hold back his weewee, Watson felt his bladder began to put pressure on the lower abdomen. While trying to make the birdie putt on the 18th hole, because his putter was so long, it was applying pressure on his lower abdomen, making it began to hurt. The urine desperately tried to flow out of Tom Watson's putter shaft. But Watson didn't let it bother him. He made the birdie.
After the birdie, he won and had to make a victory speech. By that time, his bladder had accumulated so much weewee that Watson was shaking during the victory speech. However, fortunately for him, people did not suspect that Watson was holding back his peepee. They thought Watson was just emotional because of the win which resulted in him shaking so much.
After the victory speech and the photo pose, Tom Watson make a Usain Bolt-like sprint, dashing towards the washroom. He arrived to the washroom, and the waterfall began flowing from his putter shaft. Soon, the yellow waterworks finally stopped.
Watson walked out of the washroom relieved. He felt like he had won two playoff victories today. One victory over David Eger, and the other victory over the urine in his bladder.
The same Tom Watson who whined about announcer Gary McCord at the 1995 Masters which resulted in McCord kicked out of the Masters broadcasting.
And, for a lesser known fact, the same Tom Watson that was reported to have urinated on Augusta National property in a practice round before the 2011 Masters. Yes, you read that correctly.
Apparently today, Tom Watson had better bladder control. Because Watson had better bladder control, it meant that there wasn't any lucky grasses at Valhalla that got an extra dose of fertilizer, if you know what I mean!
Tom Watson was tied with David Eger after 72 holes. They went into a playoff. Tom Watson felt an urgent desire to take a wazz. His urine would have been great fertilizer for the rough, but Tom decided not to pee in a public property, unlike what he did at Augusta. The grass at Valhalla already had enough moisture because of all the rain earlier in the week. More water from Watson's urine would be extraneous.
Therefore, Watson, holding his urine and trying very hard not to do the potty dance, managed to get through the playoff hole with his pants high and dry. There was no party in his pants. Desperately trying to hold back his weewee, Watson felt his bladder began to put pressure on the lower abdomen. While trying to make the birdie putt on the 18th hole, because his putter was so long, it was applying pressure on his lower abdomen, making it began to hurt. The urine desperately tried to flow out of Tom Watson's putter shaft. But Watson didn't let it bother him. He made the birdie.
After the birdie, he won and had to make a victory speech. By that time, his bladder had accumulated so much weewee that Watson was shaking during the victory speech. However, fortunately for him, people did not suspect that Watson was holding back his peepee. They thought Watson was just emotional because of the win which resulted in him shaking so much.
After the victory speech and the photo pose, Tom Watson make a Usain Bolt-like sprint, dashing towards the washroom. He arrived to the washroom, and the waterfall began flowing from his putter shaft. Soon, the yellow waterworks finally stopped.
Watson walked out of the washroom relieved. He felt like he had won two playoff victories today. One victory over David Eger, and the other victory over the urine in his bladder.
Sunday, 22 May 2011
Top 10 Most Surprising / Interesting / Significant Golfer Performances at the 2011 Crowne Plaza Invitational Week
What a great win by David Toms this week. His week was a very roller-coaster week. It was so nice to see Toms win because Toms is probably my favourite golfer on the PGA Tour. He is the reason why I've became such a huge golf fan in the first place. This win was a very special win for him, having not won since way back in 2006.
This has been a wild week in the world of golf. So here is a countdown of the Top 10 most surprising / interesting / significant golfer performances of this week, including the Crowne Plaza Invitational, Volvo Match Play, and Nationwide Tour event.
10. Crowne Plaza Invitational: Charlie Wi. Expectedly, Wi didn't play as well in the final round as he did the first three days. But what I found significant about Wi was the way he played so solidly in the third round. He holed lots of long birdie putts, such as on hole 8 and 16, and he made lots of rock-solid, clutch par saves, such as on 14. I didn't expect him to play so solidly that round because the conditions were tough and his partner Toms was struggling in that third round. That was a very impressive third round.
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9. Volvo Match Play: Luke Donald. So, Donald played very well all week until he got to the finals. If he were to win the finals then he would have overtaken Westwood at the #1 spot in the rankings. After playing so solidly for three days, his final round against Ian Poulter was not-so-solid. Donald missed a lot of opportunities to deny Poulter the win, but he repeatedly missed makeable putts and hit errant drives which resulted in leaving the door right open for Poulter. And Poulter took advantage to win. That was uncharacteristic of Donald. Perhaps he felt the pressure because on the #1 ranking on the line?
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8: Volvo Match Play: Nicolas Colsaerts. Nicolas Colsaerts was a great dark horse story of the week. He played really well against a lot of the top players in the world. He beat Retief Goosen and Rory McIlroy in the round robin format the first 2 days. Then he beat Jhonattan Vegas, and then the tough-as-nails Graeme McDowell. His win over Graeme McDowell was probably the highlight of his week. He actually almost beat Ian Poulter and advanced to the finals, but Poulter made a late charge to comeback and beat Colsaerts.
7. Nationwide Tour: Travis Hampshire. On Thursday of the Nationwide Tour BMW Pro-Am event, Travis Hampshire shot a 60 in his first round. It's quite significane news whenever someone shoots scores this low like that, and Hampshire's 60 was no different. He sure came really close to shooting that 59. He had a 3-shot lead after the third-round, but lost the tournament with a 1-over-par final round. Decent week for him though.
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6: Crowne Plaza Invitational: Rickie Fowler. This guy's got enormous talent, but the reason he's been unable to win is his inconsistencies. In the first round, he was actually 8 under par on the first 8 holes of the front nine (he started on the back nine). Then he double bogeyed the 9th hole (his last hole of the day), resulting in him unable to take the first round lead. He shot 63 on that round. His next three rounds however, were very up-and-down roller coaster-like. He made a total of 3 double bogeys and 11 bogeys for the week. He hit a lot of very wild shots to offset his many good shots. His erraticness and inconsistency is the main reason why he has yet to win on the PGA Tour up to May 2011.
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5: Volvo Match Play: Lee Westwood. Despite Westwood being the #1 player in the world coming into this golf tournament, Westwood didn't even make it to the quarter-finals. He got eliminated in the first round by Ian Poulter. Lee Westwood hit the ball really superbly that round, but he still lost to Poulter because he gave away a lot of strokes on the greens. He missed lots of opportunities because of that, playing not like the #1 player at all. Westwood was leading most of he match, but Poulter rallied at the end to win. What was equally as surprising as Westwood's loss was his post-round comments about Ian Poulter's game. He repeatedly commented about Poulter getting many good breaks despite not striking the ball well, resulting in lots of writers thinking that Westwood's comments are "sour grapes".
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4: Crowne Plaza Invitational: Chez Reavie. Ever since Chez Reavie's win at the 2008 RBC Canadian Open, he has disappeared from the golf map. People have heard little news, if any, since 2008. But then, this week, straight out of the blue, he re-appeared in the golfing world with that brilliant first-round 62. That surprised a lot of people because that round just appeared out of nowhere. A lot of people probably forgot that he won the Canadian Open back in '08. He went on to have a very good week, finishing in a tie for fifth. Good week for him.
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3: Crowne Plaza Invitational: Stuart Appleby. He sure had a very interesting, to say the least, final round. On the front nine, he made every putt. He made every long birdie putt and made every clutch par-saving attempt. After the 10th hole, he was only 1 back of the leaders. With Charlie Wi unable to find any momentum, it looked like David Toms's biggest threat was going to be Stuart Appleby. However, that was not-to-be. After an indifferent 3rd shot on the par 5 11th, Appleby missed the birdie putt. Then he bogeyed the 12th and 13th holes. Then the round really began crashing down on him on the 14th hole. That was the hole where he hit his drive into the trees, his second shot caught a branch and ricocheted back to him. His third shot finally pitched out of the fairway. He finally hit his 4th shot on the green, and then he 3-putted an made triple bogey. He lost total concentration at that point, finishing his round with 3 bogeys in a row. He shot a 4-over-par 74. Despite shooting 31 on the front nine for that round, he shot a 43 (8 over par) on the back nine.
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2: Volvo Match Play: Ian Poulter. For this week, Ian Poulter had a very, very lopsided win. The win was so lopsided because Poulter had some very erratic tee shots, but somehow still managed to win all his matches thanks to good scrambling and putting skills. For example, on the 11th hole of the Poulter vs. Westwood match, with Westwood 1UP at that time, Westwood was on the green with a very makeable eagle putt while Poulter was off the green with a very difficult pitch shot upcoming. Poulter hit a beautiful pitch shot and made the birdie putt. Westwood missed the eagle putt. All of the sudden, the momentum shifted to Poulter and Poulter ended up winning that match. Then at his semifinals match against Nicolas Colsaerts, Colsaerts looked to be in control the whole match. Poulter was 2 down with 4 to play, but he took advantage of Colsaerts' miscues on 15 and 16 resulting in bogeys, so Poulter was able to square the match and beat Colsaerts in the sudden death. Then in his finals match against Luke Donald, Poulter again took advantage of Luke Donald's missed opportunities. Donald was 1UP after 10 holes with a birdie putt to go 2UP, but he missed that putt and the momentum suddently shifted to Poulter, who made a huge birdie putt on the 12th hole to square the match and make 2 more birdies coming in to win the match 2 & 1.
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1: Crowne Plaza Invitational: David Toms.
It's very, VERY rare to see a more roller-coaster week than Toms did at Colonial. Fresh off the heartbreaking loss at the Players Championship, Toms shot an opening round 62 to tie the lead. Then he shot another 62 for a commanding 7-stroke lead. Toms actually missed his birdie putt on the 18th hole by 2 inches, which would have given him a 61 and a new PGA Tour record for biggest 36-hole lead and lowest aggregate 36-hole score! So anyway, Toms didn't do too well with that big lead.
In the third round, his misfortunes began at the 2nd hole when his 3rd shot, a bunker shot, hit the flagstick and ricocheted 18 feet away, resulting in his first of many bogeys that round. His many bogeys included his one at the 6th hole where he hit a great wedge shot that landed near the hole but spun all the way off the green. Then a lapse in concentration resulted in a three putt double bogey from 8 feet on the 14th hole. He ended up with the disasterous 74 which dropped him from a 7-shot lead to a 1-shot deficit to Charlie Wi going into the final round.
Then, in the final round, things began changing in his favour again. After 6 steady pars, Toms birdied the 7th hole after rolling in a 10 foot putt, which was what got his round going. He made 2 very solid two-putt pars on 8 and 9 from long range. Then things really began going well for Toms at the 11th hole. Toms holed his wedge shot for an amazing eagle, which was the pivotal hole of the tournament, giving Toms lots of momentum. Toms made clutch par saves on 12 and 13, and rolled in another 15-foot birdie putt on 14. Then he almost holed his second shot on 15, which landed right next to the hole and rolled 12 feet past. He 2-putted for par.
The 16th hole was where things really got interesting. Toms had a 3-stroke lead, but Charlie Wi put the pressure on him bigtime when he hit his shot close and made the birdie putt. Toms lagged hit birdie putt 5 feet short of the hole, and sunk that clutch par putt, to only lose 1 stroke of the lead. Then on the 17th hole, Toms plugged his second shot in a bunker. He blasted it to 12 feet, and ran his par putt 3 feet by. He sunk another clutch bogey putt to only drop one shot. On the last hole, Toms had to cling on his slim 1-stroke lead, which he did nicely. Charlie Wi's long birdie putt ended up less than 1 foot short of going in the hole, resulting in Toms winning after an easy two-putt par. What a great win, David Toms. Congrats on the well-deserved win.
This has been a wild week in the world of golf. So here is a countdown of the Top 10 most surprising / interesting / significant golfer performances of this week, including the Crowne Plaza Invitational, Volvo Match Play, and Nationwide Tour event.
10. Crowne Plaza Invitational: Charlie Wi. Expectedly, Wi didn't play as well in the final round as he did the first three days. But what I found significant about Wi was the way he played so solidly in the third round. He holed lots of long birdie putts, such as on hole 8 and 16, and he made lots of rock-solid, clutch par saves, such as on 14. I didn't expect him to play so solidly that round because the conditions were tough and his partner Toms was struggling in that third round. That was a very impressive third round.
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9. Volvo Match Play: Luke Donald. So, Donald played very well all week until he got to the finals. If he were to win the finals then he would have overtaken Westwood at the #1 spot in the rankings. After playing so solidly for three days, his final round against Ian Poulter was not-so-solid. Donald missed a lot of opportunities to deny Poulter the win, but he repeatedly missed makeable putts and hit errant drives which resulted in leaving the door right open for Poulter. And Poulter took advantage to win. That was uncharacteristic of Donald. Perhaps he felt the pressure because on the #1 ranking on the line?
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8: Volvo Match Play: Nicolas Colsaerts. Nicolas Colsaerts was a great dark horse story of the week. He played really well against a lot of the top players in the world. He beat Retief Goosen and Rory McIlroy in the round robin format the first 2 days. Then he beat Jhonattan Vegas, and then the tough-as-nails Graeme McDowell. His win over Graeme McDowell was probably the highlight of his week. He actually almost beat Ian Poulter and advanced to the finals, but Poulter made a late charge to comeback and beat Colsaerts.
7. Nationwide Tour: Travis Hampshire. On Thursday of the Nationwide Tour BMW Pro-Am event, Travis Hampshire shot a 60 in his first round. It's quite significane news whenever someone shoots scores this low like that, and Hampshire's 60 was no different. He sure came really close to shooting that 59. He had a 3-shot lead after the third-round, but lost the tournament with a 1-over-par final round. Decent week for him though.
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6: Crowne Plaza Invitational: Rickie Fowler. This guy's got enormous talent, but the reason he's been unable to win is his inconsistencies. In the first round, he was actually 8 under par on the first 8 holes of the front nine (he started on the back nine). Then he double bogeyed the 9th hole (his last hole of the day), resulting in him unable to take the first round lead. He shot 63 on that round. His next three rounds however, were very up-and-down roller coaster-like. He made a total of 3 double bogeys and 11 bogeys for the week. He hit a lot of very wild shots to offset his many good shots. His erraticness and inconsistency is the main reason why he has yet to win on the PGA Tour up to May 2011.
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5: Volvo Match Play: Lee Westwood. Despite Westwood being the #1 player in the world coming into this golf tournament, Westwood didn't even make it to the quarter-finals. He got eliminated in the first round by Ian Poulter. Lee Westwood hit the ball really superbly that round, but he still lost to Poulter because he gave away a lot of strokes on the greens. He missed lots of opportunities because of that, playing not like the #1 player at all. Westwood was leading most of he match, but Poulter rallied at the end to win. What was equally as surprising as Westwood's loss was his post-round comments about Ian Poulter's game. He repeatedly commented about Poulter getting many good breaks despite not striking the ball well, resulting in lots of writers thinking that Westwood's comments are "sour grapes".
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4: Crowne Plaza Invitational: Chez Reavie. Ever since Chez Reavie's win at the 2008 RBC Canadian Open, he has disappeared from the golf map. People have heard little news, if any, since 2008. But then, this week, straight out of the blue, he re-appeared in the golfing world with that brilliant first-round 62. That surprised a lot of people because that round just appeared out of nowhere. A lot of people probably forgot that he won the Canadian Open back in '08. He went on to have a very good week, finishing in a tie for fifth. Good week for him.
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3: Crowne Plaza Invitational: Stuart Appleby. He sure had a very interesting, to say the least, final round. On the front nine, he made every putt. He made every long birdie putt and made every clutch par-saving attempt. After the 10th hole, he was only 1 back of the leaders. With Charlie Wi unable to find any momentum, it looked like David Toms's biggest threat was going to be Stuart Appleby. However, that was not-to-be. After an indifferent 3rd shot on the par 5 11th, Appleby missed the birdie putt. Then he bogeyed the 12th and 13th holes. Then the round really began crashing down on him on the 14th hole. That was the hole where he hit his drive into the trees, his second shot caught a branch and ricocheted back to him. His third shot finally pitched out of the fairway. He finally hit his 4th shot on the green, and then he 3-putted an made triple bogey. He lost total concentration at that point, finishing his round with 3 bogeys in a row. He shot a 4-over-par 74. Despite shooting 31 on the front nine for that round, he shot a 43 (8 over par) on the back nine.
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2: Volvo Match Play: Ian Poulter. For this week, Ian Poulter had a very, very lopsided win. The win was so lopsided because Poulter had some very erratic tee shots, but somehow still managed to win all his matches thanks to good scrambling and putting skills. For example, on the 11th hole of the Poulter vs. Westwood match, with Westwood 1UP at that time, Westwood was on the green with a very makeable eagle putt while Poulter was off the green with a very difficult pitch shot upcoming. Poulter hit a beautiful pitch shot and made the birdie putt. Westwood missed the eagle putt. All of the sudden, the momentum shifted to Poulter and Poulter ended up winning that match. Then at his semifinals match against Nicolas Colsaerts, Colsaerts looked to be in control the whole match. Poulter was 2 down with 4 to play, but he took advantage of Colsaerts' miscues on 15 and 16 resulting in bogeys, so Poulter was able to square the match and beat Colsaerts in the sudden death. Then in his finals match against Luke Donald, Poulter again took advantage of Luke Donald's missed opportunities. Donald was 1UP after 10 holes with a birdie putt to go 2UP, but he missed that putt and the momentum suddently shifted to Poulter, who made a huge birdie putt on the 12th hole to square the match and make 2 more birdies coming in to win the match 2 & 1.
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1: Crowne Plaza Invitational: David Toms.
It's very, VERY rare to see a more roller-coaster week than Toms did at Colonial. Fresh off the heartbreaking loss at the Players Championship, Toms shot an opening round 62 to tie the lead. Then he shot another 62 for a commanding 7-stroke lead. Toms actually missed his birdie putt on the 18th hole by 2 inches, which would have given him a 61 and a new PGA Tour record for biggest 36-hole lead and lowest aggregate 36-hole score! So anyway, Toms didn't do too well with that big lead.
In the third round, his misfortunes began at the 2nd hole when his 3rd shot, a bunker shot, hit the flagstick and ricocheted 18 feet away, resulting in his first of many bogeys that round. His many bogeys included his one at the 6th hole where he hit a great wedge shot that landed near the hole but spun all the way off the green. Then a lapse in concentration resulted in a three putt double bogey from 8 feet on the 14th hole. He ended up with the disasterous 74 which dropped him from a 7-shot lead to a 1-shot deficit to Charlie Wi going into the final round.
Then, in the final round, things began changing in his favour again. After 6 steady pars, Toms birdied the 7th hole after rolling in a 10 foot putt, which was what got his round going. He made 2 very solid two-putt pars on 8 and 9 from long range. Then things really began going well for Toms at the 11th hole. Toms holed his wedge shot for an amazing eagle, which was the pivotal hole of the tournament, giving Toms lots of momentum. Toms made clutch par saves on 12 and 13, and rolled in another 15-foot birdie putt on 14. Then he almost holed his second shot on 15, which landed right next to the hole and rolled 12 feet past. He 2-putted for par.
The 16th hole was where things really got interesting. Toms had a 3-stroke lead, but Charlie Wi put the pressure on him bigtime when he hit his shot close and made the birdie putt. Toms lagged hit birdie putt 5 feet short of the hole, and sunk that clutch par putt, to only lose 1 stroke of the lead. Then on the 17th hole, Toms plugged his second shot in a bunker. He blasted it to 12 feet, and ran his par putt 3 feet by. He sunk another clutch bogey putt to only drop one shot. On the last hole, Toms had to cling on his slim 1-stroke lead, which he did nicely. Charlie Wi's long birdie putt ended up less than 1 foot short of going in the hole, resulting in Toms winning after an easy two-putt par. What a great win, David Toms. Congrats on the well-deserved win.
Friday, 20 May 2011
Rory Sabbatini Should Have Been Suspended
As you all know, Rory Sabbatini is a guy who's had a long history of getting into controversies on the PGA Tour. As a matter of fact, Sabbatini had gotten into controversies twice on the PGA Tour in the early part of 2011 already.
Within the past couple of years, a lot of people thought that Sabbatini has changed after the long history of controversial actions. At the Honda Classic when he won, a lot of people cheered for him and were happy for him. especially since during the post-tournament interview he talked about some of the hardships he had during his family life.
However, what he said was deceptive. Although he seemed caring for his family he didn't seem caring for other people around him.
At the second round of the Northern Trust Open, Sabbatini's ball landed in the deep rough after a shot. A teenage volunteer helped look for the ball. But Sabbatini thought that the volunteer interfered with the ball and moved the ball. So not only Sabbatini did not thank the volunteer for helping him, Sabbatini yelled at the volunteer for interfering.
When someone helps you, you're supposed to yell at them? What kind of morality is that?
Sabbatini was likely fined for this incident. But the finr and the news about this happening were not disclosed until May, almost three months after the incident. So the public didn't even know about this incident and still thought Sabbatini was a class act when he won at the Honda Classic.
This news was released to the public alongside with another fine that Sabbatini got. Sabbatini was also fined at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans when he got into a heated argument with Sean O'Hair. This was notable because there was loud profanity involved. Fortunately, his gallery was very small and it was a weekday, so probably no young children heard the argument.
Interestingly, at the Northern Trust Open when Sabbatini yelled at the volunteer, Sabbatini was also paired with Sean O'Hair that day. It's possible that the spark of their argument started back then.
Naturally, his actions did draw a lot of criticism. Expectedly, one major category of people who defended Sabbatini were Tiger Woods bashers.
Many people were happy at the karma Sabbatini got at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow. On the last hole, Sabbatini's birdie putt was right on line, but stopped literally two inches short of the hole. He ended up finishing third place, 1 shot behind Lucas Glover and Jonathan Byrd. Lucas Glover made an all-world par save on the last hole to deny Sabbatini any chance to win, and Byrd made an ultra-clutch birdie on the very difficult last hole to deny Sabbatini of finishing second place. Sabbatini had to settle for third place.
The difference between second place and third place was huge. It made a huge difference in ranking points. Being in the Top 50 in the world by the end of May meant an exemption into the U.S. Open. And if Sabbatini finished second place he would be almost assured the U.S. Open exemption. But if Sabbatini finished third and he were suspended for two weeks, then by the end of May, he would be almost assured of being OUT of the Top 50, and thus unable to be exempt into the U.S. Open.
Rumours were circulating about the possibility of Sabbatini getting a 2-week suspension. A lot of people hoped that he would get more of the negative karma he deserved and got suspended. Especially because of the fact that this suspension couldn't have come at a better time. However, when we saw his name at the Crowne Plaza Invitational leaderboard, it was evident that, unfortunately, he was not suspended.
It's a shame that he didn't get suspended. Because if he were suspended, it would trigger a chain reaction of events that result in a huge amount of demise for Sabbatini. Yes, a HUGE amount of demise. Here is a recap of what the chain reaction that the suspension would have given him.
1. If he were suspended, he would be unable to play in the Crowne Plaza Invitational and HP Byron Nelson Championship, both events in which he's had LOTS of success at. Which is exactly why, as I mentioned earlier, the suspension couldn't have come at a better time.
2. Since he would be unable to play those two weeks, he would be unable to rack up world ranking points to help maintain himself in the Top 50 of the rankings.
3. Since he would be unable to maintain in the Top 50 in the world, he would be unable to be exempt into the U.S. Open.
4. Since he would not be exempt in the U.S. Open, he would have to go through a qualifying tournament. If he is unsuccessful at that, then he wouldn't be in the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open is held at Congressional Coutnry Club, also the place he's had a lot of success before. So him being unable to play there would have been fitting.
Because of all those glorious, demiseful things that would happen to Sabbatini that would come along with the suspension, it is unfortunate that he did not get suspended.
Why did we want to see him suspended and get all those negative effects? Simple answer. Because he is an ungrateful, arrogant, brash person, which results in people enjoying to watch him fail.
Hope he keeps losing, and hope that the last hole keeps snubbing his chances like it did at the Wells Fargo Championship.
BOO, Rory Sabbatini. BOO HISS.
Within the past couple of years, a lot of people thought that Sabbatini has changed after the long history of controversial actions. At the Honda Classic when he won, a lot of people cheered for him and were happy for him. especially since during the post-tournament interview he talked about some of the hardships he had during his family life.
However, what he said was deceptive. Although he seemed caring for his family he didn't seem caring for other people around him.
At the second round of the Northern Trust Open, Sabbatini's ball landed in the deep rough after a shot. A teenage volunteer helped look for the ball. But Sabbatini thought that the volunteer interfered with the ball and moved the ball. So not only Sabbatini did not thank the volunteer for helping him, Sabbatini yelled at the volunteer for interfering.
When someone helps you, you're supposed to yell at them? What kind of morality is that?
Sabbatini was likely fined for this incident. But the finr and the news about this happening were not disclosed until May, almost three months after the incident. So the public didn't even know about this incident and still thought Sabbatini was a class act when he won at the Honda Classic.
This news was released to the public alongside with another fine that Sabbatini got. Sabbatini was also fined at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans when he got into a heated argument with Sean O'Hair. This was notable because there was loud profanity involved. Fortunately, his gallery was very small and it was a weekday, so probably no young children heard the argument.
Interestingly, at the Northern Trust Open when Sabbatini yelled at the volunteer, Sabbatini was also paired with Sean O'Hair that day. It's possible that the spark of their argument started back then.
Naturally, his actions did draw a lot of criticism. Expectedly, one major category of people who defended Sabbatini were Tiger Woods bashers.
Many people were happy at the karma Sabbatini got at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow. On the last hole, Sabbatini's birdie putt was right on line, but stopped literally two inches short of the hole. He ended up finishing third place, 1 shot behind Lucas Glover and Jonathan Byrd. Lucas Glover made an all-world par save on the last hole to deny Sabbatini any chance to win, and Byrd made an ultra-clutch birdie on the very difficult last hole to deny Sabbatini of finishing second place. Sabbatini had to settle for third place.
The difference between second place and third place was huge. It made a huge difference in ranking points. Being in the Top 50 in the world by the end of May meant an exemption into the U.S. Open. And if Sabbatini finished second place he would be almost assured the U.S. Open exemption. But if Sabbatini finished third and he were suspended for two weeks, then by the end of May, he would be almost assured of being OUT of the Top 50, and thus unable to be exempt into the U.S. Open.
Rumours were circulating about the possibility of Sabbatini getting a 2-week suspension. A lot of people hoped that he would get more of the negative karma he deserved and got suspended. Especially because of the fact that this suspension couldn't have come at a better time. However, when we saw his name at the Crowne Plaza Invitational leaderboard, it was evident that, unfortunately, he was not suspended.
It's a shame that he didn't get suspended. Because if he were suspended, it would trigger a chain reaction of events that result in a huge amount of demise for Sabbatini. Yes, a HUGE amount of demise. Here is a recap of what the chain reaction that the suspension would have given him.
1. If he were suspended, he would be unable to play in the Crowne Plaza Invitational and HP Byron Nelson Championship, both events in which he's had LOTS of success at. Which is exactly why, as I mentioned earlier, the suspension couldn't have come at a better time.
2. Since he would be unable to play those two weeks, he would be unable to rack up world ranking points to help maintain himself in the Top 50 of the rankings.
3. Since he would be unable to maintain in the Top 50 in the world, he would be unable to be exempt into the U.S. Open.
4. Since he would not be exempt in the U.S. Open, he would have to go through a qualifying tournament. If he is unsuccessful at that, then he wouldn't be in the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open is held at Congressional Coutnry Club, also the place he's had a lot of success before. So him being unable to play there would have been fitting.
Because of all those glorious, demiseful things that would happen to Sabbatini that would come along with the suspension, it is unfortunate that he did not get suspended.
Why did we want to see him suspended and get all those negative effects? Simple answer. Because he is an ungrateful, arrogant, brash person, which results in people enjoying to watch him fail.
Hope he keeps losing, and hope that the last hole keeps snubbing his chances like it did at the Wells Fargo Championship.
BOO, Rory Sabbatini. BOO HISS.
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Top 10 Mulligans of the 2011 Players Championship
This blog is a countdown of the Top 10 Mulligans of the week, in other words, the top 10 parts in which a player deserves a second chance at some point of the tournament. Had the player gotten a second chance, there probably would have been a huge difference in the outcome of the event. Here is the Top 10 countdown.
10. Mark Wilson, 5th Hole, 2nd Round. Mark Wilson called a one-stroke penalty on himself because he suspected that he hit the ball twice while chipping it. Nobody else suspected it but he called the penalty anyway. That proved to be costly for him, because he made double bogey and missed the cut by one stroke. Had he not two-chipped, he would have made the cut.
9. Michael Bradley, 7th hole, 2nd Round. Michael Bradley hit an errant drive and threw his club. But he didn’t know there was a water hazard to the immediate left of the tee box, so when his driver went left, it fell into the water. A fan was nice enough to help retrieve the driver, and was successful. However, Michael Bradley lost his concentration because of that incident and ended up with a triple bogey to miss the cut by 1 stroke. Had he just made double bogey he would still have made the cut.
8. Johnny Miller’s blunders. As you might know, Johnny Miller, the NBC announcer, said on the eve of the tournament, that Tiger Woods had a chance to win. Ironically, Tiger did the exact opposite of winning. He withdrew on Thursday morning because he re-aggravated his already-existing knee injury, and was the first guy out. That drew heaps of criticism and laughter directed towards Miller. This however, was not the only blunder Miller had that week. In the end of the rain-delay-plagued Saturday, Ian Poulter tried to sprint to the finish , playing the last 2 holes as fast as he could, even sprinting and trying to catch to the group ahead of them, so he could avoid having to get up early Sunday to finish his round. Miller made a mistake by openly criticizing Poulter on air. This gave Miller another bout of criticism from Yahoo users.
7. Tiger Woods, 1st hole, 1st round. Coming into the round, Tiger’s knee felt just fine. He looked happy during his practice rounds. But this was probably the hole that re-triggered his knee problems. He hit his drive into the left rough, and left his with an awkward stance. His second shot put a lot of pressure on his knee, and thus resulted in the re-aggravation of his injury. This resulted in a chain reaction of events that resulted in Woods shooting a 42 on the front nine and a withdrawal. His front nine 42 included two water balls on the 4th hole and he had to make a 20 foot putt just for a triple bogey. Had his first tee shot found the fairway, would the outcome have been much different? Would he have been able to finish his round and the tournament? Might as well just be yes.
6. Charley Hoffman, 1st Round. During that round, he hit the ball so solidly, and gave himself a countless number of birdie opportunities. However, his putter failed to cooperate. He missed 8 putts inside of 14 feet. 7 putts inside on 11 feet. He shot a 72 which could have EASILY been a 68. In the end of the round, he was so frustrated with his putting that he broke his putter in half with his bare hands. Had Hoffman putted better in the first round, he would have been a serious contender to win the tournament, and he wouldn’t have broken his putter and had to deal with the embarrassment. This however, was NOT his biggest mulligan he deserved… See below.
5. Charley Hoffman, 17th Hole, 4th Round. When he got to this hole, he was only 3 shots back of the lead and was on his way to a high finish or even a chance to win. But he tried to be aggressive and attacked the pin. But he airmailed the ball over the green, into the water. He ended up with a quadruple bogey 7. That hole alone dropped him from 4th place all the way to 26th place, and made a difference of almost $400,000. Had he not hit his shot in the water on this hole, and putted better in the first round, he would have been a very likely winner.
4. Lucas Glover, 16th hole, 3rd Round. This was probably the hole that derailed him. Coming into this hole, he was tied for second place with 21 holes to play. However, his second shot ended up in the water and he ended up with a double bogey on a par 5 in which almost half the field are making birdie. He never recovered from that mistake. He played his last 21 holes 10 over par; he duck-hooked his drive into the water on the 18th hole (triple bogey) and he found the water twice on the approach shot of the 4th hole (quad bogey). He dropped all the way from 2nd place to 50th place.
3. Graeme McDowell, 18th hole, 3rd Round. This was definitely the hole that derailed him. Coming into this hole, he had a 3-shot lead and looked like he was in total control. This was until he caught one of the worst breaks ever seen on the Players Championship on this hole. McDowell aimed for the front-right pin location for his approach shot. However, his shot ricocheted off the mounds and the ball dove left. The ball rolled so far left that it rolled all the way off the green and into the water, resulting in a double-bogey. That was when he began to lost focus. He was still tied for the lead after 5 holes into the final round but an errant tee shot on the 6th hole was what done him, and he wasn’t able to recover from it. In 19 holes, he went all the way from a 3-shot lead to a 33rd place finish. And probably it was all because of that one bad break he got on the 18th hole.
2. David Toms, 17th hole, Playoff. After hitting a good tee shot to 20 feet in this first playoff hole, he was aggressive with his birdie putt and ran it 4 feet past the hole. He would miss the par putt and lose the playoff to K.J. Choi. This was painful to watch, because I am a HUGE David Toms fan. Though it was kind of understandable why this happened. He probably had a lapse in concentration from playing golf for 12 hours (he had to get up early to finish his rain-delayed third round). It’s hard to keep your focus on for this long. Had he been more conservative with his first putt then he would have been safely in for par. However though, this was NOT the biggest mulligan he could have got… See below.
1. David Toms, 16th Hole, 4th Round. A lot of people say that this was the hole that cost David Toms the championship. He went for the green for this Par 5, but it ended up short of the green. It landed in the water, and he ended up with a bogey on a hole in which almost half the field were making birdies on. Had he laid up and made par, he would have won. Though, I thought his decision to go for the green in 2 on the 16th hole was totally justified. Toms had a great lie in the intermediate rough, and he had a hybrid for his second shot. Toms has hit his hybrid club very well all week, and the shot fit his left-to-right shot shape, so it was easy to justify the reasoning behind him choosing to go for the green. He probably just over-faded the shot a little bit, and the wind might have caught it a bit, resulting in it going in the water. If he wanted a shot back, this would definitely be the shot he wanted to have back. He could have aimed it a little more left and don’t overfade it, and it would have been safe on dry land.
And this concludes the Top 10 Mulligans of the 2011 Players Championship week.
Monday, 16 May 2011
Top 10 Most Surprising / Interesting / Significant Things That Happened at the 2011 Players Championship
The 2011 Players Championship was one heck of a tournament. It was a crazy, wild championship with all sorts of storylines. Here is my countdown of the Top 10 most significant / surprising / interesting things that happened this week.
Before we get to the countdown, here are some things that didn't make it to the Top 10 but were worth mentioning.
- In the second round on the 5th hole, Mark Wilson called a one-stroke penalty on himself because he suspected that he hit the ball twice while chipping it. Nobody else suspected it but he called the penalty anyway. That proved to be costly for him, because he missed the cut by one stroke.
- During the third round's Saturday telecast, there was a video footage of a turtle on the 16th hole, and the turtle performing a dive into the water hazard right of the hole. Entertaining stuff.
- In the first round, Ben Crane caught a good break at the 17th hole island green. The ball bounced off the wooden border surrounding the green and landed on the dry land on the other side of the water. His second shot is a tricky pitch that has to carry water and land on the green. However, it hit the wooden border again. This time it bounced forward and landed 50 feet away from the hole. He two-putted for a crazy bogey.
Now, here below is the Top 10 countdown.
10: Moved-up tees for the 13th and 17th holes for the final round. This was a weird move by the PGA Tour officials. These two were supposed to be very difficult holes, but moving up the tees took away a lot of bite. The announcers said that this is probably because they were tired of seeing all the train wrecks and double bogeys and wanted to give players opportunities to make birdies instead. I disagree with this decision however; I would have liked to see more challenge and difficulty.
9: Phil Mickelson's non-factor week. High inconsistency has plagued him for the week. On Thursday, he eagled 11 but followed up with a double bogey on 13. Then on Friday, he started on the back nine, and fired a 5 under par 31 for that nine hole stretch to rocket himself into contention. Only to totally give away what he had built up with a front nine 4-over-par 40.
8: Ian Poulter's sprint to the finish. Because of the storm delay in the third round, play was halted for 4 hours, so a lot of groups were unable to finish their third round on Saturday. When Ian Poulter saw that it was getting dark, he desperately tried to finish his round on time so he could sleep in and didn't have to wake up early just to finish one hole. Here's what he did: He hit his tee shot on the 17th, and then ran as fast as he could onto the green. He quickly made his two-putt par, and then ran up to the 18th hole and caught up to the group ahead of them. He ended up finishing the round just in the nick of time. He was criticized by Johnny Miller though.
7: David Toms's unforced errors late in the day. He bogeyed the 16th hole when he tried to go for the green, and then he missed a 5 foot par putt on the playoff. That was painful to watch, especially because I am a HUGE David Toms fan. Though, I thought his decision to go for the green in 2 on the 16th hole was totally justified. Toms had a great lie in the intermediate rough, and he had a hybrid for his second shot. Toms has hit his hybrid club very well all week, and the shot fit his left-to-right shot shape, so it was easy to justify the reasoning behind him choosing to go for the green. He probably just over-faded the shot a little bit, and the wind might have caught it a bit, resulting in it going in the water. 90% of the players probably would have gone for the green, though.
6: Rory Sabbatini defends Byrd for his slow play. This was one of the oddest moves by Sabbatini because he is notorious for being one of the players most frustruated with slow play. He was the same guy who tried to ditch Ben Crane at the 2005 Booz Allen Classic (now known as the AT&T National) because Crane played so slow. Maybe it’s because he was trying to appeal his PGA tour suspension, because rumours speculated that he might have a 14-day suspension because he was seen yelling at a volunteer at the Northern Trust Open, and he got into a profanity-laced argument with Sean O’Hair at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. I don’t find his actions genuine because he hated slow play and now he’s defending someone for slow play. Appears like he’s a hypocrite to me.
5: Michael Bradley’s waterlogged driver. At the 7th hole of the second round, Michael Bradley hit an errant drive and threw his club. But he didn’t know there was a water hazard to the immediate left of the tee box, so when his driver went left, it fell into the water. A fan was actually nice enough to help Bradley retrieve the driver by going into the water to get it, with Michael Bradley’s assistance. In return, the fan got a glove with Bradley’s signature on it. Although Bradley’s driver was rescued, he would make triple bogey on that hole and miss the cut by one stroke.
4. Nick Watney’s missed opportunities. Nick Watney blew a lot of opportunities to win because he missed a lot of makeable putts and hit a lot of errant drives. He made a total of 21 birdies and one eagle for the week. That alone is 23 under par, and it could have been a walk-away win for him. Instead, he also made 9 bogeys and 2 double bogeys. Had Watney minimized his mistakes, this would be an EASY win for him.
3: Charley Hoffman’s continuous love/hate relationship with TPC Sawgrass. In the first round Charley Hoffman was so frustruated, he broke the putter with his bare hands. Happened after he missed a 2 foot par putt on the last hole. One can tell that day was a tough day for him, because according to pgatour.com’s shot tracker, he missed SEVEN putts under 11 feet. He played well in the next three rounds, until he got to the 17th hole. That’s when he quadruple-bogeyed the island green hole, which cost him more than $400,000. Side note: This is the same guy who opened with a 9 on his first hole in the 2007 Players. Also the same guy who threw his putter into the water in 2008 when he three-putted from five feet.
2: Tiger Woods’s withdrawal from the Players. This was a withdrawal that came out of nowhere, in my opinion. During his practice rounds on Tuesday and Wednesday, Woods appeared to be just fine, and he appeared to be in good spirits, with his knee no longer an issue. But on Thursday, the knee started bothering him again, and he hit really poor iron shots en route to a front nine 42. His front nine 42 included two water balls on the 4th hole and he had to make a 20 foot putt just for a triple bogey. So after playing poorly on the front nine, he withdrew. A lot of people thought that his knee was all better because of the way he looked so happy during his practice rounds. Very surprisingly, it did not. It’s surprising how Tiger used to have so much endurance as evident in the 2008 US Open, but now his body seems so fragile.
1: Graeme McDowell and Lucas Glover’s collapses. At one point McDowell had a 3-stroke lead. But he ended up with a T-33 finish, 8 shots back. At one point Glover was 1 back of the lead with 21 holes to play. But he played those 21 holes 10 over par, en route to a T-50 finish, 12 shots back. Those two collapses also came out of nowhere. Both players seemed to be in total control of their game for the first 50 or so holes. But the last 20 or so holes made all the difference. McDowell’s collapse originated from probably one of the worst breaks in Players Championship history. On the final hole of the third round, McDowell aimed for the front-right pin location for his approach shot. However, his shot bounced off the mounds and the ball dove left. The ball rolled so far left that it rolled all the way off the green and into the water, resulting in a double-bogey. He was still tied for the lead after 5 holes into the final round but an errant tee shot on the 6th hole killed his momentum and he wasn’t able to recover from it. Glover’s final round collapse originated in the third round’s 16th hole, when he hit his second shot so thin that it didn’t come close to clearing the water, resulting in a double-bogey. Then he compounded his mistakes on the 18th hole when he duck-hooked his tee shot into the water. He never recovered in the final round.
And that concludes the Top 10 countdown of the most surprising / interesting/ significant things that happened at the Players Championship.
Sunday, 15 May 2011
David Toms's Close Call at the Players Championship
The 2011 Players Championship was a great championship with a very exciting finish. I am a huge fan of David Toms and was pulling for him all the way. So, yeah, it was kind of disappointing when Toms didn't win.
A lot of people would think that David Toms lost the 2011 Players Championship to K.J. Choi, because of the missed 5 foot par putt on the first playoff hole. I personally think that David Toms did anything but lose the championship. Toms didn't lose the championship; Choi won it.
David Toms played as solidly as anyone did all week. He missed a few birdie opportunities early in the third round, but that was it. He made a lot of clutch par saves which kept him in the tournament and contended up to the very end.
In the final round, he made a clutch 9 foot birdie on the 2nd hole, then hit laser-like wedge shots on 4 and 6 that resulted in birdies. He did bogey 8 though, but that hole was the 3rd toughest hole on the golf course. On the back nine, although he didn't make any birdies on holes 9 through 14, he didn't make any mistakes either, plodding along with two-putt pars, and avoided making big numbers, which were possible on 13 and 14.
Then, he made a huge 14 foot par save on the 15th, which really showed how clutch he was. However, he hit his second shot in the water on the par 5 16th, which probably cost him the tournament, but it was not a big mistake.
I thought his decision to go for the green in 2 was totally justified. Toms had a great lie in the intermediate rough, and he had a hybrid for his second shot. Toms has hit his hybrid club very well all week, so it was easy to justify the reasoning behind him choosing to go for the green. He probably just over-faded the shot a little bit, and the wind might have caught it a bit, resulting in it going in the water.
Just as we thought his chances are gone, he was able to dig deep and come up big again. With water on the left, he hit a bold, courageous drive down the 18th fairway. It caught a bad break and landed in a divot, but he was able to hit a pure iron shot to 18 feet. He sank that putt for an ultra-clutch birdie to force the playoff with Choi.
That putt by Toms at the last hole was Tiger-esque. Reminded me of Tiger Woods's birdie putts on the 72nd hole of Bay Hill at 2008 and 2009. Reminded me of his 12-foot birdie on the last hole at the 2008 US Open to force a playoff. EXPECT ANYTHING DIFFERENT?!? Also reminded me of the 20-foot birdie putt Graeme McDowell sank at the 2010 Chevron World Challenge to beat Tiger.
Another reason why Toms didn't lose the championship was that one of the reasons why Toms came so close was K.J. Choi's missed opportunities. Choi missed a 4 foot birdie putt on 9 and missed the same length putt for par on 11. Choi also misssed a 10 foot birdie putt on 15 and a 6 foot birdie putt on 16. Had those putts gone in Choi would have walkd away with the title.
Well done K.J. Choi. But congratulations to David Toms for making such a big charge in the end. Toms also handled the loss with tremendous class and optimism.
A lot of people would think that David Toms lost the 2011 Players Championship to K.J. Choi, because of the missed 5 foot par putt on the first playoff hole. I personally think that David Toms did anything but lose the championship. Toms didn't lose the championship; Choi won it.
David Toms played as solidly as anyone did all week. He missed a few birdie opportunities early in the third round, but that was it. He made a lot of clutch par saves which kept him in the tournament and contended up to the very end.
In the final round, he made a clutch 9 foot birdie on the 2nd hole, then hit laser-like wedge shots on 4 and 6 that resulted in birdies. He did bogey 8 though, but that hole was the 3rd toughest hole on the golf course. On the back nine, although he didn't make any birdies on holes 9 through 14, he didn't make any mistakes either, plodding along with two-putt pars, and avoided making big numbers, which were possible on 13 and 14.
Then, he made a huge 14 foot par save on the 15th, which really showed how clutch he was. However, he hit his second shot in the water on the par 5 16th, which probably cost him the tournament, but it was not a big mistake.
I thought his decision to go for the green in 2 was totally justified. Toms had a great lie in the intermediate rough, and he had a hybrid for his second shot. Toms has hit his hybrid club very well all week, so it was easy to justify the reasoning behind him choosing to go for the green. He probably just over-faded the shot a little bit, and the wind might have caught it a bit, resulting in it going in the water.
Just as we thought his chances are gone, he was able to dig deep and come up big again. With water on the left, he hit a bold, courageous drive down the 18th fairway. It caught a bad break and landed in a divot, but he was able to hit a pure iron shot to 18 feet. He sank that putt for an ultra-clutch birdie to force the playoff with Choi.
That putt by Toms at the last hole was Tiger-esque. Reminded me of Tiger Woods's birdie putts on the 72nd hole of Bay Hill at 2008 and 2009. Reminded me of his 12-foot birdie on the last hole at the 2008 US Open to force a playoff. EXPECT ANYTHING DIFFERENT?!? Also reminded me of the 20-foot birdie putt Graeme McDowell sank at the 2010 Chevron World Challenge to beat Tiger.
Another reason why Toms didn't lose the championship was that one of the reasons why Toms came so close was K.J. Choi's missed opportunities. Choi missed a 4 foot birdie putt on 9 and missed the same length putt for par on 11. Choi also misssed a 10 foot birdie putt on 15 and a 6 foot birdie putt on 16. Had those putts gone in Choi would have walkd away with the title.
Well done K.J. Choi. But congratulations to David Toms for making such a big charge in the end. Toms also handled the loss with tremendous class and optimism.
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Webb Simpson's Penalty Stroke Costs Him the Zurich Classic of New Orleans
As you may know, Webb Simpson finished second at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans after losing to Bubba Watson in the sudden death playoff.
The truth is, he was a LOT closer to winning than some people thought he was.
Firstly, he actually had a 3 shot lead with 8 holes to play at one point of the final round.
Then he gave 2 strokes away with his bogey on 12 and Bubba's birdie on 13.
He still had a one stroke lead by the time he got to the 15th hole. BUT...
Just as he unmarked his ball and was about to hit his 1 foot par putt, his ball moved by less than a centimetre. Since he already addressed the ball, that meant he got a one stroke penalty. Resulting in a bogey on that hole.
He wound up with a tie with Bubba Watson and they went into a playoff. On the first playoff hole, with Webb Simpson already in for a birdie, Bubba Watson holed out his 12 foot birdie putt to extend the playoff. Bubba won the playoff in the 2nd playoff hole with a birdie when Simpson parred.
So therefore, Webb Simpson would have won the tournament if he had not incurred the penalty on the 15th OR if Bubba didn't make his clutch 12 foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole.
Very, VERY close call by Simpson. He was literally one hair away from winning the tournament.
Firstly, this rule was ridiculous and the USGA really needs to have this rule modified. Even if a player has already addressed the ball, if HE did not move the ball (if it was wind, gravity, etc) then he shouldn't be the one paying for it. He should replace the ball with NO penalty. One highly negative aspect about golf rules is that they penalize players without the slightest consideration of COMMON SENSE.
Secondly, one major factor of this rules infraction is Webb Simpson's SLOW PLAY. Sometimes I find it rather annoying when a guy's ball is about foot away from the hole, yet they still mark the ball, and wait until his partner plays. Honestly, when you've got anything less than 2 feet, for simplicity's sake, you should just tap it in. Unless you get really careless, you shouldn't miss it anyway. Unless you're John Rollins (who three-putted from 2 feet!). Anyway, Webb Simpson should indeed play faster. If slow players like Simpson were to putt out when they've got a putt such a short distance, then they could waste MUCH less time and the pace of play can be MUCH faster.
Tough loss for Simpson. Though he didn't exactly lose the tournament, Bubba won it from him with his clutch performance down the stretch.
Bubba Watson is well known for his long drives, but that's definitely not the ONLY thing he's good at. Bubba's also got a creative short game and he had shown the ability to sink clutch putts in pressure situations.
That was a great Bubba moment, when he sank that do-or-die 12 foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to stay alive and eventually win.
However, my FAVOURITE Bubba moment so far has to be back January at the Farmers Insurance Open. On the last hole, he holed a 12 foot birdie putt to deny Phil Mickelson the win. One word: PRICELESS!!! (Yes, I often enjoyed rooting against Phil.) And that putt ensured that Phil is still NOT the #1 player in the world rankings and never was. Had Phil won the Farmers Insurance Open he would have been #1 after his win at the Shell Houston Open. Thankfully Bubba Watson sanked that 12 foot birdie putt at the Farmers to deny Phil the win and what would be now Phil's #1 ranking. PRICELESS!!!
Congrats to Bubba for a great win, better luck next time Webb Simpson.
The truth is, he was a LOT closer to winning than some people thought he was.
Firstly, he actually had a 3 shot lead with 8 holes to play at one point of the final round.
Then he gave 2 strokes away with his bogey on 12 and Bubba's birdie on 13.
He still had a one stroke lead by the time he got to the 15th hole. BUT...
Just as he unmarked his ball and was about to hit his 1 foot par putt, his ball moved by less than a centimetre. Since he already addressed the ball, that meant he got a one stroke penalty. Resulting in a bogey on that hole.
He wound up with a tie with Bubba Watson and they went into a playoff. On the first playoff hole, with Webb Simpson already in for a birdie, Bubba Watson holed out his 12 foot birdie putt to extend the playoff. Bubba won the playoff in the 2nd playoff hole with a birdie when Simpson parred.
So therefore, Webb Simpson would have won the tournament if he had not incurred the penalty on the 15th OR if Bubba didn't make his clutch 12 foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole.
Very, VERY close call by Simpson. He was literally one hair away from winning the tournament.
Firstly, this rule was ridiculous and the USGA really needs to have this rule modified. Even if a player has already addressed the ball, if HE did not move the ball (if it was wind, gravity, etc) then he shouldn't be the one paying for it. He should replace the ball with NO penalty. One highly negative aspect about golf rules is that they penalize players without the slightest consideration of COMMON SENSE.
Secondly, one major factor of this rules infraction is Webb Simpson's SLOW PLAY. Sometimes I find it rather annoying when a guy's ball is about foot away from the hole, yet they still mark the ball, and wait until his partner plays. Honestly, when you've got anything less than 2 feet, for simplicity's sake, you should just tap it in. Unless you get really careless, you shouldn't miss it anyway. Unless you're John Rollins (who three-putted from 2 feet!). Anyway, Webb Simpson should indeed play faster. If slow players like Simpson were to putt out when they've got a putt such a short distance, then they could waste MUCH less time and the pace of play can be MUCH faster.
Tough loss for Simpson. Though he didn't exactly lose the tournament, Bubba won it from him with his clutch performance down the stretch.
Bubba Watson is well known for his long drives, but that's definitely not the ONLY thing he's good at. Bubba's also got a creative short game and he had shown the ability to sink clutch putts in pressure situations.
That was a great Bubba moment, when he sank that do-or-die 12 foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to stay alive and eventually win.
However, my FAVOURITE Bubba moment so far has to be back January at the Farmers Insurance Open. On the last hole, he holed a 12 foot birdie putt to deny Phil Mickelson the win. One word: PRICELESS!!! (Yes, I often enjoyed rooting against Phil.) And that putt ensured that Phil is still NOT the #1 player in the world rankings and never was. Had Phil won the Farmers Insurance Open he would have been #1 after his win at the Shell Houston Open. Thankfully Bubba Watson sanked that 12 foot birdie putt at the Farmers to deny Phil the win and what would be now Phil's #1 ranking. PRICELESS!!!
Congrats to Bubba for a great win, better luck next time Webb Simpson.
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