Another week, another tournament chock-full of surprises. This week, there yet again was many surprises happening in both the PGA Tour's Memorial tournament and the European Tour's Celtic Manor Wales Open. Here is a countdown of the Top 10 most surprising events that happened this week in golf.
10: Memorial Tournament: Chris Riley's week.
http://i54.tinypic.com/hwha9y.png Probably nobody besides Rickie Fowler had a more roller-coaster week than Chris Riley, who had a week with scorecard of 66-75-77-67. He had 21 birdies, but alongside with that 13 bogeys, 1 double, and 1 triple, finishing the week 3 under, T30.
9: Memorial Tournament: Brandt Jobe's week. Brandt Jobe being in contention was quite a surprise because a lot of the newer golf fans probably have never heard of Jobe because he has almost never been in contention over the recent years. Jobe used to be a decent golfer but injuries have plagued him late last decade. But this week him playing himself in contention is remarkable.
8: Memorial Tournament: Final round scoring average. Prior to the final round, Jack Nicklaus said that the final round would have very tough scoring conditions with a lot of difficult pin placements. It turned out that it was just the opposite. The final round was a total birdie-fest for pretty much everybody because of the absolute calm conditions and moist greens. A lot of 5, 6, or even 7 under par scores despite so many tough pin locations. This really spoke volumes about how technology has really evolved, making golf courses much more vulnerable to the pros.
7: Memorial Tournament: Three viral withdrawals. This is quite an interesting story. This week, four PGA players - Nick Watney, Bill Lunde, D.J. Trahan, and Charley Hoffman shared the same house. On Wednesday, Nick Watney withdrew from the tournament because of flu-like symptoms. Then on Friday, after Bill Lunde and DJ Trahan finished their first rounds, they also withdrew because of flu-like symptoms, so apprarently, the virus spread to them as well. Charley Hoffman noticed that and quickly moved out of the house and into a hotel. Hoffman, however, finished the tournament unscathed. He managed to finish the tournament without any flu-like symptoms. He apparently had some immunity to this virus or that he escaped just in time.
6: Memorial Tournament: Rickie Fowler's week.
[IMG]http://i55.tinypic.com/nnr4ea.png[/IMG]Rickie Fowler probably had THE wildest week out of ANYONE on this tournament. He had 26 birdies and 1 eagle. 26 birdies and 1 eagle!!! And yet, not only did he not win, but he finished 12 shots back of the winner Steve Stricker. Reason? EXTREME inconsistency. He made 15 bogeys, 3 double bogeys, and 1 triple bogey. Holy crap!!!
5: Celtic Manor Wales Open: Graeme McDowell's collapse.
[IMG]http://i53.tinypic.com/2aiomch.png[/IMG]After being just one shot back afte 36 holes of the Wales Open, McDowell shot himself in the foot in the third round, shooting a 81 to drop like a bullet out of contention. What makes McDowell's meltdowns so shocking was the fact that McDowell was on the top of the world at the end of 2010. He looked like he was on the verge of becoming a dominant player. But then 2011, everything changed for him. His golf game lost consistency, and he began developing an M.O. of falling out of contention dramatically in the third or final round. The same trend was exhibited at the Heritage and the Players Championship. People have really begun questioning about whether or not McDowell's 2010 season was a fluke. This week, McDowell wasn't even the top Graeme in the field. He was outplayed by Graeme Storm, whom, for a trivial note, held a 2-shot lead after round 1 of the 2007 PGA Championship.
4: Memorial Tournament: Kevin Stadler and Brandt Jobe's near back-to-back near hole-outs. This was something unbelievable. They were paired together in the third round, and on the 3rd hole, Kevin Stadler slam-dunked his shot into the hole, but then it wildly bounced out and ricocheted backwards, landing on the fringe 30 feet to the hole. Immediately after, Brandt Jobe also nearly slam-dunked his approach shot but it also ricocheted wildly backwards to the rough 25 feet to the hole. That was one cruel break. Stadler parred while Jobe bogeyed, when they could have both just eagled. 5 shot difference there.
3: Memorial Tournament: Steve Stricker's week.
[IMG]http://i54.tinypic.com/s3hog9.png[/IMG] Steve Stricker had THREE EAGLES of the week, two of them being hole-out eagles. One was the hole-in-one on the 8th hole. Another notable surprise / interesting thing of his week was the fact that he was 20 under par on the front nine but 4 over par on the back nine. Ironically, prior to this week, his career record for the front nine was 8 over par and back nine record was 14 under par.
2: Celtic Manor Wales Open: Elliot Saltman's hole-outs.
[IMG]http://i53.tinypic.com/2ng93rc.png[/IMG] Elliot Saltman after 16 holes of his first round, was 6 over par and had a high chance of missing the cut. Until he finished the round Ace-Eagle to jump to 2 over par. After a wild roller-coaster week, he still managed to notch a 12th place finish. What makes his week so notable was the fact that he made a hole in one on the 17th hole TWICE in one tournament. He also holed out for the ace in the final round. I would have never expected someone to have a week this crazy.
1: Nationwide Tour: Steve Wheatcroft's 12-shot win. The most surprising storyline of this week belongs to the Nationwide Tour's Melwood Prince Open. Steve Wheatcroft won the tournament by a whopping 12 strokes. He finished the week 29 under par. He broke both records of largest margin of victory on the Nationwide Tour AND the lowest 72-holes score on the Nationwide Tour. He had 1 eagle, 31 birdies, and 4 bogeys. It's amazing how much talent some Nationwide Tour players have despite it being a second-rated tour.
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