PGA Tour News
Stricker holds on to win 2nd straight John Deere PDF Print E-mail

 

SILVIS, Illinois (AP)—Steve Stricker won the John Deere Classic for the second straight year on Sunday, holding on for a two-shot victory after leading by seven strokes.
Stricker couldn’t match the shot-making that allowed him to record the lowest 54-hole total in PGA Tour history. But he came through with a critical birdie after driving into the trees on No. 17—the second straight day he put his ball there—and closed with a 1-under-par 70, just enough to beat Paul Goydos.
“It’s a position you want to be in, with a big lead, but you know you have everything to lose,” Stricker said. “This is the exactly the same way I felt at Northern Trust. It was difficult. It’s a hard round to play.”
“You don’t want to give shots away and then you end up playing a little safer than you normally do and it leads to tougher birdie putts,” Stricker said. “Then they creep in closer because they were playing some good golf.”
Goydos, who dazzled the golf world with his 59 in the opening round, shot a solid 66 but still fell short of dethroning Stricker, who won for the ninth time in his career.
He played it safe and his putting wasn’t sharp. The shot-making that had allowed him to record the lowest 54-hole total in PGA Tour history wasn’t there. But he came through with a critical birdie after driving into the trees on No. 17 and finished with a 258—26 under and a record for the tournament.
Jeff Maggert shot a 70 to finish six strokes back.
Stricker led by six at the start of the day and quickly bumped the lead to seven with a 7-foot birdie putt on the first hole. But he had to battle through the rest of the round before essentially sealing his victory at 17.
After driving into the trees right of the fairway, Stricker punched out to 91 yards, right in front of the green, then knocked his next shot to six feet. Measuring the putt carefully, Stricker tapped the ball and as fans yelled “Get in the hole,” it dropped.
“I told myself you can make this and you need to make this,” he said. “I look back at some of the big putts that I’ve made and there’s nothing to be scared of and I rolled it in. So that was a big putt. To go into the last hole with two shots instead of one was huge.”
Goydos also birdied the hole to stay two behind, but his last hope died when he hit into the water on 18. Stricker bogeyed the hole after laying up and hitting into the left rough, but it didn’t matter—he was a champion again.
“Strick was hard to catch,” Goydos said. “I kept pushing, chipping, grinding, but that putt he made on 17 was a world class putt.”
Stricker, ranked fourth in the world, doffed his cap and hugged his caddie and Goydos after tapping in his final shot.
Goydos, who had been trying for his first win since 2007, qualified for the British Open with his second-place finish. Deere officials arranged for two charter jets to fly the players direct to Scotland on Sunday night.
The final groups started three hours early because rain was forecast and they played in threesomes instead of pairs. And it was just in time—it began sprinkling as Stricker, Goydos and Maggert played the 18th.
Maggert drew within four strokes of Stricker on the back nine, but fell back when he bogeyed 13.
After dominating the TPC Deere Run course for three rounds, Stricker had a shot at the PGA Tour scoring record of 254 and the record of 32 birdies for 72 holes. He fell short on both ends, but he got a victory to make that long flight to St. Andrews seem a whole lot shorter.
“This is why we’re playing right here,” Stricker said, pointing to the trophy on the table in front of him, “to win tournaments. I wouldn’t trade anything for this.”
 
Rose holds on to win at Aronimink PDF Print E-mail

Written By Doug Ferguson

 

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP)—Justin Rose had to sweat out the final five holes at steamy Aronimink to win the AT&T National by one shot for his second PGA Tour title in his last three starts.
One week after Rose lost a three-shot lead in the final round, he had a five-shot advantage when he made the turn Sunday. Then came consecutive three-putt bogeys, and the 29-year-old Englishman had to battle for pars to the secure the victory.
 
He closed with an even-par 70 for a one-shot victory over Ryan Moore, who finished with eight straight one-putt greens for a 65.
 
Tiger Woods was long gone before the conclusion. When he closed with a 71, it marked the first time in 11 years that he failed to finish a regular PGA Tour event without breaking par in any of the four rounds.
 
Watson wins 3-way playoff at Travelers PDF Print E-mail

 

By PAT EATON-ROBB, Associated Press Writer
CROMWELL, Conn. (AP)—Bubba Watson really wanted to play well at the Travelers Championship to impress U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin.
He did.
Watson overcame a six-stroke deficit Sunday to force a playoff with Pavin and Scott Verplank, then beat Verplank with a par on the second playoff hole.
Watson, the long-hitting left-hander from the Florida Panhandle, closed with a 4-under 66 to match Verplank (64) and Pavin (66) at 14 under. Pavin dropped out on the first extra hole.
After making a 3-footer on the par-3 16th to win, Watson hugged wife Angie and began crying. He said he was so nervous, he could not feel his arms on the final putt.
“I’m a very emotional guy,” he said. “I cry all the time. When I go to church on Sunday, I cry at church. I couldn’t get the ‘Yes’ out of ‘I do’ at my wedding. The pastor said, ‘You got to say it. You can’t just nod. You can’t nod.’
“Everybody has issues. My family had some issues. My dad is battling cancer. My wife last year thought she had a tumor in her brain. We got lucky with that one, and now, we’re battling with my dad. It’s emotional.”
It was largest comeback on the tour since Padraig Harrington also came from six back to win the 2007 British Open.
Verplank left his tee shot short and left of the green on the second playoff hole and missed an 8-foot par putt. Watson, who had a 48-footer for birdie, was able to steady his nerves enough to get it close.
The 50-year-old Pavin, who was taking a break from the Champions Tour to scout players for the Ryder Cup, was eliminated on the first playoff hole after hitting his tee shot just 219 yards (101 yards shorter than Watson) and putting his approach into a bunker short of the 18th green. He chipped to 3 feet, earning a standing ovation.
“The playoff was a little disappointing to me,” he said. “I kind of popped up a three-wood there and left myself in a pretty precarious spot.”
“Now, it’s just time to go back and play with golfers my own age,” he added.
Justin Rose, coming off his first PGA Tour win this month at the Memorial, had a three-stroke lead entering the round. But the 29-year-old Englishman shot a 75 to tie for ninth at 11 under.
“It was obviously my tournament to lose,” Rose said. “I could have shot 1-over par today and won the golf tournament. It’s disappointing. It wasn’t overly difficult today.”
Watson almost won on the first playoff hole, hitting a sand wedge within an inch of the cup from 128 yards out.
But Verplank made an 8-foot birdie putt to extend the playoff.
Verplank started the day in 13th place, eight strokes behind Rose, while Pavin and Watson were both six back.
Verplank eagled the 13th and 15th holes to move into contention. But a birdie try on 17 lipped the cup.
“When I holed it on 15, I looked at the leaderboard, and I wasn’t that far back. I needed to birdie one of the last couple holes,” Verplank said.
The crowd began chanting “USA! USA!” after Pavin made a 32-foot birdie putt on 17 hole that broke sharply from left to right and put him into contention.
He said he wouldn’t himself on the Ryder Cup team, even if he had won.
“Being captain is pretty tough, just to do that,” he said. “Arnold Palmer was the last one to do that, and that was a different era, a different time. I wouldn’t have played.”
Watson had led briefly after four birdies on the back nine put him at 15 under. But he hit his tee shot on 17 into a bunker, and topped his second shot into the water on the way to a double bogey.
But he didn’t quit. He hit his tee shot 396 yards off the cart path, and made a 6-foot birdie putt to get into the playoff.
“I guess you can’t say I choked, because I came back and birdied the next hole and now I’m the champion,” he said.
No player in the first three groups made it into the playoff.
Rose held the lead until he missed a 10-foot par putt on 10th and moved into a three-way tie with playing partner Ben Curtis and Verplank.
Rose lost the lead after a bogey on the 12th hole, then hit his tee shot on 15 into the water on his way to a double bogey.
Curtis, who bogeyed just two holes in the tournament coming into Sunday, hit his tee shot on 12 out of bounds to the left, and made a double bogey. Both he and Rose bogeyed 16. Curtis finished with a 73 to tie for 13th at 10 under.
Chris Riley began the day at 8 under, but eagled the par-4 14th from 155 yards and was 5 under on the back nine. He finished a stroke out of the playoff at 13 under.
“I bogeyed my first two holes and, I was like, ‘Ho, hum. Here we go,”’ he said. “I was in something like 45th place. What makes this course so great is you can make up ground.”
Watson ended Europe’s tour winning streak at three. Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell won the big prize last week at the U.S. Open. The Memorial was Rose’s first tour win, and fellow Englishman Lee Westwood won the St. Jude Classic.
Watson earned $1.08 million and moved into eighth place in the FedEx Cup rankings.
 
McDowell holds on, wins US Open PDF Print E-mail

 

PEBBLE BEACH, California (AP)—Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland closed with a 3-over 74 to become the first European in 40 years to capture the U.S. Open.
McDowell seized control after a shocking collapse by Dustin Johnson, then failed to get flustered with Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els lined up behind him.
McDowell’s father was waiting to embrace him on the 18th green.
“You’re something, kid,” Kenny McDowell said.
 McDowell, 30, wasn’t perfect, but he was good enough to take the initiative and hold on for a one-shot victory over another surprise contender, Gregory Havret of France, who shot 72.
Johnson took a triple bogey on the second hole to lose all of his three-shot lead, and a double bogey on the next hole ended his hopes. Three of the biggest stars of this generation were right there, ready to continue the lineage of great champions at Pebble Beach, only to play far below their expectations.
McDowell made only one birdie—an 8-foot birdie putt on the fifth hole— and his final round was the highest score by a U.S. Open champion since Andy North in 1985.
“I can’t believe I’m standing with this right now,” McDowell said, posing with silver trophy. “It’s a dream come true. I’ve been dreaming it all my life. Two putts to win the U.S. Open. Can’t believe it happened.”
Woods couldn’t believe it, either.
Poised to end six months of bad publicity over a shattered personal life, he bogeyed five of his first 10 holes and took himself out of contention with a 75.
Els and Mickelson hung around a little longer, and both had their chances, but neither hit the kind of shots that win the U.S. Open.
Els had a brief share of the lead on the front nine but came undone along the coastal holes—including one stretch of bogey-double bogey-bogey—and never quite recovered. His hopes ended when he missed his target with a sand wedge on the par-5 14th and took bogey, then missed a four-foot birdie putt on the 15th.
He closed with a 73 to finish alone in third.
Mickelson, with another great chance to end a career of disappointment at the U.S. Open, holed a birdie putt from just off the green on the first hole, then didn’t made another birdie the rest of the day. He also shot a 73 and tied for fourth with Woods, missing a chance to supplant Woods at No. 1 in the world.
Woods made only two birdies, but was more troubled by his mistakes.
“I made three mental mistakes,” Woods said. “The only thing it cost us was a chance to win the U.S. Open.”
Even so, nothing compares with what happened to Johnson. The 25-year-old American looked so unflappable all week, and came apart so quickly. On the final hole of a round he won’t forget, Johnson missed a two-foot birdie putt and wound up with an 82. It was the highest closing round by a 54-hole leader in the U.S. Open since Fred McLeod shot 83 in 1911.
McDowell finished at even-par 284 and ended 40 years of questions about when a European would capture America’s national championship. England’s Tony Jacklin was the last one, in 1970 at Hazeltine.
McDowell had to work harder than he imagined.
Even under overcast skies and a stiff breeze, the course was firm and dangerous as ever. Davis Love III, with a 71, was the only player among the final five groups who matched par.
“I can’t believe how difficult this golf course was,” McDowell said. “No matter how good you play … good golf got reward, and bad golf got punished really badly.”
McDowell got into the U.S. Open by narrowly getting into the top 50 in the world at the deadline to avoid qualifying. He wound up with his first victory in America to go along with five European Tour victories, most recently the Wales Open last month at the home course for the Ryder Cup in October. He is sure to be part of the European team now, moving up to No. 12 in the world.
 
Wrap-up, Sunday: St. Jude Classic PDF Print E-mail

 

By Staff and Wire Reports, PGATOUR.COM
MEMPHIS, Tennessee—Lee Westwood won the St. Jude Classic presented by Smith & Nephew for his second career PGA TOUR victory and first since 1998, beating Swede Robert Karlsson on the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff Sunday.
The Englishman became the first European to win the TOUR’s third-longest event after Robert Garrigus blew a three-stroke lead on the final hole of regulation with a triple bogey. He bogeyed the first playoff hole.
Westwood and Karlsson went par-par-bogey until they returned to No. 18 once again. Westwood stuck his approach 6 feet from the pin on No. 18. Karlsson left his birdie putt from 43 feet away to extend the playoff about a foot short.
Then Westwood, who went 17 straight holes between birdies, rolled in the 6-footer for his first PGA TOUR win since New Orleans. He dropped his putter and celebrated with a fist bump.
Westwood started the final round trailing by three strokes, birdied three straight holes to grab the lead. But he bogeyed No. 17 and was ready to head off the course when told to stick around behind the 18th green.
He wound up taking home the $1.008 million winner’s check after the longest sudden-death playoff at Memphis with a 270 total.
The Englishman also becomes the fourth to win in his first visit to Memphis and first since Dicky Pride in 1994. Westwood came in having played well, not missing a cut in his 10 starts on TOUR this year with four top 10s. He had gone 122 starts on the TOUR since winning the 1998 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
Karlsson, who won his ninth European Tour victory at Qatar earlier this year, still is looking for his first PGA TOUR title. He shot a 69, and Garrigus finished with a 71.
Shaun Micheel, winner of the 2003 PGA championship, shot a 67 and finished tied with Garrett Willis (67) for fourth at 271.
Golfers and fans alike faced another steamy day as many players and caddies wore maroon ribbons pinned to their caps in a show of support on what could be the final round for an event that first started in 1958—unless organizers find a new sponsor by their own deadline of Sept. 15.
Westwood had the lead, or a share of it, most of the final round after starting his day with three straight birdies in the first four holes. But he parred out until he bogeyed No. 17 and finished with a 68. With Garrigus up by three, Westwood was ready to leave when told he should stick around the 18th hole.
He did and quickly found himself in a playoff that neither seemed ready to win until they got back to the 18th again.
Westwood hit a 303-yard drive and was 151 yards from the pin when he hit his approach well inside Karlsson’s. When the Swede’s putt was short, Westwood ended the playoff and started his celebration.
He had practiced his putting after the third round, work that paid off as Westwood birdied Nos. 2, 3 and 4 to take the lead back to himself at 11 under. He rolled in a 30-footer on No. 2, and then he holed out from nearly 34 feet on the par-5 third. He stuck a shot on the par-3 No. 4 from 185 yards within 19 feet and sunk that putt.
Garrigus, the 32-year-old pro from Scottsdale, Ariz., came into this event 377th in the world rankings and had never led a PGA TOUR event on the final day. The inexperience showed on the 72nd hole.
He put his tee shot into the lake lining the 18th fairway, took his drop and yanked his next shot into the trees left of the lake before punching out over the lake. He two-putted for triple bogey to at least make the playoff.
Playing that same hole again to start the playoff, Garrigus stayed away from the lake.
His 338-yard drive landed in the pine straw behind a tree, leaving him no choice but to shoot back into the fairway. With Westwood and Karlsson parring the fourth-toughest hole, Garrigus had to hole out a 13-footer for par. The putt went just along the right edge for bogey, knocking him out.
 
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