Monday, August 26, 2013

Lateral Hazard: Measuring Tiger Woods' quantity vs. Adam Scott's quality

That little patch of grass between the Nike swoosh on Tiger's golf ball and the 18th hole at Liberty National Golf Course on Sunday (maybe, what, three-quarters of an inch?), was that the difference between Adam Scott and Tiger Woods winning PGA Tour Player of the Year? 
Could be. The whole scene was enough to make a world number one player grimace twice – first from the kind of back spasm a soon-to-be 38-year-old suffers; second, because his golf ball stayed one rotation away from forcing a playoff with Scott, the man who right now appears to be the lead horse in the POY race, which is determined by player vote.
After all, here is the New Math: Tiger's five wins are not equal to Scott's two wins. Nope. Not when one of the two wins is the Masters, and second of the two wins is the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs. That math is made more striking when the second win is one stroke ahead of the guy with five wins – none of which is a major or a Fed Ex playoff leg.
Now, just think if Tiger, doing that Willis Reed thing we've seen him do through the years, walking stiffly, making obvious his pain, had rolled home that 20-footer from the fringe for birdie, then gone on to win the playoff hole against Scott. We'd be looking a guy who birdied the final three holes atLiberty National, just three holes after falling to his knees on the 13th fairway with what he later admitted was a crippling back spasm. We'd be looking at a guy with six (!) wins in 2013. We'd be looking at a guy with career win No. 80, two short of tying Sam Snead.
In that case, one could argue, six wins are greater than one win, even when the one win is the Masters. 
Yep. That little patch of grass. Three-quarters of an inch. The difference between rose petals tossed towards a gritty Tiger comeback; and a Steve Williams bro-hug for the 2013 Flavor of the Year Scott, the impossible-to-dislike Aussie who employs as his caddie the impossible-to-like Kiwi. Not only is Scott now No. 2 in the world, he is the kind of guy who is gracious and thoughtful enough to use his 30 post-tournament seconds on CBS to give a shout out to his newborn niece, Olivia – the sort of quality that endears one to Scott and helps you overlook the fact that he putts with some sort of alien contraption that goes up to his neck and requires the kind of grip better used on an oceanic oil platform. 
Adam Scott celebrates after a narrow win at Liberty. (Getty)There is still time for Tiger to leave his mark on 2013. There are still three stages of the FedEx Cup playoffs to go, starting with the second stop this Friday at TPC Boston for the Labor Day finish. Tiger wouldn't say if he'll be healthy enough to play, but one might imagine the guy who uses drama as adrenaline wouldn't miss it. He has a damsel to please, too. His main squeeze, Lindsey Vonn, tweeted out moments after Tiger's final-round 69 was one stroke shy: "Proud of my man for fighting back. He's the toughest person I know. #fighter #nothingcanholdhimdown."
A cynic might say major championship events of the last five-plus years have held him down, but that would only be a cruel reminder. Right now, it's Adam Scott's world, and Tiger has work to do if he wants to salvage 2013's major-less campaign with an ongoing record 11th Player of the Year. It's a game of inches, after all. Sometimes less than an inch, even.
SCORECARD OF THE WEEK
66-65-70-78 – 5-under 279, Matt Kuchar, tie-19th, The Barclays, PGA Tour Fed Ex Cup playoffs,Liberty National GC, Jersey City, N.J.
Philosophical question: When you are known for your infectious grin on the golf course, are you allowed to not grin when you completely and totally implode on the doorstep of victory?
Matt Kuchar, feel free to scowl.
The guy everyone calls 'Kooch' because we all feel like we know him because he's always so easy and breezy and smiley on the golf course went south on Sunday. Kooch pretty much watched his golf game end up somewhere in the swamps of Jersey. As a Jersey guy named Springsteen might sing to that thought: May the Lord have mercy.
One of the more curious facts about Adam Scott's win was that he started his final round six shots off the lead, with some serious names ahead of him. Among those names was the guy six shots ahead of him, Kuchar, who already has two wins in 2013.
How unusual was Kuchar's train wreck, which began with a bogey on No. 1, moved swiftly and earnestly with a triple bogey on No. 9, then asserted its argument with bogeys on Nos. 10, 13, 15 and 17 before an almost comical birdie at the last hole?
Consider: It was Kuchar's worst final round of 2013. It was starkly uncharacteristic of a player who ranked top-30 on Tour in final-round scoring average (70.11). And it was only better than Josh Teater's 79 and Jonas Blixt's 81 in the entire field Sunday. 
Plus, Blixt had an excuse, since he was distracted by dressing in Rickie Fowler's all-orange outfit in some sort of ill-conceived stunt because he was paired with Fowler.
Matt Kuchar searches for his ball with caddie Lance Bennett during the final round. (USA Today)(Quick side note on Blixt dressing like Fowler to show solidarity with his Puma brother: A buddy once told me that he and his friends got an adrenaline rush in college and thought it would be hilarious to hop in the car in L.A. and drive to Vegas to party all night – while dressed like Mr. Furley from "Three's Company". You know, the vest and the polyester and the scarf and all that. True story. As my buddy said to me: "Once we got to Vegas, let me assure you – there was nothing hilarious or cool about being dressed like Mr. Furley from 'Three's Company'.")
That's how I sort of felt about Blixt's all-orange. Hey, it's a scream if you shoot 65. But let me assure you – there is nothing cool about being dressed in all-orange when you shoot 81 on a Sunday at a FedEx Cup event. To Blixt's credit, he delivered a droll tweet after the round: "Not wearing orange again …"
It's the ellipses after the tweet that makes it, full of possibility as to what he left out.
Anyway, back to Kuchar. I'm in a fantasy betting league, and one of our challenges was to select a top-25 player from the FedEx Cup rankings, other than Tiger, for the four-tournament duration. It was almost a stampede in the league to draft Kuchar, who seems born for these kinds of events; no major championship pressure, consistency rewarded, et cetera. And then, the Sunday 78. The plummet from tie-1st to tie-19th. 
There's almost no explaining how a guy that steady can go that sideways. Except, you know, it's golf. And golf is hard.
BROADCAST MOMENT OF THE WEEK
"That's a hypothetical. Right now, I'm not feeling my best." – Tiger Woods, to CBS' Matt Gogel, about whether his back felt good enough to play Friday at TPC Boston.
Credit to two people here. One, to Gogel, who is not exactly Mike Wallace in those on-course interviews. But here, he asked Tiger what treatment his back would need, and when Tiger did what he's been doing since age 10 and completely blew off the question by recounting his back nine, Gogel re-loaded and asked again. 
Tiger Woods walks in the rough during the final round. (USA Today)Will you play in the next event, he asked?
Nice work, young Jedi! Tiger, having fired his non-answer bullet, gave the above answer, then didn't do any more media. So, we at least have that on record. 
The second hat-tip goes to Golf Digest's Sam Weinman, a sharp cookie who accurately tweeted out: "Actually, Tiger, a hypothetical would be: Suppose there was a golf tournament next week. Now, suppose you were asked to play . . . "
Rimshot! He's right, of course. We all expect more from our Stanford products, right? Maybe if Tiger had stayed long enough to graduate, he'd differentiate between a hypothesis and a question from Matt Gogel.
MULLIGAN OF THE WEEK
On a day of so much wreckage – Gogel's 78, Gary Woodland's failed three birdie tries on 16, 17 and 18, Kevin Chappell's back-nine lead disintegrating into a 7-over finish over his final eight holes – the mind still drifts back to Tiger.
After the back spasm on the 13th fairway – on a swing that sent his ball into an algae-ridden swamp, no less – he spent the next six holes curtsying to remove his ball from the cup. He was clearly not right, and yet here he came with those birdies on 16 and 17 and then the roll from the back fringe on 18.
So close, and yet so far.
Nick Faldo had surmised on CBS that Tiger's back was so tender, we wouldn't have seen the trademark Tiger fist pump had the final birdie fallen on 18, but I'm not so sure. The frustrated shut of Tiger's eyes as his ball stubbornly stayed above ground showed how much it hurt. Had it fallen, the adrenaline rush might have overcome any pain, and we might have seen the kind of Tiger reaction we hadn't seen since Torrey Pines in '08, the holy-moley-am-I-hurting-but-man-does-this-feel-sweet body spasm of joy.
Plus, then we would have had a Tiger-Adam Scott playoff, with Steve Williams there and all that. Fun, denied. 
So let's go back out to the back fringe of 18, give Tiger another roll, remind him to give it one extra iota of oomph and ... give that Tiger a mulligan! Then, let the celebration begin.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Onward the top 100 players in the rankings go, to TPC Boston for Leg 2 of this four-tournament FedEx Cup playoff, starting Friday for a Labor Day finish. My stance on the FedEx Cup has been consistent for the last few years: I will never hardly remember who won a FedEx Cup; I have trouble firing up for a guy winning a $10 million jackpot when that's really the only thing he's playing for; these events have none of the majesty or prestige of the majors and never will ... and yet, I am thankful the PGA Tour came up with something (in this case, $$$) to keep the best players playing into September.
After all, 10 years ago at this time, Phil Mickelson would be off doing Philly Mick things, like working on a machine that reverses the process of aging, or studying the San Diego Chargers depth chart. Instead, we got to enjoy Lefty's sterling Sunday charge at Liberty National on Sunday, a 65 that ended just two strokes shy of a playoff. That'll work for my couch potato viewing experience. 
Will Tiger play? The bet here says he will. And we don't traffic in hypotheticals around here; only solid conjecture.
Related video on NBC Sports

Posted by at No comments:

Kiwi teen Ko wins second LPGA Canadian Open

New Zealand amateur sensation Lydia Ko won the LPGA Canadian Women's Open for the second straight year, leaving an elite pro field in her wake.
Ko, whose triumph in Vancouver last year at the age of 15 years and four months made her the youngest LPGA title winner in history, backed up that milestone victory with a five-stroke victory over France's Karine Icher on Sunday.
"I'm pretty surprised, but I played some really good golf out there, so I was really happy about that," said Ko, who grabbed another slice of LPGA history as the first amateur to win two titles on the tour.
"My goal today was to shoot five-under and just play my own game. If somebody else shot better, then I can't do anything about it."
Ko, of Auckland, carded a final-round six-under 64 at Royal Mayfair Golf Club for a 15-under total of 265.
The bespectacled teen curled in a birdie putt at 18 -- her seventh birdie of the day -- lifting her arms in triumph as it dropped.
"I didn't have it coming," said Ko of her final 15-footer. "That's why I was like oh, my God. I was pretty worried it would just go straight down because I knew it was a slippery putt. No, I just hit a little bit, and it trickled down in the hole."
Icher, one of the bevy of Europeans playing this week in the wake of their Solheim Cup triumph over the United States in Colorado, carded a 67 for 270.
Sweden's Caroline Hedwall, the first player to go 5-0 in the Solheim Cup, had started the day with a one-stroke lead. She carded a 71 to share third on 271 alongside American Brittany Lincicome, who shot 69.
After an opening par, Ko birdied three straight holes starting at the second, then added birdies at the sixth and eighth to seize a lead she wouldn't relinquish.
Norway's Suzann Pettersen pushed her with a run of three straight birdies starting at the fifth, but couldn't get the gap below three strokes.
Ko led by four after a birdie at the 12th, but gave that stroke back with her lone bogey of the day at 13.
But Pettersen's challenge evaporated with a double-bogey at the 14th.
Ko's 64 was three shots better than the next-best round of the day, Icher's 67.
"Yeah, no, not too bad for me, obviously," said Icher, who will take home the winner's $300,000 purse because of Ko's amateur status.
"But I would love to win one one day, but it's nice for her. She deserves it. I'm sure she's a hard worker, and especially in Canada for her it's special."
Her victory made Ko the first player to defend a title on the LPGA Tour since Tseng Ya-ni won the Women's British Open in 2010 and 2011.
Ko's fourth victory in a professional tournament is bound to renew the question of when the 16-year-old phenom will turn professional.
She won the New Zealand Women's Open in February, a Ladies' European Tour event, while her win at the age of 14 in the Australian LPGA's Women's New South Wales Open in January of 2012 had made her the youngest player male or female to win a pro tournament.
Posted by at No comments:

Scott opens FedEx Cup playoffs with a win

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) -- Masters champion Adam Scott didn't think his good round was good enough Sunday at The Barclays.
His caddie had already packed his golf clubs into a travel case. He viewed his visit to the CBS Sports tower as nothing more than a courtesy. His only hope was that the other players still on the course - Tiger Woods and Justin Rose among them - might find it as difficult to close out a victory as Scott has over the years.
''I'm pretty shocked,'' Scott said after his 5-under 66 gave him a one-shot win at Liberty National. ''There were so many guys out there with a chance and I really didn't think I had much of a chance. If you hang around the lead long enough, you're going to win some, you're going to lose some. And this one went my way.''
Scott was watching from the locker room when Rose, who had a 25-foot putt for the outright lead, ran it 5 feet by the hole and three-putted for bogey. Clubs unpacked, Scott was on his way to the range when the groans from around the 18th green told him Woods narrowly missed his 25-foot birdie putt from off the back of the green to tie for the lead. Once on the range, a large video board showed Gary Woodland miss his third straight birdie putt from inside 10 feet.
''I guess it's different playing an hour-and-a-half in front of the leaders, the guys who have been under pressure all day than when you're out there,'' Scott said. ''I know how they feel. When the pressure is on you to close out, it's much harder, and the holes become much harder and shots are far more crucial.
''I feel like I've been given a bit of a gift,'' he said. ''But I'll take it.''
Scott finished at 11-under 273 and moved to a career-best No. 2 in the world.
Woods suffered a back spasm on the par-5 13th hole and hooked a fairway metal so far left that it landed in a swamp on the other side of the 15th fairway. Woods dropped to all fours in pain before slowly getting up. He also dropped a shot on the 15th, and then gamely fought back with birdies on the 16th and 17th holes to get within one.
His birdie putt from off the 18th green was one short turn of falling.
''Thought I made it,'' Woods said after his 69.
Woods had all four rounds in the 60s for the first time in a year on the PGA Tour, though it wasn't enough. He battled stiffness in his lower back all week, which he attributed to a soft bed in his hotel room - the second straight year he has had back issues from a mattress at this event.
In a brief interview with CBS Sports, he said it was ''hypothetical'' when asked if he would compete in the Deutsche Bank Championship, the next playoff event that starts Friday on the TPC Boston. The tournament gives its charity money to Woods' foundation. Woods already missed the AT&T National this year, which also benefits his foundation.
''I just got off and I'm not feeling my best right now,'' he said.
Rose wasn't feeling that great, either. He was in position to win the tournament with a birdie putt, and the U.S. Open champion did not want to leave it short. Instead, he knocked it by farther than he imagined, the ball stayed on the high side of the cup the whole way.
''I got too aggressive,'' said Rose, who closed with a 68. ''I thought it was a putt to win the tournament. It's tough to take.''
Kevin Chappell had a two-shot lead after a birdie on the 10th hole, but then played the next seven holes in 7-over par and closed with a 76. Woodland had a 73. Matt Kuchar, who shared the 54-hole lead with Woodland, fell back with a triple bogey on No. 9. His only birdie was on the 18th hole, and it gave him a 78.
''I found a way to hang in there and grind it out and gave myself a chance on the back nine on Sunday, which is everything you can ask for,'' Woodland said.
It was the second time Woods has missed a playoff by one shot at Liberty National.
Graham DeLaet of Canada, whose 65 matched Phil Mickelson for the low score of the final round, also tied for second. DeLaet will move up to No. 9 in the Presidents Cup standings, and with one week before qualifying ends, is in good shape to make the International team.
Scott won for the second time this year, and at least put himself into the conversation for PGA Tour player of the year if he were to go on to win the FedEx Cup. He is No. 2 in the standings behind Woods, though the $10 million prize does not come into view until the Tour Championship.
The first playoff event was packed with plenty of energy on a spectacular day across from the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline. Five players had at least a share of the lead at some point in the final round. Woods put up a great fight despite his back injury. Scott played the final 24 holes without a bogey.
Sunday also had some of the emotions found at Q-school for players whose season came to an abrupt end. And it was just as wild at the bottom.
Only the top 100 players in the FedEx Cup advance to the second playoff event next week outside Boston. Geoff Ogilvy could have joined them except for missing a 2 1/2-foot par putt on the final hole that ultimately knocked him out of the top 100.
Camilo Villegas, at No. 110, thought he needed a 6-foot par putt on the last hole to advance. He missed it and was visibly angry. More than an hour later, Aaron Baddeley appeared to be a lock to advance to Boston despite being at No. 119. Baddeley, however, bogeyed his last three holes, missing a 5-foot par putt on the 18th. That knocked him out and put Villegas back in at No. 100.
Scott missed a 15-foot birdie on the 18th hole that he thought might have been enough for a playoff at best.
''I thought I needed at least one more to even think about hanging around,'' said Scott, who stayed long enough to collect his first FedEx Cup playoff win.
Posted by at No comments:

Stroud, Fisher each shoot 64 to share Wyndham lead

Stroud, Fisher each shoot 64 to share Wyndham lead

CBSSports.com wire reports
Chris Stroud's 64 is the highest score for an opening-round leader since 2008. (USATSI)
Chris Stroud's 64 is the highest score for an opening-round leader since 2008. (USATSI)

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Chris Stroud doesn't want any rust in his game for the PGA Tour's playoffs. Ross Fisher just wants to make it that far.
Stroud and Fisher each shot 6-under 64 on Thursday to share the first-round lead in the Wyndham Championship.
Eight players -- defending champion Sergio Garcia, Matt Jones, Robert Garrigus, Jordan Spieth, Trevor Immelman, Morgan Hoffman, Patrick Reed and Andrew Svoboda -- shot 65.
John Senden and Stuart Appleby were among the five players at 66 at the final tournament before golf's postseason begins next week.
It was the highest score for an opening-round leader since the tournament returned to Sedgefield Country Club in 2008.
Stroud had eight birdies during his best round of the year, which came at the Donald Ross-designed course that had vexed him through the previous five years.
"I've even told people I love this golf course,'' Stroud said. "I have no idea why I don't play well here."
Stroud could've easily skipped this week and rested up for the playoffs. He arrived at No. 48 on the points list and -- unlike so many other players here this week -- is assured of a spot in the playoff field.
He has played this tournament every year since the crosstown move but made it to the weekend only once -- tying for 73rd last year.
After missing the cut at PGA Championship by a stroke, he said he "told my caddie, 'I got to play next week.'"
"I'm playing too well to go home and just sit and get rusty," Stroud said. "I said I want to get sharp for The Barclays. Let's go to Greensboro, low expectations since I haven't played that great here."
Those expectations might have been raised after a strong first round in which he made a quick charge up the leaderboard with three straight birdies.
The 31-year-old Texan, who started on the back nine, stuck his tee shot roughly 2 feet from the flagstick on the par-3 seventh and sank that putt to briefly move to 7 under.
He bogeyed the next hole after sending his tee shot into a water hazard, then pushed a 5-foot birdie putt wide on the par-4 ninth and settled for a par. That capped a round that was two strokes better than his six 66s this year, most recently last month at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
Fisher, a four-time winner on the European Tour who's a rookie on the PGA Tour and at No. 162 on the points list, was in the day's final threesome to start on the back nine, and he made his climb late.
"My manager said, 'You've got nothing to lose. Just go out there all guns blazing and see what happens,''' Fisher said. ``I know what I've got to do, and I've just got to go enjoy it, and if it's meant to be, it'll happen. ... I don't want it to end here."
He eagled the par-5 fifth when he landed his approach shot about 7 feet from the flagstick and sank the ensuing putt, then joined Stroud at 6 under two holes later with a 30-foot birdie putt. He could have overtaken him, but missed a 12-foot birdie putt on No. 8 before pushing a 40-foot birdie putt a few inches wide on No. 9.
Garcia, who claimed a two-stroke victory here last year, hit 17 greens during his bogey-free round. He is trying to become the first player since Sam Snead in the 1950s to win this tournament in consecutive years.
"It was a great round today, but it's only Thursday," Garcia said.
The greens were a hot topic of conversation among the players. The putting surfaces are a year more mature after a 2012 conversion from bent grass to Bermuda grass in an attempt to keep them firm and true to Ross' intent.
Stroud said the greens "roll like pool tables," Garrigus compared their speed to those found in major tournaments and Svoboda called them the fastest Bermuda greens he's ever played.
"It's unbelievable, the difference from where they used to be," Garrigus said. "It's very refreshing."
Some bubble players are trying to play their way into the top 125 on the points list, which would earn them spots at The Barclays next week in New Jersey.
Peter Hanson, who at No. 126 was the consummate player on the bubble, gave himself a good push with a 68. Appleby, at No. 123, is in good shape with his strong round.
But No. 129 Padraig Harrington shot a 73 to put his playoff fate in jeopardy. Immelman, at No. 148, needs a win to make it.
Jones, who is safe this year at No. 51 on the points list, can relate. He finished 126th in 2009 and 127th two years ago after rough weeks at this tournament.
"I've definitely been there before," Jones said. "I know what they're going through. It's not a comfortable feeling."
Copyright 2013 by STATS LLC. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC is strictly prohibited.
Posted by at No comments:

Europe builds a lead on American soil at Solheim Cup

Europe builds a lead on American soil at Solheim Cup

CBSSports.com wire reports
Morgan Pressel accounts for the lone point for the US, which has never lost the Solheim Cup on home soil. (USATSI)
Morgan Pressel accounts for the lone point for the US, which has never lost the Solheim Cup on home soil. (USATSI)

PARKER, Colo. -- Europe took an important step Friday toward winning the Solheim Cup on American soil.
Carlota Ciganda of Spain salvaged an unlikely par from a hazard on the par-5 15th hole and kept her and Suzann Pettersen from falling behind. Pettersen won the next hole with a birdie, sending them to a 1-up victory in a pivotal fourballs match that staked Europe to a 5-3 lead.
A long day at Colorado Golf Club ended with Stacy Lewis, on the losing end of that match, getting into a heated discussion with an official over the use of a laser by the official to determine the right drop. At one point, Lewis threw her hands in the air.
It was a tough day for the Women's British Open champion.
Lewis struggled with the pace of lightning fast greens on the front nine as she and Lizette Salas fell too far behind to catch up in morning foursomes. Lewis played with another U.S. rookie, Lexi Thompson, who twice squandered good birdie chances late in the fourballs.
Lewis is 1-5 in the Solheim Cup.
Pettersen and Carolina Hedwall led the European charge by winning both their matches. Pettersen, playing in her seventh Solheim Cup, drilled a fairway metal into 20 feet on the 16th hole that set up Beatriz Recari for the eagle putt to take charge in a foursomes match. In the afternoon, it was Pettersen's 7-foot birdie putt on the 16th -- after Thompson three-putted for par -- that gave Europe the lead.
Hedwall was part of what European captain Liselotte Neumann called her "Swedish Vikings" to lead off the warm, sunny opening session south of Denver. Hedwall and Anna Nordqvist finished the front nine with two birdies to build a 3-up lead, and they never let Lewis and Salas any closer.
Angela Stanford's overall record dropped to 3-9-3 as she lost both her matches -- with Brittany Lang in the morning and with rookie Gerina Piller in the afternoon.
The day was not a total loss for Meg Mallon's squad.
She was scrutinized for taking Michelle Wie as a captain's pick. Wie's superb short game combined with Cristie Kerr making big putts early as they disposed of Catriona Matthew and 17-year-old Charley Hull, 2 and 1, in the final match. The Americans picked up another point in the afternoon behind Lang and Lincicome, with Lang holing a bunker shot on the 14th hole to give her side control of the match.
In the morning, the lone American point came from Morgan Pressel and Jessica Korda, a 20-year-old rookie who had a most unusual start.
Korda described the opening tee shot as "very scary," and the rest of the first hole as simply surreal.
After a breakfast of milk and cereal, she was munching on a banana down the first fairway when she became nauseous. She walked over to the side of the fairway and threw up, news that spread quickly across the expansive course and gave her teammates a moment of levity.
"After I got past the first hole, I was pretty OK," said Korda, whose 7-foot par putt to halve the 16th hole clinched the match.
Copyright 2013 by STATS LLC. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC is strictly prohibited.
Posted by at No comments:

Perry shoots 7 under, takes 1-shot lead at Dick's Sporting Goods Open

Perry shoots 7 under, takes 1-shot lead at Dick's Sporting Goods Open

CBSSports.com wire reports
ENDICOTT, N.Y. -- Kenny Perry's magical ride continues.
Chasing his third victory of the year on the Champions Tour, Perry shot a 7-under 65 on Friday to take a one-shot lead after the first round of the Dick's Sporting Goods Open.
Perry, the Senior Players and U.S. Senior Open winner this summer, had three birdies over the final four holes to surge past Bart and Brad Bryant and Joel Edwards.
Esteban Toledo, Jeff Freeman, Rick Fehr, and Russ Cochran were tied for fifth at 67 as more than half the field broke par at the short-and-narrow En-Joie Golf Club under nearly ideal scoring conditions.
Perry's round turned with a brilliant shot at the par-5 12th hole. He holed a 6-iron from 187 yards for eagle. He also had six birdies to go with one bogey, hitting 15 fairways and putting just 26 times.
"I was 3-under par, playing nicely, cruising along," said Perry, who leads the Champions Tour in money winnings with over $1.5 million. "You have a lightning bolt hit you like that -- `Hey man, we can shoot a low score.' It really pumped me up. It really got me excited. It got me motivated. It made me more aggressive."
Just one shot behind, it felt like the good old days for the Bryants -- save the aches and pains. They were tied for the lead until Perry came along in the final group.
"Someone looked at the scoreboard and said, `Man, that Bryant, he must be good," Brad said, smiling broadly. "He's leading the tournament and went back out for 18 more (holes).' "
Bart, at 50 a rookie on the senior tour, is trying to recapture a lot of what he lost at the end of his PGA Tour career, when two wrist surgeries kept him away from the game for three years.
"It was frustrating. It was tough. I was out for a good three years and well over two that I couldn't even putt or chip or anything," Bart said. "Honestly, I really thought that I was probably done. It was a long three years. Just to be out here playing, it just feels so good."
Bart birdied No. 2, hitting sand wedge to about 10 feet right of the hole and made a good putt after missing one on the opening hole. At No. 12 he hit to 6 inches out of a greenside bunker and made another birdie, then hit 5-iron at the par-3 14th hole to 15 feet and made that. He capped the round with a 30-foot birdie putt on the closing hole.
"When I first came out here this year, I didn't have a lot of game," said Bart, whose best finish so far this year is a tie for fourth two weeks ago at the 3M Championship. "My golf muscles were not built back up. I just wasn't back at the level that I was when I left, or even close. As the year's gone on, I've gotten a little bit stronger, I've lost a little bit of pain, and I'm starting to get some of those shots back in my arsenal, so I feel like I'm kind of creeping in on some really good golf and maybe having the ability to compete. To win out here is very tough."
If not for a bogey at the par-3 fourth hole, Brad Bryant would have had a share of the lead. Still, despite a bad right foot that hobbled him all last year and an operation that has not provided any improvement to his health, Brad had a stellar round. He made three putts inside 6 feet, chipped in from 18 feet for birdie at the par-3 14th hole, and closed his round with a 12-foot birdie putt at No. 18.
Happy with his round. Even happier with that of his brother.
"Seeing Bart up there is always a good thing. He's world-class," Brad said. "It was really unfortunate that his wrists basically disintegrated. All the cartilage just went away and the doctors couldn't figure out why.
"I had a nice career on the PGA Tour, but I never was good as Bart. He was top 30 in the world for a couple of years. If he could get back physically, just healthy, every time he's been healthy he's really played well."
Edwards started strong, rolling in a 20-foot birdie putt at No. 2, then smoked the back nine with four birdies to match his best round of the year. Since tying for seventh at the Principal Charity Classic in early June, his best finish has been a tie for 35th at the U.S. Senior Open.
"It was a good, solid round. It was very important for me mentally to get that under your belt and see if you can do it again," the 51-year-old Edwards said. "It's been a long time since I played that well. That's exciting."
Copyright 2013 by STATS LLC. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC is strictly prohibited.
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Blog List