Posts tagged Luke Donald
Weekend Re-Tee: Dufner Wins, Lewis Holds Off Lexi and Donald Gets Back to No. 1
02 weeks ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
ESPN
Welcome to Weekend Re-Tee where we take a look back at the weekend that was in the world of golf.
The strong field assembled in the Big Easy for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, which included defending champion and recent Masters champion Bubba Watson, was the first time since Augusta that we have seen a good amount of top-50 players in the world.
It helps that Keegan Bradley, Ben Crane, Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose, Camilo Villegas and Rickie Fowler were given de facto appearance fees as they have been signed on as “Zurich Ambassadors.”
Thanks to the strong field and the upcoming tournaments on the schedule, fans are coming back to golf as the playing season around the country kicks into high gear.
Dufner gets first win
Jason Dufner captured his first PGA Tour victory on Sunday at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with a birdie on the second playoff hole to beat Ernie Els.
“There’s been a good bit of pressure,” Dufner said of his inability to win on Tour. “People talking about, `Why aren’t you winning? Why can’t you close the deal?’ Friends, family, media, even people in my inner circle. And not in a negative way, but when you’re leading tournaments going into weekends and you’re finishing 24th, there’s going to be some questions.”
Finally establishing himself on the PGA Tour last year after six different stints through Qualifying School, Dufner put himself on many golf fans’ radar with his performance at the season-ending PGA Championship where he would lose to Keegan Bradley in a playoff.
His patented waggle, easy-going demeanor and affinity for a nice lipper of tabacco have lent himself to a bunch of fans.
The key to getting off of the winless schneid was Dufner’s putting at the TPC Louisiana, especially from six feet and in. According to Shotlink, Duff made all 61 of his putts from inside that range last week.
Dufner’s steady demeanor was something Els pegged as a key asset, saying, “(Dufner’s) got a wonderful golf swing and I think this will help him a lot. I think he’ll win quite a few others. He’s got a really sound golf swing and game. If he keeps that shield up, he’s got — you know, that’s a pretty good defensive mechanism he’s got there.”
Els, who notoriously missed this year’s Masters, seems to be coming around as well, getting his trouble club, the putter, going this week despite a few missed putts in the playoff that could have guaranteed him into the 2013 Masters. With the second place finish, Els made his way to 40th in the world, which will get him into next month’s US Open.
For Dufner, the win was the beginning of a solid fortnight as he will marry his longtime girlfriend Amanda Boyd next week.
“It’s awesome. He’s been so close so many times. I don’t feel like it’s real,” Boyd said. “It will be a good wedding.”
The wedding will be a lot nicer now that Dufner has that monkey off his back, along with the $1.152 million he got for the win. Dufner moved up to 20th in the world.
Lewis holds off Lexi in Mobile
Stacy Lewis strung together four rounds in the 60s to hold off 17-year-old phenom Lexi Thompson by one stroke. The win was Lewis’ second and puts her squarely in the conversation as one of the best Americans on the LPGA Tour.
“I feel like I’ve been close (to winning) ever since (the 2011 Kraft Nabisco). People say I haven’t been winning, just kind of knocking on the door. It’s nice to get it out of the way,” Lewis said. “I fought. I’m exhausted. I’m glad I didn’t have to play more holes.”
Lewis had a five-stroke lead at one point, but Thompson began closing the gap as she played a few groups ahead of Lewis. Thompson shot a clean round of 65, but couldn’t manage to birdie either of the last two holes.
Lewis birdied the 16th hole and parred in to win.
The win for Lewis was solid, but the emergence of Thompson as a contender when she was under heat from the media for her prom proposal showed that Lexi thrives on being in the spotlight.
Donald back to No. 1 in the world
Just two weeks after losing the world’s top ranking due to mediocre play at Hilton Head, Luke Donald recovered the No. 1 ranking with a third-place finish in New Orleans.
“That’s a nice consolation,” Donald said. “It’s been going back and forth a little bit. Rory’s turn next week. It was a little bit of a motivation to try and play well today.”
Of course, with the current system, McIlroy or even Westwood could reclaim the top spot this week at the Wells-Fargo Championship, which Donald is sitting out in order to prepare for the Players Championship.
The RBC Heritage Television Schedule and Info
01 month ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
The first round of the RBC Heritage is underway at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, South Carolina. One of the most popular stops on Tour, Harbour Town usually brings in a pretty strong field even with being the week after the first major championship of the season. This year is no exception with World No. 1 Luke Donald teeing it up along with fan-favorites Rickie Fowler, Jim Furyk, Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey, John Daly, Ernie Els and Matt Kuchar. The Links seems to be playing pretty tough with some serious wind coupled with the small, firm greens.
This year’s purse: $5.7 million
Winner’s share: $1.026 million
FedEx Cup points to the winner: 500
Last year’s winner was: Brandt Snedeker
Television Schedule:
Thursday: 3-6 p.m. on Golf Channel
Friday: 3-6 p.m. on Golf Channel
Saturday: 1-2:30 p.m. on Golf Channel // 3-6 p.m. on CBS
Sunday: 1-2:30 p.m. on Golf Channel // 3-6 p.m. on CBS
SiriusXM Radio Schedule:
Thursday: 12-6 p.m. Sirius 208/ XM 93
Friday: 12-6 p.m. Sirius 208/ XM 93
Saturday: 12-6 p.m. Sirius 208/ XM 93
Sunday: 12-6 p.m. Sirius 208/ XM 93
Leaderboard:
Extras:
An Inside Look at Harbour Town
(h/t Armchair Golfer for the idea and PGA Tour for the image)
McIlroy Holds of Charging Woods, Westwood to Win the Honda Classic, Gain World’s Top Ranking
02 months ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
Getty Images
In the past, Tiger Woods’ name on the leader board could send his competitors into bogey-making frenzies. On Sunday, we saw the exact opposite from the newly christened No. 1 player in the world, Rory McIlroy, as the Northern Irishman held off Woods, Lee Westwood and Tom Gillis to win the Honda Classic by two strokes.
Coming into the final round with a two-shot advantage, McIlroy had a game plan to keep his round around even par and make the other players come and get him.
On his eighth hole, McIlroy saw the first leader board of the day and Woods’ name was just four shots back, standing at 7-under par through 12 holes.
“I made birdie on the 8th hole, so might have been a good thing,” McIlroy said of seeing Woods’ name in contention. “It’s different. Having him playing with me, it’s completely different, because you’re watching him and you can see what he’s doing. But I couldn’t really think about it too much. I just had to concentrate on what I was doing.”
A good third of the course behind Woods, McIlroy didn’t pay much attention to what the former World No. 1 was doing because he had his eyes set on becoming the new World No. 1 himself.
“With what could happen after today, with being able to go to the top of the World Rankings, it meant a lot to go out there and produce the golf that I needed to do to get the job done,” McIlroy said. “It was always a dream of mine to become the world No. 1 and the best player in the world.”
Knowing that Woods was making a run didn’t change how the Ulsterman played, he kept making pars, causing his opponents to force the issue, which was no small task given the conditions. The wind became such a factor that play needed to be suspended early Sunday morning, although it admittedly laid down as the day went on.
Playing with Harris English and Gillis in the final threesome, McIlroy never was in jeopardy of losing his lead. English got off to a rough start that took him out of contention completely and Gillis went backwards to start the day before finishing strong.
McIlroy’s biggest competition came from Ryder Cup teammate Lee Westwood and Woods. Westwood appeared to be having the round of the day, shot a 7-under par 63 to get to 8-under for the tournament. And Woods, who had set the 8-under mark as his number to aim for to start the day, had to change up his game plan.
“I thought starting out the day that 6‑under was, for the day, and 8‑under for the tournament, was going to be the number to shoot to at least put myself where I had a chance,” Woods said. “But that changed quite a bit when the wind died down.
“When I turned at 4(-under), I had to change that game plan because the wind was not blowing as hard, and I knew the guys were not going to back up as much.”
Of course, everyone knew where the tournament would be decided: the Bear Trap, a set of holes that were surrounded by water that had given players fits over the years.
Designed by Jack Nicklaus, the Golden Bear said that holes 15-17 would be where a tournament was won or lost.
Still needing to make up some ground, Woods entered the Bear Trap, which, in his words, had played a “little bit easier” because the wind was helping.
With Woods stalling at 7-under, unable to pick up a stroke over the previous five holes, Tiger knew he needed something to happen at 17 to get to his 8-under number and a tie with Westwood in the clubhouse.
Woods put himself just under 25 feet from the hole and calmly rolled in his birdie putt to get himself to 6-under for the day and 8-under for the tournament with the reachable par-5 18th hole still ahead of him.
Woods then smacked a driver 325 yards on 18 to cut the corner, giving himself 205 yards to the flag.
“There’s a tunnel that we walk off and it was on the left edge of the green, probably about three steps into the green,” Woods explained. “And I was just aiming it in, and off that downhill lie, I knew it was going to cut.”
Woods put his approach to eight feet and drained the putt to post 10-under par. Just about that time, McIlroy was lining up a birdie putt of his own on the 13th hole, coming off a bogey on the 12th.
That’s what sets McIlroy apart from the rest of the golfers out there now, he heard the roar and then knocked in his birdie to put him back up two strokes with five holes left.
“I wasn’t really paying much attention until he made that eagle on 18,” McIlroy said. “I heard the huge roar and it definitely wasn’t a birdie roar. That’s when I knew that he probably got to 10. You know, it was nice to have that two‑shot cushion going into the last five holes after holing that birdie putt.”
McIlroy showed why he is a special player coming down the stretch. Even with some nervous swings, McIlroy was able to get up-and-down for par on 14, 15 and 17 to hold on to his two-shot lead through the Bear Trap.
Coming down 18, McIlroy smoked a driver, laid up and put his approach on the green in regulation with 40 feet to navigate over three strokes.
McIlroy needed just two to clinch his fifth career win and third on the PGA Tour. Perhaps most importantly of all, McIlroy rose to the top of the Official World Golf Rankings, supplanting Luke Donald.
Woods finished in a tie for second with Gillis, who birdied the 18th hole to match him at 10-under. Westwood finished in solo fourth at 8-under par.
McIlroy is the second-youngest player to reach World No. 1, behind Woods, the 16th player to reach the top spot since the rankings began in 1986 and the fourth consecutive Euro to hold the ranking.
“It was a lot more meaningful,” McIlroy said of holding of Tiger and garnering the top ranking. “I think the way I won today, as well, was great. I missed a few greens coming in, but I was able to get up‑and‑down. I made a couple big par saves early as well which kept my momentum. It was just one of those days. There was a 62 and a 63 out there, which, I mean, is unbelievable playing. I just needed to focus on my game and do what I needed to do, and thankfully that’s what happened.”
McIlroy took home a $1.026 million winner’s check. He planned to fly up to New York City to spend a few days with his girlfriend, Caroline Wozniacki, and then it was back down to Florida for the WGC Cadillac Championship at Doral this week.
Following Doral, McIlroy will take off three weeks to prepare for the year’s first major, the Masters at Augusta National on April 5-8.
Accenture Round One Wrap Up: 17 Lower Seeds Advance
02 months ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
Reuters
Let’s get one thing out of the way from the start: the WGC Accenture Match Play has nothing in common with the NCAA Tournament besides what their brackets look like.
In college basketball, the No. 16 seed has never upset the No. 1 seed. In the Match Play, it’s happened three times, most recently yesterday with Luke Donald going down to Ernie Els in a 5 and 4 thumping.
The reasons are simple. As much as experts want to talk about the parity in college basketball, there are still obvious levels of talent. If you want to talk about parity, look at the PGA Tour; there have been 40 different winners dating back to last year’s Accenture Match Play.
With very few exceptions, you can pick 10 teams to start the NCAA tournament and be confident one of them will win it all. In this event, you can pick 30 and still be wrong.
When you take 64 of the best golfers in the world, there will undoubtedly be some upsets because of the nature of the tournament – 18 holes, do or die and an off day can doom you. Hoops teams have an entire season to gear up for the NCAA; that is their one major championship. For golfers, this is just a cool event with a bunch of money on the line.
A lot of guys in Arizona are just starting to get their season going, so they don’t have everything dialed in quite yet. Compound that with the fact the guy playing arguably the best golf in the world isn’t even in the field. (Phil Mickelson skipped the Match Play to go on vacation with his family.)
All of that is just a long-winded way of saying anyone in this tournament can take out their opponent if he is having an off day.
So, with that said, let’s take a look at a few of the matches that still made us scratch our heads and say, “huh?”
Going through the bracket from top-to-bottom and left-to-right, the first big upset after Donald would have to be Kyle Stanley taking down KJ Choi 2 and 1. Choi just seems like someone built to plug along in a match play event, but considering Stanley’s recent form, you can’t really be surprised by the win.
Similarly, Robert Rock is playing some solid golf. Having won in Abu Dhabi a few weeks back, he was able to carry that momentum into knocking off No. 2-seeded Adam Scott.
The last match that caught some off guard was YE Yang taking down Graeme McDowell. GMac has built up a pretty solid reputation as a match play wizard, highlighted by his performance at the 2010 Ryder Cup, but Yang knows a thing or two about taking down a big gun. Again, interesting, but not totally unexpected.
After Sergio Garcia’s strong Sunday 64 at Riviera, many saw him as a safe pick to get to the Sweet 16 and a showdown with Rory McIlroy. Not so fast, said Miguel Angel Jimenez. The Mechanic, at 48 years old, took down his countryman 2 and 1 to face Keegan Bradley in the second round.
In one of the biggest upsets of the day, PGA Tour rookie Sang-Moon Bae took out British match play bulldog Ian Poulter 4 and 3. Maybe it was Poulter’s constant scowl during match play events that makes people think he’s unbeatable or the fact that Sang-Moon Bae is not exactly a household name, but this one was maybe the biggest shock of the day.
Two young guns in the Snead bracket were able to punch their tickets to the second round with impressive wins on the first day. Matteo Manassero downed Webb Simpson 3 and 2 and Ryo Ishikawa stunned last week’s winner Bill Haas 1 up.
Of course, a wrap up wouldn’t be complete without a Tiger Watch. Woods beat Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño 1 up in as unimpressive way as possible.
Some matches to look forward to on day two include Eldrick and Nick Watney (1:37 p.m.), Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar (1:01 p.m.), Kyle Stanley and Brandt Snedeker (2:01 p.m.), Lee Westwood and Robert Karlsson (1:25 p.m.) and The Mechanic versus Keegan Bradley (2:25 p.m.)
Rapid-fire winners: Els, Stanley, Rock, D. Johnson, Kaymer, Watson, Stricker, Yang, Rory, Mechanic, Jason Day, Schwartzel, Karlsson, Woods, Manassero, Ishikawa.
WGC Accenture Match Play Championship Schedule and Info
02 months ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
The first World Golf Championship of the 2012 season is under way at Dove Mountain in Marana, Ariz. While Wrong Fairway will be putting the schedule and info post out on Thursdays, this is the one week of the year that the first day is already in the books. Out of the 32 first-round matches, 17 lower-ranking seeds moved on to the second day of the tournament.
This year’s purse: $8.5 million
Last year’s winner took home: $1.4 million
Last year’s winner was: Luke Donald (knocked out in the first round by Ernie Els, 5 & 4)
Television Schedule:
Wednesday: 12-6 p.m. on Golf Channel
Thursday: 2-6 p.m. on Golf Channel
Friday: 2-6 p.m. on Golf Channel
Saturday: 12-2 p.m. on Golf Channel // 2-6 p.m. on NBC
Sunday: 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. on Golf Channel // 2-6 p.m. on NBC
Leaderboard
2012 WGC-Accenture Match Play Live Scoring
(h/t Armchair Golfer for the idea)
The First Must-See Weekend of 2012 Raises Appearance Fee Questions
03 months ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
Getty Images
We’ve had the Hawaii Swing and a nice little pro-am in California so far in 2012, but all these tournaments have lacked the star power that drives people to their television sets to watch golf in the middle of winter.
All that changes this weekend as there are two tournaments taking place on opposites sides of the globe that are sure to catch the attention of the hibernating golf fan, the HSBC Champions in Abu Dhabi and the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. Both tournaments are boasting pretty strong fields with players that are capable of stealing away some viewers from the misery of watching the NFL Pro Bowl.
The question that arises from the split fields of the two tournaments stems from a purely financial point of view and involves Tiger Woods.
Imagine that.
During his press conference earlier in the week, Woods was asked a number of questions about his health, his swing and the state of his game, but an interesting line of questioning came up when the former world No. 1 was asked if appearance fees have an impact on the scheduling of high-profile players.
Woods was pretty forthcoming when asked if it affects how he schedules tournaments, saying, “You know, I’d have to say yes, it certainly does. That’s one of the reasons why a lot of the guys who play in Europe. I think the only tour that doesn’t pay [appearance fees] is the U.S. Tour.
“But, you know, a lot of the guys play all around the world and they do get appearance fees. Only place we don’t get it is the U.S.”
As I’ve said many times before, the upper echelon of professional golfers are independent contractors, setting their own schedule, rarely taking into consideration what their respective tours would like from them.
This week is the perfect example, especially in Woods’ case.
Growing up in southern California and playing on Torrey Pines all of his life, including some of his most iconic victories, you would think that Eldrick would like to take every opportunity to tee it up at Torrey.
However, as Tiger said in his presser, the PGA Tour will not pay their members or members of any other tour to simply show up, something PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem is adamant about.
“From the standpoint of professional athletic competition, it raises the specter in the fans’ mind that the player is only there because he was paid to be there and not there to really compete,” he said. “If the player doesn’t play well, in light of that perception, then there is a secondary perception that he didn’t even come to compete, he just showed up to get his appearance money. That is not a good thing for your image.
“This is something that’s been part of the PGA Tour since its inception in 1968. We think our image is the most important thing we have, and we’re not going to take the risk.”
First of all, the image of the PGA Tour is certainly not the most important thing they have, it’s the players, but the commish does make a good point.
People are cynical and if someone like a Tiger Woods shows up at an off-brand tournament and collects and appearance fee only to shit the bed, excuse the expression, people are going to go into full cynicism mode.
It will become a common thread around the golf world that Woods only showed up because he was paid to be there, not to try and win a tournament, regardless if that were true or not.
The European Tour combats that with paying enough high-profile players to make it worth their while to not only show up for the money, but to compete because of the world ranking points on the line.
This is all just a long way of saying that both systems work when implemented properly. As they say, there is more than one way to skin a cat.
As it stands now, if players are going to get paid good money to show up and play against good fields, they will continue to pass up the Torrey Pines’ of the world to play in Abu Dhabi for a nice pay day before the tournament even starts.
Just for Chips and Giggles: Catch-Up Edition
04 months ago
Welcome to the newest addition to Playing From the Wrong Fairway: Just for Chips and Giggles. Basically what this feature is going to be made up of is stories that slip through the cracks. It might become a weekly thing, but it just depends on how things go. Beings that I haven’t had the chance to update in a while, the first edition of this new segment will take the shape of a gigantic link dump. Usually, there will be a little more opinion added to each segment, but with so much time off and everything that needs to be touched on, this is the most simplified way it can happen.
Without further ado, here. we. go.
- It’s a shame that we didn’t get to do something on Luke Donald’s big double-win on the money lists. It really was one of the biggest accomplishments of recent years.
- Speaking of more money than people know what to do with, Lee Westwood shows that he is just a normal bloke making too much money.
- The world lost perhaps it’s best golfer while we were away. A 38-under par round of 34 and 11 holes-in-one. What a shame the Dear Leader never got his chance to play Augusta.
- Chubby Chandler’s International Management Group stable of stars took a hit when Rory McIlroy walked, but the Chubster added former US Am Champion Peter Uhlein and he’s talking about playing on the European Tour.
- Gary Woodland has had an interesting off-season. First, he was dropped by his swing coach (?) and now, he’s with Tiger and Mark Steinberg.
- Speaking of Rory, he’s gave a couple of interviews towards the end of 2011 about the Masters, the US Open and what went into his decision to leave IMG.
- Another young up-and-comer, Lexi Thompson snagged her second win.
- Yani Tseng dominated golf in 2011 moreso than anyone since Tiger in 2000 last year, but she still can’t get any love.
- Tiger Woods is one of those guys who left college early and never seemed to pan out. Could you imagine the type of coin he’d make if he actually got a degree? Well, he’s going to join the club of super-rich recent college graduates that I’m a member of. Just rolling in dough. 99% of college athletes go pro in something other than sports, you know.
- Speaking of guys who didn’t get a college degree and are really doing everything they can to scrape by, Justin Timberlake is now the Creative Director for Callaway.
- The PGA Tour is messing with the Q-School format and not in a good way. How am I supposed to get into the big leagues with these changes?
- BubbaClaus shot a 58. Not really that impressive compared to Kim Jung-il.
- The Golf Channel put Nick Faldo and Johnny Miller together in the same booth for the Tournament of Champions. It went as well as you could expect, which is to say, not well.
- 2012: The Year of Robot Golf. Maybe the Mayans were right.
- And finally, the golf highlight of the Wrong Fairway moratorium:
It’s good to be back. More tomorrow.
Thanks for checking in. 2012 should be fun.
Luke Donald Wins Disney and Money Title, Could Be Happiest Man in Happiest Place on Earth
06 months ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
AP
After a disappointing Friday-Saturday stretch at the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic in which world No. 1 Luke Donald could only muster 3-under par, Donald seemed to have given way to Webb Simpson as the PGA Tour Money List winner.
Needing to finish in the top-2 while having Simpson finish outside of the top eight seemed a tall order, and even more so through eight holes on Sunday when Donald found himself well back of the leaders.
Going out in 34, Donald still needed to do something extraordinary to put himself in contention to win the tournament and the money title.
Six straight birdies might do the trick.
Donald catapulted up the leaderboard and won the tournament by two strokes with his final-round 64. Simpson finished in a tie for sixth, but with Donald receiving the winners’ check, he would have had to do no worse than second to hold on to the money title, which Luke also took with the victory.
“It’s hard to put into words,” said Donald during his post-win presser. “You know, obviously I came here and I told you guys on Wednesday that the goal was to win. You know, nothing was really going to be good enough other than that.
“I think this is probably one of the most satisfying wins of my career just because of that. It was kind of do or die. Obviously it wasn’t looking great after the 8th hole, but I knew I was going to get on to a run.”
The run he talked about covered six holes and 18 strokes. No one in the top 15 played that stretch in any better than 3-under par. The win was Donald’s first stroke-play victory on the PGA Tour since 2006.
“This means a lot…To do it (make birdies) when I needed to, to know that under pressure I was able to pull off the shots when I needed to to hole the putts, and obviously to get ahead of Webb (Simpson) on the Money List and win this event.
“This is obviously the first stroke‑play event I’ve won in the U.S. for five years, too, which is pretty special. It’s just knowing that I had to do it and being able to do it, and all of it kind of went along with, you know, picking up the first place. It’s very, very special.”
Already having locked up the European Tour’s money list, Donald was a late entry into the Disney for the sole purpose of dethroning Simpson as the PGA Tour’s high money earner.
As if winning two things on Sunday weren’t enough, Donald made his case for the Player of Year that much stronger with his performance. We all know that golf is a “what have you done for me lately” game and with Keegan Bradley’s PGA Championship win a month old, the drama that Donald and Simpson brought to the money title shrinks Bradley’s accomplishments.
The PGA Tour announced that they would not be sending out the POY ballots until after the HSBC Champions in two weeks. With it being a non-Ryder Cup year, the PGA decided to wait until after the event in Shanghai, giving Bradley, Donald and Simpson another chance to make their case for Player of the Year.
The Disney CMNHC being the last tournament of the year, Donald also officially won the Vardon Trophy for the lowest average on the PGA Tour and gained a five-year exemption for winning the money title, as if he needed it.
Already No. 1 in the world, Donald only solidified his position and put some more space in between himself and No. 2 Lee Westwood. Donald will take a few weeks off before heading to China for the HSBC where he is certain to be featured in one of their goofy promos.
Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems, Mo’ Tournaments for Donald and Simpson
07 months ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
Donald trails Simpson by $363,029
When Luke Donald sank a birdie putt on the 72nd hole of the Tour Championship to finish in a tie for third, it appeared as if he would become the first person in history to capture both the PGA Tour Money List and the European Tour Race to Dubai (or Order of Merit).
With his T3 in Atlanta, Donald supplanted Webb Simpson as the PGA money leader by just $68,971. It may seem like a bunch of money to us, but for these guys it’s really only the difference between a few places. Donald was all set and ready to have a nice, relaxing off season and welcome his second child into the world.
(Sidenote: These golfers are shrewd. Last week, Ben Crane had a baby. Next week, Donald is set to have a baby. I’m willing to bet a lot of Tour players have children celebrating birthdays around this time of year. They even plan their child-having around their tournament schedules. Ingenious.)
That was when Webb Simpson decided to tee it up last week at the McGladrey Classic. Simpson didn’t really need to light the world on fire, he just had to make 70k, so a top-12 finish would do the trick. Simpson decided to do a little better than 12th, coming out of the gates with a Thursday 63 to take the lead.
Around the top of the leaderboard all week, Simpson eventually fell to Crane in a two-hole, sudden-death playoff. On the bright side, Simpson did what he came to do: take the lead atop the money list with his $432,000 second-place check, $363,029 ahead of Donald.
With Simpson ahead of Donald, the Englishman tweeted his entry into the season-ending Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic at Disney World. He didn’t hide his intentions, either.
There was no doubt from Simpson about whether or not Donald would be playing, but he wasn’t going just roll over and let Luke have the title, he would play at Disney as well.
“I thought Luke was going to definitely play,” Simpson said after the McGladrey. “I think he’s kind of thinking the same thing I’m thinking, that if one of us was going to play, the other one really needed to. It’s going to be fun. He’s one of those competitive guys on the Tour, and so I’m sure he’s going to come guns loaded and he’s going to play great like he has all year.”
Donald really does have to play great if he’s planning on getting the money title back. Trailing by over $363,000, he needs to either win or come in second, according to my calculations, and have Simpson finish no better than 8th.
With the same purse as last year’s tournament ($4.7 million), the winner receives $846,000 and second place gets $507,000. Given Simpson’s large lead and the relatively small purse of a Fall Series event, Donald would need some help from Simpson while also finishing in the top two.
It’s a tall task for Donald, but it’s not out of the question whatsoever. The No. 1 player in the world has one win and 13 top-10 finishes, so he is routinely around the lead. Simpson is no slouch, either with 11 top-10s.
As the last tournament of the season, there will undoubtedly be some pressure for those on both ends of the money spectrum. The Disney has morphed into two tournaments in one with those around the 125 bubble playing for their livelihood and Donald and Simpson vying for the money title.
Whichever storyline you are more enthralled with come Sunday doesn’t matter, both should be great television.
Keegan Bradley “Wins” the Grand Slam of Golf, Does It Help POY Case?
07 months ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
Getty Images
The official start to the Silly Season annually begins in Bermuda (previously Hawaii, among other locales) while some more pressing and pressurizing situations are taking place at the last PGA-sanctioned tournament of the year at Disney World.
While a group of 50 or so guys are playing for their professional lives in Orlando, trying to secure their Tour card for another year, the four major champions are sipping mai tais in the tropics for a couple hundred thousand dollars.
Beings that all four of the major champions this year were first-time major winners, they were psyched to head to Bermuda for a little exhibition match that had them mic’d up talking about their travels, their long putters and the pretty blue water.
In between all that chatter, the foursome was playing a bit of golf on Port Royal Golf Club, a public course down in Bermuda. After the first day, it seemed like the event would be a two-man race between Bradley and Rory McIlroy who sat at 4-under par, but windy conditions played a major role in Wednesday’s second and final round.
That wouldn’t be the case with Charl Schwartzel doing his best Masters impression rattling off five birdies in a row to close out his front nine, tying him for a lead at 2-under with Bradley. McIlroy bogeyed his last three holes on the front to leave him at 1-under and one shot back.
McIlroy would prove to be a non-factor on the back, shooting 1-over and finishing with a 4-over 75 to leave him at even for the event.
Bradley birdied the 10th hole to regain a one-shot lead. His lead grew to two-strokes after Schwartzel bogeyed the par-3 13th. But the South African was able to get his dropped shot back with a birdie on the 15th, putting him to 2-under with Bradley sitting on 3-under.
Both swapped biridies on the short par-5 17th to keep Bradley’s lead at one stroke. Unable to birdie the 18th, Schwartzel was forced to settle for second place while Bradley claimed his third win of the year, if you want to call it that.
The question about Bradley’s win has only reinforced some people’s opinion that he should have been picked for the Presidents Cup, but as it is, the picks are over and done with. Hindsight is 20/20, so there’s no need to go down that road again.
A more relevant question was whether or not this win will help his case for Player of the Year.
Obviously, the win can only help.
Although the four major winners have not looked the part in their recent starts, they still were able to win majors within the last six months. The PGA Player of the Year seems to be a two and a half man race. The two to choose from are Bradley and Webb Simpson.
Bradley has the PGA Championship as well as his win at the HP Byron Nelson Championship, but he doesn’t have much else going for him by way of consistency. He has just two other top-10 finishes this year and he has missed 10 cuts.
Simpson, on the other hand, also has two wins (Wyndham and Deutsche Bank), albeit neither of them majors. However, from a consistency standpoint, he is far and away had a better year. Simpson has only missed three cuts. He’s finished second twice, third three times and in the top-10 six other times. And as it stands right now, Simpson holds the money list lead.
Even though all that looks good for Simpson from a purely statistical standpoint, it stands to reason that winning a major championship trumps top-10s.
So, the question at hand is how will Bradley’s win in Bermuda enhance his resume? Simply put, a win is a win and if his triumph in the Silly Season can sway even one vote, then winning was a big help.
Perhaps Bradley’s best shot of winning the POY this year would be to root really hard for Luke Donald to win at Disney, take over the money list title and maybe steal a couple of Simpson’s votes.
But if Simpson wins, this could be a very close Player of the Year vote.
