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February 2012 - Posts

• Hunter Mahan beats Rory McIlroy in final

  Even as Hunter Mahan motored his way through the Match Play Championship by beating one tough opponent after another, he had reason to feel he was just along for the ride in the final match Sunday afternoon. All the chatter was about U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy and his march to No. 1 in the world. All the chants Mahan heard as he walked down the first two holes at Dove Mountain were for McIlroy. With a little extra motivation he didn’t need, Mahan won three straight holes on the front nine to seize control and answered McIlroy’s charge with birdies of his own for a 2-and-1 victory. “Deep down, you wanted to postpone that crowning of the No. 1 player in the world for Rory,” Mahan said. “He’ll get there. I mean, he’s phenomenal. He’s really talented. He’ll be No. 1 eventually. But yeah, when you’re a player, and I listen to Johnny Miller and Nick Faldo and all those guys, they had him picked to win. And that’s what everybody was talking about. “There was absolute motivation in that.” It proved to be too long of a day for McIlroy, the 22-year-old from Northern Ireland, who put so much energy into a high-stakes semifinal match against Lee Westwood earlier Sunday. If either of them won the tournament, they would go to No. 1 in the world. McIlroy, explosive as ever, ran off seven birdies in a 10-hole stretch to overcome an early deficit and beat Westwood. He looked flat in the championship match, made a series of mistakes to lose back-to-back holes, and fell too far behind to catch Mahan. “To me, it was like my final in a way,” McIlroy said of his win over Westwood. “That was the one I wanted all week and I got. And that’s what I got myself up for. Yeah, maybe mentally and emotionally it did take a little bit out of me. But it still doesn’t take away from the fact that Hunter played very, very solid golf.” “Even though I threw a few birdies and an eagle at him in the back nine, he still responded well and held on,” he said. “I think during the course of the week, he had played the best golf and deserved to win.” Mahan can easily make a case for that. The six guys he had to beat at Dove Mountain were Zach Johnson, Y.E. Yang, Steve Stricker, Matt Kuchar, Mark Wilson and McIlroy. Three of them have won majors. Five of them have made Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup teams. The exception was his semifinal match against Wilson, who has won three times on the PGA Tour in the last 14 months. It required his best golf, and Mahan delivered with 35 birdies in 96 holes over six matches. “It feels good because you’re going against the game’s best,” Mahan said. “I played well from tee-to-green, putting to chipping to driving, irons, everything was there. I needed everything to win. I’m very proud of how I played. It feels great. It really does.” Mahan won for the fourth time in his career, two of them World Golf Championships. He also won the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone in 2010. He joins Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Geoff Ogilvy and Darren Clarke as the only players to win multiple WGC titles since these events began in 1999. And he was the first American to win the Match Play Championship since Woods in 2008. He moves to No. 9 in the world, the first time in his career that Mahan has cracked the top 10. Luke Donald stays at No. 1, though McIlroy is closing in quickly. McIlroy, who rejoined the PGA Tour this year, plays the Honda Classic next week against a strong field, and then has another WGC at Doral. He never led in the championship match against Mahan, losing an opportunity on the opening hole when he missed a 4-foot par putt. Mahan took the lead with a 9-iron into 2 feet for a conceded birdie on the par-3 sixth. On the seventh hole, with Mahan already in trouble in a deep collection area left of the green, McIlroy pulled his short iron and joined him there. But it took McIlroy two chips to get on the green, and he lost the hole with a double bogey. Then McIlroy’s sand wedge hopped over the green on the par-5 eighth and he lost that hole with a bogey. Mahan’s big lead was enough to withstand the McIlroy charge. McIlroy played the opening six holes on the back nine in 5-under par, but still picked up only one hole on Mahan. “I tried to claw myself back, but I left myself too much work,” McIlroy said. He also got off to a slow start against Westwood, 3 down through four holes, before roaring past him. McIlroy didn’t have the shots, and didn’t appear to have the energy, to do that twice in one day. That was always his concern. There was so much anticipation about his semifinal match with Westwood. “Maybe the intensity wasn’t quite as much as it was this morning going out,” McIlroy said. “I think that’s a little understandable after going through a match like that, thinking about it all last night and this morning.” “I don’t think I’d do anything differently,” he said. “Because if I didn’t play with the same intensity in the morning, I might not have been in the finals.” The last time Mahan was in a pressure situation against a player from Northern Ireland was in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor, when U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell made a 15-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole of the decisive match. Even so, the memories of that match are Mahan duffing a chip on the last hole, though McDowell was likely to win the match, anyway. Mahan has worked hard on his chipping, and he feels it carried him this week. Two shots were pivotal. McIlroy won his first hole by chipping in for eagle from about 60 feet on the par-5 11th. Two holes later, McIlroy was safely in for birdie and Mahan had to get up-and-down from a bunker to avoid losing another hole. He blasted out to 6 feet and made the putt. McIlroy birdied the 14th from 7 feet to cut the lead to 2 up, and on the 315-yard 15th, he hit driver to 30 feet for an eagle attempt. Mahan was short of the green, and elected to use his putter. Club selection was never in doubt. “I thought that was the best play,” Mahan said. “My touch with my putting has been pretty awesome this week. And at that time, where Rory is, I felt that gave me the best chance to make it.” He nearly did, rolling it right on line, just short. McIlroy missed his putt and Mahan stayed 2 up. McIlroy looked like the world’s best player, but only on Sunday morning. In the most anticipated match of the week, Westwood birdied two holes and won another when McIlroy missed a 5-footer for par to build a 3-up lead through four holes. As quickly as Westwood took the lead, he lost it. McIlroy was simply sensational. With the trophy on the line, however, he didn’t have enough left for Mahan. Scores Final Mahan bt McIlroy 2&1 Third-place play-off match Wilson bt Westwood 1 up Semi-finals Hunter Mahan bt Mark Wilson 2&1 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) bt Lee Westwood (Eng) 3&1 Quarter Finals Peter Hanson (Swe) lost to Mark Wilson 4 & 3 Matt Kuchar lost to Hunter Mahan 6 & 5 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) bt Bae Sang-moon (Prk) 4 & 2 Lee Westwood (Eng) bt Martin Laird (Sco) 4 & 2 Third Round Martin Kaymer (Ger) lost to Matt Kuchar 4 & 3 Steve Stricker lost to Hunter Mahan 4 & 3 Lee Westwood (Eng) bt Nick Watney 3 & 2 Peter Hanson (Swe) bt Brandt Snedeker 5 & 3 Mark Wilson bt Dustin Johnson 4 & 3 Martin Laird (Sco) bt Paul Lawrie (Sco) 3 & 1 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) bt Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 3 & 1 John Senden (Aus) lost to Bae Sang-moon (Prk) 1 down Second Round Y.E. Yang (Kor) lost to Hunter Mahan 5 & 3 Dustin Johnson bt Francesco Molinari (Ita) 7 & 5 Robert Rock (Eng) lost to Mark Wilson 3 & 2 Steve Stricker bt Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 1 up Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) lost to Paul Lawrie (Sco) 1 down Matteo Manassero (Ita) lost to Martin Laird (Sco) 2 & 1 Jason Day (Aus) lost to John Senden (Aus) 6 & 5 Matt Kuchar bt Bubba Watson 3 & 2 Ernie Els (Rsa) lost to Peter Hanson (Swe) 5 & 4 Lee Westwood (Eng) bt Robert Karlsson (Swe) 3 & 2 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) lost to Bae Sang-moon (Prk) 1 down Rory McIlroy (NIrl) bt Anders Hansen (Den) 3 & 2 Martin Kaymer (Ger) bt David Toms 2 up Nick Watney bt Tiger Woods 1 up Kyle Stanley lost to Brandt Snedeker 2 & 1 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) bt Keegan Bradley 2 & 1 First Round Graeme McDowell (NIrl) Lost to Y.E. Yang (Kor) 2 & 1 Hunter Mahan bt Zach Johnson at the 19th hole Bill Haas Lost to Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 1 down Justin Rose (Eng) Lost to Paul Lawrie (Sco) 1 down Dustin Johnson bt Jim Furyk at the 20th hole Thomas Bjorn (Den) Lost to Francesco Molinari (Ita) at the 20th hole Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) bt Gary Woodland 4 & 2 Ian Poulter (Eng) Lost to Bae Sang- moon (Prk) 4 & 3 Steve Stricker bt Kevin Na 2 & 1 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) bt Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 2 & 1 Webb Simpson Lost to Matteo Manassero (Ita) 3 & 2 Alvaro Quiros (Spa) Lost to Martin Laird (Sco) 1 down Adam Scott (Aus) Lost to Robert Rock (Eng) 1 down Bo Van Pelt Lost to Mark Wilson 3 & 2 Jason Day (Aus) bt Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) at the 19th hole Simon Dyson (Eng) Lost to John Senden (Aus) 4 & 3 Bubba Watson bt Ben Crane 3 & 2 Nick Watney bt Darren Clarke (NIrl) 5 & 4 Tiger Woods bt Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 1 up K J Choi (Kor) Lost to Kyle Stanley 2 & 1 Keegan Bradley bt Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 4 & 3 Martin Kaymer (Ger) bt Greg Chalmers (Aus) 4 & 2 David Toms bt Rickie Fowler 1 up Robert Karlsson (Swe) bt Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 6 & 5 Posted Feb 27 2012, 02:57 PM by Golf International with no comments Filed under: Golf International, Hunter Mahan, Rory McIlroy, WGC Match Play

• Luke Donald out, Tiger scrapes through

  Tiger Woods had to play a left-handed shot out of the desert. Retief Goosen holed out from 156 yards and didn’t even win the hole. Dustin Johnson twice won a hole after taking a penalty drop. But the strangest sight of all Wednesday at the Match Play Championship didn’t come from the golf course. It was Luke Donald on his way to the airport. "Golf is like that sometimes," Donald said after his 5-and-4 loss to Ernie Els, becoming only the third No. 1 seed to lose in the opening round. “It’s a fickle game, and sometimes it bites you.” It almost took a bite out of Woods, who had to rally to beat Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano; and U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy, the No. 2 seed who was 3 up with three holes to play and was sweating on the 18th until George Coetzee missed a short putt for par. Donald was so dominant last year in winning the Match Play Championship that he closed out all six of his matches before they reached the 18th hole. He won’t be playing the closing hole at Dove Mountain this year, either. Els, who only got into the 64-man field when Phil Mickelson took his family on a ski vacation, delivered the biggest shocker in the first round by taking the lead for good on the eighth hole and putting the world’s No. 1 player in a hole from which he couldn’t recover. Donald lost in the opening round for the first time in eight appearances in this World Golf Championship. “I don’t think it would have mattered who I played today. I just didn’t play well,” Donald said. “I struggled. I gave away too many holes and made too many mistakes. You can’t do that in match play against anyone, let alone Ernie.” Woods nearly found that out, too. He trailed the Spaniard with four holes to play, and both of them looked beatable. That changed when Woods drove the par-4 15th green to win with a two-putt birdie, won the 16th with a par and then closed out the Spaniard with an 8-foot par putt for a 1-up win. “We both made our share of mistakes, there’s no doubt about that,” said Woods. “But somehow, I was able to move on.” That was the only objective in this World Golf Championship, a single-elimination format in which the only proper use of the word“upset” is the mood of the 32 guys who are headed home. Among them: — Ian Poulter, the Match Play winner two years ago, suffered his worst loss in nine appearances when Bae Sang-moon beat him, 4 and 3. — Bill Haas, coming off that monster win at Riviera just three days ago, looked like a winner when he was 1 up on the 17th green and had a 5-foot birdie putt. Ryo Ishikawa holed from 18 feet, Haas missed, and the Japanese star made par on the 18th to win. — In the most thrilling match of the opening round, Jim Furyk was on the verge of sending Johnson home early for the fourth straight year when Johnson hit his tee shot into the desert and had to take a penalty drop on the 20th hole. Furyk chipped across the green and three-putted for bogey to lose. — Rafael Cabrera-Bello was 3 up with three holes to play against Jason Day when he bogeyed three straight holes, and Day beat him with a 4-foot birdie putt on the 19th hole. The other top seeds didn’t have too many problems, although McIlroy had a nervous moment. He won four straight holes on the back nine to seize control against Coetzee and was 3 up with three to play when McIlroy lost the next two holes with bogeys, then popped up a tee shot and made par a challenge. Coetzee, however, blew his approach some 60 feet long on the 18th and three-putted for bogey, giving McIlroy a 2-up win. Lee Westwood never trailed in his 3-and-1 win over Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium. The test for Westwood comes on Thursday against Robert Karlsson, when he tries to advance to the third round for the first time. Martin Kaymer easily dispatched Greg Chalmers, while Steve Stricker outlasted Kevin Na. McIlroy and Westwood now have a chance to replace Donald at No. 1 in the world if either were to win this week. “Obviously, it’s another incentive waking up each morning and knowing that if you win your match at the end of that day, at the end of the week you could be world No. 1,” McIlroy said. Donald will head home to Florida to shake off a poor start to his season. “It’s a terrible ride home, believe me,” said Els, who has lost five times in the opening round. “I feel for Luke. He’s got a lot of pressure on him. Yeah, I know exactly what it feels like.” Fernandez-Castano got some attention this week for saying Woods was“beatable” and not at his best. “He’s beatable, too,” Woods replied, and the way they played, both were right. Woods lost the opening two holes and looked as though he might fall 3 down until making a 10-foot par save. Woods won three of the next five holes, one of them with a 50-foot birdie putt, and that’s when the match became a case of give-and-take. He wasn’t wild all the time, but it cost him when he was: a left-handed shot out of the desert on No. 2; too much club that sent him over the 11th green and into the desert. But he settled down right about the time the Spaniard began to struggle with the putter, missing putts inside 10 feet on the 15th and 16th holes that enabled Woods to take the lead. “I think if there was one day to beat Tiger Woods, this was it,”Fernandez-Castano said. “I didn’t take the opportunity. I missed a few shots. And of course, you can’t miss spots if you want to beat one of the greatest in history.” Johnson had no business winning his match. He already was 3 down when he drove into the desert. He was given relief, but didn’t check the path of his swing, and his club hit a cactus on the way back, leading to a muffed shot that stayed in the desert and required a penalty drop. He was hitting his fourth shot from the desert. Furyk was hitting his third from the desert. Johnson wound up winning the hole with a bogey. He managed to take the lead going to the 18th, only to bogey. Then, on the par-5 second hole, Johnson had to take another penalty drop from the desert and appeared to be beaten until Furyk chopped up the rest of the hole for bogey. “It’s a funny golf course. Anything can happen,” Johnson said. “And I just hung in there.” It never looked more bizarre than when Goosen hit into the desert, took a penalty drop, pitched out and holed a 156-yard shot for his birdie. Brandt Snedeker jarred a 40-foot birdie putt to halve the hole. It was only fitting that their match was the longest of the day, going 21 holes until Snedeker won with a par. Posted Feb 23 2012, 12:47 PM by Golf International with no comments Filed under: Golf International, Tiger Woods, Luke Donald, WGC Match Play

• Luke Donald starts defence of PGA money title

  Luke Donald was on the practice range at Riviera before dawn Wednesday, so dark that only temporary floodlights allowed him to see where the ball was going. It was a snapshot of the perks that come with being No. 1 in the world, and what got him there. The best player gets his choice of tee times for the pro-am, and the early spots go first. Along with being No. 1 in the world, Donald sits atop both the PGA Tour and European Tour money lists, the first player ever to lead the two biggest tours. As for the work ethic? Getting to the top wasn’t an accident. “I think the best part of being No. 1 is knowing that my best golf is good enough to get me to that No. 1 spot, just from a confidence and mental standpoint,” Donald said. “That’s gratifying to know that the hard work is paying off.” The hardest part might be the encore. Donald is coming off a year he won’t ever forget, and it all began at Riviera with a round he would like to erase from his memory. In his first event, he shot a 79 in the second round to miss the cut. Toward the end of his season, he had won a career-best four times, including the most exciting finish this side of a major when he birdied six straight holes to start the back nine at Disney and closed with a 64 for a two-shot victory. It gave him the double money title, and was enough to make him a landslide winner of PGA Tour player of the year. Off the course was joy and grief. His father, Colin, died of heart failure just a few days before Donald’s wife gave birth to their second daughter. “Obviously, a decent amount of my work had already been done,”Donald said. “I’d had a great season up until that point. And in a way, those couple weeks were very tough. I think the birth of my second daughter helped shed a little bit of grace on the whole situation. It helped with the passing of my father. And I think I came out of it a stronger person with a little bit more perspective.” His father rarely went to golf tournaments. He was proud of his son more as a person than just a golfer. The last two years had been a struggle, as his father went from double knee replacement to an addiction to pain killers, then bouts of depression. One moment stands out for Donald, and he wasn’t even there. He was at Wentworth, fighting a flawed swing to stay in the hunt long enough to get into a playoff with Lee Westwood, beat him on the first extra hole and replace him as No. 1 in the world. Donald’s brother, Christian, was home that weekend with their father, watching it unfold on television. “He looked in Chris’ eye, and it was a proud moment,” Donald said.“He’s always been proud and supportive, more proud of the person I turned into.” Donald opened his season in Abu Dhabi with a tie for 48th, the first time since August that he did not finish among the top 12. That’s still better than missing the cut, as he did at the Northern Trust Open a year ago. Riviera is where Donald comes full circle. He leads a field at the Northern Trust Open that features two-time winner Phil Mickelson, coming off his six-shot comeback to win last week at Pebble Beach; a pair of Aussies in Jason Day and Adam Scott, who are playing the PGA Tour for the first time this year; and Padraig Harrington, who started to show some long lost form at Pebble Beach. Also playing is Sergio Garcia, a regular partner of Donald in the Ryder Cup. Garcia once talked about winning money titles on both sides of the Atlantic, and he was impressed—as was most everyone—that Donald got it done. “Very remarkable,” Garcia said. “It’s never really been done by a guy that is a member of both tours, so it shows you how difficult it is to do it. For a guy like Luke to be able to do it, as well as No. 1, it was great to see.” Donald finally is getting the respect for his feats, especially his world ranking. Westwood got the same questions, mostly from an American audience—how can a guy be No. 1 without ever winning a major? Those questions mainly were born out of comparisons to Tiger Woods, who had been No. 1 for 10 years of his career, and who won majors with regularity. The world ranking is about accumulating points, and no one was more consistent than Donald. By the end of the year, there were no questions about who was No. 1 in the world. “I think the way in which I won in Disney helped, and winning both money titles,” Donald said. “People, especially my peers, realized what an accomplishment that was, playing a limited schedule and pulling off both money titles. I think I went up in the estimation of my peers.” As for the majors? That’s a priority. The Masters is two months away, and Donald is building toward that. He’ll play the next two weeks, including his first title defense at the Match Play Championship, then play consecutive weeks in Florida at Doral and Tampa. Donald talks about a strong will to succeed, and there’s no reason to think that won’t apply during the four biggest weeks of the year. “I feel like my game is good enough right now to win majors,” Donald said. “I don’t feel like there’s a huge weakness. If I can win four times in a year, I should be able to win a major. There are still things I can improve on to give myself better opportunities.” Posted Feb 16 2012, 10:48 by Golf International with no comments Filed under: Golf International, Luke Donald

• Tiger Woods no longer inevitable on Sundays

  Phil Mickelson has beaten Tiger Woods the last five times they have played together in the final round. But never like this. This was a pounding at Pebble Beach. Mickelson shot a 64 on a day when no one else could do better than 67. Woods had a 75 on a day when only four players — none of whom were in contention—shot worse. One guy left with the trophy, the other guy left with a lot to think about. The relevance of Sunday is still to be determined. The real measure of Woods most likely won’t happen until the Masters, which is just two months away. There is no doubt that Woods is more capable now than he has been since he was derailed from the fast track by chaos in his personal life and leg injuries. He has contended on Sunday in his last four tournaments, and that’s not an accident. It’s the final rounds that are troubling. In the middle of his last swing change in 2004, Woods had the 36-hole lead in consecutive weeks at Quail Hollow and the Byron Nelson Championship, stumbled badly on Saturday and then came up one shot short of a playoff on Sunday. The last two tournaments, however, he hasn’t even been close. In his 2012 debut at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, he was tied with Robert Rock of England going into the final round and couldn’t break par. Two weeks later at Pebble Beach, where he started the last day four shots behind Charlie Wi, he was one shot out of the lead while standing in the fairway on the par-5 sixth hole. Woods wound up nine shots out of the lead in a tie for 15th. The guy dressed in red suddenly has a case of the Sunday blues. He attributed his play in Abu Dhabi to not giving himself enough good looks at birdie. He attributed his downfall at Pebble Beach to not being able to make anything. Woods missed five putts in the 5-foot range. Such performances used to be an exception, not a trend. In those five tournaments where Mickelson has beaten Woods while paired with him in the final round, Lefty has won three times. So maybe there’s some truth to the notion that Woods brings out the best in Mickelson, or that Mickelson brings out the worst in Woods. Rivalries are made out of moments like this. In Woods’ benchmark season of 2000, Mickelson stopped his six-tournament winning streak at Torrey Pines and denied Woods a 10-win season on the PGA Tour by rallying to beat him at the Tour Championship. The last time they played together on a Sunday when both had a chance to win was in Shanghai in 2009 for the HSBC Champions. Mickelson had a two-shot lead over Woods going into the final round, and Woods had to birdie the ninth hole to avoid shooting 40 on the front nine. He was never a factor. And that’s when Woods was at the top of his game. As much as Mickelson enjoyed this latest snapshot, he was quick to observe the big picture. “Although I feel like he brings out the best in me, it’s only been the past five years,” Mickelson said. “Before, I got spanked pretty good. Let’s not forget the big picture here. I’ve been beat up.” Mickelson won for the 40th time in his career, only the ninth player to do that in PGA Tour history. Woods has 71 wins. Mickelson is a four-time major champion. Woods has been stuck on 14 since 2008. But an 11-shot difference between them on a Sunday? That’s an attention-grabber, especially considering Woods’ performance indicated he was getting close, and Mickelson’s recent record caused him to start doubting himself. Woods drives so much interest in golf that no one is a great victim of a rush to judgment. Remember, it was in 2001 when a golf magazine printed the headline, “What Wrong With Tiger?” on its cover after he failed to win the first five tournaments he played. Woods won the next three, including the Masters, which made him the only player to hold all four professional majors at the same time. Even so, there is something that gives one pause about Pebble Beach. Woods sounded indignant when someone brought up the fact his last PGA Tour victory was in September 2009, and his last win against a full field was two months after that in the Australian Masters, right before the Thanksgiving night fiasco that shattered his image and moved golf from sports pages to gossip magazines. “People think it’s a couple of years, but I just won a couple months ago,” he said of the Chevron World Challenge, where he birdied his last two holes for a one-shot win over Zach Johnson against an 18-man field.“I look at that as a win. And I’m just kind of off to my first start of the year here in the States, and I made some good improvement this week.” Then again, that win at Sherwood was inches away from being different. Woods had control of the final round early, let it get away, and could only watch as Johnson had an 18-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole that looked all the way until it wasn’t. That would have given him a two-shot lead. Instead, Woods knocked in his 15-footer to tie, then won with a 6-foot putt on the end. If Johnson’s putt goes in, the hole undoubtedly shrinks for Woods’ birdie attempt. That’s how it looked for him Sunday at Pebble Beach during the opening seven-hole stretch, fertile ground for comebacks. His 5-foot birdie on the second hole missed the cup by 2 inches, which, on the PGA Tour level, is close to a mile. He was grinding to match Mickelson’s birdie on the fifth, and he three-putted from 18 feet on the seventh, missing his par putt from inside 3 feet. Woods near the lead on Sunday used to bring a sense of inevitability. Now he is about unpredictability. He has said he is at peace with himself, and he looks calm and confident while working his way into contention. Sunday is hard work. There is a feeling watching him that Woods is trying too hard, that every putt means too much. Perhaps that will change. It used to be that each win gave him even more confidence. Now, one has to wonder if each Sunday brings more doubt. Posted Feb 14 2012, 03:37 PM by Golf International with no comments Filed under: Golf International, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson

• Phil Mickelson clinches title with closing 64

  Phil Mickelson rallied from six shots behind to win for the fourth time at Pebble Beach, a final round made even more memorable by the guy in a red shirt who was among the first to congratulate him Sunday on the 18th green. Turns out that Tiger Woods was just along for the ride. Mickelson closed with an 8-under 64, beating Woods by 11 shots in a one-sided showdown at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. “I just feel very inspired when I play with him,” said Mickelson, who has posted the better score the past five times he has played alongside Woods in the final round. “I love playing with him, and he brings out some of my best golf. I hope that he continues to play better, and better, and I hope that he and I have a chance to play together more in the final rounds.” Woods, one shot out of the lead on the sixth hole after 54-hole leader Charlie Wi fell apart early, followed his first birdie of the final round with three straight bogeys, starting with a three-putt from 18 feet on the par-3 seventh. It never got much better from there. He finished a miserable day with another three-putt on the 18th for a 75, the only consolation coming from belief that he’s closer than ever to putting it all together. “I didn’t hit it as bad as the score indicated, but I putted awful,”Woods said. “As good as I felt on the greens yesterday, I felt bad today. Anything I tried to do wasn’t working. Consequently, I made a ton of mistakes on the green.” At least he got to watch a clinic. Mickelson went from six shots behind to a two-shot lead on the par-5 sixth hole when he rolled in a 20-foot eagle putt, adjusting his read after watching Woods’ amateur partner—Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo—miss from a similar line. Woods holed a bunker shot for birdie on No. 12, but right when it looked like a two-shot swing that could give Woods some momentum, Mickelson made a 30-foot par putt. With Woods out of the way, Mickelson made a 40-foot par putt on the 15th hole to keep a three-shot cushion, and he was never challenged from there. He wound up with a two-shot win over Wi, who four-putted for double bogey on the opening hole and never recovered. Mickelson, who finished at 17-under 269, became only the ninth player in PGA Tour history with 40 career wins. This one was special for many reasons, and the thrashing he gave Woods was but a small part of it. His wife, Amy, flew up for the weekend and gave him a pep talk Friday in the rain at Monterey Peninsula when Mickelson was going nowhere. He ran off five birdies, got back into the tournament and picked up a win he didn’t see coming. As much as Woods talks about his game being close, Mickelson felt the same way. His last win was the Houston Open last April, and while he thought he was putting well, his scores didn’t reflect it. “It’s one of the more emotional victories for me than I’ve had, and the reason is I’ve had some doubt these last couple of weeks, given the scores I’ve shot,” Mickelson said. “Having these great practice sessions, I started to wonder if I’m going to be able to bring it to the golf course. So this gives me a lot of confidence and erases the doubt.” The last shred of doubt came on the 14th, a diabolical green that turn birdies into bogeys without caution. Woods hit a wedge that went down the side of the green, requiring two chips to get on the green. He made bogey. Mickelson’s caddie, Jim “Bones” Mackay got in his hear. “He erased all doubt and said, `Let’s get aggressive and make birdie, we need one more here,”’ Mickelson said. “It just got me aggressive and into a positive frame of mind.” He went at the flag and made birdie. Wi, who started the final round with a three-shot lead, birdied his last two holes for a 72 and his fifth runner-up finish on tour. It was the third straight week that the winner began the final round at least six shots behind a 54-hole leader going for his first tour victory. “I fought back and hung in there, because the four-putt on the first hole, I was really shook up pretty badly and my strokes were pretty iffy at best,” Wi said. “I hung in there all day. My time will come.” The shocker, though, was how Woods fell apart. He has been taking big strides with his game over the past few months, and he looked poised to break through after a 67 in the third round at Pebble Beach got him to within four shots of the lead. But he needed a start like Mickelson, and was never really in the game. Two weeks ago in his 2012 debut at Abu Dhabi, Woods was tied for the lead with unheralded Robert Rock going into the final round and didn’t break par, tying for third. “What was frustrating is that I had a chance,” he said. “All I had to do was get off to a good, solid start today. And I didn’t do that.” Woods used to own Mickelson, but that changed at the 2007 Deutsche Bank Championship. This was the fifth straight time Mickelson posted the better score when playing in the same group as Woods in the final round. Mickelson has won three of those tournaments, although they have yet to be in the final group on those occasions. “Although I feel like he brings out the best in me, it’s only been the past five years,” Mickelson said. “Before, I got spanked pretty good. Let’s not forget the big picture here. I’ve been beat up. But the last five years, I’ve been able to get some of my best golf out when we play together.” Ricky Barnes closed with a 67 and finished third. Kevin Na tied for fifth and earned a spot in the Match Play Championship in two weeks at Arizona. Even with Wi falling apart, that wasn’t enough for Woods to get in on the action. Standing in the sixth fairway, Woods was only one shot out of the lead, yet the sleeves of his red shirt and his name on the leaderboard didn’t seem to make him stand out the way it has before. The opening holes had something to do with that, and watching Mickelson play alongside him. “He played really good today,” Woods said. “He was hitting it flush. And his wedge game was right on the money.” Posted Feb 13 2012, 09:53 by Golf International with no comments Filed under: Golf International, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

• Tiger Woods wants long putters banned

  Tiger Woods has a solution to long putters— make them no longer than the shortest club in the bag. Woods said Tuesday at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am he has “never been a fan” of long putters that players either anchor into their belly or the broom-style putters that are pressed against the chest. “I believe it’s the art of controlling the body and club and swinging the pendulum motion,” Woods said. “I believe that’s how it should be played. I’m a traditionalist when it comes to that.” Woods said he has spoken to Royal & Ancient chief executive Peter Dawson the last several years about how the language could be written in the Rules of Golf that effectively would ban such putters. “My idea was to have it so that the putter would be equal to or less than the shortest club in your bag,” Woods said. “And I think with that, we’d be able to get away from any type of belly anchoring.” He said the putter still could be anchored to the forearm, as two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer once did. Keegan Bradley became the first major champion to use a belly putter when he won the PGA Championship. Bill Haas used the same style when he won the Tour Championship to capture the FedEx Cup. The belly putters gained momentum late last year with Bradley and Webb Simpson, who won twice late in the year and who nearly captured the PGA Tour money title. Both considered themselves good putters who felt as though anchoring the club to their stomach made them even better. For years, most players believed only players who were desperate to improve used such putters. Ernie Els once criticized the use of belly putters, but switched to one late last year and said: “As long as it’s legal, I’ll keep cheating like the rest of them.” Phil Mickelson also experimented with a belly putter during the FedEx Cup playoffs last year. He since has gone back to a more conventional putter. The R&A and USGA, while making no formal announcement, have said they would review such putters. While it would seem simple to ban long putters, it can help recreational players stay interested in the game, and any ban might also affect the equipment companies. “If you look back at the interest in it, it really never changed for over 20 years,” USGA executive director Mike Davis said Saturday at its annual meeting. “Then all of a sudden in 2011 … this has become a much bigger topic. So the R&A and USGA have been talking about this at length, and we’re looking at it from the perspective as … what is good for the game for all golfers long term.” Davis said it would be premature to speculate on a direction the governing bodies are going, except to say they are not ignoring the issue. “It is something that we have taken a fresh look at, because there are more players in the game, both on the elite level and on the recreational level, using it,” Davis said. “I think we just want to be sure that we’re looking at all the angles and thinking about what is in the best interest, both the traditions of the game, the history of the game and what is what we think would be good for the game long term.” Posted Feb 08 2012, 02:17 PM by Golf International with no comments Filed under: Golf International, Tiger Woods, USGA, Long Putter, Belly Putter, R&A, Putter

• Kyle Stanley wins in remarkable turnaround

  Kyle Stanley knew exactly how Spencer Levin felt. Taking advantage of Levin’s final-round meltdown, Stanley rebounded from a devastating loss to win the Phoenix Open on Sunday, overcoming an eight-stroke deficit in a comeback as unlikely as his collapse last week at Torrey Pines. “I really feel for him, experiencing that,” Stanley said about Levin, echoing what Brandt Snedeker said about Stanley last week. “You don’t want to wish that upon anybody. He’s a very good player. Way too good of a player to not bounce back or recover.” Stanley closed with a bogey-free 6-under 65, holing a 4-foot par putt on the par-4 18th to finish at 15-under 269. He earned $1,098,000 for his first PGA Tour title. “You go from a very low point to a high point,” Stanley said. “I’m not sure I expected to maybe recover this quickly. … I think the biggest challenge was seeing if I could put last week behind me. I think I did.” Ben Crane had a 66 to finish a stroke back. Levin, six strokes ahead entering the round and seven in front after one hole, shot a 75 to finish two strokes behind Stanley. “It just wasn’t my day, obviously,” Levin said. “But I gave it away, simple as that. You have a six-shot lead and lose, you gave it away. My hat’s off to Kyle. He played a great round. He went and got it. But if you’ve got a six-shot lead and don’t win, then I think it’s on the player with the lead, for sure.” In tears seven days ago in San Diego after blowing the big lead—dropping the final strokes with a triple-bogey 8 on the final hole—and losing to Snedeker in a playoff, Stanley cried again Sunday—this time tears of joy. “I just want to thank my mom and dad. They’ve done a lot for me. I’m speechless,” Stanley said in the scoring area moments after the victory. At Torrey Pines, Stanley led by seven shots early in the final round, and still had a four-shot lead as he stood on the tee at the par-5 18th. But his third shot had too much spin and didn’t get high enough on the green, spinning down the slope and into the water. He three-putted from 45 feet for the triple bogey, then lost to Snedeker on the second playoff hole when his 5-foot par putt caught the right edge of the cup. “I’m never going to forget that,” Stanley said. “But I think it makes this one a lot sweeter, just being able to bounce back. I’m kind of at a loss for words. I’m very grateful for the support I’ve gotten. It’s unbelievable. Unbelievable turnaround.” The 24-year-old Stanley, one of the tour’s longest hitters at only 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds, birdied the par-5 13th and par-4 14th to take a one-stroke lead at 15 under. On No. 13, the bearded former Clemson star powered a 376-yard drive just through the desert area to set up the tying two-putt birdie. “Got a really good break there, not quite sure how that ball ended up where it did,” Stanley said. “We only hit 9-iron in there.” On 14, he hit a 325-yard drive down the middle and holed a 12-footer to take lead. “Kind of a chip wedge in there,” he said. Levin, winless on the PGA Tour, birdied the 14th to regain a share of the lead, but dropped back with a double-bogey 7 on the par-5 15th. “I just didn’t have it,” Levin said. “Maybe I was looking ahead too much and trying too hard. What are you going to do? I tried my best.” On 15, Levin’s drive bounced off the cart path on the right and ended up against cactus in the desert area. He took an awkward stance near the cactus and got the ball back into the second cut just off the fairway with a hockey-style shot with his driver. After his caddie removed pieces of the cactus from Levin’s shirt and pants, the fiery chain-smoker hit his third shot in the water short and right of the green. “I pushed it a little bit, but I guess I didn’t hit enough club,”Levin said. “I thought 4-iron would go over the green and 5-iron didn’t carry.” Stanley, playing two groups ahead of Levin, parred the final three holes, playing a great recovery shot from under cactus to the right of the short par-4 17th. He birdied Nos. 2, 3, 8, 9 and 11 to get to 13 under, and within three strokes of the faltering Levin. Levin birdied No. 4 to reach 18 under, but bogeyed Nos. 4 and 6 and dropped two more strokes on Nos. 11 and 12 to let Stanley into the mix. Stanley, though, wasn’t fully aware where he stood. “I didn’t pay much attention to the leaderboards until maybe four or five holes left,” Stanley said. “Once I made a couple birdies there on the back nine, I figured I was maybe getting close. But I didn’t really think about it too much today. I made the mistake of thinking about it probably all of the final round last week. So, this week, I just kind of tried to just let it happen.” D.J. Trahan had a 66 to finish fourth at 12 under, and Brendan Steele (64) was another stroke back along with Kevin Na (65) and Bubba Watson (70). Posted Feb 06 2012, 09:22 by Golf International with no comments Filed under: Golf International, Phoenix Open, Kyle Stanley

• Kyle Stanley and Phil Mickelson looking to bounce back

  Kyle Stanley and Phil Mickelson look forward to fresh starts Thursday in the Phoenix Open. Mark Wilson will want to savor some pleasant memories on his return to the Valley of the Sun. Stanley was eager to get back on the course after a devastating loss at Torrey Pines on Sunday when he had a triple-bogey 8 on the final hole of regulation and ended up losing to Brandt Snedeker in a playoff. “That’s the beauty of it,” Stanley said. “I think we’ve got to remember that the year has just started, so I have probably 27 or 28 events ahead of me, and the process doesn’t change, the mindset doesn’t change. I’m playing great golf right now. “I’m just trying to focus on the positive things I did last week. I mean, I played some really good golf.” Mickelson missed the cut at Torrey Pines, shooting 77-68 in his hometown event a week after opening the season with a tie for 49th in the Humana Challenge. He won at TPC Scottsdale in 1996 and 2005. “I don’t know what happened last week,” Mickelson said after his pro-am round with former NFL star Emmitt Smith. “I’m going to put it as something I’m going to shrug off because I know that my practice sessions have been really good. “I was able to take it a little bit better to the course today. I hit a lot of good shots today, and bringing it from the practice session and bringing it out on the golf course, that’s my challenge right now.” Snedeker is trying to look ahead, too. “The great thing about the PGA Tour and golf is as great as last week was, come Thursday morning it’s not going to matter a bit,”Snedeker said. “It’s a new golf tournament, a new course, and I’ve got to get my mind ready to play, and I feel like my game is really good, so I’m excited about teeing off tomorrow morning.” Wilson, the Humana Challenge winner in his last start, won last year in a Monday finish, beating Jason Dufner on the second extra hole in the frost-delayed event. “Last week was the first time I’ve ever had a week off after a win,”Wilson said. “So, I was able to soak it up and enjoy answering all the emails I got from friends and family and enjoy time with the family and just sort of ease into this week. It was a welcome thing to do there, to have a week off.” The 37-year-old Wisconsin native, one of the tour’s shortest hitters, is done tinkering with his game. “I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel every week like I was when I was 30,” the five-time tour winner said. “I don’t do that anymore. I just do the same things over and over again.” Wilson and Snedeker will play the first two rounds with Sony Open winner Johnson Wagner. Mickelson will play alongside ninth-ranked Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler. Sixth-ranked Webb Simpson also is in the field along with FedEx Cup champion Bill Haas, PGA winner Keegan Bradley, Bubba Watson, Ian Poulter, Matt Kuchar and two-time winners J.B. Holmes and Vijay Singh. Simpson and Johnson are the only players in the top 10 in the world ranking in the field. Holmes is making his second start since having brain surgery in September. The 2006 and 2008 Phoenix winner had structural defects in the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls balance. He missed the cut at Torrey Pines, shooting 76-69. “It was great to just get back at it last week. Hopefully, I can improve on that,” Holmes said. “I didn’t play that great, but it was just nice to get back out there and get back in the swing of things.” Posted Feb 02 2012, 10:08 by Golf International with no comments Filed under: Golf International, Phil Mickelson, Kyle Stanley

• Kyle Stanley looking to bounce back from Torrey Pines

  American golfer Robert Garrigus didn’t see any reason to stick around for the finish. He had watched enough of the final round at Torrey Pines to see that Kyle Stanley, whom he described as “exploding with talent,” had a three-shot lead and headed for a sure win. Garrigus left for the spa to get a massage. It didn’t take long for him to figure out what had happened. “I got back to my car, saw my phone and it was blowing up,” Garrigus said. “I had six or seven text messages. I had four or five voicemails. I wasn’t talking to anyone on Sunday, so there was no need for anyone to call me.” He didn’t have to read a single message. He didn’t have to listen to a voicemail. He knew. “I looked at my phone and thought, ‘Uh-oh. He blew it,”’ Garrigus said Monday evening. Among his priorities this week at the Phoenix Open was to find Stanley and offer the kind of advice that only comes through experience. Garrigus has every bit of that. He had a three-shot lead on the final hole of the 2010 St. Jude Classic when he smothered his tee shot into the water, took a drop, then tried to go at the green not realizing the size of his lead. He went left of the water into the trees and eventually made triple bogey. He lost in a three-man playoff. Stanley can relate only to the triple bogey, the water and a playoff. He did everything right on the final hole of the Farmers Insurance Open, even taking a sand wedge instead of a lob wedge for his third shot over the pond to a hole location in a bowl at the front of the green. What happened next surprises him still. His shot landed behind the hole and raced off the front of the green and into the water. After a drop into the first cut to eliminate even more spin, he landed his shot on the top shelf and three-putted for triple bogey. On the second playoff hole, he missed a 5-foot par putt and watched Brandt Snedeker pose with a trophy that should have been his. Stanley was still in shock when he faced the media. His eyes were glassy with tears. His lip quivered. He answered every question, even if he had to stop at times to compose himself. Looking back, he realizes that was part of the healing. “I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve a little bit,” Stanley said Tuesday at the Phoenix Open, where he agreed to another interview to help put his collapse behind him. “It was very tough to swallow. But one of the things I learned is I think you need to really be prepared for whatever this game can throw at you. “It’s a crazy game,” he said. “It can love you; it can hate you.” Stanley, like Garrigus, was going for his first PGA Tour victory. Both grew up in the Pacific Northwest. Both are in the top class of power players in golf. The similarities end there. Stanley, who grew up in the Seattle area, was an All-American at Clemson who played in the Walker Cup. He is in his second full season on the PGA Tour, so naturally skilled and polished that his long-term outlook is better than some of the rookies who won last year. Garrigus, from Oregon, didn’t have the grades to get a serious scholarship offer. He spent two years at junior college before hitting the mini-tours. Then his career was nearly derailed with drug and alcohol addiction that put him in a 30-day clinic. He remains an open book, which reads like a comedy given his self-deprecating sense of humor. “It was a lot easier for me,” Garrigus said. “I think the personality I had made it easier to deal with. It’s just golf. I don’t know if he thinks of it that way. I want to reach out and talk to him. I don’t know if he wants to hear what I have to say, and I don’t care. He’s a good kid, and I don’t want him to get shook up over it.” Stanley appears to be well on his way. His family was with him Sunday night, along with a close friend and his agent. He managed to eat. The sun came up the next day. He just signed up for Twitter a few months ago and picked up about 4,000 followers in 24 hours, those who felt badly for him or were impressed how he handled himself in defeat. He received text messages from Steve Stricker, who beat Stanley with a birdie-birdie finish at the John Deere Classic last summer, and from Gonzaga basketball coach Mark Few, whom he doesn’t even know personally. “That’s why I thought that was so cool,” Stanley said. “I’ve been watching Gonzaga play basketball since I was 3 feet tall. I live and die with every game they play. I try not to miss any of them. So that was real special to hear from him.” The other messages, including a phone conversation with Zach Johnson, were equally meaningful. Eventually, anyway. “I know I may not have believed it on Sunday night, or even Monday morning, but everybody just kept telling me I’ll be a lot stronger for it, and I agree with that. I will.” Garrigus bounced back from that Memphis meltdown by winning the final PGA Tour event of the year at Disney. Stanley recalls watching Rory McIlroy’s collapse at the Masters last year—and how graciously he faced the press after an 80—and quickly pointed out that McIlroy was a U.S. Open champion two months later. He believes something good is coming his way, and although the support has been overwhelming at times, Stanley is not interested in dwelling on Sunday at Torrey Pines. After taking the 36-hole lead at Torrey Pines, Stanley was asked what appealed to him about golf when he first got hooked. It was the independence of the game, that he alone determined his success, and he alone had to cope with his failures. That figures to serve him well. “There’s not much anyone can say at the time to make you feel better,” he said. “It’s just kind of a gut check. I’ve got to dig deep. And out of this whole process, I’m going to figure out a lot about myself.” Posted Feb 01 2012, 09:33 by Golf International with no comments Filed under: Golf International, Torrey Pines, Kyle Stanley