Posted by Nathan Easler
Going into the Buick Invitational, it was easy to pick the Californians as the favorites. History was on the side of the players who hail from Southern California; the Buick has been captured by them in 15 of the past 21 years, including 10 of the past 12.
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Selecting a Californian was the safe pick, too, based on sheer volume of players. The field featured 30 golfers from the state; Florida was second with eight.
The favorite at the start of the week was three-time champion and San Diego native Phil Mickelson, who currently resides at No. 4 in the world rankings. Red-hot San Diego surfer Charley Hoffman was also finally getting more attention for his golf rather than his hair, thanks to stellar beginning to his 2009 season. Somewhere in the middle of this long list of Californians sat our eventual 2009 Buick Invitational champion, the lanky 27-year-old Sacramento native Nick Watney.
Watney overcame a five-shot deficit and posted a 4-under 68 on Sunday to pick up his second career victory on the PGA Tour.
Although coming from so bar back with just 18 holes to play is amazing in itself, the way Watney did it was even more spectacular. Watney had a veteran presence about him all day and was absolutely clutch down the stretch. He birdied two of his last three holes and three of his last six. Most notably, Watney sank a 39-foot putt for birdie on the 193-yard, par-3 16th hole, while leader John Rollins was unable to get up and down from a green-side bunker and made bogey. Watney may never forget sinking the huge breaking bomb from the fringe as that highlight-reel putt was the key to his victory.
The Californians as a whole did not fair as well as expected, though. Of the 30 entrants, only 13 made the cut with Watney, Hoffman (T-7), Hunter Mahan (T-11) and Paul Goydos (T-17) the only ones in the top 25 at week's end.
Nick Watney at a glance
Here's how Nick Watney fared this week in some of the major statistical categories:
| Category |
Rank |
Stat |
Leader |
Tour Avg. |
Leader |
Tour Avg. |
| |
This week |
Year to date |
| Driving distance |
22nd |
286.8 |
Garrigus -- 309.9 |
279.2 |
Garrigus -- 314.9 |
287.9 |
| Driving accuracy |
T-43 |
51.79% |
Wilson -- 73.21% |
50.55% |
Gay -- 78.33% |
58.96% |
| GIR |
T-27 |
66.67% |
Hass -- 80.56% |
62.31% |
Weekley -- 79.17% |
67.20% |
| Putting average |
T-33 |
1.813 |
Baddeley -- 1.641 |
1.849 |
Baddeley -- 1.593 |
1.762 |
| Eagles (holes per) |
-- |
-- |
5 tied -- 36.0 |
245.6 |
Weir -- 42.0 |
147.1 |
| Birdie average |
T-4 |
4.25 |
Jones -- 4.75 |
2.92 |
Ames -- 5.71 |
3.85 |
| Scoring average |
1 |
68.19 |
--- |
72.00 |
Toms -- 68.83 |
71.43 |
| Sand saves |
T-7 |
75.00% |
2 tied -- 100% |
46.16% |
2 tied -- 83.33% |
49.17% |
| Total driving |
T-22 |
65 |
Glover -- 20 |
84 |
Trahan -- 24 |
176 |
| Ball striking |
T-18 |
49 |
Hass -- 4 |
83 |
Trahan -- 13 |
175 |
| All-around |
3 |
296 |
Hoffman -- 215 |
735 |
Toms -- 143 |
691 |
| FedEx Cup |
1 |
500 |
-- |
42 |
Zach Johnson -- 647 |
87 |
| Money leaders |
1 |
$954K |
-- |
$35,079 |
Kenny Perry -- $1.281M |
$160,941 |
| • More PGA Tour statistics |
Getting It Done
Examining the table above, we see that Watney was solid but not spectacular in the major statistical categories. The consistency across all facets of his game is reinforced by his all-around ranking (third). It's also worth noting that Watney led the field in scrambling, getting up and down 75 percent of the time. This is significantly better than the field's average of 52.80 percent.
After leading the field at the FBR Open in driving distance last week (319.9 yards), Watney wasn't as long this week, averaging 286.8 yards. Distance remains a key to his game, though, and a key to winning at Torrey Pines.
Watney currently ranks fifth on tour in driving distance and he continues to rise in the rankings each year. Over the past five seasons, Watney's tour rank in driving distance has improved steadily, from 28th in 2005, to 18th in 2006, to 17th in 2007, to seventh in 2008, to fifth in 2009. His distance was key as Watney finished second in scoring on the par-5's last week at 11-under, besting the field's average of 3-under by eight shots.
While the stats help tell much of the story, there were some intangibles at work with Watney on Sunday. By starting the day five shots back, much of the pressure was on the broad shoulders of 54-hole leader John Rollins and Camilo Villegas, who was three shots off the lead heading into Sunday. The deficit made it easier for Watney to play within himself.
More importantly, Watney embraced the opportunity, performed like he had done it before (he did win the 2007 Zurich Classic) and had fun. In an exchange on the 15th hole, Watney commented to Villegas, "You gotta love this." Villegas smiled and replied, "Yeah, if you don't, you might as well be home watching on the couch."
The Future's So Bright
What does this victory mean for Watney's career? If history serves true, it could mean a major championship is near. The previous 13 winners of the Buick Invitational have major championship victories on their résumés. The last player to win the Buick Invitational without winning a major or going on to win a major is Peter Jacobsen in 1995.
On a historical note, Watney passed Jack Nicklaus on the career money list, moving up to 157th. Watney is also the first player in his 20s to win on tour this year.
Lefty trying to right the ship
Although it might be too early to sound the alarm, Phil Mickelson's woes continued this week at the Buick Invitational. What's behind Lefty's troubles?
Bob Harig
Please Shake Off That Rust
It is still early in the season, but with a missed cut last week and a T-42 this week, Phil Mickelson has had the worst start to a season in his career. Lefty and Callaway made a huge push to get his new driver approved by the PGA Tour and did so just in time for the Buick Invitational. It didn't do him too many favors as he was in the bottom quartile of the field in driving accuracy at 46.43 percent; the field averaged 50.55 percent.
Though the sample size is very small, here are some of the ugly truths of Lefty's early season rankings. The only category in which he beats the tour average is driving distance. Historically, Mickelson has been in the top 25 on tour in putting average. Currently, he ranks 143rd, which includes missing an 18-inch putt last week.
Rough Beginning
Here's where Phil Mickelson stands so far in 2009 in some of the PGA Tour's major statistical categories.
| Category |
Rank |
Stat |
Tour Avg. |
| Driving distance (in yards) |
42 |
295.8 |
287.9 |
| Driving accuracy |
T-170
|
40.48% |
58.96% |
| Greens in regulation |
147
|
62.04% |
67.20% |
| Putting average |
143
|
1.806 |
1.762 |
| Eagles (holes per) |
-- |
-- |
147.1 |
| Birdie average |
T-154
|
3.00 |
3.85 |
| Scoring average |
132 |
72.16 |
71.43 |
| Sand saves |
T-111
|
43.75% |
49.17% |
| Total driving |
T-128
|
212 |
176 |
| Ball striking |
T-145 |
275 |
175 |
| All-around ranking |
160
|
1,026 |
691 |
| FedEx Cup points |
T-135
|
26 |
98 |
| Money leaders |
T-144 |
$17,053 |
$160,941 |
North vs. South
The Buick Invitational plays on the north course and south course at Torrey Pines. The south course is the featured venue of this tournament, but it was more harsh than usual this year.
The south course is played for three of the four rounds, including both weekend rounds. Despite the better half of the field playing the weekend on the south course, it still averaged 2.2 strokes more difficult for this year's event.
To put the south course's difficulty into context, it was just the second time since 1983 that its scoring average has been more than 74.00. The south course did not yield a bogey-free round on Sunday.
Tale Of Two Tracks
Here's how players fared this week on the north and south courses at Torrey Pines.
| Course |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
Cummulative |
| North |
71.73 |
71.88 |
-- |
-- |
71.80 |
| South |
75.37 |
74.09 |
74.06 |
72.37 |
74.01 |
International Affairs
• Ireland's Padraig Harrington and South Africa's Retief Goosen made their 2009 PGA Tour debuts this week. Harrington, the 2008 Player of the Year, notched a top 25 with a T-24 finish. Goosen just missed the plateau after finishing tied for 26th.
• Villegas continues to solidify his status as a superstar in the making. His T-3 finish gives him top-five finishes in five of his past eight PGA Tour starts, including two victories. Prior to the weekend, it appeared he was going to run away with the event after he opened with a 63 on the north course and followed it with a 2-under 70 at the south course on Friday.
Villegas burned so many edges of the cups on the greens that you couldn't help feel for the guy. The longest putt he made all week was from 16 feet; compare that to Rollins, who's longest putt of the week was from 60 feet. However, Villegas was obviously stroking his putter well as he made 90.91 percent of his putts from inside 10 feet. That put him at T-12 in the category and was notably better than the field average of 85.46 percent.
Villegas' strength was hitting greens, finishing T-6 at 73.61 percent. The tour average is 62.31 percent. If Villegas maintains this level of ball striking and confident play, the putts will fall. Anyone who watched him play could see the aura of a winner. His time to join the world's top five appears to be right now.
Send comments, suggestions, and corrections to Nathan.J.Easler@espn.com.
