Scott takes advantage of star-depleted field
Adam Scott didn't have Tiger Woods to contend with while Annika Sorenstam was without Lorena Ochoa. Still, 18 holes weren't enough as both went into extra sessions to pull off their titles.
The NBA playoffs? Humdrum on hardwood. The NHL playoffs? Ennui on ice.
The postseasons of other sports are in full bloom, but Sunday was playoff season in professional golf -- and no, we're not talking about the FedEx Cup. (Thankfully.) Adam Scott beat Ryan Moore in extra holes on the PGA Tour, Annika Sorenstam defeated Paula Creamer in overtime on the LPGA and Darren Clarke may as well have taken out Robert-Jan Derksen in a playoff on the European Tour, as he sank what amounted to a walk-off clinching putt on the final hole of regulation.
(Just for fun, everybody read along in your best Jim Mora voice: What's that? Uh … playoffs? Don't talk about … playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs?)
The Weekly 18 begins with the notion that Scott's victory was well-deserved for reasons other than the obvious.
The highest-ranked player in the field just happened to be Scott, who began the week .01 average point outside of the top 10 on the Official World Golf Ranking and was one of just a dozen players in the top 50 to make up the field. He won the title -- and therein lies a message to some of the game's elite.
That message? Play golf! As they say on TV commercials for the lottery, you can't win if you don't play. Such a theory seems to have become more difficult to adhere to than it should be, however. With four major championships, three WGC events, four FedEx Cup playoff rounds and the Players Championship, those who are qualified for the biggies already have 12 weeks on the calendar checked off, leaving tourneys like the Nelson devoid of upper-tier fields.
"I'm playing too many events as it is," Padraig Harrington, who was virtually tied with Scott in the World Ranking but took the week off, told us in a Hot Seat interview last year. "It is difficult. I'm going to have to examine my schedule and try to figure out a way. I can't see myself reducing the tournaments to much below 30, so I'll probably play the most events of anybody in the top 10 in the world."
We've gotten out of the business of suggesting when and where certain players should tee it up -- hey, that's their prerogative -- but it's nice to see those who do choose to compete rewarded for their efforts. And so it was appropriate that Scott earned his just dessert for entering the event right before the deadline last week -- not that he viewed it as a lesser field.
"You can look on the points and the World Ranking, the difference between 30th and 10th, I don't think it's really that much," Scott said prior to the tournament. "It's two good weeks. I don't think it gives me an advantage."
Maybe not, but for this week, at least, he held the advantage over all those ranked above him. They didn't play. He won. Advantage: Scott.
For Moore, the solo second was his fourth such finish in the past four years; he has one each season since turning pro. The all-everything amateur player still boasts a homemade swing with enough waggles to make Sergio Garcia nervous, but he has the game and the attitude to win on tour very, very soon.
"I am where I am and I'm happy with it," said Moore, who now owns a pair of top-10 finishes in eight starts this season. "I'm just trying to keep moving forward. Obviously some injuries and whatnot have held me back, and it's been a little frustrating at times, but at the same time, you know, maybe that's given me the time I need to work on things I need to work on to win more tournaments in the long run. You know, that's kind of how I like to view things. I'm where I am right now, and I'm happy about it. I just went head-to-head against one of the best players in the world, and he had to make a 45-footer to beat me. That's a good place to be."
As pointed out by Blake Buchanan of St. Louis, Yong-Eun Yang posted what seemed to be a benign opening-round even-par 70 at the Nelson. Fact is, maybe it was a little too benign. Yang carded 18 pars in the round, with nary a birdie nor bogey to be found. As if that wasn't enough, he found an equally symmetrical nine greens in regulation and scrambled for nine saves. Buchanan asks if this is a rare occurrence on the PGA Tour, and while we can't say it's never happened before, it certainly doesn't occur very often.
Quick postscript to the man who went par for the course on Thursday: The streak stopped there. Yang began his second round with only one par in his opening seven holes, adding four bogeys and two birdies over that span, then following with three more birdies and another bogey on the back nine, en route to -- what else? -- a second straight even-par 70.
Immelman's result prompted the following e-mail to the Weekly 18 inbox from Tim in Sioux City, Iowa:
- Based upon Immelman's whirlwind two weeks and his poor performance at the Byron Nelson, I was wondering how well first-time majors winners have done in their first event after winning that major. Just wondering if there is a group riding high and building on the momentum and another group who had all the functions, appearances, attention, etc. and did not handle things well.
We examined the performances of every other first-time major champion this decade -- all 15 of 'em -- and found that Immelman was the first to miss the cut in his next PGA Tour start. Here's the list:
| First start after maiden major championship | ||
| Player | Major win | Next start |
| Trevor Immelman | 2008 Masters | Missed cut |
| Padraig Harrington | 2007 British Open | T-14 |
| Angel Cabrera | 2007 U.S. Open | 34th |
| Zach Johnson | 2007 Masters | Sixth |
| Geoff Ogilvy | 2006 U.S. Open | T-16 |
| Michael Campbell | 2005 U.S. Open | T-5 |
| Todd Hamilton | 2004 British Open | T-12 |
| Phil Mickelson | 2004 Masters | T-2 |
| Shaun Micheel | 2003 PGA Championship | T-23 |
| Ben Curtis | 2003 British Open | T-61 |
| Jim Furyk | 2003 U.S. Open | T-22 |
| Mike Weir | 2003 Masters | T-18 |
| Rich Beem | 2002 PGA Championship | T-6 |
| David Toms | 2001 PGA Championship | T-13 |
| David Duval | 2001 British Open | T-24 |
| Retief Goosen | 2001 U.S. Open | T-13 |
Interesting to note that while no first-timer has followed up with a victory in his next start since 2000, Mickelson came the closest, finishing one shot behind Vijay Singh at the 2004 Zurich Classic.
As for Masters champs, Tiger Woods is the only one in the past 20 years to win his next start, taking the 1997 Nelson after his resounding victory at Augusta. Meanwhile, Immelman became the first winner since Jose Maria Olazabal in 1994 to miss the cut in his next U.S. start.
Meanwhile, word from Woods' camp is that the proof is in the numbers. According to the thought process, Tiger hit 14, 16, 18 and 14 greens in regulation throughout the tournament (this doesn't match up with official numbers because Woods counts approach shots to the fringe as a GIR) and "missed" only two drives each day, still playing those eight total holes in even-par for the week.
So why didn't he score better? It's all about the short game. Woods had 23 opportunities to either convert birdie or save par from 40 yards and in during the tournament, we've been told, but succeeded on only four of those occasions.
His comments were based on a field that included just one top-10 player and only a dozen in the world's top 50. What makes them so interesting now, however, is that two days after Rittenmeyer said his piece EDS reupped its title sponsorship deal through 2014. "We believe in this tournament and appreciate the tremendous impact it has in the Dallas community, and we are excited about the opportunity to play a key role in its future," he said. "The EDS Byron Nelson Championship is our hometown PGA Tour event and provides a great venue for us to attract our key clients, as well as a wonderful opportunity for our employees to get involved in supporting a great cause."
Why the quick reversal? What changed in those two days? Such a turnaround forces us to step onto our Jump To Conclusions mat (full credit to Tom Smykowski, of course) and wonder just what good fortunes Finchem promised to EDS in the future. Our guess: a potential reunion with its Texas neighbor at Colonial, giving the Lonestar State a two-week swing which previously inhabited the schedule rather than the events taking place a month apart from one another.
We recently traded text messages with Thatcher about, well, how cool it would be.
Us: "Can't wait to caddie for you in the Par 3 next year."
Him: "I can feel it. You will look great in a white jumpsuit."
When Thatcher reached the top of the leaderboard after his 16th hole during Friday's second round, we promptly called the caddy shack at Augusta National Golf Club to make sure they had our jumpsuit size. (Uh, medium?) Twenty minutes later, we had apparently jinxed our potential loop, as he finished bogey-bogey on the final two holes. But things are looking up for the Nationwide grad, as weekend rounds of 72-70 gave him a T-7 result, his best in a dozen starts this season.
Remember, all it takes is one-regular season victory and players are automatically entered in next year's Masters field. Thatcher is confident his initial title is coming; when it does, somebody had better answer the phone at the caddy shack.
Meanwhile, that number is already higher than the number of Aussie players who have won on the PGA Tour not only in the 20 events to this point in 2008, but since the beginning of last year. Here's the list from the past half-decade:
| PGA Tour victories by Australians, since 2004 | ||
| Year | First 20 events | Overall |
| 2004 | 3 | 7 |
| 2005 | 4 | 4 |
| 2006 | 5 | 8 |
| 2007 | 2 | 2 |
| 2008 | 2 | ? |
From April 1 of last year (when Scott won in Houston) until March 24 of this year (when Geoff Ogilvy won in a Monday finish at Doral) -- a span of 51 total events Aussies went oh-fer on the PGA Tour.
"It was always going to be a difficult hurdle for me to get back into the winner's circle after Heather had passed away," Clarke said. "My mind started going forward from the 14th onwards, I lost my concentration and started thinking about Heather and the boys and in this game unless you keep your concentration for the whole way you make mistakes. That's what I did. But on the last green I gathered myself and said hit a good putt. Luckily, I did and it went in."
The victory marked the culmination of a long uphill battle for the Northern Irishman, who had dropped to No. 236 in the Official World Golf Ranking entering the BMW. Prior to this season, Clarke struggled to regain his form, failing to finish better than T-19 in 23 Euro Tour events since Heather's death. This year, however, he had shown a return to his old self, with three top-10s and only two missed cuts in 10 starts before claiming the title in Shanghai, the 11th victory of his career.
Next on the radar for Clarke? A possible spot on his sixth consecutive Ryder Cup team. As a captain's pick two years ago, he was the emotional leader while compiling a 3-0-0 record.
"I am pleased," Hu said at the time. "I'm looking to play my best. This is what I am looking for, being in the top 10. If I can finish in the top 10 [or] 20 … it'll be big."
It didn't happen, as the world's 1,397th-ranked player shot a final-round 79 which left him at T-35. But consider it only another step on the road to stardom for the native of China. Hailed on a 2005 Golf Digest magazine cover as "One in a Billion," Hu has been trained at the Leadbetter Academy in Bradenton, Fla., and is ranked 11th on the AJGA Polo Golf Rankings. He plans to attend the University of Florida next year.
We were planning to mold the line, let it grow and develop into its own witty punch line … until "SportsCenter" anchor John Buccigross ad-libbed the same exact line during the program's Top Ten segment that evening. We sent him a semi-angry e-mail and received the following response:
- "Sorry. You can have it free of charge. No one listens to me. Just mention my hole-in-one on a par-4 and we'll call it even."
Done and done. Bucci gets his double-eagle referenced in this column, we get sloppy seconds on the line and Mikko Ilonen is forever remembered as a left-winger who plays professional golf. And everyone lives happily ever after.
Maybe it's just us, but anytime you can choose either the player with the pink golf ball or the one with "Ms. 59" stamped on it, go with the latter.
Asked afterward what advice she would have for Creamer in the future, Annika wouldn't budge. "I'm not going to share my secrets," said Sorenstam, who now owns a 16-6 career record in playoffs. "I just try to play my own game. It's a little bit of luck in the playoff. So, I mean, my advice to her is just keep on playing your game. I mean, we all know she has a fantastic game. She's proven it today and she's proven in the past. She's going to win many times."
"I wish you would ask me how it would feel trying to go for five in a row," said Sorenstam, who won in five straight starts from late 2004 into the 2005 season. "I miss those times. Hopefully I get that again later this year. It's obviously a great time for Lorena. I hope she's enjoying it. There's pressure, but then by the end of day it's fun. Not many people have the chance to do that, and I hope she's enjoying that. It seems like when she is playing she's very, very relaxed and she's obviously in control and a lot of confidence, and that's what you need. I mean, obviously I'll be watching and trying to play the best I can and give her a challenge. That's really all I can do. Like I said, it's a fun spot she's in. I remember that. It wasn't too long ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed it."
Ochoa (five) and Sorenstam (two) have now combined to win seven of the nine events staged this season. Both of Annika's victories, however, have come without Lorena in the field, while Ochoa has won four times with Sorenstam in the field, including twice when the former No. 1 player finished in second place.
• Front nine: 5-under-par (nine birdies, four bogeys)
• Back nine: 15-over-par (two birdies, six bogeys, three double-bogeys, one triple-bogey, one quadruple-bogey)
The final result? Despite jumping out to an early lead through 17 holes on Thursday, she finished T-61 out of 76 players who made the cut.
Then again, it could have been worse. (Really.) Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez, 51, doesn't play much competitive golf these days and didn't fare very well on a course setup called "silly tough" by Sorenstam. Lopez's two rounds of 91-81 included 14 bogeys, five double-bogeys, one quadruple-bogey, one quintuple-bogey … and two silver linings. After all those black numbers on the scorecard, Lopez finished birdie-birdie on Friday afternoon.
"That's just like me," said Stone, a former pro, who admitted to the Weekly 18 that he didn't know he was the final entrant until we told him. "I procrastinate on everything."
Stone beat the deadline by 56 seconds, all of which leads to the question: What took you so long?
"I couldn't find my debit card," Stone said by phone Sunday evening. "I had to call my wife to get her number. I was like, 'Hon, hurry up. I don't have much time.'"
The lacrosse coach at Chelmsford High School, Stone regained his amateur status three years ago. Not only did he submit his entry barely in time, but his 1.4 handicap index is the maximum allowed for any entrant. Even so, he wouldn't have been too disappointed had the entry been turned down for tardiness.
"I'm a long shot," he said. "It's not a big deal, but it's a tournament that I like to enter. I was nervous about it, but I have three kids; if I didn't get in, it's not the end of the world."
As for the dream of qualifying to tee it up among the best professionals in the world? Consider Stone one of thousands of dreamers out there.
"That's what I love about the U.S. Open -- it's a true Open," he said. "As long as you qualify for the Open, you can play in it."
Later in the week, Winther shot a final-round 2-under-par 70 to win the AJGA Cliffs Championship by 5 strokes, his first victory on the junior circuit. "I knew I was playing well and didn't think at any time I was going to throw it away," Winther said. "I just kept thinking to hit the fairways and get some birdies. I was calm the whole way."
- Kemp, 36, said his "phone has been ringing off the hook" since he knocked in holes-in-one on back-to-back par 3s at the Muscatine Municipal Golf Course.
Kemp's a regular at the course and tries to play five days a week, but said Monday's game was "unreal."
He used a pitching wedge to sink his tee shot on the third hole from 130 yards out. Then he grabbed an 8-iron and nailed a hole-in-one from 182 yards out on the 8th hole. He finished the day with a 78.
Kemp said he's had three holes-in-one in the past eight months, but called Monday's game 97 percent luck. He said he could feel the butterflies as the second shot hit the hole.
Congrats, Ted. Hope you bought everyone a double at the 19th hole. And if this is some sort of cruel, late April Fools' Day joke? May all your par-3 endeavors turn into septys in the future!
Christina Kim: "Sucked."
LPGA Tour media official: "A little more description than that?"
Christina Kim: "Umm, really sucked."
-- Christina Kim, summing up her final-hole triple-bogey on Thursday.
Jason Sobel covers golf for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Jason.Sobel@espn3.com.
