Golf International Magazine Online

Keegan Bradley wins in dramatic turnaround

Golf International — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 17:28:00 GMT

Keegan Bradley never looked like a winner over four days and 71 holes at Firestone until he poured in a 15-foot par putt on the final hole Sunday.

Given the way golf has gone this year, no one should have been surprised.

Two weeks after Adam Scott gave up a four-shot lead with four holes to play in the British Open, Jim Furyk was poised to finish off a wire-to-wire win at the Bridgestone Invitational until he made double bogey from the middle of the 18th fairway.

His 5-foot bogey putt to at least get into a playoff never had a chance, and he immediately dropped his putter and bent over with a mixture of shock and disgust.

''I led the golf tournament the entire way and lost it on the very last hole,'' Furyk said. ''To get that close and to know that I played more than good enough to win the golf tournament, and not close the door, is disappointing. It is a cruel game. I've lost some tournaments in some pretty poor fashions, but I don't think I've let one ever slip nearly as bad as this one. This was my worst effort to finish off an event.''

Lost in his 18th hole collapse was a sterling performance by Bradley, who shot 31 on the back and came up with one clutch putt after another. None was bigger than the final stroke of his 6-under 64. After blasting out of a plugged lie in the bunker, he poured in a 15-foot putt for par that turned out to be the winner.

''I didn't think for a second I was going to miss it,'' Bradley said. ''It was unbelievable. I got behind it, and I barely even had to read it. I knew the exact way it was going to break. I just needed to hit it hard enough. I knew that. And it was dead center.''

Furyk led by one shot playing the 18th and got a huge break when his tee shot bounced out of the trees to the left and back into the fairway. That's where it all fell apart. His 7-iron went long, into a bunker and hopped out into the collar. He had to place his left foot in the sand to play a shot with the ball sitting up, and the delicate chip barely cleared the bunker and settled into more thick grass.

The chip for his fourth shot was a clunker, stopping 5 feet short of the pin, and the bogey putt was what Furyk called ''my worst putt of the week.''

Bradley won for the third time in his career, his last win coming a year ago at the PGA Championship. He became the 11th player to win a major and a World Golf Championship, and the win moved him to No. 4 in the Ryder Cup standings. With one week left to grab one of eight spots, he's all but assured of making his first team.

''My hope standing on the 18th tee was to make birdie and maybe force a playoff,'' Bradley said. ''But you know, just from being out here, you just never know what's going to happen.''

It was the 11th time this year - and fourth time in the last five weeks - that the winner came from at least four shots behind in the final round.

The ending was devastating for Furyk in so many ways.

He was tied for the lead at the U.S. Open with three holes to play when he hooked his tee shot on the 16th hole, made bogey and never caught up. This time, he was in control at Firestone from his opening 63, all the way through the final round when he started with three straight birdies and made an 18-foot birdie on the 16th to seemingly hold off the late charge by Bradley.

''I have no one to blame but myself,'' Furyk said. ''But when things go wrong, it's an empty feeling. I'm disappointed. I walked over, my boy is crying right after the round. And I guess it reminds you as an adult - as a parent - that you have to act the proper way. You have to do and say the right things to try to give the right lessons.

''But there's no way I should have made any worse than 5 on the last hole,'' he said. ''There's no way I should have done worse than a playoff.''

He went from what appeared to be a certain win to a 69 and a tie for second with Steve Stricker, who made four birdies on his last five holes for a 64.

Bradley was four shots behind going into the final round, and was six shots back when Furyk opened with three straight birdies. Bradley kept pecking away at the lead, holing a 25-foot birdie putt on the seventh, scrambling for par on the 12th, and starting the back nine with a pair of birdies.

Furyk finally answered with an 18-foot birdie putt on the 16th, only for Bradley to follow him in for birdie from 12 feet. Bradley took only 12 putts on the back nine, including par saves on the final two holes.

He finished on 13-under 267.

Stricker found his putting stroke at Firestone - not that it was ever deep in hiding - and showed that down the stretch with his closing stretch of birdies. It was an important performance for Stricker, who moved up three spots to No. 10 in the Ryder Cup standings. Furyk is No. 11, followed by Rickie Fowler at No. 12.

Louis Oosthuizen closed with a 69 to finish alone in fourth. Justin Rose (67) and Rory McIlroy (68) were another shot behind.

Tiger Woods played bogey-free for a 66, his lowest score since a 65 in the second round at Bay Hill at the end of March. He was never in the tournament, 11 shots behind going into the final round, though he picked up the tiniest of consolations. He now has back-to-back finishes in the top 10 on the PGA Tour for the first time in nearly three years. And he at least heads to Kiawah Island feeling good about his game.

''I hit a lot of good shots and never really sniffed making a bogey all day,'' said Woods, who played his final 23 holes without a bogey. ''I feel very good about where I'm at. I'm excited about it.''

The nature of the course changed drastically with a quarter-inch of rain overnight, and a burst of showers that stopped play for nearly three hours Sunday morning. Shots to the green were spinning back instead of bouncing forward. Pars no longer were good enough.

Furyk picked up on that quickly, and came out even stronger than he did on Saturday. He dropped only one shot when he drove to the right into the trees on No. 6 and missed a 10-footer for par. He was rarely in jeopardy the rest of the way until he found himself in the middle of the fairway on the final hole, needing a par to win.

Instead, he watched someone else take home the $1.4 million first prize.

''Keegan played a heck of a back nine,'' Furyk said. ''He did everything he needed to do to win the golf tournament. I felt like I did the same, until the 18th hole.''

Scores

267 Keegan Bradley (USA) 67 69 67 64

268 Steve Stricker (USA) 68 68 68 64, Jim Furyk (USA) 63 66 70 69

269 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 67 65 68 69

272 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 70 67 67 68, Justin Rose (Eng) 70 69 66 67

274 Jason Dufner (USA) 67 66 73 68

276 Tiger Woods (USA) 70 72 68 66, David Toms (USA) 68 67 73 68, Matt Kuchar (USA) 70 70 70 66, Lee Slattery (Eng) 65 71 72 68, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 73 66 71 66, K J Choi (Kor) 71 72 67 66, Bo Van Pelt (USA) 70 69 66 71, Luke Donald (Eng) 66 69 71 70

277 Kyle Stanley (USA) 69 73 68 67, John Senden (Aus) 66 70 69 72, Simon Dyson (Eng) 66 71 70 70

278 Dustin Johnson (USA) 69 68 73 68, Nick Watney (USA) 69 70 72 67, Bill Haas (USA) 67 71 70 70, Scott Piercy (USA) 69 70 70 69, Bubba Watson (USA) 66 73 72 67

279 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 75 72 63, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 70 67 70 72, K.t. Kim (Kor) 67 67 74 71, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 67 70 72 70

280 Carl Pettersson (Swe) 67 70 71 72

281 Jason Day (Aus) 75 70 70 66, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 67 72 73 69, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 67 72 71 71, Martin Laird (Sco) 68 72 68 73, Ian Poulter (Eng) 74 69 69 69, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 72 72 69, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 66 65 77 73

282 Jamie Donaldson (Wal) 68 73 75 66, Branden Grace (Rsa) 72 70 66 74, Johnson Wagner (USA) 71 74 68 69, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 69 71 74 68

283 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 74 70 69 70, Zach Johnson (USA) 68 73 68 74, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 71 70 74 68

284 Phil Mickelson (USA) 71 69 73 71, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 70 71 72 71

285 Adam Scott (Aus) 71 70 71 73, Ernie Els (Rsa) 73 73 68 71, Marc Leishman (Aus) 70 72 70 73, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 73 68 74 70, Mark Wilson (USA) 72 71 73 69

286 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 71 72 70 73, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 71 73 73 69, Paul Lawrie (Sco) 72 68 74 72, Danny Willett (Eng) 72 74 73 67, Brandt Snedeker (USA) 71 70 70 75

287 Hunter Mahan (USA) 73 73 69 72, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 71 75 71 70, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 70 71 74 72, Jonathan Byrd (USA) 73 73 69 72, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 71 73 70 73

288 Yoshinori Fujimoto (Jpn) 73 74 71 70, Marcel Siem (Ger) 76 71 70 71, Rickie Fowler (USA) 70 80 69 69

289 Kevin Na (USA) 72 76 72 69, Peter Hanson (Swe) 73 71 71 74, Joost Luiten (Ned) 72 71 77 69

290 Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 72 66 76 76

291 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 73 74 71 73, Toshinori Muto (Jpn) 73 71 73 74

292 Robert Allenby (Aus) 73 79 72 68

294 Lee Westwood (Eng) 68 72 81 73

295 Robert Rock (Eng) 76 72 74 73, Michael Hoey (NIrl) 78 75 70 72

299 Ted Potter, Jr. (USA) 72 72 75 80

301 Tom Lewis (Eng) 78 76 74 73

302 Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 77 72 76 77

Fred Couples wins on dramatic day

Golf International — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 21:44:00 GMT

Fred Couples won the Senior British Open by two strokes over Gary Hallberg on Sunday after holing a 25-foot putt to finish with consecutive birdies.

The 1992 Masters champion shot a 3-under 67 in the final round to finish at 9-under 271 on the Ailsa course and win his first tournament in Britain. Hallberg shot a 66, equaling the best round of the day with American Mark Calcavecchia and Carl Mason.

English pair Barry Lane (69) and Mason and American Dick Mast (67) had a share of third at 4 under. Overnight leader Bernhard Langer dropped five shots in five holes on the way home to shoot a 75 and slip into a tie for sixth.

''I've never won an Open Championship, so this is the next best thing. And I believe I now get into the (British) Open at Muirfield next year, which is great,'' Couples said. ''It was a fun day out there. Bernhard and I were neck and neck for a long time. Then I saw Gary had birdied the 17th to draw level, so I knew I needed to birdie 17. I hit a couple of great shots down 17 and two-putted for birdie, then the hole got in the way for my birdie putt at 18.

''It's my biggest senior tour win by far on a truly great golf course. I can now say I won the Senior British Open at Turnberry in really challenging weather.''

Couples was locked in a struggle with Langer until the German double bogeyed No. 12 and the American birdied for a three-shot swing. Langer then bogeyed three holes in a row from No. 14 to slip out of contention.

Hallberg posted the best round of the tournament with a 63 on Friday before following that up with a 73 on Saturday. On Sunday, he made six birdies and didn't drop a shot. Calcavecchia had four birdies and no bogeys, while Mason had three birdies, an eagle and just one bogey.

Tom Watson closed with a 69, his third sub-par round of the tournament to share 10th place at 1-under 279.

''I played with Carl Mason and he played a wonderful round of golf. I played well and I love being back at Turnberry,'' Watson said. ''It has had a lot of significance for me in my career.''

Watson beat Jack Nicklaus in the 1977 British Open at Turnberry in what is known as the ''Duel in the Sun.'' He also beat Mason in a 2010 playoff at Turnberry to win the first of his three Senior British Open titles.

Scores

Fred Couples -9 (72-68-64-67=271) -3(67) $315,600
Gary Hallberg -7 (71-63-73-66=273) -4(66) $210,500
Dick Mast -4 (66-73-70-67=276) -3(67) $97,813
Barry Lane -4 (67-74-66-69=276) -1(69) $97,813
Carl Mason -4 (69-74-67-66=276) -4(66) $97,813
John Cook -2 (69-72-66-71=278) +1(71) $53,205
Bernhard Langer -2 (64-73-66-75=278) +5(75) $53,205
Mark Wiebe -2 (70-71-70-67=278) -3(67) $53,205
Peter Fowler -2 (68-72-65-73=278) +3(73) $53,205
Jay Don Blake -1 (66-73-69-71=279) +1(71) $32,904
Mark Calcavecchia -1 (72-72-69-66=279) -4(66) $32,904
Tom Lehman -1 (66-71-73-69=279) -1(69) $32,904
Tom Watson -1 (69-75-66-69=279) -1(69) $32,904
Ian Woosnam -1 (71-70-68-70=279) E(70) $32,904
David Frost +2 (66-73-70-73=282) +3(73) $26,600
Corey Pavin +2 (70-72-70-70=282) E(70) $26,600
Kirk Triplett +2 (69-74-72-67=282) -3(67) $26,600
Olin Browne +3 (69-73-71-70=283) E(70) $23,680
Mark McNulty +3 (65-75-75-68=283) -2(68) $23,680
Michael Allen +3 (66-74-75-68=283) -2(68) $23,680
Peter Senior +4 (68-71-72-73=284) +3(73) $22,000
Gary Wolstenholme +4 (70-73-70-71=284) +1(71) $22,000
Bob Gilder +5 (72-74-72-67=285) -3(67) $21,040
Tom Kite +6 (74-73-71-68=286) -2(68) $19,760
Chris Williams +6 (71-73-72-70=286) E(70) $19,760
Mike Goodes +6 (69-73-71-73=286) +3(73) $19,760
Loren Roberts +7 (68-75-72-72=287) +2(72) $17,560
Mark Mouland +7 (71-72-71-73=287) +3(73) $17,560
Boonchu Ruangkit +7 (69-73-72-73=287) +3(73) $17,560
Bobby Clampett +7 (70-71-71-75=287) +5(75) $17,560
John Huston +8 (70-72-70-76=288) +6(76) $15,365
Jeff Hart +8 (69-76-70-73=288) +3(73) $15,365
Chien Soon Lu +8 (66-77-73-72=288) +2(72) $15,365
Ross Drummond +8 (70-74-70-74=288) +4(74) $15,365
David Eger +9 (74-70-74-71=289) +1(71) $13,610
Marc Farry +9 (71-74-71-73=289) +3(73) $13,610
Philip Golding +9 (70-75-74-70=289) E(70) $13,610
Des Smyth +9 (75-70-72-72=289) +2(72) $13,610
Chip Lutz (a) +9 (70-76-67-76=289) +6(76)
Joel Edwards +10 (69-77-70-74=290) +4(74) $11,600
Jay Haas +10 (73-74-69-74=290) +4(74) $11,600
Jeff Sluman +10 (70-76-72-72=290) +2(72) $11,600
Eduardo Romero +10 (68-74-77-71=290) +1(71) $11,600
Anders Forsbrand +10 (71-72-71-76=290) +6(76) $11,600
Angel Franco +10 (73-73-67-77=290) +7(77) $11,600
David J. Russell +10 (69-73-71-77=290) +7(77) $11,600
Mark Brooks +11 (70-71-69-81=291) +11(81) $9,260
Larry Mize +11 (71-74-74-72=291) +2(72) $9,260
Jeff Freeman +11 (71-74-74-72=291) +2(72) $9,260
Paul Wesselingh +11 (69-76-75-71=291) +1(71) $9,260
Rod Spittle +11 (72-74-72-73=291) +3(73) $9,260
David Merriman +11 (70-77-74-70=291) E(70) $9,260
Mark James +12 (74-74-73-71=292) +1(71) $7,820
Bill Longmuir +12 (71-77-71-73=292) +3(73) $7,820
Steve Pate +13 (71-75-73-74=293) +4(74) $7,110
Philip Jonas +13 (73-71-74-75=293) +5(75) $7,110
Fred Funk +14 (69-74-75-76=294) +6(76) $6,450
Anthony Gilligan +14 (69-73-78-74=294) +4(74) $6,450
Rossouw Loubser +15 (74-71-78-72=295) +2(72) $5,377
Mike San Filippo +15 (72-76-76-71=295) +1(71) $5,377
Lee Rinker +15 (67-78-77-73=295) +3(73) $5,377
Juan Quiros +15 (71-76-73-75=295) +5(75) $5,377
Andrew Murray +15 (69-78-76-72=295) +2(72) $5,377
Kevin Spurgeon +15 (72-73-74-76=295) +6(76) $5,377
Tim Thelen +16 (73-72-74-77=296) +7(77) $4,407
Phil Hinton +16 (70-75-76-75=296) +5(75) $4,407
Kouki Idoki +16 (69-76-70-81=296) +11(81) $4,407
Tim Elliott +17 (71-76-74-76=297) +6(76) $4,407
Randy Haag (a) +18 (74-74-78-72=298) +2(72)
Mike Cunning +19 (73-75-76-75=299) +5(75) $3,770
John Harrison +19 (73-74-78-74=299) +4(74) $3,770
Mitch Adcock +20 (73-74-75-78=300) +8(78) $3,500
Noel Ratcliffe +21 (72-76-74-79=301) +9(79) $3,230
Denis O'Sullivan +21 (76-72-81-72=301) +2(72) $3,230
Seiki Okuda +22 (73-74-72-83=302) +13(83) $2,960
John Ross +29 (75-71-84-79=309) +9(79) $2,780

Ernie Els wins as Adam Scott collapses

Golf International — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:25:00 GMT

Ernie Els plucked the ball from the hole after one last birdie and heaved it into the grandstand. At the time, it looked like nothing more than a classy gesture by a former British Open champion - not the next one.

The name on the claret jug was supposed to be Adam Scott, who had a four-shot lead with four holes to play.

But in a shocking turnaround Sunday, Els returned to the 18th green less than an hour later to claim the oldest trophy in golf. Scott joined a list of players who threw away a major.

That was not lost on Els, whose heart sank when he looked over at the 32-year-old Australian.

''Sorry,'' Els told him. ''You're a great player, a great friend of mine. I feel very fortunate. You're going to win many of these.''

Scott might not get another chance like this.

After hitting a 3-wood into a pot bunker on the final hole, Scott had one last chance when he stood over a 7-foot par putt to force a playoff. It stayed left of the cup, and Scott dropped into a crouch. Standing off to the side, his chin quivered as the magnitude of the meltdown hit him. Instead, he mouthed one word: ''Wow.''

Wow, indeed.

Even though Els had gone more than two years without winning, and had thrown away two tournaments in recent months with shaky putting, the Big Easy felt all along that something special was going to happen at this British Open.

And it did - all because of a collapse by Scott that no one saw coming.

''I know I let a really great chance slip through my fingers today,'' Scott said.

On a wind-swept afternoon at Royal Lytham & St. Annes that blew away the hopes of Tiger Woods and a handful of others, Scott looked steady as ever by going eight straight holes without making bogey. And that's when it came undone.

''I had it in my hands with four to go,'' Scott said.

A bogey from the bunker on the 15th cut the lead to three. That was followed by a three-putt bogey on the 16th, where his 3-foot par putt spun in and out of the cup and made the gallery gasp. From the middle of the 17th fairway, he hit a 6-iron that turned left, ran down the slope and took one last bounce in shin-high grass.

''I thought, 'Hold on. We've got a problem here,' '' said Graeme McDowell, playing with Scott in the final group.

By then, Els had posted a 2-under 68 with a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole, a cheer that Scott recognized while playing the 17th. Scott failed to get up-and-down for par from the rough and suddenly was tied.

Els headed to the practice green, where it rarely works out for him. In perhaps the most crushing defeat in a career filled with them, Els was on the putting green at Augusta National in 2004 when Phil Mickelson made an 18-foot birdie putt to win the Masters.

''I just thought, 'I'll probably be disappointed again,' '' Els said. ''You're not really hoping the guy is going to make a mistake, but you're hoping you don't have to go a playoff, you can win outright. This one was different, because I feel for Adam.''

Els, who started the final round six shots behind, wound up with his second British Open - the other one was 10 years ago at Muirfield - and fourth major championship at a stage in his career when it looked as if his best golf was behind him.

''Amazing,'' Els said. ''I'm still numb. It still hasn't set in. It will probably take quite a few days because I haven't been in this position for 10 years, obviously. So it's just crazy, crazy, crazy getting here.''

The celebration was muted, unlike his other three majors.

''First of all, I feel for Adam Scott. He's a great friend of mine,'' Els said. ''Obviously, we both wanted to win very badly. But you know, that's the nature of the beast. That's why we're out here. You win. You lose. It was my time for some reason.''

The wind finally arrived off the Irish Sea and ushered in pure chaos - a mental blunder by Woods that led to triple bogey on the sixth hole, a lost ball by Brandt Snedeker that took him out of contention and a topped shot that made McDowell, a former U.S. Open champion, look like an amateur.

''I guess my disappointment kind of seems relatively stupid in relation to the guy ... I've just seen a guy lose The Open Championship,'' said McDowell, who played in the final group of a major for the second straight time.

Nothing was more stunning than what happened to Scott, who closed with a 75.

''I managed to hit a poor shot on each of the closing four holes,'' Scott said. ''Look, I played so beautifully for most of the week. I shouldn't let this bring me down.''

Even so, it added another chapter to Australian heartbreak, most of that belonging to his idol, Greg Norman.

Scott was the fourth Australian since the 2007 Masters to lead going into the final round of a major, yet the proud land Down Under remains without a major since Geoff Ogilvy won the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in 2006.

''Greg was my hero when I was a kid, and I thought he was a great role model, how he handled himself in victory and defeat,'' Scott said. ''He set a good example for us. It's tough. I can't justify anything that I've done out there. I didn't finish the tournament well today.

''But next time ... I'm sure there will be a next time and I can do a better job of it.''

Already in the World Golf Hall of Fame, the 42-year-old Els joined even more elite company. He became only the sixth player to win the U.S. Open and British Open twice. The others are Jack Nicklaus, Woods, Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones and Lee Trevino.

Woods came undone on the sixth hole when he tried to blast out of a bunker from a plugged lie, stayed in the bunker, and three-putted for triple bogey. Still with an outside chance after a birdie on the 12th, he stuck with his conservative plan of hitting iron off the tee and made three straight bogeys. He closed with a 73 to tie for third with Brandt Snedeker, who also had his share of problems for a 74.

Woods had his best finish in a major since he lost to Y.E. Yang in the 2009 PGA Championship, though he remains winless in the last 17.

''It's part of golf,'' said Woods, who moves to No. 2 in the world. ''We all go through these phases. Some people, it lasts entire careers. Others are a little bit shorter. Even the greatest players to ever play have all gone through little stretches like this.''

Els finished at 7-under 273. He failed to qualify for the Masters this year for the first time in nearly two decades, but that won't be a problem now. His win gives him a five-year exemption into the majors.

It was the most shocking collapse at the British Open since Jean Van de Velde took a triple bogey on the final hole at Carnoustie and lost in a playoff. But this was different. It wasn't a last-minute blowup, more of a slow bleed, similar to Jason Dufner losing a five-shot lead to Keegan Bradley in the PGA Championship last year, or Ed Sneed making bogey on the last three holes at the 1979 Masters.

There was just enough wind to make the 206 bunkers at Royal Lytham look a little bit bigger. And as the gusts increased, a calm week turned chaotic.

It started with Woods on the sixth hole, his first triple bogey at a major championship since he lost his ball on the opening hole at Royal St. George's in 2003.

''One yard,'' he said to his caddie, a measure of the miss. It plugged near the steep wall of a pot bunker.

Instead of chipping to the middle of the bunker, Woods tried to get out with a ferocious swing. The ball smacked into the wall, nearly hit him and wound up near the left wall. He sat on the grass, his left knee (which has gone through four surgeries) flexed underneath him, his right leg extended as he dipped his upper body toward the sand to make a swing. This one also hit the ball, and caromed around and out to the right. From there, he three-putted for a 7.

''The game plan was to fire it into the bank, have it ricochet to the right and then have an angle to come back at it,'' Woods said. ''Unfortunately, it ricocheted to the left and almost hit me.''

Just like that, he was seven shots behind. It was the second time this year that one of golf's biggest stars made triple bogey in the final round of a major while in contention. Phil Mickelson made his on the fourth hole at the Masters and never recovered.

Els made a bogey on the ninth to fall six shots behind. All that did was fire him up, and he came home in 32. His 68 is best measured in these terms - of the last 12 players who teed off in the final round, no one else had better than a 72.

Yet there was one more collapse, in the final hour, and it was the one everyone will remember from this British Open. It's one Scott will somehow need to forget. As winner and runner-up met in a portable trailer before going out to the trophy presentation, Els told him: ''Don't beat yourself up.''

Scores

1 Ernie Els ZAF 67 70 68 68 -7
2 Adam Scott AUS 64 67 68 75 -6
T3 Tiger Woods USA 67 67 70 73 -3
T3 Brandt Snedeker USA 66 64 73 74 -3
T5 Luke Donald ENG 70 68 71 69 -2
T5 Graeme McDowell NIR 67 69 67 75 -2
T7 Nicolas Colsaerts BEL 65 77 72 65 -1
T7 Thomas Aiken ZAF 68 68 71 72 -1
T9 Geoff Ogilvy AUS 72 68 73 67 E
T9 Ian Poulter ENG 71 69 73 67 E
T9 Miguel Angel Jimenez ESP 71 69 73 67 E
T9 Alexander Noren SWE 71 71 69 69 E
T9 Vijay Singh FJI 70 72 68 70 E
T9 Dustin Johnson USA 73 68 68 71 E
T9 Mark Calcavecchia USA 71 68 69 72 E
T9 Matt Kuchar USA 69 67 72 72 E
T9 Thorbjorn Olesen DNK 69 66 71 74 E
T9 Zach Johnson USA 65 74 66 75 E
T19 Hunter Mahan USA 70 71 70 70 +1
T19 Steve Alker NZL 69 69 72 71 +1
T19 Louis Oosthuizen ZAF 72 68 68 73 +1
T19 Bill Haas USA 71 68 68 74 +1
T23 Simon Dyson ENG 72 67 73 70 +2
T23 Carl Pettersson SWE 71 68 73 70 +2
T23 Steve Stricker USA 67 71 73 71 +2
T23 Matthew Baldwin ENG 69 73 69 71 +2
T23 Peter Hanson SWE 67 72 72 71 +2
T23 Nick Watney USA 71 70 69 72 +2
T23 James Morrison ENG 68 70 72 72 +2
T23 Bubba Watson USA 67 73 68 74 +2
T31 Rickie Fowler USA 71 72 70 70 +3
T31 Anirban Lahiri IND 68 72 70 73 +3
T31 Jason Dufner USA 70 66 73 74 +3
T34 John Senden AUS 70 71 75 68 +4
T34 Gary Woodland USA 73 70 70 71 +4
T34 Jim Furyk USA 72 70 71 71 +4
T34 Paul Lawrie SCO 65 71 76 72 +4
T34 Keegan Bradley USA 71 72 68 73 +4
T39 Richard Sterne ZAF 69 73 73 70 +5
T39 K.J. Choi KOR 70 73 71 71 +5
T39 Troy Matteson USA 70 72 71 72 +5
T39 Francesco Molinari ITA 69 72 71 73 +5
T39 Padraig Harrington IRL 70 72 70 73 +5
T39 Kyle Stanley USA 70 69 70 76 +5
T45 Ross Fisher ENG 72 71 74 69 +6
T45 Bob Estes USA 69 72 74 71 +6
T45 Lee Westwood ENG 73 70 71 72 +6
T45 Pablo Larrazabal ESP 73 70 71 72 +6
T45 Rafa Echenique ARG 73 69 71 73 +6
T45 Joost Luiten NED 73 70 69 74 +6
T45 Justin Hicks USA 68 74 69 75 +6
T45 Greg Chalmers AUS 71 68 71 76 +6
T45 Simon Khan ENG 70 69 71 76 +6
T54 Fredrik Jacobson SWE 69 73 73 72 +7
T54 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano ESP 71 71 72 73 +7
T54 Yoshinori Fujimoto JPN 71 70 73 73 +7
T54 Greg Owen ENG 71 71 71 74 +7
T54 Harris English USA 71 71 70 75 +7
T54 Thomas Bjorn DNK 70 69 72 76 +7
T60 Rory McIlroy NIR 67 75 73 73 +8
T60 Ted Potter Jr. USA 69 71 74 74 +8
T60 Dale Whitnell ENG 71 69 72 76 +8
T60 Jamie Donaldson WAL 68 72 72 76 +8
T64 Charles Howell III USA 72 71 74 72 +9
T64 Lee Slattery ENG 69 72 75 73 +9
T64 Retief Goosen ZAF 70 70 75 74 +9
T64 Sang-Moon Bae KOR 72 71 71 75 +9
T64 Garth Mulroy ZAF 71 69 72 77 +9
T69 Jeev Milkha Singh IND 70 71 76 73 +10
T69 Aaron Baddeley AUS 71 71 74 74 +10
T69 Adilson Da Silva BRA 69 74 71 76 +10
T72 Martin Laird SCO 70 69 82 70 +11
T72 Chad Campbell USA 73 70 74 74 +11
T72 Juvic Pagunsan PHL 71 72 73 75 +11
T72 Brendan Jones AUS 69 74 72 76 +11
T72 Toshinori Muto JPN 67 72 74 78 +11
T77 Tom Watson USA 71 72 76 73 +12
T77 Warren BENNETT ENG 71 70 75 76 +12
T77 Thongchai Jaidee THA 69 71 74 78 +12
T77 Branden Grace ZAF 73 69 71 79 +12
T81 John Daly USA 72 71 77 74 +14
T81 Rafael Cabrera-Bello ESP 70 71 76 77 +14
83 Andres Romero ARG 70 69 77 82 +18

Tiger, Garcia & Rose paired together

Golf International — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 21:51:00 GMT

Former world number one Tiger Woods will play alongside Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose in the opening two rounds of this week's British Open.

Woods, Spaniard Garcia and Briton Rose will tee off at 0942 (0842 GMT) in Thursday's first round.

The 36-year-old American is looking to end a four-year drought in major championships, having won the last of his 14 'big four' titles at the 2008 U.S. Open.

Garcia, 32, and Rose, 31, are among the best modern-day players never to have won a major.

Among the other highlights of Monday's draw was the grouping of world number one Luke Donald with American left-hander Phil Mickelson and Australian Geoff Ogilvy at 1443.

World number two Rory McIlroy will partner 2010 British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and 2011 U.S. PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley at 1421.

Lee Westwood, the world number three, was drawn with crowd-pleasing U.S. Masters champion Bubba Watson and Japan's Yoshinori Fujimoto.

"You always expect Lee to do well," big-hitting American Watson told reporters. "It seems like every major he is in, he's in the top five.

"He's a great player. Even if he starts off slow he fights back and has a chance to win."

Title holder Darren Clarke will play alongside triple major champion Ernie Els and former U.S. Masters winner Zach Johnson.

The honor of striking the first blow of the 141st edition of the championship will fall to Britain's Barry Lane at 0619.

New path to PGA Tour details announced

Golf International — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 14:05:00 GMT

The top 25 players from the Web.com Tour are assured of getting PGA Tour cards under a new system announced Tuesday that does away with Q-school being a direct path to the big leagues.

More than six months of discussions ended with what the tour felt was the most simple plan for awarding PGA Tour cards.

Starting in September 2013, the top 75 players from the Web.com Tour and the top 75 players who do not qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs - those who are No. 126 through No. 200 in the FedEx Cup standings - will compete in three $1 million tournaments known as ''The Finals.''

All players in the Finals will start from scratch, and 50 cards will be awarded based on the Finals money list.

However, the top 25 from the Web.com Tour regular season already will be assured of getting PGA cards, even if they fall out of the top 50 on the Finals money list. They would play only for position going into the 2013-14 season, which would start in October.

The player who leads the Web.com Tour money list in the regular season, and the player who wins the Finals money list, will be exempt into The Players Championship and have the same status as a PGA Tour player who kept his card the previous year.

''We looked at a dizzying number of potential options,'' said Andy Pazder, the tour's chief of operations. ''This one provided the best blend of continuing to recognize the seasonal performance of the Web.com Tour. At the same time, it creates a way for the cream to rise over three weeks of head-to-head play.''

The change is part of a major overhaul of the PGA Tour season that starting next fall will do away with the money list as a way to measure performance.

Currently, the FedEx Cup season ends with the Tour Championship in late September, followed by the Fall Series of events that give players a chance to finish in the top 125 on the money list to earn their cards for next year. Those who fail go to Q-school, a six-round tournament with 25 cards awarded. The Web.com Tour also awards 25 cards.

Under the new system, the FedEx Cup still ends at the Tour Championship. The Finals - for the Web.com players and leftovers from the PGA Tour - will end the week after the Tour Championship. The next season then starts in October.

Q-school will continue to be held in late fall, but only to award Web.com Tour cards.

The model for the Finals was reached after much discussion by the tour's board (which includes four players) and Player Advisory Councils that represent players from the PGA Tour and Nationwide Tours. It was critical that they got it right the first time - unlike the FedEx Cup points system, which was altered each of the first three years - because jobs were at stake.

Pazder said keeping the model simple was a factor, ''but not a motivating factor.''

''The motivating factor was a system that would identify the best 25 players in those fields,'' he said. ''And the best way to do that is head-to-head competition. Everyone starts on a level playing field. It's not based upon subjective seedings. It's based on results. One of the beauties of our sport is you go out and perform, and based on your performance, you get paid or you don't.

''In this case,'' he said, ''you get a tour card or you don't based on your performance.''

Tour officials had looked at trying to seed players from the PGA Tour and Web.com Tour, though that was abandoned a few months ago because it was seen as too complicated to explain, and difficult to compare performances between the major league and minor league.

They also had considered awarding only 15 cards to the Web.com Tour regular season.

It has not been determined where to play the three tournaments that make up the Finals. The tour expects the field size to range from 132 to 144 players. Even though 150 players would be eligible, some might not need to play if they have previous status, such as a two-year exemption from winning on the PGA Tour.

Players who are not on the PGA Tour can earn either FedEx Cup points from the PGA Tour or money from the Web.com Tour that will appear on a nonmember's list. If it is equivalent to other players on tour, that would get them into the Finals.

The change is likely to force college players to turn pro earlier, because they cannot earn points or money as amateurs. Dustin Johnson played in the Walker Cup, made it through Q-school and won his rookie year on the PGA Tour. Under the new system, he likely would have to spend a year on the Web.com Tour.

If this system were in place when Tiger Woods turned pro after winning his third straight U.S. Amateur in 1996, he would have had two minor-league events to make enough points to get into the Finals. The season was longer, then, and Woods won twice on the PGA Tour in his first seven tournaments.

US Open feel at AT&T National

Golf International — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 16:03:00 GMT

Jim Furyk must feel as if he's going from one U.S. Open to another one.

During a practice round at Congressional for the AT&T National, he stood on the first tee and planned to hit driver over the right edge of the bunker, bouncing it up the fairway toward the green, just like he has the other three times he played it as a PGA Tour event.

Only there was one problem.

The bunker no longer hugged the left side. The fairway was so narrow that the bunker was 10 yards into the rough.

''I went, 'Oh, wow.' Looked at my caddie and said, 'The cut lines are still the same as they were at the Open last year,''' Furyk said.

On the par-3 second hole, the wind was so strong into him that he hit a 3-wood onto the front of the green. A year ago at the U.S. Open, the greens were so soft from heavy rain that it would have taken a few hops and rolled to a stop.

''It ended up on the back of the green,'' Furyk said. ''And it was into the breeze. I said, 'OK, game on.' Now I realize what I have to get ready for this week.''

Congressional looks more like a U.S. Open course than the U.S. Open did last year.

The fairways are tight. The rough is thick and ankle-deep in spots, and this was after they cut it down a few weeks ago. The greens are firm and bouncy. It has all the trappings of a U.S. Open, and Congressional has hosted three of them.

But this is just the AT&T National.

''I'm sure we'll see U.S. Open-type conditions, probably a lot firmer and faster than they were here when we played the U.S. Open,'' Davis Love III said. ''I think it's going to play tough.''

The USGA was at the mercy of the weather last year - difficult conditions during the growing season, overnight rain during the championship that didn't allow the course to dry out. The result was a record score by Rory McIlroy, who finished on 16-under 268 for an eight-shot win.

McIlroy isn't back this year because he loves home just a little more than he loves Congressional. The Irish Open is this week at Royal Portrush in his native Northern Ireland, a revered course that has produced the first four-day sellout in European Tour history.

Tiger Woods is back, even though he wasn't at Congressional last year.

Woods wound up missing the middle two majors in 2011 to fully recover from injuries to his left leg, so all he could do was watch from home as McIlroy shattered his U.S. Open scoring records. Woods previously was the only player to finish a U.S. Open in double figures under par (12 under), and he tied the Open scoring record at 272.

McIlroy beat both those marks by four.

In some respects, Woods can consider himself the defending champion. The last time the AT&T National was played at Congressional was in 2009, when he closed with a 67 to finish on 13-under 267 for a one-shot win.

But this isn't the same course.

It was played as a par 70 in 2009, with the sixth hole a long par 4. Now, the course is playing the same length as the U.S. Open, a par 71 at 7,569 yards, using some of the new tees the USGA had built for its premier championship.

That includes the 466-yard third hole, the 470-yard fourth hole, and a 523-yard hole on the 18th.

''I like it quick because it certainly puts a premium on shaping shots, and more than anything, keeping the ball under the hole,'' Woods said. ''We've seen what this place can do when it gets soft, and what the guys can shoot.''

Whether it stays fast when the AT&T National gets under way on Thursday remains to be seen. No rain was in the forecast, but the temperatures began climbing into the 90s on Wednesday, and with hot weather, officials might have to keep more water on the greens to keep the grass alive.

Woods was asked what he would like to see as the winning score, and he cut off the question when a reporter said, 'Would you like it to be below ...''

''Below 16 under?'' he said, smiling in reference to McIlroy's record score.

''As long as I'm that person,'' Woods added, ''yes.''

Woods is following his script from 2009, when he started the year by winning at Bay Hill and Memorial, hosted by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. He also won the AT&T National that year (he was the official host), though he never won a major.

He is coming off a U.S. Open at Olympic Club by taking a share of the 36-hole lead, only to stumble badly on the weekend and tie for 21st.

''I've won major championships, and I haven't done it since '08,'' Woods said. ''We all go through periods where that doesn't happen. Some periods are entire careers. But I think I understand how to win major championships. The key is just giving yourself chances.''

Nick Watney is the proper defending champion, winning last year at Aronimink, where the tournament went for two years because of the U.S. Open. The field also includes Hunter Mahan, a runner-up to Woods in 2009, Dustin Johnson and Adam Scott.

Getting most of the attention in the days leading up to the tournament was the golf course, which should present the kind of test the U.S. Open wanted last year.

''It's set up more like a major,'' said Marc Leishman, coming off a win last week at Hartford. ''Obviously, the weather had a lot to do with it last year. It's definitely going to be tougher. I don't think 20 under is going to be winning, or 15 under, or whatever on the U.S. Open last year. I don't think that's going to happen again.''

Marc Leishman wins after closing 62

Golf International — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 15:18:00 GMT

Marc Leishman shot an 8-under 62 on Sunday in the Travelers Championship, then went back to the clubhouse to eat, watch some soccer and wait to see where he would finish.

More than two hours later, after Charley Hoffman blew a two-stroke lead on the final two holes, Leishman was hoisting his first championship trophy on the PGA Tour.

''I think Charley was on the 15th when I turned the golf on,'' Leishman said. ''I watched that, then just went over and hit some balls and putted for a bit and it turned out well.''

The 28-year-old Australian began the day six strokes behind the leaders, but made eight birdies in a bogey-free round. He finished at 14-under 266.

''I didn't think it was going to be enough,'' he said. ''Golf is a funny game, a really funny game.''

Hoffman was 16 under heading to the 17th hole, but pushed his tee shot right and into the water. He made a double bogey, and bogeyed the 18th after failing to get up and down from a greenside bunker.

''When it's said and done, obviously a bad finish and a bad taste in my mouth, but you learn from it,'' he said. ''Any time you put yourself in contention, you learn from that.''

Hoffman closed with a 66 to tie for second with Masters champion Bubba Watson, who shot a 65.

Leishman became the fifth player in seven years to break through with their first tour win at River Highlands, joining Fredrik Jacobson last year, Watson in 2010, Hunter Mahan in 2007 and J.J. Henry in 2006.

Leishman's 62 was the lowest score in a final round by a champion on tour this season.

''You'd almost rather make a few birdies coming in to win, rather than have someone hand it to you,'' he said. ''But having said that, I'm not going to give this back or anything.''

Hoffman seemed to be in command standing on the 17th tee, and still had a chance to win on 18. He put his tee shot onto a hill to the right and he put his second shot into the bunker. He ran that shot long and missed a 17-foot par putt.

Watson made a run at the lead on the front nine, with four birdies. But he had to scramble on the back nine, saving par on the 15th after putting his tee shot in the water. He also made par on 17 after hitting his second shot over the water and onto the green from the rough.

''Just didn't finish it off on the back,'' he said. ''I made my run and just didn't kind of really have anything after that.''

''I was just trying to give myself as many chances as I could,'' he said. ''It was nice to have a couple of tap-in birdies.''

Leishman's win gave him just his second top-10 finish this season. He didn't play in Memphis or at the U.S. Open and said he came back after two weeks off refreshed.

''I practiced I think two times in the three weeks,'' he said. ''It's been close for a while actually. I just get a little bit streaky with the putter, and I haven't been lately.''

Roland Thatcher, who was tied for the lead after three rounds, began his day with three bogeys on the first six holes. He seemed like an afterthought, until Hoffman's collapse. But he made an eagle on the par-5 13th after hitting his second shot within 15 feet of the pin.

He came up 18 with a chance to force a playoff, but put his second shot into a greenside bunker and bogeyed the hole.

''You never want to take the lead going into Sunday and then need two birdies on the last two holes to catch up,'' he said.

He and fellow co-leader Brian Davis both shot 70, putting them in a group at 12 under with Tim Clark and John Rollins.

Clark, who won the 2010 Players Championship, had elbow surgery last August and had missed the cut in five of the previous nine tournaments he played this season.

The course record at River Highlands is 60, set last year by Patrick Cantlay as an amateur. The 20-year-old missed the cut this year in his first professional tournament.

Rory Sabbatini finished six shots behind the leader, but took home a gold Rolex after making his first hole-in-one on tour. His shot on the 161-foot 16th hole hit and spun left into the hole.

''It felt really good coming off the club,'' he said. ''It was just a question of having the right yardage. I kind of joked in the middle of the ball flight, and I said, 'Be the right one and go in the hole.'''

Hunter Mahan shot a career-low 61 and tied for 11th after he came within a stroke of missing the 54-hole cut.

Mahan, in the first pair of the day, joked that he was just trying to play fast and not hold up the field. He opened with five pars before making nine birdies on the final 13 holes.

He missed a 7-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole. His 20-foot birdie putt from the edge of the green on 18 put him at 10-under 270 for the tournament.

''Your adrenaline is pumping more than you are nervous, because nothing really bad can happen,'' he said. ''I was just trying to hit it close and make a putt.''

Mahan, whose first tour win came here in 2007, needed a 6-foot birdie on 18 Saturday to make the 54-hole cut.

''At that point, you're kind of like, God, do I want to even make this?'' he said. ''I'm glad I did.''

Webb Simpson seals US Open victory

Golf International — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 18:27:00 GMT

Webb Simpson refused to think of himself as a U.S. Open champion until he sat with his nervous wife in a quiet corner of the locker room Sunday, staring in disbelief at a television as Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell tried to catch him.

He was up against a pair of major champions. He was at The Olympic Club, where the wrong guy always wins a U.S. Open.

Simpson should have known now how this would end.

He did his part with four birdies in a five-hole stretch around the turn, and a tough par from the collar of the 18th green for a 2-under 68. It was enough to capture his first major when Furyk bogeyed two of his last three holes, and McDowell couldn't recover from a bad start and too many tee shots in the rough.

''Oh, wow,'' Simpson said when McDowell's 25-foot birdie putt to force a playoff stayed left of the cup

Simpson emerged from a fog-filled final round as a U.S. Open champion, and he put two more names into the graveyard of champions.

''I never really wrapped my mind around winning,'' said Simpson, who finished at 1-over 281 to win in only his fifth time at a major. ''This place is so demanding, and so all I was really concerned about was keeping the ball in front of me and making pars.''

Olympic is known as the ''graveyard of champions'' because proven major winners who were poised to win the U.S. Open - Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Payne Stewart - all lost out to the underdog.

Perhaps it was only fitting that the 25-year-old Simpson went to Wake Forest on an Arnold Palmer scholarship.

''Arnold has been so good to me,'' Simpson said. ''Just the other day, I read that story and thought about it. He's meant so much to me and Wake Forest. Hopefully, I can get a little back for him and make him smile.''

No one was beaming like Simpson, who followed a breakthrough year on the PGA Tour with his first major.

No one was more disgusted than Furyk, in control for so much of the final round until he snap-hooked his tee shot on the par-5 16th hole to fall out of the lead for the first time all day, and was unable to get it back. Needing a birdie on the final hole, he hit into the bunker. He crouched and clamped his teeth onto the shaft of his wedge. Furyk made bogey on the final hole and closed with a 74, a final round without a single birdie.

McDowell, who made four bogeys on the front nine, at least gave himself a chance with a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th and a shot into the 18th that had him sprinting up the hill to see what kind of chance he had. The putt stayed left of the hole the entire way, and he had to settle for a 73.

McDowell shared second place with Michael Thompson, who closed with a 67 and waited two hours to see if it would be good enough.

Tiger Woods, starting five shots behind, played the first six holes in 6-over par and was never a factor. He shot 73 and finished six strokes back.

Furyk was fuming, mostly at himself, for blowing a chance at his second U.S. Open title. He also was surprised that the USGA moved the tee up 100 yards on the 16th hole to play 569 yards. It was reachable in two shots for some players, though the shape of the hole featured a sharp turn to the left.

''There's no way when we play our practice rounds you're going to hit a shot from a tee 100 yards up unless someone tells you,'' Furyk said. ''But the rest of the field had that same shot to hit today, and I'm pretty sure no one hit as (bad) a shot as I did. I have no one to blame but myself.

''I was tied for the lead, sitting on the 16th tee. I've got wedges in my hand, or reachable par 5s, on the way in and one birdie wins the golf tournament. I'm definitely frustrated.''

But he gave Simpson his due.

Of the last 18 players to tee off in the final round, Simpson was the only one to break par. That didn't seem likely when Simpson was six shots behind as he headed to the sixth hole, the toughest at Olympic. That's where he started his big run.

His 7-iron landed in the rough and rolled 5 feet away for birdie. He made birdie on the next two holes, including a 15-footer on the par-3 eighth. And his wedge into the 10th settled 3 feet away, putting him in the mix for the rest of the day.

''It was a cool day,'' Simpson said. ''I had a peace all day. I knew it was a tough golf course. I probably prayed more the last three holes than I ever did in my life.''

Simpson's shot from the rough on the 18th hole went just right of the green and disappeared into a hole, a circle of dirt about the size of a sprinkler cap. With a clump of grass behind the ball, he had a bold stroke for such a nervy shot and it came out perfectly, rolling 3 feet by the hole for his much-needed par.

Then, it was time to wait.

It was the third time in the last seven years that no one broke par in the U.S. Open. On all three occasions, the winner was in the locker room when the tournament ended.

While Furyk will be haunted by his finish, McDowell can look back at his start - four bogeys on the front nine - and his inability to find fairways. Even on the last hole, his tee shot tumbled into the first cut of rough and kept him from being able to spin the ball closer.

''There's a mixture of emotions inside me right now - disappointment, deflation, pride,'' he said. ''But mostly just frustration, just because I hit three fairways today. That's the U.S. Open. You're not supposed to do that. You're supposed to hit it in some fairways. And that was the key today for me.''

Beau Hossler, the 17-year-old who started only four shots behind, disappeared quickly and closed with a 76. He showed up at Olympic hopeful only of making the cut, then being low amateur, then perhaps winning. He had to settle for the first one. A double bogey on the last hole meant Jordan Spieth (70) was low amateur.

Woods has never won a major when trailing going into the last round, and he kept that streak going.

Starting with a tee shot buried in the rough just off the first fairway, he bogeyed the opening two holes and chopped up the par-3 third hole for a double bogey. His name was removed from the board before the leaders even stepped onto the first tee. He played that infamous six-hole start in 6 over. And that 69-70 start that gave him a share of the lead going into the weekend felt like a distant memory.

''I was just a touch off,'' Woods said of his 75-73 weekend. ''But I was still in the ball game. Today I just got off to a horrific start, and just never got it going early. And unfortunately, I put myself out of it.''

For Westwood, the sting was sharper - and quicker. His tee shot on the fifth hole struck a towering cypress tree and never came down. Westwood gazed at the top of the 40-foot tree, even using binoculars to try to find it. But it was back to the tee for his third shot, a double bogey that made him part of Olympic lore on the fifth hole, only with a far different outcome.

It was the same hole - but not the same tree - where Lee Janzen's ball dropped from the branches as his back was turned while walking back to the tree. Janzen converted that break into another U.S. Open title in 1998. Westwood never threatened again in trying to win his first major.

Furyk and McDowell were slugging it out over the opening six holes, and no one seriously challenged them for the first few hours of the final round.

It changed quickly, and it was tight the rest of the way with as many as eight players believing they could win this championship.

Thompson, whose 66 in the opening round was the best score of the week, played bogey-free on the back nine and picked up a birdie on the par-5 16th with a wedge that settled near the flag. Despite missing an easy birdie chance on the 17th, he was in the clubhouse at 2-over 282.

Els drove the par-4 seventh green and holed an 8-foot eagle putt that brought him within two shots of the lead. He lost hope, however, when he slightly pulled his wedge into the 16th. It went into a collection area, and his putt up the slope came back at his feet. He had to scramble for a bogey.

''I'll go to bed tonight thinking of the 16th, the third shot,'' he said. ''That basically cost me the tournament.''

Padraig Harrington came out of nowhere with five birdies in 11 holes to reach 2 over, but from the 18th fairway, he buried his approach in a bunker and made bogey.

Even so, this was a major that looked as if it would belong to McDowell or Furyk. One of them lost it early, the other one lost it late.

Simpson joined them as a U.S. Open champion, a win that moved him to No. 5 in the world.

US Open aiming to return to its roots

Golf International — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 15:36:00 GMT

All it takes is one slight miss for this U.S. Open to get a whole lot harder.

Tiger Woods pushed his tee shot on the 670-yard 16th hole at Olympic Club just enough to find the right rough, which was moist from the marine layer that covered the course Wednesday morning. The ball at least was sitting up, allowing him to take a cut with his 4-iron to get it back in play.

It's rare when Woods cannot reach a par 5 in two shots.

But having to smash a 3-wood from 256 yards for his third shot?

In the days leading up to the U.S. Open, the biggest debate was whether the toughest stretch at Olympic was the opening six holes, or all 18 of them. About the only consensus was there won't be a repeat of the score Rory McIlroy posted last year at Congressional - a record-shattering 16-under 268.

Jack Nicklaus, an expert on the U.S. Open from having won four of them, was asked to name the toughest and easiest courses he has played in this championship. He finally settled on Pebble Beach in 1972, when the wind blew so hard that Nicklaus won by three shots at 2-over 290 and never broke 70.

As for the easiest?

As Nicklaus thought back to the 44 times he had played, USGA executive director Mike Davis playfully interrupted.

''You didn't play last year, did you?'' he said to Nicklaus.

No one disputes the U.S. Open fulfilled its mission last year by identifying the best player in McIlroy. It just looked more like the Greater Hartford Open at times. In a relentless assault on a course softened by rain, McIlroy needed only 26 holes to reach double figures under par and he never let up until he had his name in the record book and an eight-shot win.

''We want this event to be a real challenge,'' Davis said. ''I think looking back, we identified the best player last year. He's been a wonderful champion. But at the same time, I wouldn't want to go through every year where we have four days of wet, soft conditions because it doesn't ... really embellish on what we're trying to do in terms of identifying a national champion.''

That sounds like a polite way of the USGA saying that it's time for payback, just like in 1974 after Johnny Miller shot 63 to win at Oakmont.

Only at Olympic, the USGA didn't have to do too much.

No one has brought Olympic to its knees the four previous times it hosted the U.S. Open, and no one sees that happening this year. Never mind that at 7,170 yards it is among the shortest of U.S. Open courses. Olympic always play big.

''What is par, 70?'' Masters champion Bubba Watson said. ''It's not really 70. It's over par. Five-over par at the end of the week, just like at Oakmont (in 2007), probably has a great shot at winning, unless something changes dramatically with the weather or something like that.''

The lowest winning score at Olympic in the U.S. Open is 3-under 277. The highest is 7-over 287.

The course essentially was built on the side of a giant sand dune that leads toward Lake Merced, meaning most fairways are slanted. It's an uphill walk just crossing the 17th fairway. The fourth hole slopes severely to the right, but the hole is a dogleg to the left to an elevated green.

''This sort of sets itself apart because of the severity of the fairways, and the fact that you have to shape it into them,'' Lee Westwood said. ''I can't think of any other course that really compares to it. Most places you try and get the fairways pretty flat when they're doing the design. But here, they seem to prefer the ball to land on one side of the fairway and run to the other.''

The U.S. Open gets under way Thursday, and it won't take long for some buzz to fill the cool, heavy air along the Pacific.

Woods and Phil Mickelson, the biggest (and most one-sided) rivalry of their generation, are playing with Watson in the fourth group of the day, starting on the par-4 ninth hole. The afternoon has McIlroy and two Englishman desperate to win their first major - Westwood and Luke Donald, the No. 1 player in the world.

Some are curious to see whether Olympic is the stern test it appears to be. The technology boom was just getting under way the last time this major came to Olympic in 1998. There was a big debate over the size of drivers and the trampoline effect. Most players were using a wound golf ball. There were no special screwdrivers that allowed players to adjust their drivers with a turn and a click.

One change to the course was par. It's still at 70, but the opening hole (520 yards) is now a par 4, and the 17th hole (522 yards) is a par 5. That makes the opening six holes a tough way to start the U.S. Open.

This is one area, though, where Woods and Mickelson don't agree.

''I think that the first six, if you play them for four straight days even par, you're going to be picking up just a boat load of shots,'' Woods said. ''They're just difficult.''

Mickelson also figured that even par or even 1-over par during that stretch was acceptable, but that's as far as he went.

''I think it's overrated a little bit in difficulty,'' he said. ''It's certainly challenging. But the way it's set up gives you an opportunity to play them.''

Matteo Manassero, the 19-year-old Italian, said it was a classic case of a golf course not needing water or other hazards to make it difficult. Except for a wild hook on the 13th, there are no water hazards. And there is only one fairway bunker on the entire course, on the sixth hole.

''First time I've played a golf course with one bunker in the fairway,'' he said. Then smiling as he looked ahead to the British Open next month at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, he added, ''And the next major will have probably 300 bunkers.''

The tournament ultimately will be decided on the closing holes, which are different for another reason. Starting with the uphill 14th, players could wind up playing a short iron (usually no more than wedge) into the green on the last five holes. It's not a case of hanging for par. It's trying to make birdies.

''Well, it gives you a chance to finish off a round,'' Woods said. ''Generally, we're just trying to hang on coming in and make a bunch of pars. But you're trying to make a bunch of pars throughout most of the day, and then all of a sudden you've got to change gears.''

The closing hole is only 344 yards, which translates to a 4-iron and a wedge for most players. It's not as strong as the 18th hole at courses like Southern Hills, Oakmont or Winged Foot. Then again, the 18th at Olympic must not be as easy as the scorecard suggests. In each of the four Opens here, the runner-up came to the final hole needing a birdie for a chance to win and wound up with a par or worse.

''It's short to look at it,'' Graeme McDowell said. ''It looks gentle. But it's a sleeping giant. You put a crosswind out there and no one can hit the fairway. Then, you've got chaos.''

Then, it will start to look like a U.S. Open.

Rory McIlroy set for US Open title defense

Golf International — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 17:50:00 GMT

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy will defend the U.S. Open title he won so brilliantly last year after a bittersweet 12 months on the course where he has shown flashes of greatness and frailty.

McIlroy ticked two big items off his bucket list when he won last year's U.S. Open then became world number one earlier this year, but his game has not been as smooth or as reliable as he would have liked.

He has not contended in any of the three majors played since his incredible win at Congressional and promptly handed back the world number one ranking to the more consistent Luke Donald, not once but twice.

When he has been on his game, McIlroy has looked every inch of the world beater he promises to be. But when he is off, the 23-year-old has looked like every other battler on the PGA Tour.

"I'm still trying to find a balance between being a top class golfer and handling media commitments, sponsors' commitments, trying to have a life outside of all that, just trying to balance everything," McIlroy told reporters at a news conference earlier this month.

"It's something that it's hard to do all of them all at the same time. It's something that I'm still figuring out how to do. But I've got a good team around me, and we're trying to figure that out at the minute."

McIlroy started the year in great form, finishing runner-up at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship then winning the Honda Classic, which elevated him to the top of the rankings.

He then finished third at the WGC-Cadillac Championship before things started to unravel.

Memories of last year's Masters meltdown came flooding back when he finished tied for 40th at Augusta National and although he came second at Quail Hollow, he missed the cut in his next two events.

He showed some encouraging signs of a timely return to form when he completed his U.S. Open preparations with a tie for seventh at the St. Jude Classic, but even that was tinged with some disappointment after he led by two shots on the final day but made a double-bogey on the last hole when he needed a birdie to get into a playoff.

"I had a real good chance to win the golf tournament," said McIlroy. "I didn't do that but I'm happy I came here. I feel like I'm well prepared going into the U.S. Open. I can take a lot of positives from here into the U.S. Open next week.

"It was a great chance to win another tournament, and I didn't quite capitalize on it. I'm a little disappointed with that."

The Northern Irishman has been through worse before and remains optimistic about his chances of successfully defending his U.S. Open title.

He suffered every professional golfer's worst nightmare when he blew a four-shot final-round lead at the 2011 Masters but rather than dwell on his mishap, he erased any doubts about his mental toughness by winning the U.S. Open at Congressional in a virtual canter, to claim his first major.

By any standard, it was an incredible performance, as he left his rivals for dead, finishing eight shots clear of his closest rival and finishing at 16 under par, a record total for a tournament that dates back to 1895.

"Coming back and winning the U.S. Open was something that was very important to me," he told reporters at the Masters this year. "It sort of proved to myself more than anything else that I was able to win at the very highest level in this sport and it gave me great confidence in myself that if things did go wrong.

"I knew how to fix them and I knew how to go forward. If it ever happens again, I just need to rely on that resilience to sort of get straight back up and get back at it."

Lee Westwood wins with new PING clubs

Golf International — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 19:53:00 GMT

PING Staff Player Lee Westwood won the Nordea Masters on the European Tour by five shots on Saturday, using new i20 Irons and a NOME putter for the first time in competition.

Full details of Lee Westwood’s winning bag at the Nordea Masters below:

G10 9 degree Driver
I15 3 wood 15.5
Rapture V2 5 Wood

I20 3-PW
JZ Stiff w/CDS
+1/4
D0+
Std Loft
BLUE lie
ID8 White ½ Cord

Tour W Wedges
54 @52
58

NOME (Straight)
35”
Standard Grip
Black Lie and 3 deg loft

Tiger Woods yoyo season continues

Golf International — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 20:59:00 GMT

Tiger Woods needed only two words to explain where the Memorial fits in on his road back from wherever he was to wherever he is going.

''I won,'' he said.

When trying to chart his progress, golf becomes a lot like watching tennis.

He wins at Sherwood, and then can't shake Robert Rock in Abu Dhabi. Phil Mickelson blows him away at Pebble Beach, and then Woods shoots a career-best final round of 62 to put a scare into Rory McIlroy. He withdraws from Doral with a sore Achilles tendon, and then wins by five at Bay Hill. He has the worst three-tournament stretch of his career, and then goes through a week at Muirfield Village where he hardly misses a shot.

He's back. He's finished. He's back. And on it goes.

''I'm sure by Tuesday I'll be retired and done,'' Woods said Sunday. ''And then by the time I tee it up at the U.S. Open, it might be something different.''

He was smiling at his own exaggeration, though there was a weariness to his tone that became even more pronounced when he concluded, ''But I'll let you guys figure it out.''

His remarkable rally at the Memorial makes the temptation greater than ever to proclaim that he has turned the corner and is picking up speed.

Woods said he hit just about every shot exactly how he wanted to, with the exception of his second shot on the 10th that he pulled slightly while trying to play a fade. It found a bunker and led to bogey. He missed only one fairway, and that was only by a few inches into the first cut of rough.

''I had it all today,'' Woods said. ''Whatever club I wanted to hit, I could hit. That was fun to have it when I needed it.''

Equally impressive was his score, which ultimately is what matters.

Not only did Woods overcome a four-shot deficit going into the final round, he was two shots behind with four holes to play as he posed in the fairway urging - begging - his 3-iron into the par-5 15th hole to carry beyond the false front of the green. It did, and he two-putted for birdie.

Woods figured if he could make one more birdie over the closing stretch, it might be enough for him to get into a playoff. Minutes later, he was praying for par when his 8-iron bounced over the green at the par-3 16th into a horrible spot. The ball was nestled in the rough, and the path 50 feet to the hole looked impossible. Too short, and it would turn down a slope and leave a difficult two-putt bogey. Too strong, and it would race past the cup and into the water.

With a full swing and a flop shot, the ball rode the crown of a ridge with just the right speed and dropped in for birdie not even he saw coming.

''It was one of the hardest ones I've pulled off,'' Woods said when asked to rank it among his best shots, which is a long list. ''That was a pretty sweet shot.''

He made one last birdie for good measure, a 9-iron into the 18th green that was played by a guy who looked as though he had won here before. It caught the ridge at the back of the green and rolled down to just inside 10 feet, giving him a 5-under 67 and a two-shot win.

It was his fifth win at Muirfield Village, the fifth golf course on which he has won at least five times. And it was the 73rd win of his PGA Tour career, tying him with Jack Nicklaus, the tournament host who was there, as always, to greet Woods when he came off the 18th green.

''He had to rub it in my face here, didn't he?'' Nicklaus later said with a laugh.

Nicklaus was gushing over the flop shot that Woods holed on the 16th, and it truly was magic.

''I don't think under the circumstances I've ever seen a better shot,'' Nicklaus said.

The last time Woods won the Memorial was in 2009, when he also rallied from a four-shot deficit on the final day with a 65. It was his second win of the year, and the U.S. Open was two weeks away at Bethpage Black, where Woods had won wire-to-wire seven years earlier. Woods had 14 majors, as he does now.

''I suspect No. 15 will come for Tiger Woods in about two weeks,'' Nicklaus said at the trophy presentation. ''If he drives the ball this way, and plays this way, I'm sure it will. And if not, it will surprise me greatly.''

That year was full of so many surprises.

Woods won every tournament he played before the majors, and failed to win any of them. By the end of the year, his problems were off the golf course and he hasn't seriously challenged in the final hour of another major since then.

He won at Bay Hill, and then had his worst performance ever at the Masters as a pro when he tied for 40th.

Woods never broke par the last time the U.S. Open was played at The Olympic Club in 1998, though he was in the middle of changing his swing. He played the golf course last Tuesday and found it to be difficult, which it is. It is short by U.S. Open standards, though it plays long.

If nothing else, Olympic served as the perfect tuneup for Muirfield Village.

''Last week I did some good things, good work at home, and really got comfortable with the things that Sean (Foley) and I have been working on the last few tournaments and months,'' Woods said. ''As soon as they felt comfortable, I was good to go. And when I went out and played Olympic, I hit the ball well there. I said, 'Hey, that's as good a prep as any for this event if I can hit the ball well there.'

''I just basically carried that into this event and hit it great all week.''

Does this make him a failure if he doesn't win the U.S. Open? Is he done?

Woods talked about his game being good in spurts at other tournaments, though it was clear - at least by how he hit the ball - that he had his fastball all week. The process is to put good rounds together. Maybe the next step is putting good tournaments together.

In tennis terms, this would be a good time for a changeover. It's best to wait until the end of the year - or at least until August, the end of the majors - to figure out where Woods stands.

Nick Price & Fred Couples to be Presidents Cup captains

Golf International — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 15:41:00 GMT

The last time Nick Price took part in the Presidents Cup, he snapped a putter over his knee walking off the 18th green after losing a critical singles match in South Africa. He will return 10 years later as captain of an International team that has only one victory in nine tries.

Price, a three-time major champion and among the most popular players of his generation, was selected to be International captain for the 2013 matches. The PGA Tour asked Fred Couples to return as U.S. captain for the third straight time.

''This has been a moment that I've been waiting for an awful long time,'' Price said. ''It's probably the most excited I've been about anything in the last five or six years. This is a huge honor, and I'm very, very excited about it.''

Greg Norman had led the International team the last two matches, both losses to Couples and the Americans, including last year at Royal Melbourne. Norman pushed hard for changes, and Ernie Els was among those who felt Norman should have been given another shot at being captain. Among the issues Norman raised was that the International team did not have enough input about when the matches were held outside the United States.

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said one change would be selection of the International team captain. Starting with the 2015 Presidents Cup, the leaders of international tours would take part in picking their captain.

The Presidents Cup will be played Oct. 3-6 at Muirfield Village, the course Jack Nicklaus built and the only course to host the Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup and Presidents Cup.

Couples, overlooked as a Ryder Cup captain, is wildly popular with the players in the Presidents Cup, and it shows on the golf course. The Americans have never trailed after any session each of the last two events, winning at Harding Park in 2009 and at Royal Melbourne in 2011 by a comfortable margin.

''We just somehow get the lead and we stay in the lead and we win, and I think Nick will try his best to figure a way how to not have that happen,'' Couples said.

Couples joins Nicklaus as the only U.S. captains to serve at least three times. Nicklaus was a captain four times with a 2-1-1 record.

Price played in the Presidents Cup the first five times, more than any other captain on either side. Couples defeated Price in singles in the inaugural Presidents Cup in 1994. But it was Price who answered critics that the Presidents Cup lacked intensity.

He was locked in a tight match with Kenny Perry on the final day at Fancourt in 2003, all square coming to the final hole. Perry holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th, and Price had a 6-foot birdie putt to halve the match. It missed, and he broke his putter across his knee after shaking hands with Perry.

Asked his recollections of his last Presidents Cup, Price smiled and said, ''Breaking my putter on the 18th green in front of Jack and Gary (Player).''

''I knew how important that point was going to be,'' he said. ''I think when you're around the Ryder Cup or the Presidents Cup over the years, you know they're swing games, and I had one of those swing games. So I was trying probably as hard as I've ever tried over a putt. I was just happy that it all halved at the end, otherwise I would have felt sort of really guilty about missing that putt.''

That was the year the matches ended in a draw when it was too dark to continue.

Bubba Watson returns after extended break

Golf International — Thu, 31 May 2012 15:15:00 GMT

Bubba Watson had a 3-iron, a small audience and a point to prove.

The flag was 251 yards away, with a light wind out of the right. With an open stance, he hit a high cut and begged it to carry the bunker, which it barely did. Next, he aimed some 15 yards to the left of the green and hit a bullet with a slight hook that landed on the back corner of the green.

''Still got it!'' Watson jokingly proclaimed.

He hasn't forgotten how to play. He hasn't been gone from the game that long, though it sure seems that way.

It has been just more than seven weeks since Watson hit that wild hook with a wedge out of the Georgia pines and onto the 10th green to win the Masters in a playoff. He became an overnight sensation in a green jacket, and then he virtually disappeared from the golf scene. He has played only one tournament since, in New Orleans, and only because he was the defending champion.

The reminder of how long Watson has stayed away from golf came on the practice range Tuesday at Muirfield Village. With the U.S. Open only two weeks away, players were still congratulating him on winning the last major two months ago.

That's not necessarily a bad thing.

Winning majors can be a life-changing experience for everyone except those who seem to win them all the time. Few, however, had this many life-changing moments away from golf as Watson in such a short time.

He and his wife, Angie, adopted a baby boy just two weeks before he became a Masters champion. The adoption process is still not finished, though a few months doesn't seem like much considering they began thinking about adoption four years ago. Watson is selling two houses and trying to find a home in Orlando, Fla. (The baby was born in Florida.)

And if that's not enough, he has organized ''Bubba Bash'' on Tuesday night with some 10 Christian bands to raise money for a hospital in Kenya. Typical of a guy named Bubba, he has arranged for Waffle House to provide the backstage meals.

''A lot of stuff going on in our life,'' Watson said. ''A lot of positive things, nothing bad. But it's just different changes.''

Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that Watson replied to a fan on Twitter on Friday during The Players Championship that he's ''not missing golf at all.''

''You can turn your phone off or lock down yourself at Isleworth and nobody can get to you, and just spend time with the family, play golf when I want to,'' Watson said. ''It's been a good thing. It's been relaxing, rewarding. It's been fun.''

The Memorial boasts a strong field, as usual, with defending champion Steve Stricker, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy and Hunter Mahan leading the list of top players. Dustin Johnson returns from a back injury, his first tournament since Doral the second week of March.

Watson adds another layer of intrigue, mainly because he is a major champion who has accumulated more rust than riches in the last two months.

His agent, Jens Beck, said interest in Watson has been unrelenting since the Masters: offers for endorsements and too many interview requests.

''For us, it hasn't stopped,'' Beck said. ''For him, the biggest change in his life has been with the baby. I don't think people truly get that. It was a huge life change for him.''

Watson still faces a long year with three more majors, the FedEx Cup playoffs and the Ryder Cup. The season has become longer in golf, and the trick is to stay fresh for the most important stretches. No one has mastered that better than Woods over the years.

Just more than two weeks ago, Watson tweeted that he didn't miss golf. So he might be rusty now, but at least he's ready to play. The Memorial is the start of three tournaments in the next month, ending with the Travelers Championship, where he won his first PGA Tour event.

''I got energized as soon as I got here ... looking forward to the challenge of being out here and beating some of the great players,'' he said. ''That's what I've been missing. I miss the game of golf, miss playing, miss competing, miss trying for championships.''

Watson will say he's doesn't play golf for the attention, but there is a part of him craving just that. He is a showman at heart, and he has a lot to show.

Henrik Stenson stopped on the practice range to watch Watson hit a selection of hooks and slices toward the green with a short iron, all of them landing near the flag regardless of the flight of the ball.

''Let's see you hit one straight at the flag,'' Stenson said.

Watson took dead aim and the shot covered the flag. He whooped it up and turned to look at Stenson, who already had walked off and was 20 yards down the range.

''He didn't even watch because he knew I was going to do it,'' Watson said in full banter mode.

These are the kind of shots that represent ''Bubba golf.'' Watson even talked about having his own ''Bubba School of Golf,'' which would be different from just about any other golf school on the planet. It would consist of a building where he could invite customers to ''hit balls and just practice.''

''That's all I'd tell them,'' he said. ''And then I'd ask for my money.''

He grinned in such a way that it was hard to tell if he was joking. That much about Watson hasn't changed, and probably won't.

Darren Clarke pulls out of US Open

Golf International — Tue, 29 May 2012 14:44:00 GMT

British Open champion Darren Clarke has pulled out of next month's U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco because of a troublesome groin injury.

"I am extremely disappointed that I will be unable to play in the U.S. Open," the 43-year-old Northern Irishman said in a statement released by his management team on Monday.

"But I have to make sure I am 100 percent ready for the British Open at Royal Lytham in July and to do that I've been advised not to play for a month."

Clarke has also had to pull out of the June 6-9 Nordea Masters in Stockholm.

He was first troubled by his groin during last month's Houston Open and it was again a problem in the PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Clarke missed the halfway cut on Friday at the European Tour's flagship event.

"I haven't been able to get through the ball properly and I don't want to take any chances," he added.

The U.S. Open starts on June 14.