PGA Tour Champions : American Family Insurance Championship Results
When Steve Stricker made birdie at the 12th hole, he led by four shots with six to play. It was clear who this party would belong to ... right up until it wasn’t.
In a word, the finish to the American Family Insurance Championship was, well, shocking. There he stood one of the best putters in the game, the hometown hero, standing over a 3-footer on the first playoff hole against Ernie Els to extend their playoff to another hole.
But this is golf, and golf can be cruel just as often as it wants to follow the anticipated script. With Els already in for par, Stricker pulled the putter back to match him, kept the blade slightly open, and his par putt carrying too much pace spun off the right edge of the hole. There would not be another playoff hole. No more golf on this day.
Ernie Els celebrates on the 18th green after winning the Champions Tour Principal Charity Classic golf tournament, Sunday, June 2, 2024, in Des Moines, Iowa. (Charlie Neibergall/AP)
This was Stricker’s party, for sure, played in front of robust and cheerful Wisconsin galleries in Stricker’s adopted hometown of Madison. But it was Els, the big South African, a four-time major champion and World Golf Hall of Famer, who was making away with the title, his second in as many weeks.
Els, 54, was delighted to win again, but his initial cold-bucket splash of emotions was no different than any other person who had witnessed the final scene. “What can I say?” Els told Golf Channel’s John Cook just off the edge of the 18th green, the title now his. “I’m just shocked right now. I really feel for Steve. What a great guy. He's the best putter we have probably in the world,” Els said of Stricker, “and as I said, conditions were tough. The short putts when that gust comes, it throws you off a little bit, so it can happen to the best of us.”
Els won for the fifth time as a member of PGA TOUR Champions, adding to the championship he captured in Des Moines (Principal Charity Classic) one week earlier.
Els and Stricker began the day tied for the lead, and each shot 3-under 69 on Sunday, getting to 12-under 276 for the tournament. Australia’s Cameron Percy closed with 67 to finish alone in third, three back, his best showing on PGA TOUR Champions. Stephen Ames (67), who overtook Steven Alker for the lead in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup standings, tied for fourth at 280 along with Doug Barron (66) and Thomas Bjørn (69).
pgatour,com
Bryan Angus (edit)
No comments:
Post a Comment