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Monday, March 12, 2012

Rose wins WGC at Doral as Bubba falters and Tiger withdraws

*****Latest world rankings click here
 http://www.officialworldgolfranking.com/rankings/default.sps?region=world&PageCount=1

First, let me say Justin Rose 70. -16 earned his win. 2 birdies and a bogey on the front, same on the back including the 5 at 18, nothing flashy, solid performance.

However once again Bubba Watson 74, -15, added to the lore that his lack of chutzpa, guts, brains, mental strength.. call it what you will, cost him his first WGC win.. and I'm not sure he really even cares.

For 3 days he just shredded the Blue Monster, made it look easy, he said his pink driver was going so far and so straight he was hitting all the fairways unheard of  for me, he would say, and my putting is coming around..he would add.

That was after Saturday.

On Sunday with all the marbles on the line, someone else called Bubba showed up. He did manage to birdie the first, hell I could it was playing so easy, then he rattled of 4 bogey's in 7 holes to go out in 39 and let the pack right back in. He drove it wildly, off cart paths, into ponds, into rough he hadn't seen all week. Watson didn't hit a fairway on the front nine, and only one tee shot managed to stay inside the bunkers that frame the fairways. He was in the water twice, once in a canal on the fifth hole that not many knew were there. He shot a 39 on the front nine, which included three putts outside 8 feet to limit the damage

He only made 7 bogey's in his first 3 rounds, made 5 on Sunday. At or near the lead in driving accuracy for 3 rounds, he plummeted so badly on Sunday he ended up T68.

Still he had a 15 footer for birdie on 18, after a dazzling recovery, a 4 iron low screamer from behind some palm trees, to go to a playoff with Justin, but I just knew he was not going to make it.. and he didn't.

Rory 67, holed out for eagle from the greenside bunker on 12 and was just a shot back, but bogey's at 14 and 18 cost him, even with the birdie on 16 to get within 1 shot again, but he ended up 3rd at -14.

So 1st and 3rd for 2 weeks work in Florida for the phenom..stll World #1..

By the way the wind never did get up to the steady 30km/h that was forecast, proving the weatherman in Miami is as inaccurate as most everywhere else I have been...

Also Sergio took a 12 on the par 4 3rd when he put 4 balls in the water.. 12... and still shot 76..T60

Now to Tiger who had to withdraw after his drive on 12, in obvious pain.. Here is the AP report.

Discomfort in his left Achilles caused Tiger Woods to withdraw from the final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship after hitting his drive on the 12th hole Sunday.The golfer, who has been plagued by injuries in recent years, said he will have the injury evaluated early this week.

Woods, 36, appeared to be in some distress after hitting his second shot in the water at the par-5 10th hole at the TPC Blue Monster at Doral, where he was on his way to his worst finish in nine appearances at the venue.He appeared to favor his left leg, and then after hitting a 321-yard drive at No. 12, Woods summoned officials and was escorted from the property with his caddie, Joe LaCava, on a golf cart. Woods went to the parking lot and drove away with LaCava. Woods lives about 100 miles north of Doral outside of Jupiter.

He issued a statement about an hour after he left the course."I felt tightness in my left Achilles warming up this morning, and it continued to get progressively worse," said Woods, who made three bogeys and no birdies during the final round. "After hitting my tee shot at 12, I decided it was necessary to withdraw. In the past, I may have tried to continue to play, but this time, I decided to do what I thought was necessary."

Woods first suffered an Achilles injury at last year's Masters and tried to return a month later at the Players Championship, where he withdrew after just nine holes. He later said that he caused himself a setback by trying to return too soon.

Woods, who began the fourth round of the World Golf Championship event eight strokes behind leader Watson, missed four months of action last year after suffering what was then described as a Grade 1 mild medial collateral ligament strain to his left knee and a mild strain to his left Achilles tendon.

The initial injury occurred while "hitting a difficult and awkward second shot from the pine straw under the Eisenhower tree left of the fairway at No. 17 during the third round of the 2011 Masters," according to his website. Woods tied for fourth in that tournament.

"It looked like he made a swing on 12 that really hurt," said Webb Simpson (77), who played with Woods during the final round. "But he didn't say a whole lot. He just said he's got to be done. It looked like he was in some pain ... maybe his heel was bothering him, something with his foot. I don't think it's anything serious, but we didn't talk or anything so I'm not sure exactly what it was."

Paul Tesori, a veteran caddie who works for Simpson, said he noticed an issue with Woods walking as early as the fourth hole. He said that LaCava said the Achilles "puffed up."

Woods is scheduled to play a two-day exhibition called the Tavistock Cup, March 19-20 in Orlando, followed by the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which he has won six times. That tournament begins March 22. The Masters, which Woods has won four times, but not since 2005, begins April 5.

Although Woods said he is suffering from an Achilles injury, it is his left knee that has been most bothersome over the years. He has endured four operations on the knee, including reconstructive surgery on a damaged ACL following his 2008 U.S. Open victory. (The Achilles injury that Woods said he suffered in 2008-09 was his right, not his left, as last year's was reported to be.)That kept him from playing the rest of the 2008 season, but he returned in 2009 to win six times on the PGA Tour and another event in Australia

final scoreboard click http://www.worldgolfchampionships.com/leaderboards/current/r473/index.html


PUERTO RICO OPEN
I was rooting for Ryo Ishikawa and Graham Delaet here, GD shot 71, -10 T9 and lost to American, George McNeil.

Ishikawa, on the anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that left his homeland in ruins, closed with a 68, -15 and had a one-shot lead after making birdie on 3 of his last 4 holes. McNeill 69, -16 caught him with a birdie on the 16th, took the lead with a birdie on the 17th and added another birdie on the par-5 18th for his 2nd PGA tour win.

Ryo has now earned $582,471 on the PGA TOUR this season, surpassing the $411,943 -- No. 150 on the 2011 money list -- needed for special temporary membership. He has 60 days to join the tour as a special temporary member after becoming eligible and then he would be eligible for unlimited sponsor exemptions this season.

final scoreboard..http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboards/current/r483/



Bryan Angus also on twitter@mummmbles and at http://www.isr1050.com/
(with notes from pgatour.com)

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