PGA Tour Waste Management Phoenix Open final scoreboard https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html
It never seems to fail, a player goes into Sunday with a 5 shot lead having played flawless golf all week, seemingly insurmountable, then the tables turn and he/she either blows the lead and loses, or stumbles and eventually staggers across the finish line much to their relief.
The latter was the case in my opinion with Rickie Fowler who'd shot meticulous rounds of 64 65 64 going into Sunday, but after standing on the 11th fairway up by five he chipped strongly onto the green and watched in amazement as it rolled over the green, around the bunker and into the water. He took a normal drop, walked up to survey his approach and turned to watch his ball roll back into the water..!! Lying 5 he chipped to 16 feet and made that putt for the bad luck triple bogey 7 which he followed with a bogey at the 12th and his lead was gone to be replaced by South African Branden Grace.
Rickie stumbled to +3 74 which included to his credit 2 birdies at 15 and 17 to seal the deal on his Sunday rollercoaster ride with a 2 shot victory, his 5th.
His playing partners helped his cause as neither could mount a challenge, Matt Kuchar shot 75 to end up 4th, Justin Thomas, his roomie, shot 72 to end up 3rd while Grace who found the water at the 18th finished 2nd with his -1 69.
It was a windy, wet, cool, rainy day and we saw right away it wasn't going to be a day for low scoring. I watched Rickie's demeanour in his warm up and he seemed tense. I thought an early turning point came at the 3rd where he shanked his long iron approach and got a break when it settled wide right on a cart path. He chose to play off that lie, chipped on and made a gutsy 30 foot putt while Kuchar three putted his attempt to gain at least 2 shots and he never got closer.
Canadians David Hearn ended up T33 -6, Adam Hadwin T44 -5.
The PGA Tour sets off to California for the next two weeks, Pebble Beach and Riviera before the WGC in Mexico.
Bryan Angus
Monday, February 4, 2019
Sunday, February 3, 2019
It's Fowler's to lose on Super Bowl Sunday at Phoenix Open
PGA Tour Waste Management Phoenix Open leaderboard https://www.pgatour.com/
It's a big day in the USA for sports fans, Super Bowl Sunday is primed and ready to go in Atlanta between the overwhelming favourites from New England and the LA Rams who got in on that blown pass interference call against the New Orleans Saints.
Meanwhile in the wind and rain over in Phoenix it's the final round of the Waste Management Open, and tee times have been moved forward 4 hours and paired in 3's to get the round in and done before the nation tunes into the football game.
The final pairing has just teed off at 12.45pm EST, 10.45am in Arizona. Rickie Fowler -20, Matt Kuchar -16, Justin Thomas -15 should provide the winner, although the way Fowler is playing it's his to lose. He'll have to come back to the field.
As I mentioned the weather is cold by Phoenix standards, raining and windy, not conducive to low scoring.
David Hearn is at -6 and Adam Hadwin at -5 as they play their final rounds.
Follow the live scoring link above.
Bryan Angus
It's a big day in the USA for sports fans, Super Bowl Sunday is primed and ready to go in Atlanta between the overwhelming favourites from New England and the LA Rams who got in on that blown pass interference call against the New Orleans Saints.
Meanwhile in the wind and rain over in Phoenix it's the final round of the Waste Management Open, and tee times have been moved forward 4 hours and paired in 3's to get the round in and done before the nation tunes into the football game.
The final pairing has just teed off at 12.45pm EST, 10.45am in Arizona. Rickie Fowler -20, Matt Kuchar -16, Justin Thomas -15 should provide the winner, although the way Fowler is playing it's his to lose. He'll have to come back to the field.
As I mentioned the weather is cold by Phoenix standards, raining and windy, not conducive to low scoring.
David Hearn is at -6 and Adam Hadwin at -5 as they play their final rounds.
Follow the live scoring link above.
Bryan Angus
Dustin Johnson holds on to win the first Saudi International
European Tour Saudi International final scoreboard http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2019/tournamentid=2019014/leaderboard/index.html#/results
Despite some hard charging over the weekend by Haotong Li ( 62 69 -17) and young Tom Lewis ( 62 65 -16) and Australian, Min Woo Lee ( 63 63 -15) world #3, Dustin Johnson was the best of the bunch at this inaugural Saudi International with rounds of 68 61 65 67 -19 good for a 2 shot victory
His win saved some blushes for the the wealthy organizers as world #1 Justin Rose missed the cut while #2 Brooks Keopka T57 and new honorary member for life Patrick Reed was 56th. Another of the marquee players Bryson DeChambeau fought back to finish T6 at -11 68 68 68 65.
It was Johnson's 6th European Tour win, and I thought his bogey putt after going in the water at the 16th to drop just one stroke to rising Chinese star Li was the turning point.
This tour heads down under to Victoria and Perth Australia for 2 weeks, then its a WGC in Mexico for the top players, before they return to the Middle East in Oman and Qatar. Like I said earlier, 50 different countries on this schedule !
Bryan Angus
Despite some hard charging over the weekend by Haotong Li ( 62 69 -17) and young Tom Lewis ( 62 65 -16) and Australian, Min Woo Lee ( 63 63 -15) world #3, Dustin Johnson was the best of the bunch at this inaugural Saudi International with rounds of 68 61 65 67 -19 good for a 2 shot victory
His win saved some blushes for the the wealthy organizers as world #1 Justin Rose missed the cut while #2 Brooks Keopka T57 and new honorary member for life Patrick Reed was 56th. Another of the marquee players Bryson DeChambeau fought back to finish T6 at -11 68 68 68 65.
It was Johnson's 6th European Tour win, and I thought his bogey putt after going in the water at the 16th to drop just one stroke to rising Chinese star Li was the turning point.
"It feels really good .Any time you can win a professional golf tournament, no matter where it is in the world, it's a big win. I'm honoured to be the champion and I'm very pleased with the win. The things that I've been working on are working and I've still got a lot of room for improvement. I'm very pleased with where the game is at."
"I've got a lot of confidence in what I'm doing and I feel like I'm hitting a lot of really good golf shots. So misses are starting to get better and I'm not making as many mistakes, even though I did on 16. But for the most part, that was about the only really bad shot I hit this week."
"So I'm pleased with where the game's at, and to get a win here, it's a big win, gives me a lot of confidence going for the rest of the year"
It was a good fortnight for international golf with two Americans, DeChambeau winning last week in Dubai and DJ in Saudi today. The more Americans get out of their comfort zones in the States like this is good for golf and is long overdue."I've got a lot of confidence in what I'm doing and I feel like I'm hitting a lot of really good golf shots. So misses are starting to get better and I'm not making as many mistakes, even though I did on 16. But for the most part, that was about the only really bad shot I hit this week."
"So I'm pleased with where the game's at, and to get a win here, it's a big win, gives me a lot of confidence going for the rest of the year"
This tour heads down under to Victoria and Perth Australia for 2 weeks, then its a WGC in Mexico for the top players, before they return to the Middle East in Oman and Qatar. Like I said earlier, 50 different countries on this schedule !
Bryan Angus
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Haotong Li steals the show at Saudi International.. Garcia disqualified
European Tour Saudi International leaderboard http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2019/tournamentid=2019014/leaderboard/index.html#/leaderboard
Dustin Johnson was cruising along in the lead late in this 3rd round of the Saudi International at -16 following his sensational 61 yesterday with a -5 65 today.
However was China's young star Haotong Li who stole the show with 3 eagle 2's. ..all on par 4's and the early research suggests that is a first in the European Tour's game.
He chipped in at the 1st and 10th then may have hit the shot of the year, a massive 388 yd drive to within 4 feet for his 3rd eagle 2.
To put the icing on the cake he smashed 2 shots onto the par 5 18th and you guessed it he holed the 10 footer to finish eagle, eagle for a share of the lead!
He made up 4 strokes in 2 holes and shot 62 with 4 eagles and will be in the final pair in tomorrow's final round.
Last week he made all the headlines with a controversial penalty assessment on his final hole, this week those headlines are for the right reason.
Breaking News: Sergio Garcia has been disqualified for damaging 2 greens in fits of bad temper. He has since apologized once he cooled down.
Bryan Angus
Dustin Johnson was cruising along in the lead late in this 3rd round of the Saudi International at -16 following his sensational 61 yesterday with a -5 65 today.
However was China's young star Haotong Li who stole the show with 3 eagle 2's. ..all on par 4's and the early research suggests that is a first in the European Tour's game.
He chipped in at the 1st and 10th then may have hit the shot of the year, a massive 388 yd drive to within 4 feet for his 3rd eagle 2.
To put the icing on the cake he smashed 2 shots onto the par 5 18th and you guessed it he holed the 10 footer to finish eagle, eagle for a share of the lead!
He made up 4 strokes in 2 holes and shot 62 with 4 eagles and will be in the final pair in tomorrow's final round.
Last week he made all the headlines with a controversial penalty assessment on his final hole, this week those headlines are for the right reason.
Breaking News: Sergio Garcia has been disqualified for damaging 2 greens in fits of bad temper. He has since apologized once he cooled down.
Bryan Angus
Fowler, Thomas share a house and top billing in Phoenix
PGA Tour Waste Management Phoenix Open leaderboard https://www.pgatour.com/competition/2019/waste-management-phoenix-open/leaderboard.html
Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas are symptomatic of today's young pros. Best buddies, fabulously wealthy in their 20's, go on holidays together, sharing a house with each other and all the while sharing the final pairing together.
Fowler birdied his last 4 holes including a crowd pleaser within the leather at the par 3 16th amphitheater, for a -6 65 -13 total while his housemate Thomas posted a 66 of his own -12 total.
Branden Grace went lower -7 64 and he's at -11 with Trey Mullinix Matt Kuchar and Cameron Smith all at -10 .
Bubba Watson called his friend Bryson DeChambeau for advise on his arm lock putting style and has incorporated it this week to good effect at -9.
David Hearn continues his good form with a 68 T11 at -7 while Adam Hadwin made the cut with 67 and he is at -3.
Bryan Angus
Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas are symptomatic of today's young pros. Best buddies, fabulously wealthy in their 20's, go on holidays together, sharing a house with each other and all the while sharing the final pairing together.
Fowler birdied his last 4 holes including a crowd pleaser within the leather at the par 3 16th amphitheater, for a -6 65 -13 total while his housemate Thomas posted a 66 of his own -12 total.
Branden Grace went lower -7 64 and he's at -11 with Trey Mullinix Matt Kuchar and Cameron Smith all at -10 .
Bubba Watson called his friend Bryson DeChambeau for advise on his arm lock putting style and has incorporated it this week to good effect at -9.
David Hearn continues his good form with a 68 T11 at -7 while Adam Hadwin made the cut with 67 and he is at -3.
Bryan Angus
Friday, February 1, 2019
Hearn leads Canucks at Waste Management Phoenix Open
PGA Tour Waste Management Phoenix Open leaderboard https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html
David Hearn and Blair Hamilton Monday qualified to join Adam Hadwin, Nick Taylor and Mackenzie Hughes at this week's Waste Management Phoenix Open.
While Hearn has partial status on the PGA Tour he has taken full advantage with an opening round -4 67 to T11, just 3 shots behind leaders Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas and Harold Varner at -7.
Meanwhile 25-year-old Hamilton has never been a PGA Tour member playing last year on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamerica. He has opened with +2 73.
Hadwin, Taylor and Hughes are all T90 after +1 72's
Three time winner Phil Mickelson is in with -3 68.
Bryan Angus
David Hearn and Blair Hamilton Monday qualified to join Adam Hadwin, Nick Taylor and Mackenzie Hughes at this week's Waste Management Phoenix Open.
While Hearn has partial status on the PGA Tour he has taken full advantage with an opening round -4 67 to T11, just 3 shots behind leaders Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas and Harold Varner at -7.
Meanwhile 25-year-old Hamilton has never been a PGA Tour member playing last year on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamerica. He has opened with +2 73.
Hadwin, Taylor and Hughes are all T90 after +1 72's
Three time winner Phil Mickelson is in with -3 68.
Bryan Angus
Dustin Johnson sets course record 61 to lead Saudi International
European Tour Saudi International leaderboard http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2019/tournamentid=2019014/leaderboard/index.html#/leaderboard
As always the late wave on Thursday becomes the early wave on Friday. In this part of the world the desert wind picks up in the afternoon.
Dustin Johnson, now the world #3 took advantage of the calm conditions this morning to shoot -9 61, seven birdies, and an eagle, to grab the clubhouse lead at -11, three shots ahead of Haotong Li (65) at -8.
That breaks the course record of 63 set yesterday by Thomas Pieters who is out in the late wave today, and is struggling in the wind at +3 through 16.
Justin Rose hasn't missed a cut in a regular tour tournament on the European Tour in 8 years, until this week where with the cut falling at E he is in at +2. After his win last week in California he had a very long flight through several time zones, and lost his clubs for a while to boot. He was clearly struggling to keep his concentration.
Other notables: Ian Poulter 68 67 -5, Brooks Koepka 69 70 -1, Bryson DeChambeau 68 68 -4, Sergio Garcia 69 70 -1, Henrik Stenson 68 74 MC, Ernie Els 70 73 MC,
There are players from 11 countries in the top 11 so far, typical of this European Tour that will travel to 50 countries this year.
The 3 Saudi players in the field finished dead last at a combined 65 over par.
Bryan Angus
Bryan Angus
As always the late wave on Thursday becomes the early wave on Friday. In this part of the world the desert wind picks up in the afternoon.
Dustin Johnson, now the world #3 took advantage of the calm conditions this morning to shoot -9 61, seven birdies, and an eagle, to grab the clubhouse lead at -11, three shots ahead of Haotong Li (65) at -8.
That breaks the course record of 63 set yesterday by Thomas Pieters who is out in the late wave today, and is struggling in the wind at +3 through 16.
Justin Rose hasn't missed a cut in a regular tour tournament on the European Tour in 8 years, until this week where with the cut falling at E he is in at +2. After his win last week in California he had a very long flight through several time zones, and lost his clubs for a while to boot. He was clearly struggling to keep his concentration.
Other notables: Ian Poulter 68 67 -5, Brooks Koepka 69 70 -1, Bryson DeChambeau 68 68 -4, Sergio Garcia 69 70 -1, Henrik Stenson 68 74 MC, Ernie Els 70 73 MC,
There are players from 11 countries in the top 11 so far, typical of this European Tour that will travel to 50 countries this year.
The 3 Saudi players in the field finished dead last at a combined 65 over par.
Bryan Angus
Bryan Angus
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