3/06/2014

Players filled with optimism as full PGA Tour season begins at Sony Open

Luke List
Getty Images
Luke List says his No. 1 goal as a rookie is to get in all the majors as quickly as possible, starting with the Masters only three months away.
0
By 
Doug Ferguson
Associated Press

Series: PGA Tour
HONOLULU -- Jeff Maggert is starting his 23rd season on the PGA Tour, and some things never change.
''The fun part about this week is that everyone is in a good mood,'' Maggert said Wednesday. ''They're not complaining about how they've been playing.''
Much like spring training in baseball, the Sony Open is filled with optimism for players young and old as the first full-field event of the season.
No one has more confidence than Dustin Johnson, coming off a season-opening win at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions the day before on Maui. The last player to start the season by winning both tournaments in Hawaii was Ernie Els in 2003.
Everyone else starts from scratch. The rookies tend to have higher expectations, perhaps because they don't know any better.
John Daly remembers his rookie season in 1991, when he missed half the cuts in his opening six events, tied for fourth at the Honda Classic and felt like he had his card locked up for next year when he drove up to Crooked Stick as an alternate for the PGA Championship and won.
''I was just trying to get my card before the PGA,'' Daly said. ''As for the rookies, I'm not going to speak for them, but I would think they're goal is to make $850,000 as quickly as they can and keep their card.''
Good thing he's not speaking for them.
Luke List was asked for his No. 1 goal as a rookie and said he wanted to get in all the majors as quickly as possible, starting with the Masters only three months away.
''I know it will probably require a win, but I still think a bunch of good play might do it,'' he said.
Scott Langley, an NCAA champion from Illinois who has finished in the top 30 in two U.S. Opens he played, also has high standards. He wants to be rookie of the year, and reach the Tour Championship, as John Huh did a year ago.
As for keeping the card?
''It's like trying to make a cut,'' Langley said. ''If that's how you think, that's probably where you'll find yourself. Making the Tour Championship is a big goal, but if you can do that, it will take care of everything else. But yeah, I want to keep my card.''
On that note, so does Daly. And this might be his best chance.
Daly finished 146th on the money list last year, his first time in seven years that he was inside the top 150. That gave him slightly higher status, so maybe he won't need sponsor exemptions every week. Daly figures he can get in about eight tournaments on his own, as many as 20 for the year.
That would keep him from a schedule he kept last year -- Las Vegas, California, Georgia, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Thailand, with hardly time off.
''I've been everywhere the last three years except the electric chair,'' Daly said.
He has sponsor exemptions at the Sony Open, the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-am, which at least gives him a chance to make an early impression. A year ago, he didn't get into a PGA Tour event until the Florida Swing was nearly over.
''Hopefully, something good will happen,'' Daly said.
That's the goal of everyone at the Sony Open, especially in this short season that effectively will end in August before the FedExCup playoffs begin. There was talk it might be difficult for the young players to get into tournaments. But everyone from Q-School and the Web.com Tour got into the Sony Open.
Of the 23 rookies at the Sony Open, five of them have never been to a PGA Tour event unless they bought a ticket.
Maggert, meanwhile, has been around long enough to know there are no guarantees.
''That first year out was a learning experience,'' he said. ''I didn't have any preconceived ideas. You miss the cut a few times and start to have negative thoughts.''
Pat Perez knows that better than most. That's why he figures the biggest change he made in the offseason was hiring Chris Dorris to help with his mental side and work on having only positive thoughts.
''It's hard work,'' Perez said, wearing a silver belt buckle of a skull. ''I'm trying to be more positive and have fun with the game, and it's a hard thing to work on. But if you hit a bad shot, get over it and look at the next one as an opportunity.''
Ultimately, that's what golf is all about – an opportunity – for everyone in the field.
DIVOTS: Tim Clark figured to have the most to lose over the proposed anchoring ban. He has been using a long putter his entire career. But when asked about the new rule proposed by the R&A and USGA, Clark said he would have no comment. ''I've always been treated fairly and I expect to be treated fairly,'' he said. The answer was so diplomatic that Rod Pampling, standing nearby, joked, ''Is that Tim Clark?'' ... Among the four players who earned a spot in the field through Monday qualifying was 54-year-old Russ Cochran, the Senior British Open champion from 2011. Fred Funk, another Champions Tour regular, also is playing.

2/25/2014

Winners and losers from Accenture week

Winners and losers from Accenture week

 
View photo
.
Jason Day — Getty Images
This past weekend saw a lot of great story lines and we are here to give you the good and the bad of it. Here are our winners and losers from the past week in golf.
Winners
Jason Day -- Any golf critic worth his weight in balatas figured it was just a matter of time until Jason Day started winning golf tournaments at a more consistent clip. After his great play at the World Cup of Golf in November it seemed that 2014 might be that year, and his play this past week was as solid as his golf swing. Day is a superstar, the type of player that can win multiple major championships, and this World Golf Championships victory will only help with the confidence as we roll into the final stretch before Augusta, where he has a T-2 and third place finish over the last three years.
Victor Dubuisson -- He might not have left Dove Mountain with the trophy, but the 23-year-old did more for his career over this week than he ever has. His wins over names like Bubba Watson, Graeme McDowell andErnie Els were gritty, impressive and sometimes downright wacky, and his two up-and-downs against Day to extend the match were some of the best you'll ever see. Expect to see Dubuission's name on many leaderboards over the next 12 months as the Frenchman continues to play great with each tournament he enters.
Rickie Fowler -- Gaining confidence on the golf course after going through a swing change is the hardest thing for a pro, and after three straight missed cuts I worried that Fowler might start getting frustrated with his swing and game as he headed into one of the most important stretches of the year. No worries, as Fowler beat up on Ian Poulter, red-hot Jimmy Walker, Sergio Garcia and Jim Furyk before falling to the eventual champion in the semifinals. It might be tough for some to see the positives in a week in which you don't win, but for Fowler this was an important few days and he handled it well.
Match play -- It's the best format in golf, it's the most fun to watch and it really does seem to bring a whole different level of pressure to both the golfers on the course and the viewers at home. Ernie Els was as much as 3-up on Dubuisson before dropping that match, McDowell brought early drama to the event with some impressive come-from-behind victories in his first three matches and the finals went extra holes and was the best golf of the year to date. How many months until the Ryder Cup?!
Losers
The No. 1 seeds -- Unlike March Madness, the No. 1 seeds at the Accenture get bounced quite frequently, but not a single one advanced to the third round? Zach Johnson was out in his first match, with Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson leaving in round two, meaning some of the biggest names at this event were gone far too early.
Sergio Garcia -- I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Garcia, dating back to Medinah, and while I thought his move against Fowler was classy, it was another example of Garcia missing that killer instinct he needs to win majors. I'm glad Garcia is trying to turn over a new leaf and bring some etiquette back to the game, but giving someone a 17-footer because you feel bad about playing slow on the previous hole isn't the way to do it. Nobody is ever going to scold a guy for wanting to win, and playing to win, so making your competitor putt out a putt he will likely not make is just a logical way to go about match play. I can respect what Garcia did as a man, but as a professional golfer you can't give a hole away just because you feel bad.
Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and Phil Mickelson -- This was one of the best Accenture events we've ever had, with incredible play and some fun matches all week. The big three of Woods, Scott, and Mickelson skipped the event and while it might have been the story heading into Wednesday, it barely felt like they were missed with the coming out party for Dubuisson and the big win for Day. Your loss, fellas!

2/23/2014

Day survives the magic of Dubuisson in Match Play

Day survives the magic of Dubuisson in Match Play

Associated Press 
Jason Day, of Australia, celebrates on the 23rd hole after winning his championship match against Victor Dubuisson, of France, during the Match Play Championship golf tournament, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014, in Marana, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
.
View gallery
  • .
  • .
  • .
  • .
MARANA, Arizona (AP) — Jason Day won the Match Play Championship on Sunday by surviving the amazing par saves of Victor Dubuisson.
The most riveting event in its 16-year history ended on the 23rd hole at Dove Mountain when Day rolled in a routine birdie putt from 4 feet on the 15th hole. It was his first World Golf Championship.
Nothing else about this day was routine.
Dubuisson hit out of a cactus behind the first green, up the thick grass and onto the green to stay in the match on the 19th hole. On the 20th hole, he smashed wedge through a desert bush to get to his ball and watched it roll to 7 feet for another par.
But the Frenchman ran out of magic on the 23rd hole.

Day outlasts Dubuisson to win Match Play title


Day outlasts Dubuisson to win Match Play title


Feb 23, 2014; Marana, AZ, USA; Jason Day with his tee shot on the fifth hole during the final round of …

(Reuters) - Jason Day fended off a stunning fightback by Frenchman Victor Dubuisson to clinch the biggest title of his career with a one-up victory after 23 holes in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship final in Marana, Arizona on Sunday.
A commanding three up lead after 12 holes on an afternoon of light breezes at Dove Mountain, Australian Day was caught by the Frenchman who recorded clutch birdies at the 13th and 17th, followed by an amazing par from a greenside bunker at the 18th.
Dubuisson then conjured two miraculous up-and-downs from desert scrub at the 19th and 20th holes to keep the match alive before Day sealed the win by sinking a four-footer for birdie at the 23rd, the driveable par-four 15th.
It was Day's second triumph on the PGA Tour and his first success in one of the elite World Golf Championships (WGC) events which bring together the game's leading players.
(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Larry Fine)

2/20/2014

A day of comebacks - and survival at Match Play

A day of comebacks - and survival at Match Play

AP - Sports
A day of comebacks - and survival at Match Play
.
View gallery
  • .
  • .
  • .
  • .
MARANA, Ariz. (AP) -- Henrik Stenson would be the first to say how lucky he was to win the Match Play Championship in 2007.
He was on the ropes in the opening round against Zach Johnson, headed for certain defeat, when he somehow saved par on the 15th hole and Johnson missed a good birdie chance. Stenson birdied the next two holes, won the match and never lost the rest of the week.
If that scenario were to repeat itself this week, consider the plight of the following players from Wednesday's opening round:
Graeme McDowell was 3 down with three holes remaining against Gary Woodland. He saw the Cadillac SUVs in position to drive him back to the clubhouse. He saw his agent on the phone, perhaps booking a flight. He saw Woodland's ball headed for the flag on the par-3 16th.
''I thought it was over,'' McDowell said.
He thought wrong. Woodland's tee shot took a big hop over the green and between two corporate suites. He took two shots to get to the green. Bogey. Woodland had wedge in hand when he pulled his approach to the 17th and had 8 feet left for par, which he didn't have to putt because McDowell made a 12-foot birdie putt. And then Woodland went from one bunker to the other on the 18th and still wasn't on the green after four shots.
Just like that, the match went to extra holes. McDowell made a 6-foot birdie on the 19th hole and lived to see another day at Dove Mountain.
''I'm sure he's extremely disappointed right now - and I'm extremely elated,'' McDowell said. ''I'm surprised to be sitting here, having won. Yeah, I hit a couple of quality shots down the last couple of holes, but he had mistakes, as well. It's a brutal format.''
Jason Dufner went 3 down with a bogey on the 10th hole, and Scott Stallings matched his birdies on the next two holes. The PGA champion was headed for defeat when Stallings made one too many mistakes. A sloppy bogey on the 14th hole and the 17th hole, along with Dufner's clutch birdie on the par-3 16th squared the match.
Stalling made one last error, coming up short of the first green in overtime. Dufner made a par and advanced. It was Dufner's first time in three years making it out of the first round, and it required plenty of help.
Brandt Snedeker never led in his match against David Lynn of England, though he was never too far out of the match.
Even so, the match was level when Snedeker faced a tough chip from the collar of the 18th green with hardly any of the putting surface between his ball and the cup. It was a marvelous chip to save par. Then, he had another delicate chip to the right of the first green, against short-sided. He chipped beautifully to about 4 feet for par.
He won with an 8-foot birdie on the next hole.
''I played a great stretch of golf in there and a bad stretch, and I've just got to eliminate the bad stretch,'' Snedeker.
But at least he gets to keep trying.
- Factoring in conceded putts, Pablo Larrazabal shot a 68 and was on his way back to Spain. Ernie Els shot 75 and has a tee time at Dove Mountain on Thursday.
No ever said the Match Play was fair, though Els might have had a break coming his way.
The Big Easy made it hard on himself with bogeys on both par 5s on the back nine, even though one of those bogeys was good enough to win the hole against Stephen Gallacher, who took a tour of the desert. Els was two down with three to play and won the next two holes with pars.
Gallacher hit a beautiful putt from 10 feet for birdie to win on the 18th. He thought it was in. Els thought it was in. But it was out.
On the 19th hole, Els won with a two-putt par and somehow made it to the second round.
On Thursday, they all start over with 32 players - call them survivors - trying to make it to Friday.
For all the comebacks (eight of the winners were trailing in their matches after 12 holes) and the 11 matches that went to the 18th hole or beyond (Sergio Garcia defeated Marc Leishman in 22 holes), the opening round went large according to form.
Three of the top four seeds - Stenson, Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy - advanced. The exception was Zach Johnson, who was hammered by Richard Sterne of South Africa. It was the fourth straight year Johnson failed to make it out of the first round.
Only three of the top 10 seeds lost, which is not bad considering this fickle format - Johnson, Dustin Johnson (6) and Steve Stricker (9). And 23 players who had the better seeding went on to win.
McDowell summed it up best when he said, ''It feels like a Sunday afternoon on Wednesday.''
Thursday won't be much different.