Zach Johnson looked ready to claim his third Valero Texas Open at the start of play Sunday but things didn’t pan out as he hoped. Johnson is a real favorite among golf fans as he’s a relatively short hitter who relies on his head and great wedge and putter play to win on golf’s toughest tour. With 12 PGA Tour wins, including The MASTERS and The OPEN at St. Andrews, Zach is on the brink of a World Golf Hall of Fame career. I’m a fan too, but for all his grit he is just too darn deliberate. In golf parlance, deliberate translates as slow. I love you Zach but please, pick up the pace.
Great to see Sean O’Hair back with a strong showing as he tied 2nd with Trey Mullinax. I remember when the young phenom turned pro at 17, pushed into a premature move by his overbearing father. That was twenty years ago and along the way there have been many bumps in his road. After a break from his dad in 2002, O’Hair has gone on to win 4 PGA Tour events. Maybe #5 is coming soon.
The Trophee Hassan II finished up Sunday on the Royal Golf Dar Es Salaam Red Course with Frenchman Alexander Levy notching hi fifth European Tour Victory. Levy moved up to #47 in the OWGR, but more importantly for him, he’s improved his status relative to qualification for the European Ryder Cup Team.
Yet he probably needs another win to secure his spot on Thomas Bjorn’s squad when it takes on the Yanks at LeGolf National in Paris this September. He will at least need to keep good form and be in contention often to warrant a captain’s pick even he doesn’t achieve automatic points list qualification.
The Euro’s love the Ryder Cup and they are very good at it but those French crowds will surely be disappointed if one of their own isn’t in the fray. Vive la France!
Morocco is anything but a golfing Mecca but the Royal Golf Dar Es Salaam facility is top notch. The former king became enamored of the game back in the 60’s and he brought in Robert Trent Jones to build him his own private course. From a conditioning point of view, this course seems much more like a venue from the PGA Tour and it play’s as one of the hardest tests the Euro’s have on their far flung schedule. Although the gallery was fairly sparse this course isn’t littered with sponsor advertisements placed all throughout the course like every other tournament (save The OPEN) on the European Tour. Sponsor’s are an important part of the whole golf industry equation but keep the billboards on the sidelines, please.
The PGA Tour Champions (I still call it the Senior’s Tour) stopped in Missouri this weekend for the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf Tournament at Big Cedar Lodge. The facility has six courses (a seventh opens next year, designed by Tiger Woods) with a number of Par-3 courses, for a nice change of pace. The main course played in this four day event was the Top of The Rock course which lives up to it’s name. With all the boulder’s perched throughout it looks like it was designed for mountain goats but it’s up and down layout of short holes looks like it would be a gas to play and the old men on this tour seem to eat it up. #15 is an island green complete with a motor boat to ferry players from tee to green. Kudos to the winning team of Kirk Triplett and Paul Broadhurst who edged out the team of Tom Lehman/Bernhard Langer in a one hole sudden death victory. Triplett holed out from the bunker with both Lehman and Langer sitting pretty with birdie chances. Triplett’s shot shrunk that hole considerably as neither opponent was able to convert.
It’s tough to win on the PGA Tour which was very apparent yesterday as Andrew Landry and Trey Mullinax faltered a bit under the pressure down the stretch. Both men were looking for their maiden victory on tour when trouble reared on the short par-4 seventeenth hole. Landry’s wedge shot from the fairway was way short, leaving him a 50 footer over a steep ridge. Mullinax, who was pin high but well left and below the green, chunked his pitch into a bunker. Bogey for Mullinax after a weak sand shot but Landry stood up and delivered a superb lag and par, then went on to close it out with a par on #18 for a two stroke victory. The Texas native was fitted for cowboy boots along with a winner’s haul of $1,116,000.00 and a two year exemption on tour.
The LPGA played in sunny LA at the notable Wiltshire Country Club, home course to many of Hollywood celebrities. Moriya Jutanugarn won for the first time on this tour after 156 starts, edging Inbee Park and J.Y. Ko by two strokes. Moriya is the older sister of Ariya Jutanugarn, a seven time winner on the LPGA and currently ranked #6 in the Rolex Golf standings. It’s sometimes a bit difficult to live in the shadow of a more talented younger sibling (I know from experience) so congrats to Moriya for sticking to it.
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