Rickie Fowler wins Honda Classic

Rickie Fowler wins Honda Classic to end PGA Tour drought

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Rickie Fowler didn’t care about pretty. He cared about winning.

Staked to a 4-shot lead, Fowler hit one putt into a sprinkler hole and a tee shot into the water. But when his lead was cut to 1 shot, Fowler answered with two big birdie putts to regain control and finished off a 4-shot victory in the Honda Classic.

The bogey-bogey finish kept him from setting the 72-hole record at PGA National.

That wasn’t important. At his feet was a crystal trophy, something he hasn’t owned in 13 months, even as peers Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy kept piling them up. It was Fowler’s turn Sunday.

“Whether I’m talked about with those guys or not, I just want to play the best that I can and keep pushing myself and, ultimately, just keep trying to put myself in position to win and start collecting more of these,” Fowler said, tapping the trophy.

He closed with a 1-over 71 for a 4-shot victory over Gary Woodland, the only player to seriously challenge him, and Morgan Hoffmann.

Fowler faced the strongest wind of the week at PGA National, and he didn’t feel as though he had control of his swing the way he did all week. But the 28-year-old kid with fashion flair still has a knack for clutch moments, whether it was the 30-foot birdie putt on No. 8 or the two winning moments: a 40-foot birdie putt on No. 12 and a 25-foot birdie putt on the 13th.

This was more substance than style.

“I didn’t play great,” Fowler said. “It wasn’t a pretty round. But we got the job done. A win is a win.”

Fowler effectively ended it with a shot over the water on the 16th to 3 feet that stretched his lead to 5 shots with two holes to play.

Woodland appeared to have second place wrapped up until he three-putted the 17th and then tried to lay up on the par-5 18th and came up short into the water. He closed with another bogey for a 69. He had to share second place — the difference of $128,000 — with Hoffmann, who missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the 18th.

PGA champion Jimmy Walker was lurking on the fringe of contention until tee shots into the water on the 15th and 17th holes, which cost him five shots.

Tyrrell Hatton of England, who played in the final group in his first PGA Tour event in Florida, was out of the picture quickly. He still had a chance to finish alone in second, which would have gone a long way toward securing a PGA Tour card, until he missed a 3-foot birdie putt on the 17th.

Fowler even got into the act when it no longer mattered. He hit his tee shot into the water on the 17th hole and made bogey, then hit a wedge into the bunker on the 18th and closed with another bogey to finish at 12-under 268.

Fowler jokingly referred to his “small collection” of trophies on Saturday evening, though it was important. He had gone 13 months and 25 starts worldwide without a victory as everyone around him was winning multiple times.

It was his first PGA Tour victory since the Deutsche Bank Championship in September 2015. A 4-shot lead, which he built with two late birdies Saturday afternoon, allowed him to play smart and safe.

It just always didn’t work out that way.

He went over the green on the par-4 fourth and tried to putt it up the slope, except that it went into a sprinkler hole and led to bogey. Two holes later, Fowler hooked his tee shot into the water on the tough par-4 sixth and made double bogey.

He bounced back with a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 8, only to drop another shot on the ninth.

Woodland hit wedge into 4 feet on the 13th for a birdie to get to 10 under, suddenly one shot back of Fowler. Just like that, it was over. Fowler leaned over on his putter as he watched his 40-foot on No. 12 drop into the cup, and though he went long with a wedge on the 13th, he dropped that one in from 25 feet for birdie.

Woodland had reasonable looks at birdie over the next four holes and couldn’t get any to drop. He powered his 20-foot attempt on the 17th about 6 feet by the hole, ending is last hope.

“I thought all of them looked pretty good,” he said of his birdie chances. “It was a little deflating on 18. Thought I hit a pretty good drive and thought I would have a chance, and I just couldn’t get home and laid up in the water, which was bad.”

Jhonattan Vegas made a hole-in-one on the 15th hole and closed with a 64 to tie for fourth.

Fowler’s victory and Woodland’s tie for second knocked Charles Howell III and Hudson Swafford out of the top 10 in the FedEx Cup standings, keeping them from qualifying for the Mexico Championship next week, the first World Golf Championship of the year.

SOURCE: ESPN

February 27, 2017/by Valentine

News

Dustin Johnson now world No. 1 with Genesis Open Win

D. Johnson becomes world No. 1 with Genesis win

By Will Gray

It was a marathon day at waterlogged Riviera Country Club, but when the final putt dropped Dustin Johnson was atop both the leaderboard and the world rankings. Here’s how things ended up at the Genesis Open, where Johnson won by five shots:

Leaderboard: Dustin Johnson (-17), Thomas Pieters (-12), Scott Brown (-12), Justin Rose(-11), Wesley Bryan (-11), Kevin Na (-11), Charley Hoffman (-11)

What it means: Johnson started the morning with a lead, but he put the tournament out of reach with a third-round 64 that built his advantage to six shots. It allowed him to cruise to the finish line while challenging the tournament scoring record until a pair of back-nine bogeys. The victory vaults Johnson to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time in his career and extends his streak to 10 straight seasons with at least one PGA Tour win.

Round of the day: Pieters had a Hazeltine flashback during the final round, channeling his masterful Ryder Cup performance en route to a closing 8-under 63. The Belgian had four birdies on each nine and failed to drop a shot, a performance that gave him his best finish in just his seventh career start on Tour.

Best of the rest: Martin Laird began his final round with an eagle on No. 1 and kept it going from there, carding a 5-under 66 that vaulted the Scot into a tie for eighth for his fourth top-10 finish of the young season. Laird made four birdies from Nos. 9-17 and would have finished even higher in the standings were it not for a 72nd-hole bogey.

Biggest disappointment: Jason Day didn’t put up much of a fight as Johnson took the top spot in the OWGR away from him. The Aussie shot rounds of 75-71 during Sunday’s marathon, dropping into a tie for 64th after he failed to break 70 in any round in L.A. despite the soft conditions.

Quote of the day: “It gives me a lot of confidence. It’s going to push me to work even harder, try to get even better.” – Johnson on becoming No. 1.

SOURCE: GOLF CHANNEL

February 19, 2017/by Valentine

News

Jordan Spieth making a run at the Genesis Open

Jordan Spieth finds pace at Genesis Open before a rained out second round

Jordan Spieth got to 5 under before the rain fell in Los Angeles

Jordan Spieth nearly escaped the rain in Los Angeles at the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club with a full 18 holes of play in Round 2 on Friday. Instead, he only got 16 of the 18 in before rain washed out the day, but he played them almost flawlessly in brutal conditions (downright apocalyptic for Los Angeles).

Spieth moved up 28 slots on the leaderboard to T4, and at 5 under, he trails leaders Jhonattan Vegas and Sam Saunders by just two strokes. Spieth made an early bogey on his third hole of the day (No. 12 on the course) before playing the final 13 pretty much perfectly.

His wildest shot of the day probably came on the par-3 sixth hole when he hit a tee shot that looked like it was going off the back of the green before spinning all the way back to 15 feet. Spieth centered up the putt for birdie No. 4 on the day.

Spieth’s streak into the weekend should not come as a surprise. He almost won this tournament back in 2015 and is coming off a win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last week. He has not finished outside the top 10 at a PGA Tour event this calendar year so far.

He has had only one round at Riviera over 72 (a bizarre 79 in Round 1 last year). In addition to all of this, Spieth’s Texas Longhorns won the NCAA national title at Riviera back in 2012. There are certainly good vibes when it comes to The Riv.

Spieth found his putting stroke a little on Friday after a ho-hum 69 in Round 1. If he can find birdies at both of his final two holes when players return to the course on Saturday morning, he can tie the lead early on the weekend (something he has been quite familiar with over the course of his young career).

Round 2 at Riviera will resume at 10 a.m. Eastern on Saturday.

SOURCE: CBS

February 17, 2017/by Valentine

News

Justin Thomas wins Tournament of Champions

Justin Thomas closes with 4-under 69, wins Tournament of Champions

KAPALUA, Hawaii — Justin Thomas kept reminding himself that a one-shot lead with two holes to play is never a bad place to be on the PGA Tour.

Ignoring that his five-shot lead was nearly gone against Hideki Matsuyama, Thomas thought more about the great golf that had put him in this position Sunday at the SBS Tournament of Champions. He responded by hitting an 8-iron from 214 yards on a downhill lie that was so pure he stopped to admire it before it landed.

It plopped down in front of the pin and settled 3 feet away. Thomas birdied the hole. Matsuyama three-putted for bogey, and Thomas was on his way to a comfortable victory at Kapalua that moved him into the conversation of golf’s young stars.

“The best shot I hit this week,” Thomas said. “There’s a tree that’s a little slanted, and it’s a perfect aiming point. I just kind of aimed it there and made sure I held onto the club, if anything, to make sure my miss was right. … And really, I just flushed it. As soon as it came off, I knew it was going to be perfect.”

Matsuyama, going after his fourth straight victory worldwide, knew he needed to make his 30-foot birdie putt to stay in the game. He ran it 8 feet by, missed the par putt coming back and was out of chances when Thomas hammered another tee shot on the par-5 18th.

Thomas closed with a two-putt birdie for a 4-under 69 and a three-shot victory, his second win of the PGA Tour season that moved him to No. 12 in the world. His other two PGA Tour titles were at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia.

“I think it’s potentially floodgates opening,” said Jordan Spieth, Thomas’ best friend in golf since they were teenagers. “The guy hits it forever. He’s got a really, really nifty short game. He manages the course well. He’s playing the golf course the way it should be played, and honestly, he’s taking advantage of the easier holes.

“It’s awesome to see,” Spieth said. “He’s going to be tough to beat next week, too.”

Spieth closed with a 65 and tied for third with Pat Perez (67) and Ryan Moore(71).

Matsuyama, who made two soft bogeys on the front nine to fall five shots behind, made it more of a game than anyone expected. The 24-year-old from Japan holed a flop shot for eagle on the 14th hole, and then Thomas hooked a 4-iron into the hazard on the par-5 15th hole and made double-bogey.

Just like that, Thomas went from a five-shot lead to a one-shot lead, and Matsuyama had a 10-foot birdie putt on the 16th to tie for the lead. The putt narrowly missed, and Thomas answered with his 8-iron for birdie to end it. Matsuyama closed with a 70.

“My putter let me down there at 16, 17 and 18,” Matsuyama said. “I tipped my hat to Justin. He played well all day long.”

Thomas is the only player to beat Matsuyama over the last three months. In his last six tournaments worldwide, Matsuyama had four victories and a pair of runner-up finishes — both to Thomas, in Kuala Lumpur and Kapalua.

Thomas, who finished at 22-under 270, said his immediate thoughts were booking a return trip to Kapalua next year for the winners-only event.

“It changes things going forward because I know I’m coming back here,” Thomas said.

The scenery down the 18th toward the blue Pacific, where humpback whales spent the afternoon breeching and splashing their tails, was even better because Thomas’ parents were watching him win for the first time. His father, Mike Thomas, is a longtime head pro in Harmony Landing in Kentucky who is still his coach.

Spieth and Jimmy Walker came down to the 18th to congratulate the winner.

Thomas started the final round with a two-shot lead and no one got closer until his blunder on the 15th. One of the longest hitters in golf despite his slight build, Thomas really didn’t miss a shot until the ninth hole, and that’s when he got a huge break.

With the wind stiff and in his face, he got quick with his driver and hit a snap-hook into the knee-high weeds left of the fairway. He hit a provisional for a lost ball and was about ready to abandon the search when a TV spotter was summoned to give an indication where it went. They found the ball, and it was sitting up a few inches above some roots, allowing Thomas to at least hack out into the fairway.

He followed with a 3-wood onto the green for a two-putt par after starting with a shot that made double-bogey appear likely.

Thomas wasn’t so fortunate on the 15th.

“I stumbled more than I would have liked to do,” Thomas said. “But it shows where my game is at right now. I had some woes there, but I stuck it out to still get it done.”

SOURCE: ESPN

January 9, 2017/by Valentine