With just several holes left in their final round, both Dustin Johnson and JB Holmes were tied at 8-under. You could say that this week, these two were some of the most identical players on tour. Both were in the final group today, both are some of the Tour's longest drives, and by some lucky feat both managed to make hole-in-ones yesterday on the same hole within twenty minutes of each other. (that's a story in itself) It's safe to say that one of these two had to win this week.
And that's just what happened. On the par 3 15th hole, Dustin made a birdie that would, at that time, put him two shots ahead of JB, who would then go on to birdie the next hole, closing Dustin's lead to put one shot. Two pars from either of them on the 17th and 18th were enough for Dustin to win with a final round of 69. Like I said before, many people speculated that it would take later than sooner for Johnson to win again after his absence, but he proved them all wrong this week. And it looks like that near-last place finish last week at the Honda Classic didn't affect him too badly.
Despite shocking the golfing world with a stunning 62 on Thursday, JB Holmes proved he was a little human throughout the rest of the week. He went on to shoot 73, 70, 75 the rest of the week, but going into today's round he did have a five shot lead. With four bogeys already carded, his only birdie today was his one on the 16th. He almost made a few more in the last couple of holes that would have forced a playoff.
Bubba Watson was in the mix towards the end of the final round as well. He started off the front nine with four birdies, but followed that up with three bogeys on the back nine. He finished solo 3rd after failing to convert some birdies on the final holes that could have forced a playoff as well.
The weekend was especially tough all around though. From the looks of it, more rounds were shot in the 70's on the weekend than during the week. Course owner Donald Trump stated that he wanted this tournament to play like a major, scoringwise, Gil Hanse's renovation of the Blue Monster course made that happen this week.
Finally, in his post round interview, Dustin Johnson said that his hiatus from golf has done him well and he's returned a new person, for the better. He walks away with a nice cheque, another PGA Tour win, a hole-in-one to his name, and maybe a little something more.
And just like that another week's gone on the PGA Tour. Stay tuned for our coverage of the Valspar Championship next week from Tampa Bay.
-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews
Dustin Johnson proved to us this week he's a changed person (Photo:Wilfredo Lee / AP)
No comments:
Post a Comment