Monday, August 26, 2013
Inside the Ropes: McDowell still seeking postseason success
Graeme McDowell joined the PGA Tour after winning the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, making him eligible for the PGA Tour playoffs for the FedEx Cup.
So far, his postseason forays have been an exercise in futility.
"FedEx has been tough for me the last few years," said McDowell, who will try to turn things around this week in the Deutsche BankChampionship, the second event of the playoffs, after missing the cut in the Barclays.
"I haven't really got into it, if you like. This is probably the first year I'm going in there with some certain numbers on the board. I'm guaranteed the first three (events).
"I kind of know what I have to do to get into the Tour Championship and sort of set that as my goal at the start of the year, to get into the Tour Championship. I wanted to experience that a little bit."
McDowell shot 71-72--143 to miss the weekend by one stroke atthe Barclays, and he slipped 16 spots to 44th in the FedEx Cup standings. He needs high finishes in the Deutsche Bank and theBMW Championship to climb back into the top 30 and make the field for the Tour Championship.
Last year, he slid from 27th at the end of last regular season to 42nd after the BMW Championship and missed the Tour Championship by 12 spots on the FedEx Cup points list.
In his three 2012 postseason events, he missed the cut in the Barclays, tied for 74th in the Deutsche Bank and tied for 34th in the BMW Championship.
In 2011, even though he rose 20 spots to 73rd by tying for 43rd in the Barclays and tying for 37th in the Deutsche Bank, he missed the BMW by three positions in the point standings.
"It's so volatile," said McDowell, who is in much better position in the Race to Dubai on the European Tour, trailing only Henrik Stenson. "It's a very, very different format from what we're used to in regular golf throughout history.
"The best player wins the money list, wins the best player of the year.
The FedEx playoffs, you can go in having a phenomenal season ... Padraig Harrington wins two major championships (in 2008) and doesn't get into the Tour Championship.
"So that just about sums up how volatile the FedEx has been. It is what it is. You have just got to go in there and play aggressive and try to put some numbers up."
Even though McDowell has claimed three victories this season, the second time since 2010 he has accomplished that, it's been a strange year.
McDowell captured the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town in a playoff over Webb Simpson, beat Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand in the final of the Volvo World Match Play Championship in Bulgaria and won the Alstom Open de France by four strokes over Richard Sterne of South Africa.
However, he also has missed the cut in six notable tournaments -- the Masters, the U.S. Open, the Players Championship, the BMW PGA Championship, the Barclays and the Irish Open, his national championship.
"They say winning is a habit," said the 34-year-old McDowell, something of a late bloomer who has claimed eight of his 12 professional victories since 2010. "It's a contagious habit. It's certainly a habit we like to get into.
"You can say my season this year has not really been that way. I haven't fed off my victories maybe the way I needed to the last few months. Obviously I've won three times ... but missed (some) cuts.
"I think my season has not felt as inconsistent as perhaps it's read. Those missed cuts, if you look at them, I missed by one at Augusta, missed by a couple at Players, missed by one at the Irish, missed by a couple at Wentworth (in the BMW), missed by a couple hundred at the U.S. Open.
"It hasn't really been as bad as it's read."
McDowell has a busy schedule coming up, as he will get married the week after the Tour championship to Kristin Stape, an interior designer he met when he hired her to furnish the house he bought in Lake Nona, Fla.
Following the honeymoon, he will jump back into the Race to Dubai.
"I'm actually getting married during the week of the Dunhill Links Championship (at St. Andrews)," said McDowell, who has been one of golf's most eligible bachelors. "Making a sacrifice there, but it's for the right reasons. You only get married once in your life, hopefully.
"It's obviously come off the back of a very busy summer of golf. ... But I'm taking four weeks off just to enjoy, get married and honeymoon and do all that good stuff.
"Then I'll be back for the Race to Dubai series and the end of the season on the European Tour."
For now, he's looking for a payoff in the PGA Tour playoffs.
Golf glance
COMING UP
PGA TOUR: Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston in Norton, Mass., Friday through Monday.
TV: Friday and Saturday, 3-6 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Sunday, 1-3 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel and 3-6 p.m. EDT onNBC; and Monday, 11:30-1:30 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel and 2-6 p.m. EDT on NBC.
LAST YEAR: Rory McIlroy came from three strokes behind in the final round by shooting 4-under-par 67 to claim a one-shot victory over Louis Oosthuizen. McIlroy started with scores of 65-65-67. Oosthuizen, who took the lead with a 63 in the third round, had a chance to force a playoff, but his 15-foot birdie putt slid past the hole. Mclroy, who recently had become the No. 1 player in the World Rankings, captured the PGA Championship three weeks earlier and added the BMW Championship a week later in the third round of the PGA Tour playoffs. The Irishman charged into the lead with five birdies on the first eight holes of the final round atTPC Boston, but he had to hold on down the stretch, sinking a clutch five-foot putt for only his second bogey of the day at No. 17.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: Shaw Charity Classic at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club in Calgary, Alberta, Friday through Sunday.
TV: Friday and Saturday, 8:30-10:30 p.m. EDT; Sunday, 5-7 p.m. EDT; on the Golf Channel all three days.
LAST YEAR: New event.
LPGA TOUR: Safeway Classic at Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Portland, Ore., Thursday through Sunday. The tournament has been expanded to 72 holes for the first time in its history, which dates to 1972.
TV: Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 6:30-8:30 p.m. EDT; Sunday, 7-9:30 p.m. EDT; on the Golf Channel all four days.
LAST YEAR: Mika Miyazato of Japan led virtually from wire-to-wire to claim her first victory on the LPGA Tour by two strokes over Brittany Lincicome and Inbee Park of South Korea on the Ghost Creek Course at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Ore. Miyazato, whose only other professional victory came in the 2010 Japan Women's Open, become the third Japanese player to win the event, joining Ai Miyazato (2010) and Ayaka Okamoto (1986). Mika Miyazato had a three-stroke lead through nine holes in the final round, but her first bogey in 40 holes at No. 10 brought four players to within one shot of the lead. On the par-3 11th hole, her ball was headed toward a creek but bounced off a rock, and she saved par with a 25-foot putt. Miyazato, who opened with rounds of 65-68, sank a five-foot birdie putt at No. 17 to regain a two-stroke lead while closing with a 2-under-par 70.
Golf notebook: U.S. Amateur champ will oppose U.S. in Walker Cup
--Matthew Fitzpatrick of England, who last week captured the U.S.Amateur Championship, will lead the Great Britain and Ireland team that will play the United States in the 44th Walker Cup at the National Golf Links of America in Southampton, N.Y., on Sept. 7-8.
Fitzpatrick heads a team that features six other Englishmen, two Irishman, a Welshman and for the first time since 1949, not one player from Scotland.
"We believe we have selected a strong team which includes some of the best amateur players in the world," Great Britain and Ireland captain Nigel Edwards said. "The players have all competed at the highest levels of the amateur game and will relish the challenge of facing the Americans on their home soil.
"There will be some who are disappointed not to make the team, but it is the job of the selectors to carefully consider the players available and select the strongest team they can. We are very much looking forward to what promises to be a great match next month."
The other Englishmen include British Amateur champion Garrick Porteous, English Amateur champion Callum Shinkwin, St. Andrews Links Trophy winner Neil Raymond, plus Max Orrin, Nathan Kimsey and Jordan Smith.
Rhys Pugh of Wales, who plays at East Tennessee State, is the only returnee from the team that beat the Americans two years ago, having earned three points at Royal Aberdeen.
Kevin Phelan of Ireland, who plays at North Florida State, is joined by Gavin Moynihan, the 2012 Irish Amateur champion.
The 18-year-old Fitzpatrick, who won the British Boys' Championship last year, earned the silver medal as low amateur in the Open Championship at Muirfield and become the first Englishman since 1911 to win the U.S. Amateur.
The U.S. named the last five players of its team last week, selecting Nathan Smith of Pittsburgh; Michael Weaver of Fresno, Calif.; Todd White of Spartanburg, S.C.; Jordan Niebrugge of Mequon, Wis.; and Bobby Wyatt of Mobile, Ala.
Earlier, Max Homa of Valencia, Calif.; Michael Kim of Del Mar, Calif.; Patrick Rodgers of Avon, Ind.; Justin Thomas of Goshen, Ky.; and Cory Whitsett of Houston were chosen for the American team.
The U.S. leads the series 34-8-1, but since Great Britain and Ireland ended an eight-match losing streak in 1989, the teams are 6-6.
--Padraig Harrington missed the cut in the Wyndham Championship two weeks ago and failed to qualify for the PGA Tour playoffs, finishing the regular season at 130th in the FedEx Cup standing, five spots short of making the field for the Barclays.
Harrington, who was No. 3 in the World Golf Rankings after winning three majors in a span of 13 months through the 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills, fell to No. 85 in the rankings last week.
Harrington, who was planning to play in all four postseason events, missed the PGA Tour playoffs for the first time and quickly changed his schedule, starting with the Wales Open this week at Celtic Manor.
"I haven't really scored well. I can't put everything together in a given week," said Harrington, who is 57th in the European Tour's Race to Dubai and hopes to gain ground while many of the top players are playing in the PGA Tour playoffs.
"You have to have patience and accept that this going to happen every so often and try and be patient and to wait for it to turn around."
Harrington, who has missed the cut in his last three events -- the Reno-Tahoe Open, the PGA Championship and the Wyndham -- has to get his game back quickly because his five-year exemption as a major champion has run out on both tours.
The Wales Open is the first event in which points will be awarded for the 2014 Ryder Cup team, and Harrington has set making the European team for the matches at Gleneagles Resort in Scotland as one of his goals.
Harrington also hopes to climb back into the top 50 of the World Golf Rankings to qualify for the Masters.
--Lydia Ko of New Zealand has not won an amateur golf tournament in 2013, but she did enough against the pros to remain the No. 1-ranked woman in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
That has allowed the 16-year-old Ko to win the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the top woman amateur in the world for the third consecutive year. Fitzpatrick claimed the men's award.
"It means a lot," said Ko, who last year at the age of 15 became the youngest winner on the LPGATour at the Canadian Women's Open and celebrated winning the McCormick Medal by successfully defending her Canadian title last week. "And to have won the medal three years in a row makes it more special. It's awesome.
"I won the U.S. Amateur last year. I wanted to win that championship so much and to have won it, it was great. Without winning it, I may not have been able to maintain my position."
In February, Ko captured the ISPS Handa New Zealand Women's Open on the Australian LadiesProfessional Golf Tour, in addition to tying for third in the Australian Women's Open, tying for 17th in the Wegman's LPGA Championship and tying for 25th in the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Ko, who last week was No. 19 in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings, last year captured the U.S. Women's Amateur and the Australian Women's Amateur, plus two professional events, the Canadian Women's Open and the Bing Lee Samsung Women's New South Wales Open in a banner season. She also was medalist in the World Women's Amateur Championship.
Fitzpatrick capped a big 2013 season by earning the silver medal as low amateur in the British Open at Muirfield before becoming the first Englishman to win the United States Amateur Championship in 102 years at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass.
The 18-year-old Fitzpatrick, who captured the 2012 British Boys Amateur Championship and will follow in Luke Donald's footsteps by playing at Northwestern University, earned spots in the Masters, U.S. Open and Open Championship next year -- as long as he remains an amateur -- by winning the U.S. Amateur.
"I'm absolutely delighted to win the McCormack Medal," Fitzpatrick said. "For this to come along at the same time as winning the U.S. Amateur Championship is really special.
"I had a fair idea that if I had a good finish I might be able to scrape it, but it was great that it went my way. It has been an amazing few weeks for me ever since the (British) Open, and I am really happy to have achieved so much."
The Mark H. McCormack Medals are named in honor of the late Mark McCormack, the founder of the International Management Group who created the world ranking system for professional golf.
--Matt Kuchar, who teamed with Gary Woodland to end the United States' 12-year winless streak in the World Cup of Golf two years ago, has committed to defend the title at Royal Melbourne Golf Club on Nov. 18-24.
Kooch's partner has yet to be determined.
"Representing my country is a real honor whether in the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup or the World Cup," said Kuchar, who was No. 6 in the World Golf Rankings as of last week. "It was a great experience to win the World Cup in 2011 with Gary Woodland and I am looking forward to defending at Royal Melbourne."
Two years ago, Kuchar and Woodland won the 56th World Cup by two strokes over England's Ian Poulter and Justin Rose and Germany's Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka on the Blackstone Course at Mission Hills Haikou in Hainan Island, China.
The U.S. has won a record 24 times in the World Cup, but before last year had not brought home the trophy since David Duval and Tiger Woods won in 2000 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The World Cup of Golf was an annual event from its founding 1953, when Roberto DiVecenzo and Antonio Cerda of Argentina won in Montreal, until 2009, although it was not played in 1981 and 1986.
Starting with 2011, it became a biennial event.
Also making early commitments to this year's tournament were Matteo Manassero of Italy and Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand.
--Charley Hull, the 17-year-old from England who was one of the stars as Europe retained theSolheim Cup two weeks ago at Colorado Golf Club, had her petition to join the LPGA Tour accepted by commissioner Michael Whan.
LPGA Tour rules stipulate that players must turn 18 by Jan. 1 in order to enter Qualifying School, but players can petition for a waiver based on their play in professional events.
Hull, who will turn 18 on March 20, is scheduled to play the second stage of LPGA Q-School beginning Oct. 8 at Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, Fla.
"Charley is going to be around for a long time, and it's pretty neat to see the future of their team," Paula Creamer said after being routed by Hull, 5 and 4, in singles on the last day of the Solheim Cup.
"She was a good player and she represented her country very well."
Hull, who captured the 2011 Welsh Ladies Open Stroke Play Championship, the 2011 English Women's Stroke Play Championship and the 2012 Harder Hall Invitational in the U.S. before during pro last March, finished second in her first five starts on the Ladies European Tour and is fourth on the Order of Merit.
Last year, she helped Great Britain and Ireland win the Curtis Cup, and in Colorado she posted a 2-1 record in the Solheim Cup.
"I didn't really feel that nervous, to be honest, because this is how I always look at golf," Hull said of her Solheim performance. "I'm not going to die if I miss it. Just hit it and find it and hit it again."
In 2011, Whan approved 16-year-old Lexi Thompson's petition to play before turning 18, but he he denied 16-year-old Ariya Jutanugarn's request a year later.
Thompson captured the 2011 LPGA Navistar Classic and the first stage of Q-School by 10 shots before her petition was approved.
Hull played last week in the Canadian Women's Open on a sponsor invitation and finished in a tie for 17th.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Kuchar makes good use of a short day at Barclays
Kuchar makes good use of a short day at Barclays
JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Matt Kuchar made the most of his short day at The Barclays.
Kuchar didn't tee off until Friday afternoon at Liberty National and knew he had no chance to finish. He could barely see his ball cross the water and set up a two-putt birdie on the 13th hole that gave him the outright lead, and there was enough light coming from lower Manhattan across the Hudson River to hit his tee shot on the 14th.
The horn sounded, and by then, he was ready to go home.
Kuchar was at 10-under par with five holes remaining and had to return Saturday morning to hold his one-shot lead over Webb Simpson and Gary Woodland, who both finished the second round in the rain-delayed tournament.
Simpson had to play 29 holes -- 11 holes to finish his first round in the morning, followed by his second round -- and he was ready to go more. He ran off six birdies over an eight-hole stretch and had a 5-under 66.
"It's much nicer when you're playing well to keep playing. And when you're playing well, you feel like you could play 40 holes in a day," Simpson said. "My main goal ... I just wanted to get done today. It just felt nice to putt out on 9, knowing that I've got tonight to sleep and catch up on rest."
Woodland was one of the last players to finish at twilight Friday, and he finished strong. Woodland, back on track after a win at the Reno-Tahoe Open three weeks ago, birdied four of his last five holes for a 64 to join Simpson in the clubhouse at 9-under 133.
"I feel ecstatic right now to be done," Woodland said. "It was a close call coming down the stretch if we would be able to finish. Luckily, I played great today, gave myself a lot of opportunities, and I drove the ball phenomenally and rolled some putts in, especially late."
As for Tiger Woods, he couldn't get off the course fast enough.
Woods challenged the target set by Simpson with three birdies in five holes -- he was two shots behind -- and he had a pair of par 5s in front of him. He failed to make birdie on either of the par 5s, and made three bogeys out of the bunker through the 12th hole to fall off the pace. He made birdie on the 13th, the last hole he completed, but was still five shots behind Kuchar, who was in his group.
"I got off to a great start today and then lost it the middle part of the round and made too many mistakes," Woods said.
He also said his back remained sore from what he said earlier in the week was due to a soft bed in his hotel that led to stiffness in his neck and bad. He said the pain increased throughout the round and when asked if a specific shot made it hurt, he replied, "Every one."
"I'm going to get treatment right now ... and be ready for tomorrow morning," Woods said.
It was the second straight year at The Barclays he has said a soft hotel bed caused stiffness in his back. Last year, it caused him trouble in the third round.
Rory McIlroy showed more signs of turning his game around. After three double bogeys on Thursday, he limited the mistakes with some nifty par saves and was at 5 under with two holes remaining, starting with a shot from the 17th fairway after a big tee shot.
Kuchar stopped with his tee shot just short of the green on the par-3 14th, and he had no inclination to finish.
"I feel like in the morning, they will be perfect greens," he said. "A situation where I'm on 18 and can pretty much have a proper night's sleep and not have to worry about going out, I'll finish on 18. But in this situation ... it was amazing, we were down on the last hole, 13, kind of a little bit down the hole and it was dark. I wasn't sure we were going to tee off on 14. Coming out over the water, it brightened up by a good margin. It's actually a beautiful skyline.
"I think when the sun sets coming off, it was a nice little place to be this time of night."
It looked even better atop the leaderboard, though there's still a long way to go -- and plenty of stars right behind him.
Keegan Bradley set the tournament course record with a 63 and was at 7-under 135, along with Rickie Fowler (64) and Adam Scott, who was tied for the lead at one point until a lazy finish for a 66.
Phil Mickelson, trying to retool his game after his British Open win, had a 69 and was seven shots behind the clubhouse lead.
The last time The Barclays was at Liberty National, Heath Slocum won at 9-under 275. Since then, some of the landing areas were widened and the slopes on the greens were softened. Plus, the course was very little rough this year. And the soft conditions from the rain Thursday is making it easier to make birdies.
For some players, their year was over.
Ben Crane, after opening with a 67, had to withdraw with a lower back injury after playing just four holes of the second round. At No. 125 in the FedEx Cup, he won't be among the 100 players advancing to the second playoff event next week outside Boston.
Lucas Glover withdrew with a hand injury, ending his season.
The cut would not be made until Saturday morning, and Erik Compton needed two more rounds to try to qualify for the next tournament. He did his part, a birdie-birdie finish to get back to even-par 142. That was right on the line for making the cut.
Bryant leads Boeing Classic
Bryant leads Boeing Classic
SNOQUALMIE, Wash. -- Bart Bryant got off to a fast start in his bid to win consecutive Champions Tour titles, shooting a 6-under 66 on Friday to take the first-round lead in the Boeing Classic.
Bryant had eight birdies and two bogeys at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge, five days after winning the Dick's Sporting Goods Open in Endicott, N.Y., for his first victory in his rookie season on the 50-and-over tour.
"It was a good way to start. I wish I could have hung on there late. Kind of ran out of steam the last few holes, but overall, a great day," Bryant said. "I'll take a 66 every day for the rest of my life."
Bryant opened with a birdie and added four in a row on Nos. 2-6. He bogeyed the par-4 seventh, rebounded with birdies on Nos. 11, 13 and 14, and had another bogey on the par-3 17th. On the 210-yard, par-3 13th, he holed out from a bunker.
Bryant did not play much during his final four years of PGA Tour eligibility because of two surgeries on his left wrist. The first one didn't work and, after the second one, he said, "I was beginning to think this might be it."
"I was not really hopeful to play again," he said, "but the second time we did it, it worked. It seems like it's holding together. It was just years and years of beating it up. I lost all the cartilage in there. The bones started rubbing. So they went in there and fused one big bone."
Duffy Waldorf and Bobby Clampett shot 67, and Bernhard Langer , Dick Mast and Kirk Triplett followed at 68. Langer tied the course record with a 5-under 31 on the front nine.
Hometown favorite Fred Couples opened with a 69.
Waldorf, who tied for sixth last year in the event in his Champions Tour debut, chipped in from a bunker behind the green for an eagle on the 498-yard, par-5 18th.
Triplett, who grew up in Eastern Washington, had four birdies in a bogey-free round.
Kuchar holds lead after delayed second round at The Barclays
Kuchar holds lead after delayed second round at The Barclays
JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Matt Kuchar expanded his lead to two shots at The Barclays without making a single par Saturday morning.
Kuchar played five holes Saturday morning to complete the second round at Liberty National. His first shot of the day was a 30-foot birdie putt. He followed that with a poor tee shot that led to bogey, two short birdie putts, and another poor drive on the 18th for a bogey.
It gave him a 6-under 65 and a two-shot lead over Webb Simpson and Gary Woodland going into the third round.
Tiger Woods made a 10-foot birdie on the 17th hole and saved par from a bunker on the 18th to end his up-and-down round at 69, leaving him five shots behind.
Kuchar was at 11-under 131.
The tournament was delayed by six hours on Thursday because of rain. The third round featured threesomes off both sides, and with a brilliant blue sky along the banks of Hudson River, the tournament was expected to be back on schedule by the end of Saturday.
The third round also figured to go a long way toward unscrambling a leaderboard packed with some of golf's best players. Sixteen players were separated by five shots at the halfway point of The Barclays, half of them major champions.
Rory McIlroy hit a tough tee shot into the wind on the 18th and made an 8-foot birdie putt for a 65 that put him in the large group at 6-under 136 that included Woods, Sergio Garcia and U.S. Open champion Justin Rose.
Masters champion Adam Scott (66) and former PGA champion Keegan Bradley, who had a tournament course record of 63, were in the group at 7-under 135.
It was a tough end for so many others, however.
The Barclays is the first of four tournaments in the FedEx Cup playoffs, and only the top 100 players in the standings advance to the second stage next week outside Boston. Morgan Hoffmann figured to be one of them. He was looking for a strong finish to get among the final groups. Instead, he finished with a pair of double bogeys to miss the cut by one shot and end his season.
Thirteen players ranked outside the top 100 failed to make the cut, so they are done for the year. That opened the door for others who narrowly made the cut and now have the weekend to try to advance. That group includes Erik Compton, who finished birdie-birdie to make the cut on the number. He came into the playoffs at No. 117.
J.J. Henry also bogeyed his final hole to miss the cut by one shot. He was at No. 97, making it unlikely he would get through to next week.
Kuchar won The Barclays three years ago when it was played at Ridgewood Country Club. He already has won twice this season.
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