AT&T National @ Congressional, Tiger Woods Wins

   

Tiger Woods / Carr (Getty Images)

Tiger Woods became the first three-time US PGA Tour winner this season with this triumph in the AT&T National at Congressional County Club on Sunday in Bethesda Maryland. It is also tour win number 74 for Tiger, which has  moved him past Jack Nicklaus and  into second place on the Tour list, now just eight victories short of the current record set by Sam Snead. Sam won a record 82 PGA Tour events including seven Majors, his last win was 1965 at the Greater Greensboro Open.

Tiger and Bo were caught in a battle royal together on another sweltering day at Congressional, and it looked as though Woods wobbled first, until Van Pelt somehow managed to match him with mistakes of his own. Tiger closed with a -2 under 69 and won by two shots when Bo Van Pelt finished the last hole with his third straight bogey and had to settle for a 71. Looks like Bo eventually succumbed to the pressure of playing alongside Tiger, all he had to do was hit a regular six iron into the green and two putt for a birdie when Tiger had already wasted a shot just to get on the fairway at 16. Bo missed, and now the rest is history, the same history we have witnessed before, Tiger did not win so much as Bo failed to take the initiative when it was required. Tiger finished with a last round score of  -2 under par, 69, while Bo stumbled in with an even round and two shots behind Tiger at -6 under par.Tiger said in interview;

” What an incredible week. Everybody, thank you for being patient with us. Yesterday was a silent day. I think everyone saved up for today. What an atmosphere to play in front of. I remember there was a time when people were saying I could never win again. That was, I think, what, six months ago? I’ve been out here a long time, and I understand what it’s like to have to grind and fight because each shot means something. The first day, the first shot is just as important as the 72nd hole. They all count the same.”

Bo Van Pelt thinks Tiger is the best player in the world, so I guess mentally he was never going to beat him;

” No offense to any of those other guys, but he’s the only guy to win three tournaments on Tour this year. On three different golf courses, and he was leading the U.S. Open after two days. So I’d say that he’s playing the best golf in the world right now.”

Adam Scott finished in third place, with a last round of -4 under par and a tournament total of -5 under par.

The third member of the last group on course with Tiger and Bo, was Brendon de Jonge, who had a very bad day at the office. His last round of 77 saw him tumble down the leaderboard to finish tied in eleventh place, a real meltdown.

AT&T National @ Congressional, Mahan beats the heat to lead by two.

Hunter Mahan /Carr/Getty Images

Hunter Mahan had a second round of -6 under par , 65 to lead the AT&T National by two strokes at Congressional Country Club, with a tournament score of -7  under par. Three players are tied in second spot, Brendon de Jonge, Jimmy Walker and Robert Garrigus, these guys are at -5 under par and are in good position going into the weekend.

The heat index reached a high of 109 degrees for the second round of the AT&T National, where players battled a tough Congressional course and very dangerously high temperatures by mid afternoon. Survival was the story much of the day, Brendon de Jonge,  who played in the morning and is from Zimbabwe, where it can get notoriously hot, said after his round;

“ It was kind of draining, it’s starting to get just hot now, really, really hot.”

Jimmy Walker battled his way round;

“We know how to battle through the heat and stay hydrated, take your hydration pills and little mixed drinks. It’s the fans you’ve got to worry about because they’re out walking around and they don’t get into this type of stuff and get out and walk in it too much. I saw one lady that went down today, and I’m pretty sure it was probably from dehydration.”

Robert Garrigus also spoke about the heat;

” If there’s no rain, it’s going to be something else. I think it’s a mental thing because we’re all physically fit for the most part. I’m a lot more physically fit than I used to be. If you can just mentally just put it out of your head, my caddie was telling me yesterday, hey, man, just think of the tournaments you’ve played well in; Tampa it was smoldering; Memphis it was smoldering. You play well in the heat because you don’t think about it. It’s one of those things where if you can just get past the fact that you’re dripping sweat all over your golf ball, you can block it out. It makes a big, big difference.”

Tiger Woods thinks being as fit as he is, helped him in the heat;

“I live in it, I live in Florida. It’s not quite this hot, but it’s definitely more humid than this every day. I think it’s one of the reasons why I had success at Southern Hills, because I felt physically fit, didn’t have a problem with it. I’ve played some good tournaments over the years in Malaysia and other places where it’s hot, and certainly fitness, running all those miles and lifting all those weights, it comes into play when you get days like this, and consecutive days like this.”

Tiger managed to  recover today with a -3 under par round, which included a 48 foot Eagle putt.

Vijay Singh had a -1 under par second round and is in the group with total score of -4 under par. First round leader Bo Van Pelt could not match yesterdays good effort, slumping with a poor round of +2 over par, 73, and a -2 under total. He is joined on that score by  Billy Hurley 111, yesterdays news boy, was unable to match his first round score and tumbled down the leaderboard with a sad +2 over par round, leaving him at even for the tournament.

USPGA AT&T National @ Congressional Country Club, Bo Van Pelt Leads.

        

Bo Van Pelt leads by one shot after the first round of the AT&T National at a tough Congressional Country Club with a -4 under par round of 67, on the par 71 lay-out.

There are three players tied for second spot on -3 under par, they are; V.J. Singh, Brendon de Jong and Jimmy Walker. One shot further back on -2 under par are; Pat Perez, Jason Day and the top story of the day man Billy Hurley 111.

Billy Hurley 111 / Stan Badz/PGA Tour

Billy Hurley 111 has a degree from the United States Naval Academy and has served as a Lieutenant on the U.S.S. CHUNG-HOON. Billy shot a 2-under 69 in the opening round and is just two strokes off the lead of Bo Van Pelt at Congressional Country Club, he is also a one-time U.S. Walker Cup team member who now calls nearby Annapolis home. As Billy said;

“Nobody has ever went to a service academy and played out here. But as far as fitting in out here, the background gives me a little bit of a story. I think there’s certainly a mental toughness that I learned from the Navy that translates well into golf, but the pressures and the life are very different. For whatever reason, I play really good when it’s hot. This is certainly a special tournament, and I think that any time that we as an American public take time to pause and remember, reflect and honor the military, it’s a great thing.”

Bo Van Pelt was happy with his position;

 ”I mean, made a good up and down on 18, hit a good shot there that had gone long into the back bunker and had a pretty tough shot and hit it to about a foot and just kind of kept my momentum going after birdieing 17. Hit a good drive on No.1, it’s just a hole I’ve always kind of hit driver off of to just be aggressive. It’s a tough fairway to hit, and had a good number. Been working on my wedges a bunch. Been feeling like I need to improve in that area. I was working specifically today before I played, a shot I was hitting a bunch. So it was like 98 yards, and when I got 93 I thought I had a pretty good number.”

VJ said he had played well;

” I played well. I hit a lot of good shots, made a lot of birdies, and finally I made a couple of putts, which I guess is the key to playing good golf is you’ve got to make putts, and I did that. I actually thought it had kind of spun back in front of the hole, and all of a sudden this guy behind the green started going nuts. Yeah, you never know when those are going to happen, so it’s nice to get a deuce.  I thought I was going to go out and really shoot a low one, and then I bogeyed three in a row after that. You’ve got to be patient. You’ve got to keep calm out there. I gathered myself and made some more birdies coming in. All in all, I played really nicely, and I’m playing good golf.”

Tiger Woods was never under par in the afternoon and opened with a 1-over 72, he said;

“It’s certainly, I think, a little retribution for what happened last year. Don’t be mad at me. I didn’t play. “