Honda Classic, Camilo Villegas,Surprise Leader,

Camilo Villegas / Chris Condon / Getty Images

Camilo Villegas is the surprising first round leader of the Honda Classic at the PGA National Champion Course,Palm Beach Gardens, with a round of -6 under par 64. It is  four years now since his back-to-back wins in the FedEx Cup Playoffs events, when he  rose to as high as No. 7 in the world. The  31-year-old Colombian then plunged  into a slump that  was so bad that over the last 18 months he lost his card last year. Camilo won The Honda Classic in 2010 at PGA National, so he at least has that to build on. But despite the good start, he wasn’t afraid to risk ruining the day on the last hole. Even his caddie asked what he was thinking of when he was addressing a shot on the last hole;

“My caddie said, where are you going to go with this one,. And I said, I’m looking straight at that flag. And I hit a great shot.”

Tiger Woods saved his round with a shot from out of the water on the par 4, sixth hole, taking his shoes off to enter the hazard, he finished the day at even par;

“I was 1 over at the time, and if that ball is not playable from where it’s at, where I crossed was pretty far back, looking at six, three over and all of a sudden I flip it, make par there and birdie the next.”

Charles Howell 111, Chucky three-sticks,  opened with a -3 under par, 67. He has just until the end of the month to go from No. 64 to the top 50 in the World Ranking to qualify for the Masters in his hometown of Augusta.

Branden Grace,  Rickie Fowler, Graham DeLaet  and Robert Streb, are all tied in second place at -5 under par for the opening round of this tournament.

 

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Brandt Snedeker and Ted Potter Jnr tied at the top.

Brandt Snedeker / Gross / Getty Images.

Brandt Snedeker and Ted Potter Jnr are tied at the top of the leaderboard at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Both players are at -8 under par for the tournament. Brandt shot a -4 under par 68 at Spyglass Hill, while Ted Potter Jnr had a -3 under par at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club course.

Brandt  has played so well this year that he is leading the FedEx Cup standings without having won, Brandt said of his situation;

” Keep running into guys who are or who are going to be in the Hall of Fame. That’s how you win out here, you keep putting yourself in position, and the more times you do, the more success you’re going to have. I’m doing a better job this week of making my way around the golf courses and not putting myself in bad spots and getting out of tough situations very quickly.”

Ted seems to think it is all about the bounce of the ball, sometimes good, sometimes bad;

“It’s just a funny game like that, some weeks you play really well and you get the right kicks and everything goes well. And then there are weeks you can still hit the ball well and get the bad kicks.”

Hunter Mahan, the first round leader lost a stroke on the spongy greens, he went to knock in a short bogey putt on the par-3 seventh hole when the ball moved on him.

“It just rolled over in like a heel print or something, I didn’t feel like I moved it. I didn’t feel like I had anything much to do with it moving. It’s just a rub of the green, so had to go back and take a penalty. That was frustrating, because I was hitting it so good.”

Phil Mickelson didn’t feel out of contention although he was back tied for 39th place, he is six shots behind, the same as last year when he went on to win;

“I love Pebble Beach. I’ve played well there and I’m only one good round away. If I can shoot something in the mid-60s, I’ll be right there for Sunday’s round, which is what I care about.”

Waste Management Phoenix Open, Wire to Wire Win For Phil

Phil Mickleson / Martin / Getty Images

Phil Mickleson won the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale by four shots, going wire to wire for a dominating victory. Phil’s final score was -28 under par, after he rounded out his tournament with a -4 under par 67 last round. With this win Phil moved to No. 3 in the race for the FedEx Cup after earning 500 points for his victory at TPC Scottsdale. Phil said how important the win was for him;

” It’s an important one for me, because it’s been a while since I won, been a while since I’ve been in contention, I was certainly nervous heading into today. I think the thing I’m most excited about was the way I was able to regain control of my thoughts after a few shots early on that I didn’t care for. I think that sets up the tone for the rest of the year, because I really started to play well, but for me, the rest of the year took a turn on Tuesday when I got my new driver. It just changed my whole deal.”

Brandt Snedeker finished in second place with a total score of -24 under par, his last round effort of -6 under par was not quite enough to bother Phil.

Brandt said that Phil had played unbelievable golf;

Brandt Snedeker / Helen Ross PGATOUR.COM

“It was a ton of fun, to be in the last group with Phil and kind of trade birdie for birdie and make up some ground was a lot of fun. It’s what we play for. I wish I could have put some more pressure on him and got a little closer than I did today, but I think I shot 12 under par on the weekend and made one bogey. Sometimes you have to tip your hat and say Phil played unbelievable and deserved to win, and that’s kind of what this week was all about. I feel like I’m running into the Hall of Famers every week, it would be nice if they weren’t in the field and I could go ahead and go after it. It’s just tough, you know. It was fun to watch, fun to be part of, you want to win those, and hopefully I will soon.”

 

Scott Piercy finished in third place after he fired the best round of the last day, a -10 under par 61, that elevated him up the leaderboard to finish with a total of -23 under par for the tournament. Scott really liked the TPC Scottsdale greens;

“These greens were amazing, if you got it online, rolling, you made it.”

Sony Open, Rookie Russell Rips Up the Record Books.

Winning Rookie Russell Henley / Petersen/Getty Images

The Sony Open was won by rookie Russell Henley on his Tour debut, and doing so he ripped up the standing records for just about everything.

Russell  finished at -24 under par and a total score of 256, breaking by four shots the Sony Open in Hawaii scoring record, last set by Brad Faxon in 2001. Russell relegated Tim Clark into second place by three shots, Tim was himself on fire, he birdied seven of his last eleven holes and actually only made up one shot on Russell, the rookie from the University of Georgia.

Russell is now tied at the top the FedEx Cup standings in the company of Dustin Johnson on 500 points. The win was the second-lowest score for a 72-hole tournament in PGA TOUR history, two shots behind Tommy Armour III in 2003 at the Valero Texas Open. He also  set tournament records for the low 36-hole score after his 63-63 start, he shared the 54-hole record with Scott Langley and also set another tournament record with the lowest final round by a Champion.

Add to that he became the first PGA TOUR rookie to win his debut since Garrett Willis did at Tucson in 2001, and he will be going to the Masters in April, a local tournament for the boy from Macon, Georgia.

He said of his record breaking day that he had never been so nervous, you would not have imagined that watching him coming down the stretch on Sunday. He played the last nine holes superbly.

“I don’t really know what happened, honestly, this is the most nervous I’ve ever been. That’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It’s been my goal to make it to the Masters my whole life. I’m kind of speechless right now.”

With the results  of his Web.com Tour season last year and this win Russell Henley has already made it into the world rankings inside the top fifty.  That ranking will get him into the Accenture-Match Play Championship for the top 64 in the world, the qualifying date is only a month away, and he should also be in line for the other WGC at the Cadillac Championship, and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, not forgetting the PGA Championship. All in all quite a PGA TOUR debut, I look forward to watching Russell this season, it will be interesting to see how far he can go, he obviously has the talent.

 

Coca Cola Tour Championship, FedEx cup. Snedeker Wins It All

Brandt Snedeker won the Coca Cola Tour Championship, and in doing so also won the FedEx Cup.

Winner Brandt Snedeker/Greenwood/Getty Images

Brandt had a last round of   -2 under par 68  and a -10 under par total,  to easily win the Coca Cola Tour Championship by three strokes from second placed Justin Rose, who finished at _8 under par.

Luke Donald and Ryan Moore shared third place at -6 under par.

There was no “W” for Woods, or any of the other top five going in to the tournament, Snedeker was the only player who performed well on the last day.

Tiger Woods finished tied 8th at -2 under par, World number 1 Rory McIlroy was at -1 under par, Phil Mickelson at +1 and the other initial contender Nick Watney slumped big time to +13 over par.

Coca Cola Tour Championship, FedEx Cup. 3rd Round Its Rose & Snedeker

Justin Rose and Brandt Snedeker are tied at the top of the leaderboard at the Coca Cola Tour Championship & FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Justin Rose & Brandt Snedeker/getty images

Justin Rose has maintained his presence at the top end of the leaderboard with a -4 under par third round of 66, for a tournament total of -8 under par.  He says he still would need some help to win the FedEx cup though;

” Little help from my friends”  (For example, he would  need Rory McIlroy to finish lower than 17th, that’s asking a lot. )” And Brandt, you’ve got to give him credit.I know he got off to a rough start on Thursday, and to climb back and tie for the lead being in that sort of vital top 5 is a wonderful performance. So he’s going to be the one out of the two of us thinking about it overnight.”

Justin is just concentrating on winning the Coca Cola Tour Championship;

“The whole year we’ve been grinding for the FedExCup, and it’s still possible. It’s not an easy golf course. Things can happen out there. But for me, it’s about one tournament. I wish I would be in the situation that Brandt’s in. I would trade him, but obviously, that’s the position I’m in.”

Brandt Snedeker said of his round;

” Probably one of the best rounds I’ve played this year. My first goal for this week is achieved, and that is to have a chance going into Sunday. I think something like 90 something percent of the PGA TOUR winners come from the last two groups, and that’s where I want to be in those last two groups. So I know get I get a chance to do that tomorrow, and it should be a lot of fun. I think the biggest thing tomorrow is going to be how patient you can stay because this golf course eats guys up that don’t stay patient. With all that extra stuff that goes with the FedEx Cup Championship and the TOUR Championship, there are so many reasons to get antsy. It’s just not putting more pressure on the shot than there already is, there is no make-or-break shot tomorrow. Every shot tomorrow is the exact same as it was today, and the exact same as it was on Thursday, to really embrace that.I did a great job today of staying patient. I missed four putts on the first four holes from inside 15 feet for birdie. You don’t have those kind of opportunities around here very often. I did a great job of staying patient, and when you do that, you tend to have some success.”

As far as tomorrow goes Rory McIlroy thinks 10 under is a good target score, but is aware the other guys want to win as much as he does;

” They’re not up at the top of the standings for nothing, they’re playing well. They’ve played well the last few weeks. So, yeah, I knew coming in here if I won, I’d win everything, and that’s still my attitude going into tomorrow. It’s going to be one of the most exciting Sundays of the year. There are a few guys still in it with a chance to win the FedExCup to win this tournament., so looking forward to it. Great to be in the mix, only three back, so I’m excited about the prospect of a very exciting finish tomorrow. You go play the first hole, and you see how you do there. Then you play the second, and you see how you do there. It’s all you’re really doing. That’s the way I feel like I have been playing for the last few weeks.”

Tiger Woods, Robert Garrigus, Matt Kuchar and Bo Van Pelt are only four shots back. Tiger said he is not just here for the money;

That’s not why we play. I’m playing for the W, and tomorrow I get a great shot at it. You know, all the money and awards and all of that stuff, that comes along with winning championships. That’s the way I’ve always looked at it, and right now I’m four back. If I win the golf tournament, everything’s kind of taken care of. I’ve done it before, I’ve been out here a long time, and just claw your way back into it, and usually it will take a round in the 60s. I figured the guys aren’t going to go out and run off and hide on this golf course. It’s just playing too difficult.”

Ryan Moore, Bubba Watson and Jim Furyk are still there at -5 under par, and the last of the possible winners are Luke Donald and Zach Johnson, they are at -3 under par and both of them would need an exceptional round tomorrow.

FedEx Cup, Can Jim Win Again ?

  

Jim Furyk/Reuters/Brent Smith

James Michael Furyk was the 2010 FedEx Cup champion, and also the 2010 PGA Tour Player of the Year. Jim, and just about everyone else is wondering if he can win the FedEx Cup again. It would take Albert Einstein to work out all the permutations of the outcome, but some of Jim”s friends have tried to figure out the odds.

Jim is in the elite field of 30 players who will tee off for Thursday’s opening round at East Lake Golf Club, for the Coca Cola Tour Championship, where the lucrative PGA Tour event is on the line along with a staggering $10 million bonus for securing the season-long playoff title. He landed both honors two years ago, but this week he lies in 18th spot on the FedExCup points standings, and would need a lot of help from higher-ranked players to pull off a repeat double, he philosophically said;

” Nope, I have no idea, I know I would have to win the Tour Championship, and a lot of other things would have to happen. But I’m never really worried about that. I had two or three friends try to text me, ‘do you know what you have to do?’ No. It’s hard enough winning a golf tournament. I can’t control the rest. Two years ago I was ranked 11th going into the Tour Championship and needed a little work. But this week those top 10 to 12 guys probably have a really good opportunity. Then past that, it’s going to take a lot of help because the guys that are up there at the top have been playing very well.”

The result is difficult to predict because any of the top five players in the standings would win the FedExCup honours by winning this week’s Tour Championship. The names of that quintet comprise, World number one, Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy and four Americans, Tiger Woods, Nick Watney, Phil Mickelson and Brandt Snedeker.

Jim has no illusions as to his task this week, even if he wins the Coca Cola Tour Championship, he still needs a lot of guys to play poorly;

“It’s hard to imagine Rory not being in contention this week as well as he’s been playing. All we can do is really worry about our game and try to get ourselves in position to try to win a golf tournament this week.”

Rory McIlroy has never previously competed at East Lake but he is oozing confidence after winning three times in his last four starts;

“I’m confident in my ability and confident with the shots that I’m hitting and confident on the greens. I’m making the right decisions out there, and everything is really just going to plan at the minute. It’s a nice run to be on, and I want to try and keep it going for as long as possible. The last four weeks, five weeks have been incredible, some of the best golf that I’ve ever played.”

BMW Championship 3rd round, Vijay and Phil at the top.

Vijay Singh & Phil Mickelson/Getty Images

Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson sit atop the leaderboard after the third round of the BMW Championship at Crooked Stick Golf Course in Carmel Indiana on Saturday. Vijay had a modest -3 under par 69, against Phil and his magnificent third round of -8 under par 63. Both players sharing the top spot at -16 under par. The rest of the field is very close behind them, World number one, and last weeks winner Rory McIlroy is tied in third place with Lee Westwood at -15 under par. The best golfers in the world tore it up, aided and abetted by the organizers, lift, clean and place just made it too easy for the likes of these guys.

Vijay answered a question about whether he could last the four rounds;

” I’ve one more to do, I’ve got to play a little better than what I did today. I’ve got to make less mistakes than I did today. I think I can do that.”

Phil Mickelson is glad that his game is back, he affirmed that with his 10 birdies on the round today;

” It’s taken me a little while to piece it back together, but I could tell last week that my game was back and I was ready to play at the highest level again, I came out Thursday and forced it a little too much the front nine. But after that, I’ve been able to settle down and play some good golf. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s shootout. It should fun.”

Rory McIlroy was delighted to be only one shot back of the leaders after a not very good third round;

” I’m delighted just to be one back going into tomorrow because the display of golf I put on out there from tee to green was not very good. I hung in there and made some putts on the back nine and was able to get myself back in the tournament.”

Lee Westwood spoke about the star-studded top of the leaderboard;

” The cream has risen to the top, hasn’t it.”

There are 16 players that are separated by only five shots, that between them have won 29 majors and 21 World Golf Championships, and four of them have been at No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking over the last decade, that’s some leaderboard.

There are three players hovering at -14 under par, Adam Scott and Robert Garrigus shot rounds of  -6, 66 today, while Dustin Johnson had a -5, 67 for the same total for the tournament. Tiger Woods is alone in eighth place at -13 under par after his meager third round of -1 under par 71.

Tiger said he thinks he still has a chance, if he plays well;

” I’m within reach, I have to probably shoot 63 or 64 tomorrow to have a chance.”

Adam Scott commented on the gallery, and said he was pleased to be in the mix;

“The crowd is pretty rowdy, and it’s an incredible leaderboard, it’s going to be fun. I’m glad I put myself in that position.”

 It seems that just about everyone has something at stake tomorrow, and everyone has a chance, Dustin Johnson summed it all up;

” It’s the Playoffs, guys come to play golf in the big tournaments. It seems like all year the top guys are up there every time.”

Lets go play golf.

The Barclays, Padraig leads after 1st round.

                                  

Padraig Harrington/Greenwood/Getty Images

The Barclays first round at Bethpage Black  in New York got off to a red number start as Padraig Harrington shot a -7 under par 64, to lead the field by just one stroke. Padraig made a mockery of the red warning sign on the first tee, which reads, “ ”The Black Course is an Extremely Difficult Course Which We Recommend Only For Highly Skilled Golfers.” Padraig remarked that as soon as he forgot how difficult it was supposed to be he started to think Birdie;

“The most interesting thing was it’s very hard to go out and play this course without thinking you’re playing a U.S. Open. The best I’ve struck my putts, the best I’ve rolled the ball for a long period of time. You’re going to need to be 12-under par at the end of the week, or, who knows? But it ain’t going to be level par.”

Padraig knows that he needs to win this tournament to have any chance of being called into the Ryder Cup team, he and European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal  do not get on, and the three-time Major Champion knows he will have to force his way onto the team. Personally speaking I think Padraig should be there, his experience of playing in America is invaluable. Padraig admitted his chances were slim;

 ”I’m sure if I went and had a look at the odds, I would be a long-shot to make the team.”

Close behind at -6 under par are Nick Watney and Brian Harman who both cruised round with 65′s. Fifty one of 123 players managed to break par on the infamous Bethpage Black lay-out, not exactly the result everybody was predicting. There is only six shots separating 1st and 51st on the leaderboard, a real log jam, and tomorrows round looks to be exceptionally important.

Rory McIlroy, who relished the side-by-side with Woods, is looking forward to tomorrow;

” It was good, I thought I played really solid, especially starting off, three under through six. Got a little quiet around the middle of the round, and my short game let me down a couple of times. It definitely could have been a few shots better, but I’m happy with how I played. I felt like I had a lot of chances out there, and I had enough chances to shoot a low one. I don’t think I need to change the strategy at all of hitting a lot of drivers and trying to be aggressive, so we’ll just continue to do the same thing.”

Tiger, who finished one shot better than Rory was not best pleased with todays performance;

“I didn’t quite hit the ball as well as I would like. I’m going to do some work this afternoon and work on a couple things that I know I need to shore up for tomorrow. But I’m very pleased with the way I putted. I putted great today.”

The guys who really struggled today were, Boo Weekly and Jason Bohn at +7, Andres Romero at +8 and dead last all on his own is South Korea’s Sang-Moon Bai, who sunk to a +10 over par round.

Wyndham Championship, Sergio Garcia Wins

 

    

Sergio Garcia/Martin/Getty Images

I am pleased to report that Sergio Garcia won the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club on Monday morning. This victory was Sergio’s  first on the PGA Tour since the 2008 Players Championship. His winning score was – 18 under par after shooting a final-round 66, beating  Tim Clark by two shots and Bud Cauley by three. Sergio now excitedly goes to Bethpage Black for The Barclays with momentum, he ranked 33rd in the FedExCup, a big jump of 69 spots. The Barclays, which begins Thursday, is the first of four events in the FedExCup Playoffs that will decided the season-long champion and winner of the $10 million bonus.

“I am proud of the way I played coming in, hopefully this will secure my spot in the Ryder Cup. We’ll see when the team comes out, but I think my chances are a little better now.”

With this win, Sergio appears to have forced himself  into the automatic qualifiers for the European team with just one week remaining. The matches will be held at Medinah Country Club where a then 19-year-old Garcia finished second to Tiger Woods at the 1999 PGA Championship. Go Sergio !!!

Tim Clark finished in second spot after his last round 67 and a tournament total of -16 under par. Tim also moved up the points list, to 54th, this amazing position after not even being in the Playoff picture a few weeks ago. Tim knew it was going to be hard to reel in Sergio on the day;

“It was going to be tough to catch Garcia, the way he finished.”

Bud Cauley claimed third place with a final round of -2 under par, 68 and a tournament total of -15 under par. Local boy Carl Pettersson finished in a three-way tie for fourth spot, with Jimmy Walker and Chad Campbell.

Lets go to the Play-offs.