Tampa Bay Championship. Kevin Streelman Triumphs

Kevin Streelman triumphed in the Tampa Bay Championship at Innisbrook Resort, Copperhead course. Kevin beat off the challenge of the more experienced players to lift his first PGA Tour trophy.

Kevin Streelman / Greenwood / Getty Images

Kevin had a  two-shot triumph at the Tampa Bay Championship, presented by EverBank, his last round of  -4 under par, 67, and a tournament total of -10 under par. He said it was all about chasing your dreams;

” It just shows you what happens with determination and hard work, keep chasing your dreams and you never know what’ll happen. It wasn’t too long ago I was in a car driving myself around, dead broke. I was at peace for most of the day, we just tried to let go of the results and try to make good swings all day. To go bogey-free on this course for the weekend is something I’m pretty proud of. To get this is the culmination of a lot of a hard work, a lot of time spent late into the evening and getting up early in the morning, it’s really a dream come true.”

Back when he was a rookie,  Kevin was invited to join Whisper Rock. Some months later, he captured the club championship;

” Went from caddie to club champion at Whisper Rock, which is a pretty cool story.”

Kevin was unaware for a time that Bo Weekley was in the clubhouse at -8 under par,  it wasn’t until the middle of the back nine, that he realized Bo was on top of the leaderboard;

“I kind of saw it at number eight, but I didn’t know if he was done yet.”

Bo Weekley finished up in second place, but had been in the clubhouse  for couple of hours after his scintillating last round of -8 under par 63. He sat and watched as the field tried to chase him down, eventually Kevin did;

” My hat’s off to Streelman, he brought it to the house and played well. First victory, I’m happy for him.”

Third place went to Cameron Tringale, his last round of -5 under par, 66, for -7 under total was good enough to squeeze him past the trio of players at -6 under.

Tied for fourth at -6 under was World number three Luke Donald, left hander Greg Chalmers, and the favorite for the title for most of the day Justin Leonard.

Tampa Bay Championship. It’s Tight at the Top.

It’s tight at the top of the Tampa Bay Championship after the conclusion of the third round at the Innisbrook Resort, Copperhead course. Kevin Streelman, Justin Leonard and George Coetzee share the lead at -6 under par.

Kevin, Justin and George /Chris Condon/PGA TOUR

Kevin Streelman had the best round of the day, a -6 under par third round that catapulted him to the top of the leaderboard as yesterdays leaders fell away to leave the tournament wide open.

At the start of play today Shawn Stefani held a slender one-shot lead over Aussie Adam Scott and K.J. Choi. Both Adam and K.J. fell back with third rounds of +5 over par 76s, and Shawn made the turn at +4 over par before rescuing his round by salvaging a 74 that leaves him two shots back of the leaders.

Right behind the three leaders are four players on -5 under par, they are Jim Furyk, Ben Kohles, Greg Chalmers and Tag Ridings.

Jim Furyk could have stayed at home to  handle the details for Monday’s upcoming event that benefits the charitable foundation that bears his name, along with wife Tabitha.

Jim joked;

” I really avoided all the work this week, being here. I made a couple of mistakes here and there, but I really feel like my game has gotten stronger every day. I feel more confident with the putter in my hand. I’m seeing a couple more putts go in, and I think that’s giving me confidence as well. That’s why my scores are getting better.”

Another shot back and you have the quality of World Number 3, Luke Donald making his presence felt with a bogey free -4 under par. Luke is tied at ninth position along with, Bryce Molder, Jordan Spieth, Brian Harman and Shawn Stefani.

Luke said there is a fine line between the top spot and 30th place;

” It’s a fine line between success and finishing 30th, I think a lot of my fans and myself, you know, have always expected to see me in the Top Ten, and up at the top of the leaderboard every week and sometimes golf is just not that easy. It was nice to go around this course and not make a mistake, not drop a shot, and you know, I wanted to shoot five or six under, nearly got there, a couple missed putts and didn’t birdie any par fives. Could have been a really low round today. But yeah, certainly moving in the right direction, as I said, I feel like my game has been close, and obviously starting to show with some results”

It will be a big shoot out tomorrow, and I expect one of the more experienced players to master the conditions and lift the trophy.

Emirates Australian Open, John Senden Regains Lead

John Senden / emiratesaustralianopen.com.au

John Senden regained the lead of the Emirates Australian Open at The Lakes, Sydney, with a battling third round of  -2 under par, 70 and a tournament total of -7 under par.  John takes a handy two-shot lead over Justin Rose of England into tomorrow’s final round, the second year in succession that he has led the national championship through 54 holes, but last year at The Lakes he was reeled in by Greg Chalmers. That statistic is something that John is acutely aware of, he mentioned it in his report, along with his Eagle at the par 5 eleventh;

“I know where I stand,’ I have to deal with that and go out tomorrow and play my game. You have to be able to control the ball any time you play golf, but in these conditions you have to be really on your game. I had a good number I was planning on just hit through the shot. If it goes a little long, that’s okay’. I took a risk there and pulled it off.’’

John is also mindful of the speed of the greens. and hopes the tournament organisers are also thinking about the course set up, the putting surfaces were running at 11 on the stimpmeter at the start of today’s round, but were much quicker by the end.

“If they’re predicting windier conditions tomorrow, they’ve got to make sure they take care of that,’

World number four Justin Rose  is in second place alone at -5 under par, he was superb with his control, not making a single bogey until the 17th hole, and had possession of the lead for some time. But then the Englishman chipped off the green and dropped a shot, then missed the 18th green to the right and could not make par there either, Justin finished with signing for a -2 under par, 70, and will start two shots adrift of John Senden, but will be playing along side of him in the final pairing tomorrow. Justin said the conditions got tougher as the day went along;

“It got progressively tougher as the day went on, by the end of the round it was tough to even tap in, to be perfectly honest with you. Even from three feet you were getting buffeted around, the wind’s moving you. It’s very difficult to get the ball in the hole. Whoever literally stands up, the last man standing will win the golf tournament. I think it’s going to be a battle.’’

There are three Aussies tied in third spot at -4 under par for the tournament, Matthew Jones, Kieran Pratt and veteran Peter Senior.  2009 Australian Open champion Adam Scott is not quite  out of the running just yet.Adam is at two-under-par for the tournament, just five shots back of the lead, especially if he gets the type of generous early morning conditions that most of the players have experienced this week.

Marcus Fraser had a disastrous third round of +4 over par 76, and he also will need something special on Sunday if he wants to get up and contend this trophy.

 

Emirates Australian Open, Marcus Fraser Leads with a Hole in One

Marcus Fraser / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Aussie Marcus Fraser leads the Emirates Australian Open at the conclusion of the second round at The Lakes golf course in Sydney, with another -3 under par, 69 round, and a tournament total of -6 under par. Marcus, who played in the mornings calm conditions has a one shot advantage over John Senden and Brendan Jones. Marcus aced the par 3 fifteenth hole to cap off a remarkable seven weeks playing golf in seven different countries. Next week he will travel to Malaysia to see if he can win the Asian Tour money title. Marcus spoke of his ace, and his grueling schedule;

” To have one go in like that, it turned the round and the tournament around from where I was. I’ve been playing so much I feel like I’m going with the flow a little bit, playing week-in, week-out you’re going through the same routine every day and it feels like another golf tournament. At the same time it is the Aussie Open. Definitely it’s the pick of the bunch of the eight weeks for me.”

Take a look at the late season schedule of Marcus, starting  September in Malaysia, then China WGC-HSBC Champions, the Barclays Singapore Open, the UBS Hong Kong Open, the European Tour’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, then a failed attempt to secure a 2013 PGA Tour card in California last week, and back to Malaysia next week.

John Senden played in the windy afternoon conditions and could only manage a +1 over par round, falling back to -5 under par for the tournament and tied in second place with Brendan Jones, who carded a -1 under par second round, for his -5 under par total.

On his own in fourth place is another Aussie, Nick Cullen, he had a second round of  -2 under par and a total of -4 under for the tournament.

World number four, Justin Rose started well, with four birdies on the front nine to move into the lead at -7 under par, but unusually fell behind with four bogeys in six holes in the windy afternoon conditions, leaving him with a +1 over par 73, tied in fifth position at -3 under par. Adam Scott managed a -1 under par second round and is five shots off the pace.

Story of the day was made by 63 year-old Tom Watson, who fired in a second round -4 under par 68, to make the cut by one shot after his terrible start to the tournament sinking to a first round total of 78. Tom expressed his desire to succeed;

” I hate missing cuts, I really do, that means you’ve failed.”

Tom”s playing partner, Greg Chalmers also just made the cut by one shot, and was not happy with his performance in the easier morning conditions;

” Three par fives on the back nine and I bogeyed two of them. That’s not going to work if you want to have a good score out here. I guess I’m going to get to play on the weekend so I get to go out and shoot a low score, but certainly I’m probably going to start a long way back.”

It certainly looks like the winner of this tournament will be the player who can master the windier afternoon conditions for the next two days.

 

 

Levin & Stanley lead 1st round at Torrey Pines

Spencer Levin and Kyle Stanley lead the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. Both American players shot 62 for rounds of -10 under par on the easier North course. The best score of the day on the tougher South course was from Marc Turnesa with a 66 for a total -6 under par for the tournament.

Fijian Vijay Singh and Aussie Greg Chalmers shot 64 and 65 respectively, on the North course, to finish the day comfortably in touch with the leaders. Left hander Chalmers had an eagle three at the par five 18th, with a putt of 48 feet, which really gave a lift to his opening round and a nice way to celebrate Australia Day.

Phil Mickelson had a tough day on the South course shooting a +5 over par round of 77, and seemed really out of touch, and will need an exceptionally low round tomorrow when he tees it up for the easier North course.

He was asked about his driving performance, and what driver was he using today, this is his reply;

“I am using our new Razr Hawk driver. I didn’t use it the first round last week, and it was a mistake. I don’t know what I was thinking, I worked with it. I felt good with it, I just didn’t want to make any changes from the previous season.”

He also spoke about his putting woes;

” There is no shortcut in putting, that no matter what method you use. You still have to see the line and you still have to match it up to the proper speed. And I think that for me I was looking for a shortcut with the belly putter. I found what was best for me was to go back to how I was putting as a kid, growing up with a blade style putter. And an aggressiveness that I had at a younger age.”