HP Byron Nelson Championship. Keegan Crumbles, Korean Bae Wins.

Korean Sang-Moon Bae won the HP Byron Nelson Championship at TPC Four Seasons Resort in Texas, with a last round of -1 under par, 69,  for a total of -13 under par. Keegan Bradley crumbled under the pressure and could only manage a last round of par, finishing two strokes behind the leader at -11 under par.

Sang-Moon Bae with his first PGA Tour Trophy/ Pennington / Getty Images

Sang-Moon said winning a PGA Tournament was something he had always dreamed of;

“It’s something I’ve always dreamed of, winning on the PGA TOUR. It was surreal to have Mrs. Nelson there and with all the history, I was in awe, actually, so almost I didn’t know how to react.”

Sang-Moon’s  previous best finish on the PGA TOUR was a playoff loss to Luke Donald at the 2012 Tampa Bay Championship. He said he was happy that he played the back nine better;

” When my iron play came back in the latter part of the round, I had confidence. On that shot on 17, I knew it was short, and the wind pushed it over to the right, and I was happy and relieved that it turned out OK.”

Despite struggling all day Keegan was uplifted by a birdie putt on 15, and thought he could then go on and be the first player since Tom Watson in 1980 to win this competition wire to wire;

“I’m pretty disappointed but Moon played very well. I just didn’t play great today, but I hung in there. I chipped away. When I made that putt on 15, I was pretty confident that I was going to win.”

South African Charl Schwartzel, the 2011 Masters Champ, shot a last round of -2 under par, 68, to finish in third place on his own third at -10 under par.

 

 

 

HP Byron Nelson Championship. Keegan Still In Front

Keegan Bradley is still in front of the chasing pack at the HP Byron Nelson Championship, despite only managing a second round of -1 under par 69.

Keegan Bradley / Pennington / Getty Images

Keegan was happy to have a three shot lead after the second round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship, after he stalled on the day, but still finished in front by three shots at -11 under par, despite making bogey on 1 and 18, again;

” I’m almost more proud of this round than yesterday because I didn’t feel comfortable all day. I don’t know what it was, I can’t put my finger on it but, you know, I bogeyed the first hole. I was a little uncomfortable and then I settled in and hit some really good shots. The first hole is probably the easiest hole out here, I don’t know why I keep making bogey on that hole.”

Keegan came to the 18th tee with his four shot advantage intact, a wayward tee shot took care of that;

” I’ve got a four-shot lead, so the last thing I wanted to do was plop it in the water. I bailed out. I didn’t hit that bad of a shot it just got in the wind. I thought it was going to be way left of where it was, but I’m going to hit good ones Saturday and Sunday.”

Tied in second place are Tom Gillis, who had a second round of -7 under par 63, and Sang-Moon Bae, with his -4 under par 66. Both players are on -8 under par.

Tom thought the course definitely played easier in the morning, and also was happy to be reunited with his coach;

” It was easier, I think the wind was down and I was hoping that we would get a fair shot like they had Thursday morning, just to see what it would be like. Definitely, I thought it played better than in the afternoon. I stepped  away for a couple of months and tried to do some things on my own and kind of got lost. We had disagreements on some things. You talk things out, work things out. People change. I think he was right all along, to be honest with you.”

Sang-Moon was also happy with his round;

” That was a little weird, I thought this course was very windy, but Thursday morning was really good weather. So yeah, different, but I shoot same score as Thursday, so I’m happy.“

 Charl Schwartzel also struggled today, in the afternoon round he shot an even par 70;

” It was a bit up and down out there, bit of a frustrating day, but I suppose it’s the mix.”

 

Chinese wonder teenager Guan Tianlang shot a second round of 77, to miss the cut. He was in good company with Boo Weekley, Robert Garrigus, John Senden, Robert Karlsson, Ryuji Imada and Y.E. Yang among those who failed to make the cut, which was set at even par.

Tiger Woods Leads at Bay Hill, Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.

                    

Tiger Woods shoots a 2nd round -7 under par 65 to share the lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, presented by MasterCard at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando Florida. Joining Woods on -10 under par is first round leader Charlie Wi, with a -4 under par round of 68.

The pair lead the tournament by just one shot from Jason Dufner and Graeme McDowell who are at -9. Graeme McDowell had the round of the day shooting 63, the -9 under par round moved him all the way up the leaderboard to a share of second place.

At -6 under par for the tournament is England’s Justin Rose, who has been playing really well lately, competing strongly and looking for another win. Behind Justin are six players on -5 under par, they are, Bubba Watson, Sergio Garcia, Chris Stroud, Webb Simpson, Zach Johnson and the evergreen 49-year-old V. J. Singh.

Very surprised to see young Korean Sang-Moon Bae missing the cut, he had a round of 74 yesterday and then followed it with a 75 today, missing the cut by 2 shots.

Luke Donald Wins Transitions Championship, and is World #1 Again.

Luke Donald won the Transitions Championship at the Copperhead course after a four-way playoff. Tied at the top after the final round at the Copperhead Course were, Luke Donald, Jim Furyk, Sang-Moon Bae and Robert Garrigus, all at -13 under par for the tournament. Luke Donald had last round 0f  -5 under par, but best round of the day went to Scott Piercy who sot a -9 under par 62 to finish just one shot off the pace at -12 for the tournament. Retief Goosen had  a sad last round of  75, to fall out of contention, Padraig Harrington shot at last round of even par to finish at -7 under par, six shots off the pace. Not a good result for Paddy Harrington after his record first round of 61. Ernie Els had a gallant tournament in his bid to get into the Masters, he finished just one shot short of the playoff at -12 under par.

Luke was asked if he thought that the general consensus of opinion was that he was a spent force and last year was somewhat of a fluke;

“I use it to motivate me, yeah for sure. Absolutely, I don’t pay too much attention to it, but I certainly wasn’t in the media at all. I think people thought that my last year was maybe a little bit more of a, not a fluke, but I don’t think many people thought I could do that all over again this year. Hopefully I can prove them wrong.”

About standing over his final birdie attempt, luke said;

“Last thing I thought about was I’ve been ranked No. 1 in putting the last three years.’

When the putt dropped in, Luke Donald was the #1 player in the world again.

 Photo: AP

Korean Sang-Moon Bae was a happy golfer, saying;

“Great, but on the last hole, but great week. I did my best. Pretty good. My driver, iron shot, came back and the putter, everything good. Looking forward to play Bay Hill next week.”

Talking about his putt on the play-off hole Jim Furyk had some regrets, about the putt itself, and the missed opportunities before he reached the play-off;

 

“Well, that’s a putt, really, just trying to; I hit it maybe a little harder than I would have usually and knocked it about five feet by. Just a putt you’re trying to get down there close. I hit what I thought was a really good drive. I didn’t think that ball was going to miss the fairway and it hit off the back, what appeared to hit off the back of that mound and kind of shot forward and left and went much farther than hit it all week, because of that, got up there in the short cut and had an awkward lie with the ball way below my feet, especially my left foot was up really high.Tried to take a little more iron because of the stance being so awkward, I didn’t feel that I could go at 9 firm. I felt like I would lose my balance, and so tried to hit an easy 8 and came out hot out of the short cut, and that’s why it was long. I hit good shots down the stretch. I’m disappointed. Obviously the three-putt at 13, I’ll replay that through my mind a little bit and again got probably a little too caught up in the line. It kicked really hard right coming off that fringe, but the speed was pitiful and I was a little surprised. I didn’t think I hit it three feet long, four feet long but ended up about eight feet long. I hit the second putt, absolutely maybe the best putt I hit all day. A little surprised that one didn’t go in. That first one was so bad, I left myself in that position.”

After waiting two hours at the top of the leaderboard, Robert said of his play-off putt;

“18, it was a pretty simple putt. I thought it was the same exact put I had in regulation, but just didn’t break as much. I had a great day. If you would have told me I would have been in a playoff this morning when I woke up, I would have pretty much told you;  you were crazy. It was a good day, and hit three good shots in the playoff and they didn’t go in the hole and that’s golf and that’s why we keep grinding and keep going.”

Ernie Els finished bogey, bogey to miss his chance of winning, and going back to the Masters, he might have to win next week or the Houston Open to get back to Augusta National, he said in interview;

“It’s going to be tough, I’m pretty hot now, and it’s difficult to talk with a straight head here. If I take stock, I think I’m playing good golf, and I’ve got to head into the next couple of weeks trying to get a win.”

Great tournament, and great to see Luke Donald back as World #1, his next joust with Rory McIlroy will be an interesting contest, and I am looking forward to it.

 

 

 

The Goose is tied @ the top @ Copperhead, Transitions Championship

Retief Goosen’s back is bothering him again, but he’s hanging tough at Innisbrook, Copperhead course and tied for the 54-hole lead with Jim Furyk. The Goose had a -6 under round of 65 for his tournament score of -11  under, and Jim had a -5 under 66 to join him at the top of the leaderboard. Retief joked about the last time he was in the media center;

“Probably the last time I was in the media center was about 2009. (Laughter) A lot of you guys have aged a lot since I’ve seen you. It’s nice to be back over here, playing well. I love the course obviously. I putt well around it. I see some good shapes around it, and it’s always nice coming back to a place where you’ve won before and like to play.”

He went on to talk about his back problem, and getting into the Masters;

“Well, my back has been the main issue the last year. Really since the British Open, it was pretty bad. Pulled out of the British Open and the PGA. And then took a few months off towards the end of the year, and then started working with Cornell on my back, and he did a great job getting me back on a course playing November, December, January back in South Africa. But the last three weeks, it’s really just started getting bad again. So we decided to call it a day. We withdrew from Bay Hill yesterday and I’m going to get the injections done on Wednesday. So hopefully I’ll be ready to get going again after the Masters, or maybe the Masters if I play well tomorrow.”

Dunn/Getty Images

Jim was really enthusiastic about his round today;

” I got off to a fast start, birdieing four of the first seven and I made two good birdies on par 5s, driving the ball in the rough. Felt good about what I was doing and hit good some putts, and hit a couple others that caught a piece of the hole and just really played solid on the back nine. I didn’t get it going quite as fast, and missed about an 8-footer there on 10 for birdie but played well, hit a bunch of greens today and of course I ended up 3-putting last but felt good about the drive I hit and the iron. The iron just caught that, I could see from the fairway and kicked right and caught that ridge. And I kind of guided the first putt, didn’t hit a good solid putt like I wanted to. I left it short of the ridge. It was kind of an evil pin, really. That green has changed a little bit since the past. That pin placement didn’t exist before this year, and left of the green is no bargain, and right over where I was is no bargain as far as getting down in two. So you really had to hit one up the center of the green there and leave it short of the pin.”

Sang-Moon Bae and Jason Dufner are just one shot behind and Luke Donald is still lurking around the top of the board at -8 par after an average round of -1 under par, 70, despite starting his day with an eagle from the bunker on the first hole.