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.

 

WGC Bridgestone Invitational, Furyk Flops at Firestone, Keegan Wins

Keegan Bradley/Greenwood/Getty Images

Keegan Bradley won the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club, after Jim Furyk flopped over on the last hole. Another tournament that did not follow the script, this is why people watch golf, it’s never done and dusted. Standing on the tee at eighteen Jim had a one stroke lead. He proceeded to hit a poor tee shot, which hit a tree but fortunately rebounded back into play on the fairway. He followed that shot with another poor effort that landed in the short but tough rough on the edge of the front bunker. Keegan’s second shot into the green, from the fairway, plunged into the same bunker that Jim had just missed. At this point no one knew who had the better option on the third shot, Jim chipping over the bunker from the rough, or Keegan trying to extricate himself out of the bunker from a plugged lie. Jim duffed his and Keegan came out of the bunker beautifully albeit 15 feet from the hole. Jim’s next effort left him just 5 feet from the hole, which appeared good enough seeing as Keegan was still some distance from the cup. Keegan sunk his putt for a four, and Jim then missed his short put for a five and a play-off. What drama, the strange twists and turns on the last hole, and poor Jim who had led the tournament right up until his last putt on the last hole. Jim said about his performance;

“I led the golf tournament the entire way and lost it on the very last hole. To get that close and to know that I played more than good enough to win the golf tournament, and not close the door, is disappointing. It is a cruel game. I’ve lost some tournaments in some pretty poor fashions, but I don’t think I’ve let one ever slip nearly as bad as this one. This was my worst effort to finish off an event. My worst putt of the week. I have no one to blame but myself, but when things go wrong, it’s an empty feeling. I’m disappointed. I walked over, my boy is crying right after the round. And I guess it reminds you as an adult,  as a parent,  that you have to act the proper way. You have to do and say the right things to try to give the right lessons. But there’s no way I should have made any worse than 5 on the last hole, there’s no way I should have done worse than a playoff. Keegan played a heck of a back nine, he did everything he needed to do to win the golf tournament. I felt like I did the same, until the 18th hole.”

Keegan was on top of the world, insisting he never thought he would miss that last putt, to preserve his -13 under par total.

“I didn’t think for a second I was going to miss it. It was unbelievable. I got behind it, and I barely even had to read it. I knew the exact way it was going to break. I just needed to hit it hard enough. I knew that. And it was dead center. My hope standing on the 18th tee was to make birdie and maybe force a playoff, but you know, just from being out here, you just never know what’s going to happen.”

Keegan had a last round -6 under par 64, while Jim could only muster a -1 under par 69. Yesterday I called this competition a two-horse race,  it turned out to be an exciting adventure with the pack chasing down Jim Furyk. Steve Stricker finished with a -12 total, to tie Jim for second place, leaving Louis Oosthuizen alone in fourth spot.

At eight under were Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose, who must both be pretty pleased with their overall performance. Luke Donald plodded his way round for a par round, but managed to finish in the top ten, and he must now be thinking of Kiawah Island next week. He will need a improved performance if he is to contend there.

WGC Bridgestone Invitational, two horse race.

Jim Furyk/Shamus/Getty Images

The WGC Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone County Club has become a    two-horse race, after Louis Oosthuizen chipped away at Jim Furyk’s lead here on Saturday in the third round. Jim finished the day at -11 under par for the tournament.

Jim seemed to struggle on the back nine during the third round, finishing with an even par 70, which reduced his lead at the top of the board to just one shot. At one point he had increased his lead over the field to five shots, after Louis had suffered a bogey on the 8th hole.

South African Louis Oosthuizen recovered from that mishap, to finish with a   -2 under par round, elevating himself into second spot, at -10 under par.

No body else is really within touching distance of these two, nearest player is Keegan Bradley at -7 under par, and he is followed by Rory McIlroy and Steve Stricker at -6 under par. World number one Luke Donald had another frustrating day, with a third round of +1 over par, and at -4 for the tournament can only play for a top five finish.

WGC Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone C.C. Furyk takes control in round 2

 

Jim Furyk/Shamus/Getty Images

Jim Furyk capitalised on his early tee time on Friday in the WGC Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club, at Akron Ohio.       Jim produced a steady round of -4 under par, 66 and a tournament total of -11 under par, and said afterwards that he had been happy to tee off early as it helped with keeping the moment from yesterdays great start;

“Just probably a little easier to keep the momentum going that way, rather than having an early tee time on Thursday morning, having a good round and having to sit on it until Friday afternoon. I thought it was key to get off to a nice start and see some putts go in. The back nine was a little bit more making some good saves. Good round and it’ll be nice to relax a little this afternoon and maybe check out the weather forecast later on and kind of check out the weekend. I think the wind is supposed to pick up a little bit. If it gets breezy, the wind picks up and the greens get faster, this course will show a little bit more teeth than we’ve seen so far. I’ve played this course so many times and for so many years, I feel pretty comfortable out here and know when center of the green is a good idea and when I can take a shot at the pin and try to get one in there a little bit closer. “

At least Jim will  not have to worry about contesting another play-off situation with Tiger Woods in this tournament, Tiger was over par today and is now 13 shots off Jim’s leading score.

Alone in second place is Rafael Cabrera Bello, he had a second round of -5 under par 65, one shot better that his 1st round effort, but his total score of -9 under par is still two shots behind Jim.

Louis Oosthuizen occupies third spot on his own, he also had a -5 under par 65 in the second round to go with his first round 66, and a total of -8 under par.

Jason Dufner was another mover on the day, with a -4 under par, 66 second round, moving him into fourth place. Jason grew up in the Cleveland area is enjoying playing in front of friends and family;

“It’s nice to come back and play in front of a lot of folks that haven’t had a chance to see me play up close. I don’t have a lot of experience on this course, but I’m from this area, and it’s good to play in front of a home crowd. Everything has been good, I’ve been able to hit the fairways, which is nice for me. I can hit a lot of drivers which gives me shorter clubs into the holes, so I can be more aggressive. And I’ve putted pretty good I feel like; I think I’ve got four bogeys for the week and three of them are on par 5s, so I’ve got to work on that a little bit. We’ve got two more days left. Depends on what the weather does, how the course responds to what they’re doing out there. If it gets firmer and faster it’s obviously tougher to shoot low scores. Feel like I’m in pretty good position heading into the weekend and a couple guys in front of me, so hopefully I can chase them down.”

With a good finish here Jason could take over the number one spot from Tiger Woods, in the race for the FedEx Cup. World number one in the rankings, Luke Donald is having another quiet tournament, he is currently six strokes behind the leader, and needs a great round tomorrow to pull himself into contention here at Firestone. Defending champion Adam Scott has played his way out of contention, a sad and lonely figure struggling to play good golf.