Deutsche Bank Championship. Henrik’s Highlight; Sergio’s Slump

Henrik Stenson won the Deutsche Bank Championship, a highlight of his successful season so far. Sergio Garcia slumped in the final round at TPC Boston.

Henrik Stenson / Getty Images

Henrik fired a final round -5 under par 66, to comprehensively win the Deutsche Bank Championship by two shots with his tournament total of -22 under par. In a good season of golf Henrik  was the runner-up in the British Open and a World Golf Championship, and he also tied for third at the PGA Championship. The win puts him at the top of the FedExCup standings. He said he was pleased to finally win a tournament;

“I’m just pleased I won here, this was a big goal of mine to win a golf tournament after all those nice finishes. My family is here. I’m going to see my kids in a little bit. It’s all good.”

Steve Stricker was in second place, at -20 under par, this was his third second place finish this year, and he has played his way into the The Presidents Cup team. Steve shot a final round of -4 under par 67 to secure the runner-up position.

Third place went to Graham DeLaet, his final round -2 under par giving him a total score of -18 under par for the tournament.

Sergio was one of four players tied in fourth place at -17 under par. He enjoyed a two-shot lead at the start of the final round, but sadly gave it away quickly, starting with a three-putt for bogey on the par-5 second hole. He missed several short putts and went out in 39, falling too far back to catch up. He ended up with a final round of  +2 over par 73.

Sharing that fourth spot with Sergio at -17 under par were, Matt Kuchar, Kevin Stadler and Jordan Spieth.

Jordan fired the low round of the tournament in his final round, a -9 under par 62.

The top 70 players on the FedExCup standings now move on to the BMW Championship next week, starting on Thursday the 12th September.

Deutsche Bank Championship. Sergio Surges To The Top.

Sergio Garcia surges to the top of the leaderboard in the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston in the third round.

Sergio Garcia / Getty Images.

Sergio Garcia shot a third round -6 under par 65 to ease him into a two shot lead going into the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship, with a -19 under par total. Sergio said patience was the key;

“You could make a lot of birdies if everything went exactly the right way, kind of like it went on the back nine for me. But you have to be patient and just wait for the right time. We can’t control the weather, and you’ve just got to go out there and try to play the best you can. And I was very happy to see that my best was 6-under. Like a true golfer should talk, you always feel like you leave something out there, but I feel like I played nicely. I feel like obviously two or three putts felt like they maybe deserved a little better than they got. But I hit good putts. And sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t. But I think that maybe with the lead and shooting 6 under today, I would have taken it this morning. I can’t be disappointed with that.”

Just one shot off the lead is Henrik Stenson, his third round of -5 under par 66 gave him a tournament total of -17 under par. Henrik thinks the low scoring will continue tomorrow;

 ” There’s heaps of low scores out there, you have to keep making birdies if you want to have anything to do with this tournament. Today was no different. It’s going to be the same tomorrow. I’m sure everyone is coming at us from all different angles.”

Tied in third place at -16 under par are Graham DeLaet and Steve Stricker. Graham fired in a -9 under par 62, and looks to be in good form. That score should secure a spot in the Presidents Cup team for him.

Graham spoke about his incredible round, especially as he arrived late;

“It was an incredible day, it’s one of those days that it doesn’t come along as often as you’d like. I’m kind of a routine guy, so I definitely would prefer to be here on my regular time and go through everything how I always do. But at the same time, like I said, I wasn’t in panic mode. Once I got to the golf course I knew I had enough time. Last week definitely helped, Sunday, I mean that was a tough golf course. The wind was up there and I was able to put together a nice round. And just coming in here this week I was really feeling good about the way I was hitting it and the way I was putting it, and when you can make a few putts early, especially you can just get a little bit more confidence going. It was just a fun day. I just hope that I can have half that kind of day tomorrow.” 

Steve also had his eye on the Presidents Cup team;

” My goal this week was to make the Presidents Cup team, on my merit. So it’s provided a lot of incentive to me to play well here.”

Tiger Woods is thirteen shots off the lead, and Phil Mickelson is now eleven shots adrift, nothing doing for these two today. Surprising seeing as the wet conditions let officials give the contestants lift, clean and drop.

Players who missed the cut, and are now out of the FedExCup play-offs are: No. 71 John Rollins, No. 78 Martin Flores, No. 79 Scott Brown, No. 81 Luke Guthrie, No. 82 Robert Garrigus, No. 83 Derek Ernst, No. 88 Brian Harman, No. 93 Greg Chalmers, No. 94 Erik Compton and No. 99 William McGirt.

 

Deutsche Bank Championship. Two Tear Up The Course.

                   

Two players, Phil Mickleson and Brian Davis both shot 63,to tear up the TPC Boston course, and tie the lead at -8 under par in the opening round of the Deutsche Bank Championship.

A smiling Phil Mickelson / Stan Badz PGA Tour

A smiling Phil made the understatement of the day;

“I felt I played really well, obviously, I putted well. I really made a lot of good putts. The greens were perfect the front nine. I saw the line and I just rolled them in. It felt really good to putt like that.”

Phil has never won a FedExCup, or been voted the Player of the Year, but he wants them now;

“If I finish off with one or two (more) wins this year and win the FedExCup. I think that would be enough to get the Player of the Year. I feel like these next three weeks I’m going to play very well. I can just feel it, you can just tell sometimes. The game feels sharp, and mentally I have a lot of energy and I’m able to focus clearly.”

Brian Davis injured his right foot when he fell down a few stairs in the house he was staying in for The Open Championship.

“I dropped my dinner as well, I haven’t played that great the last four or five tournaments. Been limping a few weeks, and body has not been feeling great. Golf is a funny game, sometimes you can come in and feel good and not play well. But I felt it today and obviously rode it. The FedEx is great drama, for us guys a lot of volatility. You know you have to play well.  I missed a couple of shots last week, you can make some big jumps, and get points in the Playoffs. Coming today, I played great. I know what I’ve got to do not only to advance to next week, but obviously if you can have high finishes you’re going to make huge gains. I’m glad I played well and put myself in a good position.”

In third place is Kevin Stadler, his -7 under par 64 opener has given him the position on his own. This start and the same start last week have been the best rounds of his career, to date;

“It was the best round I had this year, in quite a few years, really. I kind of got in a groove with the putter. It was fun seeing the ball go in the hole. I wish I could say that’s the norm, but it’s the far from it. Usually the putter kind of holds me back. But it’s been getting better.”

Tiger Woods is off the pace at the moment, an opening round of -3 under par 68 only giving him a share of 34th spot. He said his back was OK;

“The back is good, unfortunately, I didn’t give myself a whole lot of looks. Missed a few opportunities out there, the golf course is really receptive and certainly gettable. I didn’t hit the ball as well I’d like to but I scored alright.”

 

Deutsche Bank Championship, World number one Rory Wins.

Rory McIlroy/Stan Badz/PGA Tour

World number one Rory McIlroy won the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston by just one shot from Louis Oosthuizen, Rory shot a last round of -4 under par, 67 for tournament total 0f -20, while Louis could not improve on his overnight score of -19 under par, finishing his last round at even par. Rory stumbled a bit over the closing holes but hung on for victory;

” I didn’t finish it off the way I would’ve liked, but I’m happy to get my third victory of the year.It’s good to get a victory in these Playoffs. It sets me up in a good position for the next two weeks. Obviously delighted to get my fifth win on the PGA Tour, third win this year, second win in the last three events. Yeah, today was great, going out with a three-shot deficit. I just wanted to get off to a good solid start and maybe put Louis under a little bit of pressure. I was able to do that playing the first holes 3-under, and we both made a couple of mistakes on the fifth hole, but he made a 6 to my 5, so I was able to take advantage of that a little bit. I think the good start set me up for a solid back nine. There was a couple of shots on the back nine; I well, I won’t take back now, but if I could have then, I would have. But still managed to do enough, and as I said, delighted to get this win, delighted to go to No.1 in the FedEx Cup, sets me up for a great next couple weeks. So overall just very pleased.”

Louis Oosthuizen was displeased with his front nine today, 37 strokes, especially as he whizzed through them in just 29 shots yesterday, but is happy with his placing in the play-offs;

“Felt like I shot a 47, the 17th hole cost me.  It’s a great spot for the next two tournaments, I’m more happy that I’m playing really well and I’ve got the game back the way I want it to be. It’ll be great going into the next weekend in the finals.  Should be good fun.”

Tiger Woods finished alone in third spot at 18 under par for the tournament and just two strokes behind winner Rory McIlroy, by   finishing in solo third place, Tiger becomes the first golfer ever to win $100 million in career earnings. Although Tiger still hasn’t won as many career events as Sam Snead, who won a record 82 Tour events. He said of Sam Snead;

“ I’ve won fewer tournaments than Sam Snead had, obviously he was in a different era. It’s just that we happened to time it up right and happened to play well when the purses really had a nice spike up. My game is starting to come around, I’m pleased with the progress I made this week and really pleased with the way I rolled it. I hit so many good putts all week-long, so that’s a positive. I certainly had my looks, I drove it really well on the back nine and just didn’t hit it close enough at all. The only one I stuffed there was at 17, I missed that one. The goal was to at least get to 20 playing the last hole and give myself an option to go 21 or 22. I thought that might be good enough to get into a playoff.”

Phil Mickelson had a good tournament;

” This was a good week for me because the last couple of weeks I’ve started to kind of piece my game back together. The irons have been good, putter is getting to where I want it to be, and I’ve been driving the ball well. So the pieces are finally there. Even though I didn’t put myself in a position to make a run at the leaders, my game feels like it’s back, and I’m ready to start competing here in the next couple, and I’m going to see if I can get one of the next two.  I’ve hit a lot of good iron shots. My distance control has been really good. I feel good with my game now. I’m putting the ball in play when I need to, my speed is coming back, and the last thing that feels really good is the putter. It’s taken some of the anxiety out of it, making all of the short ones, and my speed and touch has been the best it’s been.”

So, now its on to the BMW.

Deutsche Bank Championship, Louis has 7 birdies in a row.

Louis Oosthuizen/Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

Louis Oosthuizen had 7 birdies in a row, and an -8 under par round of 63 which elevated him to the top of the leaderboard after the conclusion of the third round of Deutsche Bank Championship on the TPC Boston course. Louis completed the front nine in a tournament record of -7 under par, 29 strokes, an unbelievable passage of play. He sits atop the leaderboard with a score of -19 under par for the 54 holes played,  and another record set there. Louis is looking for his first PGA Tour win since his Major victory in 2010 at The Open on the Old Course at St Andrews.

Louis spoke about his dream start to the third round;

” Obviously, probably the start anyone would dream of, I made everything. You get these days where you just look at a putt and hole it.”

On his own in second place is Rory McIlroy with a tournament total of -16 under par, with a third round 67, -4 under par, and is three back of Louis. Rory said he was delighted when he finally won the honor back on the tee;

“Louis put on a display right there, I was delighted when I got the honor back on the 12th tee. I’ve come from farther behind before, it’s going to be an interesting day tomorrow.”

Rory and Louis will be paired up again tomorrow for the final round. Once again it appears that there are no other contenders in the field, but as we have seen before this year on the PGA Tour, things can change dramatically over the closing nine holes. Tied in third place are Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson, but they are well off the pace at -13 under par.

 

 

Deutsche Bank Championship, Rory McIlroy leads afte the second round.

World #1 Rory McIlroy/Rogash/Getty Images

World #1 Rory McIlroy has taken over at the top of the leaderboard after the second round of the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston. Rory was very pleased with his performance, another round of 65, for a tournament total of -12 under par, and is looking forward to the weekend;

“Pleased with where I am, and looking forward to the weekend.”

Alone in second place is another Major winner, Louis Oosthuizen, who also had a second round 65, to go with his first round 66 for total of -11 under par. Louis spoke about his playing partner for Sunday;

“Obviously he’s playing really well, and it’s always nice playing with him, he’s got such a good swing. He goes for a lot of shots, he makes a lot of birdies, so it’s always fun to watch. “

Tiger Woods and Ryan Moore are tied for third at 10 under, Tiger missed all four of his putts between 7 and 10 feet and then to compound the problem three-putted the par-3 11th. Tiger lamented his missed chances;

“I didn’t make anything today.”

First round leader Seung-yul Noh could only managed a par round today and remains at -9 under par, along with a host of other players. One of them is South African Charl Schwartzel who is recovering from his torn abdomen muscle, an injury he picked up at the U.S. Open, Charl is playing well here, he spoke about his recovery and re-emergence as a challenger in the FedEx play-offs;

“I had the injury at the U.S. Open and it set me back quite a bit, came back, lost a bit of confidence, and just seeing if I can play myself back into it. There’s been great signs of it, sort of from Wyndham, just finishing poorly on Sunday. Same thing at Bethpage, I was up there, finished poorly on Sunday. It’s there once again, I can feel the game is great, so just a matter of finishing it off.  I think I played great, I got off to a really good start, then went to sleep for a while there in the middle and made a great save on 14, and that’s what woke me up a bit.  I made birdie on 15 and 17. I would have loved one on 18, it was a good chance, but overall it was a great round this afternoon with the wind blowing. What pressure ?I can still win the FedEx.”

There were six players who failed to make the cut of +2 and are now eliminated from the FedEx Cup Play-offs;  Here is the sad list;

Ricky Barnes, who entered this week ranked at 77th and is projected to fall to 92nd after finishing at +3 over par.

Rory Sabbatini,  entered the week at 94th and is projected to fall to 98th after finishing at +4 over par.

K.J. Choi,  started the week at 95th and is projected to fall to 99th after finishing at +4 over par.

Greg Owen, who entered the week at 76 and is projected to fall to 89th after shooting +5 over par.

Michael Thompson , entered the week at 82nd and is projected to fall to 96th after shooting +7 over par.

Cameron Tringale, who entered the week at 79th and is projected to fall to 94th after shooting  +10 over par.

Deutsche Bank Championship, an opening 62 from Seung-yul Noh.

Seung-yul Noh/Rogash/Getty Images

An opening round of 62 from Seung-yul Noh has him at the top of the leaderboard at the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC  Boston. The 21 year-old South Korean fired a 62 for a tournament total of -9 under par, that not only left him in sole possession of the lead but also two shots ahead of his childhood favorite, Tiger Woods. Noh said that there is still a long way to go in this tournament;

“Golf is playing 72 holes, so plenty of holes left. Pretty good spot for those last two birdies, but feels not much different.”

Chris Kirk is just one shot behind after shooting a first round 63 and -8 under par in his determined effort to get to the final round of the FedEx Cup.

“I came in at 33rd last year and probably put a little too much pressure on myself, but this year halfway through the season I was about 130th, so I played pretty well the few months before they started just to get in here, so I kind of just see it all as a bonus, however far I manage to make it.”

Chris played a miracle shot on the 9th, his last hole of the day;

“I thought I hit a pretty nice second shot in there, but having to hook it around those trees it just landed a little hot and didn’t hit a great chip, but making that putt definitely makes me feel a little better. I’ve putted reasonably well for the last few months. It wasn’t great last week, but these greens are just so perfect here, if you hit it on-line, it’s going to go in. So that kind of gives me a lot of confidence. That was huge for me, kind of scraping it around a little bit, kind of getting away with a few things and making some putts my first eight holes and I really made a good swing with my tee shot on 18 and even better swing on my second shot, and that kind of propelled me to playing a really solid nine.”

Tiger was pretty happy with his first round 64 and -7 under par, which seemed to erase the memory of last weeks effort;

“I hit a lot of good shots and on top of that, I putted well at the same time, it was a nice little combination.  Had two really sweet little flop shots there today, which was nice, one at 12 and one at 4. The one at 4 was; that was a good one, and overall I was very pleased with the way I played today and controlled it, and then the wind started picking up, and I still hit really good shots.”

Another shot back is Rory McIlroy, an opening round of 65 gives him a -6 under par total, Rory commented;

” I definitely didn’t drive the ball the way I wanted to. I drove it great last week at Bethpage and didn’t putt so well but this week it seems like I didn’t drive it so good today but putted well. If I just hit a few more fairways tomorrow, then hopefully, that’ll be the key to another good round.”

Luke Donald and Ian Poulter both had opening rounds of 67 and -4 under par, Luke was satisfied with the way he played apart from the three putts;

” My only bogeys today were three-putts. The one on 8, I was thinking that one was in the hole, and it just did a 360 on me. I’m not sure what happened there. Yeah, I’m really pleased actually the way I played. I didn’t hit the ball very well yesterday. I worked on the range after the pro-am. Not that I hit it that great in Pro-Ams usually anyway, but I just wasn’t very comfortable with it, and I worked on the range, took a couple of videos and changed a couple little things, and it seemed to click. I played nice and tidy golf today, and that was really encouraging.”