Monday, August 6, 2012

Winner Keegan Bradley benefits from Jim Furyk's double bogey | Golf

AKRON, Ohio ? Keegan Bradley, who didn't look like a winner through 71 holes at Firestone, poured in a 15-foot par putt on the final hole Sunday.

Given the way golf has gone this year, no one should have been too surprised by his victory.

Two weeks after Adam Scott gave up a four-shot lead with four holes to play in the British Open, Jim Furyk was poised to finish a wire-to-wire victory at the Bridgestone Invitational until he made a double bogey from the middle of the 18th fairway.

His 5-foot bogey putt to at least get into a playoff in the World Golf Championships event never had a chance ? and he immediately dropped his putter and bent over with a mixture of shock and disgust.

"I led the golf tournament the entire way and lost it on the very last hole," Furyk said. "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."

Lost in his 18th-hole collapse was a sterling performance by Bradley, who played the back nine in 31 and came up with one clutch putt after another. None was bigger than the final stroke of his 6-under-par 64. After blasting from a plugged lie in the bunker, he left no doubt on the putt.

"I didn't think for a second I was going to miss it," said Bradley, who finished at 13-under 267 and earned $1.4 million. "It was unbelievable."

Bradley, 26, has three Tour victories, including last year's PGA Championship. The American moved to fourth in the Ryder Cup standings and is virtually assured of making the team for the first time.

It was the 11th time this year ? and fourth time in the last five weeks ? that the winner came from at least four shots behind in the final round.

Kyle Stanley (67) of Gig Harbor tied for 16th place at 3 under.

Tiger Woods (66), a seven-time winner at Firestone, tied for eighth place at 4 under.

The 14-time major champion didn't make a bogey in his final 23 holes and has some momentum entering the PGA Championship that starts Thursday at Kiawah Island in South Carolina.

"I feel very good about where I'm at," Woods said.

Other tournaments

? J.J. Henry won the Reno-Tahoe Open ? the first PGA Tour event since 2006 to use the modified Stableford scoring system ? by a point over Alexandre Rocha.

Henry, 37, earned $540,000 for his second Tour victory. He had 43 points.

John Daly tied for fifth with 33 points, the two-time major champion's best finish on the Tour since 2005.

Former Washington Huskies player Richard H. Lee tied for 12th with 28 points and ex-Husky Troy Kelly tied for 48th with 17 points.

? German Bernhard Langer closed with a 10-under 62 to take the 3M Championship in Blaine, Minn., by two strokes over third-round leader David Peoples (70).

Langer, 54, finished at 18-under 198 for 54 holes at the TPC Twin Cities for his 15th title on the 50-and-older Champions Tour. He ended a 24-event victory drought, his longest on the Champions Tour, and earned $262,500.

Kirk Triplett, a graduate of Pullman High School, tied for 59th place after shooting his third 72 in a row.

Source: http://feeds.seattletimes.com/click.phdo?i=c559cc3161e6b69b8ea9cd7aef18cb19

joan crawford john goodman kendall marshall whitney houston news sylvia plath whitney houston whitney houston autopsy results

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.