Playing on one of the most difficult courses in golf, Phil Mickelson captured the title of the 2007 PLAYERS Championship. He was the only player without a round over par for the entire week. Lefty finished today with a 69 and a two shot victory over Sergio Garcia, who finished Sunday with four consecutive birdies. Mickelson made bogey on the 18th hole during the final day of play; his only only bogey in 27 holes of play.
Mickelson t
akes home $1.6 million for his first PLAYERS victory. He is now #2 on the money list and #2 on the FedEx Cup points list.
Sean O'Hair, who played with Mickelson, struggled to control his emotions and dropped two balls in the water on the 17th hole. With two balls in the drink, O'Hair found a quadruple bogey to end his chances of victory.
Woods finally put together a good round today, shooting a 67 and finishing tied for 37th place.
Mickelson admitted his last three weeks he has been playing well, with two 3rd place finishes and today's win. When asked about O'Hair's play on the 17th, Mickelson said he thought O'Hair played well in the clutch, having held on to that point.
After the first two rounds at THE PLAYERS Championship were brutal, round three offered players lower scoring, and many made a move toward the top. Among these charging players is the 2005 John Deere Classic champion, Sean O'Hair.
O'Hair fired a Saturday 66 to take the lead by a stroke over Phil Mickelson, who coasted to a 69. Jeff Quinney, who is taking the PGA Tour by storm this season, shot the low round 64 in order to move into a tie for third place with Peter Lonard, who shot 68.
Five players are four strokes back at five under par. Luke Donald followed up his 72-74 start to THE PLAYERS with a solid round of 65 to move into contention for Sunday. Also in this group are Aaron Baddeley, Jose Conceres, Chris DiMarco, and Carl Pettersson.
Tiger Woods matched his best round of the week, 73, to stay in the back at 65th place. His Saturday playing partner, Henrik Stenson, however, charged from the back of the pack to 16th place by shooting a 66 on Saturday.
This week has really been the second coming of the Jason Gore who was in contention for the U.S. Open in 2005, despite being a member of the Nationwide Tour. That Jason Gore went on to win three straight Nationwide Tour events, leading to a "battlefield exemption" onto the PGA Tour. From there, he won Joe Hardy's 84 LUMBER Classic, an event hosted by 84 LUMBER sponsored John Daly.
Sure, there are numerous parallels between Gore and Long John. Big bellies. Laid back attitude. Easy relation to the regular Joe, the rebellious working man who deeply contrasts the Country-Club-golf stereotype. Of course, the newest one is the long drought and inconsistency which has occurred ever since Gore got his Tour Card. Almost instantly, Gore's game fell hard. Maybe he wasn't ready for the publicity or large crowds.
One of the most logical answers is problems with his coaching. For those of you who read the recent golf revolution, the new "Stack and Tilt" swing, it is easy to think that the men responsible for the new swing, Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett, have found golf's Holy Grail. The article offers mostly positive comments on the swing, but it is likely Jason Gore who suffered the most as a result of it. After Gore worked with Bennett and Plummer, his swing went through the major meltdown that was his 2006 season. Luckily, he realized that something wasn't right, and is now back to a conventional method which works well with his body type and athletic capabilities.
At this point on Saturday, it looks like Gore will have a shot on Sunday at capturing his second career victory, and his first title at golf's "Fifth Major."
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Playing on one of the most difficult courses in golf, Phil Mickelson captured the title of the 2007 PLAYERS Championship. He was the only player without a round over par for the entire week. Lefty finished today with a 69 and a two shot victory over Sergio Garcia, who finished Sunday with four consecutive birdies. Mickelson made bogey on the 18th hole during the final day of play; his only only bogey in 27 holes of play.
akes home $1.6 million for his first PLAYERS victory. He is now #2 on the money list and #2 on the FedEx Cup points list.
