McDowell beats Knox and Bohn in Mexico play-off
FROM GOLF WEEK
Graeme McDowell had to cancel his original plans for Monday, the conference call to announce the expansion of his restaurant business.
Turns out he had designs on expanding his golf career.
That rare mix of brilliant performer and perceptive observer, McDowell on Monday morning in Mexico was at his very best. He stuffed a 5-iron from 206 yards to 2 1/2 feet to win a playoff over Russell Knox and Jason Bohn at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. Minutes later, in explaining what his third US PGA Tour victory and 14th worldwide — and his first anywhere since the 2014 French Open — meant, the Northern Irishman was nearly as impressive.
“It really gives me something to grab onto,” said the 36-year-old whose world ranking had dropped from 15th at the end of 2014 to 85th. Such a dose of reality led him to ask himself, “Am I finished? Am I good enough? We’ve all been there.”
His soul-searching came to an end at a tournament that never appeared ready to finish. Hampered by massive rain delays from the outset, the tournament on the El Camaleon course at the Mayakoba Resort on the Yucatan Peninsula in southeast Mexico was dragged into Monday.
When play resumed in wet and windy conditions, Knox appeared ready to win for the second straight week, armed with a one-stroke lead over McDowell and Bohn.
But Knox bogeyed the 18th to shoot 66 and finish at 18-under 266 with McDowell (66) and Bohn (68).
The play-off was over swiftly and continued a trend for all three. McDowell is now 2-0 in US PGA Tour playoffs, and Knox and Bohn are 0-2. It’s also the seventh runner-up finish for Bohn since he last won, in 2010.
“I’ve been dreaming of this day and told myself that I would appreciate it when it comes — and I’m going to appreciate it,” McDowell said, just moments after he pulled down the curtain in dramatic fashion, winning $1,116,000 in the process.
Sticking to his conservative move to hit 3-wood at the tight-driving par-4 18th, the 2010 U.S. Open champion conceded a slight advantage to Bohn and Knox, both of whom hit driver past him. No matter, though, as McDowell validated his reputation for being a big-time player when he laced a laser of a 5-iron.
“Get tight. Get tight,” McDowell shouted, and it did, bringing a smile to his face. “As good as I can hit it.”
The shots for Bohn (from 188 yards) and Knox (173) were exponentially more difficult, and neither could pull off the magic. Bohn left himself with a 20-footer for birdie, and Knox missed the green hole-high but in the rough. They missed their birdie chances, but McDowell did not.
Nor did McDowell fail in his quest to re-establish himself among the world’s top-ranked players. His exempt status on the PGA Tour was going to expire at the end of this season, and the victory assures McDowell of an eighth consecutive berth in the Masters. When the Official World Golf Ranking was released a short time later, he had jumped to No. 62.
Not nearly in the stratosphere where he sat for so long — inside the top 20 — but “it’s a nice step back to where I want to be,” he said.
Having got married and had a child with his wife, Kristin, McDowell has seen his life on a different landscape and admittedly has been learning to adjust. It hasn’t been easy.
“It’s been a rough year for all the right reasons,” he said.
But committed to his style of play and determined to work his way back into his world-class form, McDowell returned to the European Tour after finishing 160th in the FedEx Cup standings and being left out of the playoffs. He played five times, and though the overall finishes weren’t memorable, he made the cut each time and thought he was advancing.
Adding Mayakoba to his schedule was in reaction to his good feelings and so, no, he didn’t surprise himself by shooting 67-63-70-66, nor by hitting nothing but pure shots down the stretch.
• • •
AND NOW, SOME REST: Only one player can lay claim to having played in each of the first five weeks of the 2015-16 season, but Knox will not try and keep his perfect attendance intact.
“I look forward to putting my feet up next week,” said Knox, whose loss to McDowell in the first hole of a playoff in the OHL Classic at Mayakoba concluded a stretch of four countries in four weeks: America, Malaysia, China and Mexico.
True, this week's RSM Classic in Sea Island, Georgia., isn’t far from Knox’s home in Jacksonville Beach, Florida., but who can blame the 30-year-old Scot from Inverness for resting?
After having missed the cut in the Frys.com Open, Knox has finished T-38 in Las Vegas, T-21 in Malaysia, won his first tournament (the HSBC Champions in China), and played beautifully in Mexico.
How well have things gone? Knox has earned $2,052,160 in this five-week stretch; he earned $1,916,666 in 28 tournaments all of last season, his best on Tour.
And no one else had played more than four times in this five-week stretch. But the stop sign is up.
“I’m tired, obviously, but kind of running on fumes," Knox said, "and my adrenaline of playing well is helping me keep going.”
ELSEWHERE IN THE TOP 10: Derek Fathauer was an afterthought to many, given that his mates in the final pairing, Russell Knox and Jason Bohn, made it into a playoff. But when Fathauer birdied the 18th to shoot 71, he was assured of solo fourth, his best PGA Tour finish. ... The world’s top-ranked amateur, Jon Rahm, had a fourth-round 70 to finish T-10. But being an amateur, Rahm, a Spaniard who is a senior at Arizona State, is not eligible for a top-10 exemption into this week’s RSM Classic. ... Keegan Bradley finished T-8, his first top-10 since last year’s Memorial. ... Johnson Wagner continued his fine play at the Mayakoba. He won in 2011, was T-16 last year and nailed down a T-8 this time around. ... Harold Varner III, in just his seventh PGA Tour start, had his first top-10. His Monday finish included a massive birdie putt in a pouring rain at the par-4 14th, one that was more than 70 feet. Varner closed with 70 for 14 under and T-5.
• • •
THE BOHN EXPRESS: So, it’s a young man’s Tour? Try telling that to Bohn, whose 2015-16 season continued to shine in Mexico.
With rounds of 70-63-65-68, he finished T-2, his second runner-up finish and third top-5 in four starts.
Last year was Bohn’s most lucrative, money-wise, with $2,337,580, an average of $86,577 per start. Thus far in 2015-16, he has averaged $306,934 in his four starts.
In 16 rounds this short season, Bohn is 55 under, with 10 rounds in the 60s.
• • •
FROM GOLF WEEK
Graeme McDowell had to cancel his original plans for Monday, the conference call to announce the expansion of his restaurant business.
Turns out he had designs on expanding his golf career.
That rare mix of brilliant performer and perceptive observer, McDowell on Monday morning in Mexico was at his very best. He stuffed a 5-iron from 206 yards to 2 1/2 feet to win a playoff over Russell Knox and Jason Bohn at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. Minutes later, in explaining what his third US PGA Tour victory and 14th worldwide — and his first anywhere since the 2014 French Open — meant, the Northern Irishman was nearly as impressive.
“It really gives me something to grab onto,” said the 36-year-old whose world ranking had dropped from 15th at the end of 2014 to 85th. Such a dose of reality led him to ask himself, “Am I finished? Am I good enough? We’ve all been there.”
His soul-searching came to an end at a tournament that never appeared ready to finish. Hampered by massive rain delays from the outset, the tournament on the El Camaleon course at the Mayakoba Resort on the Yucatan Peninsula in southeast Mexico was dragged into Monday.
When play resumed in wet and windy conditions, Knox appeared ready to win for the second straight week, armed with a one-stroke lead over McDowell and Bohn.
But Knox bogeyed the 18th to shoot 66 and finish at 18-under 266 with McDowell (66) and Bohn (68).
The play-off was over swiftly and continued a trend for all three. McDowell is now 2-0 in US PGA Tour playoffs, and Knox and Bohn are 0-2. It’s also the seventh runner-up finish for Bohn since he last won, in 2010.
“I’ve been dreaming of this day and told myself that I would appreciate it when it comes — and I’m going to appreciate it,” McDowell said, just moments after he pulled down the curtain in dramatic fashion, winning $1,116,000 in the process.
Sticking to his conservative move to hit 3-wood at the tight-driving par-4 18th, the 2010 U.S. Open champion conceded a slight advantage to Bohn and Knox, both of whom hit driver past him. No matter, though, as McDowell validated his reputation for being a big-time player when he laced a laser of a 5-iron.
“Get tight. Get tight,” McDowell shouted, and it did, bringing a smile to his face. “As good as I can hit it.”
The shots for Bohn (from 188 yards) and Knox (173) were exponentially more difficult, and neither could pull off the magic. Bohn left himself with a 20-footer for birdie, and Knox missed the green hole-high but in the rough. They missed their birdie chances, but McDowell did not.
Nor did McDowell fail in his quest to re-establish himself among the world’s top-ranked players. His exempt status on the PGA Tour was going to expire at the end of this season, and the victory assures McDowell of an eighth consecutive berth in the Masters. When the Official World Golf Ranking was released a short time later, he had jumped to No. 62.
Not nearly in the stratosphere where he sat for so long — inside the top 20 — but “it’s a nice step back to where I want to be,” he said.
Having got married and had a child with his wife, Kristin, McDowell has seen his life on a different landscape and admittedly has been learning to adjust. It hasn’t been easy.
“It’s been a rough year for all the right reasons,” he said.
But committed to his style of play and determined to work his way back into his world-class form, McDowell returned to the European Tour after finishing 160th in the FedEx Cup standings and being left out of the playoffs. He played five times, and though the overall finishes weren’t memorable, he made the cut each time and thought he was advancing.
Adding Mayakoba to his schedule was in reaction to his good feelings and so, no, he didn’t surprise himself by shooting 67-63-70-66, nor by hitting nothing but pure shots down the stretch.
• • •
AND NOW, SOME REST: Only one player can lay claim to having played in each of the first five weeks of the 2015-16 season, but Knox will not try and keep his perfect attendance intact.
“I look forward to putting my feet up next week,” said Knox, whose loss to McDowell in the first hole of a playoff in the OHL Classic at Mayakoba concluded a stretch of four countries in four weeks: America, Malaysia, China and Mexico.
True, this week's RSM Classic in Sea Island, Georgia., isn’t far from Knox’s home in Jacksonville Beach, Florida., but who can blame the 30-year-old Scot from Inverness for resting?
After having missed the cut in the Frys.com Open, Knox has finished T-38 in Las Vegas, T-21 in Malaysia, won his first tournament (the HSBC Champions in China), and played beautifully in Mexico.
How well have things gone? Knox has earned $2,052,160 in this five-week stretch; he earned $1,916,666 in 28 tournaments all of last season, his best on Tour.
And no one else had played more than four times in this five-week stretch. But the stop sign is up.
“I’m tired, obviously, but kind of running on fumes," Knox said, "and my adrenaline of playing well is helping me keep going.”
ELSEWHERE IN THE TOP 10: Derek Fathauer was an afterthought to many, given that his mates in the final pairing, Russell Knox and Jason Bohn, made it into a playoff. But when Fathauer birdied the 18th to shoot 71, he was assured of solo fourth, his best PGA Tour finish. ... The world’s top-ranked amateur, Jon Rahm, had a fourth-round 70 to finish T-10. But being an amateur, Rahm, a Spaniard who is a senior at Arizona State, is not eligible for a top-10 exemption into this week’s RSM Classic. ... Keegan Bradley finished T-8, his first top-10 since last year’s Memorial. ... Johnson Wagner continued his fine play at the Mayakoba. He won in 2011, was T-16 last year and nailed down a T-8 this time around. ... Harold Varner III, in just his seventh PGA Tour start, had his first top-10. His Monday finish included a massive birdie putt in a pouring rain at the par-4 14th, one that was more than 70 feet. Varner closed with 70 for 14 under and T-5.
• • •
THE BOHN EXPRESS: So, it’s a young man’s Tour? Try telling that to Bohn, whose 2015-16 season continued to shine in Mexico.
With rounds of 70-63-65-68, he finished T-2, his second runner-up finish and third top-5 in four starts.
Last year was Bohn’s most lucrative, money-wise, with $2,337,580, an average of $86,577 per start. Thus far in 2015-16, he has averaged $306,934 in his four starts.
In 16 rounds this short season, Bohn is 55 under, with 10 rounds in the 60s.
• • •
Labels: US PGA TOUR
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Monday, November 16, 2015
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