Golf Events from the Weekend 13th October 2013

Well it was another brilliant weekend on the Major Professional Golf Tours from around the world and this week the USPGA Tour and FedEx Cup started its 2013/14 season and the first event on schedule was the Frys.com Open and it was played on the CordeValle Golf Club, San Martin, California. And it was the Golfer by the name of Jimmy Walker (USA) who scored rounds of 70-1, 69-2, 62-9 which was the equal low round in the third round and a final round of 66-5 for a 72 hole total of 267-17 and he won by two shots for his maiden win on the USPGA Tour. He won US $900,000.00 for his efforts and moved to the top of the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $900,000.00 earned from the one event he has played to date this season so far. He leads Vijay Singh (Fiji) who is in second position with US $540,000.00 earned from the one event he has played to date this season so far. He also got 500 FedEx Cup points for his win and moved to the top of the 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points list standings with 500 points earned from the one event he has played to date this season so far and leads by 200 points over Vijay Singh (Fiji) who is in second position with 300 FedEx Cup Points earned from the one event he has played so far this season. From the one event he has played to date this season so far he has made one cut and this win was also his first top ten finish of the season.

 

Jimmy Walker (USA) in action during the final round

Jimmy Walker (USA) played a brilliant final round under the circumstances. He scored 66-5 which included a front nine of 32-3 which included birdies on the par four, second hole, par four, fourth hole, par four, eighth hole and par five, ninth hole his lone bogey came at the par four, fifth hole and he made the turn at minus 15 and was one shot behind leader. Vijay Singh (Fiji) went out in 34-1 and made the turn at minus 13 and was three shots behind the leader. Brooks Koepka (USA) who was the 54 hole leader went out in 34-1 and made the turn at minus 16 and was leading by one shot.

Jimmy Walker (USA) played holes tenth to fifteenth in two under par and moved to minus 17 and was now in the lead by one shot. Vijay Singh (Fiji) played holes tenth to fifteenth in one under par and moved to minus 14 and was still three shots behind the leader. Brooks Koepka (USA) played holes tenth to fifteenth in even par and remained at minus 16 and was now one shot behind the leader. Jimmy Walker (USA) played holes 16 and 17 in even par to remain at minus 17 with just the par four, 72nd hole to play and now was leading by two shots. Vijay Singh (Fiji) played holes 16 and 17 in one under par and moved to minus 15 with just the final hole to play and was now only two shots behind the leader. Brooks Koepka (USA) played holes 16 and 17 in two over par and fell back to minus 14 and was now three shots behind the leader with just the 72nd hole remaining to be played.

Jimmy Walker (USA) playing in the group ahead of the leaders hit an excellent drive down the par four, 72nd hole that landed in the first cut of rough just off the fairway to the right. He struck his second shot from just under 100 yards with his wedge and landed it on the front of the green leaving a difficult two putt from about 45 feet. He struck a good putt from 45 feet that rolled five feet past the hole. He now knew if he holed his five footer for his par four he would win the Frys.com Open and that is what he did!!He celebrated by giving his caddie a huge high five. He ended up winning the Frys.com Open by two shots. He scored 34-2 on his back nine which was brilliant golf under the circumstances and finished at minus 17 to win by two shots. Vijay Singh (Fiji) who was playing in the group with Jimmy Walker (USA) hit a great second shot over the trees and landed on the right side of the green. He left himself with a 35 footer for birdie and if he holed it he would put the pressure back on Jimmy Walker (USA) to hole his five footer for par for the win. He miss read his putt and missed to the left and easily tapped in for his par four to finish at -15 and was two shots behind the winner. Brooks Koepka (USA) made a solid par up the par four, 72nd hole and finished at minus 14 and was three shots behind the winner.

 

Jimmy Walker (USA) poses with the Frys.com Open Trophy he won!!

It was Jimmy Walker (USA) first USPGA Tour win in his 188th career start in a USPGA Tour event. He has been playing on the USPGA Tour fulltime for the last five seasons easily keeping his card each season. In his last two seasons on the USPGA Tour he has made at least one million US dollars in each. Through this win he now gets to play in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions that is the first event in 2014 in early January, the Masters Tournament in early April, Players Championship in early May and PGA Championship in mid August. This win will also give him heaps of confidence to know now he truly belongs out here and it shows that all the perseverance and hard work he has put in during his career to date has paid off. I hope he can build on this win and have many more top five finishes before the season is over and perhaps even have his second win? I wish him all the best for the rest of the 2013/14 season.

Coming in solo second position at 269-15 after 72 holes was Vijay Singh (Fiji); he earned US $540,000.00 for his efforts and moved to second position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $540,000.00 earned from the one event he has played to date this season so far. He also earned 300 FedEx Cup Points for his efforts and moved to second position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points list standings with 300 points earned from the one event he has played to date this season so far. From the one event he has played to date this season so far he has made one cut and this second place finish was his first top ten of the season to date. Vijay Singh (Fiji) has been playing on the USPGA Tour since 1993 season and has easily kept his card every season since. In that time he has won 34 times on the USPGA Tour and here they are from the first to the most recent: 1993 Buick Classic, 1995 Phoenix Open, Buick Classic, 1997 Memorial Tournament, Buick Open, 1998 PGA Championship, Sprint International, 1999 Honda Classic 2000 Masters Tournament.  2002  Shell Houston Open,  THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, 2003 Phoenix Open, EDS Byron Nelson Championship, John Deere Classic, FUNAI Classic at the WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort, 2004 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Shell Houston Open, HP Classic of New Orleans, Buick Open, PGA Championship, Deutsche Bank Championship, Bell Canadian Open, 84 LUMBER Classic, Chrysler Championship, 2005  Sony Open in Hawaii, Shell Houston Open, Wachovia Championship, Buick Open, 2006 Barclays Classic, 2007 Mercedes-Benz Championship, Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard,  2008 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, The Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship. In that time he has current career USPGA Tour earnings of US $68,127,095 earned from the 521 events he has played so far in his career to date. He turned 50 in February this year and has been eligible to play on the Champions Tour ever since but he has only played in one Champions Tour event which was Pacific Links Hawai'i Championship last month and he tied for sixth position. It is amazing to think that in the 2013 USPGA Tour season just gone he didn’t achieve a single top ten finish. I guess if he can keep producing results like he did this past week he will keep playing the USPGA Tour for the 2013/14 season? I wish him all the best in the tournaments to come this season.

Coming in tied for third position at 270-14 after 72 holes was Kevin Na (USA); he earned US $240,000.00 for his efforts and move to third equal position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $240,000.00 earned from the one event he has played to date this year so far. He also earned 134 FedEx Cup Points for his efforts and moved to third equal position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points list standings with 134 points earned from the one event he has played to date this year so far. From the one event he has played to date this year so far he has made one cut and this was his first top ten of the season. Kevin Na (USA) has been playing on the USPGA Tour fulltime since the 2004 season and has kept his card every season since. He only played in eight events in the 2013 USPGA Tour season because of a back injury (bulging discs) that flared up after the Masters Tournament. He has one win on the USPGA Tour to date in his career so far and that came at the 2011 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open which is the next tournament on 2013/14 USPGA Tour schedule next week. He will be very happy to start the season off so well. So far in his career to date he has career earnings of US $13,504,601 earned from the 246 events he has played so far to date in his career. Let’s hope he can continue on this form for the rest of the season and achieve his second win on the USPGA Tour? I wish him all the best.

Also tied for third position was Scott Brown (USA); he too earned US $240,000.00 for his efforts and move to third equal position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $240,000.00 earned from the one event he has played to date this year so far. He also earned 134 FedEx Cup Points for his efforts and moved to third equal position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points list standings with 134 points earned from the one event he has played to date this year so far. From the one event he has played to date this year so far he has made one cut and this was his first top ten of the season. Scott Brown (USA) has been playing on the USPGA Tour since the 2012 season where he earned US $478,763 from the twenty four events he played in and he finished in 148th position on the final 2012 USPGA Tour Money list standings and gave him semi exempt status on the USPGA Tour for the 2013 season. He had his career best season to date in the 2013 season with achieving his maiden USPGA Tour win at the Puerto Rico Open presented by seepuertorico.com in early March. He ended up earning US $1,012,142 from the twenty one events he played in and he finished up in 81st position on the final 2013 USPGA Tour Money list standings easily keeping his card for the 2013/14 season. Perhaps this year he will even have a better year than last year with making such a good start so early? I wish him all the best for events to come in the coming weeks.

Also tied for third position was Hideki Matsuyama (Japan); he too earned US $240,000.00 for his efforts and move to third equal position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $240,000.00 earned from the one event he has played to date this year so far. He also earned 134 FedEx Cup Points for his efforts and moved to third equal position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points list standings with 134 points earned from the one event he has played to date this year so far. From the one event he has played to date this year so far he has made one cut and this was his first top ten of the season. This is his first season has played the USPGA Tour fulltime after playing the Japan Golf Tour for the past few seasons. He was one of the star players for the International Team the week before at the Tenth Presidents Cup in Ohio and he brought that fine form he displayed onto this tournament. Let’s hope he can continue this fine form through the 2013/14 season and I feel he is destined to be a Golfing Superstar with being so young at only twenty one years of age. I wish him all the best for his next few tournaments.

The final player to tie for third position was Brooks Koepka (USA) who was playing in this tournament on a sponsor’s exemption because he isn’t a USPGA Tour Member for the 2013/14 season. He earned US $240,000.00 for his efforts but because he isn’t a USPGA Tour Member for the 2013/14 season he doesn’t get a current 2013/14 USPGA Money list or FedEx Cup Ranking. It was his first ever regular USPGA Tour event he had played in and because he finished in the top ten he gets a start next week in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He does have a full 2014 European Tour card after winning three events on the European Tour Challenge Tour in the 2013 season which gave him a battlefield promotion to the 2013 European Tour. I guess he sees that this could be his way of earning his way on to the USPGA Tour and if this week’s performance is anything to go by he will soon have earned enough money to gain his full USPGA Tour card. I wish him all the best for the weeks to come on the USPGA Tour.

Coming in tied for seventh position at 271-13 after 72 holes was Brian Harman (USA); he earned US $161,250.00 for his efforts and moved to tied sixth position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $161,250.00 earned from the one event he has played to date this year so far. He also earned 88 FedEx Cup Points for his efforts and moved to tied for sixth position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points list standings with 88 points earned from the one event he has played to date this year so far. From the one event he has played to date this year so far he has made one cut and achieved one top ten finish. He has been playing the USPGA Tour fulltime since the 2012 season in which he earned US $1,146,448 from the 30 events he played in and he finished in 87th position on the final 2012 USPGA Tour Money list standings which meant he easily kept his card for the 2013 USPGA Tour season. In 2013 on the USPGA Tour he earned US $909,759 from the twenty nine events he played in and he finished in 92nd position on the final 2013 USPGA Tour Money list standings meaning he easily kept his full USPGA Tour card for the 2013/14 season. I am sure his maiden USPGA Tour win isn’t too far away? I wish him all the best for the events in the weeks to come.

The other player to tie for seventh position was George McNeill (USA); he too earned US $161,250.00 for his efforts and moved to tied sixth position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $161,250.00 earned from the one event he has played to date this year so far. He also earned 88 FedEx Cup Points for his efforts and moved to tied for sixth position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points list standings with 88 points earned from the one event he has played to date this year so far. From the one event he has played to date this year so far he has made one cut and achieved one top ten finish. He has been playing the USPGA Tour fulltime since the 2007 season after gaining his full USPGA Tour card by winning the 2006 PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament. He has kept his card every year since except for the 2013 season where he earned US $500,798 from the twenty one events he played in and finished in 138th position on the final 2013 USPGA Tour Money list and gained semi exempt status for 2013/14 USPGA Tour season. He has also won two events on the USPGA Tour so far in his career with the first being the 2007 Frys.com Open benefiting Shriners Hospitals for Children and the second being the 2012 Puerto Rico Open presented by seepuertorico.com. Let’s hope he can win his third event in the 2013/14 season. I wish him all the best for the rest of the season.

Rounding out the top ten in tied for ninth position at 272-12 after 72 holes was Max Homa (USA); he earned US $135,000.00 for his efforts but because he isn’t a current member of the USPGA Tour he doesn’t get a current 2013/14 Money list or FedEx Cup ranking. At twenty two years of age and just turned professional he was playing in his first regular USPGA Tour event on the sponsor’s exemption and this result is just amazing for him. Because he recorded a top ten finish he gets another start next week at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. He will be hoping for another top ten finish there so he gets to play the following week. He is destined to play on the USPGA Tour some day as a full member and maybe he can earn enough money through sponsors exemption’s and gain his USPGA Tour card that way instead of having to go through the Web.com Tour? I wish him all the best in the weeks to come on the USPGA Tour.

Also tied for ninth position was Billy Hurley III (USA); he too earned US $135,000.00 for his efforts and moved to tied for eighth position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings list with US $135,000.00 earned from the one event he has played to date this year so far. He also earned 75 FedEx Cup Points for his efforts and moved to tied for eighth position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points standings list with 75 points earned from the one event he has played to date this year so far. From the one event he has played to date this year so far he has made one cut and achieved one top ten finish. He has been playing the USPGA Tour fulltime since the 2012 season where he earned US $474,130 from the twenty seven events he played in and finished in 151st position on the final 2012 USPGA Tour Money list standings and that meant he had no status for the 2013 USPGA Tour season. He went back and played the Web.com Tour for the 2013 season and earned US $146,979 from the twenty four events he played in and finished in 26th position on the final 2013 Web.com Tour Finals Priority Rankings list and he gained his full USPGA Tour card for the 2013/14 season. I hope he can achieve more top ten finishes in the weeks to come on the USPGA Tour and perhaps achieve his maiden USPGA Tour win? I wish him all the best for the rest of the 2013/14 season.

The final player to tie for ninth position was Will MacKenzie (USA); he too earned US $135,000.00 for his efforts and moved to tied for eighth position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings list with US $135,000.00 earned from the one event he has played to date this year so far. He also earned 75 FedEx Cup Points for his efforts and moved to tied for eighth position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points standings list with 75 points earned from the one event he has played to date this year so far. From the one event he has played to date this year so far he has made one cut and achieved one top ten finish. He has been playing the USPGA Tour fulltime since the 2005 season and has easily kept his card every year since except for the 2011 – 2013 seasons. He regained his 2013/14 USPGA Tour card by finishing in seventh position on the final 2013 Web.com Tour Finals Priority Rankings list and he gained his full USPGA Tour card for the 2013/14 season. He has also won two USPGA Tour events in his career to date with the first being the 2006 Reno-Tahoe Open and the second being the 2008 Viking Classic. It is great to see him get off to such a good start in the first tournament of the new season and I hope this can give him the confidence to keep on improving and have more top ten finishes in the weeks to come. I wish him every continuing success for the 2013/14 season.

There were two New Zealand Golfers in the field but only one made the cut and he was Danny Lee (NZL). He scored rounds of 73+2, 68-3, 66-5 and a final round of 70-1 for a 72 hole total of 277-7 and he tied for 33rd position. He earned US $25,857.15 for his efforts and moved to tied for 30th position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $25,857.15 earned from the one event he has played to date this year so far. He also earned 35 FedEx Cup Points for his efforts and moved to tied for 30th position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points list standings with 35 points earned from the one event he has played to date so far this season. From the one event he has played to date this season so far he has made one cut and achieved one top ten finish. He has been playing on the USPGA Tour fulltime since the 2012 season after gaining his card by finishing in sixth position on the final 2011 Web.com Tour Money list standings with US $326,100 earned from the 18 events he played in and he also achieved his maiden win on the Web.com Tour with winning the WNB Golf Classic. In his rookie season on the USPGA Tour in 2012 he earned US $359,112 from the twenty six events he played in and finished in 166th position on the final 2012 USPGA Tour Money list standings and that left him with no status on the USPGA Tour for the 2013 season. He went back to the 2012 PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament where he finished in tied for 27th position narrowly missing regaining his 2013 USPGA Tour card by one stroke at the Qualifying Tournament in Palm Springs, California. He opened with rounds of 72-75 and was tied for 150th after two days. He bounced back with scores of 67-65-67-70 to finish at 16-under par when he needed to be 17-under. A double bogey on the par-5 seventh hole at PGA West's Stadium Course was his only miscue in the final round. But he did earn himself a 2013 Web.com Tour card. He had a very good season in 2013 on the Web.com Tour regular season with earning US $209,153 from the twenty three events he played in which included five top ten finishes and he finished in 15th position on the final 2013 Web.com Tour Regular Season Money Leaders list with US $ 169,300 earned from the 19 events he played in and he had already gained his 2013/14 USPGA Tour card from that list before the Web.com Tour finals started. He eventually finished in twenty seventh position on the final 2013 Web.com Tour Finals Priority Rankings list he gained his full USPGA Tour card for the 2013/14 season. It was a great way for him to start his second full season as a USPGA Tour member by making the cut and scoring two decent rounds in the 60’s. I hope he continues on this form in the coming weeks and achieves some top ten finishes. I wish him all the best for the rest of the 2013/14 season.

The other New Zealand Golfer in the field was Tim Wilkinson (NZL) and he scored rounds of 71 even par and 72+1 for a 36 hole total of 143+1 and missed the cut by a single stroke. It was a rather poor start to his 2013/14 season and hence he didn’t earn any money or FedEx Cup points.

Next week the USPGA Tour and FedEx Cup heads to Las Vegas for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open for the second event of the 2013/14 season and it is played on the TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas, Nevada. It carries a large prize purse of US $6,000,000 for the taking. Ryan Moore (USA) is the defending Champion and will be keen to defend his title. Danny Lee (NZL) is certain to get a start and Tim Wilkinson (NZL) is likely to get one as well. It starts on Thursday 17th October and I will report back who won the trophy next week.

So to the Top 5 on the Official World Golf Rankings Points list this week and coming in at Number One Position for the 652nd week of his career in total is Tiger Woods (USA) who is fresh off his tied for second position at The Barclays over a month ago with 12.96 Official Golf World Ranking Points; coming in at Number Two is Adam Scott (Australia) who won his maiden Major Championship at the Masters Tournament six months ago and also won The Barclays over a month ago with 9.17 Official Golf World Ranking Points; coming in at Number Three is Phil Mickelson (USA) who is fresh off his Open Championship win over a two months ago with 8.41 Official Golf World Ranking Points; coming in at Number Four is Henrik Stenson (Sweden) who is fresh off winning the Tour Championship by Coca – Cola and also the 2013 FedEx Cup three weeks ago with 8.10 Official Golf World Ranking Points and rounding out the top 5 on the Official Golf World Ranking Points list this week is Justin Rose (England) who is fresh off his maiden Major Championship win at the 113th US Open Championship over three months ago and also tying for second position at The Barclays over a month ago with 7.42 Official Golf World Ranking Points. Michael Hendry (NZL) fresh off  his tie for 10th position at the Vana H Cup KBC Augusta on the Japan Golf Tour over a month ago is the highest ranked New Zealander Golfer in the world for the Thirtieth Sixth straight week of his career. This week he slips one place and falls to 201st position on the Official World Golf Rankings Points list with 0.90 Official Golf World Ranking Points.

Remember when playing golf in tough conditions to remain patient!!

Source: pgatour.com