Well it was another exciting weekend on the Major Professional Golf
Tours from around the world and this week the USPGA Tour and
FedEx Cup headed to Charlotte for the Wells Fargo Championship and it was
played on the Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, North Carolina. And it
was the golfer by the name of J.B. Holmes (USA) who scored rounds of 70-2,
67-5, 66-6 and a final round of 71-1 for a 72 hole total of 274-14 and he won
by a single shot for his third win on the USPGA Tour to date so far in his
career. He earned US $1,242,000 for his efforts and moved to 15th position on
the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $1,865,322 earned
from the 12 events he has played to date this season so far. Bubba Watson (USA)
still leads that list with US $4,533,007 earned from the nine events he has
played to date this season so far. He also earned 500 FedEx Cup Points for his
efforts and moved to 18th position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points list
standings with 845 points earned from the 12 events he has played to date this
season so far and he is 1,201 points behind the current leader of the FedEx Cup
Points list who is Jimmy Walker (USA) who has earned 2,046 points from the 15
events he has played to date this season so far. From the 12 events J.B. Holmes
(USA) has played to date this season so far he has made eleven cuts and
achieved two top ten finishes which includes the win here.
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| J. B. Holmes (USA) in action during the Final Round |
J.B. Holmes (USA) played a steady final round under
the pressure of being in contention and holding the 54 hole lead heading into
the final round. He scored 71-1 in his final round which included a front nine
of 36 even par with a lone bogey on the par three, second hole and a lone
birdie on the par four, eighth hole and he made the turn at minus 13 and was
leading by two shots. Jim Furyk (USA) went out in 33-3 and made the turn at
minus nine and was four shots behind the leader. Martin Flores (USA) went out
in 37+1 and made the turn at minus eleven and was two shots behind the leader.
Jason Bohn (USA) went out in 35-1 and made the turn at minus ten and was three
shots behind the leader.
J. B. Holmes (USA) played holes ten to 14 in two
under par and moved to minus 15 and was still leading by two shots. Jim Furyk
(USA) played holes ten to 14 in two under par and moved to minus eleven and was
still four shots behind the leader. Martin Flores (USA) played holes ten to 14
in one under par and that include an awesome chip in for eagle on the par five,
tenth hole and he moved to minus 12 and but he now was three shots behind the
leader. Jason Bohn (USA) played holes ten to 14 in three under par which
included making a hole out eagle three at the par five, tenth hole with his
short wedge and also chipping in for birdie on the par four, 12th hole and he
moved to minus 13 and was now only two shots behind the leader.
J.B. Holmes (USA) played holes 15 to 17 in even par
and remained at minus 15 with just the very difficult par four, 72nd hole to
play and he still was leading by two shots. Jim Furyk (USA) played holes 15 to
17 in two under par and that included making a brilliant chip in eagle three at
the par five, 15th hole and he moved to minus 13 and now was only two shots
behind the leader with just the par four, 72nd hole to play. Martin Flores
(USA) played holes 15 to 17 in one under par and moved to minus 13 and was now
only two shots behind the leader with just the par four, 72nd hole to play. Jason
Bohn (USA) played holes 15 to 17 in one over par and that included making a
careless double bogey five when he hit his tee shot in the water on the left on
the par three, 17th hole and he now was on minus 12 and was now three shots
behind the leader with just the par four, 72nd hole to play.
Jim Furyk (USA) who was playing about 90 minutes
ahead of the final group made a solid par at the very difficult par four, 72nd
hole and finished the 72 holes at minus 13 and ended up one shot behind the
winner. Jason Bohn (USA) who was playing in the group behind the final group made
a disappointing bogey on the difficult par four, 72nd hole and finished at
minus eleven and was three shots behind the winner. Martin Flores (USA) who was
playing in the final group hit his drive to the right of the difficult par
four, 72nd fairway. He was now faced with a short iron for his second shot from
the right hand fairway bunker. He knew he really needed to hit an eight iron to
clear the lip of the bunker, but if he hit the eight iron he would have no
chance of reaching the green. He chose the seven iron because he needed to put
some pressure back on J.B. Holmes (USA). Unfortunately his ball failed to clear
the lip and rebounded off a boundary rope gallery stake back into the middle of
the fairway. His third shot was now a wedge shot of just over 100 yards and he
landed it pin high about twenty feet to the right of the flag stick. He was
unable to make his par and had to settle for a bogey five and finished at minus
12 and was two shots behind the winner.
J.B. Holmes (USA) now stood on the difficult par four, 72nd tee box with a two shot lead knowing that a bogey five would more
than likely win him the championship. He faded his drive to the right hand side
of the fairway in the trees. After discussing his second shot with his caddie
intensively he decided to take the high route with a nine iron through the
trees. He found the gap through the trees nicely and his ball came to rest just
in the right hand rough short of the green. He was now face with a twenty yard
chip shot but he didn’t quite catch it as good as he would of liked and it
didn’t get over the slope in the middle of the green and rolled back to the
front portion leaving about forty feet for his par and bringing in a double
bogey into the equation. But he struck a very good putt from forty feet for his
par which came to rest four feet to the left of the cup. He now knew if he
holed that four foot putt he would win the Wells Fargo Championship. He calm
himself and then struck a very good putt that rolled right into the centre of
the cup for his bogey five and he celebrated by giving his caddie a huge high
five!! Then his wife, Sara came running onto the green to give him a hug and
kiss as well!! Then he was interviewed by CBS Sports on course reporter, David
Feherty and told him “that his faith in God had been the reason for his success
this week and had helped him stay at peace with himself on the course and
throughout his recovery from his brain surgery that he had in 2011”.
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| J. B. Holmes (USA) gives his wife, Sara a hug on the 72nd green!! |
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| J. B. Holmes (USA) poses with the Wells Fargo Championship Trophy he won!! |
Coming in solo third position at 276-12 after 72 holes was Martin Flores (USA); he earned US $469,200 for his efforts and moved to 58th position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $892,177 earned from the 16 events he has played to date this season so far. He also earned 190 FedEx Cup Points for his efforts and moved to 65th position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points list standings with 449 points earned from the 16 events he has played to date this season so far. From the 16 events he has played to date this season so far he has made eleven cuts and this was his very first top ten finish he has achieved to date so far this season. He will be happy with his first three rounds that were all in the 60’s but a little disappointed with his final round 72 even par. Martin Flores (USA) first joined the USPGA Tour in 2010, after earning his card through 2009 final USPGA Tour qualifying school. He struggled during his rookie year on Tour and finished 175th on the money list. His best finish came at the Reno – Tahoe Open where he tied for tenth position. He joined the Nationwide Tour in 2011 and recorded four top-10 finishes including a runner-up finish at the Rex Hospital Open. He finished 24th on the 2011 Web.com Tour money list, good enough to earn a USPGA Tour card for 2012 USPGA Tour season. He easily kept his card in the 2012 and 2013 seasons. This was also his career best finish to date on the USPGA Tour. Let’s hope he can have more top ten finishes in the weeks ahead. I wish him all the best for the rest of the 2013/14 USPGA Tour season.
Coming in solo fourth position at 277-11 after 72 holes was Jason Bohn (USA); he earned US $331,200 for his efforts and moved to 35th position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $1,280,214 earned from the 13 events he has played to date this season so far. He also earned 135 FedEx Cup Points for his efforts and moved to 35th position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points list standings with 643 points earned from the 13 events he has played to date this season so far. From the 13 events he has played to date this season so far he has made eight cuts and achieved three top ten finishes which includes the one here. He will be happy with his middle two rounds of 67-5 but disappointed with his first and final rounds which were in the 70s. He will also be bitterly disappointed with how he played the 17th and 18th holes when he was in contention to win. Jason Bohn (USA) has been playing the USPGA Tour fulltime since the 2004 season after finishing in ninth position on the final 2003 Web.com Tour Money list standings with US $255,191 earned from the 18 events he played in. He has easily kept his card for the next season every season since on the USPGA Tour and in that time he has won two events on the USPGA Tour with the first being the 2005 B.C. Open and the second one being the 2010 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He has current career earnings on the USPGA Tour to date of US $11,819,123 earned from the 256 events he has played to date so far in his career. It is great to see he has made such a fast start to the 2013/14 season and I wish him all the best in the weeks to come and hope he can achieve his third win in the 2014 part of the 2013/14 USPGA Tour season?
Coming in solo fifth position at 278-10 after 72 holes was Justin Rose (England); he earned US $276,000 for his efforts and moved to 37th position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $1,256,179 earned from the nine events he has played to date this season so far. He also earned 110 FedEx Cup Points for his efforts and moved to 50th position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points list standings with 540 points earned from the nine events he has played to date this season so far. From the nine events he has played to date this season so far he has made eight cuts and achieved four top ten finishes which includes the one here. He will be happy with his first two rounds that were in the 60s but disappointed with his final two rounds that were in the 70’s. Justin Rose (England) has been playing the USPGA Tour Fulltime since the 2004 season with easily keeping his card for the next year every year since. In that time he has career earnings to date of US $26,533,944 from the 239 events he has played in his USPGA Tour career to date so far. He has already has five wins on the USPGA Tour which are the 2010 the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance, AT&T National, 2011 BMW Championship, 2012 World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship and the 2013,113th US Open Championship (Maiden Major Championship). I feel now he has won his maiden Major Championship he will have taken a lot of pressure off himself and I wouldn’t be surprised if he won his second Major Championship in the next few years. I wish him all the best for rest the 2013/14 season.
Coming in tied for sixth position at 279-9 after 72 holes was Brendon de Jonge (Zimbabwe); he earned US $239,775 for his efforts and moved to 89th position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $603,339 earned from the 16 events he has played to date this season so far. He also earned 90 FedEx Cup Points for his efforts and moved to 81st position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points list standings with 364 points earned from the 16 events he has played to date this season so far. From the 16 events he has played to date this season so far he has made eleven cuts and this was his very first top ten finish he has achieved to date so far this season. He will be extremely happy with his second round 62-10 which was the low round of the tournament and also a brand new course record on the newly renovated Quail Hallow layout. He displayed some incredible intestinal fortitude to come back from a terrible first round of 80+8 to make the halfway cut and then go on to score 68-4 and 69-3 on the weekend. He can take some real confidence out of those last three rounds he played in this tournament. Brendon de Jonge (Zimbabwe) played on the Web.com Tour from 2004 to 2006 and 2008. He earned his 2007 USPGA Tour card at 2006 final USPGA Tour qualifying school. He finished 155th on the final USPGA Tour money list in 2007, losing his tour card. In 2008 he finished second on the Web.com Tour money list and earned his 2009 PGA Tour card. He did this by winning the Xerox Classic and recording a runner up finish and three third place finishes. He won the 2008 Web.com Tour Player of the Year. Brendon de Jonge (Zimbabwe) finished 139th on the final USPGA Tour money list in 2009, which initially gave him conditional status for 2010. He earned a full tour card through USPGA Tour 2009 final USPGA Tour Qualifying School. In 2010 Brendon de Jonge (Zimbabwe) had his most successful year to date, with 7 top ten finishes taking him to 34th on the money list. And in 2013 he represented Team International at the Presidents Cup against Team USA and his Famous country man and fellow Golf Professional Nick Price (Zimbabwe) was the Captain of Team International. Let’s hope he can build on this top ten finish and have more in the coming weeks and maybe even achieve his maiden USPGA Tour win? It was also nice he achieved this finish in his home town because he lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. I wish him all the best for the rest of the 2013/14 USPGA Tour season.
Also tied for sixth position was Kevin Kisner (USA); he also earned US $239,775 for his efforts and moved to 108th position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $450,038 earned from the 15 events he has played to date this season so far. He also earned 90 FedEx Cup Points for his efforts and moved to 110th position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points list standings with 287 points earned from the 15 events he has played to date this season so far. From the 15 events he has played to date this season so far he has made ten cuts and this was his very first top ten finish he has achieved so far this season to date. He will be very happy with his middle two rounds that were in the 60’s but disappointed with his first and final rounds that were in the 70’s. Kevin Kisner (USA) played the Web.com Tour full-time in 2010, winning once at the Mylan Classic. He finished the year in 11th position on the final 2010 Web.com Tour money list and earned his 2011 USPGA Tour card. Kevin Kisner (USA) failed to earn enough money on the USPGA Tour in 2011 to retain his card (and finished 181st on money list), but finished in Tied for eleventh position at the 2011 final qualifying school to earn his card for 2012 USPGA Tour season. He again failed to retain his card, finishing 167th position on the final 2012 USPGA Tour money list, and missed earning a card in qualifying school by one stroke. He returned to Web.com Tour in 2013 and won the Chile Classic in March. He finished 13th on the final 2013 Web.com Tour regular season money list to earn his 2014 PGA Tour card. Let’s hope he can build on this top ten finish and have more in the coming weeks? I wish him all the best for the rest of the 2013/14 USPGA Tour season.
Rounding out the top ten in tied for eighth position at 280-8 after 72 holes was Rory Sabbatini (South Africa); he earned US $200,100 for his efforts and he moved to 55th position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $924,907 earned from the 16 events he has played to date this season so far. He also earned 80 FedEx Cup points for his efforts and moved to 60th position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points list standings with 481 points earned from the 16 events he has played to date this season so far. From the 16 events he has played to date this season so far he has made eleven cuts and achieved three top ten finishes which includes the one here. He will be happy with his second and final rounds which were in the 60’s but disappointed with his first and third rounds that were in the 70’s. He has been playing on the USPGA fulltime since the 1999 season and has easily kept his card for the next year every season since. In that time he has amassed career earnings to date of US $27,404,966 from the 394 events he has played in so far in his career to date. He has also achieved six wins on the USPGA Tour and here they are from the first to the most recent: 2000 Air Canada Championship, 2003 FBR Capital Open, 2006 Nissan Open, 2007 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, 2009 HP Byron Nelson Championship and the 2011 The Honda Classic. Let’s hope win number seven isn’t too far away either? I wish him all the best for rest of the 2013/14 season.
Also tied for eighth position was Roberto Castro (USA); he too earned US $200,100 for his efforts and he moved to 105th position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $472,650 earned from the 14 events he has played to date this season so far. He also earned 80 FedEx Cup points for his efforts and moved to 116th position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points list standings with 266 points earned from the 14 events he has played to date this season so far. From the 14 events he has played to date this season so far he has made seven cuts and this was his first top ten finish he has achieved to date this season so far. He can be very satisfied with his four rounds this week as they were all under par and it must give him huge confidence after missing his previous three cuts. Roberto Castro’s (USA) first full year on the Web.com Tour came in 2011 where he recorded four top-10 finishes and placed 23rd on the final money list, good enough to earn a USPGA Tour card for the 2012 season. He also tied for 13th at final 2011 Qualifying School, improving his status. On May 9, 2013, Roberto Castro (USA) shot a 63-9 on the opening day of THE PLAYERS Championship to equal the course record set by Fred Couples (USA) (1992) and Greg Norman (Australia) (1994). He had his best finish on the USPGA Tour in June 2013, when he finished as runner-up, three strokes behind Bill Haas (USA) at the AT&T National. With the next tournament being THE PLAYERS Championship he should have some real positive vibes having lead it in the first round last year. Let’s hope he can have some more top ten finishes in the weeks to come. I wish him all the best for the rest of the 2013/14 USPGA Tour season.
The final player to tie for eighth position was Rory McILroy (NIR); he too earned US $200,100 for his efforts and he moved to twenty eighth position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $1,474,840 earned from the seven events he has played to date this year so far. He also earned 80 FedEx Cup points for his efforts and moved to 38th position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup Points list standings with 637 points earned from the seven events he has played to date this season so far. From the seven events he has played to date this season so far he has made seven cuts and achieved five top ten finishes that includes the one here. He will be happy with his first, third and final rounds which were all under par but extremely disappointed with his second round which was a 76+4 and cost him any chance he had of winning the tournament. But on the whole he would be happy with his recent form heading into THE PLAYERS Championship next week. He now still hasn’t won on the USPGA Tour since he changed his golf equipment to Nike in late 2012. He has been playing the USPGA Tour Fulltime for the last three season’s including this one and in 2012 he won the 2012 Final USPGA Tour Money list with US $8,047,952 earned from the 16 events he played in and that included four wins and one was his second Major Championship win which came at the 2012 USPGA Championship. His 2013 USPGA Tour Season wasn’t so good as he was trying to get used to his new Nike Golf Clubs, he finished in 41st position on the final 2013 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $ 1,802,443 earned from the 16 events he played in which was poor by his high standards. Here are his six wins to date on the USPGA Tour so far from the first to the most recent: 2010 Quail Hollow Championship, 2011 U.S. Open (Maiden Major Championship), 2012 The Honda Classic, PGA Championship (Second Major Championship), Deutsche Bank Championship and the BMW Championship. So far in his USPGA Tour career he has amassed US $16,634,843 in the 77 events he has played so far in his career. I feel his seventh USPGA Tour win is not very far off and perhaps it will be his third Major Championship win at the U.S. Open in June? I wish him all the best for the rest of the 2013/14 season.
Danny Lee (NZL) was one of two New Zealand Golfers
in the field and he scored rounds of 71-1 in the first round. Then he scored a
good second round of 71-1 and a good third round of 70-2 and a poor final round
of 76+4 for a 72 hole total of 288 even par and he finished in tied for 50th
position. He earned US $16,642.80 for his efforts and
moved to 95th position on the current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings
with US $532,117 earned from the 16 events he has played to date this season so
far. He also earned 19 FedEx Cup points for his efforts and moved to 92nd
position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup points list standings with 330 points
earned from the 16 events he has played to date this season so far. From the 16
events he has played to date this season so far he has made six cuts and
achieved one top ten finish that came just under two months ago at the Puerto
Rico Open presented by seepuertorico.com. Since he finished in solo second
position at the Puerto Rico Open presented by seepuertorico.com in early March
he has missed three out of his last six cuts. This week he played three very consistent
rounds for the first 54 holes but let it slip badly in the final round with a
76+4 which included playing the back nine in 41+5. But at least he has made his
last two cuts. Let’s hope he can achieve some more top ten finishes in the
events he plays in the coming weeks? I wish all the best in his next few
tournaments he plays in for the 2013/14 USPGA Tour season.
Tim Wilkinson (NZL) was the other New Zealand
Golfers in the field and he scored rounds of 78+6 in the first round which was
extremely disappointing, then a good second round of 71-1 for a 36 hole total
of 149+5 to miss the halfway cut by four shots which fell at 145+1. He
currently lies in 106th position on the
current 2013/14 USPGA Tour Money list standings with US $458,437 earned from the
15 events he has played to date this season so far. He also currently lies in
131st position on the current 2013/14 FedEx Cup points list standings with 233
points earned from the 15 events he has played to date this season so far. From
the 15 events he has played to date this season so far he has made nine cuts
and achieved two top ten finishes which came at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba in
mid November last year and at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in
early February this year. He will be disappointed with his last round of 80+8
at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans the week prior and his opening round this
week of 78+6. But he showed some resilience in the second round to score 71-1. Let’s
hope he can have some top ten finishes in the weeks to come? I wish him all the
best for the rest of the 2013/14 season.
Next week the USPGA Tour and FedEx Cup heads to Ponte
Vedra Beach, Florida for the richest event of the season on the USPGA Tour and
it is the THE PLAYERS Championship and it is played on the TPC Sawgrass, Ponte
Vedra Beach, Florida. It carries a whooping prize purse of US $10,000,000
for the taking with the winner getting US $1,800,000. It also has the world
famous Island Green, Par three, 17th hole that has to be negotiated with great
care!! All the who’s who of the professional golfing world will be there to
compete except the defending Champion who is World Number One Golfer, Tiger
Woods (USA) who is recovering from back surgery. So there will be a new
champion. Danny Lee (NZL) and Tim Wilkinson (NZL) will be hopeful to gain
starts as well. It starts on Thursday 8th May and I will report back who won
the trophy and this elite event next week.
So to the Top 5 on the Official World Golf Rankings Points this week and
coming in at Number One Position for the 682nd week of his career in total is Tiger
Woods (USA) who is fresh off his tie for twenty fifth position at the WGC –
Cadillac Championship eight weeks ago with 8.26 Official Golf World Ranking
Points; coming in at Number Two is Adam Scott (Australia) who is fresh off his
tied for 14th position at the Masters Tournament three weeks ago with 8.04
Official Golf World Ranking Points; coming in at Number Three is Henrik Stenson
(Sweden) who won the Tour Championship by Coca – Cola and also the 2013 FedEx
Cup over seven months ago and won DP World Tour Championship, Dubai and the
2013 Race to Dubai Title 24 weeks ago and three weeks ago finished in tied for
14th position at the Masters Tournament with 7.89 Official Golf World Ranking
Points; coming in at Number Four is Bubba Watson (USA) who is fresh off his
Masters Tournament win three weeks ago with 7.29 Official Golf World Ranking
Points and rounding out the top 5 on the Official Golf World Ranking Points list
this week is Matt Kuchar (USA) who is fresh of his win two weeks ago at the RBC
Heritage with 7.05 Official Golf World Ranking Points. Michael Hendry (NZL) is
in his third week of his second spell of being the highest ranked New Zealand
Golfer in the world after his tied for 31st finish at the Crowns this past week
which was the third event on Japanese soil for the 2014 Japan Golf Tour season.
This week he slips six places and falls to 224th position on the Official World
Golf Rankings Points list with 0.79 Official Golf World Ranking Points.
Remember the most important thing to achieve when striking the golf ball
is Solid Contact!!
Source: Pgatour.com, Official World Golf Rankings, wikipedia.org,
google search engine
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