15.09.2009
Tour Tales
On the PGA Tour at the season’s first FedEx Cup playoff tournament, the Barclay’s Championship, Titleist/FJ user Heath Slocum (Pro V1X) holed a long par putt at the 72nd hole to hold off a host of stars by a single shot. The list of players tied for 2nd included full-staffer Steve Stricker who is having a terrific season, Padraig Harrington (Pro V1X), Tiger Woods (Nike) and Ernie Els (Callaway). Slocum leaps to 3rd in the FedEx Cup standings ahead of this week’s Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston.
There were also excellent performances by young staffers Nick Watney and Webb Simpson. Simpson finished alone in 6th, a highlight in a solid rookie season.
On the European Tour at the Johnnie Walker Championship, unheralded Titleist/FJ staffer Martin Erlandsson shot a blistering final round 62, a career low, to post the clubhouse lead but was eventually beaten by one stroke by fellow Swede Peter Hedblom (Taylor Made). Amazingly, Erlandsson had finished last week’s KLM Open with a course record 63 to narrowly miss the three-way playoff. He has now climbed inside the top 75 in the Race to Dubai rankings and is pushing for a place at the season-ending Dubai World Championship.
The Korean born 17-year old winner of the US Amateur Championship, Byeong Hun An, crossed the finish line at Southern Hills with a full bag of Titleist clubs, defeating Ben Martin 7&5 in the 36 hole final.
Continuing a hot spell for Korean golfers, Mi Jung Hur (Pro V1) snatched her first LPGA Tour victory with a birdie at the 2nd playoff hole at the Safeway Classic.
At the Champions Tour’s Boeing Classic, there was another win for Loren Roberts (Pro V1) who came from behind to defeat Titleist/FJ staffer Mark O’Meara by a single stroke.
This week, the European Tour heads to beautiful Crans-Montana for the Omega European Masters where Rory McIlroy will be hoping to put behind his disappointment of a year ago and jump to the top of the Race to Dubai Rankings in the absence of the two players above him. A number of other staffers will be in action including Scott Strange, Pablo Larrazabal and Brett Rumford, a winner in the mountains two years ago.