The Homegrown Cinderella

By Jim O'Shea

(AP Photo)

John Merrick. Ever heard of him? No, not John Mayer. John Merrick is a PGA Tour player who won his first tournament on the tour Sunday. The tournament was the Northern Trust Open in Pacific Palisades, CA, which is near Merrick’s hometown of Long Beach. Only 33 miles separate the two cities and only 72, well actually 74, holes separated John Merrick from victory at Riviera Country Club. Here’s how he finally broke through on the PGA Tour.

Thank goodness it wasn’t a one-round tournament because Merrick finished the first round four strokes behind Matt Kuchar. Kuchar shot a seven-under 64, while Merrick finished with six birdies and three birdies in a three-under 69 round.

The second round went much better for Merrick and not as well for Kuchar. Merrick inched two strokes closer as he shaved two strokes off his first-round score in a five-under 66 second round. On the other hand, Kuchar fell off the lead as he finished with a disappointing two-over 73. Two guys who also shot 68s in the first round along with Merrick, Sang-Moon Bae and Frederick Jacobson, were atop the leaderboard after second-round 65s.

Now came moving day on Saturday, and no one understood that better than Bill Haas. Haas carded a seven-under 64 to turn his four-shot deficit into a three-shot lead. But only three strokes behind was John Merrick, who shot a one-under 70. Bill Haas is a wily veteran, shown by his four victories on the PGA Tour, so a three-stroke lead is game-over, right?

John Merrick had other plans. While Haas struggled in the final round in a two-over 73, Merrick came out firing, birding four of his first eleven holes. While Merrick didn’t continue his early surge, he forced Charlie Beljan to make an eighteen-foot putt on number eighteen to force a playoff. Beljan made the putt, so off Merrick and Beljan went to a playoff.

They tied on the first playoff hole, so at least one more hole was necessary to determine a champion. Both left themselves with long birdie putts on the second playoff hole. But, there was a big difference. Beljan’s putt was off the green and uphill, while Merrick putted on the green and was already atop the slope. It’s safe to say that Merrick had the better chance of winning. Beljan, from where he was, stroked the putt well and left himself about five feet for par. Merrick put his putt inside Beljan’s as he left himself only a foot for par. Merrick putted first and tapped in for par. Beljan, who had already made a clutch putt, had another one on his hands. This time he wasn’t as lucky as he missed left on his par putt. So, John Merrick was the 2013 Northern Trust Champion.

Story’s over, right? Well, it would be if Merrick had won a PGA Tour tournament before and if he didn’t grow up and go to college in the area. Merrick proved to know the area, as in location, but surprisingly, he also proved to know the area of winning. This was truly a Cinderella story, homegrown style.   

Brandt Snedeker is No. 1

By Jim O'Shea

Forget the Official World Golf Ranking, Brandt Snedeker is really the number-one golfer on tour right now. Not Rory McIlroy, not Tiger Woods, not Phil Mickelson, not anybody else. The 32 year-old from Nashville, Tennessee has taken the PGA Tour by storm in 2013.

(AP Photo)

Snedeker has played five tournaments so far in 2013. His finishes are: third at the Tournament of Champions, tied for 23^rd at the Humana Challenge, tied for second at the Farmers Insurance Open, second at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, and first last week at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. The summary of these five tournaments is one victory, four top-three finishes, and no finish outside the top 23. This stretch is amazing, considering there have only been six PGA Tour tournaments in 2013, so Snedeker has only taken off one week. He’s played in four straight weeks, and the last three weeks he hasn’t finished outside the top two.

Here’s how he stacks up against the rest of the PGA Tour this year:

He is tied for the most victories with one. He is leading the FedEx Cup standings by 700 points. He has the most top-ten finishes, with only one other golfer having three top-ten finishes, which is still one behind Snedeker’s four. In the last three weeks when Snedeker hasn’t finished outside the top two, no player has more than one top-five finish. Snedeker has three top-two finishes. To say he is dominating the golf world right now is an understatement.

Snedeker is number-four in the Official World Golf Ranking. Above him is Luke Donald at three, Tiger Woods at two, and Rory McIlroy at one. Luke Donald hasn’t competed in a tournament in 2013. Tiger Woods has played in two tournaments, missing the cut and winning the other one. Rory McIlroy has played one tournament, missing the cut in Abu Dhabi. These three combined have played in three tournaments with two missed cuts and one victory. Snedeker, on the other hand, has played in two more tournaments than the three, won the same amount as the three combined, and has three more top-three, top-five, and top-ten finishes than the “Big Three”. Brandt Snedeker is dominating the world’s best by himself.

Brandt Snedeker is on a streak that compares to LeBron James’ current streak of six straight games of 30 points and shooting at least 60 percent from the field. I’m not saying that Snedeker is the LeBron of golf or even that Snedeker is as good at golf as LeBron is at basketball. But, he is dominating his sport currently in the same manner that LeBron is dominating his.

Calling Snedeker the best golfer in the world may sound weird or wrong, but right now it’s the truth. The rest of the golf world, especially the top three, better be aware of this young phenom. Come April in Augusta at the Masters, Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy will be the popular picks to win, but don’t sleep on Mr. Brandt Snedeker, the number-one golfer in the world. 

This Game Makes No Sense

By Jim O'Shea

(Hunter Martin/Getty Images)

For the second consecutive week on the PGA Tour, a player that either missed the cut or didn’t finish in the top 50 in the previous tournament won the next tournament. One week ago, it was Tiger Woods that amazed at the Farmers Insurance Open after missing the cut the previous week in Abu Dhabi. This week Phil Mickelson came out of nowhere to lap the field at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

How can Phil, of all players, come out of nowhere?

Well, when you start 2013 by finishing T37 and T51 in your first two tournaments, nobody expects much of you in your next tournament. Especially when you shoot no rounds in the 60s in your previous tournament, which is what Phil did at the Farmers Insurance Open. Phil almost continued the trend of no rounds in the 60s at the Phoenix Open, but this time he almost shot a round in the 50s instead of the 70s. Phil came out firing from the beginning, birdieing his first four holes in the first round. He closed out his front nine by birdieing the last three to shoot a 29.

On the back nine, it was more of the same for Lefty. He birdied four of the first seven holes on his back nine. He was sitting at eleven-under going into #17. Since TPC Scottsdale is a par-71, all Phil needed to shoot a 59 was one birdie and one par to finish his round. On #17, which was really #8 because Phil started on #10, Phil left his birdie putt inches short as he had to settle for a par. So, to shoot a 59 Lefty had to use some of his magic to birdie the par 4 ninth. He hit the green in regulation that set up a birdie putt for 59. The 20-footer hit the right edge of the cup, rolled around the cup, and never dropped to the bottom. He had to settle, if that even makes sense, with a first-round 60.

Going into Friday, Phil had a pretty comfortable four-shot lead. He followed up his stellar first round with another stellar second round. He had another chance at history going into #18. If he parred #18, he would set the 36-hole record for a PGA Tournament. He hit his drive on #18 into the left-hand hazard, leaving him with a desperate shot at par. His approach ended short of the green, so he had a tough chip at the record. He chipped to seven feet from the hole and possibly let his frustration get to him as he missed the bogey putt. He still shot a second-round 65, leaving him at 17-under through two rounds.

Phil again had a four-shot lead, but now there were only two rounds remaining. He let the field stay in the tournament as he only birdied three of the first fourteen holes. But, holes 15-18 were much different. He birdied 15 coming into the stadium-atmosphere par-3 sixteenth. The sixteenth has stands around the entire hole, creating an atmosphere that is nowhere else on tour. Phil stepped right up and hit the shot of the tournament as he knocked a 9-iron to a foot from the hole. If Phil wasn’t already the fan favorite, which he was, he was surely it now. He tapped in for birdie, then birdied 17 and 18 to finish with four straight birdies to shoot a seven-under 64. Along with the birdies came a growing lead that widened to six shots after the round.

Six strokes ahead of the field for Phil is game over, right? Someone forgot to tell Brandt Snedeker that because he came out to win on Sunday. Brandt played in the final group with Phil, but never seemed fazed by the four-time major champion. Both parred the first, but Phil gave a stroke back as he bogeyed the second. Brandt built on that as he birdied the third. After three holes, Phil’s lead had dwindled to four strokes. Phil didn’t worry as he birdied the fourth to gain a stroke on the field. The sixth through the ninth was when Brandt began to make his move. He birdied three of those four holes as he inched to within three shots of Phil. Again, Phil wasn’t worried as he birdied the thirteenth to regain a four-shot lead. When both Phil and Brandt birdied the fifteenth, it was all but over. Lefty parred the sixteenth, birdied the seventeenth, and tapped in for par at the eighteenth to claim the Waste Management Phoenix Open for the third time in his career. This was also Phil’s 41^st victory on the PGA Tour, which is ninth all-time.

Two weeks. Two comebacks. Not during the tournament, but from the last week’s performance. Phil Mickelson, Arizona native and Arizona State graduate, fed off the crowd’s energy to dominate the Phoenix Open, winning by four strokes and finishing at 28-under.

The Stark Contrast

By Jim O'Shea

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson entered the Farmers Insurance Open coming off disappointing finishes the previous week. Tiger didn’t even make it to the weekend, missing the cut at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Phil, on the other hand, did make the cut, but only finished in a tie for thirty-seventh. It’s safe to say that both came into Torrey Pines with a chip on his shoulder. One shoved the chip way off his shoulder and the other added another chip to his shoulder.

(AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

The first round went well for one, Tiger, and not-so-bad for the other, Phil. Tiger finished his round with a 68, four-under. Phil finished, just like the previous week’s first round, with a 72, even-par. Tiger was only three strokes behind the leaders, K.J. Choi and Brandt Snedeker, who both shot a seven-under 65. Phil was still in contention if he produced a better second round.

He did produce a better second round, but not much better as he cut one stroke off his first-round score as he finally got into red numbers after a 71. Tiger, on the other hand, remained in red numbers as he surged to the top of the leaderboard after a second-round 65. But, he only led by two strokes over Billy Horschel.

Phil got a much-needed break on Saturday thanks to Mother Nature as fog postponed the third round to Sunday. But, the break appeared to hurt Phil as he fell down the leaderboard after a third-round 75. Tiger did what seemed impossible during the majors last year as he increased his lead on the weekend after a third-round 69 to go to 14-under overall.

The fourth round got under way on Sunday as Phil had no chance of contending and Tiger continued his great play as he birdied three of the seven holes he completed on Sunday. This left him at 17-under, six strokes ahead of the field.

On Monday, it was more of the same for Tiger as he knew his lead and focused on paring every hole. He accomplished this in his first five holes, which were not one-through-five but instead were eight-through-twelve. He got sick of pars as he birdied the par-five thirteenth to improve to 18-overall. Another improvement was his lead, which blossomed to eight strokes with five holes remaining. It appeared that Tiger took his foot off the gas on these final five holes as he went bogey-double bogey-par-bogey-par. Tiger blamed it on the slow pace of play in his news conference, emphasizing his impatience with the group ahead of him. But, he couldn’t help but smile after he won, for the seventh time, the Farmers Insurance Open.

Tiger answered any questions that the skeptics had with his whopping four-stroke victory that reminded a lot of people of the old Tiger that finished tournaments on the weekend. Phil reminded the skeptics why they are questioning him as he finished in a tie for fifty-first. After their first tournaments of 2013 were about the same, Tiger and Phil went in opposite directions at the Farmers Insurance Open as Tiger reminded all of us why he has won 75 times on the PGA Tour and Phil reminded us why he hasn’t won more than one PGA Tour tournament in each of the past three seasons.

3 Big Names, 3 Big Headscratchers

By Jim O'Shea

“Wow!” This was the expression that was swirling in my mind last Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, but for completely different reasons.

(Photo/Ross Kinnaird)

On Wednesday, I was contemplating finally being able to see Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, and Phil Mickelson tee it up in 2013. These are arguably golf’s biggest stars and they shared the same weekend together, although only one played on the weekend. These three have combined for 20 majors and 159 wins around the world. This is exactly why I couldn’t wait to see all three begin their 2013 journey.

But, it didn’t go according to plan as both Rory and Tiger missed the cut at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. Rory couldn’t find his groove from the very beginning as he shot back-to-back 75’s. Tiger, on the other hand, was still in contention after the first round when he was even-par but only five strokes behind the leader. He continued to play pretty average golf in the second round as he finished with a one-over 73. The cut line was two-over so Tiger made the cut, right? Well, he did before a rules referee informed him of a two-stroke penalty incurred on him because of wrongly taking a free drop. At least Rory and Tiger could enjoy the beautiful Abu Dhabi.

So it didn’t work out for Rory and Tiger, but how about Phil?

Well, he couldn’t enjoy Abu Dhabi because he played in California at the Humana Challenge. But on the course, his play wasn’t much better than Rory’s or Tiger’s. Like Tiger, Phil shot a first-round 72, which was one of only two even or over-par first rounds in the final top 55. From the first round on, Phil played much better, with no round over 67. But a T37 finish isn’t what Phil wanted coming in, especially when that means you finished eight strokes behind the champion.

Rory, Tiger, Phil. MC, MC, T37. Anyone see that coming because I surely didn’t. Hopefully Tiger and Phil can make me say “Wow!” this Sunday for a different reason as both compete in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, CA.