Weekley gets back in the winner’s circle
English: Boo Weekley at the 2009 Honda Classic (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The comeback of Boo Weekley continued this week at Colonial, as he fired a final round 66 to win the 2013 Crowne Plaza Invitational by one shot over Matt Kuchar. It’s the first win for Weekley in over five years, as he last saw the winner’s circle at the 2008 RBC Heritage.
What Happened
Kuchar entered Sunday’s final round with a one-shot lead over a host of players, and it was back and forth all day as Kuchar just couldn’t seem to make a move to distance himself from the pack. Scott Stallings was the first to seize real control, but a costly double bogey on 15 after a horrendous chip and an equally awful bunker shot put him too far back to make a run. Last year’s champion Zach Johnson also made it interesting with a final round 66, but would ultimately end up two shots behind Weekley, who kept hitting shot after shot right at flagsticks. He got a little leaky with the putter down the stretch, as he has done in the past, but with no one making a significant charge, it didn’t end up meaning anything. Kuchar would make birdie on the last hole to scratch out a solo second.
Final Leaderboard
- 1. Boo Weekley -14
- 2. Matt Kuchar -13
- 3. Zach Johnson -12
- T4. Scott Stallings -11
- T4. John Rollins -11
- T4. Matt Every -11
What The Win Means For Weekley
The win means the world to Weekley, who had run into so many problems with injuries and inconsistent play over the last couple of years, that he was probably close to running out of exemptions coming into the 2013 season. He was phenomenal in Tampa, firing a final round 63 to finish as the runner-up to Kevin Streelman, and also had a T-6 in New Orleans, so the game was definitely in much better shape than in previous years, but obviously he still needed to close the deal in one of these events. He’s always been known as a terrific ball striker; one of those guys that the other pros watch when they go to the range, just to see what he’s doing an how he does it, but the putter was always a sore spot. We saw more of that today down the stretch, but it didn’t catch up to him, and to be honest, this is great for the PGA Tour. Weekley is a character, and in a game that lacks guys who show emotion and flare, guys like Weekley are needed. Who else does this in the middle of a Ryder Cup?
I’m not going to say that this win was more important for golf than for Weekley, but it’s pretty close. He’ll be 40 in a few weeks, and this does extend his career, which is all a lot of these guys can hope for when it comes down to it. Nobody wants to go back to the mini-tours and try to work their way back. But, if he can get it back on track, the PGA Tour just found a new guy that the North American public knows, likes and can get behind. Yes, the guy above riding the bull is marketable. We’ll see Weekley next in a couple of weeks in Memphis, as he is taking next week off to spend time with his family.
The Jeff Overton DQ
Jeff Overton was disqualified during Saturday’s third round for using a putting alignment aid mid-round. There was a logjam on the 10th tee, so Overton decided to walk over to the practice green to hit some putts while he waited. Presumably to make sure this was within the rules, Overton asked an official if it was okay to do this, which he was told that it was. The official didn’t know that he was going to use the aid, which isn’t allowed by the rules, and so Overton was disqualified. Now, I wouldn’t spend so much time on this normally, but Overton decided to go on Twitter afterwards to vent some frustration:
Why do rules officials initiate that conversation to begin with. I wouldn’t even have gone up there if I had know that.What a joke!
— Jeff Overton (@JeffOvertonPGA) May 25, 2013
If ur gonna inform someone on a rule of something a person can do, make sure u remind them of the small things they can’t do. — Jeff Overton (@JeffOvertonPGA) May 25, 2013
Tough break today. Looks like I gotta go back and rememorize a couple hundred pages of the usga rules book! — Jeff Overton (@JeffOvertonPGA) May 25, 2013
Another discussion over the Rules of Golf… Look, Overton should have known the rule. Even I know that one, and I’m nowhere near the PGA Tour, but he does have a point that the rule book is far too big. Lee Trevino once said that the Rules of Golf should fit on a match book, and well, that’s definitely not the case now. As we saw with Tiger Woods earlier in the year, there’s a loophole for every rule, which just seems ridiculous, but hey, that’s golf, right?
Same Guy Today
In my betting preview, I tipped David Hearn as a longshot pick this week, and it was looking pretty good when he fired an opening round 64. Following it up with a second round 78 caused Hearn to miss the cut, which always begs the question of what the hell could have possibly been so different from day one to day two?
Golf can be challenging and humbling sometimes. Same guy today. #badday
— David Hearn (@HearnDavid) May 24, 2013
Unfortunately, that’s just the way it is sometimes.
Other Notes
- Notables to miss the cut: Charl Schwartzel, Johnson Wagner, Kevin Streelman, Ben Crane, David Toms, Vijay Singh, John Senden, Stewart Cink, Harris English, Kyle Stanley, Ryan Moore and Y.E. Yang.
- In the same week that the anchored putter ban was announced, Tim Clark had a chance to win this event. He ended up finishing tied for 7th, but that certainly would have been an ironic turn of events.
- That third place finish for Zach Johnson was his first top-10 since the Open Championship last year.
- Both of the champions picks made the former winners look good this week, with Jordan Spieth finishing T-7 and Franklin Corpening getting into a tie for 14th after an amazing final round 62.
- We talked about David Hearn, but another Canadian, Graham DeLaet, put himself in position to win this week before his final round 74 left him at 6-under par. No Canadian has won on the PGA Tour since Stephen Ames won the 2009 Children’s Miracle Network Classic.
- Disappointing finishes from Jason Dufner (T-46) and Rickie Fowler (T-54).
AdamSarson.com 