Dustin Johnson birdied the last two holes at Turning Stone Resort to beat Robert Allenby by a stroke.  On the 17th hole, Mr. Johnson, a tour rookie, hit his tee shot 328yds and his approach to 6 feet for a birdie.  On the 18th hole his 357yd tee shot flew over the heads of the group in front of him. 

From the tee the landing area is not visible and the marshals did not get Mr. Johnson’s attention before his blast, thus surprised looks on the faces of those in front of him.  That tee shot left him a mere 70 yards in front of Mr. Allenby. 

Mr. Johnson began the year with two top 10 finishes in his first four starts.  From there he managed to miss 9 cuts and withdraw from 2 other events.  Talk about roller coaster,  or rather crash landing.  Instead of pulling the earth on top of the burning hulk that was his golf game, he got together with his coach, set some goals, and went back to practicing in an effort to find his game.  Apparently he was successful.  Or he’s just really really streaky.  Which wouldn’t be that unusual. 

The Turning Stone Resort Championship is the first of the final six tournaments of this PGA Tour season.  Christened the Fall Series, these are the events played after the best vanish from the tours stage in search of rest, relaxation, and buckets of appearance fee dollars overseas leaving the second, or third depending on how you want to rank them, tier players a stage upon which to attempt to improve their rankings on the years money list.  Whether it be moving into the top 125 and gaining full exempt status on the tour for 2009, or the top 70 and entry into all of the invitational tournaments next year there are a lot of names you haven’t seen atop a leaderboard in a while. 

Take Mr. Allenby for instance.  He hasn’t won since 2001 but insists that with his talent he should win twice a year.  Well, on the back 9, with all the marbles on the table surrounding a rather unattractive trophy Mr. Allenby left every putt short.  Short!  Including the last one on the 18th hole that would have tied him with Mr. Johnson.  An uphill 12 foot putt with just a hint of movement to the right was on line all the way, just about six inches or so short.  Chicken chicken chicken.  Talent indeed.  Proof that talent is not all that’s necessary to win a professional golf tournament.  You have to avoid joining the pack of Dottie Pepper’s "choking freakin’ dogs".  “I left everything short,” said Allenby, who needed 126 putts on the four rounds. “Yesterday, I probably had the worst putting round of my life. I just lost my nerve with the putter. I tried to regain it, took the putter home last night and slept with it. All you can do is just give it your best.”  A suggestion for Mr. Allenby… next time buy a new putter and sleep alone.

Charles Howell III was atop the leaderboard after 54 holes, along with Tag Ridings.  For Mr. Howell III this was the fourth time in his career he’s lead after 54 holes.  Number of wins would be zero as in none, nada, zilch.  As for Mr. Ridings, over an 8 hole stretch he managed three bogeys, a triple bogey, and a double bogey enroute to a smooth 79 and better luck next time pat on the back.  Not some kinda fun. 

Kyle Thompson is another of those players provoking a herd of "who?" from the crowd when his name is announced, mostly because he made only 5 cuts in his last 19 events.   He was also one of a large group with a chance to win at the beginning of the day.  Shooting 41 on the front side might be less painful than leaving 9 putts in a row short, but only marginally so. 

“It’s kind of hard to explain. I haven’t grasped everything yet,” said Johnson.  “Right now I feel pretty good. I’m obviously very, very excited. Hopefully, it’ll hit me a little bit later. I’ll probably have to sit down and re-evaluate my goals.”  And his travel plans for the beginning of next year.  Congratulations are in order on a round which won the tournament.