VJ Singh overcame what has to be the worst putting from 4-8ft by a champion golfer in I’m guessing forever. How you can make 9 of 19 putts from that distance and still win by a shot is mind boggling. Had Mr. Singh converted even 5 of those misses (which doesn’t include the eighteen inch putt he missed in the third round, i think it was the third round) he’d have run away from the field much like Parker McLachlin did at the Legends Reno Tahoe Open.
Since he didn’t, Sunday in Akron was a whole lot more fun. Unless you were Phil Mickelson, who had a 1 shot lead after 14 holes and proceded to bogey 3 of the last 4 holes.
Mr. Mickelson left what seemed like every birdie putt hanging on the lip the entire day. “It wasn’t a good finish for me, but I played really well today,” Mickelson said. “I’m turning 63s and 64s into 70s, and that’s kind of what happened today. I couldn’t get any putts to go in, then in the end, I made some bogeys.” Those bogeys were mostly the result of playing army golf off the tee and terrible bunker shots around the green. It was as if he lost a wheel on each of the final four holes, including leaving a birdie putt on the par 5 16th hole right on the edge. Funny thing about that putt, as soon as it stopped rolling and he started walking toward the hole Mr. Mickelson looked at his watch. I’m not sure why, but it was worth a double take on my part.
Lee Westwood and Stuart Appleby tied for second. Mr. Westwood started the day tied for the lead, was 5 shots behind with 11 holes to play, and had a 7 foot putt to tie for the lead on the 17th miss to the left. On the 18th hole he had a 15 foot putt from the fringe that had no chance from the moment he struck the ball. I immediately thought "choke". Upon reflection, that would be the correct term.
“I gave myself a real good look at it,” Westwood said. And that’s all it was, a look.
Mr. Appleby just sort of trundled along until the 16th hole where he dropped a 30 foot birdie putt, followed by a 3 footer on the 17th, and an 18 footer on the 18th that would have tied him for the lead. “I had a putt for what I thought would get me into a playoff,” Appleby said. “I hit the best putt I could have hit without it going in.” He finished the day with a 68.
There were no Americans in the top six places other than Mr. Mickelson, who tied for 4th with Retief Goosen. DJ Trahan finished tied for 8th and Hunter Mahan finished tied for 10th. A nominally better showing by the US players than I had expected, given that Anthony Kim and Kenny Perry had off weeks. Mr. Kim in particular seemed played out after 3 putting the 18th hole from about 5 feet on Friday.
Colin Montgomery finished in 77th place at plus 15 for the week. Not the kind of showing that bodes well for a man who received a special exemption into next weeks PGA Tournament. European Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo can’t have been impressed, even with the history between the two men. I know I wasn’t impressed at all.
Congratulations to Mr. Singh on becoming the winningest international player in PGA Tour history with this his 32nd career victory. A well deserved victory, which makes me wonder how many he might have won could he but putt the ball in the hole from reasonably close range. A tip of the hat, and on to Oakland Hills and the blueberry growing state of Michigan.