Fuzzy Zoeller and Peter Jacobsen rallied to win the Champions Skins Game on Sunday, winning six skins and US$320,000 in alternate-shot play to beat defending champions Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson.
Zoeller and Jacobsen were each making their second appearances at the tournament and their first as a team.
"These guys in this thing are Hall of Famers. These are legends," Jacobsen said. "Once we got past the resumes on the first nine holes, we kind of settled in."
Nicklaus and Watson won eight skins and a record $270,000 in the first nine holes Saturday, but were shut out Sunday. Gary Player and Loren Roberts finished third with $180,000 and Arnold Palmer and Jay Haas were shut out.
"It was Jack's and Tom Watson's day yesterday. But today, it's another day. It's golf. It's a crazy game and things were just falling our way," Zoeller said. "Guys were missing putts and we had an opportunity to make a couple to get us into the positive category and it just blossomed from there."
After Zoeller-Jacobsen and Nicklaus-Watson halved the final in regulation, Zoeller tapped in for par on the first extra hole to take the final $100,000.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Greg Norman is back again
PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico - Playing crisply on a course he designed, Greg Norman was making his way up the leaderboard at the Mayakoba Golf Classic on Thursday, using a run of birdies to get into a tie for fifth.
Then his tournament rustiness kicked in.
Norman's concentration wavered when a clump of grass blew across his ball in a greenside bunker on his 16th hole. Instead of pausing, he hit anyway - and didn't make it out, the ball rolling back to nearly the same spot. Then it happened again. Norman wound up with a double bogey. Another concentration lapse on the next hole resulted in a three-putt from about 12 feet for a bogey.
After coming up inches short of a birdie on the final hole, Norman walked off with an even-par round of 70 - tied for 40th, along with 18 others.
''I pretty much let a good one get away,'' Norman said. ''You need the feel for tournament play and I don't have it. At the end of the day, I did hit some quality shots out there, so you know they're still in the system.''
This is Norman's second PGA Tour start of the year, but only his fifth in four years. He's trying to make the cut for the first time since the 2005 British Open.
''I would like to make the cut, obviously. I'm certainly not going to walk around here and be a ceremonial golfer,'' Norman said. ''At least I know I can get it to 3-, 4-, 5-under par around here. So we'll see what I can do tomorrow.''
The field is chasing John Merrick, who holed a roughly 50-foot putt on his final shot for a 6-under 64 and the lead all by himself.
''It was one of those days where everything kind of went your way,'' said Merrick, who shot a 64 in the first round of this event last year, too, but couldn't sustain it. His score went up each round and he finished tied for 48th.
Larry Mize, who beat Norman in a memorable playoff at the 1987 Masters, was among four players at 65.
John Daly, Tommy Gainey and Brian Gay shot 66s. Gainey, nicknamed ''Two Gloves,'' is in his first year on the tour, but already known to golf buffs because of his appearances on The Golf Channel's ''Big Break.''
Reigning champion Fred Funk may not be around to defend his title this weekend. Funk opened with a birdie, giving hope to chasing the course-record 62 he shot in the opening round of last year's tournament, but he followed with two bogeys and never made it back to par. He finished with a 3-over 73, tied for 95th.
Then his tournament rustiness kicked in.
Norman's concentration wavered when a clump of grass blew across his ball in a greenside bunker on his 16th hole. Instead of pausing, he hit anyway - and didn't make it out, the ball rolling back to nearly the same spot. Then it happened again. Norman wound up with a double bogey. Another concentration lapse on the next hole resulted in a three-putt from about 12 feet for a bogey.
After coming up inches short of a birdie on the final hole, Norman walked off with an even-par round of 70 - tied for 40th, along with 18 others.
''I pretty much let a good one get away,'' Norman said. ''You need the feel for tournament play and I don't have it. At the end of the day, I did hit some quality shots out there, so you know they're still in the system.''
This is Norman's second PGA Tour start of the year, but only his fifth in four years. He's trying to make the cut for the first time since the 2005 British Open.
''I would like to make the cut, obviously. I'm certainly not going to walk around here and be a ceremonial golfer,'' Norman said. ''At least I know I can get it to 3-, 4-, 5-under par around here. So we'll see what I can do tomorrow.''
The field is chasing John Merrick, who holed a roughly 50-foot putt on his final shot for a 6-under 64 and the lead all by himself.
''It was one of those days where everything kind of went your way,'' said Merrick, who shot a 64 in the first round of this event last year, too, but couldn't sustain it. His score went up each round and he finished tied for 48th.
Larry Mize, who beat Norman in a memorable playoff at the 1987 Masters, was among four players at 65.
John Daly, Tommy Gainey and Brian Gay shot 66s. Gainey, nicknamed ''Two Gloves,'' is in his first year on the tour, but already known to golf buffs because of his appearances on The Golf Channel's ''Big Break.''
Reigning champion Fred Funk may not be around to defend his title this weekend. Funk opened with a birdie, giving hope to chasing the course-record 62 he shot in the opening round of last year's tournament, but he followed with two bogeys and never made it back to par. He finished with a 3-over 73, tied for 95th.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)