And Tiger Takes the Lead for the Win at Memorial
And so it was written…
Tiger Woods did what he had to today, going 7 under in the final round (12 under total) and forcing home the fact that the Memorial Tournament was his for a fourth time. For all the Tiger-doubters, those who kept asking what was wrong when he placed in the top ten instead of winning, this win puts an ellipses in Tiger’s return to golf after knee surgery. A win next week at the US Open will be an exclamation point.
At the beginning of the final round, a 32-year-old rookie named Matt Bettencourt had a share of the lead with Mark Wilson. As the day went on, Jonathan Byrd made an eagle on #7 and a couple of birdies to go up by two strokes, but then geez, he just feel apart. But then if you want to talk about falling apart on the last two holes, let’s talk Davis Love. I hope he gets over that bogey-triple bogey before he tees off for his 36-hole qualifier for the US Open tomorrow.
Jim Furyk shot 3 under and almost coulda’ been a contender if he could have birdied out the last holes, or an eagle on the last, but he just couldn’t muster more than one birdie on 18. He took solo second at one stroke behind Woods. The tie for 3rd went to Byrd and Wilson at 8 under. Matt Kuchar shot 1 under to go to 6 under, which was good enough for a tie for 5th with Love and Bettencourt.
On the LPGA Tour, In-Kyung Kim took out Cristie and Kristy (Kerr and McPherson) to win the ‘09 State Farm Classic at 17 under. This was one of those tournaments where you had to go low every day to stay on top, and Kim was only hovering in the top 20 when she shot a 3 or 4 under. It wasn’t until she went 7 under on Sunday that put her ahead of Rounds 1 and 2 leader Se Ri Pak, who shot 6 under in the final round. Paula Creamer also shot 7 under on Sunday and finished in a tie for 6th at 14 under. Michelle Wie redeemed herself a bit today, after shooting a 77 on Saturday, and shot 3 under.
In Wales, Jeppe Huldahl held on to the lead to win the Celtic Manor Wales Open. Yep. Maybe I should start covering the Nationwide Tour, but then it will be a bunch of guys I’ve never heard of, just like this week on the European Tour. Ah well.
golf, PGA, LPGA, European Tour, Memorial Tournament, Tiger Woods, Matt Bettencourt, Mark Wilson, Jonathan Byrd, Davis Love, Jim Furyk, Matt Kuchar, In-Kyung Kim, Cristie Kerr, Kristy McPherson, Paula Creamer, Se Ri Pak, Michelle Wie
