Golf News and Notes: June 28, 2011
The Travelers Championship was the 27th event on the 37-event PGA Tour schedule. But, more importantly, there are just 10 events left before the playoffs start at The Barclays on August 25th.
The biggest move last week came when Fredrik Jacobson captured his first victory at the TPC River Highlands. But that's just some of what happened in golf last week.
A Costly Miss
A short miss on No. 18 left Ryan Moore one shot back of Jacobson. Moore hit his approach to the final hole into a bunker, then blasted out to four feet. He pushed that putt and finished second for the sixth time in his PGA Tour career. He's been a runner-up in six of his seven seasons as a pro.
"I guess just no excuses," Moore said. "Just didn't hit it where I meant to hit it and missed it."
Moore now heads to the AT&T National at Aronimink, where he finished second last year. Moore credited his good play this week—he shot 13-under 127 on the weekend—to a slight change in the grips of his clubs. Unbeknownst to him, they were slightly misaligned, causing him to set up with a closed clubface. Moore had his grips re-adjusted after the U.S. Open.
"My swing felt great and I just couldn't figure out what was going on," he said.
Doing It on Guts
Erik Compton came from two shots back to capture his first Nationwide event of his career with a final round 65. That's really nothing when you consider that Compton has had two heart transplants over the last 10 years. He has had to learn how to deal with the medicine, the fatigue and, of course, playing golf at the highest levels.
Compton's victory at the Mexico Open on Sunday insures him his PGA Tour card for the 2012 season. But for Compton, the victory says a lot more.
"I've played on sponsor invites, and people have always given me a hard time that I'm 'the heart guy,' " Compton said. "I got that monkey off my back. I'm a player now. "My lifelong goal has been to get to the PGA Tour and now I've done that."
Compton will be playing on a sponsor's invite in the AT&T National this week. It is clear his outlook when teeing it up will be a little different than in the past.
Rule Britannia
When the World Ranking came out on Monday, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy were in the top three spots. It's the first time in the 25-year history of the rankings that three British citizens occupy the top three spots.
"We've fed off each other's success," McIlroy told Sky Sports TV. "We saw Lee get to No. 1 in the world and Luke has been very consistent for the last two years. We're working hard to beat one another and strive to be better than everyone else."
Stuart Hall is editor of the Golf Press Association.
