Final-round notebook – THE PLAYERS Championship
Tiger Woods, 71-69-70-73—283 (-5)Tiger Woods’ eighth-place finish is his best outing at THE PLAYERS since he won in 2001. He now has four top-10 finishes at the Tournament (T10-1999, 2-2000, 1-2001, 8-2009).
Tiger Woods has not missed a cut in 12 attempts at THE PLAYERS, with Sunday’s eighth-place finish snapping a string of six consecutive appearances at the Tournament without a top-10 finish (dating back to his win in 2001). The six consecutive events without notching a top-10 finish represents Woods’ longest streak at any single event in his career.
Sunday represented the 22nd time Tiger Woods has entered the final round five shots off the lead. In those events, he came back to win twice (2000 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, 2009 Arnold Palmer Invitational).
By the numbers: Woods is now eight of 21 (38 percent) when entering the final round 2nd or T2…He is now eight of 19 (42 percent) when entering the final round 2nd or T2 and playing in the final group… Highest score when in the final group and not leading (77 at 1998 Bay Hill Invitational)…Highest score when in the final group and leading (73 at 2008 U.S. Open).
Woods has posted 18 of 20 rounds at par or better in 2009, with his only over-par efforts coming Sunday with a 1-over 73 and during the third round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (71).
Henrik Stenson, 68-69-73-66—276 (-12)
Making his 44th career PGA Tour start, Henrik Stenson posted the only bogey-free round on Sunday with a 6-under 66 to capture THE PLAYERS Championship by four strokes over Ian Poulter (70). At 12-under 276, Stenson steps into the winner’s circle for the second time on the PGA Tour (2007 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship).
Stenson’s win comes in his fourth start at THE PLAYERS (2006-T3, 2007-T23, 2008-T10, 2009-1). He has now made the cut in all five starts on Tour this season, including a previous season-best T3 at the Shell Houston Open.
International players have now won five of the last eight titles at THE PLAYERS, including Henrik Stenson (2009), Sergio Garcia (2008), Stephen Ames (2006), Adam Scott (2004) and Craig Perks (2002). Stenson is the ninth international player to win the Tournament (10 overall victories), but the first from Sweden. He is also just the third European-born player to win THE PLAYERS, joining Sergio Garcia (2008) and Sandy Lyle (1987).
Stenson is just the second of the last five winners of THE PLAYERS who has failed to lead or tie for the lead in greens in regulation (T12/49 of 72) and driving accuracy (T11/41 of 56). Sergio Garcia (2008), Stephen Ames (2006) and Fred Funk (2005) all ranked either first or T1 in both greens in regulation and driving accuracy when they won.
Third-Round Leader Notes
Third-round leader Alex Cejka struggled on Sunday, posting a 7-over 79 and a season-best T9 finish. His previous best showing in 2009 were identical T13 finishes at the Honda Classic, Puerto Rico Open and the Verizon Heritage. Cejka has now failed to win in both attempts with at least a share of the 54-hole lead (2001 British Open-T13, 2009 THE PLAYERS-T9).
The third-round leader/co-leader has won 14 of 19 events (74 percent) on Tour this season. Last year, the third-round leader/co-leader only won 22 of 46 events (48 percent). The five players that have come from behind to win this season are listed below:
Tournament Winner/54-hole Standing 54-hole Leader
Buick Invitational Nick Watney/3 (5 strokes back) John Rollins
Transitions Championship Retief Goosen/2 (1 stroke back) Tom Lehman
Arnold Palmer Invitational Tiger Woods/2 (5 strokes back) Sean O’Hair
Quail Hollow Championship Sean O’Hair/T5 (3 strokes back) Zach Johnson
THE PLAYERS Henrik Stenson/T2 (5 strokes back) Alex Cejka
Since THE PLAYERS moved to TPC Sawgrass in 1982, the third-round/co-leader has gone on to win just 11 of 28 times (39 percent).
Miscellaneous Player Notes
Geoff Ogilvy (T22) maintains the top spot in the FedExCup standings for the 11th consecutive week, with 1,431 points. He is followed closely by Phil Mickelson (1,377 points).
Ian Poulter has now finished runner-up three times in his career on Tour (2-2009 THE PLAYERS, 2-2008 British Open, T2-2006 WGC-American Express Championship).
John Mallinger (T3) has now finished a career-best third or T3 six times in his career (3-2007 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, T3-2007 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, 2007 Turning Stone Resort Championship, 2008 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, 2008 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, 2009 THE PLAYERS).
The round of the day was turned in by champion Henrik Stenson and Aussie Aaron Baddeley with matching 6-under 66s. The lowest final round in PLAYERS Championship history is an 8-under 64, posted by Fred Couples (1996) and Davis Love III (2003).
Vijay Singh posted a 5-under 67 to finish T9, just his third sub-70 round this season. It represents his best round since a final-round 63 in winning the 2008 Deutsche Bank Championship.
Ponte Vedra Beach resident Jim Furyk’s T5 finish is his third top-5 finish in his last six starts at THE PLAYERS (T4-2003, T3-2006, T5-2009).
Stephen Ames finished T49 this week, his worst showing in seven made cuts here (11 starts). Ames entered the week with T17 or better finishes in five out of the last seven years, including a win in 2006 and a runner-up effort in 2002.
Brian Davis (T5) became the 55th player in Tournament history to post four sub-par rounds in one Tournament, posting rounds of 71-69-71-71. Retief Goosen (2006) had been the latest to do so.
Daniel Chopra (T14) led the field this week with 22 birdies. Fuzzy Zoeller holds the Tournament record with 26 birdies in his runner-up effort in 1994.
Boo Weekley withdrew during the final round (on No. 11) with a left shoulder injury.
THE PLAYERS has yet to have a player win in back-to-back seasons, with defending champion Sergio Garcia recording a T22 finish this week. The best finish by a defending champion at THE PLAYERS is T5, recorded by Jack Nicklaus in 1977, Tom Kite in 1990 and Hal Sutton in 2001.
Sergio Garcia was one of six past champions of THE PLAYERS who made the cut this week, including:
Tiger Woods, (2001) 71-69-70-73—283 (-5) 8th
Sergio Garcia (2008) 71-73-73-69—286 (-2) T22
Justin Leonard (1998) 70-69-75-73—287 (-1) T32
Stephen Ames (2006) 70-71-75-74—290 (+2) T49
Phil Mickelson (2007) 73-71-71-76—291 (+3) T55
Fred Funk, (2005) 73-71-78—222 (+6) MDF
Local favorite Jeff Klauk, with a T14 finish, had the best showing of the 19 first-time participants at THE PLAYERS this week. Nine first-time participants (two of which are rookies) made the 36-hole cut at this year’s PLAYERS Championship. Here’s how the first-timers fared this week:
Jeff Klauk* 71-72-71-71—285 (-3) T14
Scott Piercy* 71-72-74-69—286 (-2) T22
Jason Dufner 67-70-77-73—287 (-1) T32
Michael Letzig 71-68-74-76—289 (+1) T45
Brad Adamonis 67-76-74-74—291 (+3) T55
Martin Kaymer 71-73-69-78—291 (+3) T55
Chez Reavie 70-72-75-75—292 (+4) T60
Jeev M. Singh 68-74-76-76—294 (+6) T64
Martin Laird 71-72-76—219 (+3) MDF
*=denotes PGA Tour rookie
In the 35-year history of THE PLAYERS, Jack Nicklaus (1974), Hal Sutton (1983) and Craig Perks (2002) are the only players to win the Tournament in their first attempt, with Sutton and Perks doing so at TPC Sawgrass. In the history of THE PLAYERS at TPC Sawgrass, 19 players have enjoyed top-10 finishes in their first PLAYERS starts, with Jeff Klauk (T14) barely missing out in his bid to be the 20th such player.
TPC Sawgrass Notes
The par-72 TPC Sawgrass yielded a 72.690 average for the week, with the par-4 14th playing the toughest (4.353) and the par-5 16th the easiest (4.622).
The famous island green par 3 No. 17 played to an average of 3.025 this year. The last time the hole yielded an under-par average was 1997 when it played to an average of 2.952.
A total of six balls were hit in the water off of the tee on the 17th hole on Sunday. Here is a breakdown of balls hit in the water during regulation since 2003
Of the 28 winners since THE PLAYERS moved to TPC Sawgrass in 1982, only two players have bogeyed the par-3 17th hole on Sunday (Steve Elkington-1991, Fred Funk-2005). The eventual champions have combined for 17 pars (including Stenson on Sunday), nine birdies and two bogeys during the final round at the famed hole.
Sunday’s scoring average was 73.457. Here is a look at final-round scoring averages at THE PLAYERS since 2004:
Final-round scoring average since 2004
Year Avg. Sub-par Sub-70
2009 73.457 20 9
2008 75.176 8 2
2007 71.266 45 19
2006 75.378 11 3
2005 76.512 10 4
2004 73.470 22 8
Stat leaders for the week:
Driving Distance Bubba Watson 308.5 yards
Driving Accuracy Jeff Klauk 45 of 56 (80.36 %)
Greens in Regulation Paul Casey, Brian Davis 52 of 72 (72.2 %)
Putts per Round Luke Donald 25.75 per round
The Birdies for Charity program annually leads up to THE PLAYERS Championship and allows the community to support local charities through tracking the exciting, high-level of play during the Tournament. Similar to a walk-a-thon, Birdies for Charity participants make a pledge to a local organization for each birdie made by professional golfers during THE PLAYERS. A record 68 local organizations are participating this year, up from 51 in 2008 and a strong indication that the generosity of First Coast residents will allow for a record fundraising effort.
First-round birdies: 548 = $58,485.60
Second-round birdies: 486 = $56,892.20
Third-round birdies: 251 = $50,852.70
Final-round birdies: 217 = $49,978.90
Total birdies: 1,502 = $216,209.40
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