A WEEK AGO Jhonattan Vegas was the victim of one the most abhorred rules on the PGA Tour, the made cut, did not finish. For him, the MDF meant he finished in a tie for 57th, cashed a cheque for nearly $12K and didn't have to (get to?) play the weekend. With the 36-hole finish on Sunday at the Sony Open in Hawaii, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. He's been very much the story of the week in the California desert, shooting five rounds in the 60s and -- in spite of a three-putt hiccup on the 90th hole -- outlasting Bill Hass and Gary Woodland in a playoff.
Where it was won and lost: Even in a playoff the deciding blow for a tournament doesn't always come during sudden death but that was not the case this week. Woodland appeared to have a serious advantage on the second playoff hole, finding the fairway with an iron after Vegas splashed his tee-shot in the water. But he made a loose swing and ended up in the green-side bunker and couldn't get up-and-down to make par. Vegas, meanwhile stuffed his side-hill third from the rough 167-yards out to under 15-feet. Lots of credit has to go out to him for a) rebounding from the disappointment of his three-putt on 18; b) playing a gutsy second shot that gave himself a chance to salvage par; and c) stepping up and making a clutch 12-foot, eight-inch putt to win his first PGA Tour title.
Shot(s) of the week
Stat of the week
For the week, Vegas notched 34 birdies and one eagle. After 72-holes he had 32, which is equal to the record for a 72-hole PGA Tour event held jointly by Mark Calcavecchia (Phoenix Open, 2001) and Paul Gow (B.C. Open, 2001).
How I did
John Rollins -- T72
My other four picks did not make the cut
Let's move on.
Trunk Slammers: abbreviated four-round cut edition
Brandt Snedeker -- Inconsistency plagued the Tennessee native all week. Take his first round for example -- two eagles, two birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey.
Bubba Watson -- One of the favourites heading into the tournament, Watson looked primed for a nice round after an opening round 66. He couldn't keep that up though and over the next four rounds he carded just eight birdies to go with seven bogeys.
Charley Hoffman -- It was his second round -- and particularly the end of it -- that made the difference for Hoffman. After notching a double bogey on his opening hole, four birdies had gotten him to two-under on the day and six-under for the tournament. He bogeyed his final two holes though and all his hard work was for naught.
Rory Sabbatini -- If it were a regular tournament with two rounds before the cut and he was able to use his second and fourth rounds, Sabbatini would not only have made the cut, he would be among the pack of contenders. He played those two rounds bogey free at nine-under par. His third round was a mess though -- two double bogeys, two bogeys and just two birdies.
Ryan Moore, Ricky Barnes, Scott Verplank -- All three withdraw. Barnes did so -- citing a back injury -- after the playing the first two rounds at nine-under.
Early look at next week
-Tiger returns (more on that later this week)
-Mickelson will play after playing in Abu Dhabi this week.
-I like: Camilo Villegas, Rickie Fowler, Brandt Snedeker, Robert Allenby.
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