Weekly Tour Wrap-Up: 20th Feb 2012

With the first World Golf Championship of 2012 just around the corner, week seven of the new season served up a treat, albeit in the latter stages of proceedings.

On the European Tour, a controversial ruling, facilitated by the testimony of certain television viewers, ended a young Scotsman’s chances of a maiden victory.

In America, there were no Scotsmen to be seen as two former major champions and the 2011 Fed-Ex Cup champion embarked upon a play-off that only a deluded individual would have predicted thirty minutes previously.

The European Tour's recent foray into India, perhaps unsurprisingly, hasn't attracted the strength of field that we have been accustomed to in recent weeks, something that will be of absolutely no concern to Jbe Kruger. The South African won for the first time on the European Tour at the Avantha Masters in New Delhi.

The PGA Tour saw its second play-off this season as 2011 PGA Champion Keegan Bradley and last week’s winner Phil Mickelson joined Bill Haas in added holes, ensuring that an American would win for the seventh time in seven events in 2012. Bradley and Mickleson sensationally birdied the 72nd hole - which had only yielded six birdies all day - to force a play-off, only to be beaten by Haas, who rolled in a forty-footer to be crowned champion of the Northern Trust Open.

Jubilation for Jbe in India

Jbe Kruger shot a final round 69 to win the Avantha Masters by two shots from Marcel Siem and Jorge Campillo. Marcus Fraser and Jose Manuel Lara were a further shot back of the fourteen-under-par total set by the South African at the DLF Golf and Country Club.

In truth, the Avantha Masters is one of the weakest tournament of the year in terms of field, but it has a vital role to play in promoting the sport in the increasingly golf-savvy nation of India.

Spaniards are performing well on tour this year and nothing changed last week, with Lara playing well and Alejandro Canizares leading alongside Peter Whiteford after opening 66s.   

Canizares was overtaken during round two by Whiteford, who was in the sizeable pack - including Siem and Jean-Baptiste Gonnet – one behind Kruger after 54-holes. Unfortunately for Whiteford, disaster was about to strike.

He had been informed after his third round that officials were to take a look at video footage, after a number of viewers had called in claiming they had seen his ball move on the 17^th fairway.

Whiteford, who appeared to take the correct steps (asking playing partners, caddies and the camera man if his ball had moved - they all said it hadn't) was disqualified by chief referee John Parimore after three holes on Sunday for signing for an incorrect Saturday score. The debate will rage on regarding the legitimacy of a disqualification based on viewer intervention, but as far as I'm concerned, it isn't right. Exactly the same events could have happened to a different player who wasn't being filmed, resulting in no penalty or disqualification.

It is a contentious issue, but no one can quite understand why it took officials until Sunday afternoon to notify Whiteford of his predicament. Let’s hope the young man can follow the example of Kyle Stanley and bounce back quickly from adversity.  

The tournament still needed winning, and it was Kruger who duly obliged. He turned in 33 to open up a two shot lead, and with no one making a significant move on the back side, his homeward nine of level-par 36 was enough to secure a much deserved victory.

Classy Haas wins Northern Trust Open

Bill Haas birdied the second play-off hole to fend off Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley and win the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club.

Riviera showed why it is ranked as one of the best courses in the States by presenting the players with untold problems throughout the week. It was refreshing to see some of the best players in the world really struggle on a course that, with a few slight changes, could become a candidate for inclusion on the U.S. Open roster.

Phil Mickelson continued where he left off at Pebble Beach by opening with a five-under-par 67 to lead Hunter Mahan and JB Holmes by one after round one. It is fantastic to see Holmes competing again after brain surgery last year.

Mickelson maintained his lead after 36 and 54 holes, albeit joined atop the leaderboard by Keegan Bradley after three rounds. They would go into Sunday with some big names chasing, including Dustin Johnson, Bill Haas, Jonathan Byrd and 2011 victor Aaron Baddeley.

Holmes and Bo Van Pelt both started with eagles at the par-5 first, arguably the only easy hole on the course, but Mickelson also started well to be nine under for the tournament after five holes. He stumbled on eight and nine, however, giving Bryd and Haas a share of the lead on the front side. Bradley had fought back after a terrible start to reach the turn in seven under.

The back nine was yielding very few birdies, and Haas’ birdie at 10 gave him the outright lead. Everyone was struggling, except for Sergio Garcia, who started the day so far behind the lead that he teed off from the 10^th. He played his first nine holes in six under par, including an eagle 2 at 16, and carded an overall 64, the best of the week.

Meanwhile, Haas’ birdie at 17 restored his one shot advantage on seven-under-par after Mickelson and Bradley both bogeyed 15. Neither could find a 4 at the par-5 17^th, meaning a birdie on the difficult 18th was needed to extend the event. Remarkably, Mickelson knocked in a 30-footer for birdie down the hill and Bradley followed suit, sending the gallery into rapturous applause and the tournament into extra holes.

All three players parred the 18^th, and three indifferent tee shots at the driveable par-4 10^th set up treacherous second shots. Haas played safe, finding the green but some 40 feet from the hole. Mickelson’s pitch fell into the bunker behind the flag, and Bradley played a miraculous bunker shot but was unable to keep his ball on the putting surface. Par was looking a good score until Haas holed his 40-footer for birdie, and neither Mickleson nor Bradley could hole their third. Haas had prevailed.

Next week, the first World Golf Championship of 2012 takes place, with Luke Donald defending the WGC-Accenture World Matchplay at the long Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at in Arizona.