Sunday Wrapup

Scott Hoch hangs on to win $630,000, bogeying the 72nd hole but still winning by 1 stroke over Brett Quigley and Scott Simpson ($308,000 each). Matt Kuchar had a hot final round 68 and climbed well into the money (T17, $54,250). Full results.

Of the 79 players to finish Sunday, only Hoch had four rounds in the 60s (68-68-67-69, 272, 16 under). Korea's K.J. Choi and Sweden's Hjerstedt both turn in T4 performances and take $131,950 each. Berganio, Kelly, and Maggert also make the T4 mark.

Putting report:

The weekend field was 79, cut from a starting field of 156. The range of total putts ran from 100 (Fred Funk) to 118 (Frank Nobilo). As usual, the range is approximately a spread of 20 putts. This is a very consistent spread in total putts from tournament to tournament. Also as usual, it takes a good combination of ball striking and putting to win or to make the top 10. In this case Hoch was the top ball striker, with 53 greens in regulation (1st).

With ties, 11 players finished T9 or higher -- the top 10 finishers.

Most guys made the top 10 mostly on the strength of putting (Brett Quigley, finsihed T2 with 44 GIRs (T35) and 102 putts (T7); Scott Simpson, finished T2 with 44 GIRs (T35) and 104 putts (T13); David Berganio, finished T4 with 40 GIRs (T61) and 103 putts (T11); Olin Browne, finished T9 with 43 GIRs (T45) and 101 putts (T3); and Mike Sposa, finished T12 with 44 GITs (T35) and 102 putts (T7)).

Others made the top 10 mostly by accurate approach play (Scott Hoch, finished 1st with T1 in GIRs / T42 in putts; Jerry Kelly, finished T4 with T6 in GIRs / T33 in putts; Kaname Yokoo, finished T9 with 3rd in GIRs / T61 in putts; Jim Furyk, finished T9 with T6 in GIRs / T36 in putts.

The rest in the top 10 had a strong COMBINATION of GIRs and total putts (KJ Choi, finished T4 with 48 GIRs (T10) and 106 putts (T26); Gabriel Hjerstedt, finished T4 with 47 GIRs (T14) and 105 putts (T20); Jeff Maggert, finished T4 with 47 GIRs (T14) and 104 putts (T13).

The low-man for total putts in the field, Fred Funk, missed a lot of greens, hitting only 34 of 72 (T78th). That's why he had so few putts -- chipping on close. He finished T54. In the opposite direction, Frank Nobilo tied Hoch for GIRs with 53 (T1), but was last in putts (118 -- 79th) and finished T29, about twice as high as Funk. When all is said and done, GIRs are more important than total putts (Hoch finished 1st with 53 GIRs (1st) but 109 putts -- only fair at T42 of 79), but the combination is really where it's at. Full stats.

Saturday Notes

This week the Show is in my hometown, Greensboro, NC. The Spring vegetation is peaking now, with dogwoods and azaleas everywhere highlighting the verdant fairways and pristine greens set among the hardwoods of piedmont North carolina. The weather has been great, too -- with highs in the mid-70s. Perfect conditions for golf.

The field this week has a few marquee players (Sutton, Furyk, O'Meara), some wonderful veteran players (Sandy Lyle, Andy Bean), and a couple of hotshot young turks (Aaron Baddeley and Matt Kuchar). The greatest thing to watch thru Saturday has been US Open champ Scott Simpson's wonderful play! He led the field Thursday, and is only two shots off the lead after Friday and Saturday, so he's really cooking now! I'm betting he finishes in the top 3.

A good story has been UT's Omar Uresti, here on a sponsors exemption. He pounded his competitors and was in second place after Friday. he faded a bit yesterday, but he has a lot to be proud of here.

Mike Sposa is a name to be reckoned with. He's the leader after Friday, and sits in second one shot behind Scott Hoch after the third round. Watch out for this guy! Another young gun is Garrett Willis from East Tennessee State University, who notched his first Tour victory in his very first try! Holy cow! $540,000! He comes here ranked 35th in putting, and uses a mid-sized putter like Vijay. (Lot's of guys are riding this bandwagon at present, including Bill Glasson.)

Great putting and great approach play wins on the PGA Tour and that's no exception this go-round. Olin Browne turned in a spectacular putting performance of 22 total putts, and this has vaulted him into the top five. Fantastic job!

The field features many of the Tour's top putters, including number-1 ranked Jim Furyk, and other top-five putters Skip Kendall, Steve Stricker, and Glen Day. Other top putters here include Simpson, Mark Calcavecchia, Stewart Appleby, Craig Canada, Geoff Ogilvy, Scott McCarron, and Kevin Sutherland. Scott Hoch, leader after three rounds, is also a good putter now, ranked 31st. On the other hand, since Greensboro is skipped by 33 of the top-50 money-list pros, there's a lot of room for pros from the 60-125 and below range on the money list. Their putting stats hover in the 100th to 200th range.

It's now a certainty that Greensboro will give Matt Kuchar (left) and Aussie phenom Aaron Baddeley their first tastes of PGA Tour lettuce! Great job, you guys... you both look nice and relaxed, and we in Greensboro really appreciate the friendliness you've displayed. We hope you come back every time! And it really looks like Baddeley can win -- he's 5 shots back in fifth going into the final round, after a stellar 66 on Saturday. And Kuchar has the makings of one of the greats from America. He has Palmer's youthful charisma and love for the game. (So does Baddeley, by the way!)

Pre-round, post-round, Tour pros hone their putting on the clock. It's a little odd to see these guys using such a similar stroke technique, which is obviously not optimal. Almost to a man, they all have their foreheads too high for good eye use, the putter is deliberatley placed out away from them, so that the hands don't hang beneath the shoulders and instead hoist the putter "out there" with steady forearm tension, the eyes are inside the ball too far, the targeting procedures from the address position are getting only about 70% of the players' natural capacity for accurate, vivid targeting, and the tempo is too fast with something of a "scoot" stroke in the thru-stroke. And boy does it show! They all hit 6 footers over and over, and don't make more than one-third of them! Then on the long putts of 20 to 30 feet, they don't really try to target well, but use three balls and try to target by trial and error. I've watched for hours, and they don't make 10% of these 20- to 30-footers. These guys really could do a lot better. Sure, they are better than non-pros, but they are not really close to their potential in putting.

Scott Simpson, Skip Kendall, Steve Stricker and Stuart Appleby look best on the clock. Matt Kuchar has a very wide stance that hurts his stroke but helps his targeting. Sandy Lyle has the nicest touch for lagging. Shigeki Murayama and Estaban Toledo win the woodshedder award. Aaron Baddeley wins the "golf is great fun" award, with Robin Freeman close behind.

Some interesting sidelights: The International angle. This week must be international week, because Kaname Yokoo of Japan is in 2nd place and the wire stories are flooding Japan. If he can win, he'll be the first from his country since Isao Aoki to win on the PGA Tour. The big gun Shigeki Murayama faded with a fluttering flatstick. Even though he's 49th in the money so far this year, he's 104th in putting. Same problem: poor targeting and setup. Mexico's Estaban Toledo has done great, steadily climbing the leaderboard. He's a real good grinder on the putting green. Gabriel Hjerstedt of Sweden turned in a fantastic 66 Saturday and is in the hunt. He has shown steady improvement over the years, without much backsliding at all, so he's on track to win 7 or eight Tour events over the next five years. Canadian Ian Leggat, now located in Scottsdale AZ, is doing very well here. And Stephen Ames, who married in Canada, is in the top 10 too! He's developing very nicely as a confident Tour pro -- even a little cocky! And Italy's second Constantino Rocca, Emanuele Canonica is here, and doing pretty well. Ireland's Richie Coughlan had his bag toted by my pal Sam, but he just missed the cut. Even so, he's improving, even if he was a Clemson star! And Per-Ulrick Johansson had a really fine round Friday, and will make a fat check. Former GGCC Champ Frank Nobilo, who won his first US event here three years ago, started out strong but has faded since. Still, he seems to be working hard, so he'll probably make some dough this year. And the first Korean on the PGA Tour K.J. Choi, is certainly making his mark.