Playoff confusion on PGA Tour
Overtime, extra innings, sudden death, or a playoff for a golf title can be hectic, but golf may have one of the more distinct ways to break a tie.
The playoff this Monday morning (3/5) for the Honda Classic, had a lot of drama and stories that unfolded to create it, but to see it, those of us on the west coast had to get up at 5:30AM! Did you? I did!
It appeared to be over on Sunday afternoon when Boo Weekley (named for Boo-boo Bear and close friend of Yogi Bear) birdied 17 to break a 4-way tie, and then hit the middle of the green on 18 on this third shot. Boo needed just two putts to win his first PGA title. His first putt was 3 feet short leaving a bit of a slider. Johnny Miller would say that newcomers to this situation would get tense and leave the club face open and miss right. Boo must have channeled that thought and proceeded to power it by the left side of the hole, leaving another 3-footer just to get into the playoff. He steadied his nerves and knocked it in to advance to the playoff.
Mark Wilson made a couple of amazing putts to stay in the game and on the first playoff hole he had to hit his ball from the mud flats and make a long par putt to stay alive. Two South Americans, Jose Coceres who lost last week in a playoff in Mexico to Fred Funk and Camilo Villegas, who many feel will be a star in the future, made pars to join Weekly and Wilson for the Monday extension.
Shortly after the initial playoff began, it was noted they would only have enough daylight left for one hole. The PGA-tour elected to use the 18th hole, the longest on the course, and full of trouble. As the 4-players tied #18, it was decided the playoff would continue Monday at 8:30 eastern time and be shown on the Golf Channel. Imagine the going’s on behind the scenes on this?
Gone were golf analyst aces Johnny Miller and Roger Maltbie, which brought Bob Murphy to the 18th tower and Mike Ritz to the ground position.
The first-hole play was sloppy, with only Coceres and Mark Wilson saving par. Coceres made an amazing up and down from a long bunker shot. The win came for Wilson at the next hole sinking a 10-footer and then watching Coceres miss from just a bit closer.
Playoffs are tough for the set-up in golf as you bring back TV, volunteers, driving range balls, and locker room attendants and schedules get changed. It was fun to watch, even though it was at 5:30AM. I wonder if Johnny and Roger got up early to see it?
