Crowne Plaza Invitational At Colonial Wrapup
It took Rory Sabbatini 19 holes to do it...he finally smiled.
Partially released from the drama of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, Sabbatini stood to the side of the 18th green after he made his 20 foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole. He jokingly laughed with his caddy, Kevin Fasbender, knowing he could not do anything more.
But, he still had to sweat out Bernhard Langer’s bid to continue the playoff after Jim Furyk failed to convert his birdie chance. Langer was the closest of three playoff contenders, hitting his approach to ten feet. The 49-year-old could not extend the playoff and Sabbatini achieved validation.
Winning almost always brings validation.
Sabbatini likes to speak his mind and that outspokenness usually brings a lot of scrutiny on a player. A few weeks ago at THE PLAYERS Championship, Sabbatini was critical of the “new Tiger” believing Tiger Woods was as beatable as ever. This rubbed some people the wrong way seeing as how Woods has as many British Opens (3) as Sabbatini had career wins at the time of his comments.
Watching how he competed and won this week, Sabbatini may have validated his comments. Maybe now he can challenge Mount Tiger.
Sabbatini started the final round in a four-way tie atop the leaderboard at 11-under par with Langer, Furyk and Scott Verplank after his third round and season low 62. To many Colonial Country Club purists, it seemed that Sabbatini did not have the correct game plan to win. He hits the ball long and misses many fairways. But he made it work.
All through the tournament Sabbatini was bombing the ball off the tee, rarely opting for anything else than his driver. This game plan forced him to play from the rough rather than following the road so many other Colonial champs had paved by navigating the twisting and turning fairways of Colonial. But he made it work.
Saturday saw Sabbatini shoot a 62 by only hitting eight fairways. How did he shoot 62? He had 19 putts--for the whole round.
In the final round, he hit only seven fairways and had 12 more putts. How did he shoot 67 and win? He hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation.
Each weekend round he made his game plan work the only way he knows how: clutch shots fueled by emotion.
On the par-3 13th, Sabbatini dropped a birdie putt to regain a share of the lead at 14-under par with Langer allowing for a fist-pump.
On 17, it looked like Sabbatini’s run-and-gun mentality was going to get the best of him when he pushed his drive through the fairway and into the right tree line. But he guided his approach through the trees to save par.
Sabbatini saved his best for last. With Langer only ten feet from the cup on the first playoff hole, Sabbatini’s chances looked bleak. But with one stroke of his putter, he regained momentum. As his 20 foot putt drew closer to the hole, he walked it in with the utmost confidence as it sank in the cup.
This week the PGA Tour is in Dublin, Ohio for the Memorial Tournament. Check-in with hookedongolf.com for updates and results.
