Stanford St. Jude Championship Wrapup
It was nine years between Woody Austin’s first and second wins. He only had to wait three years for his third PGA Tour victory.
Austin’s previous two wins came via come-from-behind efforts and his third was no different.
In 1995, Austin shot a final round 68 at the Buick Open to win in a playoff versus Mike Brisky. Austin went on to win Rookie of the Year honors in ’95 but could not backup his rookie season success as he meandered between the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour.
Austin entered the winner’s circle again in 2004 at another Buick event. He trailed 54-hole leader Fred Funk by three strokes but mounted a comeback as he shot 66 and defeated Tim Herron in a playoff to win the Buick Championship.
This past week Austin won without extra holes.
He started the day four strokes behind Adam Scott. Scott appeared to be in cruise control after three consecutive rounds in the 60s and held a three stroke lead over David Toms and Brian Gay entering the final round.
By the sixth hole Scott’s lead was gone.
Austin birdied the second hole to pull within three strokes of Scott then eagled the par-5 4th by holing his approach shot from 63 yards.
As Austin was heating up, Scott’s cruise control entering the final round was stymied.
He bogeyed the sixth hole and could not make a birdie on the front nine. The back nine was even worse for Scott. Three birdies were joined by four bogeys and a triple bogey to shoot 39 on the back and 75 overall.
Scott was in a similar position last week at The Memorial. Within shooting distance of KJ Choi, Scott faltered on the back nine and shot a 1-over 37 to finish in a tie for fifth place.
Scott’s 75 this week dropped him from the 54-hole leader to sole seventh place.
Austin went on to shoot a bogey-free 62 and cashed a check worth $1.08 million
This week the PGA Tour is in Oakmont, Pennsylvania for our national tournament. Check-in all week with hookedongolf.com for extended coverage of the US Open played at the historical Oakmont Country Club.
