Winning Weekend for the Perfect Swings of Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen

Post by Sports Writer, Derek Clements

WHEN you have Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott going head to head down the stretch in any golf tournament it is highly probable that the outcome is going to be decided on the greens.

And so it proved at the Honda Classic. These are two of the best ball strikers in world golf but both have suffered horribly on the greens. In this event they led the statistics in driving accuracy and distance and greens hit in regulation, but both looked uncomfortable on the greens, even though both men holed more than their fair share.

There was no better example of this than at the 16th hole. Scott was comfortably on the green in two, Garcia just short of the putting surface. The Spaniard pitched to 10 feet and his par putt never looked like holing it. His effort ran five feet by but he did at least hole the return to drop to eight under. Scott left his first putt was short and did the same with his attempt to save par. He was nine under, leading the Spaniard by one.

The 17th is a treacherous par three with water in front of the green. This time, Garcia missed way left and faced a near-impossible pitch from thick rough. He was unable to get his par and went to the 18th two behind.

The feature of Garcia's round was that no matter how hard he tried, when it mattered most he simply couldn't buy a putt. However, he knew that if he could find an eagle on the par-five 18th then he might still be able to snatch a dramatic victory.

Both men split the fairway with drives in excess of 300 yards. Scott laid up and Garcia, going for the green in two, pulled his approach when he was trying to hit a high fade. Game over. Or was it? The Spaniard hit a poor pitch but then holed his birdie putt. However, Scott safely holed out for par, giving him his 12th victory on the PGA Tour.

Scott was delighted with his performance.  "I am so pleased to get this win," he said. "It felt like hard work out there and Sergio didn't give me an inch. I knew my game was there and I hit some great shots at the right time. I holed a 20-footer at the first and that settled me down for the day, then I birdied the fifth and was away and running."

"It was tough today on a tough golf course," Garcia said. "My swing is nowhere near where I want it to be but Adam played great and deserved his victory."

Rickie Fowler, who began the event at PGA National with a pair of 66s, closed out with rounds of 74 and 71 as he struggled to find his rhythm. There was a good performance by Graeme McDowell, of Northern Ireland, who finished four under par and moved into the top 10 in the FedEx Cup standings.

The chances of Justin Thomas disappeared at the treacherous par-three 17th hole, when he put his six iron into a bunker at the back, barely got out of the sand and then took three more to get down. He  finished five under par, tied for third with Blayne Barber.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJSRzqBN0GI

ISPS Handa Perth International

FINALLY! Louis Oosthuizen, the former Open champion who is blessed with one of the most beautiful swings in golf is a winner again. But boy did he make it difficult for himself.

Incredibly, his victory in the ISPS Handa Perth International is his first in two years. It seems hard to believe that a golfer of his quality has spent so long knocking on the door. In recent weeks he has had good opportunities to win in South Africa, Qatar and Malaysia but had developed an unfortunate habit of throwing in at least one bad round when the chips were down.

And, in picking up his eighth success on the European Tour, he very nearly did so again. He began the final day with a three-shot lead and ended up winning by a single stroke in a nerve-shredding finish on a fabulous golf course.

Lake Karrinyup Country Club provided a terrific test and Oosthuizen, who was caught on the first nine, eventually finished with a 71 for a 16-under-par winning total, one ahead of a resurgent Alexander Levy.

Local favourite Jason Scrivener was third, with Grégory Bourdy and Peter Uihlein a further shot back on 13 under. It represented a good week for Uilhein, a former Rookie of the Year who has been struggling with his game. Oosthuizen's success makes it six in 11 tournaments for South African golfers this season.

"I missed the greens on the second and third and was a little rattled after that but I settled in nicely and went back to just hitting greens and giving myself opportunities," he said. "I had a good stretch seven through to 12 and settled myself there and left myself with a vicious first putt on the last but luckily I had three.

"I love Perth and the golf course. It's somewhere I would love to come back to. It's a great course to play. This is a great start building up towards Augusta. I'll take a lot out of this week and things that we've done.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9WzhZoek-Y

Oosthuizen saw his three-shot overnight lead quickly cut to one thanks to a bogey on the second as Scrivener and Uihlein made early birdies, with France's Romain Wattel holing a brilliant putt for eagle on the third.

Scrivener briefly had a share of the lead as he got up-and-down from a bunker on the seventh but Oosthuizen did the same thing minutes later to get his nose back in front.

That birdie seemed to spur the 33 year old on and he put his tee-shot on the par three next to seven feet and rolled in the putt to get to 16 under.

That was enough for a three-shot lead when Scrivener left his par putt on the ninth short but Uihlein, after brushing the hole on numerous occasions, got one to drop for a birdie and the gap was two at the turn.

Scrivener, Uihlein and Wattel all saw their challenges fade down the back nine and when Oosthuizen put his tee shot to ten feet on the 12th, the lead was four shots.

Levy hit a brilliant second into the 18th to set up a birdie and sign for a 66, meaning Oosthuizen had a two-shot lead to protect up the stretch, which he managed with a bogey on the last. Bourdy barely made the 36-hole cut but went 65-66 over the weekend. Wattel finished at 12 under, a shot clear of Brett Rumford.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQp2Zb7YwQQ