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Hanging In There
2006 Bank of America Colonial May 22, 2006 By SAL JOHNSON
Contributing Writer, GOLFONLINE Here are the key reasons why Tim Herron, with a birdie on the second playoff to beat Richard S. Johnson, won the Bank of America Colonial, contested May 18-21 at the Colonial Country Club (7,054 yards, par 70) in Fort Worth, Texas:
Herron lives and dies with his putting, and a tip he received a couple of weeks ago from Mark McCann, a golf instructor from South Africa, may have helped him. "All he said was, 'Address it on the heel,'" said Herron, who headed into the Bank of America Colonial ranked 120th on the PGA Tour in putting average (putts taken per green hit in regulation). He improved on that at Colonial and finished the week 2nd in putting average. He was close to perfect from short range, making 57 of 58 putts from six feet in. He only had one three-putt green, and that came on the first day.
Another key for Herron was his play on Colonial's first seven holes. He was 13 under on them compared to 1 over on the remaining 11 holes. On the very scary "Horseshoe" holes (Nos. 3, 4 and 5) Herron was 2 under. He led the field in front-nine scoring average (31.75), while he was T58th in back-nine scoring average (35.25). Herron had 13 birdies without a bogey on his front-nine holes for the week.
Herron's play on the par 4s also was important. He was 10 under par on them, the best of anyone in the field and four better than the next best player.
One thing that Herron didn't do was fit the mold of past Colonial champions. From 1998-2005, all of the past champions finished in the top 10 in driving accuracy for the week. However, Herron was T46th. The last Colonial champion out of the top 10 in this category was David Frost, who was T38th in 1997.
Herron's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 30 of 56 (T46th)
Driving average: 308.6 (12th)
Greens hit: 50 of 72 (T24th)
Putts: 112 (28.00 a rd) (T7th)
Putting breakdown:
0-putt greens: 1
1-putt greens: 31
2-putt greens: 39
3-putt greens: 1
Eagles: 0
Birdies: 20 (T1st)
Scrambling: 15 of 22 (68.2%) (T26th)
Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.
What This Win Means
This was Herron's first win on the PGA Tour in seven years and two months. He played in 203 events in between his last win, at the 1999 Bay Hill Invitational, and this one.
Herron's previous three PGA Tour wins came at the 1996 Honda Classic, the 1997 LaCantera Texas Open and the 1999 Bay Hill Invitational. The $1.08 million he earned at Colonial is the largest check of his career, and the amount is larger than the total of his first three winner's checks put together.
Herron now has won four out of the eight times he either had the lead or a share of it going into the final round. He is the fifth straight Colonial winner to enter the final round with the lead or a share of the lead.
For the seventh year in a row, the Colonial champion posted four rounds in the 60s.
Herron is one of those rare birds on the PGA Tour. In an age when just about everyone works hard to be and look physically fit, Herron, nicknamed "Lumpy," does not. Also, while most pros live in a warm climate year round, he recently moved from Scottsdale, Arizona, back to Minnesota, where he grew up. But it works for him, as he has been a consistent factor since joining the PGA Tour in 1996. He has never finished worse than 67th on the money list, and has finished in the top 30 three times (1999, '03 and '05) with a best finish of 22nd in '99. He is now 20th on the 2006 money list.
Herron has some serious golf roots. His grandfather Carson played in the 1934 U.S. Open, and his father, also named Carson, played in the 1963 U.S. Open. His sister Alissa won the 1999 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur. Herron also has a USGA highlight, as he defeated Tiger Woods, then 15 years old, in the second round of the 1992 U.S. Amateur, making him one of only two players to defeat Woods in match play at the U.S. Amateur.
You can E-mail Sal Johnson at sjohnson@golfonline.com.
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