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Winning the Western
2006 Cialis Western Open July 10, 2006 By SAL JOHNSON
Contributing Writer, GOLFONLINE Here are the key reasons why Trevor Immelman won by two strokes over Tiger Woods and Matthew Goggin at the Cialis Western Open contested July 6-9 at the Cog Hill Golf & Country Club's Dubsdread Course (7,326 yards, par 71) in Lemont, Illinois:
Immelman hit the most greens in regulation of anyone in the field with 57 for the week. The South African became only the fifth champion on the PGA Tour in 2006 to win while leading the greens hit category. The others were Tiger Woods at the Ford Championship at Doral, Stephen Ames at The Players Championship, Phil Mickelson at the BellSouth Classic and Chris Couch at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
Immelman made 20 birdies, more than anyone in the field, and played the par 4s the best at 6 under par.
Being tough and not giving up was another key to his win. After a poor start on Sunday in which Immelman played the first six holes in 1 over par he birdied three of his next four holes. Immelman then did what none of the other leaders was able to do -- play the last four holes in 2 under, including a great 32-foot putt on the final hole for a birdie. He shot 67 in the final round, and only two other players in the field shot lower than he did in the final round. The others at the top of the leaderboard after the third round didn't play well, including 54-hole leader Vijay Singh, who shot 73.
Immelman's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 40 of 56 (T10th)
Driving average: 299.5 (28th)
Greens hit: 57 of 72 (1st)
Putts: 118 (29.50 a rd) (T54th)
Putting breakdown:
0-putt greens: 0
1-putt greens: 27
2-putt greens: 44
3-putt greens: 1
Eagles: 0
Birdies: 20 (1st)
Scrambling: 9 of 15 (60.0%) (T36th)
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
Immelman was playing in the Western Open for the first time. The last player to win the Western in his first try was Jim Benepe, who just happened to be playing in his first PGA Tour event as well when he won in 1988.
Immelman is the 12th player since 1950 to win his first PGA Tour event at the Western Open, joining Hugh Royer (1970), Jim Jamieson (1972), Tom Watson (1974), Scott Simpson (1980), Scott Verplank (1985), D.A. Weibring (1987), Jim Benepe (1988), Russ Cochran (1991), Steve Stricker (1996), Joe Durant (1998) and Stephen Ames (2004).
Immelman won in his 57th PGA Tour start at the age of 26 and a half years old. He is the eighth different player in his 20s to win this year on the PGA Tour. The others are J.B. Holmes, (FBR Open), Rory Sabbatini (Nissan Open), Geoff Ogilvy (Accenture Match Play and U.S. Open), Luke Donald (Honda Classic), Aaron Baddeley (Verizon Heritage), Carl Pettersson (Memorial) and Ben Curtis (Booz Allen Classic).
Immelman will now be placed on the favorites list for the British Open. However, his wife is due to deliver the couple's first baby the week after the British Open, and even though Immelman plans on being at home this week, then traveling to Hoylake for the British, you never know if Mother Nature will put a stop to those plans.
With this being the last Western Open as we know it, it probably brings an end to the second-longest tournament on the PGA Tour. Started in 1899, this was the 103rd time the Western was played. Immelman is the 73rd different champion and the only one from South Africa.
You can E-mail Sal Johnson at sjohnson@golfonline.com.
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