PGA Tour
Hyundai Tournament of Champions
Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii
The PGA Tour finally managed to finish the Hyundai Tournament of Champions Tuesday (yesterday), but they had to shorten the event to 54 holes. That’s where Dustin Johnson seems to shine. He’s the king of winning events shortened to 54 holes for some reason, having won the last three . With the win Dustin punches his ticket back to the 2014 Tournament of Champions, as the event is an invitation-only for players who have won in the previous year.
Johnson had a commanding five shot lead in the final round, but made it interesting with a couple of wayward drives. One was a lost ball, causing him to re-tee for his third shot from the tee, and the other found very deep native grass. Those two errant drives brought the nearest competitor, Steve Stricker, into the mix just one shot back. But Johnson made up for those mistakes with one chip-in for eagle on the 14th hole, putting him back up by three shots. He would make two more birdies coming home, cruising to a four shot win.
Wind
The big story of the week was obviously the winds. Several attempts through Friday and Sunday were made to start the tournament. Some players managed to get through about half the first round with some very high scores as a result of wind gusts up to 50mph. Ben Curtis started out one of the first rounds with two four-putts. Tour pros just don’t do that sort of thing and the PGA Tour knew it. That’s why the wiped all the holes played off the board and started fresh on Monday. Monday was a 36 hole marathon, with the final 18 or so being played on Tuesday.
