Week 29 Approach Shots: Buick Open
By PGATOUR.COM Staff
With two consecutive runner-up finishes at the Buick Open, Woody Austin will be looking to break through and win the Grand Blanc, Mich. tournament for a second time. Austin first won at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club in 1995 but came up a stroke short in both 2007, losing to Brian Bateman, and in 2008, to Kenny Perry.
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Perry, who earned his second Buick Open title with his win in 2008 (to go with his victory in 2001) is unable to defend his title this week. He has returned home to Kentucky to be with his mother, who is suffering from cancer. In the field for the first time since 2006 is the world's No. 1 player, Tiger Woods. Three years ago, Woods won his second Buick Open on the strength of four consecutive 66s
FANTASTIC FIELD: Tiger Woods is one of 10 former Buick Open champions in the field this week, joining Jim Furyk, Rocco Mediate, Brian Bateman, Tom Pernice Jr., Justin Leonard, Brad Faxon, Billy Mayfair, Woody Austin and Scott Verplank.
RECORD ROUNDS: After an opening-round, even-par 72 in his first appearance at the 1997 Buick Open, Tiger Woods has reeled off 31 consecutive under-par rounds at Warwick Hills and is a combined 137-under par in eight appearances (average of 17.125 under par).
NOT SO SWEET REPEAT: In 2008, Woody Austin three-putted the 72nd hole to fall one stroke shy of Kenny Perry and record his second consecutive runner-up Buick Open finish. Austin joined Doug Tewell (1988-89), Johnny Pott (1965-66) and Dow Finsterwald (1963-64) as the only players in tournament history to record back-to-back runner-up performances. Austin won the Buick Open in his inaugural appearance in 1995.
ON A ROLL: Jim Furyk enters the 2009 Buick Open with par-or-better scores in 55 of his 56 rounds (98.21 percent), including a current streak of 41 straight. His only over-par effort was 3-over 75 in third round in 1997. A tie for 36th in 2008 snapped a streak of seven consecutive top-10 finishes at the Buick Open, dating to a runner-up performance in 2001.
HOW LOW CAN YOU GO: The par-4 15th hole at Warwick Hills played as the second-most-difficult hole on the course in 2008, second only to the 18th hole. It marked just the third time since 1990 that it hasn't ranked as the most difficult. In 2003 it ranked as the fourth toughest hole, and in 1998 it was the fifth hardest. Despite the stern test No. 15 presents the golfers, if history repeats itself, fans who appreciate low scores will enjoy this week's Buick Open. Since 2000, the winning score has averaged nearly 21-under par.
USC TRIUMPH: Jamie Lovemark, the 21-year-old from Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., will make his second professional start of his career when he tees it up at the Buick Open. Lovemark recently turned pro after his junior season at the University of Southern California.
During his freshman year at USC in 2006-07, Lovemark enjoyed perhaps the most successful season in USC men's golf history, capped by his NCAA individual title. As an amateur, Lovemark has made five PGA TOUR cuts. He tied for 54th at the 2006 Cialis Western Open, tied for 39th at the 2007 Buick Invitational, tied for 45th at the 2007 AT&T National and also made two cuts in 2008, at the Buick Invitational (tied for 60th) and the John Deere Classic (tied for 74th).
READY TO GO: Brandt Snedeker, the 2007 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year, looks fully recovered from a rib injury that sidelined him for nearly two months earlier this season. Recently, Snedeker tied for fifth at the AT&T National and tied for second at the John Deere Classic. Snedeker missed the cut at the 2008 Buick Open, one year after tying for 10th in his inaugural appearance at the tournament.
ON-COURSE OBSERVATIONS: PGA TOUR Network correspondent Bob Stevens is on the scene at Warwick Hills for this week's satellite radio coverage (XM 146/SIRIUS 209). Reports Stevens:
Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club is like your own town's best golf course without anything special done to it other than conditioning it to TOUR standards. It's not lengthened. It's not tricked up for the pros.
There are no par changes. It's like the pros are going to play your club. It's 7,217 yards -- it's actually been shortened since the first year they played it here in 1958. The pros' scores here are similar to what they might shoot at your club, as well, because they can blow it over the fairway bunkers and have wedges into many of the par 4s.
You better be ready to go low here. Woody Austin is 50 under par in the last three Buick Opens, and he didn't win any of them. The average winning score for the last six years is 21 under. Tiger's average score here is 67.72, which means he averaged better than 4 under in all of his 32 rounds here. Obviously, he likes it.
This truly is one of the great community events on TOUR. People in northern Michigan plan their vacations around this event to attend or to volunteer, and it's also a big event for celebrities. Tiger's pro-am partner was Bob Seger (Tiger said Seger played great after he dropped a long putt at the 18th). Other celebrities included both the head coaches of the Lions (Jim Schwartz) and the Pistons (John Kuester), as well as former Pistons greats Bill Laimbeer and Vinnie Johnson and Red Wings stars Kirk Maltby and Dan Cleary.
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