Live Report: Transitions Championship, final round
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By PGATOUR.COM staff
FURYK SEALS THE WIN (7:36 p.m.) -- Jim Furyk faced two putts from 26 feet to secure his first PGA TOUR win since the 2007 RBC Canadian Open, and he wasted no time in lagging to 4 inches for a one-shot victory.
K.J. Choi finished solo second at 13 under -- the finish should get him into the Top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings considering the strength of the field seen this week in Tampa.
Furyk moved to seventh in the FedExCup standings as he guns for the title in the competition's fourth year.
Here is look at Furyk's card:
FURYK STRUGGLING ON THE 72ND HOLE (7:31 p.m.) -- Jim Furyk, likely needing just a bogey to win, blocked his tee shot dead into the trees, then proceeded to hit a recovery shot only 100 yards into the deep rough to the right of the green. He might still be able to win with a double bogey -- K.J. Choi is in the deep rough well front of the green.
WORK WITH HARMON PAYS OFF FOR WATNEY (7:30 p.m.) -- Nick Watney admits that he was feeling a "little lost" during the first two rounds of the Transitions Championship, and it showed in his rounds of 73-70. A phone conversation with his instructor, Butch Harmon, turned things around, though, and he rebounded with 65-67 on the weekend to finish fourth.
"We kind of dissected how I was missing it and kind of found something on Friday afternoon practicing," Watney said. "I was putting well Thursday, Friday. I just wasn't giving myself any chances, so with improved ball-striking, I kept putting well, and it's the kind of course that good rounds can make up a lot of spots.
"So luckily it worked out."
Watney actually got to 10 under through 15 holes and was even entertaining slight thoughts of victory. He couldn't get up and down from a greenside bunker at the next hole, though, so he had to settle for solo fourth.
"I thought if I could birdie the last three, I might have a chance," Watney said. "I proceeded to make a bogey on 16, so that kind of ended that. But I did, I thought if I could make some noise, the last three holes are super-tough, so you never know."
Watney said the rain softened the course but any advantage gained was negated by the winds that accompanied the front that blew in off the Gulf of Mexico. He handled the challenge extremely well, though, and leaves Innisbrook with momentum.
"I played great," Watney said. "So this game is a little funny in that way, but very happy with the weekend and looking forward to next week." -- Helen Ross
FURYK ESCAPES THE 17TH (7:20 p.m.) -- In a week where he's hit the ball perfectly, Jim Furyk hit one of his worst iron shots of the tournament, leaving his 3-iron in the bunker on the par-3 17th.
His ball was sitting up in the sand, but Furyk was short-sided, and the sand was wet from the rain that saturated the course on Sunday morning.
Furyk ended up hitting one of the best bunker shots of his career, getting it to seven feet and making the putt to stay 14 under.
Furyk can win the tournament with a par on the par-4 18th, which is playing easier today because the tees have been moved up 20 yards.
WILL THEY FINISH? (7:03 p.m.) -- Sunset this time of year in Tampa is around 7:45 p.m. ET, and the sun has broken out at Copperhead, which will give the field an extra few minutes to finish. The leaders are already on the 16th green, and with the 17th being the final par-3 on the course, it appears this tournament has a good shot at ending today. Stay tuned.
FURYK BOGEYS NO. 15 (6:51 p.m.) -- Jim Furyk three-putted the par-4 15th -- his first three-putt of the week -- to fall back to 14 under, two ahead of K.J. Choi.
FURYK UP BY THREE AGAIN (6:40 p.m.) -- Jim Furyk has been deadly from the 125-150 yard range this week, and the 14th hole was another example of that.
Furyk jammed his approach from 134 yards to three feet and made the putt to get back to 15 under, three ahead of K.J. Choi.
WATSON FAILS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE (6:21 p.m.) -- Jim Furyk hit a lackluster lag putt from off the fringe on the par-3 13th and made his first bogey on the week on the back side. He fell to 14 under, two shots ahead of Bubba Watson, who is playing the par-5 14th.
Watson went for the green in two and just missed the right side of the green, but his pitch back to the flag ran hot off the green. Instead of a birdie that would have drawn him within a shot, Bubba will have to get up and down for par to simply remain tied with K.J. Choi at 12 under.
FURYK NOW UP BY THREE (6:06 p.m.) -- Jim Furyk rolled in his longest putt of the day at the 12th, sinking a 33-footer for birdie that puts him at 15 under. Bubba Watson and K.J. Choi are in a two-way tie for second at 12 under.
Bad news for those chasing Furyk: three of the final six holes are par-3s, and Furyk is 2 under on those holes in the first three rounds.
WATNEY'S BIG WEEKEND (6 p.m.) -- Nick Watney made the cut by only one shot to spare, but the two-time PGA TOUR winner has blazed through the weekend at Copperhead.
Watney birdied the par-3 15th for his sixth birdie of the day to get to 10 under. He shot 65 on Saturday, making seven birdies, and is only four shots off the lead. Watney will likely run out of time -- he teed off well ahead of the leaders in the final round -- but he looks like he has a good shot at nailing down his best finish since the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions last fall, when he finished fifth.
THE PIN ON THE PAR-3 13TH (5:50 p.m.) -- The leaders are about to play the 175-yard 13th, which is playing 194 yards today. The pin is cut back right, barely on the green, and only six players have birdied the hole today. In the third round, when the pin was cut left and back, 12 players birdied the hole.
Jason Dufner managed to get his tee shot within 10 feet, but the average proximity to the hole has been 43 feet. Yikes.
FURYK'S WINLESS STREAK (5:45 p.m.) -- The tournament that Jim Furyk knows got away from him was the 2009 Memorial, although it wasn't his doing. There wasn't much he could do from stopping the world No. 2 from birdieing the last two holes.
He hasn't won in over two years, but he's had plenty of chances. He shot 69 on a tough track at Muirfield Village last May and had to watch as Tiger Woods rallied to win by a shot. Furyk had fired a 33 on the back nine to take the lead.
Furyk is used to the endless "When are you going to win again" questions, but he's been quick to remind everyone that he's been very close to winning since July 2007. Several times.
And he thought he had the Memorial win in the bag.
"I cleared everyone in the field by two or three shots, and got beat by Tiger," Furyk said. "I think I finished a couple shots ahead of third, and everyone was going dead backwards on the back nine and I think I was able to play them 1 under, while everyone else was playing it over par.
"He just ran us down and caught us and went the other way."
BUBBA HANGING TOUGH (5:25 p.m.) -- Bubba Watson has played brilliantly in the final round, hitting seven of his first eight fairways to move to 70 percent for the week in that category. When one averages 295 yards and straight, the birdies will come in a hurry.
Watson just rolled in a birdie putt on the 10th to move to 10 under, two back of Furyk.
BACK ON TOP (5:16 p.m.) -- Jim Furyk just rolled in a 23-footer for birdie on the eighth hole to take the lead. Almost immediately, the lead grew to two strokes when his playing partner, K.J. Choi, couldn't covert a 6-footer for par after missing the green on the same hole. -- Helen Ross
A LOOK AT HARRINGTON (5 p.m.) -- Padraig Harrington might be wearing down. No one would blame him.
Harrington is playing for the third consecutive week in Florida, and he flew up to Washington on Wednesday to attend a St. Patrick's Day reception held by President Obama. He held the 36-hole lead at Copperhead, but his birdies have dried up over the weekend.
Harrington racked up nines birdies through 36 holes, but managed only two despite a good day for scoring on Saturday, and he only has one on Sunday.
When asked about Furyk's 54-hole lead on Saturday night, the Irishman piled on the respect for his Ryder Cup foe:
"I don't want to give Jim a four-shot lead over a four-round tournament, let alone one round," Harrington said.
CHOI, FURYK TIED (4:42 p.m.): -- K.J. Choi has just rolled in a 10-footer for birdie at the sixth hole to tie Jim Furyk at the top of the leaderboard. The birdie was his second straight and fourth in his first six holes. Furyk, meanwhile, had to make a 4-footer on the same hole to avoid a two-stroke swing. He made birdie on two of his first three holes but didn't get up-and-down at the par-3 fourth hole. -- Helen Ross
FLORIDA, BY WAY OF ALBERTA (4:35 p.m.) -- Stephen Ames, who lives year-round in Calgary, has scored three of his four PGA TOUR wins in the state of Florida, is currently 4 under and working on the low round of the day.
Ames hasn't had a bad year -- he has two top-25s in full-field events this year -- but he's really come alive at the Copperhead Course, where he's missed just one fairway today despite the howling wind.
Ames has hit 46 of 66 greens this week, good for 12th in the field. He entered the week ranked fourth in greens hit on the PGA TOUR in 2010:
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| Kevin Stadler leads the TOUR in GIR so far in 2010: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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TEXTBOOK PLAY BY CHOI (4:21 p.m.) -- Par-5s over 600 yards are tough even for the best players in the world, but K.J. Choi made the fifth look easy.
Choi moved to 3 under on the day and 11 under for the tournament after a nifty drive and solid 3-wood put him only 120 yards from the pin. From there, he pitched to 8 feet and made the putt. Choi has just seven putts though five holes.
SCORES NOT BAD ... YET (4 p.m.) -- With all the winds blowing through the Copperhead Course, the wheels have stayed on for everyone at the top of the leaderboard.
Only two players in the top 10 -- Carl Pettersson and Jeff Maggert -- are above par so far, and Pettersson's struggles have been on the greens.
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CHOI BIRDIE-BIRDIE (3:40 p.m.) -- K.J. Choi, trying for his second win at Copperhead in four years, is only the second player to hit double digits -- he moved to 10 under after sinking a 59-foot putt for birdie on the third.
As mentioned below, the third hole had only given up 27 birdies all week until the final group plowed through. Choi and leader Jim Furyk both birdied the hole -- Furyk rolled in a 17-footer to move to 2 under on the day.
MAGGERT SLIDES DOWN THE LEADERBOARD (3:23 p.m.) -- The par-4 third hole is the toughest hole of the front nine -- the hole bottlenecks between two water hazards. Its latest victim? Jeff Maggert, who double bogeyed the hole to fall six shots back.
Maggert got into the field as the final alternate and proceeded to open with rounds of 67-69-70, putting him just three shots back heading into the final round. He gave two of those back when he blew his approach way left on the third hole, then missed the green with his recovery.
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| The 455-yard third was a tough par this week: | ||||||||||||
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FURYK OPENS WITH BIRDIE (3:04 p.m.) -- Bubba Watson and Retief Goosen each birdied the par-5 first hole to get to 9 under, but Jim Furyk escaped from a fairway bunker with a 75-yard up-and-down to get to 12 under. Furyk ended the week 3 under on the par-5 first hole, which has been playing as the easiest hole on the Copperhead Course all week.
• To follow Furyk with Shot Tracker, click here.
BACK UNDER WAY (2:50 p.m.) -- Play has resumed after a delay nearing four hours. The leaders are in the first fairway -- 54-hole leader Jim Furyk bunkered his drive on the par-5 first hole. The wind is expected to really start howling later this afternoon.
JUST IN TIME FOR TV (2:35 p.m.) -- NBC has the broadcast today; they are going on the air at 3 p.m. ET. The leaders should have 17 holes to go once the broadcast begins if play does resume at 2:45 p.m. ET.
GOOD NEWS (1:47 p.m.) -- The range will open at 2 p.m. and they are shooting for a re-start at 2:45 p.m. Keep your fingers crossed. Watch out for the wind, though. It will probably be gusting in the 30 mph range and the temperature has dropped about 15 degrees already. It should be a wild ride. -- Helen Ross
STILL RAINING (1:40 p.m.) -- There's thunder in the air and steady rain is still pelting the ground. It looks like Adam Scott is next to unbeatable at the table tennis table, as evidenced from the various player tweets. The good news is that once this front moves through the radar appears clear. -- Helen Ross
TWEETS OF THE DELAY (1:30 p.m.) -- Twitter is giving PGA TOUR followers some great insight into what players do during weather delays. Today, we found out who the TOUR's table tennis expert is. Check out the Twitter exchange:
"Hard to get A Scott off the ping pong table. James Nitties is latest victim." -- @geoffogilvy
Four minutes later ...
"@geoffogilvy about to be the next victim." -- @RickieFowlerPGA
11 minutes after that ...
"Correct prediction." -- @geoffogilvy -- Nick Zaccardi
SLOW GOING (11:30 a.m.) -- I'm no weatherman but it's looking like this delay could be a long one. The players have been brought off the golf course and the scroll bar at the bottom of one of the local TV stations says gusts in excess of 40 mph are on the way.
The player's locker room and media center are in the same building across the street from the clubhouse. Given the proximity to the noon hour, the two buffet lines outside each room are doing a brisk business. -- Helen Ross
PLAY SUSPENDED (11:02 a.m.) -- The horn has just sounded at Innisbrook (approaching storm) with the final group of Jim Furyk, K.J. Choi and Retief Goosen having just teed off.
NO LIFT, CLEAN AND PLACE (11 a.m.) -- The field is playing the ball down in the final round, so a difficult day for scoring is that much tougher. Even with the wind, several players are already in the red, including Justin Leonard, who is 2 under after seven holes to move into the top 20.
LONG DAY ON THE WAY (10:50 a.m.) -- Looks like patience will be the key Sunday at Innisbrook. The day started with a delay of an hour and 15 minutes due to electricity in the area, and the worst of the weather is still offshore.
Sunday's early morning rain likely softened the quick greens on the Copperhead Course somewhat. But any scoring advantage will be negated by winds that are already blowing between 10-20 mph and expected to pick up as the worst of the weather moves in.
The sun is actually trying to peek out occasionally from behind the clouds right now. But another line of showers and thunderstorms should begin to move through the area early Sunday afternoon. Some of the storms could be severe with heavy rain and strong, gusty winds.
The front should be clear of the area sometime Sunday evening. There is a slight chance of morning showers on Monday but otherwise the day will be cloudy and breezy with a high of 69 degrees. -- Helen Ross
HOW WILL THE WIND AFFECT THE LEADERS? (10:30 a.m.) -- The wind is already blowing 20 mph at Copperhead. When the leaders head out, Jim Furyk (11 under) should have an advantage: He hits the ball low and knows how to grind out 18 pars to seal the title. Both Furyk and Retief Goosen (8 under) are former U.S. Open champions who know how to deal with difficult conditions.
Big hitting Bubba Watson (8 under) faces a huge challenge: His massive swing speeds lead to high ball flights and high spin.
UNDER WAY, AN HOUR LATE (10:10 a.m.) -- Rain at the the Copperhead Course pushed back the start of play at 9 a.m. ET, and the leaders are set to tee off shortly before 11 a.m. ET. There is still a chance of more showers -- possibly severe -- later this afternoon.
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