Our golf recap starts with the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour made its final stop before The Masters this past week with a visit to Humble, Texas for the Shell Houston Open with an unlikely winner that booked his spot in the first major of the season with an unlikely win. Meanwhile, the best on the LPGA Tour competed in their first major of the season with the world No. 1 earning her first victory of 2016 at the ANA Inspiration. Here is a look at what went down around the golf world this past week.
Shell Houston Open (PGA)
Our golf recap on the PGA Tour starts with a surprise. 38-year-old Jim Herman entered the Shell Houston Open with one top-10 finish on his resume through 14 starts this season. He went on to shock the world with a masterful performance to pull out his first-career win and book his spot in The Masters in the process. Herman tapped in for par on 18 and through his arms in the air to celebrate the biggest moment of his career to this point. The veteran golfer had gone winless in 105 starts on the PGA Tour but managed to edge out Henrik Stenson and an impressive cast of players to get the job done in Texas. The Houston Open was the final opportunity for players to get in to the first major of the year and Herman was definitely a long shot at No. 191 in the world. His only professional victory was six years ago at the Moonah Classic in Australia. Herman’s win will provide yet another intriguing storyline to follow heading in to The Masters this week. Stenson missed an 18-foot birdie putt on the last hole for a 68 to finish one shot back. It was Stenson’s eighth runner-up finish since his victory at Dubai at the end of 2014. Meanwhile, Dustin Johnson birdied three of four holes from 12 through 15 to put himself in contention but couldn’t do better than par the rest of the way and finished third at 13-under. Other notables include Patrick Reed and Rickie Fowler finished tied for 10th at 9-under while Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth finished tied for 13th at 8-under.
ANA Inspiration (LPGA)
Our LPGA golf recap starts with Lydia Ko. Ko got the break that she needed and capitalized to win her second LPGA major in a row over the weekend. She has become kind of like the Tiger Woods (in his prime) of the LPGA Tour as she’s expected to win each and every event. She’s actually favored to win each and every time she participates. While she hadn’t had a good season before last week, she’s now won two straight and has apparently regained her stroke. It seems like with golfers, once they get their rhythm back, they’re worth backing until we see otherwise. That’s the case with Ko as she continues to look like the most dominant player on the LPGA Tour. There isn’t anyone else that can really keep up with her when she’s on her game. The question becomes – on a weekly basis – can she stay focused and deliver the goods? Or will she be a little bit off her game and allow someone else to take the charge. At any rate, the last two weeks, she’s taken the charge and earned the wins.
Ariya Jutanugarn blew a two-stroke lead with bogeys on the par-4 16th and par-3 17th at Mission Hills, and that opened the door for Ko to rally back for the victory. The world No. 1 held her own through the back nine and then sank a birdie putt on 18 to finish a bogey-free round at 3-under 69, edging out Charley Hull and In Gee Chun by one stroke for the victory. Ko is the youngest woman ever to win two majors dating back to her victory at the Evian Championship last September. The 18-year-old celebrated her first win of the 2016 calendar year by taking the now traditional leap in to Poppie’s Pond. Other notables include Lexi Thompson finishing fifth at 9-under, Inbee Park tying for sixth at 8-under, and Brooke Henderson finishing tied for 10th at 7-under.
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