Starting with action from Pacific Palisades, California and the home of the famed "Hogan's Alley". The PGA Tour visited the historic Riviera Country Club home to the Northern Trust Open. While viewing the action over the weekend from my little hacienda, it looked like the conditions were benign and according to the players the course was in pristine shape. A testament to the superintendent and his staff. All weekend long the the first couple of pages of the leaderboard was absolutely star-studded. Names like Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Ryan Moore and Adam Scott headlined those pages. The action was as fast and furious as the finish at the Daytona 500 (which if you haven't seen it... was great).
As the day wore on the plot thickened. First there was Rory who was there all weekend in his first appearance at Riviera. But he would have a rough back nine on Sunday en route to a final round 75. But he did create a little bit of magic on the 18th when from the fringe he made a 21 foot putt for birdie. Just prior to that though, it was Adam Scott who would really dialed up the drama. After an approach that ended up past the pin and into the greenside rough, Scott capped off a late charge by chipping in for birdie. The chip was hot and was looking to run way past the pin when it hammered the pin resulting in the hole out and a share of the lead. So the stage was set for Jason Kokrak and Bubba Watson to play the 18th. A bogey for Watson would lead to a playoff with Scott and a par or better would secure the victory. After the dust settled Bubba would hit the G.I.R and two putts later he was the winner taking home a cool $1.2 million.
Meanwhile, "Down Under" the ISPS Handa Australian Women's Open was being played in Adelaide. The tournament saw a course record on Thursday set by Korean (raised in Canada) Soo Bin Kim who fired a blazing 63. As the tournament wore on names like Korean Jenny Shin, Canada's Brooke Henderson, Australian Karrie Webb, World #1 Lydia Ko and Japan's Haru Nomura were filtered to the top of the leaderboard. The 23 year-old from Tokyo, Japan would hold off a red hot Ko who fired a -5(67) and World Golf Hall of Fame golfer Karrie Webb who struggled all day on the greens on the way to a -1(71). Nomura though, wasn't to be denied her first LPGA victory on the strength of great putting. In fact, she only had 26 putts in the final round where she shot a -7(65) for the victory by 3 strokes over Lydia Ko. With the victory Nomura became the first Japanese golfer since Chako Higuchi in 1974 to win the Women's Australian Open.
Photo: Golf Digest
This week the focus shifts onto the first stop of the "Florida Swing" as the PGA Tour stops in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida for the Honda Classic. Meanwhile the LPGA Tour stops in exotic Thailand for the Honda LPGA Thailand.
Until the next tee.
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