Around the wider world of golf: George Coetzee won the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open on the ET; Shanshan Feng won the Buick Championship on the LET; Alejandra Llaneza won the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic on the Symetra Tour; PH McIntyre won the Investec Royal Swazi Open on the Sunshine Tour; and In-Gee Chun won the World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup (bangkokbobby has the details).
Well, I guess he's not overrated anymore. However, I'm willing to bet that his anonymous critics will definitely remain anonymous just from fear of the fans. Their belief in him was made clear from all the chants of "Rickie, Rickie, Rickie" on Sunday.
And if I have to tell you what happened on the back 9 at THE PLAYERS on Sunday... my gosh, were you dead? Have you not turned on GC even once since the event ended? This had to be the best PLAYERS ever, maybe the best golf tournament in years, simply because everybody involved showed up to play. Nobody gave the tournament away; every good shot was countered with a shot that was at least as good. Everybody was firing straight at the pins, no matter how dangerous they were. And the three-man playoff between Sergio, Kevin Kisner and Rickie was pretty much all we could have asked for.
In case you missed it, Rickie went 6-under on the final six holes (birdie-par-birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie) to take the clubhouse lead at -12. Sergio ran in a birdie putt on 17 from across the green to tie him. And Kisner went birdie-birdie-par to make the playoff.
And while Sergio didn't make it past the 3-hole playoff, Kisner matched Rickie shot-for-shot until Rickie birdied a 4th sudden death hole to win it all. As PGATOUR.com put it, "The finish by Garcia and Kisner would have been talked about for years. On this day, thanks to Fowler, it was nearly an afterthought."
Sergio proved he's in great form for the upcoming majors, all of which resemble Open Championships... which is where he typically plays his best. Kisner has been in playoffs twice in his last three events... and it took a birdie in both to beat him. As Frank Nobilo noted, nobody is going to want to face Kisner in a playoff anytime soon.
And of course Rickie just blistered the course, going -8 in 10 holes (counting the playoff). This was a huge win for Rickie, who may finally believe he can win the big one. His mom, pictured with him in the photo above, never doubted for a moment.
Besides, he's just won himself another Limerick Summary. How can he doubt himself any longer?
Decisively winning THE PLAYERSThe photo came from cbssports.com.
Let Rickie shut up his naysayers.
With them cut down to size
He accepted his prize…
Cheered on by proud Fowler hoorayers.
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