British Open-bound: Molder, Goydos and Snedeker
July 6, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP)—Bryce Molder, Paul Goydos and Brandt Snedeker earned spots inthe British Open on Sunday in the AT&T National.
Molder and Goydos earned spots through a special money list that covers sixtournaments, while Snedeker got there because he was the leading player amongthe top five at Congressional who hadn’t already qualified.
“Floored and excited,” said Snedeker, whose closing round of 67 was justenough to earn him a tie for fifth at 7-under 273.
Snedeker wasn’t even aware that he had qualified when he left the course atCongressional Country Club. He missed eight weeks earlier this year with a ribinjury and had been planning to play the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukeeduring the week of the British, which takes place at Turnberry in Scotland intwo weeks.
“My golf game was in bad shape before I got hurt,” Snedeker said. “Thefirst time I felt healthy, I didn’t know what to think about coming back out.People gave me the sympathy vote last week when I made the cut—first cut I’dmade in a while, and it ticked me off. I don’t want sympathy. This week, I feltlike I proved to everyone and myself that I can get back to where I was.”
Molder will be playing the British for the first time, while Goydos andSnedeker both missed the cut last year at Royal Birkdale.
“I know I was fairly close,” said Molder, who closed with a 68 for an8-under 272 total to finish fourth. “I knew it was a lot of factors going on;it wasn’t just me playing well, it was other people if they played well. … Itsounds like I’m in now, and I’m really excited.”
CANCEL THAT FLIGHT: Danny Lee had planned to hustle to the airport as soonas his final round was finished. The U.S. Amateur champion had booked a Sundaynight flight to Europe so that he could play in the Scottish Open.
Instead, the U.S. Amateur champion played so well that his travel itinerarychanged. His final round of 70 gave him a top 10 finish at the AT&T National—tied for seventh with a 6-under 274 total—earning him an automatic spot in theJohn Deere Classic in Illinois without using up one of his remaining PGA Tourexemptions.
“I was in a hurry to catch a flight to Scotland, and now I’ve got to cancelmy flight,” he said. “Those things happen. I can play another PGA event.”
Lee earned $180,750 this weekend, more than doubling his total earnings inhis seven events since turning pro in late April. His $350,054 is abouttwo-thirds of the way to the $537,958 he needs to put him on the PGA Tour forthe rest of the year.
“I’m very pumped up and I’ve been playing great this week,” Lee said. “Idon’t really worry about the money at the moment, I’m just pumped up because Ican play another PGA event with all those greatest players in the world.”
The last-minute change won’t keep Lee off the trans-Atlantic flights forlong. The 19-year-old from New Zealand said he still wants to play his minimumnumber of 12 tournaments this year to retain his membership in the PGA EuropeanTour.
ALLEN WRENCHES: So much for breaking that 0-for-336 slump. Michael Allen hada tough final round of 74 to tie for 11th, making him winless in 337 tries onthe PGA Tour.
The 50-year-old Allen started the day one shot off the lead, but he hadtrouble finding the fairway and bogeyed four of the first eight holes. After No.8, he walked to the gallery and kissed one of his daughters, drawing asympathetic “Ahhhhhh!” from the fans.
Allen’s next hole turned out to be the only one in which he broke par—andhe did it with the shot of the day. He holed a 9-iron from 143 yards for aneagle on the par-5 No. 9, then celebrated by taking off his visor and raisinghis hands as if to signal “touchdown!”
Otherwise, Allen and partner Cameron Beckman spent the day playing in frontof a distracted crowd. They were the next-to-last pairing in front of TigerWoods and Anthony Kim, so the fans often had their heads turned in the wrongdirection. When Beckman should have been expecting quiet as he lined up to puttat the seventh hole, the gallery roared for Woods’ birdie putt on the nearbysixth.
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