Jeff Maggert won his first tournament in seven years with a stellar final round 65 to win by three strokes. Maggert was using a full bag of Ping clubs and is the second player in a row to win using Ping irons. He had Ping I3+ irons and Ping Tour wedges in play this weekend. This is Maggert’s first win since the 1999 Accenture Match Play.
My picks were solid if not stellar last week. Zach Johnson finished in a tie for fifth while David Toms finished in a tie for tenth place. Toms looked to be in contention until a 72 on Saturday left him a ways back of the leaders. Bob Estes had a final round 72 to drop into a tie for 28th and Stewart Cink missed the cut.
This week is Jack’s tournament; the Memorial Tournament. The Memorial is played at Muirfield Village, a course that Jack designed in 1972. This is a typical Nicklaus design with wide fairways, lots of bunkers, and stadium greens. I heard an interesting fact about the Memorial Tournament the other day – apparently they use old school rakes with wide tines, this makes the ridges in the sand wider and deeper and makes bunker shots more challenging because the ball sits down in the grooves. Right now this is the only PGA event doing this but apparently other venues are considering it.
Geoff Ogilvy is my first pick this week. Ogilvy is having a good season and has proven that he can play well in the big events.
My second pick is David Howell. I’ve always liked his game and his win at the BMW Championship in Europe last weekend shows what level his game is at right now. The only question will be how tired he is after winning on Sunday and then flying across the ocean to Ohio.
Pick number three is Fred Couples. Couples finished second in this event last year with four rounds in the 60’s and won it in 1998. In 2006 Couples has only missed one cut in nine events and has two finishes in the top 5. This course obviously suits Couples game and his putter will dictate how well he finishes.
Final pick this week is Stuart Appleby. Appleby has already won twice this year and has only missed one cut. He is starting to show the results that we have been expecting from him for so long. Look for a good finish from him this week.
So there we have our picks for the week, talk to you all again next week.