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Pettersson hangs steady for his second PGA victory
By Dave Weissman, Columbus Wired

Rain once again played slight havoc with the Memorial Tournament. At 4:15, play was temporarily suspended for 30 minutes due to inclement weather with thunderstorms in the area. At the time Carl Pettersson was still in the lead with 12-under par. He was able to weather the storm to keep ahead of both Brett Wetterich (5-under round) and Zack Johnson (2-under round) who tied for second with 10-under par.

When play was halted on Saturday, 24 players had yet to finish their round and were forced for an early and long day. Woody Austin carded a bogey on the 18th hole when play resumed on Sunday morning to slip to 9-under par. When the horn blew the night before, Austin had a putt for a birdie which would have put him in a tie at 11-uner with current leader Carl Pettersson. Pettersson came out and just played steady golf for the final round. He had three birdies and three bogeys in route to only his second PGA Tour victory. His first was last year at the Chrysler Championship.

“Well, I started really well. I hit some nice, solid shots,” Pettersson said. In the beginning I played really well, tee to green on the front 9, and I hit a few loose ones on the back nine. Every time I hit it bad, I followed it up with a good one, which was nice to get back into it.”

Play was suspended temporarily around 4:15 for 30 minutes while a thunderstorm rolled through. Pettersson had just completed his 11th hole with a great chip and was about to face the 12th hole which has been known to eat players alive.

When play resumed, Pettersson calmly teed off on the 12th hole and hit the center of the green. “That's a scary shot, but if you bail it out of the bunker on the left, you're going to make bogey, so you might as well step up and hit a good shot,” he said. “And I was fortunate enough to do that.”

Phil Mickelson started the day tied for 4th, but with bogeys on 1, 2, 5 and 10; he fell to a tie for 8th place before getting birdies on 11, 16 and 18 to finish in a tie for fourth place with Brendt Jobe and Adam Scott.

“Well, I didn't hit fairways today. And I felt like I struggled a little bit I didn't quite fall into place like I hoped,” Mickelson said. “But I ended getting up and down to stay in there.”

“Phil played a lot of good holes, but played too many bad holes, too many bad tee shots,” said tournament host Jack Nicklaus who watched from the T.V. booth.

Austin had two bogies and two birdies, ending his round at par. Austin was cruising along but not making any headway on the leader before suffering bogeys on 12 and 14, ending the tournament tied for 7th place.

Wetterich, a winner a few weeks ago had one of the best rounds today with 5-under par, but just could not catch Pettersson. “The past six weeks, it seems like everything has fallen into place for me,” he said. “I just hope that ride continues.”

Johnson put together a good round but it just was not his time to shine. “I think I turned at 1-under and that was about as good as it was going to get, considering how I was hitting it,” he said. “I had and eagle putt I missed and a 3-putt here and bogey there. I had opportunities.”

The victory for Pettersson was worth $1,035,000, more than he won on tour all last year and qualified him for the U.S. Open in two weeks. In looking at the stats, he was 1st in putting per round through the tournament. “This is a dream come true to even play in this tournament, it's a dream for me,” he said. “And to win it's just phenomenal.”

I think there were some spectacular shots by other guys, and he (Pettersson) was just Steady Eddie,” said Nicklaus. “He just absolutely did everything right.”




IN OTHER NEWS:
The Tournament announced next year’s Honorees. They are Dow Finsterwald and Louise Suggs. Suggs was a brilliant amateur who won the U.S. Women’s Amatuer Championship in 1947. She also served as LPGA president three times. The 1995 LPGA Championship was dedicated in her honor. Finsterwald, born in Ohio, was the winner of the 1958 PGA Championship and runner up in 1957. He also played on four Ryder Cup teams from 1957-1961.