46-year-old Joey Sindelar captures Wachovia title
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2004 Wachovia Championship | Wrap | 10 May 2004
At 46 years of age and with just one top ten in his last forty starts on the PGA Tour, Joey Sindelar could have been forgiven for looking ahead to the Champions Tour in four years time for his next victory in professional golf. The performances in recent months of so many “forty somethings” however, has no doubt lifted the spirit of many in that category and although he had missed five of his last seven cuts coming into this week there was enough to like about his last round of 66 in New Orleans last week to suggest that perhaps there was something better ahead.
Starting his last round in fifth position today, three shots behind 29-year-old Aaron Oberholser and two behind Geoff Ogilvy and Notah Begay, there was enough winning inexperience in those ahead of him to suggest that with a solid last round anything was possible. He had the threat of Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson behind him but this was a golf course where solid golf would be required especially over the closing holes as those less experienced perhaps would struggle with one of the stronger finishing stretches in the game.
Sindelar got just the start he wanted with a birdie at the first but a bogey at the third had him back where he started. Two quick birdies followed and when he reached the turn at two under for the day and ten under for the tournament, he had moved to within two of the new leader Jeff Maggert and one of Oberholser. Sindelar’s bid looked to have hit a major snag when he double bogeyed the tenth to drop back, but three birdies in the closing holes four holes and a solid par at the dangerous last, saw him in the clubhouse at eleven under and the wait was on as Oberholser was doing all he could to hold on. Oberholser had opened up a gap with an eagle at the par five 15th but there was always the feeling that it was a cushion he would need and some.
Maggert had dropped out of the race with three bogeys on the back nine and although Tiger Woods made a valiant bid to reach eleven under an hour or so earlier, it came down to Oberholser and Sindelar to determine the winner. Oberholser received a great break at the par three 17th, after a good up and down for bogey at the 16th, when his tee shot at the par three had water written all over it. It managed to stay up above the water and although he was unable to get up and down, the good fortune had kept him alive playing the last. A wild tee shot there was lucky to find a position amongst the trees where he could at least get a swing and, needing par to tie, he was somehow able to find the green even with a restricted backswing and the resultant two putt par saw he and Sindelar head for the 18th tee once again.
At the first playoff hole both players made par but when Oberholser missed the fairway at the long and dangerous 16th hole he was in trouble. His second came up short in the front bunker and when that shot from some twenty five metres came up four metres short it was a case of Sindelar two putting to apply even more pressure. The veteran’s first putt left him with a little work to do but when Oberholser missed he was able to handle it safely to win his first title since 1990 and his 7th of his PGA Tour career. Since that last win at the Hardee’s Golf Classic, Sindelar has managed to safely retain his card in each year but one, that being in 2000 when 126th, but his status on tour was such that he was still able to play thirty events in 2001 and he was back. Despite not winning in those fourteen years, Sindelar has not exactly been a struggling artist however with more than $US5 million in prizemoney in that time. This win however quickly add another $US1 million to that total and he now has career earnings of some $US8.5 million.
For Oberholser, this was his second chance at victory in his second year on the PGA Tour. While he will no doubt be disappointed to lose such a great chance for his maiden win on the USPGA Tour, he can be proud of the fact that he handled himself better than he had when sharing the lead going into round four at Pebble Beach earlier this year. With this further experience now behind him, the next time he finds himself in this position he can perhaps expect an even better result. He now has his card for 2005 secured, the $US604,000 runner up prize here taking his earnings for 2004 beyond $US900,000.
A graduate from both the Canadian and Nationwide Tours where he enjoyed considerable success, Oberholser was a two time winner on the Nationwide Tour in 2002 and a winner on the Canadian Tour prior to that.
Tiger Woods showed that despite a game that is not yet 100%, his golf savvy and determination gets him a long way. With a more compressed schedule ahead including this coming week’s EDS Byron Nelson Classic, we can expect his game to only get better. Look out the doomsayers who had written him off.
Carlos Franco, the brilliant Paraguayan talent, was third in his best finish since his win in New Orleans in 2000. He has been very consistent this year with last week’s New Orleans tournament being his only missed cut in his previous eleven starts and a return to that remarkable form of 1999 and 2000 may not be too far away.
Of the Australasians Geoff Ogilvy was again the best of them in 10th place and his improved consistency has seen him inside the top twenty in six of his last eight starts.
Stuart Appleby was 15th, John Senden 32nd, Stephen Leaney 35th, Peter Lonard and Scott Hend 44th, Robert Allenby 50th, Steve Allan 56th and Grant Waite 69th.
The PGA Tour now heads to Texas for the EDS Byron Nelson Championship near Dallas.
