Ryan Palmer finds his talented feet at Funai
IN: News | US PGA | Funai Classic (2004) | Wrap | by Bruce Young | 25 Oct 2004
Ryan Palmer who impressed so many in this part of the world last year when winning the co-sanctioned Nationwide/Australasian PGA Tour event at the Clearwater Classic in Christchurch, today won for the first time on the USPGA Tour when taking out the Funai Classic at Walt Disney World by three shots.
For Palmer though, winning is not new to him having been a prolific winner on several mini tours before joining the Nationwide Tour in 2003. It took only two events before he would win on the Nationwide Tour in 2003 but this year on the PGA Tour it has understandably taken just a little longer. He made a perhaps inauspicious start to his PGA Tour career in 2004, when he missed eleven of his first eighteen cuts but over the last three months it has been clear that the huge learning curve he has been on, was about to reap rewards.
He has now missed just four of the last sixteen cuts and his recent runner up placing at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic suggested that a return to his winning ways was not totally beyond him. Palmer has shown previously that he can go low. His second round of 63 en route to his victory in Christchurch last year and his last round 64 at the Southern Farm Bureau event highlight just that. Today he headed into the last round with thoughts of winning in his mind.
"I looked at the leaderboard and the money list this morning and knew what I needed to do," he said, perhaps belying his status on the PGA Tour to that point.
In 13th place and five behind leaders Briny Baird and Tom Lehman as he stepped on to the first tee today, Palmer announced his intentions early with five birdies in the first six holes and repeated the dose with another five birdies in six holes from the 12th. When he reached the 16th he was at twenty under, but with the likes of the experienced Singh and Lehman still very much in the mix, Palmer needed to finish off his round strongly.
He did just that with consecutive birdies at the 16th and 17th to create the gap that would be too much to bridge, even for the number one player in the world, Singh.
Palmer went on to win by three over Singh and Baird and with a start now in next week's Chrysler Championship (he was previously an alternate), he has all of a sudden put himself into contention for a start at the Tour Championship. His win here has lifted him to 37th on the money list. He likely needs to win next week to get to a start in Atlanta but either way, this week has been a career altering week for him.
Vijay Singh started the event slowly but came bouncing back with his third round 65 and eventually added another US$369,000 to make his total for the season US$9,825,000.
The leading Australian was again Mark Hensby, his 6th placed finish taking his earnings for 2004 to a stunning US$2.47 million.
Geoff Ogilvy struggled with the putter down the stretch to finish 10th, Steve Allan, Stephen Leaney and Craig Perks were 33rd, with Rod Pampling and Stuart Appleby 68th.
The PGA Tour now heads to Tampa for the Chrysler Championship.
