Goosen wears them down at Tour Championship

BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2004 PGA Tour Championship | Wrap | 08 Nov 2004

In yet another display of calculated and precision golf, Retief Goosen has again excelled in another big event with his win in this morning’s Tour Championship.

Goosen is ready made for such occasions. The unflappable, cool, calm and collected South African, often succeeds when those around him fall and today was no exception as he put together a strong last round of 64 to catch and pass an impressive Tiger Woods and a fading Jay Haas.

There are few who can boast giving Tiger Woods a four shot 54 hole lead and then running him down, but not only did Goosen run him down, he won by four therefore making up eight shots on Woods over the closing round.

Woods, perhaps with the joys of honeymooning finally catching up with him on day four, made a most un-Tiger like start in the final round with bogeys at the 2nd 5th and 7th holes and by the time he had a chance to realise what was going on, Goosen was ahead. Woods with the competitive juices never far from the surface, bounced back with birdies at the 9th, 11th and 15th to get back to where he started the day, but by then the Goosen horse had very nearly bolted. The stable door was locked soon after when Woods bogeyed the 16th and 17th resulting in a comfortable win to Goosen.

Goosen was struck down with a jet skiing injury in August, the week prior to the PGA, a broken pelvis the result. It may well have proven to be a blessing in disguise however with the six weeks enforced rest leaving him fresh for the last few weeks of the season. Goosen arrived in Atlanta having only played three events in the US since the US Open win. He produced a reasonable 20th place when defending at the Chrysler Championship last week, but on tough golf courses he seems to excel. He possesses such an all round game and such great patience, that he is hard to beat when every discipline needs to be at its best in any one week.

Woods was impressive given that he has spent the last four weeks or so cruising the Caribbean enjoying the pleasures of being newly married. He showed that the spark and fire that has been his hallmark throughout his career to date was not far from the surface. Given that he had every excuse to struggle this week, finishing second ahead of all but one of the best players in the world was a fine effort.

Veteran Jay Haas came unstuck over the closing nine holes but to finish where he did and to have had the year he has had, speaks volumes for his own self belief and fine game. He will no doubt be spending more time on the Champions Tour in 2005, but you can bet that he enjoys taking on the whippersnappers so much, that he will play whenever his combined schedule allows or until he realises his energy is better spent on the Champions Tour.

Jerry Kelly was six under through 11 holes today and threatening the lead at that stage, but he fell away as he has been known to do to finish still with a very creditable third place.

Mark Hensby was the best of the Australians in 4th place, capping off a magnificent year. A graduate from the Nationwide Tour last year, Hensby has capitalised on the experiences of his rookie year on the USPGA Tour in 2001 and his good play throughout 2003 on the Nationwide Tour. He has earnings of close to US$2.7 million in 2004 and the self belief that winning this year and finishing so close in events such as this will give.

Vijay Singh rallied home when it was too late with a last round 65 to finish 9th.

The other Australians Appleby and Scott were 15th and 21st respectively with Scott finishing as the leading Australian on the 2004 USPGA Tour (US$3.7 million), some $US800,000 ahead of Appleby.

The official events on the PGA Tour are now completed for the year (not counting the World Cup) although there are now several silly season events lined up for decision.