Appleby's final round 59 wins Greenbrier
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2010 Greenbrier Classic | Round Four | 02 Aug 2010
A final round of 59 today saw Stuart Appleby win his 9th PGA Tour event and his first since the Houston Open in 2006. The Victorian overcame a seven shot third round deficit to catch and pass the luckless Jeff Overton to win by one and in doing so he joined Al Geiberger, Chip Beck, David Duval and Paul Goydos as the only players to break 60 in a PGA Tour event.
Appleby has had his struggles in the past eighteen months but there have been genuine signs in the past few months that things were getting better for the 39 year old. A runner up finish to Adam Scott at last year’s Australian Open gave some hope but it has been top tens at Hilton Head and in New Orleans followed by several good individual rounds in recent weeks that have given the indication that he was close to his best.
Today he proved just that when he stormed to the turn in 28 and At that point he was just one behind Overton who appeared to be treading water in his quest to win his first PGA Tour event. When Appleby eagled the 12th from 12 feet, he had moved to 19 under and had taken the lead. Overton, though, was finally starting to build some momentum and with birdies at the 10th and 11th he had regained the lead.
The final stretch of holes would prove crucial to not only Appleby’s chances of winning but to the remote possibility of posting a round in the 50’s. He birdied the 16th from 15 feet to move to 9 under for the day and 20 under for the tournament. At the par five 17th he holed a ten footer that kept his hopes of 59 alive and at the par three last he stood over a 12 foot putt with destiny and history at the end of his putter. A sliding left to righter went in the middle as he raised his putter in joy.
He was forced to wait to see if Overton could catch him over the final two holes of his round. Overton found the green from 240 yards at the par five 17th but was 50 feet from the hole. He hit a good eagle putt to 4 feet but then missed the birdie putt that would have taken him into a share of the lead.
He was devastated but needed to collect his thoughts for one last attempt at the last. He found the green but was 35 feet short. His putt to tie was superb but slid over the edge and the inaugural Greenbrier Classic title had gone to Appleby.
“I felt pretty comfortable out there,” said Appleby after his round and while waiting for Overton to finish. “I liked my reads, I liked the way the ball rolled. I was finding another half club to a club today – everything was coming out of the middle.”
Zimbabwe’s Brendan De Jonge finished alone in third position, four shots behind the runner up.
The next best Australian was Aron Price who shared 9th, Marc Leishman was 16th, John Senden was 21st, Aaron Baddeley 36th, Cameron Percy and Mathew Goggin 45th and Greg Chalmers 51st.
The PGA Tour will now play the WGC Bridgestone Championship in Akron or, for those not eligible, the Turning Stone Resort Championship in Vernon, New York.
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