Weir wins but Hensby also a winner

BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2007 Fry's Electronic Open | Round Four | 22 Oct 2007

Mike Weir’s golf game has been on an upward curve over the last few weeks perhaps boosted by his victory over Tiger Woods at the Presidents Cup but more realistically because he has adopted and worked on new technique that has him looking as good as he ever has in terms of his golf swing.

Even before today’s final round of the Fry’s Electronics Open there was something about the manner in which Weir was playing that suggested he is now focused on the issues around the playing of the game rather than those of technique. Now that his swing changes are engrained, he can concentrate on course strategies rather than thinking his way through the swing. It has made a difference.

Weir and Australia’s Mark Hensby broke clear of the chasing pack in today’s final round and although they were briefly caught by Sean O’Hair, the final round today developed into a battle between a man struggling for status on the PGA Tour and a man who in better years might not have even been playing in Scottsdale.

Weir and Hensby had started the final round one behind the leader, Carl Pettersson, but by the turn it appeared to be developing into a two horse race. On a day where conditions proved considerably more difficult than had been the case in the opening three rounds, Pettersson was under early pressure and when he made the turn in 37 he trailed Weir and Hensby by one.

Weir grabbed an early advantage when he birdied the 10th after a rather fortuitous bounce from right of the green and the ball fed through the Bermuda grass and down across the green to less than a foot and the subsequent birdie saw him move ahead.

Hensby birdied the 11th to draw level again and the pair traded blows over the next three holes before Weir drove just short of the green at the par four 15th and nearly holed his chip to move ahead again.

Both players parred the 16th and 17th and moved to the 18th with a shot between them, Weir one ahead. O’Hair had challenged and shared the lead when he birdied the 16th but a double at the 17th and a bogey at the last saw the end of his challenge.

Hensby needed something special at the last, or a mistake from Weir, and when the Canadian bunkered his approach, Hensby had been presented with an opening. He found the green but the wind and contour fed the ball off the edge. Weir, facing a demanding bunker shot, needed to get up and down and hit the most delightful shot but he was still 6 feet from victory, provided Hensby did not hole his chip from just off the edge. Hensby hit a fine pitch from a difficult lie to two feet and the par was his and that left Weir to hole his for the title. The putt never looked like missing and the 37 year old had won his first event since the Nissan Open in February of 2004.

While Hensby will be disappointed not to have won, he will be compensated by the fact that he has regained his full playing rights for 2008. He needed something special this week as he had not entered Tour School and was relying on a big finish in the final three events of the season to get the job done.

Three years ago Hensby was on top of his game and heading for the top ten in the world before disaster struck when he had a car accident in early 2006 which led to a combination of foot and back issues.

Hensby is very much a self made man. He headed to the US in mid 1990’s looking to make a future in the game. He left his job as a Postie in Tamworth in country New South Wales with not a lot of money and stayed with friends in Chicago, winning State events and then gaining access to the Nationwide Tour. He became one of the more prolific money winners ever on the Nationwide Tour before reaching the USPGA Tour for the first time in 2001. That was short lived but when he returned in 2004 he was ready and won the John Deere Classic. He continued on with his form in 2005, finishing 5th on debut at Augusta, finishing third behind Michael Campbell at Pinehurst, winning in Sweden and making the Presidents Cup team. There seemed no turning back at that point.

A much publicised press conference in 2005 at the Australian Open, where he suggested Greg Norman could better leverage his position in golf to help the struggling Australasian Tour, left Hensby on the end of a media and public outcry. On top of that came the car accident in early 2006 and Hensby’s ranking in the game began to slide.

To his credit he has overcome all of that and to have done so is a reflection of a man built of steel and who earned his place in the game the hard way. The US$540,000 for his runner up finish moves him inside the top 100 this season

Billy Mayfair finished alone in third while O’Hair eventually shared 4th with Carl Petteresen.

Australian, Jarrod Lyle, needs a big finish to his rookie year on the PGA Tour and it appeared at one stage this week as this event might provide such. Lyle was in a share of 4th starting the final round but his day was a rollercoaster to say the least. Four bogeys in his first five holes were followed by an eagle and then two birdies.

A double bogey at the 10th was another body blow but his 12th place finish, while not what he had in mind, was his equal best finish of the season and his biggest cheque in professional golf. Lyle has moved to 161st on the money list and so still needs a big week in his nest two events to avoid stage two of the Tour School but he has made significant progress.

Paul Gow was 55th and Andrew Buckle 61st.

The PGA Tour now moves east to the south east of Florida for the new event, the Ginn Sur Mer Classic at the Tesoro Club at Port St. Lucie.