Romero shuts out Lonard for PGA Tour win
IN: News | US PGA | Zurich Classic of New Orleans (2008) | Round Four | by Bruce Young | 31 Mar 2008
Argentine, Andres Romero, waited nearly three hours for his fate to be decided at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans but when the wait was over he was the winner of his first USPGA Tour event.
After a third round of 65 had moved him from near obscurity to within one shot of John Merrick’s lead, Romero headed out in final round, three hours ahead of the last group due to the rain delays caused by a heavy rain storm on Saturday. He hardly put a foot wrong, later describing his birdie at the 16th the key in holding his round together. A very good par save at the 17th also helped and a very solid two putt par at the last after finding the fairway bunker, could also be described as extremely important given its timing.
Romero was playing this event in his warm up to Augusta having gained a start in the first major of the year courtesy of his brilliant week at Carnoustie last year and a great 2007 season in Europe overall. He had the British Open title to win or lose with two holes to go but a perhaps unlucky second to the 17th finished out of bounds and he finished third behind Harrington and Garcia.
Romero adds to the increasing number of golfers from Argentina excelling in world golf and this effort now has him as a USPGA Tour player and on the verge of even bigger things despite just two years on the European Tour.
“I’m very, very happy,” said Romero after his round. “This is incredible. I played great golf in the last two rounds. I only made one bogey in the last 36 holes, and that’s very strange in my game. But it’s great.”
“It was very important to put that score two hours and a half before the end. It was great because they had to reach that score. I was very quiet and relaxed, waiting. They had to do the job. I had already done my job. I was very relaxed. I was at the players’ lounge having some lunch and chatting with my friends. I called home, I called my mom. I was very relaxed. I just waited.”
The man who would catch most of his attention over those three hours would be Peter Lonard, who finally put all departments of his game together this week. Lonard birdied the 8th to move to 11 under and within two of Romero but a bogey at the 10th set the Australian back and given the vagaries of the closing stretch of holes, three shot seemed a demanding task, especially given Lonard’s lack of recent time in the heat of the battle.
Lonard added a birdie at the 11th after his approach from 80 yards or so was nearly holed and then made a great par save from a difficult lie in the fairway trap at the 12th. Lonard moved one closer at the 13th when he holed from 25 feet and after making two solid pars at the 14th and 15th he took driver at the short par four 16th and finished a yard short of the green. He then holed a curling, right to left four footer for another birdie to join Romero in the lead.
At the 17th Lonard’s tee shot was right and although he hit a good chip across the green he was unable to convert from 10 feet, his putt left in the heart but short and he then needed birdie at the last.
“At the time I didn’t really think about it. I just sort of thought – routine,” said Lonard later about the putt of 17. “I wasn’t too sure whether it was going to go left to right or whether it was straight, and I got so caught up in hitting in on-line I obviously didn’t hit it hard enough. I thought it was a little down-grain, as well, so I thought it was going to roll out, so my bad luck.”
A pulled tee shot found the fairway bunker and although his chances were not yet gone, the task he faced was too great and in the end he did well to two putt for outright second one behind Romero.
“I hit it in the beautiful bunker that I’ve spent half the week in, and then I wedged it out and had about 198 yards to the pin, and I hit a 5-iron about pin high, about 40 feet left, 50 feet left, and two-putted,” added Lonard referring to the way he played the last.
A win would have definitely gained Lonard a start at Augusta and so it was a costly finish.
“Well, I’ve never made a cut at Augusta, so it doesn’t really worry me whether I’m going or not (laughter). But I would like another go before I die (laughter).”
New Zealander Tim Wilkinson became the leading USPGA Tour rookie in 2008 when he followed up a very impressive 6th place in Puerto Rico last week to finish third behind Romero and Lonard. Wilkinson earned US$117,000 last week but this week added another US$421,000 to be in 41st place on the money list with US$632,000. Wilkinson birdied five of his first ten holes today and appeared for a while to be Romero’s biggest threat but he was unable to covert several of the chances he created over the closing stretch.
Wilkinson shot 62 in his third round at the season opening Sony Open before a final round of 78 but with that experience behind him he is learning the art of finishing events off. He is already closing in on retaining his card after just eight events and although without a win of any description in professional golf, his emergence and improvement in 2008 has been impressive.
Padraig Harrington served notice of his readiness for Augusta with a solid weekend to finish in a share of third with Woody Austin and Nicholas Thompson.
The next best of the Australasians was Steve Elkington, who survived an unsavoury spat with Bubba Watson earlier in the week to finish 10th, John Senden continued his warm up to his first visit to Augusta with an encouraging 12th place, Nathan Green was 23rd, Mathew Goggin 50th, Mark Hensby and Matt Jones 64th and Brett Rumford 80th.
In one of the more bizarre disqualifications in recent times, Stewart Cink was disqualified from the event after his third round as a result of infringing the newly introduced USGA rule whereby a player playing a ball outside a bunker but standing in it cannot rake the bunker in risk of being deemed to have tested the surface in the first bunker.
Cink’s shot finished some 180 yards down the fairway from where his shot was played but actually found the other bunker. He signed his card but was later disqualified. Cink will not be the first to fall for this ridiculous rule.
The PGA Tour now heads to Houston for this week’s Houston Open.
