Dufner sneaks by Big Easy in Big Easy
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/04/2012 (5223 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
AVONDALE, La. — Jason Dufner beat Ernie Els with a birdie on the second hole of a playoff Sunday in the Zurich Classic to win for the first time in 164 starts on the PGA Tour.
Entering the fourth round with a two-shot lead, Dufner shot a 2-under 70 at TPC Louisiana, while Els had a 67 to match Dufner at 19-under 269.
Both missed birdie putts within eight feet on the par-5 18th in the first playoff, so they went back to the 18th tee for the second extra hole, which Dufner won by hitting the green in two strokes and tapping home a short birdie putt after Els’ birdie attempt from the fringe narrowly missed.
Dufner lost playoffs last year to Mark Wilson in the Phoenix Open and Keegan Bradley in the PGA Championship for two of his three career runner-up finishes.
“It’s always really tough playing on Sundays whether you’re in lead or middle of pack, and today I was fighting, trying to win event, and I think I showed myself a good bit out there,” Dufner said. “It was tough. Ernie made a great run at me and it felt like with five or six holes (to go) we were probably going to be battling for the win.
“To get the monkey off of my back, it’s a great feeling.”
Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., entered the final round two strokes back of the lead. He had a bogey on the fourth hole but birdied on the 10th and 18th to card a 71 and finish tied for fourth at 16-under 272.
David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., finished 10 under for the tournament after a 69 in the final round.
The 6-foot-3 Els, who goes by the nickname “The Big Easy,” hasn’t won on the PGA Tour since the 2010 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, a little more than two years ago.
He did not have a single bogey in the final round or playoff, and would have won his 19th career PGA Tour title in, of all places, the Big Easy, if he could have made a birdie putt of a little less than six feet on the first playoff hole. He pushed it more than two feet past the edge of the hole.
“It was a nice little charge I made and, you know, nice to catch the leader,” Els said. “I had a chance to win the tournament with a six-footer and missed it, but I made quite a few putts on the back nine to keep myself in it. … Hit the ball pretty well today — no bogeys on the final round — so there’s a lot of positives.”
On the second playoff hole, Els’ tee shot went into a fairway bunker, and his second shot landed 137 yards from the pin. His third shot landed on the fringe, nearly 19 feet from the pin, but he nearly saved birdie from there, his putt missing by two inches.
Dufner then made his two-foot birdie putt.
— The Associated Press
