Golfer World Rankings
As of 30 June 2014|
Rank
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Name
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Country
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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Tiger Woods
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6
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7
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8
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9
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10
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11
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12
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13
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14
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Hideki Matsuyama
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15
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16
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17
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18
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19
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20
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Florentyna Parker
LADIES ITALIAN OPEN FINAL ROUND LEADERBOARD
-7: Florentyna Parker (Eng) -6: Holly Clyburn (Eng) -5: Rebecca Hudson (Eng) -3: Diana Luna (Ita) -2: Pamela Pretswell (Sco), Stacy Lee Bregman (RSA), Veronica Zorzi (Ita)
Florentyna Parker has won the Ladies Italian Open by one shot as England claimed the top three places on Sunday.
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Tommy Gainey
Tournament host and Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III drove into the water on the 16th and made double bogey. Furyk made a 12-foot par save on the 17th hole to stay one shot behind, but he pushed his approach well right on the 18th and made his first bogey in 56 holes. Gainey, a 37-year-old from South Carolina with a homemade swing who is known as "Two Gloves" for wearing black gloves on each hand, joined a long list of unlikely winners this year.
Toms also needed a birdie on the 18th hole to catch Gainey, but he pushed his drive well right into the bunker and had little chance of reaching the green. Furyk wound up with a 69 to finish alone in third, a sour end to a season filled with bitter memories.
This one won't sting as much as his bogey on the 16th hole of Olympic Club that cost him a shot at the U.S. Open, or the double bogey on the final hole at Firestone to lose the Bridgestone Invitational, or losing a 1-up lead against Sergio Garciawith two holes to play in the Ryder Cup.
Furyk made only two bogeys all week. Love, trying to become the first Ryder Cup captain to win on the PGA Tour since Tom Watson in 1996, lost his hope on the back nine with a three-putt bogey on the 14th, a bunker shot that banged off the pin and spun out of the cup for a potential eagle on the 15th, and then his tee shot on the 16th that was left all the way and found water. Gainey went birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie in the middle of the back nine to soar into the lead and bring 59 into the picture, a score only five players have managed in PGA Tour history.
He had a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole that didn't have enough speed to hold its line. Turns out he never had to hit another shot. Gainey went up to the broadcast booth, signed some autographs and spent the rest of his afternoon in the clubhouse watching on TV.
When he finally headed to the practice range, Furyk badly missed the green on the 18th and moments later Gainey was the winner. David Mathis felt like a winner, even though he finished six shots behind and tied for 10th. Boo Weekley shot 69 and tied for 27th to stay at No. 121, though he should be safe now.
Gainey went out in 31, despite missing a 6-foot birdie putt on the second hole and failing to make birdie on the reachable par-5 seventh. Starting with his 10-foot birdie putt on the 11th hole, he put together seven straight 3s on his scorecard. His 20-foot birdie putt on the 14th tied him for the lead.
He holed out a bunker shot from about 40 feet on the par-5 15th to take a two-shot lead, and then holed a 20-footer on the 16th to bring golf's magic number into view.
Gainey hit wedge into about 20 feet on the 18th hole, leaving him a birdie putt for a shot at becoming the sixth PGA Tour player with a 59. Kyle Stanley rallied from eight shots behind to win in Phoenix. Gainey joined Brandt Snedeker (Torrey Pines) and John Huh (Mexico) as players who came from seven shots behind on the final day.
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McIlroy
"It's never just clubs, and it's never just the swing. It all goes back to confidence, says Craig Zimmerman, general manager at RedTail Golf Center in Beaverton, Ore., another Golf Digest Top 100 Clubfitter location.
"If a player who I have fit is confident in his new equipment yet he subsequently struggles with his game, he is more likely to place emphasis on his swing or factors other than his equipment for his woes.
"If, however, I did not provide the player being fit with confidence in their new equipment and they go out and struggle they are much more likely to blame the equipment.
McIlroy's change also is probably bigger than the change most average golfers would make.
That said, a Golf Digest clubfitting study conducted with Club Champion Golf, which has clubfitting facilities in Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Houston, showed that 8 of 9 golfers improved their scores by an average of almost two strokes in less than six months after a complete bag evaluation and upgrade.
"Although any equipment change is made with the intention of better performance, there is often an adjustment period," says Jason Fryia, owner of The Golf Exchange with stores in both Kentucky and Ohio and a Golf Digest Top 100 Clubfitter.
When the swing changes, it's certainly true that a fitting might need to be adjusted, too. "Most of the time the player has had a lesson, has read an article or listened to a friend about swing advice," says Brent Norton of Top 100 Clubfitting location Miles of Golf in Ypsilanti, Mich. "When this happens we re-fit the player and make the appropriate changes to the equipment."
"The most important part is educating the player," says Steve Ball at the Ball Golf Center in Oklahoma City, another Top 100 location. We can usually prove to a player the club or the spec of the club is correct. If a fitter is educating during the fitting and not just trying to sell, then the player will understand the 'why' of the fitting decision. When a player brings his new clubs back with some issues, an exceptional fitter will lay out all the evidence to restore some mental stability.
"Most of the time the customer sees that he's hitting the new clubs much better than his old ones," says Woody Lashen of Pete's Golf, another Golf Digest Top 100 Clubfitter. Emotion is a very big part of the game, and if any player does not have confidence in his clubs, no matter how good the quality or fit, they simply won't work.