Golf News Update: Mahan Takes Home Phonix Open Trophy
Hunter Mahan was one of the most successful golfers on the PGA Tour in 2009. Even though he didn’t win a single tournament last year, Hunter Mahan had 6 Top 10 finishes including a runner-up finish in the AT&T National. On Sunday, he finally took home his second PGA Tournament trophy when he beat Rickie Fowler by a single stroke, -16 to -15. Mahan’s victory in the Phoenix Open is his first after winning the Traveler’s Championship in 2007. Mahan did it by shooting a 65 third round and a 65 fourth round for a final score of 268 in the Golf Phoenix Open.
Sunday was a masterful day for Mahan who had to rally from four strokes down in order to win the tournament. He finished the last two rounds of the tournament bogey-free and became the 8th U.S. golf player in his 20’s to win more than one tournament. Mahan was sort of a forgotten man in the golf sportsbook as he was going off at higher than 20 to 1 to odds to win the Phoenix Open.
Even though it ended up being Mahan’s day, the real story to come out of the Phoenix Open is 21 year old Rickie Fowler. Fowler, the balley-hooed player from Oklahoma State the same school that produced Hunter Mahan, shot a brilliant final round 68 to finish a stroke off of Mahan. Fowler didn’t shoot anything higher than a 69 in all four rounds. Although he’s missed the cut in three tournaments in 2010, the Sony Open, Bob Hope Classic, and Northern Trust Open, he scored a 5th place finish in the Farmers Insurance Open and a 27th place finish in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am.
Fowler is one to watch. If he continues to improve his game, then he could end up being a solid play in the golf sportsbook to both win and beat his opponent in individual matchups.
Brandt Snedeker, who was leading in the Waste Management Phoenix Open after the 3rd Round, proved that sometimes the pressure can be just a bit too much. Snedeker shot a ridiculous 78 on Sunday to finish at -7, 9 strokes off of winner Hunter Mahan. Snedeker dropped from 1st to 43rd in the tournament. He just didn’t have it on Sunday even though up until that disastrous 4th Round, he had been putting as well as anybody on the PGA Golf Tour.
Snedeker wasn’t the only one who didn’t have it, however. Phil Mickelson, who has gone off the favorite in every single tournament that he’s entered with Tiger Woods in rehab, finished at -9. That’s golf better than what Snedeker did, but Snedeker was going off at higher than 20 to 1 odds in the golf sportsbook to win the Phoenix Open.
Mickelson was going off at +750. Mickelson hasn’t won a tournament yet in 2010. In all four of the tournament’s he’s played in, Lefty has gone off as the favorite. What he has to show for is only one Top 10 finish, an 8th in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, and a reputation as a big time underlay in the golf sportsbook. Lefty will most likely skip the Honda Classic, this week’s tournament, which is a blessing to sports gamblers who won’t have to decide if the real Mickelson is going to show up this week or not.
Y.E. Yang, the man who upset Tiger Woods to win the 2009 USPGA Golf Championship, signaled his return to the upper echelon of golf with a 3rd place finish in the Phoenix Open this past week. Yang was a big overlay in the sportsbook to win the Phoenix Open. He won’t be this week as golfers descend upon PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach, Florida, for the Honda Classic.
Last year, Yang won the Honda Classic by shooting a 9 under 271. He was a surprise winner of the Honda Classic in 2009. He wouldn’t be a surprise this year and because golfers like Mickelson, Ian Poulter and even Hunter Mahan might be taking this week off to prepare for the WGCCA in two weeks, Yang might go off as the favorite in the golf sportsbook. Yang is easily one of the better golfers on the Golf Tour. He proved it this past week by finishing 3rd against very good competition. Expect Yang to continue his terrific play in this week’s Honda Classic.
