New Zealand’s Danny Lee was the early star of the final day of the PGA Tour’s OHL Classic. The 24 year-old scorched around the front nine in 7-under 29 to lead by one at the turn. His run included 7 straight birdies, but his game eventually fell away under the pressure of a difficult back nine and the thought of winning for the first time. His round was curtailed with a bogey at 12 (even with a long range putt to save bogey). Unfortunately, Lee is a streaky player, which means he either makes lots of birdies or lots of bogeys and struggles to plug bad runs. In what professionals call a dreaded ‘two-way miss’, meaning he was losing shots both left and right in the closing stages, his exciting challenge collapsed and he finished in a tie for 3rd.
His nearest competitor throughout most of the final day was another third year PGA Tour player, Shawn Stefani. Stefani who went into the final round one behind the leader also went low on his front nine, posting a 3-under 33. But for Lee’s front nine fireworks, Stefani may have been well clear of the field at the turn.
However, Stefani made errors too, whacking a ball in the hazard on the easy 13th to make bogey and see his momentum fade.
Without a clear winner eventuating, Charley Hoffman took his opportunity (and a fortuitous break on 13) to take the outright lead after another Danny Lee bogey on 15. Hoffman’s previous PGA Tour experience including wins in 2007 and 2010 was a critical factor in pulling away from his younger foes. A birdie on 13 and glorious chances on 14 and 15 should have been enough to break his four year winless drought on the PGA Tour. In the end, it was a birdie on 15 that clinched the title courtesy of a precision approach, despite only leading by one going into the 18th (and making bogey that included a left handed swing).
Hoffman wins a 2 year PGA Tour exemption, an invitation to the Masters, and jumps up to 6th in the FedEx Cup standings.
Of our predictions, Carlos Ortiz (T9 ) was the best, followed by Billy Hurley III (T23), Robert Streb (T37), and Hudson Swafford (T51). Although we did pick Danny Lee two weeks ago.
Golf entertainment during the holiday period comes courtesy of a couple of hit and giggle events, but for the main, the PGA Tour takes a break for the rest of the year and returns with the Sony Open in Hawaii on 15 January.
