Gore and Goosen

Jason Gore shoots 59 and earns a Battlefield Promotion while Retief Goosen earns a win by outlasting the others at The International.

On the PGA Tour this weekend, Retief Goosen trudged through 36 holes to edge Brandt Jobe by a single point at The International, earning his sixth PGA Tour win and his 23rd as a professional. Jobe, who at one point had a nine-point lead, fell apart in the middle of his second 18 holes and let nearly everyone back into the tournament. For awhile, Charles Howell III and Phil Mickelson even had a shot. Jobe left a 25-foot birdie putt short on the last to win. Yes, you read that correctly: he left the winning putt short.

On the Nationwide Tour, U.S. Open fan favorite Jason Gore captured his third straight victory and his seventh on the Nationwide Tour after firing a 59 in his second round on Saturday. His third win promotes him to the PGA Tour via the “Battlefield Exemption” rule, and we look forward to seeing the big guy playing with The Big Guys real soon. Jason put a wedge to five feet on the second playoff hole from the rough and after his opponent, Roger Tambellini, put a shot to eight feet. Roger missed, Jason made, and the rest, as they say, was history.

In watching The International, it became interesting to see how poorly some PGA Tour players can play when they’re in a unique position. Retief Goosen tried to hit some partial shots and really hit some stinkers before switching to a “hit everything hard” mode on the final stretch. Brandt Jobe, playing 36 holes and with the lead, fell apart, only surging late when he appeared to have no hope of turning things around. Lots of shots went left, indicating fatigue on the part of the players – slow hip and leg action = shots go left. Remember that, folks.

Charles Howell III had a chance to win by finishing eagle-birdie, but he managed to put his 7-iron approach to the par-five 17th to, oh, a mile and a half from the hole. Howell, who only manages to play well when there is no pressure (such as in the first two rounds and when he appeared out of it in the final round), lagged his eagle putt to tap-in range and then made a mess of the 18th to finish in fifth place, two points ahead of defending champ Rod Pampling.

Goosen’s win makes him the last of the “Tiger and the Other Four” fivesome to get into the win column (though of course his countryman, the fallen Ernie Els, didn’t win a PGA Tour event this year). Goosen wins $900,000.

Pos   Player              Tot    R1    R2    R3    R4
1     Retief Goosen        32     7    10     8     7
2     Brandt Jobe          31    13     9    12    -3
3     Jeff Brehaut         29     7     6     6    10
4     Hank Kuehne          27     3     8     6    10
5     Charles Howell III   26    12    10    -4     8
T6    Joey Snyder III      24    -1    13     8     4
T6    Rod Pampling         24     5     7     3     9
T6    Tim Clark            24     4     6     6     8
T6    Tim Petrovic         24    11     4     8     1
T10   Scott McCarron       23     5     5    13     0
T10   Phil Mickelson       23     3    14    -3     9
T12   Paul Gow             22     6     4     7     5
T12   Steve Flesch         22     1     8    12     1
T12   Stewart Cink         22     9     8     3     2
T15   Carl Pettersson      21     6     4     9     2
T15   Jonathan Byrd        21    10     2     5     4
T15   Craig Barlow         21     6     4    12    -1
T15   Mike Weir            21     7     6     2     6
T15   Ryan Palmer          21     5     3     8     5
T15   Daniel Chopra        21    10     6     4     1
T15   Olin Browne          21     4     3     8     6
T15   Billy Mayfair        21    15     7     0    -1

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