The Day the Music Died
Posted January 10th, 2005 by Erik J. Barzeski
Stuart Appleby is the repeat winner at the 2005 Mercedes Championships, holding off the top three golfers in the world to win by one.
Stuart Appleby, the ailing father-to-be, has put an end to all that Singh-ing by winning the 2005 Mercedes Championship, defending his 2004 title.The triple bogey Vijay made on 13 certainly helped.
Appleby, unable to hit balls a week before the tournament because of nerve problems in his left leg, started the tournament with a disappointing 74. His final 55 holes were played bogey free and his one-stroke victory assures him a spot in next year's field. "You'd have to say it's slightly surprising," Appleby said of his win. Appleby finished at -21, shooting 6-under 67 on Sunday a few groups ahead of the leaders.
What's more surprising is the manner in which the top golfers in the world went backwards on Sunday. Tiger Woods, the world's #2, couldn't putt all week but still finished in 4th at -19. Ernie Els sat at -20 going into the relatively easy par-5 18th, but pushed his first tee-shot out of bounds. The fairway is 90-100 yards wide. Vijay Singh triple bogeyed the 13th after hitting his first tee shot left into the weeds. Jonathan Kaye, following a chip-in eagle on 9 that gave him Musey's shot of the day, duffed a chip on the final hole to miss his shot at forcing a playoff. Stewart Cink made two bogeys on the final three holes.
The final round was played in threesomes in the toughest conditions of the week. Two inches of rain left the course soggy, and the Kona winds sprang up on Sunday, changing the golf course around from the previous three days when the players had the gentle, helping trade winds. Five players had at least a share of the lead at some point on Sunday. Tiger Woods was the only player to post four rounds in the 60s and finished two strokes back. He missed twelve putts inside of 12 feet this week. On Sunday, his misses included a 5-footer on 13 and a 10-footer on 16.
Name Final R1 R2 R3 R4 Total 1 Stuart Appleby -21 74 64 66 67 271 2 Jonathan Kaye -20 68 67 66 71 272 T3 Tiger Woods -19 68 68 69 68 273 T3 Ernie Els -19 69 65 68 71 273 T5 Adam Scott -18 69 72 68 65 274 T5 Stewart Cink -18 68 68 67 71 274 T5 Vijay Singh -18 66 65 69 74 274
Appleby's victory netted him a cool $1.06 million and is his sixth career victory.
Photo Credit: © Unknown.
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Posted 11 Jan 2005 at 7:11pm #
Fantastic summary of the Mercedes Championship, and I like your tips as well. I'll be checking you out through the season.
Looks like Tiger has finally melded all Hank Haney's advice in to a coherent, repeatable swing. If he gets his putter working, the rest of the tour better watch out.
Posted 01 Feb 2005 at 10:00am #
Ernie Els says that Tiger won't dominate as he did before. Why? Equipment, confidence, and fitness.
Posted 10 Mar 2005 at 10:47am #
Ernie Els is quoted as saying he's going to stick with the "old" Pro V1x, but it turns out that dead-tree publishers are, once again, using outdated information.
Posted 30 Mar 2005 at 8:41am #
Players look to fine-tune their golf games one last time before heading to Augusta National next week.
Posted 13 May 2005 at 2:48am #
At the end of round one Appleby sits one shot ahead of Long Jon, the Big Easy and a lesser known Brett Wetterich.
Posted 07 Sep 2005 at 9:04am #
Vijay Singh will be trying to defend his title this week at the Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club.
Posted 12 Oct 2005 at 1:08pm #
With the Tour Championship less than a month away, it's time for many of the PGA Tour golfers to make a move.
Posted 01 Nov 2005 at 9:38am #
The year 2005 has had its fair share of ups, downs, and everything in between.
Posted 11 Jul 2006 at 9:57am #
Here are a few things to get your mind in British Open mode.
Posted 01 Dec 2006 at 5:44pm #
It was a successful PGA Tour year for the Aussies with one Major and another seven regular season wins among them. Karrie Webb nearly equalled the number of PGA victories on her own.