The top of the leaderboard going into Sunday at Memorial had names like Toms, Couples, and Woods on it. It was Bart Bryant, however, that outlasted all of those guys to pick up his second career PGA Tour victory. His first victory came last year at the Valero Texas Open on the same day the U.S. was beaten badly by the Europeans in the Ryder Cup. Bryant stayed steady all day long, making clutch par saves throughout the round. He and Fred Couples began to separate themselves from the pack on the back nine at Muirfield. Couples took the lead outright with back-to-back birdies on holes 14 and 15. He then bogeyed 16 while Bryant birdied 17, and the two switched places with Bryant moving into the lead.
Continue reading “Bart Bryant Outlasts Couples to Win Memorial”
With The Memorial coming up this week, I started thinking about the great events on the PGA Tour schedule each year that aren’t considered major championships. The four majors are of course The Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, and PGA Championship. These four tournaments are obviously the best and most important each year and for great reason. The following is a list of events I feel are just a small step behind the major championships but still very special to all the PGA Tour players. There is only room for five, so some great tournaments missed the cut including the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Mercedes Championship, Bank of America Colonial, and the upstart Wachovia Championship.
Hit it straight off the tee and hit a lot of greens. That is the key for Justin Leonard so far this week at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. He shot a five-under par round of 65 on Friday to push his lead to five strokes over a surging Fredrik Jacobson. Leonard is currently ninth in driving accuracy and tied for first on greens in regulation. Add that to the fact he is fourth in putting, and it’s easy to see why the Texan is cruising so far in Memphis. 
David Toms finished in a tie for third last week at Colonial. 
Kenny Perry shot a modest round of 69 on Sunday to claim his second victory at the Bank of America Colonial. He won it two years ago and set the tournament record by posting a winning score of -19. This time around, Perry also finished at -19 to tie his own record. He was well on his way to setting a new tournament record, but a double bogey at the 17th hole derailed that. He also holds the 36-hole and 54-hole scoring records at Colonial. The win was Perry’s second of 2005. 
The players had a chance to honor Byron Nelson in last week’s tournament, and this week they will be honoring another golf legend. When golf fans hear the name Colonial, most think of the great Ben Hogan. The Fort Worth native won at Colonial five times in his legendary career, helping to elevate the tournament to great heights. Last week at the