PGA Tour: As the Tour noted in its report of the Genesis Open in California, Bubba Watson is unconventional. “Watson is perhaps arguably the most unlikely player in the history of the game of golf to reach 10 PGA Tour wins – which he did with his two-shot triumph at Riviera Country Club on Sunday. The self-taught, freewheeling, idiosyncratic left-handed Floridian rips at the ball like it assaulted his mother and needs to be punished. He can curve it every which way in the air and spin it six ways from sideways on the greens. Nothing about what he does is conventional. And that includes off the course. Watson rarely looks you in the eye and suffers from anxiety at times in crowded places. He’s a self-confessed ‘head case’. His attention span is about as long as his driver shaft, yet he manages to concentrate long enough to produce stellar shots.” The two-time U.S. Masters champion had not won in two years – while suffering from an illness he refuses to disclose and which made him contemplate retirement – but he is now in elite company as a double-digit winner on the Tour.
Speaking of that company… competing in his second event of 2018, Tiger Woods was in wayward form and missed just his 25th career cut in 330 starts. He is due to tee up again this week in the Honda Classic.
Champions Tour: A strange thing happened to Miguel Ángel Jiménez a week ago. In four years competing on the Champions Tour in the U.S., the Málaga star had never finished outside the top-25 – along the way winning each season. That amazing run ended at the Boca Raton Championship but he was back on track in this past week’s Chubb Classic in Florida, taking the opening round lead before fading to ninth as Jo Durant won the title.
LPGA Tour: Jin Young Ko made history at the co-sanctioned ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open, becoming just the second player to win on the LPGA Tour in her debut as a member, (Beverley Hanson was the only one, at the 1951 Eastern Open). The 22-year-old Korean also won on the LPGA Tour a year ago as a non-member.
European Tour: Dutchman Joost Luiten won a final-day duel against England’s Chris Wood at the inaugural NBO Oman Open, for his sixth European Tour title.
This Week: The European Tour remains in the Middle East for the Qatar Masters; the Ladies European Tour returns to action with the co-sanctioned Australian Ladies Classic: the LPGA moves to Asia for the Honda LPGA Thailand; and the PGA Tour is in Florida for the Honda Classic.
