Florida Golf Communities
Jupiter Resident Camillo Villegas Shares First Round Lead at John Deere Classic
Camillo Villegas needed just 26 putts to card an opening round of 64 on day one at the John Deere Classic. The round of 7-under was good enough to put the Jupiter resident in a tie atop the leaderboard with defending champion Zach Johnson.
TPC Deere Run host of the John Deere Classic. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
Villegas, who at one point in his career was ranked as high as number eight in the world, carded eight birdies on the day to go with just one bogey including a three hole stretch of three birdies in a row.
91 golfers in total carded under par rounds on Thursday including Villegas on the par 71 course. Included in that group of golfers under par are Tequesta resident Keegan Bradley and Stuart resident Justin Peters. Both Bradley and Peters carded 2-under 69s on Thursday. Peters won a Monday qualifier to get into the event and is playing in just his fourth ever PGA Tour event.
For complete coverage of the John Deere Classic, visit www.pgatour.com.
Round One of Scottish Open Produces Low Scores
Conditions were nearly perfect on day one at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open. As a result, low scores were recorded by a vast majority of the field with 117 of the 156 golfers in the tournament recording rounds under par.
Castle Stuart Golf Links, host of the 2013 Scottish Open. Photo courtesy of the European Tour
Included in that large group under par is world number eight Phil Mickelson. One of four Americans in the field and preparing for next week’s British Open, Mickelson shot an opening round of 6-under 66 to sit just two shots back. Mickelson opened his round with a bogey on the first hole before settling in.
Brooks Koepka, who is playing in his first ever Scottish Open this week, shot a 2-under 70 and currently sits right on the projected cut line. The Wellington resident carded seven birdies and five bogies.
Ernie Els will be looking to make a run at the cut in round two after an opening round of 72. The defending British Open champion and Jupiter resident was never able to get anything going in the first round as he carded four birdies and four bogeys. Also sitting at even par with Els is Michael Thompson. Thompson got his first ever win on the PGA Tour at this year’s Honda Classic at PGA National.
For complete coverage of the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, visit www.europeantour.com.
Ken Duke Wins Player of the Month Honors For June
Though it took Duke 187 career starts to earn his first victory, it was enough to earn him Player of the Month honors for the month of June.
At 44, Ken Duke became the oldest first time winner on the PGA Tour. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
In June, Ken Duke became the oldest first time winner ever on the PGA Tour. At 44, the Palm City resident won the Travelers Championship to join the likes of J.J. Henry, Hunter Mahan, Bubba Watson, Hobe Sound resident Freddie Jacobsen and Marc Leishman all of whom had recorded their maiden win at the TPC River Highlands course.
In addition to his Player of the Month honors, the victory at the Travelers Championship also secures his PGA Tour card for another two years and will allow him the ability to compete in next years Masters Tournament. He has only played in the Masters once in his career when he finished in a tie for 35th in 2009.
For more information on Ken Duke’s Player of the Month award, visit www.pgatour.com.
Local Golfer Qualifies For John Deere Classic
TPC Deere Run host of the John Deere Classic. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
Almost 10 years ago Justin Peters won the Golf Channel’s “Big Break”. Well, nearly a decade after winning the inaugural contest, the Stuart resident caught another big break, a spot in a PGA Tour event.
On Monday, the 36 year old journeyman shot an eight-under 64 to win the qualifier at the Pinnacle Golf Club. It will be his fourth time playing in a PGA Tour event.
Peters will join the likes of Tequesta resident Keegan Bradley and Old Palm resident Louis Oosthuzien in the field of 156. The John Deere Classic runs Thursday through Sunday and can be seen on the Golf Channel and CBS. For more information on the event, visit www.pgatour.com.
Ernie Els Headlines This Week’s Scottish Open
The Scottish Open has had a recent history of being an excellent tune up for the British Open. The last two years the winner of the Scottish Open has gone on to win the Claret Jug and the season’s third major.
In 2011, it was Darren Clarke leaving Castle Stuart Golf Links with a win before winning his first major the next week at Royal St George’s. Last year Ernie Els accomplished the same feat. The Jupiter resident won the Scottish Open and then went on to win his second British Open title the next week at Royal Lytham & St Annes.
Els returns this week to the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open as not only the defending champion but is someone who is looking for the same two week success he had last year. If this year’s Scottish Open champion were to go on to win next week’s British Open, it would be the third year in a row that Castle Stuart would produce the eventual British Open Champion. With results like that, it is no wonder the Scottish Open has become the ideal tune-up location for the top golfers in the world and this year is no exception.
Castle Stuart will welcome seven Major winners, 21 Ryder Cup players, and 18 of the 29 European Tour champions in 2013, headlined by defending champion Els.
“Playing the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open is not only the perfect preparation for The Open, it’s also a tremendous tournament in its own right,” said Els, who is also a two time Scottish Open champion.
Included in the field will be fellow PGA Tour pro Phil Mickelson who will be making his third consecutive trip to Castle Stuart. Mixed in with the seasoned veterans will be a few first timers at the event.
Included in that group is American Brooks Koepka. The Wellington native and Bears Club member will be making just his fourth European Tour appearance of the year and first at the Scottish Open. Koepka, who learned the game as a kid at Sherbrooke Golf and Country Club in Lake Worth has quickly began making a name for himself and even qualified for this year’s British Open.
In addition to producing the last two British Open winners, the Scottish Open will also be the first European Tour event to be broadcast live on network television in the United States when NBC airs weekend coverage of the event.
For more information on the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, visit www.europeantour.com.
Bill Haas Extends Streak; Rickie Fowler Finishes 21st
Photo courtesy of the PGA Tour
Bill Haas extended his streak to four years in a row with at least one win on Tour with his three shot win at Congressional on Sunday. With his win at the AT&T National, Haas joins Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose, and Loxahatchee River resident Dustin Johnson as the only players to have at least one Tour win for each of the past four years.
Hass entered the final round in a tie for first before firing a 5-under 66 in the final round to win comfortably. It was his fifth career victory and it came on a course that while not set up for a U.S. Open like it was in 2011, still played very difficult over the four days.
Haas made six birdies and one bogey on Sunday, finishing the week as the only player to break par in all four rounds. His four day total of 12-under par was actually four strokes higher than the 16-under total that Palm Beach Gardens resident Rory Mcllroy carded to win the 2011 U.S. Open on the same course.
Rickie Fowler records another top 25 finish
Photo courtesy of Getty Images
Rickie Fowler went into this weekend still looking for his first win of 2013. He had come close with a third place finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and came into the week fresh off a final round 64 the week before at the Travelers.
While the Loxahatchee River resident fell short, he did record his seventh top 25 finish of the year. Fowler failed to break 70 but still finished the weekend at one-under, good enough for a tie for 21st.
For a complete recap from this weekend’s AT&T National, visit www.pgatour.com.
Locals Perform Well At One-Day Dye Preserve Event
On Wednesday, the Florida State Golf Association (FSGA) hosted one of their many one-day golf events at The Dye Preserve Golf Club in Jupiter. The event split the field into six divisions including the gross division, the under 50 age division, the 50-64 age division, the 65 & over age division, and two women’s divisions (long and short distance). Here is a look at how some of the local golfers who participated did.
Jason Feng of Palm Beach Gardens won the Gross Division with a five-over 77. He beat fellow Palm Beach Gardens resident Gene Johnson by two shots. Johnson shot a 79 on the day.
John Sorensen won the 50-64 Age Division by one shot over West Palm Beach resident Dann Merrell. Marc Milman of Tequesta and Michael Gabbard of North Palm Beach both shot rounds of 68 to finish third, four shots back.
Dye Preserve is a Pete Dye designed course that plays at just over 7,000 yards from the tips. For more information on The Dye Preserve visit their website at www.thedyepreserve.com.
For more information on FSGA events, visit www.fsga.org.
Rickie Fowler Looking For First Win of the Season
Rickie Fowler has not had the greatest success rate at Congressional Country Club. The Loxahatchee River resident only has one made cut at the Bethesda, Maryland course and that was a 13th place finish at the 2011 AT&T National. He missed the cut when the course hosted the U.S. Open just a few weeks earlier. That was then, this is now.
Photo courtesy of Getty Images
Since that 13th place finish in 2011, Fowler has become a completely different golfer. He got his maiden win on the PGA Tour at last year’s Wells Fargo Championship. He went on to finish that 2012 season five top 10 finishes, including a win and then a second place finish at The Players Championship the following week. He finished 18th in the final FedEx Cup points standings. It had been his most successful season on tour since he turned pro.
Fast forward to 2013. Fowler already has four top 10 finishes in the first half of the season, one less than he had all last year. He finished 10th in the U.S. Open two weeks ago with his best finish coming at the Arnold Palmer Invitational when he finished in a tie for third. While Fowler has admitted that his consistency at times have been an issue, he is only one top 10 finish away from matching last year’s mark and he still has half a season and the playoffs to go. The only thing missing is a win.
Fowler will return this week to Congressional for only the second time in his career in search of his first win of 2013. A final round 64 at last week’s Travelers Championship is something Fowler will be looking to emulate this week as he will be paired with Jim Furyk and Angel Cabrera for the first two rounds. They will tee off at 7:27am on Thursday and 12:39pm on Friday.
For complete coverage of the AT&T National visit www.pgatour.com.
Sam Horsfield wins State Amateur Championship by 11 Strokes
Sam Horsfield had quite an up and down week at the Jupiter Hills Club. An opening round of 72 on the Village course quickly left him six shots off the pace. Horsfield then went out on Friday and shot a three-under 67 on the very difficult Hills course to head into the weekend with a four shot lead. The 16 year old from Davenport never looked back on his way to a four day total of 4-under and an 11 shot victory.
Despite the large margin of victory, it was still an up and down weekend. Despite a 72 on Saturday, the rest of the field was not able to take advantage and Horsfield actually extended his lead. He fired a 67 on Sunday to comfortably coast to win the 96th State Amateur Championship.
Horsfield has already built up quite the golfing resume. Starting the game at the age of four, Horsfield won the 2011 Boys’ Junior Championship by five shots. He also set a course record at Fox Hollow Golf Club in Trinity a few weeks ago en route to qualifying for the U.S. Amateur Pub Links.
Kevin Jorden of Juno Beach fired a final round 70 to finish in a tie for fourth. The fourth place finish earns him an exemption into this year’s Mid-Amateur Championship and Amateur Match Play Championship and next year’s Florida Open.
The 11 stroke margin of victory was the second largest in a State Amateur event. In 1993, Chris Couch of North Lauderdale won by 14 strokes at Bay Hill in Orlando.
Ernie Els Takes 36 Hole Lead Into Weekend
Ernie Els ended the U.S. Open on a high note. A 69 on Sunday gave him a four round total of 5-over par, good enough for a fourth place finish.
Traveling overseas, the Jupiter resident picked up right where he left off in the first two rounds of this week’s BMW International Open. Els enters the weekend with a one shot lead at the European Tour event being played in Munich after rounds of 63 and 69.
Els got off to a hot start on Thursday. His bogey free round of 63 featured seven birdies, including three in a row on holes 11-13, and an eagle. While Els struggled a little on the front nine Friday that included two birdies and a double bogey, he recovered on the back nine to post a 3-under 69.
Also playing in this week’s European Tour event is Loxahatchee River resident Dustin Johnson. Johnson posted rounds of 66 and 71 and sits five shots behind the leader Els going into the weekend.
For complete coverage of the BMW International Open visit www.europeantour.com.
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