Birdie putt makes the difference at Northern Trust Open for Bill Haas
The golf course turned into a graveyard the very moment they saw their expectations and speculations going reverse. Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley were wiped out by Bill Haas.
As soon as Haas went for a 45-foot birdie putt, Northern Trust Open went into the phase of a highly unexpected finish.
The dramatic finish of the event did not come as a shock only for the audience, but for Haas himself.
The main reason of surprise in the form of his birdie was that it deprived the hot favourite candidate, Phil Mickelson, from winning the event for the third time.
The American 41-year-old golfer, who recently won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am event after defeating his arch-enemy Tiger Woods, emerged as the most favourite for the event.
On the other hand, Haas is not that unfamiliar in mainstream golf.
He is the very same golfer who was, like the Northern Trust, able to reverse the results of the FedEx Cup by saving a par that was partially submerged in the lake.
Haas was able to accomplish the impossible just five months ago, and he has been able to do the same this time.
"I like it when the crowd cheers," said Haas, who won $1,188,000 with the victory. "Honestly, 'Phil' sounds really similar to 'Bill,' so you just kind of pretend that maybe they're for you".
It was the 10th green that turned out to be the turning point for Haas. In the triple playoff, Haas was smartly able to play away from the flag to score a par and move to the next hole.
“A part of me was saying, ‘I’ve done this once, let’s do it again,”’ Haas said. “Another part of me was saying, ‘don’t s***w this up’”.
Mickelson, on the other hand, invested all his effort to make the best out of the event. He shot 71 on Sunday by pounding his putter into the ground.
Even though it was unexpected, but the element of unpredictability in the game turned out to be the main source of entertainment for the audience.
They welcomed their rather surprised winner rapturously after he was able to lift the trophy of one of the most prestigious events in US PGA Tour.
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