Bo Van Pelt falters on the final three holes at the AT&T National
Bo Van Pelt carded an even-par 71 in the final round of the AT&T National at the Congressional Country Club, to finish second on the leaderboard, on Sunday, July 1, 2012.
Pelt started off his round one stroke behind the overnight leader, Brendon de Jonge, and surged to the lead with the help of two birdies against a lone bogey on the front nine of the course.
Tiger Woods, his playing partner, snatched the lead with a birdie on the ninth hole. However, Pelt did not lose his confidence and joined him once again with a birdie on the 11th hole.
Thereafter, the competition became tough and both the players tried to gain an edge over the other. On the par-five 16th hole, Woods’ second shot flew over the green and stopped on a steep slope.
That was a time when Pelt had a great chance to put some pressure on Woods. However, his second shot landed on the rough edge of the greenside bunker.
He misjudged the chip shot and the ball did not fly enough to find the green once again.
“The chip, the ball was kind of sitting -- it was a weird lie, it was sitting up but there was a bunch of grass in front of it,” he said. “I was just trying to get the ball up in the air and play it out to the right”.
As a result, both the players suffered bogeys and entered the final two holes of the competition.
Woods held his nerves and parred each of the final two holes. On the other hand, Pelt did not manage to copy Woods’ performance and handed over the victory to Woods with another two bogeys.
“Obviously disappointed in the final result but happy how I played for pretty much the whole day,” he said.
“I was excited for the opportunity. Felt like my game was in good shape, and felt like I played well. Obviously not happy with the finish, but all in all, I wouldn't change any club I hit or any line I took or thoughts I was having, just didn't work out”.
Woods, meanwhile, enjoyed the 74th PGA victory of his career and surged past the shared record of the second most wins on the tour. He was previously tied with Jack Nicklaus with 73 wins on the Tour.
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