Fifteenth hole at Colonial Country Club snatches victory from Jason Dufner
The Colonial Country Club’s 15th hole, which was the seventh toughest hole during the Crowne Plaza Invitational this year, proved to be the worst one for Jason Dufner who ran out of gas on Sunday, handing over the victory to Zach Johnson.
Dufner came to the tee box and made a wayward tee shot that found a bunker at the left side of the fairway.
Thereafter, he did what he had to do when he made a shot 142 yards away from the hole.
He took out a 9-iron from his bag and made a chip shot that should have landed onto the green. However, the winds changed the flight of the ball and it flew across the green and into the water.
As a result, he had to suffer a triple bogey in the end that pushed him back to four-stroke trail against Johnson with only three holes to play.
"I just couldn't believe it went that far," Dufner said. "That's not normal for my 9-iron distance and it probably should have been no worse than double bogey, but that's not how it turned out".
“For that ball to fly one 146, 147, 148 yards. I don't know how many,” he added. “Probably close to 148 into the wind. It was a little shocking, a little surprising. I thought maybe it would hang up back there but it didn't. That's the fine line between
winning and finishing second out here on the PGA TOUR especially with the water hazard back there”.
According to the final day stats, Dufner was the second player who had to suffer an “other” on the 15th hole. “Other” is a term used to describe any score worse than a double bogey.
Moreover, the average score on Sunday that was recorded on the 15th was 4.194, making it the sixth hardest of the day. Also, there were a few players who managed to record birdies.
Overall, it can be said that Zach Johnson was lucky to get past the 15th with a par putt. Otherwise, the results could have been completely different, with Dufner taking the third victory of the season.
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