Golf Update: Stuart Appleby the new champion of Greenbrier Classic
The champion of the Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia has been announced and it is Stuart Appleby, who finished the round with the magical number of 59 on the Old White Course.
Stuart Appleby has become the 5th player on the US PGA tour to score such a low score. Other players who possess this honour are, Al Geiberger in the 1977 Memphis Classic, Chip Beck in the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational, David Duval at the 1999 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and Paul Goydos, at the John Deere Classic.
The day started with a different start. Jeff Overton was in the lead by 7 strokes in the third round, when he finished with 18 under 66. Stuart Appleby took a leap and ended the day with 22 under to become the champion of the tournament.
The Australian attained this victory by scoring 28 on the front nine holes, with six birdies. The game did not stop here. After pars at the10th and the11th hole, Stuart Appleby eagled the 12th, with three more birdies on the last three of the inward nine. Here was the turning point of the game where the winner was declared.
The winner of purse of $1,080,000 pasted a final score of 59 leaving Jeff Overton in a dilemma on how to bridge the gap? The strategy which he found feasible was to birdie the last three holes. However, this could not happen and Jeff Overton could only manage to birdie the 16th, the last shot which he delivered on the 18th hole landed 50 –feet away from the flag resulting into a confirmed victory for the Australian.
As for the Australian, this is his 9th US Tour victory after four years of consecutive defeats. According to the media reports, even Jeff Overton was confused on how he missed this victory after starting the day with 66 and ending with 67.
However, for Stuart Appleby, all the coordinates of the game were in their places. He was confident and comfortable with the ball and the course which according to him was very receptive. Although one thing which Stuart was not pleased with was his putting, this initially turned out to be satisfactory.
Moreover, Stuart Appleby was carrying a lucky charm with him throughout the tournament. He showed it on the national television, claiming that a picture of apple bee on his golf ball brought him luck.
According to the experts, this luck was only brought by the fine putting delivered by Stuart Appleby. The course was producing lower scores throughout the three previous rounds but for Stuart Appleby all the low scores came together on the right time. He was hitting the ball with accuracy, he did not miss a single shot and all over the tournament, his performance graph showed consistency.
Moving forward to the runners up, Jeff Overton had trouble with putting. He had altogether 34 putts in the fourth round, three-putting three times. At the end of the day, it seemed as if the driver in his club was accountable for his second position. Jeff Overton has finished in top 2’s for the third time in this season, which means he is victory less since five years of his PGA tour.
Other players included on the list of Top5 are; Brendon de Jonge (65) T3, D.A Points (70), Woody Austin (63), Paul Stankowski (64), Roger Tambellini (65) and Jimmy Walker (67) at T4.
The day ended on the Old White course, where Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia winded its final round declaring their new champion; Stuart Appleby who won by smashing 9 birdies and one eagle with a the lowest score of 59. According to the expert’s opinion, no one was expecting this over night leader to take away the victory, although his performance right from the beginning of the tournament was very convincing and threatening for the players of the first group.
However, all hail the king!
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