Top-20 American players to watch out for in 2012: Part-3
Tiger Woods, who fired his 12-year old caddie, the New Zealander Steve Williams and kept searching for a new replacement for quite a few months until he stumbled with Johnson’s long time caddie Joe Lacava and finally won him over with under-the-table deals.
Johnson who had been battling the lingering knee injury, had to face a new disaster as the young player’s trusted caddie was now gone. Woods’ under-the-table deal with Johnson’s caddie were criticised by all and sundry, especially Butch Harmon, Woods’ former
coach and Johnson’s current swing coach.
Johnson finally decided to undergo the long overdue Knee surgery on November 29, and doctors have said that the trailblazing golfer will be on the crutches for another few weeks. Meanwhile, Johnson has now decided to hire his former caddie Bobby Brown who
was fired by Johnson a year ago when he fell for a terrible 82 in the final round of US Open at Pebble Beach 2010. Johnson was penalized for not realizing that he was in a bunker. Johnson has won four out of five PGA Tour wins alongside Brown and the duo is
hoping to get back to their previous winning form right from the beginning of 2012.
Webb Simpson
Official World Golf Rankings: 10
FedExCup Rankings: 2
PGA Tour wins in 2011: 2
One of the rising new talents on the PGA Tour, Webb Simpson pulled in his maiden tour title in August this year when he won the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina. A North Carolina native himself, the victory bolstered the youngster’s urge
to card more victories for the rest of the year, pushing him to win another title, Deutsche Bank Championship, one of the four FedExCup Playoff Championship events.
Turning professional in the year 2008, Simpson has remained in contention in most of the high profile events in the year 2011, narrowly missing several titles since the start of the year. He came close to winning his first tour title at the Transitions Championship,
falling for a bogey at the penultimate hole to lose to Gary Woodland. He shot back in contention again at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans where he lost to the rampaging Bubba Watson on Playoff. His victory at the Wyndham Championship, also on his home turf,
not only improved his rankings but increased his confidence to strive for more titles.
"I really couldn't think of a better place to win than here in Greensboro. That was probably the most fun 18 holes I've ever been a part of." Simpson said after his victory at the Wyndham Championship.
Simpson played with amazing composure in the Deutsche Bank Championship where he took over the veteran Chez Reavie on the second Playoff hole, in a thrilling nail-biting competition. Reavie, who has made a comeback on the tour with a medical exemption, was
leading the final round since morning and had all the sympathies of the audience on the course.
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