Paul Goydos Wins 2015 Allianz Championship
Paul Goydos survived more than just the rest of the field Sunday in the final round of the Allianz Championship at Broken Sound in Boca Raton, he survived the course as well.
“The way I was playing, I could easily have been three back,” he said. “The golf course played much harder today. Maybe I wasn’t handling the situation very well, but the greens were quicker, the hole locations were tougher. I just had to hang in there and make pars, see what happens.”
Make pars and hang in there is exactly what he did. On a day where nine different golfers held at least a share of the lead at different points, Goydos didn't falter, even when everyone around him seemed to be doing just that.
Playing in the final group for the second day in a row, Goydos played with Tom Pernice Jr and Rod Spittle and saw them both flounder away their chances at winning at different points on the front nine.
Pernice briefly took the outright lead after a birdie on the first whole, but a triple bogey six on the par 3 third did him in when his tee shot went in the water and he flew the green with his shot from the drop zone.
Mark Brooks then held the lead for a little before he recorded a 7 on the par 5 6th hole. That 7, coupled with back to back birdies by Spittle gave him a two shot lead. The 6th hole ended his day as well.
After hitting his second shot to the collection area just to the right of the green, Spittle bladed his third shot into the water. Laying five at the this point, Spittle failed to hit his next shot up the green, landing it short and rolling all the way back to the water once again. He finally got it up on to the green and after two putting walked away with a quintuple bogey 10, effectively ending his tournament.
With all this going on, you had to wonder if Goydos would also falter and put up a big number at some point.
“We were definitely out of rhythm and out of sync,” Goydos said. “The first hole, Rod chunks a chip and I chip it over the green and you would have thought it was Broken Arrow net best ball tournament. Tom didn’t make a good swing on the par 3 and Rod hit a couple shot’s he would probably like to have back on the par 5. What it does, is it takes you out of the flow. We definitely were struggling with rhythm.”
Not everyone was falling off the leader board though. There were plenty of golfers that were behind Goydos that tried to make his afternoon extra difficult.
Fred Funk, John Huston, and defending champion Michael Allen got it to 10-under. Gene Sauers got it to 11-under to tie Goydos when he got to the 18th hole. The biggest move of the day though, came from Jose Coceres who, after starting his day on the back nine at even par, recorded the low round of the tournament shooting a final round 63. That 63 included a nine hole stretch that featured four birdies and an eagle.
While all this was going on Goydos had no idea. In fact, he didn't even know that he wasn't leading until leaving the tee at 18.
“There’s a score board about 200 yards from the tee box on 18 and I look over and I’m not even on top anymore because Sauers is 11-under and I was like, ‘Where did he come from?’ I thought everyone was 10-under par and finished.” Goydos said.
Despite all the pressure that was being put on Goydos all afternoon, the general consensus from the rest of the field was that there was no doubt in their mind that Goydos would finish the thing off. That came as a surprise to Goydos who, in 507 starts on the PGA Tour, only won twice.
“I don’t know how a guy can win twice and be a good front runner,” he said. “If you asked me that when I was 30 or 32 or 33, the answer would have been no.”
Goydos prevailed in the end though, something he attributed to the maturity he has gained over his long golf career. In fact, he said that if he had played today’s round 10 years ago, he had no doubt that he would not be holding the trophy.
“Statistics are a wonderful predictor of the past,” Goydos said. ”Part of it is experience and maturity. If I played like I did today 10 years ago, I don’t think there’s any way I would have won this tournament. But I am more comfortable in that situation now and I felt pretty good about things.It goes back to its easy when you’re playing well. Like a basketball team, like the Miami Heat. When the Heat are playing well, they’re going to win. It’s how you play when you’re not playing well. Today, I struggled a lot, but hung in there.”
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