Retief Goosen Triumphs at the Transitions Championship

Under U.S. Open course conditions where drives into the rough are penalized, approach shots into firm greens tricky and putting downright treacherous, two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen won the 2009 Transitions Championship. He shot a Sunday 70 to win by one stroke over Brett Quigley and Charles Howell III.  

You could see it coming after last week’s opening 65 on the tough Blue Monster at Doral in the WGC-CA. But then came the chip-in on the third hole of the second round.

Not the type of chip-in you want, though; that one went into a water hazard.

“I don't know what happened there. I played so great in the first round, and then for my second round, I chipped it into the water on the third hole and made 7 there and that sort of just, end of tournament for me.”

What a difference a week makes. This time he was over the ninth green and chipped and ran it down the hill into the hole with a 6-iron.

“The chip-in on (No.) 9 sort of settled me down, and I thought, okay, I'm not doing too badly now. I think at that stage I was two off the lead. And obviously (par-5 No.) 11, I hit a great drive again, just like yesterday. Hit a 5-iron, I don't know, 20 feet, and holed a good (eagle) putt there.”

“Then I was tied for the lead. I thought to myself, if I can get in at 9-under, that could possibly be good enough. But at the end, 8-under was good enough.”

The eagle on No. 11 propelled him into the lead and after bogeying No. 16 he had to make two tough pars to win the golf tournament.

“That chip on 17 was tough. Anything could have happened there. I think that pretty much won me the tournament. Getting up-and-down there, I think felt...I didn't want to go up 18 thinking that I needed a birdie to win. Par is what you want going up 18 to try and win.” Of the last 24 players, 15 bogeyed No. 18.

Goosen did win in Malaysia in November and in South Africa in January though his last PGA TOUR victory came at the 2005 INTERNATIONAL.

After trying a belly putter for three tournaments he went back to his trusty short C-groove YES putter he used to win the U.S. Opens in 2001 and 2004.

“Pretty much all of the tournaments I won, I won on that putter. So it seems to be behaving again. On greens like this, you need to putt well. You look at stats this week; the guy that putted the best is pretty much the winner. That's what I did this week, I putted pretty well.”

Brett Quigley finished with a strong 68 and was momentarily the leader in the clubhouse until matched by Charles Howell III. He birdied Nos. 13 and 14 to get to minus-7 and two strokes behind Goosen who at the time had made a good drive on No. 16 but still bogeyed the hole to make it an interesting finish.

He echoed the sentiment that a par by Goosen on No. 18 was a difficult task on the way to his victory.

“It's a hard tee shot, and the second shot is impossible. You're looking at that pin; it plays probably ten or 15 yards uphill. You don't want to be short, because the bunker is dead.

"And then if everybody hits it past the hole, then you've got a putt that's the proverbial, you're in the back of the tub trying to stop it short of the drain, where the green is so fast, we all ran it by,

"Charles Howell and I did, and Retief did. It just shows you how fast that green is. It's a good, hard hole, but it's fair.”

Quigley, the veteran golfer of 341 tour starts is still winless on the PGA TOUR. He turned the corner and was in contention at the Honda Classic. Now he has finished second last week and then again this week.

What will it take for him to get that first tour victory?

“I need to play a little better, is the bottom line, at least one or two shots”.

Two-time tour winner Charles Howell III shot 69 and with a birdie on No. 14 tied Goosen for the lead at minus-9.

He miffed a chip on 15 to bogey and then bogeyed No. 16 to give Goosen a two-stroke lead with four holes to play. He parred No. 18 to tie Quigley just before Goosen missed his 8-footer for par on No. 16.

Howell is trying to become a more complete golfer. “The work I've done with Todd Anderson has really helped. I'm learning to trust it more. I've said, I'm kind of a fastball pitcher and I'm learning to become a pitcher that throws splitters and knuckleballs, and actually become a golfer.

"Of all the things I've seen great players do, that's what they do so well, is when their fastball is not working, they are not out of it. They can still create ways to get it done. That's what I'm learning how to do, and this week I thought I did a pretty good job of it.”

Born in Augusta, Ga., he is determined to earn a trip to the Masters with a win next week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational or the following week at the Shell Houston Open.

“The golf tournament means more to me than anything. It's in my mind. It was in my mind today. But in a good way, for incentive, to keep hanging in there. Obviously, I have to win a tournament to get in there. But yeah, today, I thought about it.”

Matthew Goggin, Steve Stricker, and Charles Wi were in a three-way tie for fourth place finishing two stroked behind Goosen. Goggin shot an impressive Sunday 67 to post minus-6 earlier in the day.

Charles Wi shot 69 and got off to a good start chipping in for birdie on Nos. 2 and 4. He birdied No. 9 for a 4-under 32 on the front nine taking the lead for the first time. He birdied No. 11 to make it five birdies in the first 11 holes and make it to minus-9.

Trying to join K.J. Choi and Y.E. Yang as Korean PGA TOUR winners he faltered ion the home stretch bogeying Nos. 13, 15, and 18.

Steve Stricker who shot 69 had a similar fate after getting it to 4-under for the day with a deuce on No. 13 to tie Wi for the lead at the time. Bogeying Nos. 17 and 18 made this another disappointing Sunday for Stricker.

Steve Flesch shot 69 to finish in seventh place alone three shots more than Goosen’s 276 winning total on the par-71 Copperhead Course with five par-3 holes.

Third round leader Tom Lehman shot a disappointing 75 to finish in a four-way tie for eighth place with Bo Van Pelt, Kevin Na, and Stuart Appleby. Van Pelt shot a Sunday 66 to move all the way up from 43rd place.

The tour moves on to another gem of a golf course at Bay Hill in Arnie’s tournament this week. Then to the Redstone GC near Houston where they try to set it up to be like Augusta National.

Then in three weeks it is the real thing, the first major of the season in the 73rd rendition of the Masters Tournament or as CBS Sports’ Jim Nantz puts it: “a tournament like no other.”

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering for the tournaments and working part time for NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and The Golf Channel. He resides in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach.

He enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to [e-mail]