Round 4 Notes – Northern Trust Open
Final-Round Notes – Sunday, February 17, 2008Sunny skies with a high of 59 degrees and winds SSW at 4-8 mph.
Phil Mickelson carded a final-round 70 to capture the Northern Trust Open by two shots over Jeff Quinney. With his win, Mickelson picks up 4,500 FedExCup points and moves into first place on the FedExCup points list with 8,069 points. J.B. Holmes, who was number one on the list coming into the week, fell back to second after a T7 finish this week and sits 2,306 points behind Mickelson with 5,763 points. Quinney picked up 2,700 points and moved from 63rd to 13th on the points list and now has 3,479 points for the year.
Mickelson becomes the fifth 36-hole leader/co-leader in seven events on the 2008 PGA TOUR to go on and win that week, joining K.J. Choi (Sony Open), D.J. Trahan (Bob Hope Chrysler Classic), Tiger Woods (Buick Invitational), and J.B. Holmes (FBR Open).
This marks Mickelson’s 33rd career win on the PGA TOUR and his 11th in the state of California:
Wins by State (33)
1 New Jersey --PGA Championship—(1) 2005)
1 Ohio -- NEC World Series of Golf—(1) 1996)
1 Massachusetts – Deutsche Bank Championship —(1) 2007
2 Colorado – the INTERNATIONAL—(2) 1993, 1997)
2 Texas -- GTE Byron Nelson Classic—(1) 1996; MasterCard Colonial—(1) 2000)
2 Florida -- Bay Hill Invitational—(1) 1997; THE PLAYERS—(1) 2007)
2 Connecticut -- Canon Greater Hartford Open—(2) 2001-02)
5 Arizona -- Chrysler Classic of Tucson—(3) 1991, 1995; 1996; FBR Open-- (2) 1996, 2005)
6 Georgia -- AT&T Classic—(3) 2000, 2005, 2006; Masters Tournament—(2) 2004, 2006, TOUR Championship—(1) 2000
11 California -- Buick Invitational—(3) 1993, 2000, 2001; Mercedes Championship—(2) 1994, 1998; AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am – (3) 1998, 2005, 2007; Bob Hope Chrysler Classic—(2) 2002, 2004; Northern Trust Open – (1) 2008
With his 33rd career PGA TOUR title, Mickelson moves into solo 13th on the list of all-time TOUR winners:
1. Sam Snead 82
2. Jack Nicklaus 73
3. Ben Hogan 64
T4. Arnold Palmer 62
T4. Tiger Woods 62
6. Byron Nelson 52
7. Billy Casper 51
8. Walter Hagen 45
9. Cary Middlecoff 40
T10. Gene Sarazen 39
T10. Tom Watson 39
12. Lloyd Mangrum 36
13. Phil Mickelson 33
14. Horton Smith 32
Prior to this year, Mickelson had competed nine times in the Northern Trust Open (including once as an amateur) without a win. Here’s a look at the current list of events in which he has played the most without winning:
Tournament Starts Best Finish
U.S. Open 17 starts 2nd (1999, 2002, 2004, 2006)
British Open 15 starts 3rd (2004)
Justin Timberlake Shriners 12 starts 2nd (2002)
Hospitals for Children Open
BMW Championship 10 starts T26 (1996)
Mickelson’s win marks the 11th year in his 17-year PGA TOUR career in which he has recorded at least one win and one runner-up finish (2nd – FBR Open) in a single season.
Jeff Quinney’s runner-up finish is the best of his two-year PGA TOUR career. Since becoming a member of the TOUR in 2007, $1,269,963 of Quinney’s $2,461,325 in earnings have come in events held in the state of California. In addition, four of his six career top-10 finishes have come in the state of California.
After making a hole-in-one at the par-3 sixth on Saturday, Quinney followed it up with a birdie on Sunday and in turn played the hole in 4-under for the week.
Ryuji Imada’s T5 finish is his second top-5 effort of the 2008 season (2nd – Buick Invitational) and marks the first time in his four-year PGA TOUR career that he has recorded multiple top-5 finishes.
Scoring Averages:
Front Nine Back Nine Total
Thursday 35.507 36.958 72.465
Friday 35.819 36.630 72.449
Saturday 35.603 35.731 71.333
Sunday 35.218 36.423 71.641
Riviera Country Club’s 503-yard par-5 first hole played to an average of 4.422 this week, making it the easiest hole on the course and the fifth easiest on the PGA TOUR thus far in 2008. On the contrary, the historic par-3 fourth played to an average of 3.339, thus making it the most difficult hole for the week and the third most difficult hole on TOUR this year (tied with the par-4 fifth at Poppy Hills).
Phil Mickelson’s statistics for the tournament:
Statistic Rank
Driving Distance 296.9 yards 26th
Driving Accuracy 27 of 56 T59
Greens In Regulation 46 of 72 T10
Putting Average 1.674 8th
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