Dufner Continues Good Play at Colonial

As the 2012 season began, most people remember Jason Dufner more for his playoff loss to Keegan Bradley at last year’s PGA Championship than any other event. Considering his play over the past month, I don’t think they can forget him now even though he missed the cut at his first tournament of the season over in Hawaii at the Sony Open. A pair of wins will do that.

After two rounds at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, Dufner owns a two shot lead over Zach Johnson. He followed up his Thursday first round 65 with a 64 today. He sits at 11-under-par. His 64 today was bogey free. And it’s the flat stick that’s helping his cause. He only missed one putt beyond 10 feet in today’s round. For the week, he has gained 2.330 strokes gained through his putting. Yes, that would explain why he has that two shot lead.

But there’s more to why Dufner has been able to utilize his putter the way he has. Dufner’s driving accuracy is 75.0, 6th among all competitors. Hitting greens after hitting the fairways hasn’t been a big problem for him either, especially if he has a mid-iron in his hand. He sits at T8 at ,again, 75.0%.

Those fit into the mold that Dufner is starting to create. He’s not the longest hitter of the ball (290.9 in driving distance, 62nd), but he has kept the ball on the short grass with a driving accuracy percentage of 68.81%, which is 6th on PGA TOUR. Again, once he finds the fairway, he will usually proceed to find the green. He is 13th with a GIR of 69.08% for the year.

What will surprise you is how well Dufner is putting this week in comparison to his use of the putter coming into this week. Dufner’s strokes gained on the greens was a dismal -.122 which ramnks him 122nd. So, if you caught him sinking that putt to win last week, all you can say is that he had the guts to sink it.

The FedEx Cup points leader can extend his lead even further with yet another win this week. He currently holds a 40 point lead over Hunter Mahan. Mahan is in Ft. Worth this week, but his play is not up to snuff with Dufner’s. Mahan is at even par, T30 and 11 shots back. He will make the cut, but it will take a great weekend in order to contend.

Na on the clock

It’s hard to recall this year’s The Players Championship and not talk about Kevin Na and his issues with his swing. Well, apparently the officials have caught on to Na’s “problem” although there is now an issue with that.

Na was none to happy about being put on the clock…along with his playing partners of Aaron Baddeley and John Huh. Na thought all was okay until an official informed the group they were on the clock. Na objected and even called an official over after to voice his disagreement with the decision.

Walking off the 10th hole, Na and Baddeley were conversing and Baddeley agreed with Na’s take. From Ron Sirek of Golf Digest.

"“Walking off 10, Aaron and I were talking and Aaron totally agreed with what I had to say. None of us were slow. But some times there are windy conditions and you can have bad holes but not be out of position where we should have been on the clock.”"

The issue didn’t bother Huh. He shot a 4-under-par 66 and is T8 at -4. For Na and Baddeley, they are both at 1-over. Na bogeyed three of the next six holes after being put on the cloack. He did get two strokes back with birdies at 18 and 18. Nice way to close out the round. Baddeley shot an even par 70 on the day and he wasn’t bothered about the “incident” either. After the clock assessment, he would actually play the back nine at 1-under.

Ever since The Players and the ruling at the LPGA Sybase Match Play, slow play has become the hot button topic within the realms of golf. Going out on a limb here. The PGA, which has pretty much buried its head in the sand concerning slow play, saw what the LPGA did with its take on Morgan Pressel. There is now no choice but for all tours to enforce the rules regarding slow play whether you agree or not.