Weekend Wrap: 5/27/2012

In the end, none of the three mens tournaments finished with any real doubt. There was some jockeying for position. Some to the positive, some to the negative. Here’s how the Champions TOur, PGA and European Tour stops finished for the weekend.

PGA: Johnson holds as Dufner Falters

Heading into the final round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner were separated by one stroke and Dufner had the advantage. This Sunday was a little different for last week’s winner. A double and a triple bogey were the glaring misses on his scorecard. Zach Johnson managed to go through the round at even par to capture the tournament.

He even managed to win despite a two-stroke penalty on the tourney’s final hole. Johnson moved his ball marker in order for Dufner to take a crack at his birdie putt. Upon taking his next putt, Johnson did not move his ball marker to the appropriate place. The margin of victory fell from three to one. Had Dufner eliminated his triple bogey on the 15th, he would be a back-to-back winner. Or if Dufner had made his birdie putt, we would have had a playoff.

Johnson would only suffer seven bogeys (plus the double bogey on the 18th) for the entire week en route to a three shot win over Dufner. Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey would wind up in solo third with a score of 7-under. Jim Furyk grabbing a solo fourth off his 6-uner-par performance. There were five players tied at 5-under that included Rickie Fowler, Chris Kirk, John Huh, Ryan Palmer and Harris English.

The win propels Johnson into third place in the FedEx Cup points standings. He moved up 15 spots. Dufner still maintains the FEC top spot and padded his lead by an additional 268 points to a now 307 point lead over Hunter Mahan.

Next weekend, one of the PGA’s gems will commence as the players head to Muirfield Village and The Memorial. The defending champion is Steve Stricker.

Donald Reclaims OWGR Top Spot with Win

It was never in doubt as Luke Donald carded four consecutive rounds in the 60’s to win the BMW PGA Championship held at the Wentworth Club in Surrey, England. Donald received an even greater chance to regain #1 for OWGR when Rory McIlroy failed to make the cut. And Donald took advantage.

Rounds of 68-68-69-68 for a total of 273 (15-under-par) showed only seven bogeys over Donald’s weekend. Donald also won by four shots. Paul Lawrie and Justin Rose tied for second at 11-under-par. Rose’s finished provided him to leap frog McIlroy for the top spot in the Race to Dubai standings. Donald barreled up the R2D standings moving from 36th to 8th win his win.

Donald defended a title for the first time as he won the event last year…with similar results. In winning the BMW last year, Donald jumped over fellow countryman Lee Westwood to attain golf’s top ranking.

It didn’t hurt that Donald was playing in front of a “home crowd” either.

Chapman Nabs Champions Tour’s Senior PGA Championship

On a day where a Brit claimed golf’s top spot, a Brit would claim the Senior PGA title.

In shooting his only round over 70, Roger Chapman won by two strokes over American John Cook. Chapman had built a five shot lead heading into the final round. His final round back nine was none too impressive (3-over-par 38); however, Chapman had owned the tournament from the start in going wire-to-wire for the win.

Cook attempted a comeback on his back nine, but Chapman’s lead was too insurmountable by that time. Hale Irwin also tried a back-nine charge, but like Cook, found the deficit too much to overcome.