PGA Results: 2013 Northern Trust Open

PGA Tour Northern Trust Open Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California Riviera is a fun course to host a PGA Tour event.  I was hoping for a playoff and sure enough we got one.  Why the hope for a playoff?  I was hoping to see it come down to the 10th hole to see what would happen.  The 10th at Riviera is a very short par-4 which many tour players can reach, some without even having to hit driver.  But the catch with the hole is that hitting the green is like trying to land a shot on the roof of a Volkswagen.  Many players attempt to drive the green.  The problem is that when they miss it, they're left with a near impossible tiny little shot and not much green to work with. At the end of regulation John Merrick and Charlie Beljan ended up tied at -11.  Both players tied on the first playoff hole, the 18th.  That meant that the exact scenario I hoped for would come true, a playoff reaching the driveable 10th.  Merrick had made birdie 10th hole during regulation by laying up with an iron and hitting a lob wedge to the green.  He once again hit an iron off the tee, leaving himself 90 yards and a full lob wedge.  Beljan took the aggressive approach and hit driver, leaving himself a 50 foot shot over a bunker with no green to work with.  Merrick was able to barely keep his full lob wedge on the green while Beljan elected to play away from the pin and bunker to try and catch any piece of the green.  Beljan missed the green.  So here is a PGA Tour pro who can't hit a 300 yard par-4 in TWO shots, let alone one. Beljan was unable to get up and down for par, missing his tricky fast put on the left lip.  Merrick two-putted for par and collected his first Tour win by playing the numbers and laying up. Looks like we have a Tuesday Tip discussion for tomorrow! LPGA Tour ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open Royal Canberra Golf Club, Yarralumla, Australia Jiyai Shin of South Korea collected the winner's trophy in the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open.  Shin fired rounds of 65-67-70-72 to win by two shots over Yani Tseng. An entertaining part of the tournament this week happened when dozens of kangaroos delayed play, hopping all over the course.  Only in Australia. European Tour Africa Open East London Golf Club, East London, South Africa South African Darren Fichardt had some late round nerves to deal with, but managed to overcome them to claim the Africa Open title.  Fichardt, 37, was on top of the leaderboard coming into the final round, tied with Van Zyl. By the turn he had built up a four shot lead.  But then 3 bogeys by Fichardt brought Zyl back into the mix to make it interesting.  Fichardt did manage to hang on and win by two shots. Champions Tour ACE Group Classic The Talon Course, Twin Eagles Golf Club, Naples, Fla. Bernhard Langer fought some putting woes but still went wire-to-wire to win the Ace Group classic, beating Jay Don Blake by one shot. The leaderboard was packed tightly with John Cook and Tom Perince Jr. two shots back.