He's been around for a while but it may be, that at age thirty two, Patrick Sheehan is a late developer. His first season on the Buy.Com Tour last year yielded little, in fact he had finished 93rd on the money list in twenty three events. He had however, played with success on the Golden Bear Tour in 1998 finishing as the Player of the Year there.
The win this week in Missouri, his first on the Buy.Com Tour, was all the more meritiorius in that Sheehan led from his first round 63 and despite a shaky time in the middle of the final round was able to keep it going and secured it with a biride on 17. His win was by two from Eric Meeks and Brian Wilson with Craig Spence again to the fore tied in fourth place with, amongst others, heart transplant recipient, Erik Compton.
Gavin Coles, another good finish, was eighth and now moves to eighth on the money list. It may be that the USPGA Tour, which would have seemed an impossible dream at the start of this year, is becoming more and more a reality for Coles.
Matthew Ecob was 34th, Ben Ferguson 52nd and Steve Alker, who has slipped to ninth on the money list, in 59th place.
For the first time since the PGA in 2000, Tiger Woods will play the week immediately preceeding a major. He has announced that he will play the Buick Open at Warwick Hills in Grand Blanc, Michigan the week prior to the PGA at Hazeltine.
Woods's normal preparation for a major has involved taking the week prior off in order to prepare himself. Playing the week before the PGA in 2000 did not do him any harm however, as he went on to win the next week.
Clearly he feels the need to get some competitive golf under his belt. He had five weeks off between the US and the British Opens and has not played competitively, other then in today's Battle at Big Horn, since. Not playing this week at The International, would have meant only two tournaments in nine weeks should he have chosen to miss the Buick. Hardly the right preparation for such a significant event, even if you are Tiger Woods.
Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have won the Battle of Bighorn golf exhibition against Sergio Garcia and Lee Trevino 3 and 2. Nicklaus and Woods will split a first prize of US$1.2 million for the event, while Garcia and Trevino will split US$500,000.
Woods and Nicklaus birdied the first 15 holes, with Woods taking birdies on nine holes and missing another two shorts putts. Woods made birdie putts on the first two holes to put his team 2-up, but Trevino matched them on the fourth and fifth holes to even the match, which began in over 40 degree heat.
The match ended when Woods, who was playing publicly for the first time since the British Open, sunk a one metre putt for birdie.
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