Wake Forest Athletics
Monday Morning Golf Report
1/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Jan. 19, 2009
This is the first Monday Morning Golf Report of the 2009 season, which will recap all of the action of the former Demon Deacon golfers now playing in the professional ranks.
This weekend was full of action for the Aloha State. Recent graduate Webb Simpson along with 2004 graduate Bill Haas made their 2009 season debuts at the Sony Open in Honolulu while Bill's father Jay Haas competed in the Champions Tour Skins Game in Kaanapali, Hawaii.
Simpson was making his first start as a member of the PGA Tour after advancing through Q-School last December. He got off to a tremendous start, carding a 4-under 66 in the opening round and was just one shot off the lead. A second round 68 had him at 6-under and just two shots off the pace after the cut.
On Saturday, Simpson was paired with eventual champion, and former Masters' champion, Zach Johnson. Simpson held his own in the third round but just couldn't get a whole lot going and wound up carding an even par 70. He would start the final round tied for 13th.
Simpson would then post three birdies and just one bogie in his final round to card a two-under 68 and finish tied for ninth at 8-under for the tournament.
Bill Haas would also finish tied for ninth with Simpson after a solid 7-under on the weekend.
After making the cut at 1-under, Haas made a pair of birdies along with eagles on the par-5 ninth and 18th holes to card a stellar 5-under 65 on Saturday. Like Simpson, Haas was unable to make that big move on Sunday and found himself at 1-over for the round with two holes to play. He would make a nice birdie-two at the par-3 17th and finish the tournament with his second-straight eagle on 18.
Johnson held off the hard charging trio of Adam Scott, David Toms and Charles Howell III to pick up his first win of 2009.
Jay Haas was paired with Australian Greg Norman for the Champions Tour Skins Game. The pairing was ironic because Norman was selected as the captain of the International Team in this fall's President's Cup and Haas will assume the roll of assistant captain for Fred Couples on the U.S. side.
Norman and Haas were the winners on day one, collecting three skins and $90,000 but the duo couldn't scratch out a skin on Sunday until the game was decided. Fuzzy Zoeller and Ben Crenshaw would win the 17th hole with a birdie to earn four skins, giving them a total of six skins and $500,000.
No team could catch them, despite the 18th hole being the "Super Skin" worth $100,000, which Norman and Haas would win on the second playoff hole to finish with a total of four skins and $190,000.
Haas, and all of the other nine players, were donating a portion of their winnings to a charity of their choice and Haas was playing this week for Blade Junior Golf Classic and Greenville Memorial Hospital Children's Pediatric Cancer Treatment Center.
The Champions Tour will remain in Hawaii for the first full-field event of 2009 next weekend at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai. The PGA Tour will head to the mainland for The 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by former Demon Deacon great Arnold Palmer.
Make sure you check in every Monday morning to keep up with all of Wake's former players now out on the professional tours.
Players Mentioned
