Stephen Ames is not the world’s greatest scrambler. Until the weekend he was 123rd in the PGA Tour scrambling table. Sunday he vaulted 37 places, an achievement sealed by that match-winning effort of the last hole. You can imagine a little tightening of the muscles as he contemplated the difficult third shot out of the bunker, knowing he needed par to avoid a playoff with Tim Clark. The execution was class, the outcome fully deserved. So the season’s roll of honour ends with two Canadians, two Swedes, two Australians (they’ll call it Finchem’s ark if we’re not careful!), an Irishman, a ...

Scott Verplank had his chance Friday and blew it. Everyone else had the same opportunity Saturday and they blew it too. Or maybe more accurately the wind blew it, aided and abetted by the soggy course. Verplank is right to say it only needs one of about 30 players to shoot a fistful of birdies to win. The problem, obviously, is identifying that hotshot, especially after Saturday’s meagre returns. Moving day? More like stick-in-the-mud day. Forget the 66s and 65s of the first two rounds - there was a lone 67 and just 12 other rounds under 70. It’s still going ...

Some careless headline writers got ahead of themselves after round two, trumpeting that Scott Verplank “took charge” of the Children’s Miracle Network Classic. Quite the reverse. When he had the chance to slam the door firmly shut he left it wide open with a sign on the handle saying ‘By all means disturb’. Punters must have been rubbing their hands after his electrifying start to the second round. Six birdies in his first nine holes had them scrambling to chase his price down to 2.8. Nine holes and nine pars later he’s back up to 5 with a gaggle of likely ...

I never like to see a player I’m backing leading the first round of a tournament. How many times do they go on to win? Something in the order of one in 10 if I recall the last time I did the maths? So I’m very grateful to J P Hayes for going a shot clear of Cameron Beckman Thursday afternoon to take the lead. Hayes, I learn from the PGA Tour website, has done this five times already without converting any into victory. Can’t see him doing it this week either, with him switching to the Palm course Friday. That ...

I always shudder when I think of Disney’s gaff at Orlando: it’s the very aptly named Tower of Terror that gets me going after I foolishly allowed my not-so-wee bairns to drag me up it, and down, and up again, and … you get the picture. Follow that with the Aerosmith roller coaster and see how much of a stomach you have left! I imagine quite a few golfers families will be losing their stomachs this week while the old man toils round the Palm and Magnolia courses. And toil they will, because guess what? It’s been raining again. I doubt ...