FBR Open round four: This time Holmes has more to offer

Without exception, every golfer I heard interviewed on Sunday tipped the Patriots to win the Super Bowl. Shows how much they know about football. Not a few seemed equally clueless on how to win a golf tournament, because the way things were panning out I would have been happy to award it to Tiger Woods by default.

It was the tough pin positions, the golfers lamented, and the cold - funny places these American deserts. But the players weren’t the only ones to get things wrong. The pre-match prediction that J B Holmes would have to go low again was as off-beam as the Super Bowl crystal-gazing.

Jonathan Byrd chose to have one of his all too frequent downers, Justin Leonard called a halt to his spectacular run with an equally spectacular 77, Charles Warren’s putter let victory slip from his grasp, and Phil Mickelson had another of those infuriating up-and-down rounds. He looked dead and buried when he bogeyed the ninth to leave Holmes four clear. Then Holmes decided things were going far too well and conjured up three bogeys on the trot, while Lefty found three birdies down the back nine to take the lead.

Ironically, while his putter had propelled Holmes through the tournament, it was his driver that finally put us all out of our misery in the playoff. “I smoked it,” he said later. And then some - 360 yards or so!

So now I guess Holmes will disappear back into relative obscurity for another year; maybe two given the way Scottsdale resists back-to-back winners. Or perhaps not. Holmes says he has found it hard to adjust to the Tour’s travelling, but after getting married last November “I’m more settled in life and happier right now. I think my best golf is ahead of me.” Certainly Mickelson was gushing about his talent, and Holmes’s stated ambition is to play in the Ryder Cup this year in his home state, on a course he played a lot at college. So watch this space.

Other positives?
First, for all the hiccups Mickelson is on an upward curve ahead of defending his title at the upcoming AT&T Pebble Beach.
Second, Stuart Appleby is looking in useful shape with a 4th place following an 8th in the Buick. Fellow Australian Steve Elkington, who finished alongside him, is also looking more than handy.
Third, Boo Weekley had a solid tournament with four sub-70 rounds.
Fourth, Sunday’s four under from Jason Day suggests the latest Australian wunderkind is beginning to find his feet in his avowed quest to topple Woods (*polite cough*). But he’d better get his skates on because the new Welsh wunderkind Richard Johnson has also got himself well into the money in just his third tournament.
Fifth, K J Choi’s tie for 20th is better than it seems. He had one of the best rounds Sunday and only Saturday’s nasty 74 put him out of the running.

And finally, all you golfers: who’s going to win the Presidential election?