In the end, the 20th edition of The International was more than officials could have hoped for, executive director Larry Thiel said.
The Thursday washout that forced officials to play 36 holes Sunday wasn’t the disaster it could have been.
“We enjoyed three great days and the competition was fantastic, and we couldn’t have picked a better champion,” Thiel said. “Our heart goes out to Brandt Jobe because we love him, too, but we got another great champion.”
Thiel said it was “pretty obvious that the crowds were down” this year, saying some of the dropoff was probably because of the U.S. Women’s Open, which was played at Cherry Hills Country Club in June. “We did lose some sales.”
As for having to play 36 holes Sunday, that turned out to be a television exposure bonanza.
“CBS went 6 1/2 hours,” he said. “We’ve never had that much coverage in the history of the tournament.”
With the 2006 schedule set, Thiel said International officials are looking forward to the 2007 season when the PGA Tour is expected to give the tournament some significant scheduling concessions.
Five-hour rounds test CBS telecast
The weather cooperated, but the golfers didn’t in getting the final two rounds of The International completed on the CBS window. Five-hour-plus rounds were the norm Sunday, in the morning and the afternoon, for the threesomes.
Third-round leader Brandt Jobe, for example, finished at 1:38 p.m., a 5-hour, 8-minute round, then teed off for the fourth round at 2 p.m., his scheduled final-round tee time. CBS stayed with the telecast for the entire event in the Mountain and Pacific time zones, nearly 6 1/2 hours of coverage.
Ben Crane was far from the only culprit in taking his time, though he continued to draw snickers from the Castle Pines gallery for his long preshot routine on the tee and his habit of taking twice as long as his partners on the greens.
Jobe, incidentally, finished his final round at 7:09 p.m.
Hammerin’ Hank elevates his game
Hank Kuehne made a strong bid to get into the winner’s circle with a 10-point final round. The big hitter said a key was finally adjusting to altitude in his fifth trip to The International.
“I’ve really struggled every year trying to figure out how far the ball is going, and this year I finally decided to go ahead and hit my drives normal and my irons low. I was able to figure out far they were going. I made a few birdies, so maybe I will stick to that.”
Son’s major feat thrill for Tway
Bob Tway took a week off from the PGA Tour two weeks ago. An obligation was far more important. The 1986 PGA Championship winner traveled to Longmeadow, Mass., to watch his son, Kevin, 17, win the 58th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship.
“Watching Kevin win was the best thing that’s happened to me in golf,” Tway said.
Topping his own major championship?
“At the time, I thought winning the PGA was the best, but I didn’t know then what I know now,” Tway said. “Being a father watching his son do that, that’s the best.”
Stadler has tough round, finishes 32nd
For three rounds, Kevin Stad- ler raised more than a few eyebrows with his 25 points. But 36 holes at Castle Pines in one day might have been too much.
“Everybody had to do it,” said Stadler, a Kent Denver graduate. “For the first three days I didn’t really play that well, and it finally caught up with me today.”
It began to hit Stadler when the hills began to approach. A bogey on No. 4 preceded a double on the uphill par-4 fifth. The same combination of bogey-double haunted him on Nos. 9 and 10. Three more bogeys, on Nos. 14, 16 and 18, could not make his birdies at 15 and 17 hold up.
Stadler’s tie for 32nd place, worth $28,937, was his best finish since a 10th last month at the John Deere Classic.
Rising, but still in Ernie’s shadow
During the award’s ceremony, Vickers began listing off Goosen’s accomplishments. He was quick, however, to mention Ernie Els, one of his favorite golfers. Though Goosen has won two majors, he still lives in the shadow of his South African countryman, whom Vickers invited to his first PGA Tour event.
“Ernie has been one of our favorites over the year,” Vickers said. “And unfortunately he sustained a serious injury to his knee prior to the tournament and is out for a while. So I’m sorry he couldn’t make it this year but it’s nice to have Retief (winning).”
Pampling enjoys defending title
Rod Pampling’s reign as champion of The International came to an end Sunday with no regrets. The Australian finished the tournament with 24 points, good for a tie for sixth place.
“I just didn’t get the ball in the hole enough; that’s just the way it goes,” he said. “But it was a fun week.”
After being in contention from the start in 2004, Pampling was forced to rally from a plus-5 start this year. He said that may have caused him to put pressure on himself to “get into the hunt.”
“I have good memories here, so that should help. It’s just the pressure you put on yourself,” he said. “Maybe I put too much on myself, but it was fun defending. Next year I won’t have that, so maybe I’ll win again.”
Colo. Open champ finishes tied for 57th
Just one week ago, Wil Collins experienced the highs of winning the Colorado Open at Green Valley Ranch. He took home $23,000 and qualified for The International. The mini- tour player, 26, just made the cut Saturday after scoring 7 points, tied for the final spot in the 63-person Sunday rounds. Collins finished in a three-way tie for 57th with Andrew Magee and Frank Lickliter II at 8 points. Collins won took home $11,200.
Two-time champ Mickelson shakes rust
Back at The International after skipping the event to prepare for the PGA Championship last year, Phil Mickelson said he was glad to “work a little rust out” for this year’s final major.
“I’m looking forward to (this) week’s PGA Championship,” Mickelson said. “I had a chance to go see Baltusrol, and the course is in impeccable shape. It’s just beautiful. … I certainly saw a little rust in some shots this week, but I enjoyed the week very much. I’m pleased the way I fought back the last round to kind of get up there and hopefully get a little momentum for next week.”
A two-time champion and two-time runner-up at The International, Mickelson finished tied for 10th with 23 points.
Goosen gets in groove with lucky putter
That last 3 1/2-foot putt Goosen made to secure the victory came off the face of the C-Groove putter he acquired from local distributer “Yes Golf.” Goosen also used the putter to win two U.S. Opens (2001 and 2004) and the 2004 Tour Championship.
Footnotes
Jobe was named the tour’s Crestor Charity Challenge winner for being the third-round leader. Crestor and The International will donate $50,000 to Children’s Hospital and Crestor will donate $50,000 to Jobe’s health care charity of choice. … Goosen, who won $900,000, increased his career earnings at The International to $1,343,360. He is the sixth international champion of the tournament, joining Australians Greg Norman (1989) and Pampling (2004), Spain’s Jose Maria Olazabal (1991), Fiji’s Vijay Singh (1998) and South Africa’s Els (2000).
