As most people expected, Jamie Sadlowski handily outdrove Bubba Watson, Robert Garrigus and Dustin Johnson during their competition today on the 18th hole.
The format was interesting. They played a two round elimination event. Each player got 3 shots and the ball had to be in play to count. They moved the players up to to the Women’s tees, bringing the overall length of the hole down to 455 yards from the normal 663 yards.
This had the interesting effect of bringing the hazard into play and caused the players to land the ball in a much flatter area of the course which led to significantly less roll than I and others had been expecting. Additionally the wind was in their face, which is about 180 degrees opposite from the usual playing conditions.
Still, Sadlowski unleashed the longest drive of the day during the final round, poking one out 407 yards. Watson struggled a bit in the finals and was “only” able to hit one 352 yards. The first round was actually closer with Sadlowski hitting it 398, with Watson (370), Garrigus (365), and Dustin Johnson (352) not as far behind him as some might have been expecting.
It was pretty obvious from the outset however that the PGA guys knew they had no real chance of winning. It truly was the Jamie Sadlowski show. At one point in the finals while Bubba was hitting his shots, Frank Nobilo actually asked Sadlowski if he thought he could beat Bubba with his 3 wood. Ouch. And even though Sadlowski said no, I think he really mean “duh”.
After he won, Sadlowski demonstrated his “amphibiousness” (to quote Boo Weekly), by hitting Watson’s back-up driver left-handed. He didn’t do too badly, pegging a spectator about 280 yards out from the tee.
I’ve heard now and then that Sadlowski may make a run at the PGA Tour. He’s supposedly a plus handicap golfer. All I can say is that it would be a lot of fun to see him playing in PGA events. 400 yard drives and 215 yard 7-irons would be one heck of a draw for fans and could possibly give golf a much needed boost.
[Image Flickr/rbglasson]
{ 1 trackback }