Tough weekend at Birkdale for Gary Woodland
By Stan Unruh
Kansas Jayhawk fans enjoyed watching Gary Woodland in The Open Golf Championship. The third round at Royal Birkdale ruined his chances for victory.
With two rounds in the books former University of Kansas golfer Gary Woodland seemed in a great position at The Open Golf championship- the tour’s third major of the year.
In spite of the awful Friday weather at Royal Birkdale, I was thrilled Woodland finished with a score under par. He saw plenty of television time early Saturday due to the paring with Rory Mcilrory. The two began round three just back of leader and eventual winner Jordan Spieth.
As we anticipated before the tournament, Woodland’s long game is perfect for the Royal Birkdale course. We saw him play the golf that has already earned him over $2M on the PGA tour this year. Unfortunately, he had a difficult time finding the fairway to start Saturday’s round and didn’t recover.
Among the weekend highlights for Woodland included an amazing par save on the fifth hole. On Friday, Woodland was a hero on social media after scoring a 2 on this par four hole as the rain came. Saturday his tee shot on the hole was so bad they are still looking for the ball. He came right back to the tee and hit a shot over three hundred yards onto the green and made the putt to save par. The NBC TV crew was happy to show it to the world-wide audience.
More from Through the Phog
- Kansas basketball: Esteemed recruit Jalil Bethea to announce college decision tomorrow
- Kansas football: Lassiter brothers exchange good-natured banter on social media
- Kansas basketball: Liam McNeeley cuts list to two, includes Jayhawks and Indiana
- Kansas football: Reviewing Jayhawks PFF grades, snap counts from win over Nevada
- Kansas football: JB Brown emerging as star for Jayhawks defense
Seven bogeys on Saturday left him out of the chase for victory. It was good to see him finish Sunday’s round with four birdies on the back nine for a final score 7 over par. Don’t feel sorry for Woodland. As one of the game’s longest hitters, he started the weekend 29th in the Fed-Ex Cup standings ahead of names like Open runner-up Matt Kuchar.