Northern Trust Open: Bill of Rights

Bill Haas celebrates his win with his wife

And the PGA Tour season keeps rolling along with memorable wins and historic finishes. Drama has been the main theme for this 2012 season so far, and boy has it been a great one. This week at the Northern Trust Open was no different.

All week Phil Mickelson had been the favorite to capture a second victory in a row, and he was poised to complete that thought on Sunday. Phil had a share of the lead heading into the final day. That's where things got interesting. Sergio Garcia blitzed the field by shooting a 30 on the back nine (his front) to rocket into contention. He ended up cooling off to shoot a 64, which ended up being by and far the best round of the week, especially on Sunday, where people were struggling to making any moves. It eventually came down to Bill Haas holding the lead at -7 in the clubhouse with Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley the only guys who could catch him. To force a playoff, both would need to birdie the 18th, a tough hole all week long. But just like that, Phil drains his 27 footer to get into a playoff will Bill, and Keegs drop his putt on top of him. Just like that, we're headed back to 18. 

In the sudden death playoff, the first hole they played (18) was pretty routine. All three hit solid tee shots, then 2 putted for their pars. They then moved onto hole 10, a short par 4 with a ton of different ways to be played. Bill went with driver and pulled his tee shot a little bit left, leaving him with a wedge into the green. Both Phil and Keegan went more direct to the green, but ended up short and in tough spots. Phil's second shot went over the green, Keegan ended up past the flag onto the fringe, and Bill ended up on the green but well short. But then, Bill drained his 45 footer to put the pressure on Mickelson and Bradley. Phil's 3rd shot ended up short and it ended his chances. Keegan Bradley had his putt lip out, and that was that. Bill Haas took his 4th career PGA Tour victory, and now has 2 wins in less than 1 full year. People always talk about Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, and Bubba Watson, but maybe we should start talking more about current Fed-Ex Cup and Northern Trust Open Champ Bill Haas.

Getty Images