Transitions Championship: Return of Luke Donald

This weeks Transition's Championship was easily one of the most entertaining tournaments of the year thus far. Around one point in the final round, you had 6 players tied for the lead all with a chance to win the tournament. It was truly March madness.

Nobody in regulation took advantage of the 18th hole and get ahead of the pack. It ended up with a 4 man playoff of Luke Donald, Robert Garrigus, Sang Moon Bae, and Jim Furyk all fighting for the title. Donald and Garrigus both stuck their approaches to within 7 feet, while the other two were well outside of that range. Garrigus unfortunately missed his birdie chance, while Luke nicely converted his putt for the title and regaining the title of No. 1 ranked golfer in the world.
Congratulations, Luke!

HTWD Picks of the Week: Transitions Championship

 VS

JJ: The Transitions Championship is known as one of the tougher tracks on the PGA Tour, with it's layout that can be unforgiving. Although Gary Woodland won the tourney last year at -15, we should expect a lower number this year. And for that, I'm going with Nick Watney (right) this week. Nick is a great grinder and a scorer in the clutch. He showed this at the Blue Monster last year, and although he's been quiet since, this should be a good week for him to show up on the golf map again. He's rounding into form by getting tournaments under his belt, and this could be a good time for him to breakout right before the Masters.

Bernardo: This week I’m going with Brandt Snedeker (left) for the Transitions Championship. Snedeker is having a great 2012 season, racking up multiple top 10s and a win at the Farmers Insurance Open. Snedeker’s fast pace approach to playing golf will be a perfect match for a tough course and field. This early success displayed by Snedeker can only be the beginning to something big to come.

Recap:  Due to the infamous WD of Tiger Woods, last week's Pick of the Week edition is nullified and considered a TIE since we had no stated rules on Withdraws or Disqualifications. Therefore, that will be discussed for the next years edition to be fair. 

Already used: 

JJ: Jonathan Byrd, Keegan Bradley, Bryce Molder, Ryan Moore, Brandt Snedeker, Phil Mickelson, K.J. Choi, Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood, Charl Schwartzel

Bernardo: Martin Laird, K.J. Choi, Bill Haas, Ben Crane, Matt Kuchar, Dustin Johnson, Aaron Baddeley, Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy , Tiger Woods

Make sure to “like” our Facebook page! Either by going to the page itself (fb.com/hacktillwedie) or clicking on the “like” button on the right side of our home page.

Also don’t forget to follow us on twitter: @HackTillWeDie

Getty Images

WGC Cadillac Championship: Blue Roses

Justin Rose

What a turn of events this Sunday has played out to be. Bubba Watson failing to seal the deal, TIGER WOODS withdrawing due to leg injuries, Rory’s possible back-to-back win, Sergio Garcia only breaking par once this week, and the list goes on. The prestigiousness that comes with a WGC event was definitely well represented this week, with all this drama surrounding the final round. 

This win marks Justin Rose’s 11th overall win and first WGC title. Rose waited anxiously as Bubba played 18th, needing a birdie to force a playoff. A terrible loss for Bubba after playing well throughout the week. We all know Bubba is full of talent, knocking on the door of victory, but no respond just yet. Rose’s hard work with his swing coach Sean Foley, seems to finally be paying off, looking mighty smooth with his swing. Congratulations Justin Rose!

Rose’s win might be overlooked due to Tiger’s injury, involving the same achilles that removed him from competitive golf for quite sometime. Just as we thought Tiger was making his run to become World #1, we are rear ended with some bad news. Will Tiger return healthy or has the toll of aging got the best of Mr.Woods? 

Rory Mcllroy, current World #1, surged up the leader board with a final round of 5-under par, finishing just two shots short of Rose. Mcllroy’s performance closely matches that of what the ideal World #1 should entail. If he continues on this path, I don’t see no one taking the position from Rors. 

Besides the Tiger injury, Sergio Garcia suffered an injury to the heart, after carding a 12 on hole #3. Garcia failed to get over the water three times (ouch!). I don’t know how much of this Garcia can take, lets hope he doesn’t lose the love/hunger for the game, as he did before. Just as Tiger he was in the making of a comeback.

HTWD Picks of the Week: WGC Cadillac Championship

 VS 

JJ: This tournament is gonna be awesome. With so many elite players playing well coming into this event it feels like a major. And for that reason, I'm going with a major winner. I'm selecting Charl Schwartzel (left) this week to win this WGC. He played well here in 2010 and just had a solid finish last week at the Honda. His game is very simple and effective, and I think that's a good combo to avoid getting eaten up by the Blue Monster.

Bernardo: For the Blue Monster I’m going with Tiger Woods. Tiger is coming off a good week, after finishing T2, which included a final round of 8-under par. More impressively he eagled his final hole of the tournament, to have a chance at catching Rory. Tiger’s season continues to reveal some progression in his game, with that said, Tiger might be able to fashion a win this week.  We’ll just have to wait and see how the week plays out, especially with the quality of players teeing up this week.

Recap: Last week both of our picks landed in the top 5 at the end of the week, but Bernardo picked Rory and he ended up winning the whole thing. Bernardo earns 2 points for that and takes the lead.

Already used: 

JJ: Jonathan Byrd, Keegan Bradley, Bryce Molder, Ryan Moore, Brandt Snedeker, Phil Mickelson, K.J. Choi, Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood

Bernardo: Martin Laird, K.J. Choi, Bill Haas, Ben Crane, Matt Kuchar, Dustin Johnson, Aaron Baddeley, Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy 

Make sure to “like” our Facebook page! Either by going to the page itself (fb.com/hacktillwedie) or clicking on the “like” button on the right side of our home page.

Also don’t forget to follow us on twitter: @HackTillWeDie

Getty Images

Honda Classic: Rory's World

Our new World No.1, Rory McIlroy

We are now looking at another world number one, folks. Move over Luke Donald, and hello to Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irish star has now claimed his 3rd PGA Tour title and his first ever taste of the number one world ranking at the tender age of 22 years old. He held off a star studded field to win by 2 shots, at a cool 12 under par. He now joins Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia as the only golfers to have 3 PGA Tour titles before the age of 23 ever. 

Speaking of Tiger, Rors (his nickname) had to hold off a vintage TW on this final day. Tiger blitzed Rory and the field, by coming from 2 under to start the day to finish second at -10. His day included 2 eagles, with some fist pumps sprinkled in there as well. It was easily the best we've seen him play since 2009, and with him firing on all cylinders today it will bode extremely well for the rest of the PGA Tour season.

But now, back to talking about the Honda Classic champ. This will be immense for Rory and his confidence and all of the golf world. It will fire up everyone else to take their best shots at him now that he's the undisputed best golfer in the world. It surely makes this season MUCH more intriguing, especially seeing how he'll go with being the favorite at every big event now. All left to say now is that this season is just getting started and it's going to be awesome.

Congratulations, Rory! 

Getty Images