Transitions Championship: Final-round notebook

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Mar. 22, 2009
By Mark Wiliams, PGA TOUR Staff

PALM HARBOR, Fla. -- Retief Goosen, a winner here at Innisbrook in 2003, joins K.J. Choi (2002/2006) as the only other multiple champion of this event. A native of South Africa, Goosen's win marked the fifth time in nine years that an international player has won the Transitions Championship.

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Greenwood/Getty Images
Ryo Ishikawa picked up his first PGA TOUR check this week.
Inside the Numbers
Final Leaderboard
Player Score
1. Retief Goosen 276 -8
T2. Brett Quigley 277 -7
T2. Charles Howell III 277 -7
T4. Mathew Goggin 278 -6
T4. Steve Stricker 278 -6
T4. Charlie Wi 278 -6
7. Steve Flesch 279 -5
T8. Bo Van Pelt 280 -4
T8. Kevin Na 280 -4
T8. Stuart Appleby 280 -4
T8. Tom Lehman 280 -4

• Goosen's seventh career win on the PGA TOUR Sunday comes 3 years, 7 months and 15 days (62 starts) after his last win on the circuit at The INTERNATIONAL in 2005. This win is his first in a stroke-play tournament since the 2004 TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, and is his 29th title worldwide.

• Goosen became the third winner on the 2009 PGA TOUR over the age of 40 (Kenny Perry/FBR Open/48 years, 4 months, 23 days, Michael Bradley/Puerto Rico Open/42 years, 7 months, 28 days). He also became the third player over 40 to claim the Transitions Championship (Mark Calcavecchia, age 46 in 2007, Vijay Singh, age 41 in 2004).

• Goosen earned 500 FedExCup points for winning the Transitions Championship today and moved up from 37th place into fifth position in the overall standings. Through Week 11 of the 2009 PGA TOUR season, Geoff Ogilvy leads with 1204 points, followed by No. 2 Phil Mickelson at 1153 points, No. 3 Nick Watney at 1028 points and No. 4 Kenny Perry at 868 points.

• Goosen's win Sunday means the Transitions Championship victor has come from the last grouping in three of the last four years and five times in the nine-year history of the event.

• Goosen earned a check for $972,000 and moved from 36th to sixth on the 2009 money list. Goosen has played in six events and now has total earnings of $1,518,720 this year. Goosen also passes $21 million mark in PGA TOUR career earnings and moves inside the top-20 on the all-time career money list.

• Goosen's 72-hole total of 8-under 276 is the highest winning score in relation to par on the PGA TOUR this year.Y.E. Yang claimed the Honda Classic two weeks ago with a winning total of 9-under-par 271.

• Goosen's five bogeys were the fewest by any player in the field this week. Steve Stricker made the most birdies over 72 holes (19) this week.

Brett Quigley recorded his second consecutive tie for second place on the PGA TOUR. Last week at the Puerto Rico Open, Quigley tied for second along with Jason Day, one stroke back of Michael Bradley. In 342 career starts, Quigley has never won on the PGA TOUR. He was also tied for second at the 2001 Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic and 2004 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee.

• Charles Howell III's tie for second this week was his best effort on the PGA TOUR since winning the 2007 Nissan Open in Los Angeles. Earlier this year, Howell finished fourth at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Howell's previous-best here at Innisbrook was a solo sixth in 2007.

• Both Rocco Mediate and Bo Van Pelt made significant moves upward in the final round. Van Pelt's 5-under 66 was the best Sunday score in the field and the round moved him up 35 spots into a tie for eighth. Mediate's 67 jumped him up 37 places into a tie for 27th, his best finish of the 2009 season.

Mark Wilson had the only bogey-free round on Sunday. Wilson, a winner earlier this year at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, carded 68 and moved up 20 spots into a tie for 12th.

• The par-71 Copperhead Course played to a scoring average of 72.548 on Sunday, making the fourth round the toughest round for scoring all week. The scoring averages earlier this week were 71.625 on Thursday, 72.406 on Friday and 72.324 on Saturday. The cumulative scoring average was 72.157. Last year, it was 72.970 (the eighth hardest on the 2008 PGA TOUR).

Jimmy Walker, who got into the field on Wednesday when Michael Campbell withdrew, was forced to withdraw before his round today due to a neck injury.

• First-round leader Jim Furyk ended up tied for 52nd in the event, the lowest finish by a Thursday leader in tournament history.

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