EDS Byron Nelson
As Reported in Golfonline.com:
By SAL JOHNSON
Contributing Writer, GOLFONLINE
Here are the key reasons why Brett Wetterich won by one stroke over Trevor Immelman at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, contested May 11-14 at the TPC at Las Colinas (7,052 yards, par 70) in Irving, Texas:
Wetterich did a number of things right in his victory. By hitting 54 of 72 greens in regulation he ranked T3rd for the week. In the 79 events that Wetterich has stats for on the PGA Tour, he has only bettered this week's greens hit stat once -- when he led in greens hit at the 2002 Honda, where he finished T8th. Wetterich also finished T9th in fairway accuracy, and it's only the third time on the PGA Tour that he has finished in the top 10 in this stat. Of course, he hits it long, but this week Wetterich was the ninth-longest hitter. That is his highest rank in this stat since he was 10th in this stat at last year's Byron Nelson.
Another key to Wetterich's win was the fact that on Sunday he led the field in driving distance (328.8) and was also first in driving accuracy (12 of 14 fairways hit). It also helped that Wetterich hit 14 of 18 greens. All this helped him shoot a 32 on the back nine while Immelman was shooting 36 and Adam Scott was shooting 34.
Wetterich showed that he liked the Nelson event last year when he co-led the tournament after the second round. The big difference was that last year Wetterich played the final 36 holes in 2 over par and this year he played them in 2 under.
Wetterich also had a few things happen to him that helped give him some inspiration on Sunday. Late on Saturday evening after his finished working on his putting, a bagpiper from the Four Seasons hotel next to the course started a song and Wetterich found this inspirational. On Sunday morning he happened to be sitting in a cart on the driving range and was looking at the bag of defending champion Ted Purdy. On the side it said: "2005 Champion" and the thought of having that bag with his name on it gave him a lift.
Brett Wetterich's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 36 of 56 (T8th)
Driving average: 305.6 (9th)
Greens hit: 54 of 72 (T3rd)
Putts: 117 (29.25 a rd) (T53rd)
Putting breakdown:
0-putt greens: 2
1-putt greens: 25
2-putt greens: 43
3-putt greens: 2
Eagles: 0
Birdies: 20 (1st)
Scrambling: 12 of 18 (66.7%) (T25th)
Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.
What This Win Means
The 32-year-old Wetterich, a bachelor who now lives in Jupiter, Florida, has struggled in professional golf since turning pro in 1994. He won twice on the Nationwide Tour, with career earnings on that tour $446,588, but the $1.116 million check he earned for winning the Byron Nelson is the largest of his career and just $143,723 less than he had earned in his first 80 events on the PGA Tour.
Wetterich is from Cincinnati, Ohio and his father started him in golf at the age of two. He went to a small community college in Alabama called Wallace State, then turned pro. Wetterich was on the PGA Tour last year and just missed getting into the top 125, finishing 132nd on the money list. He did go back to Q-School to help his status for the 2006 season, and he got his card on the number with tough pars on the final two holes. We mention this because if by chance he didn't get those pars there would have been a very good chance that he would not have played in Houston, where he finished T6th to earn $172,150, or New Orleans, where he finished T4th and earned $248,000, or even the EDS Byron Nelson. But Wetterich did find his way to the Byron Nelson and played like an old pro on the final day to win the title.
Wetterich is the seventh player to get his first PGA Tour victory at the Byron Nelson and the second consecutive with Ted Purdy being a first-time winner at this event last year.
Wetterich is the fifth first-time winner on the PGA Tour in 2006, joining J.B. Holmes (FBR Open), Arron Oberholser (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am), Aaron Baddeley (Verizon Heritage) and Chris Couch (Zurich Classic of New Orleans).
Wetterich shot 70 in the third round, and he is only the second Nelson champion since 1993 not to shoot four rounds in the 60s. The last one to do it was Sergio Garcia, who shot 71 in the final round in 2004.
Wetterich's victory means that every 2006 PGA Tour winner, except for Kirk Triplett at the Chrysler Classic of Tucson, has played in the final group on Sunday. However, Wetterich is just the third 2006 winner who didn't enter the final round with at least a share of the lead. The others were Tiger Woods at the Buick Invitational and Triplett.
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