Tiger tired of giving to the Swedes
David Lingmerth made quite a name, along with quite a bit of money, for himself Sunday at The Players Championship.
Lingmerth, a 25-year-old PGA Tour rookie and former Arkansas Razorbacks golfer, finished in a three-way tie for second behind Tiger Woods and was the last man standing in the chase to catch Woods and force a playoff at TPC Sawgrass.
But Lingmerth missed an 8-foot birdie putt at No. 17 that would have tied him with Woods.
He had one more chance to tie at 18, but ran a 61-foot downhill birdie putt by about 12 feet, and he missed the par putt as well.
Lingmerth’s birdie miss allowed Woods to pocket the $1.71 million first prize, while Lingmerth was left counting $709,333.33, prompting Jason Logan, editor of @ score magazine to comment on Twitter, with a reference to Woods’ ex-wife:
“David Lingmerth falls short in bid to become first Swede to take money out of Tiger’s pocket since Elin Nordegren.”Nuclear reaction
It’s a good thing Sergio Garcia is a golfer and not a NASA employee.
Here’s Garcia explaining to Sky Sports and the Golf Channel his feelings toward Woods after the pair completed a tumultuous third round that included Garcia accusing Woods of gamesmanship on the par-5 second hole and Woods countering that hearing Garcia complain doesn’t surprise him in the least.
“He’s not the nicest guy on tour,” Garcia said of Woods after they finished their third round Sunday tied for the lead, “We don’t enjoy each other’s company. You don’t need to be a rocket engineer to figure that out.”
Or, for that matter, a rocket scientist.
Trying to fit in
When asked by the media if he felt out of place in the company of eight-time PGA Tour winner Sergio Garcia and 78-time winner Woods, David Lingmerth shot straight:
“Sergio does Sergio, and Tiger does Tiger,” said Lingmerth, a 25-year-old rookie who was tied for the lead with Woods and Garcia after three rounds of The Players Championship, “and I’m going to do me.”
Furthermore, Lingmerth said he enjoyed Garcia’s company in Sunday’s final round. Well, except watching Garcia hit three balls into the water on the final two holes.
“Sergio was really nice,” Lingmerth said. “He came up to me and was really friendly from the get-go. We had a good day out there, and he’s a great guy. I really felt bad for him on 17 and 18 there.
That was a tough finish.”Razorback red?
No Arkansas Razorbacks logos were spotted on or near former UA golfer David Lingmerth during Sunday’s final round at The Players Championship, but Lingmerth wore bright red pants, trousers that looked as if they might have come right off the rack at the Razorbacks bookstore in Fayetteville.
Lingmerth was a Fayetteville resident until December, when he moved to Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., with his fiancee Megan Mercurio.
Good friend Jonas Blixt, a fellow Swede and PGA Tour member, told Helen Ross of PGATour.com that there no mistaking Lingmerth’s allegiances when it comes to sports other than hockey.
“He’s a huge Razorback fan, absolutely huge,” said Blixt, who played at Florida State. “It’s almost impossible to talk to him about anything else, any other teams because they are the best, obviously.”
Blixt said Lingmerth is also a big fan of the Washington Capitals and center Nicklas Backstrom, a 25-year-old Swede like Lingmerth.
“I don’t know if his first love is golf or ice hockey,” Blixt said. “I think it is a little confusing.”Quote of the day “Any time you win a
team championship in
the SEC, you’re the best team in the country. I
don’t care what sport it is, OK?” Arkansas men’s track and field Coach Chris Bucknam
Sports, Pages 18 on 05/14/2013