By Tom LaMarre, Courtesy The Sports Xchange
Jason Dufner and Brandt Snedeker both sank birdie putts on the last two holes and claimed a two-stroke victory over Matt Kuchar and Harris English in the Franklin Templeton Shootout at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla.
Dufner sank a go-ahead five-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole and Snedeker holed a 30-footer to punctuate a final round 11-under-par 61 in the best-ball format that gave them a winning score of 61-64-61–186, 30-under.
“Jason is a great partner because he’s ‘Steady Eddie,’” said Snedeker, who is known as one of the best putters in the game. “He’s on the fairway and green on every hole. I helped read the greens and one of us would come through if the other had a bad hole.
“We made chip-ins on the third and seventh holes, and that gave us some momentum, got us going.”
Said Dufner, a strong ball-striker: “He’s one putters out here, so I just watched a lot and learned a lot. I knew he had my back on the greens and I picked up as much as I could from him.”
Kuchar and English wound up at 58-67-63–188 to finish as the runners-up for the second straight year after winning in 2013, while 36-hole leaders Daniel Berger and Charley Hoffman were in third at 60-64-65–189.
Billy Horschel and Hunter Mahan were fourth at 59-68-64–191, followed by Camilo Villegas of Colombia and Cameron Tringale of Laguna Niguel at 60-69-66–195, and
Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland and Gary Woodland at 59-70-67–196.
Retief Goosen of South Africa and Danny Lee of New Zealand totaled 63-72-62–197 to tie for seventh with Mike Weir of Canada and Sean O’Hair, who came in at 65-67-65–197, while Kenny Perry and Steve Stricker were ninth at 65-67-66–198.
Rory Sabbatini of South Africa and Charles Howell III posted a score of 62-68-69–199 to tie for 10th with Patrick Rodgers of Stanford and Zach Johnson, who wound up at 64-67-68–199, while J.B. Holmes and Patrick Reed were 12th at 61-69-70–200.
Tom LaMarre has been a sportswriter and copy editor for more than 50 years, including 15 years with the Oakland Tribune and 22 with the Los Angeles Times. He was the Tribune’s beat writer for the Oakland Raiders for seven seasons in the 1970s, highlighted by their 32-14 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, and collaborated on a book, Winning Offensive Football, with quarterback Ken Stabler. He also covered the Oakland Athletics when they won three consecutive World Series during the 1970s and the Golden State Warriors when they won the NBA championship in the 1974-75 season. With the Times, he wrote columns on golf, football and skiing. These days, he is the Golf Editor for The Sports Xchange. LaMarre graduated from Skyline High in Oakland and attended the University of San Francisco.