Augusta’s Charles Howell III wishes there were more PGA Tour events in Hawaii. He just finished in a tie for second at the Sony Open, where he has six top-five finishes and has never shot anything worse than a 70 on the weekend. He had a 69 on Sunday for his 13th career runner-up showing.
“Any other tournament, encouraged. Here, maybe a little bit frustrated,” Howell told reporters in Hawaii. “Listen, it’s still encouraging. It’s hard to ever say a top-three finish is not. But I would really like to get this one.”
Howell, who putted well for the first three rounds, couldn’t get anything to fall on Sunday. His biggest setbacks were a three-putt for par at the easy ninth hole — a hole that Stewart Cink earlier referred to as “the easiest par 3 in the world” — and missing a pair of short putts.
“If I would have thought about it before the round, I wouldn’t have thought I would have lost because of my putting,” Howell said.
Howell is coming off his best season since 2007, when he won at Riviera. In 2011 Howell was 25th on the money list, tied for sixth at the Tour Championship and re-qualified for the Masters after failing to do so for three years.
Fear the mustache?
Johnson Wagner earned an invitation to Augusta National with his victory at the Sony Open. Wagner won in Cancun last season, but didn’t get the win-and-in ticket to the Masters because the tournament was an alternate event opposite a World Golf Championship tournament.
Johnson also drew attention because of his mustache, which he began to grow while visiting his in-laws over Thanksgiving. He was encouraged to keep it by colleagues Carl Pettersson and George McNeill and the decision was confirmed when Harrison Frazar called him “Magum P.I.”
“I had never really watched the show, so I Googled images of Tom Selleck, and I took it as a compliment,” Johnson said. “Tom Selleck is a stud, so if I can look anything like him, I’m very excited.”
Bridgestone signs Feherty
Covington-based Bridgestone Golf has signed a two-year contract with TV personality and humorist David Feherty to serve as its spokesman. Feherty, host of his own show on Golf Channel, will be featured in a series of upcoming TV commercials alongside Fred Couples, Davis Love III, Matt Kuchar, Brandt Snedeker and Lee Trevino.
Bridgestone spokesman Dan Murphy said, “Truthfully, Feherty wasn’t our first choice, but with Justin Timberlake already taken, our options were pretty limited. I guess instead of bringing sexy back, we’ll have to settle for bringing funny back.”
Cink named to board
Cink, a Duluth resident, has been named to the PGA Tour’s 16-member Player Advisory Council for 2012, joining Kuchar, a fellow Georgia Tech grad. The PAC advises and consults with the Tour’s policy board and commissioner Tim Finchem on issues affecting the Tour. Love, a Sea Island resident, is one of four members of the policy board.
State courses rank high
Three Georgia courses were among the top 20 of Golf World magazine’s PGA Tour Course Rankings: No. 1 Augusta National Golf Club, No. 15 Sea Island’s Seaside Course and No. 18 East Lake Golf Club. Rounding out the top five were Harbour Town Golf Links at Hilton Head Island, S.C., Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links, and Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
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