Who would have thought that the young 27 year old David Lingmerth would beat out Justin Rose in a three- hole playoff? Lingmerth’s win was his first PGA Tour Event and was very excited on his victory. “I can’t believe it,”I’m so happy right now I don’t know where to go.” Before the tournament Lingmerth struggled with six made cuts out of seven and none top ten finishes this year. Lingmerth battled Rose like a true champion and never gave up, even when the odds were stacked against him.
“I was thinking to myself that I’d probably have a putt to win the tournament right there,”Lingmerth said. It was a crazy feeling so I took a few moments just to let the crowd and myself calm down, because I knew how big that next putt was going to be. I’ve been in a few playoffs. You win some, you lose some, but I didn’t feel that it was my turn to lose this time. I was telling myself that I was going to make that putt.”
With his first milestone victory in the tour he has put himself in the Masters for next year, but has a lot of obstacles to overcome to qualify for the U.S. Open in the next two weks. The match-up between Lingmerth and Rose was the longest in memorial history.
Both Rose and Lingmerth had missed some opportunities on the 18th hole, but Lingmerth had closed the victory with a nice shot, while Rose had some trouble finding the hole on his last attempt. Lingmerth had finished the victory shooting 51 out 51.
Lingmerth walked into the tournament ranked 212th in the tour and with the victory today he is in the top 100, which is a victory for him as well as a confidence booster.
