:: June 10
::15 JUNE 2010
It is fantastic to report a win to you guys. I have been trying to tell you that I am close, that something good is just around the corner and finally the result is here to justify all that talk.
I really had forgotten how good winning feels. It really makes you realise why you play the game. I couldn’t have chosen a better tournament to pick up my first PGA Tour win. To come off the 18th green to Shake Jack Nicklaus’ hand and then have my wife Kate and my little baby Leo right there to greet me too was probably the icing on the cake to what was an incredibly special week. We have had so many messages of support. I want to thank everyone for their continued support of my career, I really do feel a good will from all of you. No matter how many texts of congratulations I got I think there were more about Leo clapping his hands and stealing the show on the 18th green.
In terms of the victory itself I felt incredibly calm all week. I played really solidly tee to green but the difference was mentally I felt incomplete control. I never got ahead of myself, I never really focused too much on the winning, I just focused on 1 shot at a time, hitting great shots and executing. That really is how Jack would have played the game, how Tiger plays the game. I found what works in terms of the winning formula and the challenge is now to recreate that week in week out. Once again it’s fantastic to know I can do it. To win a PGA Tour event that includes Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods and many more of the world’s top 10 in my mind gives it a lot of validity.
A lot of people have been talking to me about the par putter hole on the 10th green being the most critical shot but I think until you get through the 12th hole at Muirfield village-which is a really tough par 3 in a lot of ways it mirrors the 12th hole at Augusta. Until you get through that hole your score car is in jeopardy, I hit a beautiful 6 iron there into the back right pin placement to about 15 feet and turned to my caddie and said I am really happy that that shot is over with, it really was a scary one and one that needed to be committed too. Once I had hit that shot I felt good about things even before I knew that Ricky Fowler had made a double bogey on that hole. I still didn’t get ahead of myself, I stayed completely within myself, completely in the moment and played shot for shot. I didn’t really look at any leader boards until I tapped in on the 17th green and walked to the 18th tee. I figured I was 2 ahead so even being 2 head I knew that Ricky was behind with 2 holes to play, so I knew it was not over and that I needed to play a solid 18th hole. I committed to a great 4 wood off the tee; I had 8 iron left into the green which I hit in there to about 15 feet, another really good shot exactly where I was aiming. I walked up to the green and realised that I was 3 shots ahead and the scoreboard I had actually seen on 17 was wrong which is another reason why looking at scoreboards isn’t the best thing because the information sometimes can be wrong. When I knew I was 3 ahead I did the calculations and I knew that even if I had 2 putted there and Ricky Fowler holes his shot into 18 for an eagle I had won the tournament so it was time to really soak in the atmosphere, time to really enjoy it. I was looking around trying to lap up the feeling and it really was amazing, something that has been a long time coming.
I tried not to distinguish too much between winning in Europe and winning in America. I certainly have had my chances before in America but hadn’t clinched a win in a good number of years, I think in over 160 starts so those things do begin to play on your mind. I am happy to have got the monkey of my back so to speak in the states. I am really hoping to build on it going forward. For me, winning on the PGA Tour is just the beginning, certainly in my mind now its something I can go ahead and build on rather than it being the end game for me. I am excited about the future; I am excited about continuing to work hard and continuing to refine the processes that I have working for me right now. I have a good team of people around me, we are all going to be working hard and striving for better things.
So that was the Memorial, I had to temper my celebrations a bit as I had to try and get myself up for the US Open qualifying Monday morning. That turned out to be a little bit disappointing. I shot 4 under par for 2 rounds; I went a little bit flat on the back 9 of the 2nd round. I shot 2 over par; I probably needed to shoot 2 under par on that back nine to qualify. I definitely ran out of the gas. Not qualifying was really disappointing as I went there with my game in good shape and my confidence high, but you never can know what will happen.
Two weeks off now is not the worst thing in the world for me, I can really recharge, refresh reset my goals and come out strong again and have a really great summer. I am not 100% in the Open championship yet, but the win at the Memorial tournament gives me a great head start in the Order of Merit that runs between the Players Championship and The Open which I am now leading and the top 2 players non-exempt get in. So my mind is now really focused on The Open Championship at St Andrews which is a tournament I desperately want to play. I missed the Open 2000 and 2005 so I have been very motivated to make sure I play in the 2010 Open.
Yesterday we did a charity day at Lake Nona so it really has been non stop and today has been literally the first chance I have had to update you guys. Henrik Stenson who I shared a house with at the Memorial came and joined me for a day called Blessing in a back pack. It’s designed to feed kids over the weekend, because these kids rely purely on school food Monday to Friday and then over the week end really don’t get much to eat at all, so the programme is designed to feed kids over the week end. We raised about $160,000 which will feed about 2000 kids for a year so it was an amazingly successful day at Lake Nona and one that will hopefully do at lot of good for the local community in central Florida.
So that is what I have been up to, sorry for the delay in updating you and I will be in touch soon.
Thank you again for all your support,
Justin
