Wachovia Championship: Final-round notebook

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May. 4, 2008

• Second-year PGA TOUR player Anthony Kim carded a final round 69 and claimed a five-shot victory over Ben Curtis at the Wachovia Championship to earn his first TOUR title in just his 38th career start.

• Anthony Kim birdied the par-4 first hole each day this week and in turn played the front nine in 15-under versus the back nine, which he played in 1-under.

• The largest margin of victory by a first-time winner in PGA TOUR history came at the 1919 Canadian Open when J.D. Edgar won his first title by 16 shots.

• Anthony Kim's victory ended a five-year streak of experienced veterans claiming the Wachovia Championship title. All five previous winners had at least 11 years experience on the PGA TOUR. David Toms won in 2003 (11th year), Joey Sindelar in 2004 (21st), Vijay Singh in 2005 (13th), Jim Furyk in 2006 (13th) and Tiger Woods in 2007 (11th).

• Kim will head into next week's PLAYERS Championship ranked No. 4 on the 2008 FedExCup points list. Kim found little success at TPC Sawgrass last year as a rookie with rounds of 78-83?161, which left him last in the field after the 36-hole cut.

• As of today, Kim is 22 years, 10 months and 15 days. As a comparison, Tiger Woods was 22 years, 4 months and 10 days when he claimed his seventh PGA TOUR title at the 1998 AT&T Classic.

• Kim is the 13th different player since 1970 to win on the PGA TOUR before turning 23 years old. Since 1970, 24 times a player has won a TOUR event before turning 23.

• With his win today, Kim became the fifth straight 54-hole leader/co-leader to win on the PGA TOUR this year. The last time five straight 54-hole leaders/co-leaders went on to win on the PGA TOUR was in 2006, when 10 straight won, starting with Tiger Woods at the Ford Championship and ending with Jim Furyk at the Wachovia Championship.

• 2003 British Open champion Ben Curtis used a final-round 65 to vault up the leaderboard and into a runner-up finish on Sunday. This is only the fourth time that Curtis has carded a final round in the 60s since a final-round 69 in the 2006 Canadian Open.

• Curtis entered the week ranked No. 162 on the FedExCup points list, but earned 2,700 points via his runner-up finish and climbed up to No. 48.

Robert Allenby's final-round 66 gave him a solo fourth finish on the week, marking his third top-10 of the 2008 season and 39th since last winning at the 2001 Marconi Pennsylvania Classic.

• 2009 United States Presidents Cup team captain Fred Couples fired a final-round 72 on Sunday to finish T8, his third top-10 of the 2008 season. This marks the first time since 2005 that Couples has recorded at least three top-10s in a single season.

Stewart Cink finished T8 at the Wachovia Championship for his second top-10 in his past five starts in Charlotte. Last year he finished T5 in Charlotte and went on to finish T3 at THE PLAYERS Championship the next week. Cink is on a roll in 2008, but is still looking to move into the winners circle for the first time since winning the 2004 World Golf Championship -- Bridgestone Invitational. Cink has recorded six top-10 finishes in 10 starts in 2008, including two runner-up finishes.

• The Quail Hollow Club played to a cumulative average of 72.791, .791 strokes over-par making it the 11th most difficult course on the PGA TOUR thus far in 2008.

• As expected, Quail Hollow's vaunted "Green Mile," holes 16-18, played as the three hardest holes on the golf course this week, with No. 17 being the hardest, No. 18 being the second hardest, and No. 16 being the third hardest.

• The par-3 17th played to an average of 3.418, thus making it the most difficult hole at Quail Hollow this week as well as the most difficult par-3 thus far on the 2008 PGA TOUR.

• The Quail Hollow Club course has the feel of a major championship venue, and past winners have gone on to prove that is an accurate assessment. Past winners who have recorded top-10s at the three remaining majors are Tiger Woods (2007: T2-U.S. Open, 1-PGA Championship), Jim Furyk (2006: T2-U.S. Open, 4-British Open), Vijay Singh (2005: T6-U.S. Open, T5-British Open, T10-PGA Championship), and David Toms (2003: T5-U.S. Open).

• The winners of the Wachovia Championship are forced to play great golf over the course's fearsome final two holes. How have champions played holes 17 and 18? Anthony Kim recorded one birdie, six pars and one bogey. In 2007, Tiger Woods recorded four bogeys and four pars. Jim Furyk had two birdies, two bogeys, and four pars in 2006. Vijay Singh pared the holes in all four rounds in 2005, while Joey Sindelar had a birdie at the 17th on Sunday to go along with seven pars in 2004. David Toms made nothing but pars in 2003 until a quadruple-bogey eight at the par-4 18th on Sunday allowed him to win by two over Singh, Brent Geiberger, and Robert Gamez.

• Four players recorded bogey-free rounds on Sunday: Jason Bohn (71), Robert Allenby (66), Rod Pampling (66), and David Toms (70).

Scoring Averages -- Tournament History:

Year 1st Rd 2nd Rd 3rd Rd Final Rd Cumulative
2008 72.942 72.597 73.230 72.347 72.791
2007 73.634 74.048 71.494 73.107 73.071
2006 74.443 72.410 71.753 74.671 73.378
2005 74.058 74.629 72.873 72.291 73.742
2004 72.391 72.714 71.806 72.139 72.369
2003 73.173 73.058 72.600 72.257 72.902
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