Newly carded PGA Tour rookie Jhonattan ‘Jhonny’ (don’t call me Peralta) Vegas has the week of his life at the 2011 Bob Hope Classic from PGA West in La Quinta, CA. The 26 year old Venezuelan began his assault on the five round four course event right from the start with a scorching 64 at Arnold Palmer’s PGA West Course. Vegas followed that up with two 67’s and a 66 one the remainder of the courses to set him on top of the leaderboard with fellow rookie and my pick for ROY former Kansas Jayhawk Gary Woodland.
As these two leaders started to separate themselves from the rest of the field it looked to be a two-horse race. But it was proven to both rookies that things don’t come so easy in ‘the show’ as defending champion Bill Haas put on an epic Sunday charge with a thrilling 62! As Vegas and Woodland pared and blundered their way on the inward nine, they approached the par five 18th with Vegas one shot up on Haas and two up on Woodland following his crippling bogey on the 17th. And with the pressure squarely on Vegas to make a par and wrap up the championship, he did the unthinkable – he three putt bogeyed! And after a miraculous birdie from Woodland, we were staring a three-man playoff directly in the face.
The first playoff hole was the par five 18th and what this hole boasted, was that we were not going to have a repeat champion as Haas’ par five was not good enough to match both Vegas and Woodlands birdies. As darkness crept into the equation they moved to the tough par four 10th where like a magnet to a refrigerator Vegas’ tee ball caught the left rough and bounded into the water hazard. Woodland then played it safe and hit a stinger 2-iron right down the pipe. Woodland then cracked the door for Vegas as he blocked an iron dead right onto the down-slope of the greenside bunker. Vegas not only stuck his foot through the door, but body-blocked the whole thing down staking a 9-iron to inside 15 feet.
Woodland’s bunker shot was less then impressive, and his par putt ran past the hole leaving Vegas from damn near in his pocket, to a 15 footer to win his first ever PGA event in only his fifth career start. He struck the putt and as it smoothly rolled down the hill Vegas took two small baby steps forward and then pumped his fist in celebration as the ball disappeared into the center of the cup. It happened, his dream came true.
Not only is this a win on the biggest stage of the golf world, but with it comes a two-year exemption card along with an invitation to the 2011 Masters Tournament. This is quite a leap for a guy who grew up in Venezuela dreaming of playing big time golf, and laying it all on the line by moving to the US to play as an ammeter and earning the opportunity to play big time college golf at the University of Texas. After turning pro he bounced on some mini-tours and found good success on the Nationwide Tour before earning his PGA card this past off-season. It didn’t take Johnny Vegas too long to solidify himself as a full-fledged PGA Tour member, and will be for the foreseeable future. And now in April he will make his first ever appearance in a major at the ‘Tradition Unlike Any Others.’
***A quick and small pat on the back to me who predicted a good season for Gary Woodland. He’s off to a great start!***
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