The Associated Press
LA QUINTA, Calif.—Jason Dufner made two great escapes.
The first from Alcatraz, no less.
David Lingmerth got no such reprieve at PGA West’s punishing TPC Stadium Course.
Dufner won the CareerBuilder Challenge with a par on the second hole of a playoff yesterday, taking advantage of Lingmerth’s shot that bounced off the jagged rocks and into the water.
In regulation on the island-green 17th called Alcatraz, Dufner—tied with Lingmerth for the lead—pulled his eight-iron tee shot and thought it bounced into the water.
Instead, it settled into a small sandy area between some of the tangled rocks that circle the green.
“I was like, ‘Man, this is a great break. I’m going to take advantage of it,’” Dufner recalled.
“‘I’m confident with what I can do with this shot, and I need to make this happen and get a par.’”
He hooked a chip that struck the flagstick and stopped inches away.
“It’s a shot that I’ve hit some, not in the hazard but something similar,” Dufner noted.
“You kind of hit that low little spinning one with some check on it.”
On the first extra hole on the par-four 18th with a rock wall and water running the length of the left side, Dufner hit his three-wood drive near the front lip in a right-side bunker.
He blasted out 100 yards to set up a 110-yard third shot that he hit to 11 feet.
“I wanted to hit 6-iron—about 180 [yards] to the front there,” Dufner remarked. “But it was probably a shot I pull off maybe two out of 10 times or three out of 10 times.
“The other seven or eight times, it probably hits the lip or goes in the water.
“I felt like, ‘My wedges have been good, I’m going to play the percentages,’” he added. “If he [Lingmerth] makes birdie, then he deserves to win.
“I’ll [just] try and get it up-and-down, and extend it.’”
Lingmerth missed his 23-foot birdie try—giving Dufner a chance to extend the playoff.
He did, sending the two back to the 18th tee.
“I like those situation putts,” Dufner said. “It’s kind of like what we see in the Presidents Cup in match play.
“Because if I miss it, there’s no next putt, it doesn’t really matter,” he reasoned.
Dufner finished with a two-under 70 to tie Lingmerth at 25-under 263.
Lingmerth shot a bogey-free 65—matching the best score of the day on the difficult course that was used in the tournament for the first time since being dropped after its 1987 debut.
The 38-year-old Dufner won for the fourth time on the PGA Tour and first since the 2013 PGA Championship.
Phil Mickelson shot a 68 yesterday to tie for third at 21-under in his first start since the Presidents Cup in October, and first since splitting with swing coach Butch Harmon to work with Andrew Getson.
“Lefty” will play the next three events, starting this week at Torrey Pines in his hometown of San Diego.
“I’m excited,” Mickelson said.
“This [was] a really good week for me for validation that I’m on the right track and that it’s continuing to get better as I go along.”
