Thoughts on Sugarloaf

Scattershooting on Sugarloaf:

--Another good win for Zach Johnson. Not a terrific field, but it's good for our young players to taste victory as much as possible. Playoff win wasn't spectacular, but he did a good job capitalizing on Imada's finding the rough by hitting a perfect drive--so good, in fact, that it caused Imada to try a silly shot that wound up in the drink. Not calling Zach America's great hope yet, but his work coming from behind, keeping the pressure on in the playoff, and staying calm under pressure bodes well for ZJ as a Ryder cupper down the road.

--Imada's nice performance shouldn't be eclipsed by his playoff blooper. Great performance in front of a sympathetic crowd:

Sick 171-yard low running nine iron from the fairway bunker on 17 was fantastic.

The chip on the 72nd hole to force the playoff was great stuff.

His comeback shot after soaking his second in the playoff was pretty nice, too.

That said, he yanked the birdie putt on 17, and, of course, lost it in the playoff with his second shot. It appeared that he felt he needed to try for the green based on ZJ's terrific tee shot--but if he did, that was sort of silly. Whether he knew that there were only 2 eagles on the hole all day or not, he should've known that eagle wasn't necessary to win. Birdie would've done just fine--especially given the pin position. What's more, it was clear that Imada never committed to the shot. Not sure what was going on there, but maybe his caddy should have put the brakes on?

--One of the things I really like about these events where the top guys don't play is that it gives a chance to some other guys to play well, make some bucks, and perhaps get their games going again. In this case, nice work by Billy Andrade, Lee Janzen, and Olin Browne after a trunk-slammer 81-75 at Sawgrass. But Kevin Sutherland has to feel bad about not breaking 70 again after opening up with a terrific 65.