2011 Hp Byron Nelson Championship

With a playoff to finish off this years Byron Nelson Championship-- it was fitting that the winner had to sit and wait for a hour and half before he figured out who or what was to come of his three under par for the day-- what happened was Keegan Bradley was going to face Ryan Palmer in a playoff to see who would take home the 1.7 million dollar payday!

Keegan had never won on the Nation Wide Tour, and his one lofty goal was to play Augusta National, and after the long wait and hitting his drive down the right fairway into the trees-- he was able to get out of the woods and landing just a few feet to the left of the green lag a putt just past the flag-- and then sink a 7 footer  for the par to outlast Colleyville's Ryan Palmer on the first playoff hole.  Palmer's drive wound up in the trees as well on the right.. he had a better lie than Keegan, but the fact is.. he pushed his second shot over the green-- hits the knoll and it rolls into the water for a penalty.

The rest they say, is Nelson Lore! As Keegan wins his first PGA tour championship, and with that is picks up his exemption and will play the Masters next spring. Not bad eh? and the paycheck ain't too shabby either.

SO... this Nelson was exciting, it had drama, it had suspense, and it had a target enriched field of the female persuasion. OH YES! PAVILLION Was BOUNCIN!!!!!

There were lots of changes to this years "fun" side of the tournament... meaning that there were different style of the commercial end of things, with the tents and such, but all in all, I think that the experience was grand!

Talking to some of the people that have been covering or coming out to the Nelson for over 30 years, this was the 44th annual event, and of those 44 events, going back to the days when it was played on the Preston Trail Country Club course, it is easy to remember how this tournament took off and how the reputation got there, but the for all the years, and all the memories, and stories, none beats the time when Lord Byron Nelson addressed the media before one particular tournament, and he was telling the story of how he and Ben Hogan played two-- up and comers at the Bing Crosby Clambake, actually the match took place before the tournament because of a off the cuff bet between two millionaires at the time (this took place in 1956.. 10 years after Nelson retired from the game and Hogan was winding down his career after coming back from a horrific car accident)... the two up starts-- Ken Venturi, and Harvie Ward.

The story goes that the two teams were all even until they hit number 13, when Hogan birdied the hole-- and was able to hold on to that one stroke lead through the rest of the course-- coming oh so close to losing it, and seeing these two "rookies" almost making it even-- when it was all said and done with -- the Two Old Timers were able to outlast the youngsters and if it were not for the accounts of Author Mark Frost, no one would ever know the story, nor the history-- or even the significance of this little match play!

The Nelson-- mystique, intrigue, and most of all FUN!

Can't wait to see what happens next year...

Just a thought!