Jason Dufner joins golf’s ‘new’ big three

• Jason Dufner has first win since 2013 US PGA Championship
• He beat David Lingmerth in a play-off at PGA West
• Is now eyeing up a place in the US Ryder Cup team

Jason Dufner grabbed his first victory since the 2013 US PGA Championship as he took down Swede David Lingmerth in a play-off at the CareerBuilder Challenge.

Heading into the final round with a two-shot lead over Jamie Lovemark, Dufner managed just a two-under-par 70 – his other three rounds were 64, 65, 64 – and was caught by Lingmerth as he recorded a 65 with the pair going on to finish on 25-under.

But Dufner composed himself to eliminate Ryder Cup hopeful Lingmerth on the second play-off hole with a par, and with a return to form, the American is now eyeing up a spot in the Ryder Cup team come September and joked with Jordan Spieth about he, Spieth and Rickie Fowler, a winner earlier in the day in Abu Dhabi, could be the game’s new ‘big three’.

Dufner gets the job done

The play-off was undoubtedly important for Dufner but this remarkable shot off the rocks on the 17th in his final round was vital for him to remain at 25-under-par with Lingmerth already in the clubhouse.

What they said

Jason Dufner: “I would say excitement about where my game’s headed. I’m excited for this year, I’m excited to accomplish one of my goals this early in the year, I’m excited to keep playing well. I feel it’s the best I’ve ever felt health-wise probably in the last four or five years, so hopefully I can stick to my schedule that I’ve set out and play a lot of golf this year and get back to that Tour Championship and be a part of the Ryder Cup team.”

David Lingmerth: “I played really solid all week long. Both first two rounds I shot four-under, four-under and I was pretty disappointed with my scoring. But tee to green, all week long was very, very solid. I gave myself tons of opportunities and I’m proud of the way I battled this weekend. I was able to post a couple low rounds there and put myself in the play-off. So all in all, very good week, just very disappointing now with the way it ended.”

Phil Mickelson: “This is 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. It’s not necessarily the result I wanted, it’s the play, I played the way I wanted to.”

Stats

Driving accuracy and greens-in-regulation were the important factors behind Dufner’s first win for two-and-a-half years and one which lifts him to No.60 in the world from No.120.

On social

@JordanSpieth @RickieFowler @JasonDufner the “new” big 3….

— Jason Dufner (@JasonDufner) January 25, 2016

I swear Jason Dufner just smiled. Or maybe it was more of a grin. OK, a smirk.

— Jason Sobel (@JasonSobelESPN) January 25, 2016

Final leaderboard

1 Jason Dufner (64, 65, 64, 70) -25
2 David Lingmerth (68, 68, 62, 65) -25
T3 Andrew Loupe (66, 66, 67, 68) -21
T3 Phil Mickelson (68, 65, 66, 68) -21
T3 Kevin Na (71, 66, 62, 68) -21
T6 Luke List (68, 68, 66, 66) -20
T6 Jamie Lovemark (65, 65, 65, 73) -20
T6 Adam Hadwin (66, 66, 64, 72) -20
T9 Si Woo Kim (67, 71, 64, 67) -19
T9 Bill Haas (66, 66, 69, 68) -19

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Jason Dufner :: Back in form

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