Brendon de Jonge enjoyed a lengthy PGA Tour career that encompassed 317 starts. While he never notched a victory, de Jonge did post 10 top-5s, 28 top-10s and 68 top-25 finishes between 2007 and 2018. The 46-year-old is now working in broadcast media as an on-air analyst and radio host.
On this week’s episode of Subpar, de Jonge joined hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz to reflect on his some of his career highlights, including his experience on the 2013 Presidents Cup team, where he was paired with Ernie Els and tasked with taking on Tiger Woods and Matt Kuchar in Saturday afternoon’s foursomes matches.
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“It’s around that time that Ernie was struggling with the putter. He wasn’t putting well,” de Jonge said. “I think [he] was, using the belly putter at the time before it got banned, but really was not putting well, and he was not happy that we had to play Tiger.
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“Nick [Price] had placed us against them, obviously with the Presidents Cup, you get to decide your matchups. It’s not like the Ryder Cup. So, Nick had put us against Tiger and Kuchar, and Ernie was convinced that we were almost going out as sacrificial lambs, was not really pleased with it.
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“And, of course, starts out that he misses like a 3-footer on the first hole. So, like, that didn’t help. But from there, he just played unbelievably well and turned out that he made a 4-footer on 18 for us to beat them 1 up.”
Els and de Jonge were the only International team to post a victory in that session. Heading into Sunday singles, the Internationals trailed the Americas 14-8. They then mounted an impressive charge on Sunday, winning 7.5 of the available 12 points, but it wasn’t enough, and the U.S. team claimed victory by a score of 18.5-15.5.
“But, you know what, talking about playing with a guy, having him as my partner for all four sessions, that was the absolute dream,” de Jonge said of playing alonsgide Els. “This was a guy that I’d grown up respecting, was an idol of mine, and now I get to play with him on the Presidents Cup team. I mean, I, I couldn’t have drawn it up any better than that.”
Fore more insights and stories from de Jonge, check out the full episode of Subpar below.
The post What it’s like to take on Tiger Woods – and win – at the Presidents Cup appeared first on Golf.
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