BRENDON De Jonge failed to build on a strong start at the Barclays tournament, crashing from a share of position two in the opening round, to fall away after arguably some of the worst rounds of golf in his career at the Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey.
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The country’s number one professional golfer shot a scintillating five under par 66 in his opening round on Thursday to finish the day on position two, just a shot behind early leader Bo Van Pelt.
De Jonge followed it up with a 72 on Round 2 which was just enough to make the cut on the crowded leaderboard.
Another 72 followed in round 3 before a nightmarish 75 for the concluding round on Sunday to finish tied on position 61 at 1-over par overall, a massive 13 shots behind eventual winner Hunter Mahan as the Zimbabwean golfer continued his worrying trend that has seen him failing to build on strong starts before.
The 33-year-old burly golfer’s brilliant first round suggested he had turned the corner in his bid to conquer the world, but as usual, he melted as the competition progressed.
Over the same course where he picked up five shots on Thursday, De Jonge dropped two shots on Friday and Saturday before his total collapse on Sunday when a double bogey 6 at the fourth and three more bogeys before the turn, characterised his final round for a 75.
For his efforts, De Jonge won himself $17 120, which is a far cry from the $597 333 he could have gotten had he maintained his second position or perhaps a cool $1 440 000 had he clinched the title.
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But there is, however, a reward for finishing in the top 100 for De Jonge, as the position is good enough to qualify him for this week’s Deutsche Bank Championship which kicks off on Thursday.
The top 75 from that event will go through to the BMW Championship and the top 30 qualify for the playoff-final, The Tour Championship.
De Jonge, who is currently ranked 71st in the world, has made the FedExCup Playoffs in each of the last four years, racking up four top-25 finishes in as many starts in 2013.
Last season, De Jonge made his first trip to the Tour Championship by Coca-Cola, finishing a career-best 26th in the FedExCup standings which earned him a place in all four major championships this year.
