With the focus of the entire golfing world quietly turned on the exploits of world number one Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson and fallen American golfing hero Tiger Woods, Webb Simpson has flown almost unnoticed under the radar, won two titles last season and finished runners up on an additional three titles to wind up in the second position in terms of the PGA Money rankings as well as in the FedEx Cup standings. He has gathered enough OWGR points to improve leaps and bounds in his World Golf Rankings as well.
And this week, the 26 year old Simpson returns to one of his favorite places at Inverness to play in the Transitions Championships, which saw the start of his meteoric rise in the golf rankings last year when he narrowly missed out to Gary Woodland, finishing a close second. He could have easily taken the match to a playoff had he not hit a bogey on the final hole, leaving him one shot behind the leader and that was how the dreams ended for Webb Simpson.
After losing another title to Bubba Watson in the playoff this time, he managed to pull of his first victory in a PGA Tour event by winning the Wyndham Championship and then the Deutsche Bank Championship. Speaking to the media ahead of the Transitions Championships, Simpson commented that the event holds a special place in his heart because it was here that he first got a taste of being in contention for a title and that added a lot more confidence in his abilities.
Although Webb Simpson admitted that he would have preferred to have won a title much earlier in his career, he is still satisfied with the start he has got and is looking forward to a win at a course that has been kind to him once before.