June 30, 2008 -- There were many disappointed fans in Michigan and across the country this week as the Buick Open, which usually comes with the guarantee of the chance to see Tiger Woods in action, was short one dominant player. However, this week without Tiger in the field would have no shortage of excitement, with the action as intense as any week yet this year, and fans on the edge of their seat until the very last putt was holed.

Kenny Perry's bunker shot on hole no. 14 was critical to his big win. (Photo: Getty Images)

Just two days after Woods had season ending knee surgery, the PGA Tour came to Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club in Grand Blanc, Michigan just outside of Flint. The action began ferociously on Thursday, with Bo Van Pelt, Cory Pavin, and Dudley Hart opening up with impressive 64s, and followed closely by 2 players at 65 and 4 more who posted a first round 66. Van Pelt continued his birdie barrage with a bogey-free 66 on Friday to open up a 2 shot lead heading into the weekend. Unfortunately, this was not his week, as a Saturday 73 and final round 72 landed him in a tie for 17th.

Daniel Chopra took full advantage of Van Pelt's stumble on Saturday. Chopra made just one bogey on the first hole of his third round along with 5 birdies, despite hitting just 3 fairways all afternoon, and was able to close out Saturday with a 2 shot lead of his own. Sunday, however, the errant driver caught up with him and bogeys on 4 of the first 7 holes took him quickly out of contention.

The final day would belong to the veterans of the PGA Tour, along with some late heroics by a young bomber. The names atop the leaderboard midway through the final round included Hart, Austin, Perry, Tway, and Duke, and with an average of 17 ½ years experience on Tour, these guys definitely had the experience necessary to handle themselves well on Sunday afternoon. Dudley Hart looked strong early and held the lead at -18, until a wildly hooked 3 wood on the par 5 13th derailed his bid. Perry and Austin would battle back and forth over the last 5 holes of the Championship. Woody Austin made a stretch of birdies at 12, 13, 14, and 16 to take the lead at 20 under par.

Perry made a move of his own, posting a 32 on the front nine. He also made what would end up as perhaps the shot of the tournament on the drivable 14th, as he holed out for an eagle two from the greenside bunker. After another birdie at 16, Perry approached the 18th tee one group in front of Austin, but still one shot behind at -19. However, a 3-putt bogey at the 17th for Austin gave Perry life after he failed to hole his 30 foot birdie attempt at the final green. Austin's putter would fail him again on the closing hole, when his 65 foot lag attempt from just off the green screamed a good 15 feet past the cup, and hung just to the right on his par attempt for the playoff.

In a late charge, lefty Bubba Watson quietly birdied 10, 12, 14 and 16, finding himself just one shot back on the 18th tee. After missing the fairway terribly to the left, Watson hit an amazing low cut under the trees and around the hospitality tent on the green to just 11 feet from the pin. With Perry on the range preparing himself for a potential playoff, Watson strode up to the ball and hit a solid putt that burned the left edge of the hole as it past, giving Bubba a par, and Kenny Perry his second win on Tour in his last four starts.

As alluded to earlier, the pivotal point in Perry's round and the key to his win was the sand shot on number 14, which found the hole and boosted him back to the top of the leader board. Another difficult, yet well executed bunker shot on 15 showed Perry's touch and skill in this area that the majority of golfers have so many problems with.

The issue that most of us run into in the bunker is that we don't set ourselves up for success when addressing the golf ball. Play the ball forward? Play the ball back? There are, of course, hundreds of theories on how to get the ball out of the bunker and close to the hole. When you get into the right positions before the swing, the shot will be a lot easier. (All positions assume a right handed golfer. For a lefty, simply reverse the right and left instructions.)

First, open the clubface to a 45 degree angle and take your grip on the club. Next, set up with a slightly wider than normal stance. This will take the weight shift out of you swing and help you keep the lower body still in the sand. Align the ball 2 inches inside your left foot with your feet and hips square to the target. Now you must get the clubface pointing at the hole, so rotate your body to the left until the scoring lines on the club are pointing just to the right of the pin.

This is the easiest way to get into the correct positional alignment to hit a greenside bunker shot. You obviously would not have to go through the process every time, but until you get used to where your body is in relation to the ball, it's a pretty helpful process. Once in this position, you have a better chance for success in getting out of the bunker. The key is the path that the club takes as it starts the backswing and the role of the hands as the club returns to the ball.

As you look at the club hovering over the sand next to the ball, imagine a straight line from the ball up through the center of the clubface into the upper corner of the toe of the club. This line is the path the club should take on the backswing. You will feel that your hands must swing away from your body to take this path, but the reason that most students chunk behind or bounce into and blade the ball in the sand is because they bring the club too far inside on their backswing.

Once the backswing is complete, the final key element is the role of the hands on the downswing. The club must come straight back down the path it went away on, with the hands leading the club and holding the face open all the way through the shot. The back of the left hand needs to keep facing the sky so that the wrists do not break through and roll over. If this happens, there is little to no chance of the club sliding through the sand under the ball to cast it out of the bunker. However, if you can think of the hands staying open and the bottom of the sand wedge gliding through the sand, the ball should pop out as high and soft as you could need, and soon you'll be hitting beautiful shots out of the sand, just like Kenny Perry.

Ryan Holland is the First Assistant Professional at Barrington Hills Country Club in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Ryan is a PGA Certified Professional in Instruction, and was the first PGA Member in Illinois to attain Certified status in all 6 areas that the PGA offers. He is a Titleist Staff Member and has been heavily involved with the Illinois Section and was recently nominated for the Illinois Assistant Professional of the Year. He can be reached by email at hollandpga@gmail.com.