Winners and losers from Quicken Loans National week

This past weekend saw a lot of great storylines and we are here to give you the good and the bad of it. Here are our winners and losers from the past week in golf.

Winners

Stacy Lewis — On Sunday evening, after Lewis had made a slippery left-to-right putt on the final green for a tournament-clinching birdie and a final round 65, she was asked about the pressure of playing in front of the pro-Lewis fan base. Lewis, who went to college at the University of Arkansas, said that this Sunday was more nerve-racking than the final round of the U.S. Open last week (she finished second at Pinehurst), but she handled it perfectly and won her third LPGA title of 2014. Lewis, the No. 1 ranked player in the game, continues to impress, and had to hold off the likes of Lydia Ko, Cristie Kerr and Michelle Wie to claim this title.

Justin Rose — His win on Sunday at Congressional now makes Rose the king of the tough golf courses, and while he did make a loose swing on the 72nd hole to possibly lose the golf tournament, it was that clutch bogey putt he cashed to get in his first ever PGA Tour playoff, which he won with ease. Rose now has a PGA Tour win in each of his last five seasons, and moves up to No. 8 in the world rankings thanks to this win at Congressional.

Shawn Stefani — Sure, he wasn’t able to win in his playoff with Rose, but the 32-year-old is inching closer and closer to that first career PGA Tour win. Stefani hit a great approach shot on his final hole of regulation that didn’t really feed towards the hole like he wanted, and his birdie putt to win the whole thing in regulation just slide by the hole. He will get that win eventually, and this week should only give him the confidence he needs next time he’s coming down the stretch with a shot at that elusive first title, especially considering his play qualified him for the British Open at Hoylake.

Greg Owen — A week after we had a PGA Tour winner close his final round with seven birdies to win by a single shot, Owen did just about the same thing on the Web.com Tour. Playing in the United Leasing Championship, Owen made a triple-bogey on his opening hole on Sunday, but made seven birdies and an eagle over his final 13 holes to win by a single shot. His back nine 30 only had one blemish on the card, a bogey on his final hole, but it didn’t matter for Owen who picked up his first ever Web.com win.

Tiger Woods — He might have missed the cut, but just having him back on the PGA Tour makes golf that much more interesting. Even if he went out and shot 90-90 it would create as much of a buzz as an event without him in it, and the thing that a lot of people are missing about his performance is this was as much of a dress rehearsal for his golf game as a serious attempt at competing. Tiger wanted to see where his game was, he found out, and now it’s back to the practice tee and putting green to smooth some things out before we get to Hoylake.

Losers

Patrick Reed — The youngster looked like he was setting up the perfect storm to shut up his critics and snag his fourth PGA Tour title in less than a year, but his Sunday 77 left him an afterthought and the only real pressure he faced all day was getting in as quick as possible so Rose and Stefani could start their playoff.

Seung-Yul Noh — Playing alongside Reed, Noh was two shots worse than his playing partner on Sunday, shooting a final round 79 to drop 28 spots on the leaderboard and bring back memories of Retief Goosen and Jason Gore in that final group at Pinehurst in the 2005 U.S. Open.

Rory McIlroy — Maybe the scheduling doesn’t work, but it continues to baffle me that a man that won by eight shots on this same golf course during a U.S. Open skips an event that is played on the same course in similar conditions.

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Shane Bacon is the editor of Devil Ball Golf and Busted Racquet on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shanebaconblogs@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter at @ShaneBacon!

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