The tournament’s PGA West Stadium Course yielded some low scores in perfect conditions on Thursday, but danger lurks at the Palm Springs track, particularly left of the 16th green. Well, left and below the 16th green. Way, way below.

That’s where you’ll find a 20-foot deep bunker dubbed “San Andreas Fault.” And if you find it with your approach shot, good luck getting out. But not only was Chez Reavie able to escape this evil trap, he was able to finish off one of the craziest sand saves you’ll ever see. Check it out as Reavie—whose diminutive stature makes the situation appear even more daunting—blasts out and over the green before holing a bomb from off the putting surface:

Just your average "sandy" for Chez Reavie. ?#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/zD94Gvoz2s

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 16, 2020

Amazing. After, people were calling the par save “Escape from AlcaChez.” Just kidding. No one was calling it that.

The post This is it, this is the craziest sand save in PGA Tour history appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Welcome to another edition of The Grind where we almost got killed at the Travelers Championship last week. An American golfer who shall remain nameless nearly drilled me with a drive on No. 15. He shall remain nameless because he was only concerned with his lie as he walked right by me and a few others to get to his ball. Meanwhile, European golfers continue to display better manners in these situations. A week after Henrik Stenson laid down on the ground to pose for a selfie with a fan he plunked, Jordan Smith bought his victim (multiple) drinks at the BMW International Open:

Alles wieder gut! @Jsmithgolf entschuldigt sich ordentlich bei Wolfgang. ???#BMWInternationalOpen pic.twitter.com/foc1dAFcAt

— SPORT1 (@SPORT1) June 21, 2019

What’s next, dinner and a movie? Seriously, fans might start trying to get hit by these guys. Anyway, kudos to Smith, Stenson, and others who actually care about the well-being of us little people in the galleries—or, at least yell “Fore!” when they hit an errant shot. And it’s good to know karma exists because of the player in question. . . never mind. He had a good week. Karma is officially dead, but The Grind lives on! Let’s dive into everything else happening in golf.

WE’RE BUYING

Chez Reavie: Is this the dawn of the Chez Reavie Era?! Probably not, but no one should be shocked by Reavie’s Travelers Championship triumph after his T-3 performance at Pebble Beach the previous week. I just hope the guy who bet on Chez to win the U.S. Open bet on him this past week.

Rob Carr/Getty Images

And rejoice, short hitters! His average swing speed is only. . . 108! OK, that’s still a lot faster than mine. . . The diminutive Reavie is never going to overpower a golf course like the typical tour winner, but he has always been one of the best iron players in the game. The most puzzling part of his second PGA Tour title is how long he waited for it. First Tiger snaps an 11-year drought in the majors and now Chez ends his 11-year drought in non-majors. What a time to be alive!

Zack Sucher: This was the rare week on the PGA Tour where you could declare two winners. Sure, Sucher blew a five-shot lead on Saturday in stunning fashion, but his rally to finish T-2 was awfully impressive—and important. Consider that in six years as a pro he had earned about $850,000 and had needed “to take out some credit cards” during a seven-month stretch two years ago in which he made no money. Well, he earned $633,600 on Sunday. “It’s life-changing, to be honest,” Sucher said.

Hannah Green: Also life-changing? How about the 114th-ranked player in the world going wire to wire? In a major? Congrats to this Australian for doing just that, instantly becoming one of the more surprising major champs in golf history. What’s even more surprising is how calm she remained throughout.

Pretty cool moment: Hannah Green walks off 8 and a little girl hands her a blue sheet of paper on which she’d written a poem. Hannah reads it, keeps it, gives the girl a hug and heads to 9th tee w 3-shot lead, going after first major.

— Doug Ferguson (@dougferguson405) June 23, 2019

Can you imagine Brooks Koepka doing that? Better yet, how about Tiger Woods in his prime? That is wild. Of course, considering the pace of play issues during the event, Green could have read a novella between holes.

Andrea Pavan: There was some shaky play from both Pavan and Matthew Fitzpatrick during their playoff at the BMW International Open, but the 30-year-old Italian finished in spectacular fashion with a winning birdie. Even better was his celebration (Check out the 27-second mark) with caddie Alejandro Molina.

It's Play-Off victory for @AndreaPavan89! ?#BMWInternationalOpen pic.twitter.com/pZY39ROLxA

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 23, 2019

So good. Reminiscent of Yogi Berra jumping into Don Larsen’s arms. And this isn’t Molina’s first epic celebration:

Come for the Pavan putt ?

Stay for the caddie celebration ? pic.twitter.com/iQy4XAioO2

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 22, 2019

Also, this dude has some serious soccer skills:

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByF9uFsH59K/?utm_source=ig_embed

OK, so we’re buying Molina as much as Pavan. That guy is awesome.

WE’RE SELLING

Brooks Koepka in non-majors: It was good of Koepka to keep his commitment, but seriously, why bother showing up? Koepka couldn’t have looked more disinterested to be playing at the Travelers and you can’t blame him. That has nothing to do with the tournament itself, but to tee it up at TPC River Highlands just four days after nearly winning the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach? And after a long cross-country flight?

Michelle Wie’s career: Sadly, we’re getting to the point of there being no point for Michelle Wie to show up at any tournament—and she knows it. “I’m not entirely sure how much more I have left in me, so even on the bad days, I’m just like trying to take time to enjoy it. But it’s tough,” said an emotional Wie after shooting an opening 84 at the KPMG PGA Championship. To Wie’s credit, she didn’t WD and spoke to the media the following day after an 82. If this is the end of the road (and hopefully, it’s not), Wie has been a pleasure to watch. Well, not during the table-top putting phase, but you get the point.

Matthew Wolff’s pro debut: From the winding down of one phenom’s career to the start of another, I drove up to the Travelers Championship on Thursday specifically to see what was being billed as an important moment in golf history. Apparently, I was the only one. Let’s just say there wasn’t much of a buzz for the pro debut of this DISRUPTOR, but the Wolfpack will certainly grow.

And Wolff will continue to improve, although a T-80 by the 20-year-old doesn’t sound so bad when you consider that a 20-year-old Tiger finished T-60 in his pro debut in 1996. . .

Holey Moley: I hate to pile on Stephen Curry after he had a tough NBA Finals in which his Golden State dynasty crumbled before our very eyes, but. . . wow, was this bad. Not that we should be too surprised considering most thought the show’s announcement was an April Fool’s joke. But. . . I mean. . .

Congrats to @StephenCurry30 and @ABC for somehow managing to make a golf show worse than #Shotmakers. https://t.co/iZxEqtWKTb

— Club Pro Guy (@ClubProGuy) June 25, 2019

Poor Kenny G. I didn’t think his career could dip any lower than appearing in that Valentine’s Day video for Kanye and Kim. I was wrong.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour heads to Detroit for the inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic, AKA that event funded by Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert that replaced the Quicken Loans National on the schedule. Gilbert founded Quicken Loans AND Rocket Mortgage (among other things). He has a lot more money than you do.

Random tournament fact: The tournament will be played at Detroit Golf Club and Rickie Rocket Mortgage Fowler is in the field. And. . . that’s pretty much all we know at this point.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Back to Andrea and Alejandro:

Let the celebrations begin ?#BMWInternationalOpen pic.twitter.com/S5UeqMpRzl

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 23, 2019

That’s nice to see, especially on a day where Matt Wallace came under fire for berating his caddie during the final round.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Bubba Watson’s son Caleb nearly ended Brandt Snedeker’s season (and ability to have kids) with this line drive:

Yessir! Caleb with line drive at @BrandtSnedeker. Great hit!! @TravelersChamp #TravelersFamilyWiffleball #ProudDad #WiffleballLife pic.twitter.com/0sgnNxj9DA

— bubba watson (@bubbawatson) June 21, 2019

Kid’s got some pop.

ARCHIVE VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

How about this compilation of Gary Woodland high school basketball highlights set to the “Rudy” theme song?

https://twitter.com/CoreyRHolloway/status/1140720163211210752

Impressive! Then again, even my high school basketball highlights would seem a lot better accompanied by the “Rudy” theme song.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Caddying for VJ. https://t.co/T8GbfZm4KY

— KIP HENLEY Blue Check Mark (@KipHenley) June 23, 2019

Boom. Roasted. Of course, Vijay has always had the rep as a caddie killer, but Kip added a little more about the experience:

Watching one of the greatest to ever lace em up, prepare and get after it. Most of working for VJ was so cool. He treated me like a son (even though I’m older than him) away from the course. He never let me reach in my pocket one time. I made almost 50gs in 5 weeks. https://t.co/R7Ds5XUiyJ

— KIP HENLEY Blue Check Mark (@KipHenley) June 23, 2019

Regardless of what people think that part didn’t matter. Sure there were a couple times where I was thinking “damn we been here all day” like every single caddie on the PGA Tour but I have never seen hard work not pay off. https://t.co/bnL0JlpZvm

— KIP HENLEY Blue Check Mark (@KipHenley) June 23, 2019

Fair enough.

THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITY GOLFERS

How about Drake hitting the links? We think. . .

https://www.instagram.com/p/By5icbWgioH/?utm_source=ig_embed

Rory McIlroy’s “Two Gloves Aubrey” comment was classic. And then there’s Dylan Windler, the Cleveland Cavaliers first-round pick out of Belmont who also maintains a one-handicap and practices trick shots in his spare time from shooting jump-shots.

Working on some new swings tonight @Topgolf pic.twitter.com/A6NTxc0bQy

— Dylan Windler (@Dylan_Windler23) September 23, 2018

Have a good rookie season, Dylan, and who knows? You could earn a sponsor exemption from Dan Gilbert into next year’s Rocket Mortgage Classic.

THIS WEEK IN DUSTIN JOHNSON-PAULINA GRETZKY PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

While Brooks followed up a stressful week at Pebble Beach by playing in another tournament, Dustin and Paulina went to the Bahamas:

Advantage: Dustin.

THIS WEEK IN PHIL BEING PHIL

Introducing the first “Phireside with Phil”:

First edition of “Phireside with Phil.”

I’ll be sharing some interesting stories that have taken place through the years and will hopefully have some guests in the future too. #PhiresidewithPhil pic.twitter.com/4NDVTPNKmt

— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) June 18, 2019

Please let this be a weekly thing.

THIS AND THAT

If you haven’t read Joel Beall’s (latest) great piece on Max Roberts, a high schooler who went from being homeless to state champ, check it out. What a story. . . . Jay Bilas mentioned Louis Oosthuizen multiple times during the NBA Draft. Jay Bilas is officially the world’s biggest Louis O fan. . . . With the British Open heading to Northern Ireland, NBC Sports commissioned a flute version of Yanni’s classic “In Celebration of Man” theme. It’s a nice little touch, but nothing tops the original. Not even the “Rudy” theme song. . . . And finally, we celebrated Father’s Day a week late in my house (Thanks, USGA!) and the highlight was waking up to this delicious bacon-and-egg on a bagel:

Well, other than spending quality time with my wife and daughter, of course. But yeah. . . that breakfast sandwich. . . mmm. . .

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Who is the most difficult tour pro to caddie for?

Should I wear a helmet to the next event I cover?

How much leftover bacon is in the fridge?

The post An epic victory celebration, Michelle Wie’s tearful goodbye(?), and a caddie blasts his former boss appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

More than a decade later, Reavie was still waiting, with a slew of injuries and missed opportunities have gotten in the way.

Until Sunday at the Travelers Championship.

Reavie, who started the final round with a sizeable six-stroke lead, saw it whittled to one deep into the back nine at TPC River Highlands, then cruised to a four-stroke victory over Zack Sucher and Keegan Bradley for the second win of his career and first in nearly 11 years.

To put Reavie’s drought in perspective, he went 250 tournaments and 3,983 days without winning, the latter being the 11th-longest span between a maiden victory on tour and an encore. Consider that when he won in Canada he beat, among others, Billy Mayfair, Steve Marino, Anthony Kim and Glen Day—none of whom are still on tour.

“Had long years there in the middle,” Reavie said following his final-round one-over 69. “It was great because it gave me good perseverance and a good perspective of what life is and what golf is.”

He needed it. Or at least some patience, and a little good fortune.

In January 2014, the former U.S. Amateur Public Links champion underwent season-ending surgery on his left wrist to repair a torn sheath that holds the tendons in place. He was put in a long-arm cast for nearly four months, a short cast for another two and, despite being told by doctors that the procedure went great, was also informed there was only a 50-50 chance it was actually going to work.

Reavie returned to play in two events that fall but suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee that also required surgery.

“Those were probably the darkest days,” Reavie said of the wrist surgery. “Just the unknown and sitting at home, not being able to do anything and your mind wandering. OK, if it didn’t work, if I can’t play golf, what am I going to do?”

Reavie celebrates with wife Amanda Henrichs after winning the 2019 Travelers Championship. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

What he eventually did was play again, though success was a slow burn.

In 2015, Reavie missed the cut in 11 of 19 PGA Tour starts, including 10 of 11 starts early in the year, before he started to find any sort of consistency.

Then in September 2015, he won on the Web.com Tour to help catapult him back to the PGA Tour for the 2015-’16 season. Eventually, he began to show the talent he flashed his rookie year, too, racking up 13 top-10s over the next four seasons, changing his swing along the way to relieve the pressure he’d put on his wrist that led to his original surgery.

Among his best showings was a runner-up at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, where Reavie, after leading most of the final round, birdied the final two holes of regulation to force a sudden-death playoff. He went on to lose to Gary Woodland following a poor chip shot and missed par putt on the first extra hole, but at the time it was his best finish on tour since 2011. The following week, he was a runner-up again, at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, finishing three strokes behind winner Ted Potter Jr.

This year, Reavie opened with a tie for third at the Sony Open in Hawaii and played well again in Phoenix, tying for fourth. He also played steadily at the Wells Fargo Championship and at the PGA Championship, finishing in the top 20 in both. Then at last week’s U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, he tied for third. It was his first career top-10 finish in a major.

“Being in the second-to-the-last group at the U.S. Open last week, that definitely gave me a lot of confidence coming into this week, and in particular today,” Reavie said Sunday from TPC River Highlands. “I played really well on Sunday at the U.S. Open, and I tried to treat this the same as I did then.”

At the Travelers, though, his best golf of the week came on Saturday. Trailing by six halfway through the third round, Reavie scorched the back nine at TPC River Highlands with a tournament-record-tying seven-under 28 en route to a sizzling 63. The dazzling finish, along with playing partner Zack Sucher’s implosion, gave Reavie his huge cushion.

He ended up needing it.

Halfway through Sunday’s final round, with Reavie having made just one birdie and one bogey over his first nine holes, Bradley closed in with four birdies over his first six holes on the back nine, trimming the deficit to one as they stood on the 16th tee. Fans were also vocal in their support for Bradley, a native New Englander, yelling for Reavie to three-putt, among other ill wishes.

Things turned on the par-4 17th, however, when Bradley drove into a fairway bunker and overcooked his approach shot. He tried to play a flop shot with his third, but with water long, he fluffed the shot and left himself 17 feet for a par. Three putts later, he walked off with a double bogey. Reavie, meanwhile, found the fairway off the tee and stuck his approach to 12 feet to set up one last birdie, and regain a four-stroke lead.

“Yeah, they were screaming at me,” Reavie said. “You get it every week. It’s not just this week.

“It was Sunday and just another test I had to go through today.”

One that was a long time in the making, just like that elusive second career victory.

As for what would Reavie have done had the surgery not worked out?

“Good question,” he said. “Haven’t figured that out yet.”

Won’t have to, either.

The post Chez Reavie has his encore tour win, and a hell of a story about how it probably shouldn’t have happened appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Reavie, 37, has had 11 top 10s since the beginning of 2017, including a pair of runner ups and two third-place finishes, one of them coming last week at the U.S. Open. But the Wichita, Kansas native was still stuck on one PGA Tour victory, and it came back in 2008 at the RBC Canadian Open.

Ten years, 10 months and 27 days later, Reavie got back in the winner’s circle on Sunday at the Travelers Championship, carding a one-under 69 to win by four over Keegan Bradley and Zack Sucher.

“It means everything,” said Reavie. “I started from the ground up, had wrist surgery, got a swing coach that helped take pressure off my wrist. Just kind of slowly built my foundation and here we are.”

Sunday was supposed to be a victory lap for Reavie, who led by six entering the final round, but it got much closer than he hoped it would. Bradley got to five under on the day at the 15th, pulling him within one stroke as Reavie plodded along at even for the round. After matching pars at 16, Bradley made a disastrous double bogey at the difficult 17th, while Reavie made birdie to close the door.

“I had to stay patient today, Keegan was playing great, I kept missing putts. It felt like I was hitting good putts, they just weren’t going in. Finally, I made one on 17 and kind of turned a corner.”

For Bradley, the T-2 is his best finish of the season, and for Sucher, it’s the best finish of his life. The 32-year-old journeyman was playing on a sponsor’s exemption this week, and at one point held a five-shot lead on Saturday afternoon.

Vaughn Taylor finished in solo fourth, while Paul Casey, Joaquin Niemann and Kevin Tway tied for fifth.

The post More than a decade removed from his first win, Chez Reavie claims career victory No. 2 at Travelers Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Standing on the 10th tee on Saturday at the Travelers Championship, Chez Reavie, playing in the final pairing, trailed Zack Sucher by six. A couple of hours later, Reavie holed a six-footer for birdie on the par-4 18th at TPC River Highlands to extend his own lead to six shots. No, that is not a typo.

With the help of a mid-round meltdown from Sucher, who went out in 31 to reach 15 under but then went bogey-double bogey-double bogey to begin his back nine, Reavie was able to quickly close the gap with four consecutive birdies. Only he didn’t just close the gap, he leap-frogged Sucher and then some, carding a course-record back-nine 28. He finished with a seven-under 63, putting him alone at the top at 16-under 194, six clear of Sucher and Keegan Bradley, who are tied at 10-under 200.

Reavie, 37, is looking for just the second win of his PGA Tour career, the first coming more than a decade ago at the 2008 RBC Canadian Open. He’s had plenty of close calls since then, including a pair of playoff losses, most recently at the 2018 Waste Management Phoenix Open and before that at the 2011 Deutsche Bank Championship. Last week, he tied for third at the U.S. Open, the best finish of his career in a major, and the only one inside the top 10.

He’ll play in the final group alongside Bradley, who got up and down for par at the 18th to post a 69. Sucher, who could have gone completely off the rails after the debacle at 10, 11 and 12, was able to settle in and make six consecutive pars to close his round. He finished with a one-over 71.

Roberto Diaz (67) and Jason Day (68) are tied for fourth at nine-under 201, while Bryson DeChambeau is among a group at eight under thanks to his third-round 64, which would have been the low score of the day if not for Reavie.

The post Chez Reavie sets back nine on fire, takes a massive six-shot lead into Sunday at the Travelers Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By E. Michael Johnson
Rickie Fowler is a trend setter, but Fowler’s use of a Puma stand bag to house his clubs last week at the Farmers Insurance Open isn’t the reason Jon Rahm, Jimmy Walker and other TaylorMade and Titleist players are allowing their caddies to lighten the load at this week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Rahm and Walker will be using stand bags from their respective companies as part of a product launch for the bags. Titleist is introducing its Players 4 Plus bag and as part of its introduction made bags for each player, putting their names and sponsors logos on the carry bags and allowing players the option to use them. Similarly, TaylorMade rolled out its FlexTech and FlexTech Lifestyle stand bags with Rahm, Beau Hossler and Chez Reavie expected to lighten their caddies’ load by employing the bag in Scottsdale. The FlexTech and FlexTech Lifestyle bags utilize a design where each main side pocket is built into the center of the bag to create a single piece construction that allows for more storage without adding weight.

As for why the Waste Management Phoenix Open, it’s likely not a coincidence. The event has a decidedly relaxed vibe, making it easier to get players to agree to do something outside the norm. Additionally, the heavier staff bags that tour caddies routinely lug often are stocked with plenty of rain gear. Scottsdale is perhaps the most likely tour venue on the schedule to avoid wet weather, making the use of the smaller bags more viable as the likelihood of inclement weather is minimal.

Regardless, the caddies who get to carry the lighter bags will rejoice, but don’t expect the bags to stay in play for longer than this week. Sponsors like to see their logos on television—and they like to see them in big, bold letters.

The post Why do Jon Rahm, Jimmy Walker and others have stand bags at the Waste Management Phoenix Open? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
HONOLULU — Two years ago, Chez Reavie was chasing 59 in the final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii before he settled for a 61. This time, he succeeded in adding his name to the record book, albeit for a different reason.

Friday at Waialae Country Club, Reavie holed out for eagle three times, becoming the first player to do so on three par-4s in the same round since the PGA Tour started keeping track in 1983.

“I was trying to think back to any round I even had more than one hole-out and I couldn’t think of any,” the 37-year-old journeyman said.

He didn’t take long to make the first one, jarring a sand wedge from 101 yards on the par-4 10th, his first hole of the day. Six holes later he made another, from 149 yards with a 9-iron.

The momentum didn’t last long, though, with Reavie making bogey on the par-4 first and double at the par-3 fourth after missing the green left and blasting his sand shot across the green, prompting him to change balls.

You can guess what happened next. Two holes later he holed a gap wedge from 135 yards, prompting two of the caddies in the group to throw their hats at him.

“The first one was great, the second was, wow, that’s cool, the third one was like, are you kidding me?” said playing partner Michael Thompson. “Pretty amazing to watch. The third time we gave him a hard time. Thats’ probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be in a group and see a guy do that, let alone do it yourself. It’s pretty cool to see.”

Reavie had a chance to add a fourth eagle on the par-5 ninth but missed the green left with his second shot and narrowly missed holing out from a greenside bunker.

“Yeah, that would’ve been fun,” said Reavie, who finished with a second-straight 65 to move into a tie for second two strokes back after the morning wave. “I was just trying to get it as close as I could and make a birdie. If it would’ve went in it would’ve been special.”

The post Chez Reavie, seriously? He holes out for eagles on three par 4s in second round of Sony Open in Hawaii appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The duo from China was atop the leaderboard when the second round began thanks to a 12-under 60 on Thursday, matching Lucas Glover and Chez Reavie for the low round of the tournament. On Friday though, they went as far in the opposite direction as you could possibly go, carding an eight-over 80 to miss the cut:

After being the last group out yesterday evening in New Orleans, Dou and Zhang had a rough Friday morning. 60-80. pic.twitter.com/mfvT0hlJ3n

— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) April 27, 2018

On the front nine, Dou and Zhang actually kept it somewhat together, shooting a two-over 38 that included a birdie at the par-4 eighth. If they thought that would get them going in the right direction, they were mistaken, as they proceeded to bogey five of their first six holes on the back nine before righting the ship again with a birdie at the par-4 16th. At that point, they were safely inside the cut line at six under, but disaster struck at the par-3 17th when they double-bogeyed from just over the back of the green:

That’s alternate shot in a nutshell right there. Normally, you’d bet that either Zhang or Dou would get up-and-down for par on their own from just off the green, but with the extra added pressure of needing to come up big for your teammate, it leads to holes like that.

The post How did the first-round co-leaders at the Zurich Classic actually miss the cut? That’s what happens when you go 60-80 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
The Masters, perennially the paramount event of the golf calendar, feels even bigger this year with a host of engaging storylines and return of a certain 14-time major winner. Somewhat ironic, as the Masters field is smaller than it has been in decades.

Four players qualified for the tournament via Official World Golf Ranking following the WGC-Match Play, and one spot is potentially up for grabs at this week’s Houston Open. But with Brooks Koepka officially dropping out of the proceedings—the reigning U.S. Open champion remains sidelined with a wrist injury—the 2018 Masters field will feature no more than 87 players, the smallest amount of entrants since 1997.

Late additions to the field were Cameron Smith, Chez Reavie, Satoshi Kodaira and Dylan Frittelli, gaining entry for finishing inside the OWGR Top 50. The Houston Open winner also receives a Masters invitation if he’s not already eligible. Ian Poulter was informed by various entities after Saturday morning’s Match Play victory that he had accumulated enough OWGR points for a Masters invite, only to discover 10 minutes before his quarterfinals match that one more win was required to earn his spot. Poulter lost that match 8 & 6 to Kevin Kisner, and now needs to win in Houston to play at Augusta National.

Related: The entire line-up for the 2018 Masters and how they earned an invite

The post The Masters is going to have its smallest field in two decades appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Dave Shedloski
A tale of the tape between the 54-hole co-leaders at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am surely would have proved to be a futile exercise, one that would have revealed the obvious. By any measure one could conjure, Dustin Johnson owned a significant advantage over Ted Potter Jr.

Tale of the tape? The golf cognoscenti likely was pondering the estimated amount of tape a bruised and battered Potter was going to require upon exiting Pebble Beach Golf Links. What chance did the unassuming left-hander, ranked 246th in the world, have against World No. 1 Johnson, the human howitzer?

Sure enough, it was no contest.

Ted Potter Jr. won going away.

In one of the biggest upsets in memory in a head-to-head duel on the PGA Tour, Potter plodded his way to a careful three-under-par 69 on a crisp and breezy day on the Monterey Peninsula. In the process, the 34-year-old registered a three-stroke victory over Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Jason Day and Chez Reavie. The son of a golf course maintenance worker who had a club in his hands even before he could walk, Potter finished at 17-under 270 for his largest career paycheck, $1.322 million, slightly less than half his career earnings to date.

“It’s truly an unbelievable day,” said Potter, who doubled his PGA Tour victory total to two—coincidentally, the same number of steel plates inserted in the right ankle he broke in 2014 that derailed what finally was looking like a blossoming career. “I will remember this day forever.”

As well he should. Aside from his victory in the 2012 Greenbrier Classic in his rookie year, Potter’s most memorable triumph was beating Matt Kuchar in the Masters Par-3 Contest the following year. This win gives him another shot at Augusta National (short and big course) as well as starts in the Players and PGA Championship. 

Jeff Gross/Getty Images
Potter, ranked 246th in the world, stood apart on Sunday as he kept calm and claimed his second career PGA Tour title.

Potter’s voice cracked several times as he recalled his difficult comeback the last few years as well as his bumpy journey to this point. He turned professional after high school in his native Florida and racked up close to 60 wins on various mini-tours, he estimated. But his Web.com Tour career got off to an inauspicious beginning as he missed the cut in all 24 starts in his rookie year in 2004 and he played the weekend only three times in his first 44 events. Before Sunday, Potter had only posted three top-10 finishes and 37 made cuts in 83 starts.

If nothing else, the soft-spoken left-hander, who never has had help with his swing except from his father, Ted, and his caddie, John Balmer, is a hardened competitor. “It definitely helps to draw from past experience coming down the stretch,” Potter said. “It doesn’t matter what kind of tournament it is. … So, I think I know how to control myself and the nerves coming down the stretch. It’s just that you still got to execute the shot.”

A natural right-hander who turned the golf club upside down (a là Mickelson) to stand opposite his father and copy his swing, Potter began the day with a shaky three-putt bogey on the par-4 first. It’s what you might expect from a guy playing with his first 54-hole lead and who in his last event, at the Farmers Insurance Open, cratered to a final-round 82.

When Johnson unleashed a 321-yard laser tee shot at the par-5 second, and Potter answered with a poke of 273 yards with his whippy sawed-off swing, it appeared that someone was in for a long day. Who figured it would be Johnson?

“I’m sure everyone knew Dustin probably was going to win the golf tournament,” Potter allowed. “What do I got to lose, really? Just go out there and try to play the best golf I could today and see what happens. Why put more pressure on myself to say I’m playing against the World No. 1? Just go play golf.”

Potter calmly canceled Johnson’s stress-free two-putt birdie with a birdie of his own, getting up and down from behind the green, and he did the same at the par-5 sixth despite giving up 52 yards off the tee to Johnson’s 317-yard 3-iron.

The turning point came at the iconic little par-3 seventh when both men flew tee shots over the green. From roughly a few paces right of where Johnson pitched past the hole and failed to get up and down for par; Potter chipped in for birdie, his fourth in six holes and last of the day. The two-stroke swing gave Potter a two-shot lead that he protected with an array of steady par saves and high-percentage plays.

Related: Watch Jason Day save par from the beach next to Pebble’s 18

He was most proud of how he handled the pressure as the round progressed and how he kept Johnson, who admittedly wasn’t his sharpest, at bay.

“I think the way I finished the tournament coming down the stretch on the back nine. I struck the ball well and hit a lot of my targets out there coming in with the pressure on me,” the Ocala, Fla., native said. “I just hit a lot of quality golf shots coming down the stretch knowing I had to.”

“I played OK,” said Johnson, who closed with a 72 and missed a chance to win this event for a third time. “Definitely a few iron shots cost me a couple of bogeys. I would have liked to put a little more pressure on Ted.” 

Jeff Gross/Getty Images
Johnson, a two-time winner at Pebble, couldn’t pick up any momentum on Sunday, settling for a even-par 72 and a T-2 finish.

For the second time in three years this storied tournament produced an improbable winner. Vaughn Taylor, who hadn’t won in 11 years on the PGA Tour, outlasted Mickelson in the 2016 edition after getting in as an alternate. He was 447th in the world at the time.

Potter, who lost nearly two full seasons in 2015 and ’16 because of the aforementioned ankle injury, stymied not only Johnson, but also Mickelson (who shot 67 and still is winless since the 2013 Open Championship), former No. 1 Day (70), the suddenly dangerous Reavie (68) and World No 2 Jon Rahm, who started the day three back, climbed within two of the lead, and then drifted back with an inward 42 and four-over 76.

None were a match for the unassuming Potter, who led the field with 24 birdies and played his final 46 holes in 15 under par after suffering four straight bogeys on Friday at Spyglass Hill that dropped him to two under par.

That’s quite a bounce back, but that’s something Potter has long become used to. He couldn’t play for five months as he waited for his ankle to mend with the help of two steel plates and 12 screws in it. The downtime was killing a man who loves the game, loves his job. The idle time allowed some doubt to creep into his mind.

“It was a struggle there. You don’t know what is going to happen to your golf game,” he admitted.

He still has a bit of pain in his ankle. But his golf game is sound. Ted Potter might never achieve the consistency he expects of himself, but his flashes of brilliance are good enough.

It’s a wonderful tale. Check the tape.

The post The underdog has his day as Potter Jr. wins at Pebble Beach appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.