By day’s end, it was the most experienced of the trio, Graeme McDowell, who outpaced Chris Stroud and Mackenzie Hughes. The former U.S. Open champion shot a closing 69 to finish with an 18-under 280 total and take the title by two strokes over his rivals.

The victory was the fourth of McDowell’s PGA Tour career, but his first since taking the title at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba in November 2015.

“This is big,” said the 39-year-old from Northern Ireland. “This is big for those who stood by me the last few years because it’s been a rough few years. It’s been a grind. My whole family, my wife and kids at home.”

McDowell started the day with a one-stroke advantage and looked determined not to let anybody catch him, making birdies on four of his first seven holes. But Stroud, a 12-year tour veteran with just one win to show for it, matched McDowell’s pace on the front side, then passed him with birdies on the 14th and 15th holes.

The turning point came on the par-3 17th. Stroud fanned his tee ball 10 yards right of the green while McDowell laces a 6-iron to seven feet. When Stroud couldn’t get up and down to save par, and McDowell rolled in his putt, the bogey-birdie exchange gave McDowell back the lead.

“I was standing on 16 green and I said to myself you’ve got to do something that’s tournament winning,” McDowell said, “and that shot to17 was tournament-winning level.”

Ahead of McDowell and Stroud, Hughes was seven under on his round to get to 18 under, but a poor approach on the 18th led to his first bogey of the day and cleared the way for the final group.

The jitters looked like they were getting to McDowell and Stroud as well on the 72nd hole. Both hit mediocre second shots on the par-4 home hole, but when Stroud three-putt from 60 feet, it allowed McDowell to also post a bogey yet still win by one.

No. 257 in the World Ranking entering the week, McDowell had been playing a hodgepodge schedule. While looking forward to competing in U.S. Open in June at Pebble Beach, site of his 2010 triumph, the major he desperately wants to get into is the Open Championship at Royal Portrush in his home country. He still has work to do to qualify, but his game looks to be coming around to where the dream is no longer a long shot.

The post Graeme McDowell grabs first PGA Tour title since 2015 with one-stroke win at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

With Harvey sitting over south Texas and appearing to be heading back to the gulf to reload, higher on Burke’s the priority list than the recovery of her two golf courses was the safety of her members stranded in their homes along the banks of Cypress Creek. Some of them have evacuated by kayaks and canoes.

“It’s pouring down raining, and as it continues to flood, it’s who can you help along the way,” Burke said. “It’s awful to go into people’s homes and water is up to the waist. This is devastating.”

With the one of America’s great golf cities now a water hazard, the top 100 golfers remaining after the opening round of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs were doing corporate outings on their way from Long Island to Boston. One of those was Patrick Reed, who told me in a text that the backyard of his house at The Woodlands outside of Houston had 10 to 12 feet of water, which was encroaching on his home. Worse, several of his neighbors’ homes were completely flooded.

Jhonny Vegas was in a better spot. Coming off a T-3 with Jon Rahm at The Northern Trust, ranked 10th in FedEx Cup points, Vegas started this trip with his father, who was visiting from Venezuela. At home in The Woodlands, four miles from Reed’s house, were Vegas’ mother, wife and children. There was plenty of food and supplies on hand. But with airports closed and expressways turned to rivers, there’s a question of just how long it would be before Greater Houston was accessible again.

Chris Stroud, who made a big splash at the PGA Championship, also lives north of the city, in Spring, Texas. Twenty family members and close friends were holed up at his house over the weekend and were hurricane equipped with a generator and plenty of food. It sounded like a pretty good hurricane party until police showed up at the door with a warning that while evacuations were not mandatory, flood-controlled reservoirs to the north would be opened with 30 more hours of rain coming.

On Sunday, a close friend of Stroud’s who is a former Navy SEAL, was contacted to help some of the elderly evacuate from the neighborhood. They took Stroud’s truck, which sits five feet off the ground, and were barely above the high-water mark. Escaping to a lake house two hours to the north was not advisable on flooded I-45. He had been on the phone all day, texting people back home.

“I hate not being there to help my family,” Stroud said. “This is a tremendous problem, and it just started. It’s a scary situation. I pray nobody gets hurt.”

Steve Timms, president and CEO of the Houston Golf Association, paid a visit to the Golf Club of Houston, site of the Shell Houston Open. He emailed the photos and explained how Nos. 1 and 18, once separated by a lake, is now just one body of water (above photo). “Just the damage that’s going to happen remains to be seen,” Timms said. “The longer that this water stays on top of the turf, the longer it gets a lot of silt.” And silt is not what Timms needs, not when he’s hoping to sign a title sponsor before next year’s Houston Open.

Typical of the golf culture rallying in times of need, Steve Elkington opened his home to the University of Houston golf teams, and UH men’s coach Jonathan Dismuke joined Women’s Golf Team coach Gerrod Chadwell (husband of LPGA pro Stacy Lewis) in saving six sets of clubs and two TrackMan golf computers stored in a building on the range at the Golf Club of Houston. Checking the radar, they took advantage of a one-hour break in lightning to take three kayaks (above) and two blow-up mattresses on their mission.

“Kayaking with golf clubs is not a great idea,” Dismuke said. “It was a terrible situation, but we’re so fortunate that we’re talking about saving TrackMan rather than human lives.”

That’s the general sentiment right now, as the rain continues to fall and people remain stranded in their houses. At some point, golf will matter again and Houston will go from search and rescue to rebuilding. But in the moment, everyone is focused on the here and now.

“We are concerned for all those in need, so many families in Houston need help,” Robin Burke said. “We will see all the damage as soon as the water recedes. … We can grow grass. More important are the families all over Houston. Let’s get everyone safe first.”

The post Tour pros with Houston ties worry about Hurricane Harvey’s destruction appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Tim Rosaforte

I Think . . .

Butch Harmon has been trying to get Rickie Fowler to play more like Rickie Fowler on major championship weekends—or at least the Rickie Fowler that closed out the 2015 Players. With six top-five finishes in major championships prior to the final 36 holes of the 99th PGA Championship, Fowler heard Harmon loud and clear when the swing instructor told him, “Put on your big-boy shoes and go win this thing.” Rickie’s problem in his latest top-five is that he waited a day late to find the fearless extreme sports persona that has made him famous. While some will say his Sunday 67 produced a backdoor T-5, I think it was a step in the right direction. Fowler is now 0-for-32 in majors, but his 2017 was much improved over his 2016 major championship campaign. A year ago, Fowler missed two cuts and didn’t crack the top 30. Harmon told him he needed to get in better shape in the off-season. Fowler responded and started the year with a victory in the Honda Classic on one of the PGA Tour’s toughest venues, PGA National. At the Masters, Fowler was one stroke off the lead held by Sergio Garcia going into Sunday. He shot 76 to Garcia’s 69 and finished T-11. He led the U.S. Open with an opening round 65 and was two strokes off the lead going into Sunday. Brooks Koepka shot 67. Fowler shot 72 for a T-5. Never a factor in the Open Championship (T-22), he battled back from an opening round triple bogey at Quail Hollow and a 5-5-5 finish that cost him four strokes to par. That night he posted a tweet that said, “It’s on tomorrow.” And with four straight birdies it was on for Fowler, just not enough to catch his Tequesta, Fla., neighbor, Justin Thomas. “I knew I still had a shot out there today,” Fowler said. As for the overall assessment, Fowler summed it up with three tight sentences, “Nice coming off of last year. Made all the cuts. That’s a good step.” A good step in big-boy shoes for Fowler to build on next year.

I Saw . . .

Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

Justin Thomas make putts this year for 59 at the Sony Open and for 63 in the U.S. Open, but the biggest putt at the PGA Championship — and arguably his career — was not to tie a scoring record. It was the 14-footer for bogey on the first hole of the final round after thinning his third shot from a greenside bunker into another greenside bunker. Asked afterward what was the most important thing he did on Sunday, it didn’t take Thomas long to say, “That putt on 1 was pretty big. Starting with double there would have been pretty terrible. That just would have been such a bad double to start today.” Matt Killen, who shares coaching duties with Thomas’ father, Mike, agreed. After his 63 at Erin Hills, Thomas had a tough time shaking his poor start in the final round of the U.S. Open, missing three-straight cuts including an 80 in the second round of the Open. But he had good putting sessions with Killen at Quail, matching up his speed and line better to make not only that bogey putt, but to save his Saturday round that Killen admitted “could have gotten away from him,” Thomas shot two under in the third round without his best stuff. Who knows how making 6 to start his final round would have affected him? “That’s a big moment, second to the last group, major, great chance to win.” It was a big moment, even if the resulting score was a bogey.

I Heard . . .

Michael Cohen

Chris Stroud told me he contemplated walking away from the life of a struggling tour pro six months ago. The game and balancing act with a family had become too stressful. “Luckily I had some great things going on.” What he meant by “great things” was a friendship carved out with Houston Astros owner Jim Crane, through one of his Lamar University teammates, Giles Kibbe. As Crane’s general counsel, Kibbe introduced Stroud to Crane, who offered Stroud an honorary membership at The Floridian GC he owns in Palm City, Fl. Through golf games and trips (like the Dunhill Cup in Scotland) with Crane, Stroud pitched the idea of a Safety Business that one of his friends had done well in. What is the Safety Business? “Fire extinguishers. Exit signs. CPR certification. Fork-lift training,” Stroud explained after playing his way into contention at Quail Hollow. “It’s as important as insurance for business,” Stroud said. “This club probably pays $2,500 a month.” By now everybody knows the story. Stroud was last man to qualify for the PGA by winning the Barracuda Classic in his 290th start on tour. A big reason was Crane’s investment in a company that is projected to make $100 million in 10 years. “It made me realize there’s a lot more to life than just golf,” Stroud said. “Golf has always been my financial bread-and-butter. Now I’ve got this on the back burner.” That’s some back burner. Crane Safety launches in September, when his friend’s two-year non-compete expires. That kind of safety net certainly made Stroud’s final-round 76, which dropped him into a T-9, easier to deal with. Typical of Stroud, who has played seven-straight weeks, he is going to honor his commitment to play the Wyndham. Tournament Director Mark Brazil gave him an exemption coming out of Lamar. Stroud is the type of guy that would have done that even with his share of $100 million in the bank.

The post Fowler’s big step forward, Thomas’ biggest putt, and Chris Stroud’s lucrative side gig appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Sunday, Thomas enters the final round of the 99th PGA Championship just two back of leader Kevin Kisner, playing in the second-to-last group with Hideki Matsuyama.

“Just patience,” Thomas said of what he learned from the first experience that he thinks will help him in the second.

It’s such a cliché. Golf and its players are full of clichés. Thomas isn’t full of patience. What 24-year-old is?

RELATED: Winners & Losers from Saturday at Quail Hollow

What Thomas is full of, though, is game. He’s long off the tee and one of the game’s better ball-strikers. He has already won three times on the PGA Tour this season and four times in his career. He shot 59 in Hawaii in January and 63 at the U.S. Open.

Thomas’ style of play also runs contrary to patience, with his swing-out-of-his-shoes move with the driver and an all-out approach with his irons.

But he certainly has the talent to win a major championship. Why not now? Especially considering of the top 15 players on the leader board, only one (Louis Oosthuizen) has done so before.

More important than patience, will be how Thomas handles himself when things go sideways, because, at least based on the first three rounds at Quail Hollow, they will at some point (see: Kisner, Kevin, whose crash-and-burn finish befitting the nearby Motor Speedway included a double bogey and a bogey over his final three holes of the third round).

Saturday was a good example of what can be when Thomas can control his game—and himself—while things aren’t going as planned.

Thomas struggled off the tee, hitting just six of 14 fairways (though some of those were just off the short grass) and his iron play, despite 14 greens hit, wasn’t as crisp or controlled as he knows it needs to be if he’s going to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday. So much so that after his third-round two-under 69 he headed straight to the range in the encroaching darkness to figure out why he wasn’t able to dial up his reliable fade on demand.

The session was brief, maybe 15 minutes, and it helped put his mind in the right place.

That he made four birdies and just two bogeys on a day in which he bogeyed his opening hole and could’ve gone off the rails quickly perhaps was a step in the maturation process of his game.

RELATED: Chris Stroud travels from oblivion to major contention … in a week

Golf has long been about minimising the mistakes more than rounds of 59 or 63 (his third-round tally at the U.S. Open), particularly in the throes of a white-knuckle major championship.

“I don’t like to think that I stole one,” Thomas said of his third round. “I like to think that I’m mature now and I can manage an under par round when I don’t have my best stuff. I think that’s why I feel like I’m ready to win a major championship now versus last year, I probably didn’t have that. Because you are going to have a day, usually at least a day in the tournament, where you don’t have your best.

“That’s what Tiger did so well. He won tournaments by five or six with his B game or C game. It’s about managing it around here, trying to get it around. What I did [Saturday] was definitely a confidence boost.”

So too should his performance on the back nine the last two days, playing it in a combined five under with five birdies and no bogeys. Major championships are often won or lost over the closing nine, and with two of the course’s three par 5s on the back, Thomas’ confidence should only grow even more.

But Thomas’ fate will more likely be tied to how well he handles whatever miscues await.

“I had a really bad break on Sunday on [the fourth hole] and I think that flustered me a little bit,” Thomas said of this year’s U.S. Open. “I just didn’t handle it very well.

“Hopefully it doesn’t happen [at Quail Hollow]. If something like that happens, I think I can handle it a little better.”

The post PGA Championship 2017: What Justin Thomas needs to do on Sunday to win his first major appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers

Moving Day at the 99th PGA Championship grinded to a halt as par became everyone’s friend at a tough Quail Hollow. But there were still plenty of things to talk about, including a Cinderella story and two shots involving trees — one jaw-droppingly difficult and another jaw-droppingly dumb. Let’s get to it all with our latest edition of winners and losers.

Winner: Kevin Kisner

The Kiz played his final three holes in three over — and needed a lucky bounce off a bridge or it would have been worse — but if you start a round tied for the lead and you end it in first place by yourself, it’s a good day. Playing in the final group with World No. 3 Hideki Matsuyama and former World No. 1 Jason Day, Kisner looked at ease. And as he goes for his first top-10 finish at a major, let alone his first victory, he’ll tee it up with a slightly less intimidating figure in the final pairing on Sunday. Speaking of. . .

Winner: Chris Stroud

REMINDER: Less than a week ago, this guy had no plans of even playing in this event. But he got in with his first PGA Tour title in his 290th start at the Barracuda Championship and is he ever taking advantage of this unexpected opportunity. Stroud shot 71 to move up to T-2 heading into the final round. And if you expect him to go away on Sunday, well, you’ll probably be proven right. But just remember that crazier things have happened at this tournament, most notably John Daly getting into the PGA even later than Stroud in 1991 when he won as the ninth alternate.

Loser: Jason Day

After a shaky start, the Aussie rallied with three consecutive birdies on 14-16. But threw it all away on the final two holes, highlighted lowlighted by a quadruple-bogey 8 on 18 when he made one of the most curious choices you’ll ever see on his second shot. The hole was to the left. Jason went to the right.

This was a very tough spot for Jason Day. pic.twitter.com/IY5vtAKabK

— Golf on CBS (@GolfonCBS) August 12, 2017

Seriously, Jason, WTF were you thinking here?!

Jason Day my man what are you doing?

Quad on the last costing himself at least a shot at it tomorrow #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/Sr38K7uTId

— Ben Murphy (@BenMurphyTV) August 12, 2017

Jason’s wife, Ellie, didn’t enjoy watching her husband throw his tournament chances away, either.

Oh my heart hurts. And I am melting. Golfffff. ??

— Ellie Day (@ellielaneday) August 12, 2017

It’s going to be a long night in the Day’s motor home. However, there was one guy who got out of a similar jam. Twice. . .

Winner: Louis Oosthuizen

Golf fans are familiar with the South African’s silky smooth swing, but on Saturday, Oosthuizen showed how creative he can be when it comes to ball-striking. Check him out doing his best contortionist impersonation to hit another green in regulation:

Louis did WHAT?!#PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/fA1bDQcpu0

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 12, 2017

From there, it almost didn’t even matter how Oosthuizen played. That’s how good that shot was. But he did play pretty well, shooting 71 despite getting treatment for his forearm after that miracle shot, and needing to have his 8-iron replaced at one point. And on 18, in a similar spot to where Day would be moments later, Oosthuizen pitched out to the fairway (SENSIBLE!) and got up and down for a par that kept him at five under.

Loser: Rickie Fowler

If you’ve watched even an hour of TV coverage this week, you’re probably sick of hearing about Quail Hollow’s “Green Mile.” But Fowler showed why the course’s difficult closing stretch gets so much hype. Lurking in great position to win a first major, Fowler arrived on the 16th hole at five under. He walked off the 18th hole one under, making it look likely that his major pursuit will have to wait until next year.

Winner: Justin Thomas

But it wasn’t all bad news for the #SB2K17 crew on Saturday. Jordan Spieth shot 71 and Thomas shot 69 to get to within two shots of Kisner’s lead. It’s the second time in the past three majors that JT has booked a late tee time on Sunday. But outside of him winning his first major, it’s the one member of the Baker’s Bay Boys who isn’t at the PGA who had the best week, because Smylie Kaufman got engaged. And he dropped down on one knee and everything.

This will forever be my favorite fairway! I can’t wait to marry you, Smylie Kaufman! #fairwayfinds

A post shared by Francie (@fairwayfinds) on Aug 12, 2017 at 6:56am PDT

Well done, Smylie.

Winner: Graham DeLaet

The Canadian was in full struggle mode before flipping the switch for a remarkable four-hole stretch. DeLaet almost aced the par-3 13th, then he almost aced the par-FOUR 14th:

THIS … for just the second par-4 ace in PGA TOUR history …

???? #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/fCMhxBddrE

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 12, 2017

After clearning that up for eagle, he added another eagle on 15 and then made a long birdie putt on 16. The six under stretch vaulted him to T-10 entering the final round. “When that putt went in [on 16], one of those things, you shake your head,” DeLaet said after. “It was pretty unreal.”

Loser: Adam Scott

After making the cut on the number, Scott got a reprieve that he squandered on Saturday with a 74. And with the Aussie, currently ranked No. 61 on the FedEx Cup points list, planning on missing the first two playoff events for the birth of his second child, that likely means Sunday will be the last round of a disappointing year in which he didn’t record a single top-five finish. Not in a major, but anywhere. Not good.

Loser: Pace of play

The final group teed off at 2 p.m. They finished at 7:40 p.m. Yes, there was Jason Day’s adventure on 18, but still, FIVE hours and 40 minutes to play a round of golf? “I’ve seen pro-ams that are faster than this,” CBS’ Jim Nantz said. That’s probably the meanest thing Jim Nantz has ever said, but he speaks the truth. Pick it up, guys.

The post PGA Championship 2017: The winners & losers from Day 3 at Quail Hollow appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington

The disappointing look on Kevin Kisner’s face walking off the 18th green Saturday at Quail Hollow Club was the first time all day that the 33-year-old showed any emotion. Going double bogey/par/bogey to close out a one-over 72 hadn’t cost him the lead at the PGA Championship, but it changed the narrative with 18 holes to play.

“I’m happy I’m in the position I’m in,” said Kisner, still one stroke ahead of Chris Stroud and Hideki Matsuyama at seven under, and two shots clear of Justin Thomas and Louis Oosthuizen. “[But] I had a chance to run away from guys and take people out of the tournament that were four or five, six back, and I didn’t do it. Now I’m in a dogfight tomorrow, and I have to be prepared for that.”

On a muggy day where the pace of play was slow and the scoring difficult, Kisner remained eerily unflappable. A birdie on the seventh hole helped him turn in one under. It wasn’t until the par-4 12th that he finally stumbled, hitting a rare errant drive and making his first bogey since six holes into his second round.

Impressively, Kisner bounced back with birdies on the 14th and 15th to get to 10 under and take control again before facing the most challenging moment of the entire championship. With his ball in the left rough on the par-4 16th, he overcooked his approach, pulling it into the water left of the green. The double-bogey 6 hurt, but wasn’t as painful as could be given that the rest of the names atop the leader board were also struggling to close out their rounds.

While giving another shot back on the 18th when he pulled his approach left, the ball bounding off a stone bridge before burying in the Bermuda rough, and failing to get up-and-down for par, Kisner was just happy the score wasn’t higher.

“I was pretty perplexed with what I was going to do with that chip shot,” Kisner said. “It was the worst lie I had seen all week, downhill lie. I was just trying to do anything to get it over that creek. … I was trying to figure out how the heck I could make 5 and get out of here. Don’t want to be there tomorrow for sure.”

Kisner’s flat-line demeanor remains as impressive as his ability to handle the treacherous Quail Hollow course, a layout he has become familiar with recent visits this summer. But don’t be fooled by his nonchalance. It doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of heart-pounding going on inside.

“I’ll show plenty of emotions if I win tomorrow,” Kisner said, “don’t worry.”

The post PGA Championship 2017: Kevin Kisner laments losing chance to ‘run away’ from field: ‘I’m in a dogfight’ appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

So he has this putt uphill, against the grain, forever to the hole, and he has slapped it hard, and it’s on line, and he knows it’s good, tracking dead-center, and he’s talking to it, “Go in,” only it’s going too hard, and he’s still begging, “Gooo innnn,” and from way down there he sees the ball strike the back of the cup, “Ahhhh,” and it doesn’t drop out of sight, there’s too much speed, and it bounces out right, “Oooh,” causing him to whisper something into his hand, probably something, he won’t say what, that the grandson of a Baptist preacher ought not be saying out loud.

It was at the 16th hole, one of Quail Hollow’s most diabolical, a par 4, 506 yards, and the putt for a birdie would have been nice. But when you’re Chris Stroud, unknown, it’s a putt you are happy to have, a putt you loved seeing because it’s a putt that you never imagined hitting because, seriously, who bounces around the PGA Tour for 11 years, 0 for 289 in tournaments, and expects to roll in a 45-footer on national television to become, for even a moment, a star in the 99th PGA Championship?

Chris Stroud is a Texan, long and lean with a sun-baked face and a scruffy beard the color of whisky you wouldn’t want to waste. Put him under a black hat, give him a horse, he could pass as a ranch hand riding all day, all night. He’s been a tough, stubborn cuss. All those years on the PGA Tour, he kept trying to win. Never did it.

Then, early this year, he quit trying. Nothing else worked. He tried all the ways. So he tried a new way. He didn’t try at all. And he liked the way not trying felt. Lighter, more fun. The stars could burn with their famous fire and fury. Chris Stroud had been there. He let go of all that: “I literally said, ‘You know what? I’m done.’ I’m just going to do the best I can and have as much fun as I can. All of a sudden, it falls in my lap.”

God has such a sense of humor. Once Chris Stroud gave up, he won. And now, Sunday, in the biggest tournament of his life, he can win again.

Marianna Massey

A week ago Stroud had a plan. Finish up the PGA Tour’s Barracuda Championship in Reno, Nev., and cut out for home. In Houston he’d get reacquainted with his wife and three little girls. The man had been on the road a month. Maybe in his week off, maybe not, he’d sit by the TV and watch the PGA Championship. No big deal. He was 35 years old. He’d realized his boyhood ambition just by getting out there. Better, he finally understood a grown-up thing. He said, “I told a few guys, after golf is gone and done for me, all you have left is people and the relationships you have. I care more about people than I do about my golf.”

He said that here this week. He said that here after shooting a 68 in the first round of the PGA.

Here? Yes. He quit trying to make it happen. And it happened. By winning a three-way playoff in Reno, he ended his 0-for-a-lifetime streak and earned the last spot in this PGA. That precipitated a change in plans. He drove two hours to Sacramento, asked his wife to bring him clean clothes, flew to Atlanta and on to Charlotte, fell in bed at 2 o’clock Tuesday morning, woke up at high noon, went to Quail Hollow Golf Club—and now, a week after Reno, he might, or might not, win the PGA.

I told a few guys, after golf is gone and done for me, all you have left is people and the relationships you have. I care more about people than I do about my golf.

After opening rounds of 68 and 68, Stroud’s 71 today left him at six under par, a shot behind the leader, Kevin Kisner. As Stroud came off the course, he walked through a series of obligatory interviews, first with CBS, then the BBC, then Golf Channel, then with a gaggle of reporters, and everyone asked, basically, the same question, a version of how in heaven’s name has a Chris Stroud come to this place? The wonderful answer is, he doesn’t know, either.

“I’m floating in a dream,” he said.

And, “To finally get a win is really magical.”

He asks his caddie, Casey Clendenon, to talk about anything but golf. Like science and spirituality, the Astros and the Texans. “Anything to take my mind off golf,” he said. “As soon as I hit it, I’m talking about something else. If I say something, he goes, ‘Hey, hey, hey, we don’t care about golf.’ It’s just an experiment we tried last week and it absolutely worked.”

His plan for Sunday’s final round? “You know, don’t change anything,” Stroud said. Here he invoked wisdom from the greatest sports movie ever made. “Like Kevin Costner says in ‘Bull Durham,’ ‘Don’t mess up the streak,’” which is almost what Costner-as-Crash Davis said, though Crash used a verb seldom spoken aloud by grandsons of Baptist preachers. “I have the same everything I had last week. I have the same swing thoughts as last week. I have the same everything.”

Even the same lucky outfit he wore while winning in Reno.

“Checkerboard pants and a white shirt.”

Can hardly wait.

The post PGA Championship 2017: Chris Stroud travels from oblivion to major contention, all in a week appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Kisner, 33, was unflappable through 11 holes of his third round, playing them in one under without making a bogey. That’s when things got interesting, as he dropped his first shot of the day at the par-4 12th. He bounced back with two birdies at the 14th and 15th, but then made his worst swing of the day on his approach shot at the opening hole of the Green Mile. The former Georgia Bulldog hooked one into the water on the left and walked away with double-bogey. He went on to par the 17th and bogey the 18th.

It’s not how he wanted to finish, but it was good enough for the 54-hole lead at the PGA Championship. He’s one solid round away from capturing his first major championship.

RELATED: Kevin Kisner prepared for his round Saturday by doing regular dad stuff

One back are Chris Stroud and Hideki Matsuyama at six-under 207. Stroud, fresh off a win at the Barracuda Championship, carded an even par 71 that featured four birdies and four bogeys. He’s become the Cinderella story of the week, but that doesn’t seem to bother him. After the round, the Texas native said he was as calm as he’s ever been.

Matsuyama, who posted the round of the week on Friday, was never able to get anything going in his third round. The five-time tour winner made just one birdie to go with his three bogeys for a two-over 73.

One of the biggest moves came from Justin Thomas, who posted a two-under 69 and sits at five-under 208. After going out in even-par 35, the four-time PGA Tour winner took advantage of the par 5s on the home nine, making birdie on both and coming in in two-under 33. It’ll be a much different spot for Thomas than he was in at the U.S. Open, where he played in the final group on Sunday and ended up finishing in a tie for ninth. He’ll have a chance to flip the script on Sunday in Charlotte and come from behind to capture his first major victory.

Also at five under is South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen, who posted an eventful even par 71 that featured three birdies, two bogeys and a ridiculous par save at the par-4 second. The 2010 Open Champion can add a second major championship to his resume with a low round on Sunday. It’s hard to believe it hasn’t already happened for him, with second place finishes at the 2012 Masters, 2015 U.S. Open and 2015 Open Championship.

Thanks to a late charge, Grayson Murray finds himself just four off the lead at three-under 210. The PGA Tour rookie caught fire late in his round, making a birdie at the par-3 13th, an eagle at the par-5 15th and another birdie at the par-3 17th. Unfortunately, he bogeyed the 18th, but still turned in a two-under 69.

No one exploded quite like Graham DeLaet did, though. After making double-bogey at the 11th to fall to four over for the championship, the Canadian went on a stretch of birdie-eagle-eagle-birdie that included a near ace on the par-4 14th. He carded a three-under 68 and sits at two-under 211 for the tournament.

Rickie Fowler had a solid round going for 15 holes, but finished the Green Mile four over to post a two-over 73. He’s seven back at one-under 212.

Like Fowler, Jason Day crept up the leader board, but made a devastating quadruple-bogey-8 on the 18th hole to finish with a six-over 77, which saw him drop all the way to even par 213.

RELATED: Get control over your irons like Kevin Kisner

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Garcia’s response?

“He said just, ‘Take it easy,’” Stroud recalled Sunday night. “It will come to you.”

Sunday, it finally did for the 35-year-old journeyman. After 290 starts, Stroud picked up his first PGA Tour victory at Montreux Golf and Country Club, where he emerged from a three-man playoff to win the Barracuda Championship.

“It’s been a long time,” said Stroud, who made three birdies and an eagle over his final five holes of regulation in the Modified Stableford format, then had to wait out a weather delay and the conclusion of the rest of the tournament to see if it would be enough. “Eleven years I’ve waited for that. It’s got a great ring to it.”

Stroud’s 20 points in the final round landed him in a sudden-death playoff with Greg Owen, who was making his 265th start without a victory, and Richy Werenski, a former Big Break champ who had missed the cut in 10 of his 23 starts in his first year on the PGA Tour this season.

In the playoff, the three returned to the par-5 18th and Stroud and Werenski each made birdie. Owen managed just par and was eliminated.

A few minutes later on the same hole, Stroud hit his second shot to 12 feet, while Werenski went over the green and chipped to 25 feet but missed the birdie putt. Stroud two-putted for the birdie and the win.

“This time of my career you don’t get many more chances, so disappointed,” Owen said. “But I’ve got vacation with the kids next week.”

Stroud, meanwhile, will have a change of plans, too. The victory earned him a spot in next week’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow — his first major in three years — and helped secure his job. Playing on limited status this year, Stroud locked up his card for the next two seasons.

“I don’t think he even realized how important that was for me,” Stroud said of Garcia’s words of encouragement. “I didn’t push so much to try to win a golf tournament. I just did the best I could to prepare and to show up every week ready to play. And it just came to me.

“My caddie said today before we teed off, he said, do the best you can today, let the trophy come to you. Can’t say any more than that.”

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Ben Hogan died 20 years ago, but for a few hours on Tuesday he lived again on the practice tee at Colonial.

The Hawk won what’s now called the Dean & DeLuca Invitational five times, and there’s a statue of him by the clubhouse. But we thought of a more intimate way to feel him: by blowing the dust off a couple of his drivers and a Hogan model 1-iron, and putting the odd, old sticks in the hands of PGA Tour professionals. Who, for the most part, couldn’t hit them.

“Forty-three inches, D-2, extra-stiff Apex 5 shaft,” said Mike Wright, the head professional at Shady Oaks, the keeper of the Hogan flame and of his old locker. “This one’s persimmon, this one’s laminated. Tipped. Zero bulge and roll.”

Those last specs might need some explaining. “Laminated” means layers of wood—often maple–glued together. Most purists in the “wood-wood” era insisted on solid blocks of persimmon. But Hogan manufactured clubs, and he loved to experiment, and he found laminates to be perfectly fine. “Tipped” means that the bottom of the shaft was driven through the club head, for still more stiffness; Ben’s clubs were about as limber as telephone poles. “Bulge and roll” is the side-to-side and up-and-down curvature along a wood’s face, an ingenious late-19th century invention that corrected a bit for mishits. Hogan did without B&R because he didn’t mishit much, and he wanted to know when he did.

“How big is this thing?” asked Stewart Cink. He uncovered his white, Taylormade R15 5-wood and compared; the metal club’s head was plainly bigger.

“Probably still some of his sweat in these grips,” said Cink, waggling the approximately 200 cubic centimeters of heavy Hogan lumber, less than twice the size of today’s drivers.

A closer look at the driver and grip from Hogan’s club

Time and hours of abrasion from the owner’s ungloved hands had worn the rough rubber “cord-line” grips to slickness. Hogan had run a piece of string underneath the grip and a little to the right so that his hands fell naturally into a “weak” position. That rib and the other custom features in the Hogan drivers virtually eliminated his bugaboo, the unexpected hook.

Knowing this, Cink, 44, who was among the last on tour to use a flammable club, tried to hit a hook. Did he ever; the ball veered like a drunk driver swerving five lanes left. His next two tries sliced right, over the yellow ropes and into the rough on Colonial’s adjacent fifth hole.

Chris Stroud, practicing next to Cink, laughed. Then he tried the half-century old club, and laughed again, as he, too, swatted a couple hard to the starboard side.

“He didn’t like to hit it left, did he?” said Stroud. “But the club head is very stable at the ball; it just doesn’t move. It’s beautiful.”

As the clubs moved up and down the tee, the hit-and-giggle pattern continued. J.T. Poston’s banana balls cracked up Billy Horschel. Tim Herron’s line drives got big laughs from three caddies. Jason Kokrak swung, and swung again, and the guy manning the Trackman chuckled, amused by the numbers coming up on the launch monitor.

Launch angles with the throwback club were much lower, around 9 degrees instead of Kokrak’s usual 11. Spin rates were dramatically higher, 3,100 rpm versus the usual 2,200; thus, the curve balls everyone was hitting. Ball speed was 164 mph against the 179 Kokrak gets with his Titleist 917D2. As for distance: Kokrak’s tournament roll-included average of 304 yards contrasted with his max carry of 271 with the old club. Of his 10 drives, most flew in the low 260s.

The size of Hogan’s driver compared to today’s standard club is striking

Kokrak, from Warren, Ohio, 6-foot-4 with a program weight of 225, looks like he could have played offensive line at Ohio State. The club appeared to be too small for him, and the acoustics seemed too puny, too. Even with Kokrak’s lusty attack, wood on ball sounded like a knuckle rapping on a door, while nearby the cataclysmic threek! of 460cc titanium heads reminded us that modernity was close at hand. Still, Kokrak got into it, and a small crowd gathered behind him. Caddies, reps, two writers, and a physio.

“Heavy and flat,” said Steven Bowditch of the weight and the lie angle.

“I kinda leave it off to the right,” commented Daniel Summerhays.

“My launch is a little low,” understated Herron.

“Felt awesome when I hit one in the middle of the face,” said Poston, 24. “I don’t really remember these. I think my grandpa had ‘em. … My regular driver’s gonna look enormous.”

“I played Hogan woods in college and growing up,” said Keith Clearwater, 57, the 1987 Colonial champ. “And for a few years I snuck one in my bag on tour.”

“What’s the loft on this? Two degrees?” asked Tony Finau. He swatted out a couple of drives—solid shots, probably 260 in the air—and then he snapped a photo of his big modern driver next to the little old one.

“We really should be using balata balls,” pointed out Graham DeLaet. Exactly: with a softer-covered ball with rubber-bands wound around the center, the distances would be still less and the area over the fence even more dangerous.

“Let me try that 1-iron,” Kokrak said.

Ah, the 1-iron. Hogan is identified with it. He hit one of golf’s most famous pressure shots with the unfriendly-looking stick, his second to the 72nd hole in the ’51 U.S. Open at Merion. The two things people always say about the longest long iron were quickly said. Someone compared it to a butter knife. And an equipment rep repeated Lee Trevino’s old joke about holding a 1-iron above his head in a lightning storm, because “not even God can hit a 1-iron.”

But Vaughn Taylor could. “What’s the loft on this—zero degrees?” he asked. Then he struck three square shots in a row, with his slow, rhythmic swing, and said, “That little blade narrows your focus.”

Jordan Spieth put the Hogan 1-iron behind a ball—then declined to hit it. “Ouch,” he said after his first shot with the driver, a short soft slice you could have caught barehanded. But he nailed his second try, and the ball sizzled through the air.

“What if you had to use a whole set of these,” asked his caddie, Michael Greller. “Could I beat you?”

Spieth thought for a moment. “No,” he answered. “I’d adapt.”

A few spaces away, the ghost of Ben Hogan burned a cigarette and narrowed his eyes. He threw the butt down, took another swing, and then he faded away.

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