By John Strege
A golf course with a pedigree that almost demands a quality winner received one in the PGA Tour Champions’ inaugural Ascension Charity Classic on Sunday, when a man with a PGA Championship and a U.S. Senior Open on his résumé prevailed.

David Toms, whose 13 PGA Tour victories include a PGA in 2001, defeated Dicky Pride on the first playoff hole at Norwood Hills Country Club in St. Louis, site of Ben Hogan’s 1948 PGA Championship victory, the second of his nine career majors.

It also was the site of the Greater St. Louis Golf Classic in 1972 and ’73, won by World Golf Hall of Famers Lee Trevino and Gene Littler. And to boot, another Hall of Famer, Kathy Whitworth, won three straight LPGA events there.

Toms shot a five-under-par 66 on Sunday to cap 10-under 203 total, a number that was matched when Pride made a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to send it to a playoff. Returning to the 18th, Toms won with a tap-in par, while Pride missed the green and left his 20-foot par putt an inch short.

“I still work hard. It’s tough,” an emotional Toms said in the wake of his first victory since winning the Senior Open in 2018. “Guys prepare every week. They play great. It means a lot, obviously. It means a lot. I felt good all week here. It felt like a PGA Tour event with the crowds and everything, the buildout.

“I was worried early in the week. The golf course was really soft and with the zoysia fairways it was playing crazy long. It just got faster and faster, and I started driving the ball really well. My speed was better today with the putter, too. I didn’t make everything, but I felt good over it, which is key for me.”

Toms emerged from a leader-board logjam with birdies at 12 and 13 to get to 10 under and a one-stroke lead that held up until Pride pulled even on the last hole of regulation. A PGA Tour Champions rookie at 52, Pride already has a victory on his record, at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic in May.

“It was a good week, but it was a bad playoff,” Pride said.

The good-week sentiment was widely shared. A course awash in history was rewarded with a strong winner as well as a remarkable performance from St. Louis native Jay Haas, who at 67 shot his age by holing a 15-foot birdie putt at 18.

“That’s a pretty cool way to finish off the week,” said Haas, who finished one shot out of the playoff in a tie for third with Woody Austin. “I’m pleased. It’s such an easy place to play. Airport’s right here, hotels, baseball games, fans are great. There’s so many positives here in St. Louis.. I told somebody I wish it was 15 years earlier when I was a little more in my prime, but I’ll be back next year. So hopefully this is a long-running event.”

The post David Toms gets emotional after first win in three years appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

There is probably no man on the planet who has a better perspective for this particular question, and the rankings you see below are mostly his, with an occasional (but rare) thumb-on-the-scale from me … and only in cases where we neglected to talk about a Championship or two. Aside from those anomalies, what you see below comes from Denney—I’m just the transcriber.

Let’s count it down from 15.

15. 1955, Doug Ford, Meadowbrook Country Club

This one is mostly about personal achievement. From 1916 until 1957, the PGA Championship was decided by match play, with stroke-play qualification rounds starting in 1924. In that time, only four men were both medalists (for winning the stroke-play rounds) and overall champions. They included Byron Nelson, Walter Hagen, Olin Dutra and Doug Ford in ’55. Of those, Ford was the only one who managed it in a field of 128 golfers, meaning he had to win a 36-hole qualifier and then prevail in six straight matches. He pulled it off, capping the incredible week with a 4-and-3 win over Cary Middlecoff in the final. As it happens, Denney was the last person to interview Ford before he passed in 2018 at age 95.

14. 1963, Jack Nicklaus, Dallas Athletic Club

Nobody has won more PGA Championships than Nicklaus and Walter Hagen (with five each), and this was Jack’s first. He won the long drive contest that week, hitting 341 yards with a persimmon-headed driver, and the gold money clip he won became his good luck charm starting that week. He was also exhausted, having just flown in from the Open Championship where he finished one-shot out of a playoff after bogeying his the last two holes. Somehow, with temperatures in the triple digits on Sunday in Texas, Nicklaus came from three strokes back to win. That made him just the fourth player to have won all three American majors, and he was only 23. Safe to say he had a good career ahead of him.

13. 1921, Walter Hagen, Inwood Country Club

Photo by E. Bacon

This was the first American-born player to win the PGA Championship run by the PGA of … AMERICA. We have to include this, right? Right?!? Anyway, Hagen is a legend, but the real story here is that in the final, he defeated a man named Johnny Golden from Tuxedo, N.Y. Tell me that’s a real person, and not a character from a Michael Scott improve scene.

12. 1945, Byron Nelson, Moraine Country Club

Photo by Bettmann

As Denney pointed out, this was the ninth victory of Nelson’s famous 11-victory streak in 1945, at a time when he was burning out to a great degree. This was the only major championship played that year because of World War II (bad luck for Nelson, right??), and in the championship match, he defeated Sam Byrd, who had played for the Yankees as a backup outfielder from 1929 to 1934 as a reserve to none other than Babe Ruth. Which makes him one of the few people who could say to Nelson, “I’ve lost to better men than you,” and have it be true. This was a different era, but there was still a ton of pressure on Nelson … imagine winning almost every tournament played that year, but losing the only major.

11. 1942, Sam Snead, Seaview Country Club

This was Snead’s last event before joining the U.S. Navy—he would report for duty the next day. As it happened, he met an army corporal named Jim Turnesa in the final, and Turnesa was no slouch, having upset Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson in the quarters and semis. Snead won on the 35th hole by chipping in from 60 feet for birdie, and Denney noted there’s a photo of both men signing war bonds from after the round. Snead said at the time, and later repeated in Denney’s hearing, that it was his most meaningful victory because like many other Americans at that time, he didn’t know what the war might bring. (He never went overseas, serving mostly in San Diego before earning a medical discharge in 1944.)

10. 1968, Julius Boros, Pecan Valley Golf Club

This course no longer exists, but Boros’ record does—52 years later, he’s still the oldest man to ever win a major. Boros was 48, and it didn’t come easy. Arnold Palmer, a shot behind him, hit a spectacular curving 3-wood on the 72nd hole to eight feet, but couldn’t make the birdie putt. Boros had to make par, and went up and down to seal the deal. Also, as a footnote, Boros’ choice of hat that Sunday (Amana Refrigeration) seems to have accidentally spawned the clothing logo craze we know and hate today.

9. 2001, David Toms, Atlanta Athletic Club

“The layup to remember.” This one flies under the radar because it came one year after a certain other entry we’ll see later on the list, but the ending was spectacular. Dueling with a then major-less Phil Mickelson all day (Phil holed a dramatic long chip on 15 before giving it right back with a bogey on 16), and leading by a single stroke on the 72nd hole, Toms put his tee shot in the rough. Rather than risk the water on the par-4 home hole (playing a tick over 500 yards that day), he laid up and prayed for his short game to save him. His wedge came to rest 12 feet from the hole, and when Phil missed his birdie putt, Toms had his moment. Start at the 11:50 mark here for the layup and all that came after:

Afterward, Denney was the one who escorted Toms from the green to the trailer, and Toms was on the phone with his young son, saying, “Did you see that one?”

8. 1986, Bob Tway, Inverness Club

The next two entries belong in the long litany of Greg Norman heartbreaks, and this one comes from the year when he became the first man to lead every single major after 54 holes in a single year … and won just one of them. In this case, he held a four-shot lead heading into Sunday and still held it after nine holes before going into a tailspin. But in typical Norman fashion, he got very unlucky too. That twist came on the 72nd hole, when Tway, in the worse position of the two and tied with Norman, holed-out improbably from a greenside bunker. Norman, on the fringe, missed his birdie putt, and it was another chance gone. Watch Tway’s shot, one of the most famous in major history:

That’s some good leaping!

7. 1993, Paul Azinger, Inverness Club

Paul Azinger claims his one and only major at Inverness Club in 1993. (Photo by David Cannon)

This one actually went in Denney’s top five, but I’m being a jerk and knocking it back a few spots … but only because Denney admits he’s a bit biased. It was the first PGA Championship he worked, and he watched as Azinger emerged from “the greatest assembly of contenders on a Saturday leader board,” a group that collectively boasted 23 majors. Just like Bob Tway, Azinger overcame Norman, though this time Norman was very good, with a final-round 69. That’s the thing about Norman—when he wasn’t booting a major, he was the victim of terrible luck. In this case, Azinger had to birdie four of the last seven holes just to make a playoff, and then Norman missed a four-foot par putt on the second sudden-death hole to lose it. With the loss, Norman earned a dubious distinction, becoming just the second golfer after Craig Wood to have lost each of the four majors in a playoff. The legacy with Azinger is happier—it was his only major, but it opened up the chance for him to become a Ryder Cup captain back when winning the PGA was seen as an unwritten prerequisite for the Americans. He got the job in 2008, and was brilliant, providing one of the few bright spots for the U.S. in the past 40 years.

6. 1961, Jerry Barber, Olympia Fields

Let’s put it this way: If the last three holes of Barber’s Sunday round happened today, social media would cease to exist—it would be too overwhelming for all the 1s and 0s to process. Here’s how Denney described what Barber, who stood all of 5’3”, pulled off starting on the 16th hole, to force a tie with Don January:

On the 16th, a 458-yard par 4, he hit a 4-wood to 20 feet and made the birdie. On 17, he topped his drive and watched it roll barely 100 yards. Another 4-wood brought him within 90 yards of the green, but his approach was mediocre, leaving him with a 40-foot putt for par. He nailed it. Then, needing a birdie on the 436-yard 18th, in near darkness, he hit a 3-iron approach 60 feet away…AND MADE THAT PUTT TOO.

Barber came back in the 18-hole playoff the next day and beat January by a stroke on the 18th by hitting a 3-iron from the sand to 18 feet. And if that wasn’t crazy enough, he also became the oldest major winner ever at age 45 … a record that wouldn’t stand for very long. (Lucky for January, he won a PGA in 1967, and thank God, because that is a brutal way to go down.)

5. 2009, Y.E. Yang, Hazeltine National

Y.E. Yang acknowledges the fans as he walks up the 18th hole during the final round of the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National, runner-up Tiger Woods trailing behind him. Yang was the first Asian-born golfer to win a men’s major. (Photo by Icon Sports Wire)

It seems almost unfair to say this, but Yang’s win is more exciting after the fact than it was at the time. I was never the No. 1 Tiger homer, but I remember that Sunday at Hazeltine feeling like the ultimate anticlimax, a slow energy drain as we realized that Tiger would fail. What Yang pulled off is beyond incredible—the first (and still only) Asian-born golfer to win a men’s major, and the first person to beat Tiger at a major when Woods had a 54-hole lead. It’s the ultimate underdog story, but what we remember most is Tiger’s struggles that day and, of course, the worse struggles waiting for him just three months down the road. So let this be my attempt to right the wrongs: Yang was a monster that day, and made history in two indelible ways. He deserves to be thought of as more than just Tiger’s foil.

4. 1923, Gene Sarazen, Pelham Country Club

There are a lot of good reasons not have a match-play major championship, but then again, you could get the kind of action we got in 1923 when Sarazen met Walter Hagen in the championship match. You could make a good argument that this was the best match ever played, according to Denney, and it was dramatic until the finish. Sarazen actually blew a 2-up lead with three to play, Hagen sent it to extra holes, they birdied the 37th, and on the 38th, a drivable par 4, Hagen got in a bunker and couldn’t get out. (Again, imagine social media.) It’s worth noting that Hagen responded by going on one of the great revenge tears, winning the next four PGA Championships and three more Open Championships for good measure. Also worth noting that both men remain in the record books for the most holes playing in a single event as every match was a scheduled 36 holes—Sarazen played 194, Hagen 188.

3. 2014, Rory McIlroy, Valhalla

I was thrilled when Denney had this in his top five, because my own personal bias was likely to land it there anyway. I followed Rory that day, and the way he ignored Mickelson and Fowler on the sixth tee box (rain delays had stacked the groups up), almost creating a force field of energy around himself as he glared at nothing, was one of the most fierce and hostile acts I’d ever witnessed in this very polite sport. The ending is what everyone will remember—Rory playing on Rickie and Phil’s heels in the darkness, hitting a controversial approach shot before they had finished that privately left Phil fuming—and it was every bit the epic to Rory’s brilliant season. But the real story for me will always be one of the greatest golfers of his generation out-willing his rivals because he’d allow for no other outcome than a win. It’s made more special because, six years later, it remains the last time we saw that level of defiant greatness.

2. 2000, Tiger Woods, Valhalla

Are you steaming with rage that the Tiger-Bob May duel is only No. 2? Hang on to your hat, because there are a lot of nice things to say about it. Denney called it “the greatest modern shot-making duel” (distinguishing it from Henrik Stenson-Phil Mickelson, 2016 British Open at Troon, which he called a “scoring duel”), and “easily the best modern-era playoff.” My personal hot take is that May’s pitch on the first playoff hole followed by Tiger nailing his birdie putt is the greatest two-shot sequence I’ve ever seen, considering the circumstances. You can see those, and the rest of the staggering face-off, here:

One interesting side note from Denney: According to Ron Hickman, a rules official who was on the course at the time, Ken Venturi was wrong when he said that someone might have interfered with Tiger’s drive on 18, sending it to a better position. Per Hickman, who watched the ball, nobody touched it, and it was only a fortunate carom.

1. 1991, John Daly, Crooked Stick

You’re still mad about Tiger, aren’t you? Well shake it off, because this is one of the greatest golf stories ever, and that’s what it would take to usurp Tiger v. May. John Daly only made it into this tournament because nine—NINE—people dropped out, and Denney told me that when the PGA of America official called Daly to tell him he was in (at 5 p.m. on Wednesday), Daly was in Memphis and had to drive seven and a half hours to Indianapolis. Nick Price was one of the ones who dropped out, so Daly hired his caddie, Jeff (Squeaky) Medlen. They had never worked together before, and after seeing Daly’s swing, Medlen’s advice was simple: “Kill it.” Daly did, but did a lot more than just bomb on the tough Pete Dye course. He took the lead in the second round and never let it go, finishing at 12 under for the most shocking major-championship victory … ever? Daly has become an infamous character, iconic in his own way, but back then he was beyond unknown. This is the tournament that birthed the legend.

Photo by Stephen Munday

The post The 15 best PGA Championships, ranked appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Welcome to the Dew Sweeper, your one-stop shop to catch up on the weekend action from the golf world. From the professional tours, trending news, social media headlines and upcoming events, here’s every golf-related thing you need to know for the morning of July 2.

Molinari puts on clinic at Quicken Loans National
Got to feel for the field at TPC Potomac. Temperatures in the area hovered in the mid-90s most of the weekend, with humidity making it feel like triple digits. Conditions brutal in their own right. Especially so when you’re playing for second.

That’s what the Quicken Loans National was rendered to thanks to Francesco Molinari, who lapped his competition by a whopping eight shots with a final-round 62.

Related: Alex Noren sneaks off with the French Open

“Amazing, amazing. I still haven’t realized what happened today,” Molinari said. “It was a lot easier than I thought. I played great. The start of the back nine was incredible. Really proud of what I’ve done, and I hope a lot of guys back home [in Italy] are watching tonight.”

The 35-year-old is noted as one of the best ball-strikers in the game, and it was his second-shot prowess that propelled him at Potomac with a tournament-best 9.8 strokes gained/approach figure. Coupled with keeping the big numbers at bay (just two bogeys on the week), it was smooth sailing for the 17th-ranked player in the world.

Technically it’s Molinari’s first PGA Tour victory; he captured the 2010 WGC-HSBC Champions, but it was not a tour-sanctioned event until 2013. Conversely, perhaps the display should have been expected, as Molinari had won the BMW PGA Championship and finished second at the Italian Open in the past month. Other notables included Beau Hossler, who followed a Travelers’ runner-up with a T-6, a 12th-place finish from Rickie Fowler, and a T-4 from a certain 14-time major winner…

Rob Carr

Woods gets back on track
Since stirring runs at Innisbrook and Bay Hill, Tiger Woods hadn’t been particularly formidable. There were flashes at Muirfield Village and Sawgrass, but the 42-year-old posted just one top-20 finish since the Arnold Palmer Invitational, including a missed cut at the U.S. Open. That trend looked to continue after a so-so opening round at the Quicken Loans. However, Tiger delivered an inspiring response, playing his final 54 holes 11-under par, good enough for a T-4 finish.

As that standing suggests, there were plenty of positives for Tiger. His 21 birdies tied for a tournament-best, his iron game remained steady (T-7 in greens in regulation), and he made a handful of bombs on the dance floors. In that same breath, his short game continued to frustrate, as he finished dead last in putting inside 10 feet. And though the 21 birdies were impressive, they also underlined Tiger’s inability to avoid bogeys, given Molinari, who also had 21 birds, finished 10 shots ahead.

“I’ve hit the ball well in this stretch, I just haven’t made anything,” Woods said. “I’m starting to hit some putts, I’m starting to make those putts you’re supposed to make from 10, 15 feet, but I’m also making some from outside 20.”

Nevertheless, it was a solid final tune-up before the Open. Woods has a nice track record at Carnoustie, and it’s historically a major where shaky putters can excel. In short, might want to snag those 25-1 claret jug odds while you can.

Rob Carr

Tiger’s USGA jab
Mike Davis and the USGA have taken their share of body blows for losing Shinnecock Hills, again, at this year’s U.S. Open. Judging by Woods’ roundabout jab on Sunday, those punches aren’t stopping anytime soon.

Following his fourth round, Woods was asked his thoughts on the upcoming Open Championship at Carnoustie. Tiger shared his experiences with the venerable links—he has finished 3rd and 12th at two previous Carnoustie Opens—which led to the following on commentary on the R&A, and what could be interpreted as an indictment on the USGA:

“One of the neat things about playing about the Open Championship, they don’t care what par is,” Woods said at TPC Potomac. “They let whatever Mother Nature has…if it’s in store for a wet Open, it is, if it is dry, it’s dry. They don’t try to manufacture an Open.”

When asked a follow-up if that was a shot at the USGA, Woods replied, “Come again?” and when the question was repeated, a handler escorted Woods away, saying, “I heard ya,” with a smile.

He’s not wrong, and certainly not alone in his USGA assessment. Still, bold move, considering Woods might have to rely on an exemption into the Pebble Beach field next year.

Gregory Shamus

Park snaps sophomore slump with PGA win
After sharing Player of the Year honors as an LPGA rookie, it had been a disappointing second go-around for Sung Hyun Park on tour this season, missing the cut in five of 12 events with just two top-20 finishes. But, after her Sunday performance, it’s clear that Park has snapped the dreaded sophomore slump. Park beat So Yeon Ryu and Nasa Hataoka in a playoff to win the KPMG PGA Championship for his second career major.

Park, who didn’t make a bogey over the final 30 holes, turned in a final-round 69 at Kemper Lakes to earn a spot in overtime. On the first playoff hole—the 18th, which had only been birdied once throughout the entire day—both Park and Ryu made red numbers to advance. Following a brief weather delay, the two came back on the 16th, where Park’s 10-foot birdie sealed the deal.

Fitting, as the 16th was also the site of a phenomenal up-and-down from the hazard that kept her in the running:

WOW! This is the definition of clutch at the @KPMGWomensPGA! pic.twitter.com/QyFVA1OXAc

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) July 1, 2018

A showing that brought the usually-stoic Park to tears.

“Even though it was a really tough year, I think I did really good play this week,” Park said, “and I think all the work I’ve done has paid off today. That’s what really made me cry.

“Actually this is my first time feeling like this kind of emotion, like being this emotional, and I was really happy.”

Robert Laberge

Toms wins U.S. Senior Open
David Toms picked a good time to break through on the Champions circuit. The 2001 Wanamaker winner closed with an even-par 70 at the Broadmoor to win the U.S. Senior Open by one over Jerry Kelly, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Tim Petrovic.

“First of all, it’s been a long time, obviously, the last time I held a trophy,” Toms said. “To do it in a USGA event is even more special. I didn’t really have the patience for U.S. Open searly in my career. I get better at it as my career went on. Never won one, but I got close. To finally have one, just means my patience is probably where it needs to be, finally.”

The tournament was up for grabs late into Sunday night, as six different competitors held the lead at one point on the final nine. Paul Goydos held the lead after a birdie at the 15th but stumbled with bogeys on the last two holes to finish two back. And it certainly wasn’t a flawless display from Toms, who hit just eight greens on the day. However, Toms’ putter saved the day, as the 51-year-old rolled in a birdie on the 16th, converted a difficult par save at the 17th and made work of a two-putt par on the closing hole for the W.

The post Tiger’s strong Open tune-up (and jab at the USGA), Molinari laps the field and Toms, Park win majors: What you missed this weekend appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Dave Shedloski
Of course he thought of the putt that clinched the biggest victory of his career.

And of course he thought of his previous success in this state, when he was still trying to find his footing on the PGA Tour.

And of course he forgot about his failed bid just a week earlier and remembered just enough about his last victory more than seven years ago, about how to think and execute and breathe – and it was hard to breathe – coming down the stretch with a chance to win.

And of course he teared up after he steadied his trembling hands, sank a two-foot par putt, and hugged his wife and children and his long-time caddie.

With déjà vu washing over him on a windy and dry afternoon, David Toms won the 39th U.S. Senior Open Sunday at The Broadmoor with a combination of punctilious ball-striking, patience and putting – the very things he did so well in a solid PGA Tour career accented by his 2001 PGA Championship victory.

“My emotions are all over the place,” said the Louisiana native, who won for the first time since the 2011 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, the last of his 13 tour titles. “It was just so hard. When you haven’t done it in a while, it’s pretty brutal. And I’m just glad I got it done.”

Toms, 51, emerged from a day-long scuffle with the intransigent East Course and a handful of determined adversaries – midway through the back nine he was part of a five-man logjam at the top – to become the eighth player to make the Senior Open his first victory on the Champions Tour. And he did it with a series of clutch shots down the stretch, none more important than the 16-footer for birdie at the par-3 16th that gave him the lead and the 20-foot par putt at the intimidating par-4 17th that helped preserve it.

When he two-putted the 72nd hole for par, Toms had completed an even-par 70 and one-stroke victory over Miguel Angel Jimenez, Tim Petrovic and Jerry Kelly, who had led after each of the first three rounds. His 3-under 277 total was worth $720,000 and a berth in the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

By all accounts, it was also worth the wait, considering his glistening eyes in the immediate aftermath and again later at the trophy presentation.

He had reason to be emotional. The week started when his caddie, Scott Gneiser, was rushed to the hospital Thursday morning with chest pains, forcing his son Carter, a sophomore golfer at LSU, to be pressed into service. Paired with fellow PGA champions Davis Love III and Vijay Singh, Toms was uneasy about the situation, to say the least.

“I go up to them before the round, and I’m apologizing. ‘If he gets in your way just yell at him, whatever, he can take it,’” Toms said. “Every time I hit it in the bunker, I never wanted to hit it in the bunker because I didn’t want to see what he was going to … the rake job and all that kind of stuff. I didn’t want to be the bad person there. So that’s the way it started.”

On Friday afternoon, Toms found himself three over par and slipping out of contention. Carter set him straight, the son switching roles as it were, with his dad. “He said to me, ‘You’re going to make bogeys in a U.S. Open.’ It sounded like something I would say to him,” Toms said. “He did an unbelievable job. He really kept me in there.”

Toms salvaged a 71. When Gneiser returned on Saturday, he was able to post a bogey-free 66, setting himself up for a second date in the final pairing in as many weeks, this time with Kelly, whose one-stroke lead left Toms in the identical situation he faced the week prior at the American Family Insurance Championship in Wisconsin when he trailed Esteban Toledo by one shot.

Winner of the 1999 International in nearby Castle Pines, Colo., Toms struck the ball pure amid swirling winds, but he struggled with his distance control, hitting just eight of 18 greens in regulation. Time and again he managed to salvage pars thanks to just 26 putts on the day. He never held the outright lead until the 16th hole, when he rammed in only his second birdie of the afternoon and reacted with an uncharacteristic fist pump.

More characteristic – and familiar – was his uncanny par save on the following hole. Fighting nerves, his drove into the left fairway bunker on the 532-yard par-4, forcing him to lay up. A so-so approach relegated him to a left-curling downhill 20-footer. Three feet from the cup it looked so good that Kelly raised his putter in the air watching from behind.

“It always comes down to those putts,” said Kelly, who closed with a 72 after fighting a cold all week. “You end up, he makes birdie on 16. And let me tell you, that par putt on 17, that I had a front row seat, that was pretty solid. That was nice. Did you guys see that I rose my putter? That was just a pure putt, and that’s … he’s a major champion already. And now he’s got his first win out here.”

Toms is a major champion because on the 72nd hole at Atlanta Athletic Club, after being forced to lay up, he put his third shot on the green and sank a 12-foot par putt to beat Phil Mickelson by a stroke. Different circumstances yet the congruency was undeniable.

“Oh, yeah, I thought of that as soon as he hit out of the bunker,” Gneiser said. “And I had a good feeling about it, just as I did then [in Atlanta]. You know, he just was so smooth and steady all day. It was only a matter of time.”

Toms was channeling the thought. “As far as the comparison to the PGA Championship, that was the first thing that popped into my mind after I had to hit the shot out of the bunker,” he admitted. “I was in the middle of the fairway, I’m still in good shape. It’s normally a par-5, just like 18 at the Athletic Club was. So I need to go make a birdie.”

Which he did. To top things off, Toms sensed one final rush of recall standing over his 15-footer for birdie on the final hole.

“I thought a lot about the International this week, winning at Castle Pines. I thought of my son, who played there on Wednesday, so I kind of thought about that a lot,” he said. “In fact, what I thought about over the last putt that I had on 18 was that year that I won the International, I had to two-putt to win, and I had a downhill right-to-left breaking putt just like I had here. And I actually made it that year. And I thought I had made this one. … So you can tell that I was always trying to draw on something positive from the past.”

And, of course, as they say, past is prologue. It was for David Toms, who reached inside himself for the player he once was and reanimated himself.

And of course there was satisfaction. “It’s been a while since I’ve made putts that I really had to make to win a golf tournament, no doubt about that,” he said.

“And I’m so happy. Until you’re able to do it, you have doubts.”

Which he now can forget.

The post David Toms leans on memories to guide him to U.S. Senior Open victory appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege
The last man standing in this battle with a singular opponent, the brutal East Course at the Broadmoor, was David Toms, who made the U.S. Senior Open his maiden PGA Tour Champions victory on Sunday.

Toms, 51, birdied the 16th hole to take the lead, made a difficult par save at 17, and a two-putt par at 18 to win by one over Jerry Kelly, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Tim Petrovic.

Kelly, who led after each of the first three rounds, bogeyed the 11th and 12th holes and was unable to make another birdie to counter Toms’ 16th hole birdie.

Toms, who won the PGA Championship in 2001, had played 34 PGA Tour Champions events without winning before prevailing in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Sunday. He closed with an even-par 70 and finished at three-under par 277.

“First of all, it’s been a long time, obviously, the last time I held a trophy,” he said. “To do it in a USGA event is even more special. I didn’t really have the patience for U.S. Open searly in my career. I get better at it as my career went on. Never won one, but I got close. To finally have one, just means my patience is probably where it needs to be, finally.”

Six players either held or shared the lead on the back nine — Toms, Paul Goydos, Brandt Jobe, Petrovic, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Kelly. Goydos took the solo lead when he rammed home a 25-foot birdie putt at 15, but he bogeyed 17 and 18 to end in a tie for fifth, two back.

Toms, a deft putter even on the extremely tricky greens at the Broadmoor, hit only eight greens in regulation, yet rescued himself with his short game and won with his putter. He made an 18-foot birdie putt at 16 to secure the lead, then another 18-footer, this one a downhiller at 17 to save par.

The post David Toms rallies to win the U.S. Senior Open by one on a treacherous Broadmoor course appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Though the years change, the complaints remain the same. It lacks the spirit of the Ryder Cup. The competition is nonexistent. There’s no history, the players don’t care, and—perhaps the worst of all—what’s the point of it?

Make no mistake, the Presidents Cup is far from perfect. Yet it’s often noted only for what it’s not. A myopic view, for we take the contest—and its impact—for granted.

Most of the Presidents Cup’s bad press comes from Ryder Cup comparisons. Mainly, its perceived failure to reach the same emotional and performance plateaus of the American-European rivalry. The parallel is fair; those with a vested interest in the Presidents Cup aspire to reach these levels, and to get there, the Internationals need to step it up.

“It’s important,” said Jason Day, regarding the theoretical win. “I’m not going to put it past…sooner or later if we keep losing, you guys will get sick of it, you know what I mean?”

But those who defame the Presidents Cup don’t know their history. In the first 25 iterations of the Ryder Cup, the United States lost just three times. They weren’t exactly contested affairs, either, with the Americans winning most in blowout fashion.

Though the International squad has claimed just one Presidents Cup in 11 tries, maybe a bit of patience is needed.

“Remember, the Ryder Cup was nothing until the Europeans began winning it,” said Gary Player, who’s captained the International team on three occasions. “Give the Presidents Cup time. Just wait. Winning changes everything.” In Player’s assessment, as the President Cup ages, so will its prestige.

To David Toms, veteran of four Presidents Cup, there’s another facet to the Internationals turning the tables.

“For the American side, if they do lose, it’s, ‘I can’t wait to get revenge and get them again,’” Toms said. “It inspires a different feeling. That’s an important element.”

Scott Halleran

It’s not as if the Internationals are far from formidability: they lost by one point in 2015. Even in the matches where the U.S. won by three or more points, captain Steve Stricker insists it was closer than the scoreboard said.

“It’s always been very close, it always comes down to a match or two every year,” Stricker said at August’s Media Day. “We’ve seemed to flip it our way, but again, it’s gotten close and it came down to the very last match last time.”

The Americans—fronted by Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson—are heavy favorites in Jersey City. But, while it’s hard to match the firepower of the U.S. club, the Internationals are finally starting to acquire the depth they’ve desperately lacked.

Just as importantly, the team knows it’s on the precipice.

“We know that we have a shot at winning if we play well,” said Day. “(Korea) was a huge indication of that, and I think we come into this week feeling a lot better about ourselves knowing that we do have an opportunity to beat the American side.”

“I think what happened in South Korea two years ago really was a shot in the arm for guys like Adam Scott and Louis (Oosthuizen) and Jason who have never been on a winning team,” said captain Nick Price. “The guys’ interest is a lot more piqued than it was before South Korea.”

Of course, to merely use the Ryder Cup as a barometer for success is missing the point.

Stuart Franklin

As it’s so often trumpeted, “growing the game” is the sport’s core aspiration. Aside from the Olympics, no other event puts this goal on such a global platform like the Presidents Cup.

The Masters is broadcast in more countries, and the Open Championship has the most worldwide prestige, but the Presidents Cup’s diverse field gives the world an investment in the proceedings. On this year’s International squad, eight countries from five continents are represented among the 12-man roster.

The opportunity to represent one’s country on one of golf’s biggest stages is not lost on the players.

“Anytime you can wear the red, white and blue and represent the United States of America, it’s an honor,” said Toms, who was part of this week’s Junior Presidents Cup. “Look at the number of players that are vying for those spots compared to how many actually make the team. It’s very, very small. To be a part of that group is a special thing.”

Added Player: “No doubt I wish the Presidents Cup was around when I was in my prime. Look around in the world of sport, people are more passionate about supporting their favorite team or their country than an individual.”

As for the belief that players don’t care, that the Presidents Cup has the same cadence as an all-star game?

“I tell you, if you guys could have been in the team room in South Korea on that Sunday night, it was a very humbling experience for me because the guys emotionally spilled their guts out to everyone that night how important it was to them and how much they enjoyed it and how much they enjoyed the competition,” said Price.

This fervor that has been evident all year, noted Price, stating the players and coaches have been shooting messages throughout the calendar in preparation for Liberty National.

And even if the atmosphere is more relaxed than the Ryder Cup, it can still be a stressful environment, according to Phil Mickelson.

“When Thursday comes and we tee off and we’re representing our country, representing our teammates, representing ourselves, you feel it,” said Mickelson, making his 23rd straight appearance for Team USA. “You feel that pressure.”

Chris Condon

Perhaps the apathetic perception held some truth in the event’s fledgling stages. Some of the venues were less than stellar, the competitors still trying to grasp the significance, consequence and reach of the event. However, two decades in, making the Presidents Cup is now a target on many players’ season’s goals list.

“It’s one of the things I’m most proud of, to continue to be a part of this, and one of the things I cherish most are these events,” said Mickelson.

“Don’t tell me you think a regular tour event is more important than these team competitions,” Player said. “What makes it special is the team format of the competition, and the camaraderie that comes along with being part of a team.”

Conversely, there are cynics who dismiss these comments, deeming it nothing more than lip service. So let’s strip it down, conceding the Americans might win again, and that a contingent of viewers don’t care about the international growth of the sport. Distilled to its core, it’s a professional golf tournament, no worse than a vehicle for entertainment.

In this fundamental state, the Presidents Cup is a showcase for the game’s top talent, competing in rarely seen team and match formats.

“The competition is so good and the venues are so good, and the fans get excited,” Toms said. “I think people really like team competition. It’s golf at a high level.”

In other words, it’s another chance for golf fanatics to quench their insatiable appetite. An order, like so many others, the Presidents Cup fulfills.

The post Why the Presidents Cup works appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Rayhan Thomas has U.S. left-hander Akshay Bhatia in his crosshairs as he looks to cap the first half of the most “awesome”  week of his young golf career in style.

The MENA Tour trailblazer will meet the 15-year-old North Carolina star at 8:40am local time (3:40pm UAE time) as the International team look to overcome a 9-3 deficit, and huge odds, to win the inaugural Junior Presidents Cup in New Jersey.

Bhatia, 8th on the American Junior Golf Association rankings, and will take some beating. David Toms’ captain’s pick for the U.S., Bhatia won both his fourball and foursomes matches on Monday at Plainfield Country Club and brought three 2017 wins with him to Edison, including victory in the Junior PGA Championship.

But if Thomas can replicate some of the shot making he displayed on the opening day, the Wake Forest lefty is in for a ding-dong battle.

The 17-year-old Dubai-born Indian No.1 holed a clutch putt on the 18th hole to fight back from 3 down to earn a half against Noah Goodwin and fellow Texan Cole Hammer in the first morning fourball match out. The WAGR No.31 again teamed with South African Garrick Higgo for the afternoon foursomes and while the International pair were well beaten 4&3 by Goodwin and South Carolina’s Trent Phillips, Thomas still battled gamely with shots like this birdie putt on Plainfield’s 7th hole:

@RayhanThomas is on ? with the flatstick at the #JrPresidentsCup. Another clutch bird at 7 cuts the deficit to 1down in pm foursomes pic.twitter.com/ntdVu4svpP

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) September 25, 2017

There were also a couple of delightful chips:

The kid has serious game. @RayhanThomas bringing his @theMENATour upbringing to the fore at #JrPresidentsCup. You got 2B proud@JParsonsGolf pic.twitter.com/v82M6JkypX

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) September 25, 2017

@RayhanThomas burns hole with another classy chip but US eagle to go 3up #JrPresidentsCup pic.twitter.com/qAVIxzVQUW

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) September 25, 2017

Typically, Thomas doesn’t know when he is beaten and insists the U.S. haven’t got got their hands on the trophy just yet.

“I can’t wait for tomorrow’s round playing Akshay Bhatia. He’s a great player so I can’t wait to start and get things going and hopefully coming back from this large deficit and trying to win this thing,” Thomas told Golf Digest Middle East.

”We are all capable of winning our matches and I think if we put our hearts and souls into it, I think we can definitely pull it off. Overall I just want to have some fun. I’ve learned a lot this week and it’s not even the end of the week for me at least cause I stay on till October 1st for the [senior] Presidents Cup [starting at nearby Liberty National on Thursday].”

Thomas described Monday’s matches in tandem with Higgo as “super fun” and an “awesome experience”.

Related: Watch Rayhan Thomas make a clutch birdie to earn historic half at Jnr Presidents Cup

“To get that half in the first match was awesome, I mean we were down early, three down after 11,  but we got that half point which was huge against probably the top pair from the U.S. team.

“In the afternoon we sort of put ourselves in a bit of a hole early on which cost us. It took a lot out of us trying to get out of that hole which we could have done easily on the stretch from 10 to 13. We had a lot of good chances but…”

You suspect Thomas won’t leave any but’s or what if’s out there Tuesday against Bhatia.

The post Thomas to face U.S. lefty in Jnr Presidents Cup singles match after “awesome” opening day appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Rayhan Thomas has produced a clutch birdie on the final hole at Plainfield Country Club to secure a crucial half point for Trevor Immelman’s International team on the opening morning of the inaugural Junior Presidents Cup in New Jersey.

The Dubai star teamed with South African Garrick Higgo to fight back from three down with seven to play to halve with U.S. No.1 Noah Goodwin and fellow Texan Cole Hammer in the first fourball match out.

Here’s the nerveless birdie putt Thomas holed to ensure an unbeaten start to the biggest event of his young golfing career:

@Rayhan Thomas makes a clutch bird on 18 as Int. team come back from 2 down to earn half point in first #JrPresidentsCup fourball match. ? pic.twitter.com/SXDkdAlo2J

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) September 25, 2017

After both teams produced four-under 68s on the picturesque 7110 yard course in Edison, NJ, Thomas faced a local TV reporter. The 17-year-old Dubai-born, Indian No.1 handled the occasion with trademark calm:

Remember the name! @theMENATour trailblazer @RayhanThomas doing the #UAE and #India proud! pic.twitter.com/suILWQmphA

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) September 25, 2017

“Yeah it’s pretty awesome. It would have been nice had we got a point but half a point is good enough and hopefully we can do well this afternoon,” said the correspondence schooled Dubai Creek member, ranked 31st in the latest World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR).

The Mena Tour trailblazer played a pivotal role in the comeback, a birdie on the 588 yard 12th getting the International team back to two down before both he and Higgo birdied the 14th for another gain. Higgo then got the match back to all square with another birdie on 17 before Immelman’s lead-out men held their nerve down the last.

What a moment for @RayhanThomas leading @TrevorImmelman's Int team out in the 1st Jnr @PresidentsCup. Fourball v US #1 @NoahGoodwinGolf pic.twitter.com/MEb2IRwPBx

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) September 25, 2017

The half point shapes as crucial with David Toms’ U.S. taking a 5-1 lead into Monday afternoon’s foursomes. Thomas and his International team-mates will certainly need a big afternoon and a dominant performance in Tuesday’s 12 singles matches if they are to topple the hosts.

Immelman again paired Thomas and Higgo for the foursomes against Goodwin and South Carolina’s Trent Phillips.

The post Watch Rayhan Thomas make a clutch birdie to earn historic half at Jnr Presidents Cup appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Thomas sounded very much like the clichéd kid in a candy store on the eve of the U-18s event at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, New Jersey and why not. Not long after posing for pictures in front of the Presidents Cup proper with his father John, the 17-year-old Mena Tour trailblazer received his International team kit. He then found himself under the watchful gaze of International team captain Trevor Immelman, the 2008 Masters champion, during a practice round.

“We got six shirts today, bunch of other gear and goodies so it’s pretty exciting getting into the locker room and meeting all the team-mates,” Thomas told Golf Digest Middle East. “We’ve bonded nicely, we’ve got a good idea of what we want to do and I think we are going to have a really good and successful week.”

Int team Capt @TrevorImmelman kept a watchful eye as @DubaiCreekGolf member @RayhanThomas set out on practice rd b4 Jnr @PresidentsCup pic.twitter.com/fHygI90pM8

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) September 23, 2017

Having qualified No.1 for Immelman’s Internationals, Thomas is likely to play both Monday’s fourball and foursomes ahead of the singles matches on Tuesday which involves all 12 players from both the U.S. and International teams.

Related: Why Rayhan Thomas can’t lose at the Jnr Presidents Cup

“Trevor has been a huge help. Obviously he’s captain, he’s a good guy and he’s been helping us out a lot, smart and he obviously knows his game, and he knows our game [after] looking at us today,” Thomas said.

“He’s played the course a couple of times so he’s a good help and it’s good to pick his brain a little bit. The course is in fantastic shape, the greens are running at least 12.5 [on the stimpmetre] and they’re beautiful and sloped crazy. I think they are some of the best greens I’ve ever putted on.”

International captain Trevor Immelman chats with Thomas ahead of a practice round at Plainfield CC overnight.

Thomas has, of course, shown a liking for great greens recently, rolling in a world record-tying nine successive birdies in a course record equalling 61 in his brave Dubai Creek Open defence earlier this month.

Related: Watch Rayhan Thomas seal his world and course record-equalling MENA Tour round

That form has the Creek member primed for Plainfield.

“I think representing something bigger than yourself is always fun, a little more pressure but always exciting and I’m sure there will be tonnes of fist pumps being thrown around on Monday.”

Rayhan and John Thomas share a proud father-son moment with the Presidents Cup proper.

The Jnr competition is a prelude to the senior Presidents Cup at nearby Liberty National starting on Thursday.

The U.S. juniors are led by 13-time PGA Tour winner and the 2001 PGA Championship victor, David Toms, and honourary captain Jack Nicklaus, while Immelman has nine-time major champion Gary Player in his camp.

The U.S. and International line-ups.

The post Thomas can’t wait for the International team fist-pumps to fly at inaugural Junior Presidents Cup appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.