By Christopher Powers
Perhaps more than any other sport, golf went on just fine without fans when it made its return in June. In fact, at times it seemed like a better viewing experience without the galleries, particularly at the Masters, where we got to see angles and corners of Augusta National usually hidden by the mass of patrons on the grounds.

RELATED: 13 ‘things’ that tell the story of golf in 2020

But we’d all be lying if we said we didn’t miss the fans a little. OK, maybe even a lot. What would Jordan Spieth’s bunker hole out at the 2017 Travelers Championship have been without the crowd’s reaction? Or Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy’s intense singles match at the 2016 Ryder Cup? Or Tiger Woods’ triumphant comeback victory at the 2019 Masters? The fans bring an energy that elevates moments like those to a completely different level, and we lost out on that a number of times during the PGA Tour’s restart.

To highlight just how dearly we missed the roars, we selected 10 moments from the PGA Tour restart that would have been that much better with fans on hand and being heard. And, of course, we ranked them, because that’s what you do on the Internet in 2020.

RELATED: Our 2020 Newsmakers of the year

10. Jim Herman’s approach into the 72nd green at the Wyndham Championship

Go ahead, laugh it up. But don’t tell us this wouldn’t have been a wild scene at the 72nd green at Sedgefield Country Club. Jim Journeyman Herman charging up the leader board with a 61-63 run on the weekend, capped off by this roped, 207-yard 5-iron to 10 feet? The place would have been going bananas. Never mind that he missed the final putt, the same putt Billy Horschel would go on to miss with a chance to force a playoff. This final approach, complete with Herman putting his hands on his hips for some reason as he stared it down, was one of the shots of the restart. Making it that much sweeter was the fact he looked more nervous trying to drink from a water bottle as he watched the final groups come in:

Jim Herman is the new David Stern water bottle incident… ? ?
⁦@SI_Golf⁩ pic.twitter.com/G16J5HkEEJ

— Ben Heisler (@bennyheis) August 16, 2020

This man deserved a standing O for that weekend performance. A shame no one was there to witness such greatness.

9. Scottie Scheffler shoots 59, Dustin Johnson shoots 60 on Friday at The Northern Trust

On a beautiful Summer Friday at TPC Boston, Scottie Scheffler went out in the morning and damn near burned the place to the ground, joining the elusive 59 club. Hours later, Dustin Johnson was threatening to make Scheffler’s 59 old news. DJ was an astounding seven under through five holes, then eight under through seven and nine under through eight. When he birdied 10 and 11 to reach 11 under through 11 holes on the par-71 course, 59 felt inevitable, and a 57 or 58 seemed in the cards. Somehow Johnson wound up parring in to shoot the most disappointing 60 in golf history. Sadly, we can only imagine the constant roars that would have echoed through the property with each Scheffler and DJ birdie that day.

RELATED: Tiger Woods on son Charlie: ‘He’s a little on the chirpy side’

8. Sergio Garcia’s approach into the 72nd green at the Sanderson Farms

Despite his many misgivings, Sergio Garcia is still a fan favourite. Nowhere would that have been more evident than at the Country Club of Jackson, host of the Sanderson Farms Championship, which does not exactly boast a strong field year in, year out. This year was much different for a number of reasons, and because of the circumstances some marquee names made the trip to Mississippi, including El Niño. He went on to win for the first time on the PGA Tour since the 2017 Masters, finishing in style:

Sergio Garcia has just birdied the 72nd hole to win the @Sanderson_Champ

His first win since the 2017 Masters ?? pic.twitter.com/OpPXIXKruP

— ???????? ????? ? (@tacklingsport) October 4, 2020

Nothing produces a shocking “OHHHHH” from a gallery like a stuffed approach shot into 18. Maybe next year, my dear Mississippians (if Sergio decides to defend his title, that is).

7. Collin Morikawa’s missed short putt in a playoff at Colonial

The only thing more shocking than a stuffed approach into 18? A missed shorty, be it on the 18th or in a playoff, just like this one was for Collin Morikawa at the Charles Schwab Challenge:

And then Collin Morikawa catches a vicious paint-job, to give Daniel Berger the playoff W at Colonial…#CharlesSchwabChallenge
pic.twitter.com/JIWwj5r3ML

— Sportsbook Review (@SBRReview) June 14, 2020

Morikawa’s gut-wrenching miss gave Daniel Berger the victory, and it caused golfers everywhere to have nightmares over similar short misses of their own. If this future all-time great is missing four-footers, what does that mean for the rest of us? Sorry, not to bring up a sore subject (and sorry to Morikawa for bringing this up, too). We’re not saying we missed the fans cheering this on, we missed the ensuing “oooooos” and “ahhhhs.” Without them, this miss lost some of its shock factor (don’t worry, 2020 wasn’t all bad for Morikawa).

RELATED: The rising stars you should be watching on the European Tour in 2021

6. Jon Rahm’s chip-in on the 16th hole at the Memorial

If you think this deserves to be a little higher on the list, you may have forgotten just how many crazy moments there were during the restart (we’ll get to them). That said, this was a legendary moment from Rahm, whose chip-in on the 16th at Muirfield Village was eerily similar to Tiger Woods’ chip-in on the same hole in the same tournament eight years prior. And we later came to find out that it was actually for a bogey instead of a birdie, as Rahm was given a (somewhat bogus) two-stroke penalty for his ball moving when he addressed it with his wedge. Two-stroke penalty or not, the Ohio crowd would have been going OFF when this chip dropped.

5. Matthew Wolff, Bryson DeChambeau go eagle-for-eagle on the par-5 ninth in the U.S. Open final round

SPEEEED PERFECTION.@b_dechambeau lands an ? at the 9th. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/z1KT7rf8Wt

— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) September 20, 2020

FLY, EAGLES, FLY!!@matthew_wolff5 answers back with an ? of his own at the 9th. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/DX04y8Bkpn

— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) September 20, 2020

Had Wolff not fallen apart down the stretch, this could very easily have been the No. 1 moment we missed fans the most. Can you even fathom how loud the New York crowd would have been? What we really would love to know, however, is how they would have reacted to Bryson DeChambeau’s exceptional play throughout the week. They would have known about the bulk up, the awkward, cringey workout videos, the run-ins with cameramen over the summer. More than a few overserved fans would have reminded him of all of those things by shouting them at the top of their lungs. Would the fans have gotten in his head? If not, would they be firmly in Wolff’s corner? Would the Wolff eagle roar on the ninth hole have been louder? We’ll never know, which is deeply upsetting.

4. Dustin Johnson’s walk up the 18th fairway on Sunday at the Masters

Dustin Johnson wins the 84th Masters Tournament. #themasters pic.twitter.com/5oYa0do7dD

— The Masters (@TheMasters) November 15, 2020

Yes, we realize he was up five shots and the back nine was not what anyone would describe as “tense.” But we still missed the patrons here because they would have given Dustin Johnson all the respect he deserved for finally conquering Augusta National that week. The walk up 18, and subsequent nonstop standing ovation Johnson would have received after cleaning up his par, would have been a very special one. Few players are loved by essentially everyone in the golf world. DJ is one of those players. Hopefully he wins another green jacket with the patrons on hand some day. At least we know he’ll have as many chances as he wants.

RELATED: The long, strange, surreal year in golf, summed up in 18 quotes

3. Collin Morikawa drives the 16th green on Sunday at the PGA Championship

As the leader in a major with all the pressure, Collin Morikawa dials up this drive? Unreal. pic.twitter.com/dy7VUdCwAc

— Golf on CBS (@GolfonCBS) August 10, 2020

Credit to Frank Nobilo, he made this feel as big as he could even without a massive roar from the crowd. And that’s because it was that big, “the shot of his life,” indeed. When Morikawa looks back on it some day, we doubt he’ll give a damn that no one was there to see it. But man, it would have been that much more special if there were a bunch of people surrounding 16 green watching that laser beam find the putting surface.

2. Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa trade blows at Muirfield Village

If not for a very similar situation that happened later in the summer, this would have been the clear cut No. 1. Two BOMBS on the first hole of sudden death at the Workday Charity Open, between an established superstar and a soon-to-be superstar, at one of the iconic courses on the PGA Tour schedule. The scene on 18 at Muirfield Village is always electric, just not in 2020. JT’s roar provided plenty of electricity, though. Of course, he didn’t even win because golf ain’t fair.

1. Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm go bomb-for-bomb at BMW Championship

It wasn’t a major, but Olympia Fields played like one that week and these two made it feel like one that Sunday. The only drawback here was that they didn’t go putt for putt like Morikawa-JT did, as Rahm had already finished and was warming up for a potential playoff on the range. But that wouldn’t have taken any energy out of the crowd on either putt. What more could you ask for? Two of the top three players in the world, a major championship vibe and crazy-long putts to force a playoff (DJ from 43 feet, 3 inches) and then win it (Rahm from 66 feet, 5 inches). Here’s hoping there are a lot more of these moments in 2021, and that there are golf fans there to witness them in person.

RELATED: Our 2020 Newsmakers of the Year

The post The 10 moments we missed golf fans most at PGA Tour events in 2020, ranked appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Feinstein
Several years ago, I was standing on the practice range at a golf tournament talking to then-PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, who worked for President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale, before he got involved in golf.

“Better not stand too close,” Finchem said with a smile. “If you do, someone can get both Democrats who are part of golf with one shot.”

Finchem was exaggerating—but not by much. The number of professional golfers who identify as Democrats is pretty close to the number of players in the game’s history who have won double-digit major championships. (For the record, that number is three.)

I thought about that on Sunday as I watched Jim Herman battle Billy Horschel down the stretch at the Wyndham Championship. I’d never root against Horschel, who is one of the tour’s good guys. But I couldn’t help but feel myself wanting Herman to win because he needed to win a lot more than Horschel did.

Herman had entered the tournament in Greensboro 192nd on the FedEx Cup points list, miles away from being one of the top 125 who would qualify for this week’s first round of the playoffs. He had struggled all year, making just seven of 18 cuts and, at 42, he had to be wondering just a little bit how much longer he was going to be able to play competitively.

Herman once worked for President Donald Trump at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. He has played frequently with Trump—both before and after he became president—and talks often about how much Trump has encouraged him about his golf career through the years.

Herman is very much a Trump supporter. I am, if you haven’t already guessed, very much not.

And yet Herman and I get along very well. I remember a lengthy locker-room conversation with him shortly after he won for the first time on tour, in Houston in the spring of 2016. He was my kind of story: a grinder who had won for the first time at the age of 38 and had come a long way from giving lessons at Trump National. He was bright, funny, clearly devoted to his family. The kind of player I’d like to write about and have a beer with.

In many ways, Herman is a perfect example in these polarized times of not being defined by politics. This is a lesson I’ve learned through the years covering golf: We can all put politics aside, even now.

One of the first events I covered while researching A Good Walk Spoiled was the 1993 Ryder Cup. That was the year when President Bill Clinton invited the American team to visit the White House before the players boarded the Concorde to fly to England. Several players balked at going. The captain was Tom Watson, about as dyed-in-the-wool Republican as there is on planet Earth. He told the players, “We’re going over there to represent the United States. Bill Clinton is the president and the First Golfer. We’re going.”

They went.

A few weeks later, after the U.S. team had won the matches at The Belfry (the last American win overseas), I asked Davis Love III why so many members of the team had balked at going to the White House. You won’t meet a more reasonable human being than Love. His answer, though, was direct.

“If it had been President [George H.W.] Bush, who we all respect, it would have been different,” he said. “But after Clinton lied about raising our taxes, we weren’t that eager to meet him.”

In fact, Clinton had promised to raise taxes on anyone making more than $200,000 a year, and had done so. When I pointed this out to Davis, he shrugged and said, “Whatever.”

Athletes voting their wallets is hardly unique to golf. When Charles Barkley informed his mother years ago that he was thinking of running for governor of Alabama as a Republican, his mother said, “But Charles, Republicans are people who always want to pay less taxes.”

“Mama,” Barkley replied, “that’s me.”

Phil Mickelson once made the point to me that I mislabeled him when I called him conservative. “I’m really pretty liberal on most issues,” he said.

“But your No. 1 issue is how much you pay in taxes,” I said.

He smiled and said, “Oh, no, that isn’t my No. 1 issue—it’s No. 1, 2, 3, 4 and maybe 5.”

I gave him credit for being honest.

Most golfers—and most successful professional athletes—are like Mickelson. If you propose lowering their taxes, they like you. If you propose raising them, not so much. Many athletes don’t even bother to vote. When I was researching A Good Walk Spoiled, I asked Billy Andrade if he was a registered Republican or a registered Democrat.

“I’m not registered,” Billy answered. “I don’t want to get called for jury duty.”

When I asked his wife, Jody, very much a Democrat, why she didn’t insist that he register, she shrugged and said, “If he registered, he’d just vote Republican anyway, so I don’t push him.”

Jody Andrade eventually talked her husband into registering. He’s now one of golf’s few Democrats. David Duval gave money to Barack Obama, and Paul Goydos, a former schoolteacher, is also a Democrat.

In 1994, I was at dinner during Doral week with Watson, Goydos, the late John Morris (who was then the tour’s director of public relations) and several other writers. Watson began railing against people on welfare, saying they should all be working. Goydos, who was in awe of being at the same table with Watson, finally spoke up.

“You know, Tom, I knew a lot of the families you’re talking about when I was teaching,” he said. “Are there welfare cheats? Sure. Just like there are Wall Street cheats. But most of the people I knew wanted to work, didn’t want to be on welfare—in fact, hated the idea of being on welfare.”

Watson listened to Goydos, and they then engaged in a lively but not-rancorous conversation. Two years later, when Goydos won at Bay Hill, his first PGA Tour win, I ran into Watson that night.

“I saw you walking up 18 with your boy,” Watson said. (Everyone on tour called Goydos “my boy” back then.) “I thought about that dinner at Doral, and I was really glad he won. We need more people like him out here—thoughtful, smart.” He paused and smiled. “Even when they’re wrong.”

Everyone knows that Bruce Edwards was Watson’s caddie for most of 30 years until the dreaded disease ALS killed Bruce in 2004. Tom and Bruce argued politics often—specifically the Second Amendment (the right to bear arms), which Watson is very much for. Bruce was very much opposed to it. Since Bruce’s death, Neil Oxman, who runs political campaigns for Democrats, has often caddied for Watson. They are almost as close as Tom and Bruce were.

“We don’t talk politics,” Oxman likes to say. “When we do, I don’t listen to him, and he doesn’t listen to me. It works well.”

Tom and I have run a charity golf tournament in Bruce’s name to raise money for ALS research since 2005. Last year, when Tom came to Washington for what we both fondly call The Bruce, he spent Sunday on a golf course with Donald Trump.

The next morning at breakfast, we talked about his beloved Kansas City Chiefs and my beleaguered New York Jets. Then we went to work raising money for a cause we both believe in deeply.

Watson and Jim Herman will vote one way in November; I will vote differently. And I hope I’ll have lots to talk about with them when the election’s over, regardless of the outcome.

The post A likeable tour pro’s win reminds us when political differences shouldn’t matter appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Ahh, but don’t get confused. The waiting and seeing part isn’t all that easy. Not when you’re a 42-year-old whose best finish thus far in the 2019-’20 PGA Tour season was a T-27. Not when you’ve missed six cuts in your last eight starts. Not when you’re 192nd on the FedEx Cup points list entering the tournament, the longest of long shot to somehow earn enough points and sneak inside the top 125 to earn a berth in the FedEx Cup Playoffs that begin next week.

And so, as Herman, sat inside the clubhouse, his throat a little dry, there was this moment.

But really…the nerves were real ??

? | CBS pic.twitter.com/QC1ewYnsjY

— GOLFonCBS (@GOLFonCBS) August 16, 2020

Go ahead, laugh. It’s OK. Horschel didn’t make the putt, and Herman won, so the moment is something even the journeyman pro—now with three PGA Tour wins—will no doubt get a chuckle out of himself.

The post The most nervous Jim Herman looked Sunday at the Wyndham was when he tried to drink from this water bottle appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
Despite the fact it lacked its usual playing-for-your-PGA-Tour-card drama, the Wyndham Championship was still plenty dramatic down the stretch on Sunday. Incredibly, a journeyman pro who had not finished any higher than T-27 in 18 starts this season came out on top. Why do we bother predicting golf?

As out of left field as Jim Herman’s victory felt, he sure didn’t act or play like it came out of left field. He executed some world-class shots under pressure, as if he’d done it a million times before. The win was well-deserved, especially for a grinder like Herman.

Here are our five takeaways from the final round of the Wyndham Championship.

Jim Herman came out of nowhere
Coming into the Wyndham, Jim Herman was sitting at 192nd in the FedEx Cup standings. To get into the playoffs, he pretty much needed to win the tournament or finish in second place. Judging by his record this season—11 missed cuts in 18 starts, no finish inside the top 25 and just barely cracking $200,000 in earnings—there was a better chance of seeing a pig take flight.

But in the latest edition of “golf is the dumbest sport ever,” Herman did win, throwing up a 61 and a 63 on the weekend from the damn clouds. He hit 63 of 72 greens in regulation and made 444 feet of putts, two things that usually help your chances to win. Before this week he ranked outside of the top 165 in every major strokes-gained category but one: strokes gained/off-the-tee. On Friday he was hovering around the cut line for much of the day, but then he birdied four of the last six holes. And the rest, as they say, is history.

The win jumps Herman from 192nd to 54th in the FedEx Cup standings, the largest jump in the playoff format’s 13-year history. He now has three wins on the PGA Tour, which, as Action Network’s Jason Sobel pointed out on Twitter, is more than Tony Finau and Patrick Cantlay … combined.

Not sure I’m ready for a world where Jim Herman has as many PGA Tour titles as Patrick Cantlay and Tony Finau combined.

— Jason Sobel (@JasonSobelTAN) August 16, 2020

Mind blown. Golf is so dumb.

Jared C. Tilton

It’s Billy Horschel SZN
On one hand, you could look at what happened Sunday and say Billy Horschel really let one get away. On the other, you could say he’s just about ready to rip off a few playoff wins like he did in 2014.

Horschel absolutely should have won at Sedgefield C.C. on Sunday. Other than a few wayward drivers, he was absolutely locked in, but he didn’t play enough club on the par-3 16th and paid the price with a bogey. Even after that, though, he still had two great looks at birdie at 17 and 18, and wasn’t able to get either to fall. It could take a little while to get over this one.

Then again, Horschel was incredibly upbeat afterwards, and even said he feels like this is his time of year. History would show he’s correct. For golf bettors, he’s going to be a very enticing play at TPC Boston, as he’ll probably still have some juicy odds given the strength of the field. If you believe in “close,” Horschel is very, very close.

Jared C. Tilton

Speaking of close, Doc Redman is going to win soon

There’s so much young talent on the PGA Tour right now that it’s easy to forget about Doc Redman, who won the U.S. Amateur in 2017, then nearly won the Rocket Mortgage Classic in just his fifth career start on tour in 2019. If you asked an avid golf fan on the street to rattle off the best young players right now, I’m not sure Redman makes that person’s top five.

Well, he should, as he continues to prove on a weekly basis. If not for a pair of brutal lip outs and two ugly bogeys on Sunday at Sedgefield, he might have found himself in a playoff with Herman. Surprisingly, this was his first top 10 of the year, but his seventh finish inside the top 25. His T-3 moved him to 60th in the FedEx Cup standings, which is a great position to make a serious run at East Lake. He may not get the media love that the likes of Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff get, but the 22-year-old should be able to change that soon with a victory.

Jared C. Tilton

Webb Simpson tied for third at the Wyndham. Stunning!
Unfortunately, Simpson didn’t finish in fourth, which would have put him one step closer to finishing in each position 1 through 10 in the same event. Now he still needs a fourth, a seventh, a ninth and a 10th. Thanks for wrecking this ridiculously random stat with a birdie on 17, Webb.

Chris Keane

The other big FedEx Cup movers (besides Jim Herman)
Obviously, no one made a bigger move than Herman. Like, no one ever in the history of the FedEx Cup. But there were some other notable names who vaulted into TPC Boston thanks to some clutch play in Greensboro. Si Woo Kim, the 54-hole leader, didn’t have his best stuff on Sunday but still fought hard to shoot even par and nab a T-3 finish, which jumped him from the bubble (121st), to safely inside the top 100 at 82nd (he also earned a spot into the U.S. Open). Zach Johnson, who started the week on the outside looking in at 129th, vaulted to 104th with his T-7. Kevin Kisner didn’t have much to sweat about this week, but he did go from 52nd to 40th thanks to his T-3.

On the flip side, there were a handful of guys who went from in at TPC Boston to out: Fabian Gomez dropped from 122nd to 126th after he missed the cut; Russell Knox went from 124th to 127th after he tied for 72nd; and Charl Schwartzel went from 125th to 128th after he missed the cut. Brutal.

The post Jim Herman crashes the FedEx Cup Playoffs and four other takeaways from Sunday at the Wyndham Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By E. Michael Johnson
Jim Herman is a 42-year-old on the PGA Tour who took until 2016 to win his first PGA Tour title at the Shell Houston Open. So it should not come as a shock that it took him a while to get going before going on to win the Wyndham Championship. Herman birdied three of his last four holes on Friday just to make the cut, then went on a tear, shooting 61-63 over his final 36 holes to win by one over Billy Horschel.

Although much attention will be paid to his sharp iron play over the final nine holes, resulting in a trio of short birdie putts, what kept Herman in contention was three big putts on the front nine. Herman dropped a 29-footer for birdie on the first and followed that with a 59-footer for an eagle 3 at the par-5 fifth hole. One from 14 feet followed at the eighth hole, too. For the week Herman was third in strokes gained/putting, picking up more than six shots on the field. In all, he made 444 feet of putts over the four rounds.

Herman’s putter is a Bettinardi Inovai 5.0 Tour F.I.T. Face mallet with a circle of open space in the cavity. Herman has used three different models of Bettinardi putters in his three wins on the PGA Tour (he also won the Barbasol Championship last year).

But that’s not to downplay his work tee to green as well. Herman ranked fourth for the week in strokes gained/tee-to-green, picking up nearly another six strokes on the field. With a split set of Mizuno JPX 919 irons.

What Jim Herman had in the bag at the Wyndham Championship:

Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: TaylorMade SIM (Graphite Design Tour AD 6X), 10.5 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade M6, 15 degrees
5-wood: TaylorMade M4, 21 degrees
Irons (4): Mizuno JPX 919 Tour; (5-PW): Mizuno JPX 919 Tour
Wedges: Cleveland RTX 588 (52, 56 degrees); Titleist Vokey SM6 (60 degrees)
Putter: Bettinardi Inovai 5.0 Tour F.I.T. Face

The post Jim Herman’s equipment at the Wyndham Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
If you’ve ever watched a golf broadcast you’ve undoubtedly heard the cliche (and vastly overused term) “moving day” in reference to the third round of a PGA Tour event. Except Saturday at the Wyndham Championship really was.

With tee times moved up because of bad weather in the afternoon, and conditions soft, players took advantage with some seriously scorable conditions. Combined players posted 19 rounds of 65 or better on the par-70 Sedgefield Country Club, including a career-low 61 for Jim Herman and a career-low 62 for Rob Oppenheim, lifting both into contention.

With so many birdies, it made for a packed leader board with 18 players within a stroke of the lead at one point before things settled down.

Joining the players who made the most of the red-number day was Si Woo Kim, whose eight-under 62 included a spectacular reaction to the third hole-in-one of his career, and leads by two over Oppenheim and Doc Redman. Here’s more on that and a few other observations from a birdie-filled, early-bird third round of the Wyndham Championship.

A feel-good story to keep an eye on
Rob Oppenheim has played professional golf for nearly two decades and has ended every one of those 18 years having to go to the PGA Tour’s old qualifying school or, more recently, the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

Sunday, he’ll have a chance to change that after racking up seven birdies, an eagle and just one bogey (on the 18th hole) during his career-best third round. “I just felt very comfortable,” he said. “Tee to green was solid and made some putts.”

Jared C. Tilton
Rob Oppenheim sits tied for second, two strokes off the lead entering the final round. His best finish in 76 career PGA Tour starts is T-8.

That’s an understatement. Oppenheim made a 50-footer for birdie on the first and backed it up with a 34-footer for another birdie one hole later. Terrific iron play—he hit 16 greens—and a hot putter continued throughout, putting him on the precipice of his first career win on tour.

Oppenheim started the week 145th on the FedEx Cup points list. Even without a win, a top-five finish would get the 40-year-old Massachusetts native inside the top 125 and into the FedEx Cup Playoffs for the first time. However, in 76 career starts, Oppenheim’s best showing is a T-8.

“I’ve never been in one of the last two or three groups on Sunday, but I’ve been in plenty of situations where I’ve been fighting to keep my job or trying to get out here,” said Oppenheim, whose previous best finish in the FedEx Cup standings was 158th in the 2015-’16 season. “Don’t get much more pressure than that.”

Mind you, this year is a little different for Oppenheim. Because of the number of tournaments lost to the COVID-19 shutdown, all players with tour cards keep their status for the 2020-’21 season. So Oppenheim isn’t quite playing for his livelihood next year, but a top 125 finish on the points list does improve his status. Either way, he’s curious how he’ll react come Sunday.

“We’ll see what I’m feeling, but I’m excited,” he said. “I like the golf course, very comfortable here, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Did we mention that he was also 500 to 1 to win at the start of the week?

Jared C. Tilton
Jim Herman shot his career-best score in a PGA Tour event when he posted a nine-under 61 Saturday at Sedgefield Country Club.

Another career day
Jim Herman came into this week having missed the cut in seven of his last 11 starts, so naturally it stood to reason that he’d shoot a scorching 61 on Saturday, right?

Or perhaps it was just another sign that the 40-year-old was about to win for third time in his career.

Prior to his victory at last year’s Barbasol Championship, Herman had missed the cut in 12 of his 14 starts leading into the event.

Five straight birdies, including one from 45 feet on the 14th, before a par at the 18th certainly helped the cause on Saturday.

Chris Keane
Webb Simpson is contending at the Wyndham Championship … again.

Webb lurking
It will absolutely stun you to know that Webb Simpson, who has finished in the top three each of the last three years at Sedgefield, will go into the final round in contention yet again after a 65 on Saturday.

But if the eight-time tour winner is going to add another trophy from this event to his mantel—he won the Wyndham in 2011—he’s probably going to need something even lower on Sunday.

With five strokes and six players separating Simpson from Kim, that’s an awful lot of ground to make up in what will undoubtedly be another shootout.

Shots from Saturday that might end up costing Simpson: A bogey from 154 yards out in the middle of the fairway on the fourth hole and another on the difficult 18th after missing the fairway left off the tee.

Si Woo makin’ that ace, makin’ that ace
If you missed Si Woo Kim’s hole-in-one on the third hole Saturday, you can read about it and his epic reaction here.

If that wasn’t enough excitement, he nearly made another ace with his ball stopping just inches from the flag on Sedgefield’s 12th hole. It set up one of seven birdies to go with his eagle and just one bogey, and of course garnered another NBD reaction from the 25-year-old Korean.

Si Woo Kim already has one ace today.

He couldn’t get any closer to a second … ?#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/VuTkQ1RsY8

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 15, 2020

Only three other players on tour have ever made two aces in one round, with Brian Harman the last to do so at the 2015 Barclays. Kim, meanwhile, will have to instead settle for a two-shot lead as he tries to pick up his third career victory on Sunday.

The post Si Woo Kim keeps knocking down flags and four other takeaways from Saturday at the Wyndham Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.