Kevin Tway Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

Kevin Tway is ailing and leading the Sentry Tournament of Champions with round of 66

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 03:46:04 +0000

Kevin Tway (United States) plays a shot on the 18th hole during the first round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions at the Plantation Course at Kapalua Golf Club on January 3, 2019 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

By Dave Shedloski
KAPALUA, Hawaii – Uh oh. Bob Tway might be on his way to wearing out his living room carpet again.

Tway, the eight-time PGA Tour winner, was a nervous wreck in October watching his son Kevin attempt to win his first tour event at the Safeway Open, the opening tournament of the 2018-19 season. Having posted just six top-10 finishes in 90 career starts, Kevin hadn’t had many chances, and the Safeway Open, in Napa, Calif., was by far his most promising shot.

As the final round progressed, and then as Kevin climbed into a playoff with Ryan Moore and Brandt Snedeker, the elder Tway couldn’t stop pacing the floor.

“I couldn’t sit still. I’m getting all these text messages, which only makes it more nerve wracking,” Bob Tway said during a phone conversation just before the new year. “You’re nervous any time your kids are competing or doing something, and it’s 10 times worse – no, a hundred times worse – when they have a chance to do well. A win on the PGA Tour … it just means so much.”

Kevin, ranked 138th in the world at the time, eventually won on the third playoff hole with a 10-foot birdie putt. It did mean a lot. Like his first invitation to the Masters. And his first PGA Championship, which his father won in 1986, two years before Kevin was born.

And, of course, he earned a berth in this event, the Sentry Tournament of Champions, reserved strictly for winners the previous year. Which he leads after an opening 7-under-par 66 on the wind-whipped Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort, one stroke ahead of defending champion Dustin Johnson, 2017 winner Justin Thomas and Gary Woodland.

Despite suffering from an ear and a sinus infection that caused him to withdraw from Wednesday’s pro-am after five holes and seek medical help, Tway used his upbringing in Oklahoma – where the winds come sweeping down the plains or fairways or wherever – and navigated the blustery conditions without a bogey. The key stats were 15 greens in regulation and 26 putts. That will keep a card clean.

“Not feeling well, but yeah, I hit the ball well, kept the ball in play, made a few putts, controlled my ball in the wind. It’s windy where I’m from in Oklahoma so it’s kind of like I was at home,” said Tway, who admitted that he felt like he was “walking on a water bed” during his brief pro-am appearance. He confessed to still feeling a little dizzy on Thursday.

Golf can often make you dizzy, so maybe feeling dizzy brings equilibrium. “Felt bad, but, yeah, when you’re making a lot of birdies it makes everything better,” the younger Tway added.

Tway, 30, mentioned feeling at home at the Plantation Course despite Thursday being his debut round, and there was another reason for that, having visited here with his dad in 2004 when he was a scrawny 5-foot-7, 120-pound wide-eyed 15-year-old. His father had won the last of his tour titles the previous year at the Canadian Open, and he brought the family with him to Maui a week early. On the first day, father and son were playing together when Bob got stung by a bug, and his finger swelled up. He spent the rest of the week watching Kevin play the Plantation Course and then finished 28th the following week when he could finally grip a club again.

“So, he was just kind of watching me play for his preparation,” Kevin recalled.

Dad, who also won his first tour event in a playoff, in 1986 in what was then the Shearson Lehman Brothers Andy Williams Open at Torrey Pines, gets to watch son again this week, but from a television at home. Kevin is off to a good start. He was so good he was sick, to use more modern vernacular, so his actual sickness made it more sick.

“People have asked me,” Bob said, “when is the easiest time to win your second event, and I say it’s right after your first because you’re playing well and you have confidence, knowing that you’ve done it.”

Bob was always telling Kevin that he could do it. Though he won the 2005 U.S. Junior Amateur before a solid All-American career at Oklahoma State, Kevin had his doubts. After he won in Napa, he said, “My dad always told me I had the talent, and I don’t think I believed him until now.”

When Kevin’s winning putt dove in, Bob felt like leaping like he was back in that greenside bunker at Inverness Club in Toledo after holing out to beat Greg Norman in the PGA. Instead, though, he started to cry. “Of course, I cry about everything anyway,” he said.

Kevin called home. He was about to head overseas to the CIMB Classic in Malaysia and wanted to share a moment with his hero. He figured that his dad was crying. His mom confirmed that his dad was crying. His dad then got on the phone and was still crying.

Dad soon learned Kevin’s win made them the eighth father-son duo to win a tour event since 1900. “It’s pretty neat. I’m proud that we are part of a select group,” Bob said. “Just to win once is hard. For both of us to win is pretty special. People don’t understand. Tiger made winning look so easy and it just is not.”

Opportunities to win aren’t all that abundant either. So, off to a good start in a field of just 33 players, Kevin isn’t going to let some virus get in his way. Meds and rest – and birdies – should keep him going.

“Oh, I was going to try to play no matter what,” he said when asked if he had contemplated withdrawing. “I mean, I can deal with a little bit of dizziness for sure. We’re in Hawaii and no cut, so, I mean, I’m going to try as long as I can.”

And why not? Dad can always buy new carpet.

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Kevin Tway’s victory in the Safeway Open is a father-son affair

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 08 Oct 2018 04:13:45 +0000

NAPA, CA – OCTOBER 07: Kevin Tway putts in to win on a third hole sudden death playoff against Ryan Moore on the 10th green during the final round of the Safeway Open at the North Course of the Silverado Resort and Spa on October 7, 2018 in Napa, California. (Photo by Marianna Massey/Getty Images)

By John Strege
Kevin Tway plays golf with a voice in his ear, one capable of alternately cajoling or critiquing or even cursing, and, on this day probably, crying. The voice has a name, too. Tway calls him Dad.

Father Bob Tway was the winner of the PGA Championship in 1986, the most memorable of his eight career tour victories. He holed a bunker shot on the 72nd hole to beat Greg Norman by two strokes.

“I always have him right here on my shoulder,” Kevin said at the Northern Trust Open in August. Kevin taps into his father having “played at the highest level for 30 years,” calls it “a good tool to have.”

They talk every night, he said, though on Sunday night, Kevin might have left him speechless.

Kevin, 30, won the Safeway Open with a closing series of clutch golf, including his holing a 12-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole to beat Ryan Moore at the Silverado Resort in Napa, Calif., after making birdies on the 17th and 18th holes in regulation.

It was Kevin’s first PGA Tour victory, coming in his 91st start. He had never finished better than third before.

“He always told me I had the talent,” Kevin said of his father. “I don’t think I believed him until now.”

Golf is a sport in which fathers pass down their passion, playing with their sons and daughters, but in the history of the PGA Tour only 10 fathers and their sons have now each won tournaments. The Tways become the first since Kevin Stadler won the Waste Management Phoenix Open in 2014 to join dad Craig Stadler as tour winners.

“I think he’s probably crying, to be honest,” Kevin said when asked what his father’s reaction might be in the immediate aftermath of his son’s victory. “He’s pretty proud of me. It’s been a long road, but this is why you work hard right here.”

Other factors are involved, too, and on a windy Sunday, Brandt Snedeker was among them. It was his tournament to lose and he did just that, squandering what once was a five-stroke lead on the back nine, shooting a final-round 74 and winding up in the playoff with Tway and Moore. The latter two each birdied the first playoff hole, the par-5 18th, while Snedeker parred it to end his bid.

Tway and Moore again birdied the 18th, the second playoff hole, and moved over to the par-4 10th. Each hit the fairway, but Moore’s second came up just short of the green and he made par. Tway, outwardly calm, unnaturally so for one in uncharted territory, followed with his winning birdie putt, his fifth straight when you add the two to finish regulation and three in the playoff.

“It felt amazing,” Tway said afterward. “I wanted to do a little more, but thought it might look weird with a fist pump.”

He did a small one. Act like you’ve been there before, they say in sports, and Tway did so, perhaps guided by the demeanor with which he plays.

“Honestly, I was just trying to hit good shots,” he said. “Trying not to think about it. I stayed patient in the regular round. Kind of got hot at the end. Birdied the last five holes, actually [two in regulation, three in the playoff]. That always helps. I’m kind of at a loss for words. I’m pretty happy.”

That makes two of them, Kevin and the man he listens to more than any other, the man on his shoulder with the voice in his ear.

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How much prize money each golfer earned at the 2018 Safeway Open

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 08 Oct 2018 02:17:58 +0000

Robert Laberge/Getty Images

A clean slate. That’s what the 2018 Safeway Open provided every player in the field at Silverado Resort & Spa in Napa, Calif. No, there weren’t a lot of marquee names competing this week. But for those who did enter the tournament—including 49 of the 50 golfers who earned PGA Tour cards via their performances in Web.com Tour regular season money list and Finals Series—the chance to get the 2018-’19 season off on the right foot was no doubt a big motivation in playing this week in Northern California.

That certainly was the case for Kevin Tway, who walked off with the playoff victory over Ryan Moore and Brandt Snedeker, grabbing his first career win on the PGA Tour. With the victory, Tway claimed a tour card through the 2021 season, and a tidy first-place prize of $1.152 million. (His previous biggest tour check was $359,600 for his T-3 at the Valero Texas Open.) He also will make his first Masters start next April.

So how much money did everybody make who played at the Safeway Open? Here’s a breakdown for every golfer who made the cut at Silverado Resort.

Win: Kevin Tway, -14, $1,152,000
P-2: Ryan Moore, -14, $563,200
P-2: Brandt Snedeker, -14, $563,200
T-4: Luke List, -13, $241,280
T-4: Troy Merritt, -13, $241,280
T-4: Sam Ryder, -13, $241,280
T-4: Aaron Baddeley, -13, $241,280
T-4: Sungjae Im, -13, $241,280
9: J.B. Holmes, -11, $185,600
T-10: Danny Lee, -10, $153,600
T-10: Jim Knous, -10, $153,600
T-10: Chase Wright, -10, $153,600
T-10: Bill Haas, -10, $153,600
T-14: Julián Etulain, -9, $115,200
T-14: Adam Schenk, -9, $115,200
T-14: Harold Varner III, -9, $115,200
T-17: Michael Thompson, -8, $80,960.00
T-17: Patrick Cantlay, -8, $80,960.00
T-17: Tom Hoge, -8, $80,960.00
T-17: Phil Mickelson, -8, $80,960.00
T-17: Hunter Mahan, -8, $80,960.00
T-17: Cameron Davis, -8, $80,960.00
T-17: Lucas Glover, -8, $80,960.00
T-17: Nate Lashley, -8, $80,960.00
T-25: Tyler McCumber, -7, $46,800.00
T-25: Johnson Wagner, -7, $46,800.00
T-25: Brett Drewitt, -7, $46,800.00
T-25: Patrick Rodgers, -7, $46,800.00
T-25: Dylan Frittelli, -7, $46,800.00
T-25: Kevin Streelman, -7, $46,800.00
T-25: Peter Malnati, -7, $46,800.00
T-25: Cameron Champ, -7, $46,800.00
T-33: Wyndham Clark, -6, $32,400.00
T-33: Jonas Blixt, -6, $32,400.00
T-33: Chez Reavie, -6, $32,400.00
T-33: Whee Kim, -6, $32,400.00
T-33: Richy Werenski, -6, $32,400.00
T-33: Mackenzie Hughes, -6, $32,400.00
T-33: Ryan Blaum, -6, $32,400.00
T-33: Alex Prugh, -6, $32,400.00
T-41: Grayson Murray, -5, $23,680.00
T-41: Emiliano Grillo, -5, $23,680.00
T-41: J.J. Spaun, -5, $23,680.00
T-41: Fred Couples, -5, $23,680.00
T-41: Adam Svensson, -5, $23,680.00
T-46: Joel Dahmen, -4, $17,115.43
T-46: Ben Crane, -4, $17,115.43
T-46: J.T. Poston, -4, $17,115.43
T-46: Martin Laird, -4, $17,115.43
T-46: Bud Cauley, -4, $17,115.43
T-46: Cameron Tringale, -4, $17,115.43
T-46: Sepp Straka, -4, $17,115.43
T-53: Brendan Steele, -3, $14,610.29
T-53: Bronson Burgoon, -3, $14,610.29
T-53: Jhonattan Vegas, -3, $14,610.29
T-53: Carlos Ortiz, -3, $14,610.29
T-53: Roberto Castro, -3, $14,610.29
T-53: Nick Taylor, -3, $14,610.29
T-53: Brian Stuard, -3, $14,610.29
T-60: Roger Sloan, -2, $13,952.00
T-60: Martin Trainer, -2, $13,952.00
T-60: Max Homa, -2, $13,952.00
T-63: Maverick McNealy, -1, $13,568.00
T-63: Fabián Gómea, -1, $13,568.00
T-63: Adam Long, -1, $13,568.00
T-66: Andrew Landry, E, $13,184.00
T-66: Harris English, E, $13,184.00
T-66: Tyrone Van Aswegen, E, $13,184.00
T-69: Tyler Duncan, +1, $12,736.00
T-69: Ricky Barnes, +1, $12,736.00
T-69: Seth Reeves, +1, $12,736.00
T-69: Hudson Swafford, +1, $12,736.00
73: Michael Kim, +2, $12,416.00
74: Brandon Harkins, +5, $12,288.00

Made Cut/DNF T-75: Jonathan Byrd, $12,032.00
T-75: Kyle Jones, $12,032.00
T-75: Ben Silverman, $12,032.00
T-78: James Hahn, $11,520.00
T-78: Sam Saunders, $11,520.00
T-78: John Senden, $11,520.00
T-78: Vaughn Taylor, $11,520.00
T-78: Josh Teater, $11,520.00
T-83: Chad Collins, $11,008.00
T-83: Sung Kang, $11,008.00
T-83: Joaquin Niemann, $11,008.00
86: David Hearn, $10,752.00

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Two players make aces on Saturday at TPC Boston. You won’t believe how little time separated the two

Golf Digest Middle East — Sun, 03 Sep 2017 05:15:55 +0000

By Ryan Herrington
There have been 30 aces made on the PGA Tour in the 2016-’17 season, with three coming in the last 24 hours at the Dell Technologies Championship. Crazier still, two of those came in a 65-second span on Saturday at TPC Boston.

Grayson Murray, who rollicked while watched Kevin Tway make his hole-in-one on Friday, made one of his own at 12:22.32 p.m. (official time from ShotLink) when he jarred his tee shot on the par-3 eighth hole. It was Murray’s second hole-in-one of the season, the first coming at the Travelers Championship in June, making him one of three players (Angel Cabrera and Matt Kuchar being the others) to have two aces this season. It was the fourth he’s had in competition and the eighth he’s ever hit. Oh, and it gave Murray a share of the lead at the time at six under par, after a front nine that included a stretch of bogey-birdie-double bogey-birdie-birdie-ace.

Not a normal scorecard.

A little bit of everything. pic.twitter.com/OBt4Vxc139

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 2, 2017

Then, according to ShotLink at 12:23.37 p.m., Lucas Glover stepped to the tee on the 16th hole and did this:

Aces all over the place!

?HOLE-IN-ONE ALERT? pic.twitter.com/InToHeh44g

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 2, 2017

There is no official record of the shortest time between aces on the PGA Tour, but we’re guessing this just might be it.

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