By John Strege
This was not how anyone would have plotted Patrick Rodgers’ career trajectory, not in 2014, when he turned professional in the wake of a college career that shared similarities with that of another Stanford prodigy, Tiger Woods.

Yet there he was on Sunday, back in his home state of Indiana, facing the prospect of losing his PGA Tour job, when he took another page from the Tiger playbook, delivering a clutch performance that ended with a fist pump on the 18th green.

Rodgers, 29, shot a final-round 67 in the Korn Ferry Tour Championship at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Ind., to move from outside the top 25 and into a tie for 15th to regain the PGA Tour exemption he was on the verge of losing when he finished 128th on the FedEx Cup points list to miss the PGA Tour playoffs for the first time since becoming a PGA Tour member in the 2015-2016 season.

“I am so grateful,” he posted on Twitter shortly after concluding his round.

Another Stanford player, Joseph Bramlett, won the Korn Ferry Tour Championship with a final-round seven-under 65 and a 72-hole total of 20-under par 268 to retain his PGA Tour card for the 2021-2022 season.

Rodgers shares the Stanford record for most tournament victories with 11 and actually produced a better career scoring average than Woods. Yet his PGA Tour career, though profitable (more than $8 million in earnings), has not been notable. In 191 career starts, he has yet to deliver a victory.

When he missed making the FedEx Cup playoffs, he chose to enter the three-event Korn Ferry Tour playoffs. A tie for 20th and a missed cut in the first two events required a high finish in the Tour Championship for him to secure one of the 25 PGA Tour cards available in the tour playoffs.

Entering the final round, he was outside the top 25, bogeyed the first hole, then began a steady climb up the leader board with five birdies and an eagle on the next nine holes. Though he made two bogeys on the back nine, he added a birdie at 17 and secured his PGA Tour job with an 18th-hole par.

Bramlett, meanwhile, began the final round trailing leader Trey Mullinax by four and swept past him with a back-nine of six-under-par 30 to win by four. Bramlett, who had not made the FedEx Cup playoffs in any of his three seasons on the PGA Tour, shot consecutive 65s to close the Korn Ferry Tour Championship.

Mullinax, an Alabama teammate of Justin Thomas’ who was attempting to complete a wire-to-wire victory, bogeyed three of his final five holes in a round of 70, though he regained his PGA Tour card for the first time since 2019.

The others earning their PGA Tour cards were Aaron Rai, Bronson Burgoon, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, J.J. Spaun, Hayden Buckley, Sahith Theegala, Matthias Schwab, Vincent Whaley, John Huh, Alex Smalley, Joshua Creel, Lucas Herbert, Callum Terren, Scott Gutschewski, Dawie van der Walt, Kelly Kraft, Michael Gligic, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Austin Cook, Kurt Kitayama, Peter Uihlein and Justin Lower.

The post Patrick Rodgers rallies to retain PGA Tour card, while Joseph Bramlett wins Korn Ferry Tour Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege
The game isn’t scripted, obviously, though on rare occasions it allows a story to unfold as though it had been worked out in advance. Sunday on the Korn Ferry Tour was one of those days, tying together a victory, a U.S. Open and a homecoming.

Brandon Wu, 23, shot a final-round seven-under par 65 at Victoria National GC in Newburgh, Ind., to win the Korn Ferry Tour Championship by one.

It allowed him to finish first in points in a three-tournament competition from which the top five earned invitations into the U.S. Open at Winged Foot GC in Mamaroneck, N.Y., in two weeks.

No doubt it is special for all five, including Stephan Jaeger, Curtis Luck, Dan McCarthy and Greyson Sigg. But for Wu, it is a different category of special.

Wu is a native of Scarsdale, N.Y., which isn’t precisely a par-5 from Winged Foot, but close enough. His home course, Scarsdale GC is about five miles away.

“The U.S. Open is so special for me,” Wu said. “I got to play last year, my first one, which was awesome. Then this year, going back to Winged Foot, I grew up five minutes from Winged Foot, so it’s going to be super nice going back home and playing in my hometown U.S. Open.”

Wu previously was best known for missing his Stanford graduation to play in the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, then receiving his diploma from USGA president Stu Francis by the 18th green moments after completing his final round and finishing tied for 35th.

His winning on Sunday only generously would have been in the category of possibility at the outset of play. He began the final round trailing by five and was 134th on tour in final-round scoring average at 72.25.

Yet he played a bogey-free round that included birdies at 14 and 15 to overtake the leader, Sigg, who double-bogeyed the 14th playing behind him. Sigg would finish second by a stroke, after narrowly missing a tying 12-foot birdie attempt at the 18th hole.

“I just tried to go out and minimize my mistakes,” Wu said. “I made a couple bogeys earlier in the week. Today I was trying to hit every fairway and hit every green. I think I only ended up missing two greens. I stayed patient.

“At 16, I felt I was playing pretty well, but I didn’t know what everyone else was doing. There are no scoreboards out there, but I thought I might be in the mix. So I was just trying to keep the pedal down.”

Wu, incidentally, also finished fifth in on the Korn Ferry Tour points list. The top 10 finishers in points earn PGA Tour starts in 2020-’21 in alternate field events.

“I’ve been able to come a long way for sure this year,” Wu said.

The post Brandon Wu wins Korn Ferry Tour Championship, earns homecoming start in the U.S. Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

WE’RE BUYING

Korn Ferry Tour Championship: I’m not one of these golf purists who is going to tell you the KFT season finale was better than the Tour Championship, but it contained incredible drama in its own way, as usual. Watching guys go back and forth from having a job on the PGA Tour next season to being on the outs was riveting, and Doug Ghim provided the event’s lasting moment when he sunk this tester for par on 18 to graduate to the big leagues:

Intensity.
Passion.
Jubilation.@DougGhim is #TOURBound. pic.twitter.com/sz8tlOIkK6

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) September 2, 2019

What a fantastic reaction by Ghim, who was one of nine players to jump into the all-important top 25 of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals points list. Of course, there were others who wound up outside the bubble. But let’s stay positive here. Putting up with the end of summer is sad enough.

Tom Lewis: This 28-year-old Brit needed no such drama at Victoria National. The former can’t-miss prospect couldn’t miss all week, winning by five shots to earn his PGA Tour card for the first time. Even more impressive is this was Lewis’ first start on the Korn Ferry Tour this season. And we don’t just mean since the Web.com Tour switched to being called the Korn Ferry Tour. No, this dude just carpetbagged his way to a PGA Tour card.

Stacy Revere/Getty Images

But good for him. And now he has the “good problem” of choosing whether to play predominantly on the European Tour or PGA Tour next season. Just a gue$$, but Lewi$ will play more in the U$A.

Sebastian Soderberg: The 28-year-old Swede (It was a good week to be 28) won a five-man playoff at the Omega European Masters that included Rory McIlroy. Not a bad way to pick up his first European Tour title.

Stuart Franklin/Getty Images

Kudos to Rory as well for not just showing up and going through the motions for a sponsor following his Tour Championship/FedEx Cup triumph. Or maybe he was just going through the motions, but he’s that good.

Lucky bounces: Especially when you haven’t won in nearly five years. Wes Short Jr. looked like he’d come up short again when his final approach shot came up short, but he used the rocks in the hazard to his advantage (Savvy!) and wound up two-putting for birdie and the win at the Shaw Charity Classic.

Can’t make this stuff up …

Wes Short Jr.’s second shot into the par-5 18th looked like it was heading into the hazard.

Thanks to the help of a rock, the ball landed on the green and Wes went on to make birdie for the @ShawClassic win. pic.twitter.com/KAQY6KDobi

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) September 2, 2019

“Good, clean living!” as my friend Roks used to say.

WE’RE SELLING

(My) unlucky weather: For important events, that is. Three weeks after playing only three holes in my first PGA Tour Pro-Am, I played a total of four holes in the only member-guest I was invited to this year. Womp-womp. This time, I managed to show up to lovely Aspetuck Valley Country Club on the one part of the one day that it stormed amid two weeks of perfectly glorious weather. At least it wasn’t raining (torrentially) when we took our group photo. That happened seconds later.

Thanks to my buddy Al for the look, but seriously, everyone, do NOT invite me to any important golf function going forward.

Paragliding: We’ve seen people doing this at places like Torrey Pines, but in Switzerland, Rory McIlroy had to back away from a shot because he was worried about hitting them:

Wait, a Paraglider? ?

Everyone wanted to see Rory McIlroy today… pic.twitter.com/7LhYX3X9t8

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) August 29, 2019

How rude! Also, this looks dangerous! You couldn’t pay me Rory McIlroy FedEx Cup money to go up on one of those.

Brandel vs. Bob: Brooks Koepka’s dad, Bob, went after Brandel Chamblee on Twitter over the weekend. I love seeing someone stick up for his sons, and the back-and-forth was entertaining, but it was also a bit silly considering how much crow Chamblee has eaten regarding his Koepka commentary:

They say the NBA offseason has become more interesting than the season. If this is how golf’s offseason is about to go, sign me the hell up.

Brooksy’s dad taking runs at Brandel. America’s Guest catching multiple strays. Let’s light this candle and really live under par in Q4! pic.twitter.com/fquHoMcJRP

— Brendan Porath (@BrendanPorath) September 3, 2019

Not that I’m complaining. Keep this Twitter beef going, guys!

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

—There will be another five-man playoff on the European Tour: 1 MILLION-to-1 odds
—Tiger will win another major: 3-to-1 odds (Actual odds. Um … tempting.)
—I will never go paragliding: LOCK

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Tiger and mini-Tiger watching Rafael Nadal (Sorry, Roger) at the U.S. Open:

Like father, like son. ?@TigerWoods and his family attended the men's singles match between Rafael Nadal and Marin Cilic at the U.S. Open on Monday. pic.twitter.com/mREsyxTPir

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) September 3, 2019

So cute. Tiger also unleashed a pretty ferocious standing fist-pump and I’ve never felt more excited watching tennis:

Game recognizing game. ?pic.twitter.com/xqLFNnFhDi

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) September 3, 2019

Good to see. That surgically repaired knee must be feeling better.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (TOUR PRO DIVISION)

As my colleague, Chris Powers, so eloquently put it, “Eddie Pepperell can’t stop, won’t stop roasting Bryson DeChambeau for slow play.”

We don't deserve Eddie Pepperell. pic.twitter.com/DurrrQJEFz

— Chris Chaney (@Wrong_Fairway) August 30, 2019

Good stuff, Eddie. Golf needs more mid-round interviews.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (NON-TOUR PRO DIVISION)

Introducing Silvia Rosenberger. She’s from Germany and she can putt the freaking lights out. At last week’s World Amateur Handicap Championship, Rosenberger won a $5 putting contest and got one crack from 60 feet for $25,000. You can guess what happened:

ICYMI: Epic moment at the Myrtle Beach World Am last night when this German golfer casually drains a 100 footer to win $25,000!

How much beer do you think she had to buy everyone after???#MBWorldAm #MyrtleBeachGolf pic.twitter.com/v0a0zthMmv

— Myrtle Beach Golf (@MyrtleBeachGolf) August 31, 2019

Well done, Silvia.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“To have it all come down to one putt is pretty surreal. It’s one of those things where if you make the putt, it does wonders for you, and if you miss it, it could go the opposite way. Now that I’ve finally made the putt, it feels like I have the opportunity to make some noise on the big tour and I’m just really, really excited.” —Doug Ghim after earning his PGA Tour card on the 18th at Victoria National on Monday.

Good to hear, Doug. Because you only get one week off before the PGA Tour season starts.

THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITIES PLAYING GOLF

When Justin Timberlake needs a bunker lesson, he goes to one of the best: Rory McIlroy.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B1rFfrRn9U_/?utm_source=ig_embed

And how about the Green Bay Packers dressing up as “Happy Gilmore” characters?

https://www.instagram.com/p/B1uCidahZV0/?utm_source=ig_embed

Impressive. But … where the heck is Shooter?!

THIS WEEK IN PHIL BEING PHIL

Phil had Justin Thomas on an episode of “Phireside with Phil” to tell another great story about Phil (although, we’re still waiting for that second part … ):

One of my favorite people on Tour …

My man JT (@JustinThomas34) joins me for a 2-part series to tell stories when we first played together. #PhiresideWithPhil pic.twitter.com/e0OhAcVYow

— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) August 29, 2019

And Mickelson reminded everyone how great his calves are:

Let us not forget. #CalvesLikeAdonis pic.twitter.com/raP1uIUB6I

— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) August 27, 2019

Running on the beach while holding weights is going to be featured prominently in his “Body By Phil” fitness series.

THIS AND THAT

It looks like Patrick Reed has a sweet new ride:

Great to be back in Hamburg, Germany for the Porsche European Open! Before I left, I broke in my commemorative Masters GT2RS! Excited to play the next three events on the @EuropeanTour. #PEO @KLMOpen, @BMWPGA #1of1 pic.twitter.com/SP5XGIzJcb

— Patrick Reed (@PReedGolf) September 3, 2019

It’s good to be a Masters champ. … Congrats to Hannah Green for winning her second LPGA title by one shot over Monday qualifier Yealimi Noh. Congrats to the 18-year-old Noh for even coming close. She’ll be back. … Shout-out to Golf Digest Executive Producer of Video Christian Iooss, who broke his leg in a surfing accident over the weekend. Yet another reminder of why you should retire from all sports and activities other than golf once you turn 25. Feel better, Iooss. … And finally, my daughter is convinced I’m Tim Robbins/Andy Dufresne from “The Shawshank Redemption”:

My daughter is convinced I’m @TimRobbins1 as Andy Dufresne (?), so, yeah, it’s a great day… pic.twitter.com/7tOSsyjFPC

— Alex Myers (@AlexMyers3) August 29, 2019

And I don’t plan on correcting her anytime soon! Also, Tim Robbins liked this tweet. Man, I love Twitter.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

What’s the best movie of all time (Other than Shawshank)?
Does Silvia lose her amateur status after winning the $25K in the putting contest?
How do you say “Quid pro quo” in German?

The post Tiger Woods roots for Rafael Nadal, Brooks Koepka’s dad goes after Brandel Chamblee, and the luckiest bounce of 2019 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
Tom Lewis faces an enviable dilemma this fall after an impressive four days at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship. Does the 28-year-old from England play the PGA Tour, after earning membership for the 2019-’20 season with a dominant five-stroke victory at Victoria National Golf Club? Or does he return to the European Tour, where he sits 48th in the Race to Dubai with nine events until the tour’s three-event playoff series?

The decision surfaced after Lewis made a different last-minute decision to enter the Tour Championship despite never previously playing in a tournament on the developmental tour. Lewis made the move after sputtering of late on the Euro Tour. Lewis finished T-11 at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush, but in two starts since he had a missed cut and a T-59.

The change of venue proved wise as Lewis shot an opening-round 68, which turned out to be his worst score of the week. A closing seven-under 65 on Labor Day Monday, with birdies on three of the final four holes, gave Lewis a 23-under 265 total to outpace Fabian Gomez.

“I think for me I didn’t really know what to expect this week,” said Lewis, a former amateur prodigy who won in his third career pro start but needed another seven years to get his second title. “I haven’t played well the last couple of weeks. I tried to change a few things and it didn’t work. Went back to a few things and it worked. To shoot the scores I did this week is amazing.”

RELATED: Watching the sheer joy of a young pro earning his PGA Tour card never gets old

Despite earning no points in the first two events of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, Lewis jumped to second in the series standings, easily securing one of 25 PGA Tour cards from the final list. Lewis was one of nine golfers who were outside the top 25 starting the week in Newburgh, Ind., only to jump inside and grab tour cards:
Tom Lewis
Fabian Gomez
Tyler Duncan
David Hearn
Chris Baker
Cameron Davis
Doug Ghim
D.J. Trahan
Richy Werenski

All those who earned PGA Tour membership won’t have much time to rest before wanting—and needing—to put their tour cards to use. The PGA Tour’s 2019-’20 season beings next week at the Greenbrier, the first of 11 events slated for the fall portion of the schedule. Traditionally, Korn Ferry Tour grads, despite holding lower priority than golfers who kept their cards on the PGA Tour during the regular season, are able to play in several early tournaments as veterans take time off.

A strong showing in the fall allows the grads to improve their status with the tour resumes play in early January.

As for Lewis, though, his attention is likely to return to Europe for the next few months. “We’ve got some good events coming up in Europe,” he said. “I’m looking forward to looking at my schedule. It’s going to be a good problem to have.”

The post Tom Lewis can handle the ‘good problem’ he’s created by winning the Korn Ferry Tour Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
Indiana’s Victoria National Golf Club, host of the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, has the reputation of being a brute. Earlier in the week, a tweet from Cameron Percy made the social media rounds as the tour pro noted how the participants in his pro-am group had lost 27 balls … in nine holes. Another tweet showed a wooden box with a glass front filled with golf balls on the 18th tee with the word “EMERGENCY” written on it. In 2018, seven of Victoria National’s 18 holes were ranked among the 30 toughest on tour for the season, including the first, second and third hardest.

This was the stage for Monday’s final round of the final event of the three-tournament Korn Ferry Tour Finals Series, and the Golf Channel announcers had viewers bracing for the corresponding carnage that would determine who would get the 25 PGA Tour cards on the line.

If that’s what you spent your Labor Day looking for, however, you were probably disappointed. One by one, the players on the top-25 bubble starting the final 18 holes mostly held up to the pressure of knowing a good day meant they’d be playing for millions in 2020 and a bad day meant playing for, well, not millions.

It started when David Hearn, a 40-year-old PGA Tour veteran, made a par putt on the par-4 18th hole to finish tied for fourth in the event. That moved him up in the Playoff Points standings from 42nd at the start of the week to 13th.

Tyler Duncan was in a similar spot, finishing up with a closing 66 to get to T-4, and move from 41st to 12th in points.

Hank Lebioda made double bogey on the 14th hole, but four pars over the last four holes allowed him to stay at 19th on the points list and return to the PGA Tour.

Chris Baker, an Indiana native with more than a dozen friends and family in the gallery, had just made double bogey on the 17th hole, then hit his drive on 18 into a fairway bunker. But his approach found the green 30 feet from the hole, and his two-putt par meant earning PGA Tour membership for the first time.

Richy Werenski made birdies on the 15th and 16th to finish tied for seventh for the tournament and move from T-53 to T-24 in points.

D.J. Trahan, a 38-year-old who won twice on the PGA Tour but hadn’t had a full card in eight years, made bogeys on the 12th and 14th holes, only to birdie the 15th and 18th to shoot 70. He, too, was T-7 for the tournament but moved from T-53 to T-24 in points.

All told, just one player who started the day inside the projected number fell out of the top 25 (Jose de Jesus Rodriguez). Meanwhile, nine golfer who started the tournament outside the top 25 worked their way inside and earned PGA Tour cards, including tournament winner Tom Lewis.

Happily, then, instead of showing a video of utter despair from a player who missed a putt on the last hole to lose his card, let’s show one of sheer joy for coming through in the clutch to earn a card. The winner here is from Doug Ghim.

The 23-year-old, a former U.S. Amateur runner-up from outside of Chicago, played on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019 after graduating from the University of Texas in 2018. As he got to the 18th hole on Monday, Ghim had just bogeyed the 17th hole, meaning he had to make par on the last to earn his PGA Tour card. Ghim hit his tee shot in the fairway, but pulled his approach into the rough left of the green. His chip stopped 10 feet from the hole, leaving him with the biggest par putt of his young pro career.

“I have never felt nervous like that before and I’ve been in a lot of nervous situations,” Ghim said. “I [said] yesterday that the only way I’d be devastated is if I had a putt to make it [on the PGA Tour] and I didn’t make it. And that thought occurred when I got there.”

And yet Ghim didn’t flinch.

For a @PGATour card…. pic.twitter.com/x7wdT33Dqu

— GOLFTV (@GOLFTV) September 2, 2019

“To have it all come down to one putt is pretty surreal,” Ghim said. “It’s one of those things where if you make the putt, it does wonders for you and if you miss it, it could go the opposite way. Now that I’ve finally made the putt it feels like I have the opportunity to make some noise on the big tour and I’m just really, really excited.”

Join the club.

The post Watching the sheer joy of a young tour pro holing a putt to win his PGA Tour card doesn’t get old appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Anirban Lahiri withdrew from the Korn Ferry Tour Championship on Thursday afternoon, citing concern for his family’s safety in Florida in the face of Hurricane Dorian.

Lahiri, who resides in Palm Beach Gardens, wrote on Twitter that he is returning home to help with evacuation procedures as the storm prepares to reach land this weekend.

Unfortunately had to withdraw from @tourchampulf to head back to Florida and evacuate the family. Cat-4 #HurricaneDorian2019 estimated to make landfall in 72hrs. See you all @PGATOUR in a couple of weeks. #familyfirst

— Anirban Lahiri (@anirbangolf) August 30, 2019

The 32-year-old has made 106 career starts on the PGA Tour, including 23 this season. Although he finished well outside the FedEx Cup top 125, Lahiri regained status in the first two legs of the Korn Ferry Finals thanks to a T-7 at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship and a T-5 at the Albertsons Boise Open. While missing the KF Tour Championship at Victoria National in Newburgh, Ind., will hurt his priority ranking, he will still have a PGA Tour card for next season.

Hurricane Dorian strengthened to a Category 2 storm Thursday night. According to the National Hurricane Center, the storm is expected to intensify into a Category 3 by Friday, and could reach a Category 4—which includes catastrophic 140 mph winds—by the time it reaches the U.S. mainland. The National Weather Service added Dorian could bring a “triple-threat of dangers” to Florida, including a “life-threatening storm surge, devastating hurricane-force winds and heavy rains.”

If that forecast holds, it will be the strongest hurricane to strike Florida’s East Coast since Andrew in 1992, according to the National Weather Service.

The post Tour vet withdraws from Korn Ferry Finals to evacuate family from Hurricane Dorian appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.