By Brian Wacker
HONOLULU — Kevin Na freely admits there are courses on the PGA Tour that he cannot win on. “Yes, 100 percent,” he said Sunday night in a nod to many of the big ballparks that consume the schedule and serve as a defence against the bomb-and-gouge era.

Fortunately for the 37-year-old South Korean, Waialae Country Club—a short track by today’s standards at 7,044 yards with only two par 5s, tight fairways and small greens—isn’t one of them.

“Waialae is a golf course I really have a chance at, and there’s not too many of these left anymore, so I have to take advantage of it,” he said.

That he did on Sunday, making four birdies over his final six holes—including on the 18th, where he got up and down from behind the green on the par 5—to rally for Sunday 65 and a one-stroke victory over Chris Kirk and Joaquin Niemann.

The win was the fifth of Na’s PGA Tour career. It also marks the fourth straight tour season that he has won at least once, after picking up just one victory in the first 17 years of his career.

“It’s a great feeling,” Na said after finishing at 21-under 259. “Nice to get it done early. But I’d like to win another one before the season’s over.”

This one seemed unlikely to happened not once but twice.

Injuries had forced Na to miss the Sony Open each of the last two years, and on Wednesday he pulled a muscle in his ribs warming up for the pro-am.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Na said. “My trainer that I just added to the team, Cornel Driessen, he helped me out a lot. We worked on, it loosened it, and the next day I woke up, it felt great and felt like nothing happened. Had he not been here, I don’t know, might have been a different story.”

Gregory Shamus
A Saturday 61 from Na set up the chance to win.

Then on Sunday, victory looked like it might be out of reach after Na three-putted for bogey on the 12th hole to fall to 17 under. With a tight leader board and players jockeying for the lead, there was little room for error at that point.

But Na, who carded a career-best 61 in the third round, got hot again and bounced back with birdies on each of his next three holes from 15, 10 and six feet. Then, tied with clubhouse leader Chris Kirk at 20 under, Na hit a 5-wood out of the right rough on the 18th hole that ran just through the green, leaving himself a chip to tap-in range for one more birdie.

“You know, 13 is obviously not really a birdie hole [487 yard par 4 that played the toughest all week], and I hit it in the left rough, really far back and I hit an unbelievable iron shot out of there to about 14 feet, and to make that one and bounce back from that three-putt, was what kept me in the tournament,” he said. “I knew that over the putt, I was like, man, I really need this one and I was really happy to see that one go in.

“Just kind of loosened me up a little bit, too.”

The victory was Na’s fourth in his last 55 starts and moved him to No. 23 in the world.

“I think experience is the reason why I’ve been winning,” Na said. “Experience and confidence. When you do it again, you know it seems like the next one comes easier. It’s never easy to win but the confidence that you validate in yourself really helps.”

So does being at a course like Waialae, a Seth Raynor-design that rewards precision overpower and speaks to the kind of game Na plays.

“A golf course like this, I really feel like I’ve got a chance and I’m looking, trying to contend, at least try to get a top-10 in, and if things go well, contend,” he said. “Certain golf courses, 20th place is maxing out for me.”

There are other things on his mind in 2021, mainly making his first Ryder Cup in the fall. But winning is a means to that end, and one Na would like to experience more of in the coming weeks and months.

“I think more about winning, let’s put it that way, since I’ve been winning more often because I know I can do it,” Na said. “Before, it was like, can I do it? I don’t know. Now I know if I put myself in that position, I’ve got a good chance of pulling it off.

“I used to be a really consistent player, a lot of top-10s, a lot of made cuts. Winning was still important then but winning felt a little bit distant to me. I knew I could do it; I’ve done it before. It’s been so long and I went so many years without winning that I kind of forgot that feeling.”

Suffice to say, that’s not the case any more.

The post How Kevin Na changed the trajectory of his career and became addicted to winning on the PGA Tour appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
HONOLULU — New year, same outcome. The only difference this time: Brendan Steele didn’t even make it into a playoff.

For a second straight year, the 11-year PGA Tour veteran had the lead on the back nine at the Sony Open in Hawaii. And once again he left Waialae Country Club without the trophy, finishing in a disappointing tie for fourth after shooting a one-under 69 Sunday to finish two back of winner Kevin Na.

In a week where low scores were mandatory, Steele’s final-round number was the highest of anyone in the top 10 on the leader board.

“Obviously super disappointed,” Steele said afterwards. “Playing really well, feeling really good about it. Thought I hit a perfect shot on 10. Got a weird lie there, totally changed the momentum. Every single shot I hit after that ended up with a weird lie, one foot through the fairway, really struggling after that. Completely changed the momentum and super bummed.”

Steele, who began Sunday’s final round with a two-stroke lead, saw his advantage cut to one after he struggled to find momentum early, opening with six straight pars. Still, he birdied the seventh and added a 20-footer for eagle at the par-5 ninth to create a three-shot cushion going into the back nine.

It wouldn’t last.

On the 355-yard par-4 10th, Steele opted for driver. His ball landed on the edge of the left fairway bunker then popped out, resulting in awkward stance above the sand that left Steele with a difficult 60-yard pitch. His next shot came up 85 feet short and he three-putted from there for bogey.

“I think if I lay up 10, I think I win the tournament,” the 37-year-old three-time tour winner said. “So we made a mistake there, and it’s unfortunate. It’s as good as I can hit a shot, so if that doesn’t get over the bunker, then I can’t get over it. Just a mistake and kind of changed everything and everything was hard after that.”

Especially as he struggled off the tee. Steele hit just one fairway the rest of the day, never giving himself much of a chance. After a bogey on the 14th, his lead was gone. One hole later, Kevin Na stuck his approach to five feet to set up a third straight birdie took the lead for good.

Steele still had a chance to tie the lead on the par-3 17th, however, but his putt from just inside 10 feet never touched the hole. It was his only look at birdie from inside 30 feet on the entire back nine.

Sunday marked the sixth time that Steele has held a 54-hole lead on tour. Only once has he gone on to win

“You don’t [get these opportunities often],” he said. “You just try to pick yourself up next week and try to give yourself another chance. I’ve seen a lot of things in my 11 years out here. And I’ve closed well, I’ve closed poorly, I’ve closed in the middle and it doesn’t get any easier. It’s always really hard, and I think anybody out here will tell you that no matter how many times they have won.

“I think you just have to really take some positives out of this; hard to see for me right now and just go and try to put myself right back there next week.”

The post Instead of redemption, it’s heartbreak again for Brendan Steele as a second straight Sony Open title slips away appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Teeing it up with Steele and Joaquin Niemann in the last group off the first hole, a tricky 491-yard par 4, Na pulled his opening drive well left of the fairway, the ball eventually coming to rest on a cart path that runs down the hole.

Given where the ball ended up, Na could have taken relief left of the path. Yet presumably that would have left him with a more precarious shot then he had if he just played it off the path. We say presumably because Na elected to play the ball as it lied, taking out a fairway wood and doing this.

Kevin Na from the cart path. ?

He takes a fairway metal off the concrete to save par. He’s just one shot back. pic.twitter.com/qCrwZFWmcm

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 17, 2021

Just how much swagger does Na possess? Well, look at him walking the shot in second after hitting it just like he does with his putts on the green.

What the video doesn’t show is the fact that Na hit the ball 211 yards off the deck on the concrete. It wasn’t far enough to reach the green, but it was safely in a front bunker where Na was able to safe get up and down to save par. On the next hole, he made a birdie to cut Steele’s lead to one. Before the day was over, Na would make four birdies over his final six holes to shoot a 65 and win the tournament, his fifth career PGA Tour title.

What the video did show is the fact that tour pros are NOT just like us, that they can play shots ordinary golfers wouldn’t dream of.

The post Watch Kevin Na make hitting this fairway wood off a concrete cart path look way too easy appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.