By Shane Ryan
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — One of the strangest final rounds on the PGA Tour in 2021 had to end the way it did, with the anticlimax of a missed short putt. After all the chaos and carnage in the final moments of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, it was Abraham Ancer standing astride the ashes, claiming his first tour win in a way that is easier to accept as accomplished fact rather than trying to retrace the narrative nuts and bolts of how it actually happened.

Put it this way: Ancer deserved this win. He’s been in contention time and time again only to succumb to bad luck and some untimely mistakes. On Sunday, he came through a three-man playoff by showing true grit when it mattered. His pinpoint approach to five feet on the second playoff hole (a return to the par-4 18th at TPC Southwind) set him up for a birdie, and he was unfazed when Sam Burns one-upped him with an even better second shot. Ancer rolled in his birdie putt in classic match-play fashion, shifting all the pressure to Burns, who could not convert. When that final attempt lipped out, the tournament, at last, had a winner.

And said winner was a satisfying champion, too, charismatic and personable and somebody who will make the sport more fun as he assumes a prominent role nearer the top of the tour’s pecking order. (Not to mention the fact that he and Carlos Ortiz have broken a 42-year PGA Tour drought for Mexican players this year.) Ancer is the kind of player who will say things like this:

“I tell you what, I’m flying straight home and there’s going to be a lot of Flecha Azul [tequila] flowing tonight, for sure.”

And yet, it’s also true that Sunday will be defined by the collapse on the back nine of both Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau, the former seemingly having the tournament wrapped up as he made the turn at 20 under—four shots better than the eventual winning score. The whole thing was like watching a medieval drama whose story centred around which member of a royal house would become the new king, and at the end, due to a series of pitfalls and accidents and chronic mismanagement, it’s a second cousin from a neighbouring fiefdom who doesn’t even have a speaking line until the end. And if that sounds like a confusing analogy, well … welcome to Sunday in Memphis.

How did we get here? It’s a messy, messy question.

Ancer did his part. He shot a competent two-under 68—not the day’s best round, but certainly not its worst—to advance from 14 under to 16 under. Around, say, 3 p.m., it would have been very difficult for anyone to imagine a scenario where this was good enough to win the tournament, if anyone had bothered. Ancer made exactly one birdie on the back nine, couldn’t quite mount a charge worthy of catching the leaders and seemed destined to add a column to his list of close calls: fourth at the Travelers, second at Wells Fargo, fifth at the Valspar, T-5 at The American Express, fourth at the Shriners last fall, a pair of seconds in 2020, another in 2019, and on and on. His most recent near-miss at the Travelers, in fact, was won by … Harris English, who as mentioned rounded the turn at Southwind at 20 under, clear of almost everyone except Bryson DeChambeau.

Sam Greenwood
Ancer’s iron game was solid at TPC Southwind as he ranked T-5 in greens in regulation, fifth in strokes gained/approach-the-green and fourth in strokes gained/tee-to-green.

Then, disaster. English and DeChambeau had been warned for slow play as early as the seventh hole, just after a bizarre rules imbroglio with DeChambeau brought them to a standstill. From there, they had to rush to keep up, couldn’t quite get back on track and endured more warnings early in the back nine. It did them no favours, and English especially rued the hurried pace.

“You definitely start the day in one rhythm and then you kind of get out of that having to walk faster, having to do everything a little faster because you don’t want to get a bad time,” he said. “It was tough, the wind was swirling obviously coming down the stretch, there was some very important shots in there.”

Those important shots became critical blunders, as he found the water on both back-nine par 3s, 11 and 14, en route to a pair of double bogeys. DeChambeau followed him into the water on 11, making a triple, and started his own spiral. By the time their nightmares had unfolded, DeChambeau was missing a final par putt on 18, and English was failing to sink a birdie on the last that would have gotten him into the playoff. English went out in 40, DeChambeau in 41, and the sinking stone nature of their dual collapses meant that a startled spectator would have to look around in a near-panic to see who would fill the vacuum.

Enter Ancer. His birdie putt on 18 in regulation, which would have won the tournament outright, came agonisingly close to going in. Then, what looked like a four-man playoff became three when Ancer’s playing partner, Cam Smith, made a mess of the final hole, somehow managing to hit a ball into someone’s backyard on his second shot (that backyard being out of bounds). A double-bogey 6 eliminated him from contention, and Ancer was faced with two other unlikely contenders: Burns and Hideki Matsuyama. They all made par on 18 for the first playoff hole, and played it again, Ancer made his birdie, Burns missed the response, Matsuyama was out of the equation.

And the distant second cousin, deserving but unlikely, hoisted the colourful trophy. “I thought I was going to cry, dude,” Ancer said, to somebody off-camera as his championship presser began. “Didn’t cry.”

Sam Greenwood
Abraham Ancer reacts after missing a putt on the 18th green during the first playoff hole, fearful that he was about to record his fifth career runner-up finish but no victory.

The lack of tears may have been the result of how quickly it all happened, which surprised Ancer as much as it surprised everyone else.

“At one point I saw Harris,” he said, “I think he was 20 under and I was like, ‘Man, he’s running away with it, I’ve got to make some birdies.’ Putts weren’t dropping. I was hitting some good shots, but I wasn’t really getting much out of them, and I was getting a little bit frustrated out there. I keep looking, I was like, ‘Man, they just came back two strokes.’ Another two, [and] I’m tied for the lead? Walking off 16, I couldn’t believe I was tied for the lead there. I felt like I was maybe four strokes behind. You just don’t know what can happen out here, man. It’s crazy.”

Nor did he believe it was going to happen—throughout the round, as he hit a series of strong shots but failed to convert birdies, the thought that he was in the midst of another “almost” round kept poking its way into his brain.

“That thought wanted to slip in my head a little bit,” Ancer said, “and I just, said, ‘Hey, what are you doing? You worked your ass off to be here, this is the time that you’re going to go and get it. You’re going to make birdie and you’re going to win this tournament.’ That’s what I kept telling myself.”

When the opportunity presented itself, he was ready with his best approach of the day:

Clutch!@Abraham_Ancer sticks it to six feet on the second playoff hole. pic.twitter.com/RmhgM7xZSn

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 8, 2021

Burns somehow managed to hit one closer, but Ancer relished the opportunity to put pressure on him in what had become a match-play scenario.

“I like to putt first,” he said, “especially if the putts are really close and kind of in the same neighbourhood. I mean, I just knew what the putt was doing, I felt like I had a great read and I just thought about aiming my putter perfectly, and then after that just putting the best stroke I can put on that ball. Thankfully it came in right online and went in with good speed.”

In the last hours of daylight in Memphis, he spoke of his childhood in Reynosa, Mexico, and of how his father Abraham Sr. would do everything he could to cobble together enough money to give his son the opportunities he needed to succeed. Abraham Sr. died of a heart attack just as Ancer’s career in America was taking off, and the sone thought of his father in the aftermath of his win.

Sam Greenwood
Ancer hugs his girlfriend Nicole Curtright after pulling out the victory on the 18th green.

“He literally just did everything he could just to take me to a tournament,” Ancer said. “Now that I know what travelling costs and all that stuff, I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know how he did it.’ … It’s not easy obviously growing up in Reynosa and making it to the PGA Tour, the chances are very slim, but I give all of that to my dad because he busted his ass to get me out here. And I wish he was out here to celebrate.”

Once again, not tears. Only a satisfied smile.

The post Abraham Ancer pulls off an unlikely win in Memphis. Just don’t call him an unlikely PGA Tour winner appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Jared Goldstein
Bryson DeChambeau and his old pal PGA Tour rules official Ken Tackett met again Sunday at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Only this time Tackett actually had some good news to deliver to DeChambeau.

DeChambeau had just hit an errant drive on the sixth hole at TPC Southwind, his ball finding the trees right of the fairway then tumbling across the cart path and nestled under a fence that demarked out of bounds. As he played a provisional from the tee, Tackett used a string to determine that DeChambeau’s ball was fractionally in bounds, even though it would be nearly impossible to advance from its position under the fence. Relief from the fence was not an option since it marked a course boundary (signifying out of bounds). But, because DeChambeau would be standing on the cart path when he tried to play a punch shot from over top of the fence, he was allowed relief due to the cart path itself under Rule 16.1(b).

A great break, all things considered. That is, until his next shot. Despite picking a flattering spot in his drop zone to help keep his shot underneath the overhanging trees, DeChambeau did, in fact, clip a tree, advancing the ball just a few yards.

From there, he hit a wedge to 25 feet and almost holed the putt for par, just because. In the end, it was an eventful bogey that dropped him two behind leader Harris English, who birdied the hole.

? Fore right
? Relief from fence
? Hits a tree
? Approach to 25 feet
? Just misses for par

The 6th hole was a wild ride for Bryson DeChambeau. ?

From co-leader to trailing by two @WGCFedEx. pic.twitter.com/MMeQIIrsWL

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 8, 2021

Afterwards, Tackett was asked to explain the thought process for why DeChambeau was denied one form of relief but granted another.

“Well, it’s because the players at this level, they’re so good, he could have easily stood and played the golf ball from underneath the fence and advanced it probably a considerable way. In doing so, he was standing on the cart path, so he got relief from the cart path. Even though it doesn’t seem obvious, it is something we see often where the players will play from the other side of the fence, you know, into the fairway often. So then he gets relief for the cart path. His nearest point of relief has to be complete relief and it has to be inbounds, so the only place that was was on the opposite side of the cart path. That’s why his relief was not from the fence, his relief was from the cart path. That’s why we went straight to the left side.”

The sixth was a microcosm of DeChambeau’s round, which included only three pars during a front-nine, two-under 33. At the turn, DeChambeau was just two behind English, seemingly still in the mix to win the title. But on the 10th hole he proceeded to hit his drive through the fairway into a water hazard en route to a bogey. And then on the tricky par-3 11th, after watching English hit his tee shot short into the water on the island-green hole, DeChambeau hit his tee shot over the green. It took a big hop and then landed in the water, setting up a double bogey. While English was struggling, too, it appears DeChambeau won’t be the person to catch him on Sunday.

As for DeChambeau and Tackett, the duo are connected thanks to a few other rules questions that have surfaced in past tour events. You may recall Bryson’s fire-ant incident, which also took place at this tournament in 2019. On the seventh hole at TPC Southwind during the first round, Tackett had to break the news to DeChambeau that the fire ants he said he saw near his ball did not constitute a “dangerous situation.”

Two weeks before that, Tackett, in a similar situation to their most recent meeting, ruled that DeChambeau’s ball was out of bounds on the 15th hole at Muirfield Village. He went on to make a quintuple-bogey 10 that day.

Luckily for him, only a bogey was in store for him today.

The post Bryson DeChambeau gets fortunate rules break, hits unfortunate follow-up shot that starts a crazy final-round slide appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Shane Ryan
MEMPHIS, Tenn.—Sometimes, it takes the perspective of a third party for an accomplishment to settle in, and it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that for Xander Schauffele, a professional golfer, the historical significance of winning an Olympic gold medal would take a moment to register. What might be surprising is who opened his eyes: his grandparents.

Schauffele’s mother, Chen Ping-Yi, was born in Taiwan to Taiwanese parents, but moved to Japan at age 4 and was raised there. Her parents still live there, in a Tokyo ward called Shibuya, and one of Schauffele’s friends managed to get them a hotel room right next to his in Narita. It was the reaction of those grandparents—he calls them “agōng” and “amà,” Taiwanese terms of affection, but says he has no idea how to spell their real names—that first made him aware of what he’d done.

“It’s pretty hard to impress someone who’s almost 90 years old and has been on this planet for a long time,” he said Tuesday morning in Memphis, ahead of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. “They’ve seen a lot of things, and to see my grandpa and my grandma’s reaction when I pull out this gold medal, it really was surprising, it shocked me … that’s something I would want everyone, kids or my kids’ kids down the generational line, to sort of have.”

Schauffele laughed when remembering that he briefly considered not even going. When he spoke with his wife Maya Lowe, she reminded him of that hesitation, and said, “Can you imagine that there’s a little piece of you that almost didn’t show up?”

Once he arrived, Schauffele said it was a matter of “correcting his mindset” about the entire endeavor and focusing on the four-day tournament as he would at any tour stop. The significance of winning a gold medal—something that the world’s top athletes have dreamed of for more than one hundred years, but that wouldn’t especially have been on the radar of a golfer before 2016—started to resonate when he stood on the podium and listened to The Star-Spangled Banner.

In many ways, Schauffele is a perfect Olympic champion for golf because of his international pedigree. His mom has her Taiwanese-Japanese roots, his father Stefan is half-French and had dreams of competing for Germany in decathlon before an accident cost him vision in one eye. His paternal grandfather played soccer for the Austrian national team, and even Xander’s brother was born in Germany. Much has been made of silver medalist Rory Sabbatini’s Slovakian citizenship, but Schauffele boasts an equally diverse heritage.

In general, Schauffele was fascinated with the Olympics, and he and Justin Thomas joked about how their workout regimens don’t come close to comparing with what they saw on display among some of the other athletes.

“We play golf, which is obviously really hard and it’s a mental game,” he said, “but if you look at, sort of, how these people physically transform themselves to perform these crazy things, it really is impressive. Honestly, anything coming down the line is super interesting. I caught myself watching ping pong with my jaw on the floor for an hour because I love playing ping pong. I was like, holy smokes, this is what it’s like? I don’t know if I could score a point on someone.”

In terms of his own career, Schauffele is happy to have won with a lead, and he feels that he’ll have more freedom in his own mind the next time the situation arises. Winning a major remains a big goal, but in the near-term he has a chance to win his second WGC this week in Memphis, and will be eyeing the FedExCup title, where he currently stands 10th with two events remaining before the playoffs. As it happens, he also has a chance to play for his country again, this time in September at the Ryder Cup. He’s sixth in those standings, and with six automatic spots available, he wants to make sure not to rely on a captain’s pick. He was 12th in this situation in 2018, and barely missed the team.

“I remember it,” he said. “I got a call from [captain Jim] Furyk in the car … I was sitting there with my caddie and I put Jim on speaker. My caddie and I were talking about it; I think it was at Aronimink [host of the 2018 BMW Championship] … Tony [Finau] just outplayed me in the playoffs. It’s one of those gut things, deep down you know this phone call was coming and I knew it wasn’t going to be a good one. It’s one of those things that kind of knocks you down … like I said, this is sort of why I have this deep ingrained thing in my head, like, ‘just qualify for the team so none of this pick stuff is even questioned.'”

His chances look extremely good after his gold medal, whether he maintains his position or not, but Schauffele doesn’t want to leave anything to chance. He feels fresh for Memphis, which is remarkable in and of itself, but aside from a few drinks and a toast with some of the U.S. Olympic Committee members, most of his gold medal aftermath consisted of seeing his grandparents. He had a small celebration with a few players and caddies on the plane ride back to the states, landed in Memphis Monday morning, and now prepares to finish off what has become, courtesy of the gold medal he showed off on Tuesday, an historical season.

The post With golden memories from Tokyo, Xander Schauffele gets right back to work in Memphis appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Those are the only two players over the last 60 years to win at least 13 times on the PGA Tour at a younger age than Justin Thomas.

Good company to be in.

It wasn’t just that Thomas won the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational on Sunday, but rather how he did it. And that in doing so, he returned to No. 1 in the world—a position he first ascended to in 2018 but held for just four weeks.

“I feel like I’m a better player and I feel like I’m more complete of a golfer now than I was then,” Thomas said following a final-round five-under 65 to win by three over a quartet of contenders that included Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson.

It showed on Sunday.

Trailing by four strokes going into the final round, Thomas went out in 31, with four birdies and no bogeys in his first nine holes, to quickly chase down Brendon Todd. Then, with five players tied for the lead late in the day, Thomas took control of the tournament.

RELATED: The clubs Justin Thomas used to win the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational

Despite a few crooked tee shots down the stretch, he kept his composure and made a pair of birdies over his final four holes that proved pivotal. None more so than at the par-4 15th, where he double-crossed a 5-wood off the tee that somehow made it through the trees, bounced off a cart path and came to rest 50 yards from the green, leaving a clear shot to the flag. One hole later, Thomas flared a drive to the right, punched out, with his ball barely hitting the last of a few branches, and got up-and-down again, this time from 100 yards, for another birdie.

“I got unbelievably lucky,” he said. “But that’s the stuff that happens when you win.”

It didn’t hurt that he got a little help, too.

Koepka grabbed the lead by one after a birdie at 13 but made a sloppy bogey at the par-5 16th. Trailing by two when he got to the 17th green, he knew he needed to make birdie to have a chance and did—from 40 feet.

But a few moments later it all came unravelled for the defending champion when tugged his tee shot into the water off the 18th tee. Game over. Koepka went on to make double bogey to wrap up a one-under 69.

“You’re one back, you’ve got to take an aggressive line there,” Koepka said of the shot on 18. “I didn’t hit that bad of a tee shot, maybe just lined up a little bit left or what. Pleased with it. Why wouldn’t I be?”

RELATED: JT plays with fire, a brutal finish for Brooks and three other Sunday takeaways in Memphis

Thomas had more reason to be pleased, though. Of his previous dozen victories, most had come from in front. A Sunday rally, with Koepka breathing down his neck no less, is another step in the evolution of the 27-year-old.

“It meant a lot because it’s something that I hadn’t really done,” Thomas said of Sunday’s victory charge. “I was just strictly trying to make as many birdies as I could because I can’t control what everybody else does. And that’s what I tried to do today.”

Never mind that he also did it without the services of his regular caddie, Jimmy Johnson, who has been sidelined because of health issues in recent weeks. Instead, Jim (Bones) Mackay filled in, only adding to the intrigue.

Andy Lyons
Justin Thomas struggled off the tee on the back nine at TPC Southwind on Sunday, but still shot a 65 to win by three strokes.

Thomas also learned from recent mistakes. At the Workday Charity Open, he held the 54-hole lead but dropped two shots in his first three holes at Muirfield Village. Then, leading by three with three holes to play, he blew that, too, eventually losing in a playoff to Collin Morikawa.

Not this time. Thomas made just one bogey on Sunday.

“I just didn’t get ahead of myself anytime those last two, three holes, where I felt like my mind was kind of wandering and maybe thinking about winning,” he said. “I basically just told myself to shut up and figure out what you’re doing because I could lose that tournament just as easily as I won it today. I was really, really proud of myself to stay in the moment and get it done.”

And to return to being No. 1 again, a position that he admitted he struggled with the first time he’d gotten there and one he’d like to stay at a little longer this time.

“I would hope to have it, you know, a couple years by the end of my career,” Thomas said.

He’s on his way.

The post Justin Thomas gets ‘unbelievably lucky’ in Memphis but also shows how much he knows about winning appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
The entertainment factor has been quite high during the PGA Tour restart, and even without Tiger Woods in the field, that remained true at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Anytime a duo like Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka are going shot for shot on Sunday, it’s must-see TV.

Unfortunately, for Koepka bettors, the golf gods were extremely kind to Thomas, who took advantage and claimed his 13th career PGA Tour victory in Memphis, making a bit of history in the process.

Here are our five takeaways from Sunday at TPC Southwind.

RELATED: Ranking the top 100 golfers competing at TPC Harding Park

Justin Thomas got away with one
CBS’ Dottie Pepper had the perfect line after Thomas went birdie-birdie at Nos. 15 and 16 despite hitting both his drives off the planet: “He just robbed the bank twice.” Damn straight, Dottie.

It was glaringly obvious Thomas did not have his best stuff on the back nine, but the mark of a true champion is winning with your C+ game, something Tiger did a few times in his day. That’s exactly what Thomas had on the way in, his C+ game, at least off the tee where it was wayward drive after wayward drive. But a few good breaks put him in position to still make birdies, and he capitalized. Those two birdies ended up being the difference. A win is a win is a win is a win … is what Thomas should say to himself in the mirror tonight.

The victory means Thomas has a baker’s dozen on tour, which makes him the third-youngest to reach that mark. The other two guys? Tiger and Jack Nicklaus. Decent company, some would say. Thomas did it with Jim (Bones) Mackay on the bag, in front of Bones’ former boss Phil Mickelson. The duo will be together next week, too, at the PGA Championship. If Thomas adds a second Wanamaker Trophy with Bones carrying at TPC Harding Park, it’s going to be very difficult to break those two up. Hopefully Thomas’ full-time caddie Jimmy Johnson is feeling OK and gets back to full health, or else he might get himself Wally Pipp’d if he’s not careful.

Brutal finish for Brooks, but it could be for the best
More importantly, brutal finish for me, who had a potential $800 payout on a Brooks win. Why do bad things happen to good people?

Anyway, should we be concerned with the way Koepka finished? Hard to say. People forget how awful he was late on Sunday at Bethpage, though he did flip the switch when he needed. He hit a great third shot on 16 at TPC Southwind on Sunday, one that drops for eagle if it’s a hair to the left (SPOILER: it wasn’t). Instead, he walks off with 6. Then at 17, a hole that gave guys fits all day, Koepka drops an absolute bomb, must-make birdie putt from just inside 40 feet. At 18, he just got a little aggressive with the line off the tee (he was trailing by one, so it was the right play) and rinsed his drive. It happens. By no means did he choke. He was three back entering the final round and gave it a great run. You need a little luck from the golf gods, too, and Thomas seemed to hog it all on the back nine.

To be honest, it might be a good thing. A Koepka win this week would have ramped up the hype machine to 11 entering Harding Park, where he’s going for the PGA three-peat. That said, with limited media members and no fans, it wouldn’t have been as big of a circus as it normally would. He is by no means flying under the radar, but not winning allows him to truly unleash major-week Brooksy in San Francisco.

Chin up, Brendon Todd

Stacy Revere

That was another ugly Sunday for Todd, who similarly stumbled with a chance to win at the Travelers Championship last month. But it shouldn’t sour what was an otherwise strong week for the three-time tour winner. He hasn’t had enough of these close calls/Sunday stumbles yet to break out the “is he choking under pressure?” takes. But the way he’s playing, he might get enough chances for that take to be warranted.

Look, it’s a big ask for any player to close out a WGC against the likes of Thomas and Koepka, but especially so for a journeyman who is just beginning to seriously contend on a regular basis like he has this year. If this hot streak has staying power, Todd will have plenty more cracks in big events, and he’ll eventually pick one-off. This guy has been through hell and back, a couple of poor final rounds aren’t going to send him into a tailspin. He’ll be fine.

RELATED: The clubs Justin Thomas used to win the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational

Imagine not betting Daniel Berger at TPC Southwind?

Stacy Revere

No, he didn’t win, but you could have made a fortune just betting Berger top five, top 10, top 20, in matchups, etc., this week. Those who didn’t, myself included, must be kicking themselves. He’s now played TPC Southwind in competition four times, won twice, finished runner-up once (with a weird MC in there, too). He is TPC Southwind’s daddy. It’s like Tiger at Torrey, Bubba at Riviera and TPC River Highlands, Phil at Pebble, Boo Weekley at Harbour Town, Matt Every at Bay Hill. OK, OK, too far, but you get the point. “Horse for the course” absolutely applies here, and I’ll make sure that I’ll never forget that. I will be betting my mortgage on Berger in the 2021 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in every way imaginable. You’re spitting in the face of money if not.

Look who is peaking at just the right time …

Stacy Revere

Yes, obviously Thomas and Koepka, both former PGA winners, are in top form just in time for TPC Harding Park. But another former PGA Championship winner crept up on everybody on Sunday in Memphis. We’re talking about Jason Day, folks.

The Aussie, who won the PGA at Whistling Straits in 2015, finished with a three-under 67 at TPC Southwind to finish T-6, locking up his third consecutive finish inside the top seven. He’s quietly playing some of his best golf since the early part of 2018, when he won at Torrey Pines in January and again at Quail Hollow in May. A big part of it is the improvement in his iron play, which was noticeably poor early in the restart, when he missed three of four cuts. But during this strong three-week stretch he’s gained on approach in all three events. All this despite recently splitting up with his swing coach of 20 years, Colin Swatton.

As of right now, Day is 40-1 to win the PGA on DraftKings, a number you couldn’t dream of getting on him two years ago, or five years ago at his peak. Prior to this week, he was 45-1, so it’s already dropping. Hard to call a former World No. 1 major winner a “sneaky” pick, but at that number, you better hop on him while you can.

The post Justin Thomas plays with fire, a brutal finish for Brooks, a sneaky PGA pick and two other Sunday takeaways appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Tod Leonard
It might be light and airy. It might be awkward. It might be strictly business. We know this: When Phil Mickelson and his former caddie of 25 years, Jim (Bones) Mackay, come face to face on the first tee on Sunday at TPC Southwind in Memphis, it will be fascinating theatre.

Mickelson and Mackay, who parted ways three years ago after this tournament, the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, will be reunited on the golf course in a group for the first time since their breakup.

Mackay, of course, took an on-course commentating job with NBC and Golf Channel, though he has made cameo appearances of late on the bag of Matthew Fitzpatrick and now Justin Thomas, whose regular caddie,Jimmy Johnson, has been undergoing tests since becoming ill at the Memorial Tournament.

On Phil’s bag is his brother, Tim, who gave up being Jon Rahm’s agent to loop after Mackay’s departure.

At least on television, Mackay and Mickelson have crossed paths only by happenstance. Much of that might be due to Mackay working among the lead groups, of which Mickelson has not often been a part of in the last few years. The Hall of Famer has won twice since Mackay left the bag—they won 42 times and five majors together— but Mickelson has only one top-10 finish in 13 starts this season.

On the strength of a four-under-par 66 on Saturday, Mickelson moved into a tie for sixth place at seven under, five off the lead of Brandon Todd. After his second 66 of the week, Thomas is one shot ahead of Mickelson, alone in fifth.

With Mackay on his bag for two events at Muirfield Village, Fitzpatrick followed a tie for 27th in the Workday Charity Open with a solo third in the Memorial. Thomas is trying for his third win of the season.

The post It’s a must-watch reunion between Phil Mickelson and his former caddie at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Ten months ago Brendon Todd didn’t have tour status. He’s a round away from becoming the Player of the Year favourite.

Todd survived a four-bogey day thanks to five red figures, turning in a one-under 69 for a one-shot lead into the final round of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

“I’m excited to be in this position and feel like if I can go out there and swing a little better and keep this putting momentum going, I’ll be in good shape,” Todd said.

That Todd remains up top is a testament to his short game. Already one of the shorter hitters on tour—he ranks 209th out of 216 qualified players in distance this season—the 35-year-old was struggling with his driver Saturday, finding the short stuff just half the time en route to a negative -0.613 strokes gained/off-the-tee mark. The approach performance (-.763 strokes gained) wasn’t much better.

“Today was a little more difficult, cooler, a little more moisture out there,” Todd said. “The winds were still up and swirling a little bit, so I thought the golf course still yielded great scores. But for me, made it a little more difficult and I was battling my swing a little bit.”

Yet Todd gained nearly two-and-half strokes on the field with the flat stick on Saturday, converting four birdies from outside 12 feet. On the week he’s up more than nine strokes on the greens over his competition.

“I put in some work with my mental coach on the greens earlier in the week and we just focused on—if I focus on fundamentals, good things will happen,” Todd said. “So for me that means staying steady over the ball, staying down on my putts and having good speed. So those are really the keys to putting and it’s been working really well for me this week.”

It is the fourth time this season Todd will enter Sunday with the lead, converting two of those leads into wins at the Bermuda Championship and Mayakoba Golf Classic last fall. To do so, he’ll have to hold off the likes of Ben An, Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas. Of course, this is a man who battled the yips and contemplated quitting the game. He does not scare easy.

“I think we all, the best players in the world treat each final round like it’s just another day and they just go out there and try to execute and stick to their game and let the results fall as they do,” Todd said.

Brooks’ bounce back
The finger appeared to be on the eject button. Brooks Koepka started Saturday with a double at the second and added a bogey at the sixth. Given Koepka was coming off a rough Friday showing, it appeared whatever momentum conjured off of Thursday’s 62 was shot.

The lesson, as always: Never doubt Brooks Koepka.

Koepka caught fire Saturday afternoon, logging six birdies in an eight-hole stretch. He stumbled at the 17th but still finished with a 68—37 on the front, 31 on the back— putting him three back of Todd.

Despite the parade of birdies it was a par that saved Koepka’s tournament. Koepka’s drive on the 13th went into the native area, with his provisional rolling up against a fence. Koepka was able to find his first shot, which was plugged in the heather, thus bestowing a free drop. From there, Koepka muscled out his approach on the dance floor, saving 4.

In one sense, winning doesn’t necessarily matter for Koepka on Sunday. He is a man judged on four tournaments, and four tournaments alone. Conversely, he’s 30 spots outside the playoffs with 15 days left in the regular season and was coming off a brutal three-tournament stretch (CUT, T-62, CUT). Recapturing that swagger days before his pursuit of a third straight Wanamker Trophy begins is something Koepka, whether he’ll admit it or not, needed to happen. And a development that spells trouble for his competition.

Phil shakes off cobwebs
It has been tough sledding for Phil Mickelson. In six starts since finishing T-3 at Pebble Beach in February, Mickelson has not logged a top 20 and missed the cut three times. The strokes gained metrics aren’t kind, either: 155th in approach, 148th in putting, 115th total. Coupled with his 50th birthday this summer, it was fair to wonder how much gas was left in Lefty’s tank.

Plenty, it turns out. Mickelson, beginning his day eight shots back in a tie for 15th, reached as high as third place on Saturday before a taking a par at the par-5 16th and bogey at the 17th. Still, for a guy in desperate need of, well, something, Saturday’s 66 was a shot of life.

“I hit a lot of good shots, made a lot of good putts and played really well,” Mickelson said. “I let it—you can always look back and you feel like you let a couple go. I wish I would have finished the round off a little better. I wish I had birdied 16 and not bogeyed 17. Those two shots coming down, you’ve really got to close the round out a little better than I did today. But I hit a lot of good shots in the heart of the round, made seven birdies and really had a good day.”

Helping matters are Memphis’ friendly confines. Mickelson owns four top-10 finishes at the St. Jude Classic, and earlier in the week called TPC Southwind one of the more underrated tracks on tour. He’ll need that home cookin’ on Sunday.

“I’m going to have to shoot something really low, probably 63, 64 to have a realistic chance,” Mickelson said. “It’s certainly out there, I’ve shot it before.”

More importantly, it gives Mickelson—never a man short on confidence—conviction in his game heading into the PGA Championship.

Thomas provides update on caddie
Justin Thomas has Jim (Bones) Mackay on this bag for the next two weeks as his regular loop, Jimmy Johnson, is taking time off for his health. Johnson got overheated at the Memorial a few weeks back and felt his body wasn’t up for the task of Memphis and San Francisco. Following his third round, Thomas said Johnson recently underwent a stress test.

“The big thing is he’s fine when he’s inside and not in the severe heat like that,” Thomas said. “The big thing is we’re just trying to figure out what it is or if there’s something in particular, whether it’s some medicine he takes. More often than not it’s not something crazy major. It’s just like I told him and I think that he’s figuring out, it’s a lot bigger than caddying. It’s about his health. I love Jimmy to death, he’s part of the family and I want him over anybody else in the world on my bag for the rest of my careee. But if it means his health, then that’s what it is. So that’s what he’s trying to fix so that he can get himself better first and foremost, and then caddying is just a bonus.”

Thomas said they have ruled out coronavirus, and that Johnson has further tests, scans and X-rays scheduled.

“I told him I’ll be as helpful or as involved or uninvolved as he wants me to be,” Thomas said. “You know, whether he’s here this week or not, he’s still on the team and I’m still a part of his team as well. So I’m going to do and everybody else on my team is going to do what we can to help, but glad he’s home resting right now.”

Thomas shot a four-under 66 on Saturday. The FedEx Cup points leader will enter Sunday four back of Todd and will be looking for his third win and ninth top 10 in 14 starts this year.

The post Todd 18 holes away from three-win season, Koepka bounces back and JT provides update on caddie’s health appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers
Brooks Koepka was golf’s undisputed king after winning last year’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, having just dominated Rory McIlroy head-to-head in the final round after recently collecting a fourth major championship in less than three years. There are certainly more question marks surrounding the now 30-year-old in his return to Memphis, but when it comes to his confidence level, that’s one thing he’ll never question.

Koepka spent much of his Wednesday pre-tournament press conference addressing his recent struggles and a lingering knee issue. However, he was quick to brush aside whether he would let those things dampen his opinion of his own game. Check out this (very) brief exchange with ESPN’s Mark Slabach:

Q. Brooks, you’ve always been one of the more confident guys going into majors. With the recent struggles, do you still carry that mindset?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I’m defending, aren’t I?

Q. Yeah.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Okay. Just checking.

And. . . scene. No, Koepka answered a couple more questions, but no one dared to ask about the C-word again.

You can watch Koepka’s entire interview here, but the good part starts at the 7:24 mark:

2019 @WGCFedex champion @BKoepka speaks with the media at TPC Southwind. ? https://t.co/i8nfjOAWr5

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 29, 2020

After finishing the past two years as the top-ranked player in the world, Koepka has fallen to No. 6 in the Official World Golf Ranking. In 10 PGA Tour starts this season, he has four missed cuts and one top 25, a solo seventh at the RBC Heritage in June.

Koepka has admitted to not being 100 percent since undergoing a stem-cell treatment on his left knee following last year’s Tour Championship. Although he says it’s not serious enough of a problem to get surgery, he noted how it has affected him, especially his training.

“Yeah, it will get sore if I beat balls long enough, and I’ve had some lengthy range sessions over the past two weeks where it’s been five-plus hours,” Koepka told reporters on Wednesday. “I’ll come back, I’ll ice it, yeah. It limits what I can do. I can’t — I don’t know how to explain this well, but I can’t run. I can — I take these little steps and try to do it very quickly. That’s kind of my run right now. Biking, I can do it like once a week without it really flaring up and getting too painful. Can’t do much cardio. But it’s definitely changed a lot of things for me, that’s for sure.”

Koepka will play the first two rounds with Patrick Reed and Viktor Hovland. In addition to being the defending champ this week, he’ll be the two-time defending champ at next week’s PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park.

The post Brooks Koepka just gave the most Brooks Koepka response ever to a reporter questioning his confidence level appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Staff Reporter
After a successful two-week stint on Matthew Fitzpatrick’s bag, Jim (Bones) Mackay will make a caddie cameo for another one of the world’s best golfers.

Golf Channel’s Chantel McCabe reported on Wednesday that Justin Thomas has hired the longtime looper for the next two weeks. And they are a big two tournaments at that with this week’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and next week’s PGA Championship, the first major of 2020.

According to McCabe, Mackay is filling in for Jimmy Johnson, who is battling dizzyness related to the heat in Memphis. Johnson also sat out part of the Memorial, where Thomas’ dad, Mike, took his spot.

JT said he will be using Bones this week and next week as Jimmy returned home for testing after dizzy spells again. https://t.co/q0ZnDfW7ic

— Chantel McCabe (@ChantelMcCabeGC) July 29, 2020

Mackay, most known for being Phil Mickelson’s caddie for more than 25 years, has worked as an on-course reporter for NBC/Golf Channel since 2017. He previously filled in for Johnson on Thomas’ bag at the 2018 Sony Open, where Thomas finished T-14.

Mackay helped Fitzpatrick finish T-27 and solo third at back-to-back events—the Workday Invitational and the Memorial—hosted at Muirfield Village earlier this month.

Thomas, 27, is currently No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He is paired with Collin Morikawa and Hideki Matsuyama the first two rounds at TPC Southwind.

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By Joel Beall
Thorbjorn Olesen plead not guilty to sexual assault, being drunk on an aircraft, and common assault on Wednesday at Uxbridge Magistrates Court outside London, according to Sky Sports.

According to the Independent and the Sun, Olesen—a five-time European Tour winner and member of the 2018 Ryder Cup team—was arrested for allegedly molested a woman who was asleep on a flight from Memphis to London following the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Olesen, 29, then argued with other passengers on the flight, according to published reports, causing fellow European Tour pro Ian Poulter, who was also on the plane, to intervene.

But when Poulter fell asleep, Olesen’s inappropriate behaviour allegedly continued, according to reports, which included yelling at crew members and urinating in an aisle. Police were waiting for Olesen upon the plane’s arrival at Heathrow Airport.

According to Sky Sports, Olesen’s case will be heard by a jury beginning on Sept. 18, a day before the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, begins.

In a statement on Aug. 6, the European Tour announced that Olesen will not be allowed to play until the outcome of his trial.

“As it remains a pending case, we currently have no further comments,” the tour said.

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