By Christopher Powers
With the amount of money, FedEx Cup and World Ranking points, and, let’s face it, pride on the line at each week’s PGA Tour event, there wouldn’t seem to be a lot of room for “guessing.” It’s why the pros read a putt from every angle. It’s why they calculate everything from air density to which way the grass is growing. It’s why their yardage books are bigger than the menu at the Cheesecake Factory.

And yet, with the WGC-Workday Championship hanging in the balance, Viktor Hovland did the unthinkable. He simply “guessed.” At the par-5 13th, having already pulled within two strokes of Collin Morikawa’s lead, Hovland’s second shot sailed the green, coming to rest up against a bush in the native area. After what had happened just two days earlier at the ninth hole, you’d think Hovland would do everything in his power to avoid another catastrophe.

Hovland rehearsed with a few different clubs, ultimately deciding on an 8-iron and pulling off one of the best up-and-downs we’ll see all year:

“It’s certainly up there,” said Hovland when asked if he’s ever had a better up-and-down. “Yeah, that was just a guess and it happened to come out just perfect and rolled through the fringe just amazingly.”

Just a guess? Down two with six holes to go on a course begging you to make a triple bogey or worse is a wild time to be playing guessing games, but sometimes you guess right. And remember, this shot was from a guy who claimed he “sucks at chipping” a year ago. Of course, in explaining the pre-shot process further, it sounded like a little more went into it.

“So first, I thought I was going to hit a 60-degree and just literally hit it as hard as I could through the thick stuff and hopefully try to catch it clean somehow. I realized that probably wasn’t a very smart play. That would have been a fun shot, but a lot of things could go wrong.

“And I was thinking about the putter and thinking about the 3-wood, but the problem was I had to get so steep on it, didn’t have a backswing and with no loft on it, I might not get it out of there. So I essentially ended up using an 8-iron doing the same thing because at least I have some loft there that’s going to move the ball.”

OK, so maybe it was more than just a guess. Hovland’s remarkable birdie pulled him within one, but a disastrous three-putt bogey at the following hole, coupled with a Morikawa birdie back at the 12th, all but ended his chances. Expect the young Norwegian to get back in the mix soon, especially if he’s going to add a wizard-like short game to his bag of tricks.

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By Shane Ryan
BRADENTON, Fla.—How do you square this circle: Tony Finau puts himself in contention over and over again, comes close to a win, and can never finish the job. Three weeks ago, I wrote that he had 36 top-10 finishes without a victory since he won the Puerto Rico Open in 2016, and that the next-best player in that category had just 16. Since then, he’s added another with his playoff loss to Max Homa at last weekend’s Genesis Invitational. Some of the near-misses are ugly, and some are actually impressive, but taken together, it all seems to speak to a competitive weakness when it comes to crossing the finish line.

Right?

Except for this: What can we say about the mental strength of someone who stumbles at the crucial moment over and over and over again, but keeps putting himself right back in that same position? Who manages to bounce back with incredible regularity even as the “Tony Finau can’t win” narrative spreads like wildfire (on Saturday at Torrey Pines, he was asked seven questions on the topic in a single press conference)? What can you call that, except a stunning example of resilience in situations that would break a lesser golfer? What do you call that, except profound mental toughness?

What’s the answer here? Is he weak or is he strong?

After Friday’s round at the WGC-Workday Championship, in which he followed up his opening 68 with a 67 to place him just two shots off Brooks Koepka’s lead, Finau answered the unavoidable question—are you a resilient person?—with more openness than usual.

“Yeah, there’s no question,” he said. “I definitely feel like I’m a tough player mentally, as tough as they come, and I feel like I have to be. When you’ve come close to winning as many times as I have, I think you could go one of two ways. I always look at my life and my game as a glass half full. I’ve always looked at my life that way and it’s helped me, but it definitely has made me tough. Again, I think life has been my biggest teacher and I’m kind of showing that resiliency I think early in the season.”

Finau referenced the seven years he spent playing mini-tour golf, which he called the hardest golf experience of his life. The memories of that time still help him put his tour results into context.

“Taking second out on the PGA Tour is tough because I know I have what it takes to win,” he said, “and I want to be the best. But when you compare that to what life is really like outside of the PGA Tour, I knew what that tasted like to not even have a place to play and not make any money.”

I posed the paradox to him: How do you have the toughness to rebound from week to week when the great knock on your is failing to win?. And while he didn’t address it directly, he did mention “blocking out the noise” twice. That’s a cliche that many golfers (and many athletes) use, but Finau has earned it like few before him. It’s hard to recall anyone who has been so singularly great at ignoring a very enduring negative storyline, even as that storyline repeats and repeats and repeats. As far as the origin of his optimism, Finau gives credit to his parents, and his mother, in particular, though he can no longer speak to her. Ravena Finau died in a car accident in 2011. Tony’s strength may be inherited, but it’s all his own.

The answer to the confounding question at the heart of his career could be as simple as wrongly conflating two different skill sets. Despite the apparent similarities between clutch play and the ability to bounce back—don’t they both involve mental strength?—they are in fact not the same. The concept of “clutch” is more immediate and requires responding to intense pressure within the space of a few critical moments. Arguably, it says little about what kind of person you are in the broad scope of life, and more about the accident of how you handle the chemical phenomenon of nerves. Resilience, on the other hand, is more of a choice—an outlook that you adhere to against the slower pressures of perception and other outside stress.

Finau is still working on “clutch,” but he has been giving us all a masterclass in resilience since 2016. He could have fallen prey to the vicious cycle—the endless questions, the sheer amount of near-misses which inspire more questions, and on and on—and by this point, most golfers would have.

Instead, here we are in 2021, the story is the same, and once again Finau has put himself in a position to win against the best players in the world. It’s a remarkable feat, and though we’re disinclined to notice something when it happens so often, it’s actually a feat that grows more remarkable with time. Every time you see the name Tony Finau atop the leaderboard, you’re seeing someone who refuses to be broken by an oppressive story, and someone who refuses to even believe in that story. That’s a difficult choice to make and a difficult path to follow. What else can you call it but courage?

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By Ryan Herrington
There’s never been any doubt just how much respect Tiger Woods has had among his peers in pro golf. You hear it whenever PGA Tour players talk about how Woods’ dominance inspired them to take up the game themselves. Or when they tell the story of the first time they got to meet Woods and what a momentous moment that often was in their careers.

But as the saying goes, a picture can speak 1,000 words. And so the visuals from Sunday at the WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession—where several players took the time to recognize Woods in the wake of his horrific car accident earlier in the week—reiterated what we all already knew: that Tiger Woods is a respected icon of the game who everybody hopes will recovery from his injuries and maybe even some day compete again on the PGA Tour.

Jason Day

Photo By: Ben Jared

Patrick Reed

Photo By: Mike Ehrmann

Tony Finau

Photo By: Ben Jared

Scottie Scheffler

Photo By: Sam Greenwood

Sebastian Munoz

Photo By: Ben Jared

Tommy Fleetwood

Photo By: Ben Jared

Cameron Champ

Photo By: Ben Jared

Annika Sorenstam

Photo By: Julio Aguilar

Phil Mickelson

Courtesy @ChampionsTour on Twitter

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Or, if John Lennon’s vision of tranquillity isn’t for you, picture yourself walking down the pale green fairways of western Florida, the sun brighter on the water than it is in the sky, everything about your day unnaturally comfortable to the neutral observer, as you, the man in black and gray and black again, barely break a sweat in winning a World Golf Championship. Close your eyes and imagine the feeling of flushing one iron after another, hitting fairway after fairway, while all around, the other best players in the world keep a respectful distance as you coast through a lovely afternoon.

There is reality, and there is perception, and the perception of Collin Morikawa’s three-shot win at the WGC-Workday Championship was one of total ease, a young and absurdly gifted golfer at the peak of his early powers, untouchable on his own plane of existence after shooting an 18-under 270 total at The Concession Golf Club. It was comfortable, and nothing so stressful, nothing with such high stakes, should be this comfortable. The victory, his fourth since turning professional 20 months ago, was a far cry from his PGA Championship win of last August, when a single stroke of genius separated him from a crowded leader board in the final hour. This was front-running at its finest, a no-doubter from 4 p.m. onward (that’s being generous), and it could have been even easier if not for an 11th-hour hiccup on Saturday.

Perhaps the final moment of drama came at the 11th green, when Morikawa, only 24 and now a four-time PGA Tour winner, made a testy 12-foot par putt to avoid the start of … well, something. Or maybe it was as late as the 17th hole, when Brooks Koepka ran his eagle putt 11 feet past the hole and closed the door on the last possibility of a real challenge.

In situations like these, it’s tempting to constantly analyze the things that could go wrong, to go on permanent scan searching for the moment when things will change. And sure, sometimes they do. And sure, asserting that in some cases they never could—that the rhythms of the day were set in stone—is hindsight, golf’s version of shooting an arrow and painting a bullseye around it. Still, to watch Morikawa on Sunday was to watch someone who was just too much better than everyone else to allow for any other outcome.

Of course, inside his own mind the picture wasn’t quite so serene.

“It’s never comfortable,” Morikawa said. “You want to get as comfortable as you can. … There’s a lot of pressure, a lot at stake heading into those last nine holes knowing where you sit. If you look back at my third round, it wasn’t the finish we wanted. I couldn’t have had that today. … We just kept going on shot after shot, giving myself some good looks at birdie. And overall we were just able to kind of wear out the field.”

Morikawa’s steady play is aided by the serenity of his caddie, J.J. Jakovic, a former NCAA D-II champion and player of the year. Mike Ehrmann

There were moments that made you doubt the coronation, briefly. On the par-5 13th hole, after walking past a green feather that he briefly mistook for a caterpillar, and with a bird squawking somewhere in the water to the left, Morikawa reached the green in two but nearly invited disaster with his eagle putt, which raced past the hole and stopped just short of rolling off the ominous front ridge. Maybe that would have re-written the script, but he saved par. And then on the 14th hole, it was right back to the perfectly struck irons, that element of his game which never seems to leave him even on days like Sunday when his new saw grip putting stroke isn’t quite as blazing as days past.

MORE: The future of the PGA Tour is in good hands with Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland and co.

It was a simple matter of plotting his way home after that, easy par after easy par after easy par, and the repeated call of “Nice shot, buddy” from playing partner Billy Horschel was the chorus of the late afternoon. In fact, Horschel is about as comfortable a pairing as you could ask for. He’s been known to show flashes of temper, but in a situation like this, nobody is more friendly or talkative, and he has a special way of lowering the temperature even in the cauldron of a final round.

Morikawa, however, doesn’t mind the chatter. He and his caddie, J.J. Jakovac, keep a constant dialogue throughout their round, and the rapport is a little reminiscent of Jordan Spieth and Michael Greller. Like Spieth, Morikawa seeks reassurance through analysis, and like Greller, Jakovac has the steady, positive bearing and the quick intelligence of someone who is ready to dispense that reassurance at a moment’s notice.

“I got super lucky having him as a caddie,” Morikawa said, “especially just starting off as a professional, to really get such a good guy. And he’s learning, he’s getting better. We’re doing it at the same pace, just trying to figure out how do we work well together and mesh well. You look at all the guys that win every single week, they have to work really well with their caddies. It’s a tough thing to find, but I’ve been very, very lucky to have him on the bag.”

In 20 months as a professional, Morikawa how has four PGA Tour wins, including a major and a WGC title. Mike Ehrmann

After another flawless approach and another par on 15, the two were already discussing the wind on 16 as they left the green, speaking in that terse code—“cross and a little help”—that’s the special province of a golfer and his caddie. (At this point, Horschel had just taken his shoes off to hit his approach from a marshy pond-side lie, and was beginning to understand that the dream of winning was out of reach.) On 16, Morikawa didn’t watch his tee shot—there was no need—made another simple two-putt par, and erased the last vestiges of doubt away with a perfect 315-yard drive to the right fairway on 17.

Now the sun was barely above the pines, and after showing some dissatisfaction with his final tee shot, Horschel broke the last bit of tension.

“Forward,” he said, getting a smile out of Morikawa. “It went forward. That’s all J.J. wanted, is forward.”

Forward was plenty by then, and though his final approach of the day was one of his weakest, he made the up-and-down short right of the green to preserve the three-shot margin, a three-under 69 secured. A wide, professional smile, a wave of the hat, and an appreciative clap to the small gallery completed the performance, the comfortable finish of a player whose private doubts never made it out of his head.

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By Shane Ryan
To nobody’s surprise, Tiger Woods’ car crash and subsequent emergency surgery continued to be the biggest story at The Concession Golf Club, site of this week’s WGC-Workday Championship. Justin Thomas appeared before the media on Tuesday moments after the news became public and appeared to be fighting off tears when asked about his friend. Across the sports world, athletes of all stripes reacted to the accident on social media.

On Wednesday, players scheduled to meet with the press largely fielded questions about Woods, their emotions, and the place Tiger holds in the game.

Rory McIlroy praised Tiger effusively, but appeared to resist what felt, at times, like a funereal atmosphere.

“You say ‘pay tribute to him,’ ” McIlroy said, responding to one reporter. “He’s not gone. … He’s been in a very bad accident. We’re very lucky that he’s still here. I feel like we should pay tribute to him every day for being on the PGA Tour and what he’s done for golf.”

MORE: The latest on Tiger Woods’ accident, injuries

Nor would McIlroy buy into the idea that it might be difficult for him—or any other player—to compartmentalize the news and play competitive golf this week.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I mean, he’s here, he’s fine. He’s got some pretty bad injuries, but he’s going to be OK. … I was looking at some of the coverage yesterday and they were talking as if he was gone. It’s like, ‘he was in a car crash.’ It was really bad, he’s very fortunate to be here, which is great, but I mean, that’s the extent of it. So no … it’s obviously going to take a bunch of attention away from this golf tournament, but that’s nothing to do with us, that doesn’t fall on us, and we don’t really feel that when we’re playing anyway.”

McIlroy went on to say that Tiger’s return to win the Masters in 2019 was the most impressive comeback he’d ever seen in sports, more so because as someone who had grown closer to him, he knew the full extent of how low he’d been in 2017. But when it comes to another comeback, he appeared doubtful.

“He’s not Superman,” McIlroy said. “He’s a human being at the end of the day, and he’s already been through so much.”

MORE: Tiger Woods’ car crash adds a cruel twist to an unreal saga

On Tuesday afternoon, Bryson DeChambeau struck an opposite note, saying, “from everything that I know about Tiger, I’m sure he’ll recover and he’ll do everything in his power to come back, I’m sure he will. He’s an amazing human being that has done incredible things. I mean, you look back to Ben Hogan … and what he was able do after that. I have no doubt in my mind he’ll be back. Take him a little longer, I’m sure, but from my perspective he’s one of the most impressive human beings I’ve ever met.”

Xander Schauffele spoke with Tiger last weekend at the Genesis Invitational, where Woods served as tournament host, and remembers him in good spirits. He spoke optimistically about his next MRI, which had been scheduled for this week, and the future. The memory of that conversation made the news hit harder for Schauffele, who, unlike McIlroy, anticipated a difficult week for the players on the course.

“Yesterday was a really weird day,” he said. “I think the mood was very sombre on the putting green … everyone’s head was down. It was a very gloomy day for us golfers, and I think everyone kind of felt the same way.”

Schauffele said Tuesday at The Concession Golf Club after hearing the news on Tiger “was a very gloomy day for us golfers, and I think everyone kind of felt the same way.”Donald Miralle

As far as putting the feelings aside, he pointed to the best example of all—Tiger himself.

“If you want to talk about compartmentalizing,” he said, “I think he was the best at it. We all kind of learned from him. He played some of the best golf with so much crazy stuff going on in his life, injuries and all kinds of crazy stuff. … It’s kind of strange to share the same idol as everyone else out here, but we all do for a good reason. He is the reason a lot of us are playing golf and the reason a lot of us do what we do.”

Will Zalatoris, still just 24, said that the news made him feel “numb,” and made him think of the “tremendous gratitude” he and other young players felt toward him. He’s only met Tiger once, in a group setting, but can still recount the experience in great detail.

“I was actually playing a college event up in Oregon,” he said, “and Notah Begay was one of the speakers doing a roundtable, and Notah called him on the phone and they were trying to get ahold of him and Tiger said, ‘What do you want?’ Notah said, ‘Just want to say hi, sitting here doing this little Q and A.’ Next thing you know Tiger walks up from the back of the room mic’d up and he says, ‘Well, I’m right here, ask me anything you want.’ Of course everyone’s absolutely insane.”

MORE: Tiger Woods’ injuries through the years

Dustin Johnson was on the back nine at Concession during Tuesday’s practice round when he heard the news, and emphasized that even if Tiger never picked up another club in his life, his influence would continue to be profound.

“He’s such a big part of the PGA Tour and what it’s become today,” Johnson said. “Once he’s not playing anymore, definitely the game will miss him, but I feel like he’ll always somehow be around and involved with the game.”

Rahm said all tour pros should be grateful for what Woods has done for the game during his career, regardless of whether or not he might play again. Kevin C. Cox

Like many on social media, Jon Rahm’s mind went straight to Kobe Bryant when he heard the news, and he echoed his fellow players as he expressed gratitude that despite the severe injuries, Tiger was still alive.

“Hopefully his body’s still good,” Rahm said. “I don’t necessarily need to see him on a golf course again. I would love to, but I just hope he can live a normal life from here on. He’s given everything to this game, he’s done so much for us, and every day that we’re all out here is going to be a memory of Tiger Woods.

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