Phil Mickelson, Céline Boutier, Alex Cejka, Lee Hodges and J.T. Poston (clockwise from prime left).
Getty Images
Welcome again to the Monday Finish, the place we’re beginning to assume we would not qualify for this yr’s FedEx Cup Playoffs. Let’s get to it!
FIRST OFF THE TEE
When successful’s sufficient.
When we rejoice golfers successful tournaments there’s at all times an inclination to venture ahead. The win itself isn’t sufficient; our intuition is to make it the start of a development. One win will quickly change into three, there’s loads extra to return, that is simply the beginning, and so forth.
So it’s good when a win is so clearly significant sufficient that it might stand absolutely and utterly by itself. Enter Céline Boutier at this week’s Amundi Evian Championship. The 29-year-old turned the primary French participant to win the game’s solely French main championship, fulfilling a longtime dream. So in her winner’s interview, when the inevitable query got here — what does this imply for the remainder of your season — Boutier was proper to close it down.
“Oh, I think nothing else matters, now that I have this trophy,” she stated. “So I’m really good for the rest of the year.”
WINNERS
Who received the week?
French Golf
For the second consecutive week we noticed a runaway golfer win a significant championship by six strokes. But not like in Brian Harman‘s victory at Royal Liverpool, Boutier had the house crowd on her aspect.
“I was definitely very nervous going into the first tee, but I tried to frame it in a positive way,” Boutier stated. “I feel like I’ve played this tournament seven times already and I have never been able to handle the pressure well.”
She birdied No. 1. Then she birdied No. 2. She birdied No. 5. And she by no means appeared again.
Welsh Weather
The weekend climate at Royal Porthcawl — arguably Wales’ finest course — made issues further spicy for the lads’s Senior Open Championship. Finding the golf green appeared onerous. Finding the opening appeared even more durable. Scores ballooned; Alex Cejka and Padraig Harrington wound up in a playoff at 5 over par. His take reminded us why hyperlinks golf guidelines (at the very least, guidelines to observe from dwelling):
“I played on the European Tour for many, many, many years over here, but I forgot how difficult and how different the golf game is,” he stated. “Being 20 years within the States and taking part in in sunshine and on straightforward programs when it’s excellent climate — then you definately come right here, everyone’s struggling.
“I’m just glad — I think we all are glad that it’s over. It was a brutal week. Even the caddies, everybody is drained. Everybody is sore. But I’m glad it’s over and I’m here.”
Alabama Golf
What higher method to reply a six-shot win from a University of Georgia Tour professional than a seven-shot win from a professional from the University of Alabama? Okay, no person goes to mistake the 3M Open for the Open Championship, nor Lee Hodges‘ win for Brian Harman’s. But man, what a win it was! Hodges led wire-to-wire and, when pressed ever so barely on Sunday, responded by striping two separate fairway woods to arrange eagles.
He capped issues off with a wedge to kick-in vary, ending off a spherical of four-under 67, seven strokes away from the sphere. Respect.
(Also shoutout to Alabama alum Davis Shore, who received PGA Tour Canada’s Osprey Valley Open!)
ALMOST-WINNERS
Nearly their week.
J.T. Poston’s nightmare 8
The nearest golfer to Lee Hodges on Sunday was J.T. Poston. That was true geographically — the 2 comprised the ultimate pairing — but additionally on the leaderboard, the place Poston did greater than anybody else to push Hodges to the end. In truth, Poston stepped to the 18th tee simply three pictures off the lead. Given the unstable nature of the watery finisher, loads of situations have been nonetheless in play. We simply didn’t see this one coming.
Poston’s tee shot settled on the financial institution down the suitable aspect, safely above the water’s floor however effectively beneath his toes. His solely probability on the win was a miraculous eagle and he had a snug cushion to play with; third place was nonetheless three pictures additional again. Why not give it a strive?
To Poston’s credit score, give it a strive is precisely what he did. He unsheathed his hybrid, assumed a squatting stance and took a rip. Unfortunately the ball got here out low, because it tends to when it’s that far beneath your toes. Poston rooted for it to go. Every assembled fan did, too. But then one thing unusual occurred: the ball didn’t fairly have the peak to hold to the inexperienced and as an alternative ricocheted off the stone wall guarding its entrance. The carom despatched it hovering within the sky, perplexing each Poston and the broadcasters. But a pant from the group redirected their consideration: it had really landed on the large floating 3M signal within the water earlier than sliding off the sting to its watery grave.
Any probability on the win was gone. That was okay; it’d been an extended shot anyway. Now it was time to concentrate on securing solo second. Poston dropped within the fairway, laid as much as 100 yards and settled in to hit the inexperienced, two-putt and be on his approach.
You can already predict what occurred as an alternative. Poston’s method got here up brief and left, leaving him within the fairway some 30 toes from the opening. He drew putter from there however his effort got here up 5 toes brief. And then, effectively, yeah. He tapped in for 8 and a three-way tie for second. Poston hadn’t made a bogey in 55 holes, and technically he nonetheless hadn’t made bogey. But now he was strolling off with a costly triple.
CBS
Just what did it price? Solo second would have earned him $850,200, whereas a three-way tie for second made him $590,200. Nobody is weeping for Poston clearing over half 1,000,000 for every week’s work, but it surely’s nonetheless $260,000 lower than he would have made with double bogey or higher. Arguably extra vital, although, are the factors he sacrificed. Poston would have earned 300 FedEx Cup factors for solo second. Instead, with the cut up factors, he earned 208.3.
Why is {that a} large deal? Because Poston, like lots of his friends, is combating for a spot within the prime 50 within the year-end FedEx Cup standings, a cutoff that may earn him a spot in subsequent yr’s designated occasions. He entered 3M Open week in sixtieth place. Now he’s forty ninth. But solo second would have yielded 91.7 extra factors, leaving him thirty eighth as an alternative, effectively inside the highest 50 cutoff. From there he might have set his sights on the the highest 30 and the Tour Championship slightly than specializing in who was nipping at his heels.
Again, credit score to Poston for going for the win! We love that. But it harm to observe what occurred subsequent and I had neither emotional nor monetary funding in his exhibiting. It simply felt like he deserved higher.
(Martin Laird and Kevin Streelman, then again, should have relished the prospect at a number of dozen further factors as their T3s improved to T2s…)
Brooke Henderson’s title protection
A yr in the past Brooke Henderson received the Evian to earn the second main title of her profession. This yr? She didn’t repeat however did the subsequent neatest thing, triumphing over everybody besides Boutier. Were it not for Boutier, actually, we’d have witnessed an thrilling end with a dozen golfers inside three strokes of the lead and Henderson heroically on prime. Instead it’s the third runner-up end of her main championship profession and, remarkably, the fifteenth top-10. She’s additionally trending upward at majors this yr, going from T23 to T15 to twelfth to solo second. That solely leaves one spot for enchancment on the Women’s British Open…
Padraig Harrington’s comeback
Padraig Harrington rallied with a two-putt birdie on the 72nd gap to power a playoff in opposition to Cejka however was in the end let down by an ungainly lie, a poor chip and a runner-up end on the second playoff gap. He was left pondering two issues. The first was some dismay about his eagle putt on the ultimate inexperienced, which lacked the tempo to problem the opening.
“I hit a tentative put on the 72nd hole, which, look — you’ve got a chance to win the tournament. You’ve got to hit a great putt, and at the end of the day, I was trying to not hit a bad putt and I should have been trying to hit a great putt,” he stated.
The second factor? He was bummed about his chipping, which let him down all week however most acutely in further time.
“I chipped really poorly all week,” he stated. “All week, I had a terrible time. I don’t think I’ve ever played a tournament where I’ve chipped this badly. I took several double-bogeys where I would normally be taking pars. So it was a bad week with the chipping. So disappointing there. It happens.”
NOT-WINNERS
Not fairly their week.
Justin Thomas’ Cup possibilities
I’m not saying he doesn’t have an opportunity at making the Ryder Cup staff; Justin Thomas actually has the advantage of the doubt in relation to his presence on the U.S. aspect. But he did himself no additional favors with a missed minimize on the 3M Open. (Fellow Ryder Cup hopeful Cameron Young MC’d at two underneath par alongside him.) Now he must work simply to earn a spot within the FedEx Cup playoffs; he’s sitting 79th within the standings and solely the highest 70 make it to Memphis. That means we’ll be seeing a decided Thomas in North Carolina this week.
Bad-weather beatdowns
It’s one factor to endure by way of the weather if you’re, say, Cejka, successful the third senior main of your profession, and even Harrington, combating to the end. It’s a complete different factor when your sport deserts you within the distress, like beloved Scotsman Colin Montgomerie, who made three doubles and a triple on Sunday en path to an 88 that despatched him from T20 to 68th. Patrik Sjöland nonetheless scored one stroke increased, making simply three pars en path to 89.
WHAT WE’RE READING
Phil’s ideas.
You received’t be shocked to listen to that Phil Mickelson has an opinion on a growth within the golf world. You may be mildly shocked to listen to the specifics of this one, although. Mickelson took to Twitter (Now known as X, I assume? Whatever.) in response to returning commissioner Jay Monahan‘s memo to PGA Tour players. Let’s break every of the 4 sentences in Mickelson’s tweet for correct comprehension.
1. “What a colossal waste of time.”
Yowza! Them’s combating phrases. And they’re phrases that sign a pointy distinction to Mickelson’s suggestions on the day the PGA Tour/Saudi PIF settlement was first introduced, when he took to the identical app to proclaim it an “awesome day” with a smiley face. Something’s modified!
2. “Not a single player on LIV wants to play PGA Tour.”
Also combating phrases! And a reasonably important growth. I’m undecided that is one hundred pc true — Patrick Reed is amongst those that has just lately expressed curiosity in taking part in Tour occasions — but it surely’s attention-grabbing perspective. Jon Rahm stated one thing comparable forward of the Open, suggesting that LIV execs could not really need to return. So what occurs if a pathway again to the Tour opens up and no LIV guys need to take it?
3. “It would require a public apology and restitution to LIV players for paying millions to Clout media to disparage all of us.”
This is the place Mickelson loses me. Is he truthful to name out the hypocrisy of the Tour condemning LIV’s Saudi funding solely to strike a cope with the identical funding supply a yr later? Absolutely! But I’m undecided what the “millions to clout media” refers to, precisely. There’s a way of persecution from lots of LIV’s prime stars — they really feel like they’ve been criticized too harshly for leaving — and that frustration tends to get redirected in direction of the media. I’m undecided who Mickelson is referring to right here; maybe his remark is aimed on the most vocal LIV critics within the media, people like Eamon Lynch and Brandel Chamblee. But there’s nothing conspiratorial happening and people guys aren’t being paid hundreds of thousands to disparage LIV. They’re simply saying and writing what they consider. I assume I’d like some extra specifics from Mr. Mickelson right here as a result of this feels disingenuous.
4. “A better topic is future sanctions for the many players who now come to LIV”
Now we’re again to an attention-grabbing hypothetical. It’s nonetheless not clear if the PGA Tour and the PIF will attain the subsequent stage of their settlement. But whether or not they discover decision or not, it feels more and more doubtless with each passing day that LIV will at the very least proceed into 2024. And as a result of some LIV execs’ contracts finish at this season’s conclusion, there will likely be spots out there. Will PGA Tour execs be lining as much as fill them? If so, who will they be?
MONEY TALK
A million-dollar dilemma.
In the LIV period it feels virtually quaint to speak concerning the paltry sum of one million {dollars}, however let me be the primary to remind you {that a} seven-figure examine is definitely nonetheless fairly some huge cash! For 1,000,000 bucks you possibly can purchase a foursome at Pebble Beach day by day for a whole yr. Alternatively you possibly can simply purchase a golf course; we discovered listings for effectively underneath 1,000,000 in a half-dozen states here. One million {dollars} nonetheless travels.
And that’s what Stephan Jaeger almost secured on Sunday.
If you don’t know Jaeger, he’s a 34-year-old German professional with $4.5 million in profession PGA Tour earnings. He’s by no means completed within the prime 30 in a significant however has spent the final couple years as a aggressive member of the PGA Tour. He entered this week at No. 61 within the FedEx Cup standings. But he additionally entered this week at No. 1 within the Aon Risk-Reward standings.
What is that and why is it vital? Here are the fundamentals: Every match the Aon Risk-Reward Challenge picks one gap. Every participant robotically submits his two finest scores from the week on that gap and people are put in direction of a season-long common. At the top of the season the professional with the bottom common takes dwelling a cool million. The remainder of the highest 5 coming into this week — Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay — are all securely contained in the FedEx Cup’s prime 25 within the FedEx Cup. But Jaeger was an outlier on the prime, coming into the 3M at -.889 strokes underneath par, taking part in 45 “challenge holes” in 40 underneath par. Talk about selecting your spots! Over 4 days he wanted two birdies on the par-5 18th at TPC Twin Cities to keep up his lead.
When he made birdie on 18 within the first spherical it put him on the precipice of an attention-grabbing dilemma: If he made another birdie, ought to he skip the Wyndham Championship and gather the $1 million prize?
Hatton, his closest competitor, wasn’t slated to play Wyndham anyway. Nobody else within the discipline was shut sufficient to have a practical statistical probability of catching him. And at No. 61 within the FedEx Cup, he’d be unlikely to slip all the best way exterior the highest 70…
He’d need to at the very least give it some thought, proper?!
But then Jaeger made par on Friday. He made bogey on Saturday. And on Sunday, regardless of leaving himself simply 227 yards left from the golf green, he discovered the greenside bunker and didn’t stand up and down, strolling away with a disappointing par and robbing us of a weird risk-reward calculation about whether or not or to not play the ultimate occasion of the Tour’ common season.
Now Jaeger is right down to No. 64 within the FedEx Cup, which implies he’s obtained loads to play for at Sedgefield Country Club. A berth within the playoffs, for one factor. But he’ll be looking an eagle and a birdie at No. 15*, too, which by my unofficial calculation can be sufficient to get him that million {dollars} anyway.
*Assuming they use No. 15 once more, like they did final yr
NEWS FROM SEATTLE
Monday Finish HQ.
I ended dwelling in Massachusetts for a pair days following the Open. I obtained out for a sweltering 18 at Taconic with my brother and two buddies, ending as darkness fell. This isn’t information from Seattle a lot as it’s information from dwelling: some issues are timeless, and taking part in golf with my brother and my buddies ’til it’s darkish? That connects me at 31 to me at 13. Here’s to extra.
WHAT’S NEXT
3 issues to observe this week.
1. Phil Mickelson speaks?
I’m undecided he’ll say something in any respect however LIV is again in motion on the Greenbrier. That means a number of extra possibilities for LIV’s highest-profile participant to develop on his newest PGA Tour-PIF musings. The similar goes for his friends and for his boss, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who has been a fixture at LIV occasions and holds some important particulars on any deal’s progress.
2. LPGA Links Szn
That’s proper, gang: This week is the Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links. Next week’s the Women’s British Open at Walton Heath. The week after that the LPGA heads to Northern Ireland to play Castlerock. Your morning links-golf-watching routine continues.
3. Viktor Hovland.
Golf’s happiest professional, Viktor Hovland, is again on trip in northern Norway. Watch the second video with out grinning. Just strive.
We’ll see you subsequent week!
(*8*)
