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Morning 9: Tiger injury update | Rory: TGL is more NBA than LIV | Nelly’s new putting coach

Published

3 weeks ago

Nov 8, 2023

Ben Alberstadt

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: [email protected]

Good Wednesday morning, golf fans, as we gear up for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

1. Woods on ankle, leg

AP report…”Tiger Woods says he is pain-free when it comes to his right ankle that was fused in April. It’s the rest of leg that remains a work in progress.”

“And there’s no indication when he’ll get back to work on the golf course.”

“My ankle is fine. Where they fused my ankle, I have absolutely zero issue whatsoever,” Woods said Tuesday. “That pain is completely gone. It’s the other areas that have been compensated for.”

“He compared it with when he had fusion surgery on his lower back. He said the L5 and S1 vertebrae were fine.”

“But all the surrounding areas is where I had all my problems and I still do,” he said. “So you fix one, others have to become more hypermobile to get around it, and it can lead to some issues.”

Full piece.

2. Tiger’s TGL team announced

From a press release…”TGL presented by SoFi, the new tech-forward, prime time team golf league developed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TMRW Sports in partnership with the PGA TOUR, today announced the formation of Jupiter Links Golf Club, the sixth and final TGL team, with an ownership group led by Tiger Woods’ TGR Ventures and David Blitzer. Additionally, Woods is the first TGL player to be announced on Jupiter Links GC’s roster. The announcement was made today by Woods, Blitzer, and Mike McCarley, CEO, TMRW Sports and TGL.”

“Through its use of technology, TGL is a modern twist of traditional golf and ultimately will make the sport I love more accessible. Having the opportunity to not only compete, but also own a team to represent Jupiter is an exciting next chapter for me. I expect Jupiter Links GC to showcase the golf culture of my hometown as we compete against the best players in the world,” said Woods.

3. Tiger caddies for Charlie en route to top-20 finish

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”The Notah Begay III Boys Junior Golf National Championship wrapped up on Monday at Koasati Pines Golf Club in Allen Parish, Louisiana with Misha Golod (16-18), Lucky Cruz (14-15), Maverick Midthun (12-13) and Kai Molina (10-11) taking home titles.”

“Golod’s victory was his second straight at this event, as the 16-year-old Ukrainian won the 14-15 division last year. Golod, who has lived in Florida since war broke out in his native country, is expected to sign with North Carolina when the Class of 2024’s early signing period begins on Wednesday.”

“The other story from the 54-hole championship was Charlie Woods, who closed in 3-under 68 to finish T-17 in the 14-15 division with his 15-time major-winning dad, Tiger Woods, caddying for all three rounds.”

“Charlie ended up at 2 over for the event, 13 shots back of Cruz – and Tiger walked and carried his son’s bag the whole way.”

Full piece.

4. McIlroy on TGL: “More NBA than LIV”

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”McIlroy compared TGL’s concept on Monday not to anything else in golf but rather to professional basketball.”

“I think when it’s been branded as simulator golf that does it a bit of disservice,” McIlroy said. “It’s going to be a lot more than that. … We’re trying to bring golf into the 21st century. I think a lot of people will connect with the fact that we’re playing indoors. It’ll look nothing like traditional golf. It’ll look more like an NBA game hopefully. Sort of trying to give people in the arena that court side experience.”

As it relates to LIV, McIlroy added: “I don’t want to sit here and talk about LIV, but I think you can make an argument that they haven’t innovated enough away from what traditional golf is, or they’ve innovated too much that they’re not traditional golf. They’re sort of caught in no-man’s land. Where [TGL] is so far removed from what we know golf to be.”

Full piece.

5. Butterfield Bermuda picks

Who our betting expert Matt Vincenzi likes….

Ben Griffin +2500 (FanDuel)

Last year, Ben Griffin slept on the 54-hole lead at Port Royal but struggled in the final round, shooting 72 and slipping to a tie for third place. The 27-year-old came agonizingly close once again a few weeks ago at the Sanderson Farms Championship but missed an eight-foot putt to win the event and eventually lost on the first playoff hole.

Griffin played well once again last week at the World Wide Technology Championship, finishing 13th. The strong performance should increase his confidence as he heads back to a course he absolutely loves. In the field, Griffin ranks 8th in Strokes Gained: Approach, 11th in Strokes Gained: Putting on Bermudagrass and 21st in Strokes Gained: Short Game. His ability to score on shorter courses make him an ideal fit for Port Royal.

With a few frustrating Sunday’s early in his career, I believe Griffin has developed the necessary scar tissue to win the next time he finds himself deep in contention.

Taylor Pendrith +2500 (DraftKings)

Taylor Pendrith came close to winning this event back in 2021 when he had the 54-hole lead before shooting a 76 on Sunday. The Canadian is in excellent from coming into the 2023 version of the event. He’s finished 3rd and 15th in his last two starts at the Shriners and World Wide Technology Championship.

Despite being a long hitter, Pendrith has thrived on shorter courses throughout his career. He has top-20 finishes at Pebble Beach, Sedgefield CC, Port Royal and Sea Island. In addition to being short, those courses are all coastal tracks, which the 32-year-old clearly is fond of.

Pendrith is extremely talented but still winless as a PGA Tour player. a weak field on a course where he’s had success is an ideal spot for his breakthrough victory.

Full piece.

6. Nelly working with new putting coach

Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols…”Nelly Korda comes to Annika Sorenstam’s namesake event on the LPGA hoping to do something the LPGA legend accomplished twice in her career: win an event three years in a row.”

“Korda was grinding on the practice green Tuesday with putting instructor Eric Dietrich. The pair first began working together around the Solheim Cup, and she has since switched her grip and her putter. Korda said she feels more organized after making the move to Dietrich.

“Felt like I just have a plan now, or I have tendencies that I know about that I can always go into a drill and kind of work on those tendencies,” said Korda.

“Where before I was kind of blind going to a putting green. I did it myself.”

Full piece.

7. Donald 2025?

Tom D’Angelo for Palm Beach Post…”The golfers are not the only ones endorsing Luke Donald to return as captain of the European Ryder Cup team.”

“Four former European Ryder Cup captains were in the field at the TimberTech Championship on the Old Course at Broken Sound, one of them, Irishman Padraig Harrington, winning the event.

“And all four share the same sentiments of the players who started chanting “two more years” after soundly defeating the United States in Rome, 16½-11½, five weeks ago.

“The Europeans were expressing their desire for Donald to return for a second run as captain in 2025, when the Ryder Cup moves back to the U.S. and will be played at Bethpage Black in New York. Donald is showing interest in returning. The decision now is in the hands of the European Ryder Cup committee.”

Full Piece.

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Morning 9: Cantlay hat deal runs out | Ryder Cup pros defend Zach | Stats of the year

Published

6 days ago

Nov 22, 2023

Ben Alberstadt

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: [email protected]

Good Wednesday morning, golf fans, as we approach Thanksgiving Day.

1. Pat’s hat

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”According to DealBook, Goldman Sachs opted not to renew its contract with Cantlay, the world’s fifth-ranked golfer, who it signed to a three-year deal in 2020. Cantlay initially repped Goldman’s online consumer banking platform, Marcus, on his headwear but more recently has featured just the Goldman name.”

“…This, of course, isn’t the first news about Pat’s hat. Cantlay made headlines a couple months ago when rumors swirled that he was refusing to wear a hat at the Ryder Cup out of protest for not being paid to compete in the international team competition. Cantlay denied the claims, instead saying that he wasn’t donning a hat because the team’s headwear didn’t fit well.”

“Cantlay also was supposed to play the Hero World Challenge in two weeks in the Bahamas, but he was taken off the final commitment list along with friend Xander Schauffele.”

Full piece.

2. LPGA stats of the year

Kent Paisley for Golf Digest…

“83,962…Approximate total mileage between all 35 LPGA events this season, including the Hanwha LifePlus International Crown in San Francisco and the Solheim Cup in Spain. For a frame of reference, that dizzying amount is three trips around the earth’s circumference (or almost six times as far as Forest Gump ran during his five-time trip across the United States).”

“25.95…The average age, in years, of winners on the LPGA in 2023, down from 27.32 in 2022. Only two players 30 or older won this year, with Ashleigh Buhai (34.08) at the ShopRite LPGA Classic alongside Yang (34.31). The youngest winner was Alexa Pano, who turned 19 the day she claimed the title at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in August. Pano was one of two teens to win in 2023, joining Chanetee Wanassean at the Cambia Portland Classic.”

Full piece.

3. Smith’s Olympic hopes

Evin Priest for Golf Digest…”Cameron Smith has conceded he may have to travel to the far corners of Asia in 2024 to keep his dreams of playing golf in next summer’s Olympics in Paris alive.”

“One of the consequences of Smith’s 2022 defection to LIV Golf—which had its application to receive Official World Golf Rankings points for its no-cut, 54-hole events denied in October—has been his plummet down the OWGR. The problem is, the Olympics uses the OWGR as a basis to determine who qualifies to compete in its event.”

“When Australian star Smith joined LIV in the fall of 2022, he was ranked No. 2 in the World and the reigning Open champion with six-time PGA Tour winner to his credit. Now, he’s 18th—and only after a runner-up the previous week in the Asian Tour’s Hong Kong Open.”

Full piece.

4. Hubbard sets mark for most starts in a season

Golf Digest’s Tod Leonard…”As strange as it is to consider, the PGA Tour campaign that ended on Sunday at the RSM Classic stretched all the way back to the first round of the Fortinet Championship on Sept. 15, 2022. Over that entire period, there were 51 weeks in which tour events were staged, sometimes with two being held per week.”

“That is an incredibly long “season,” one that was necessitated by the tour tweaking its schedule in ways big and small, and ultimately going back to a calendar-year schedule that begins in 2024.”

“…That all fed straight into the insatiable desire to play and travel for tour veteran Mark Hubbard. So much so, that the 34-year-old set a PGA Tour record for the most events played in one season as Hubbard racked up a whopping 39 starts over 15 months.”

Full piece.

5. PGA Tour stats of the year

Justin Ray for PGATour.com…

“Rahm’s improved approach play…”Through the first several months of 2023, there was nobody playing better golf than Jon Rahm. At The Sentry, Rahm put together the biggest final-round comeback to win of the season, starting that Sunday seven shots off the lead. When Rahm won his third tournament of the season at The Genesis Invitational, it was the fastest in a calendar year that a player had won three times since Johnny Miller in 1975.”

“Rahm brought that incredible form with him to Georgia in April for the year’s first major championship. With his victory there, Rahm became the first European player to win both the U.S. Open and the Masters. Not that the week got off to the best start – the Spaniard made double-bogey on the opening hole of the tournament, becoming the first player to do that the week of a Masters win since Sam Snead in 1952. It helped to have one of the best ball striking performances in the history of the Tournament: Rahm hit 85 percent of his fairways and 72 percent of his greens in regulation, benchmarks not dually reached by a Masters winner since Ben Crenshaw in 1995.”

Full Piece.

6. Rory, Shane, Luke and MJ

AP report…”The Ryder Cup celebration didn’t end in Rome, at least not for Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy.”

“In the second part of an interview with The Irish Independent, they talk about their flight home to South Florida and then McIlroy inviting Lowry over for lunch the next day. A bottle of wine was opened. And then another. And lunch turned into dinner.”

“Captain Luke Donald soon joined them, as did Michael Jordan.”

“Rory and Luke started texting him, and the next thing we’re sitting there drinking with Michael Jordan, just the four of us,” Lowry said. “He’s very much a pro-USA guy. I think it was the first Ryder Cup he hadn’t been to in 25 years, so we gave him a good slagging.”

“McIlroy said Jordan stayed from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Among the topics: Pay for play, of course.”

“He told a story about the U.S. basketball team, the Dream Team at the Olympics in ’92. ‘Do you not think I could have got paid to play in the Olympics?’” he said. ”‘These people are missing the point of what it means.’

“He saw the long-term value of winning an Olympics, and said he ended up doing way better than if he had taken money there and then.”

Full Piece.

7. Ryder Cup pros jump to defense of Zach

Tom D’Angelo for Palm Beach Post…”Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele spoke to The Palm Beach Post last Friday about the disappointing week at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome. Europe dominated the U.S., winning 16.5-11.5.”

“The three players were attending the opening of Panther National, a course co-designed by Thomas and Jack Nicklaus.”

“The No. 1 regret he should have is we should have played better,” Thomas said. “We all told him that, ‘Zach, it’s easy to look back after a week where they just played monumentally better and we did not play well. It’s easy to say you should have changed things.’

“We just should have played better for him.”

“Fowler said he had no complaints about how Johnson handled the team.”

Full Piece.

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Morning 9: Aberg wins RSM Classic | Azinger out at NBC | Tiger in for Hero

Published

1 week ago

Nov 20, 2023

Ben Alberstadt

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: [email protected]

Good Monday morning, golf fans, as Tiger Woods confirmed his competitive comeback over the weekend.

1. Aberg dazzles to win RSM Classic

AP report…” Ludvig Åberg added to his astonishing second half of the year when he closed with a second straight 9-under 61 on Sunday to win the RSM Classic, his first PGA Tour title to go along with a European tour victory and a winning debut in the Ryder Cup.”

And to think the 24-year-old Swede was still at Texas Tech six months ago.

“Beyond my dreams,” Aberg said. “It’s been six months I’ll never forget.”

Not only did he win the final event of the PGA Tour season, but he did it in record fashion. His final birdie allowed Aberg to tie the 72-hole scoring record on the PGA Tour, matching the 253 of Justin Thomas at the 2017 Sony Open.

Full piece.

2. DPWT: Hojgaard claims championship with strong finish

AP report…”Nicolai Hojgaard claimed the biggest title of his career Sunday after running off five straight birdies down the stretch to win the season-ending World Tour Championship by two strokes.”

“The 22-year-old Dane delivered a clinic in iron play to set up close-range birdies from Nos. 13-17, shoot 8-under 64 and end the finale to the DP World Tour on 21-under par.”

“That finish took Hojgaard past Tommy Fleetwood and FedExCup champion Viktor Hovland, two of the players who acted as mentors to him in his first Ryder Cup last month.”

Full piece.

3. Amy Yang wins first LPGA title on U.S. soil

AP report…”Amy Yang picked a lucrative time for her first LPGA title on American soil.”

Yang birdied her last two holes for a 6-under 66 to win the CME Group Tour Championship and claim the $2 million prize, matching the largest in women’s golf.

The victory was her fifth on the LPGA Tour, the previous four coming in Asia.

Full piece.

4. Q-School update

PGATour.com staff with the capsules of notable making it through — in addition to medalists Bryson Nimmer, Connor Burgess, Mark Goetz, KK Limbhasut, and Danny Walker

Luke Long matched the week’s low score with a final-round 62 to finish tied for second at 14 under. The University of Houston alum played the 2021-22 season at the University of Arkansas as a graduate transfer, earning second-team All-SEC honors, before turning pro … Two natives of McCook, Nebraska, advanced at the Savannah site. Brandon Crick finished T2 at 14 under, perhaps the beginning of a redemption story after ending the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour season at No. 76 on the Points List, missing full status by a single position. Crick’s fellow McCook native Noah Hofman finished T12 at 8 under, draining a 4-footer for par at the 72nd hole to advance on the number … Perhaps the wildest bubble story went to Oklahoma State alum Zach Bauchou, the college roommate of Viktor Hovland, who finished with a triple bogey at No. 17 and a double bogey at No. 18, advancing squarely on the number at 8 under … Dakotas Tour legend Andre Metzger, 41, carded a final-round 65 to post 9-under 279 and advance with one shot to spare.

Steven Fisk ended up one shot back at 18 under. Fisk spent 2023 on the Korn Ferry Tour where he notched one top-10 finish at the Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank … Alex Schaake fired rounds of 66-66 to close things out and staged quite the comeback after opening with a 5-over 77. He climbed nine spots on the leaderboard in the final round to earn a spot at Final Stage … Marcus Byrd earned one of the last spots at Final Stage. Byrd won four times this season on the APGA Tour, a record. He played four events on the PGA TOUR this season including The Genesis Invitational where he was the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption winner.

Kristoffer Ventura continues his road back to the PGA TOUR. Ventura finished at 9 under, two shots back of the medalist honor. He won twice in just 11 starts on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019 to earn a PGA TOUR card. He was back on the Korn Ferry Tour this season and notched two top-10s … Alvaro Ortiz advanced to Final Stage despite starting the week with a 1-over 73. Ortiz played a full season on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2022 … There were plenty of solid comebacks after some high opening-round scores in difficult conditions. Caleb Hicks, who just turned pro this year after graduating from the University of Texas-Arlington, made it through after a first-round 76; he rallied to a 5-under 283 total. Dillon Board, who turned pro in 2016 but has yet to make a Korn Ferry Tour start, opened with a 74; he also finished at 5-under 283. And Dylan Meyer, who made his pro debut at the 2018 U.S. Open where he finished T20, opened with a 78 but kept clawing back; he closed in 6-under 66 to advance on the number at 4 under … Also making it to Final Stage was John Pak, who swept college golf’s Player of the Year awards in 2021, winning the Fred Haskins, Ben Hogan, and Jack Nicklaus awards.

Full piece.

5. ICYMI: Tiger in for Hero

PGATour.com staff report…”Tiger Woods will play the Hero World Challenge later this month, his first PGA TOUR start since undergoing ankle surgery in the spring.”

“The 82-time TOUR winner announced his commitment Saturday on Instagram. The Hero World Challenge will be contested Nov. 30-Dec. 3 at Albany, Bahamas.”

“Woods has held a spot for himself at the Hero World Challenge in the past. The initial field release included only 19 players, leading to speculation that the last spot could again be earmarked for Woods if his recovery progressed.”

Full piece.

6. Card earners

Matt Cradock for Golf Monthly…”At the DP World Tour Championships on Sunday, it wasn’t just the trophy and $3 million first prize that was up for grabs, but also 10 PGA Tour cards, with players looking to finish inside the top-10 of the Race to Dubai standings and secure their spot with playing rights in 2024.”

In the main event, it was Nicolai Hojgaard who claimed the victory, but there was also good news for a number of elite players as they stamped their ticket to the PGA Tour in dramatic circumstances.

Throughout the final round at the Earth Course, it was difficult to keep up with who was in and who was out. Certainly, over the final day, seven players were guaranteed PGA Tour cards, but that still left another six to battle it out for the final three spaces and, eventually, it came down to the closing stretch to determine who had done it.

Full piece.

7. Azinger out

The AP’s Doug Ferguson…”Paul Azinger is no longer the lead golf analyst for NBC Sports, ending his five years with the network at the Ryder Cup in October without even knowing that was his last event.”

“With the golf and media landscapes now in a more challenging environment, Azinger and NBC will part ways as their current contract ends,” according to a statement from his manager.

“Azinger chose not to discuss specifics as to why another contract wasn’t done, only to say Sunday that it was a mixture of disappointment and surprise.”

Full Piece.

8. Brooks trolls his own league

9. Winning WITB

Driver: Titleist TSR2 (9 degrees)

Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2

Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8 X

Irons: Titleist 718 T-MB (2), Titleist T100 (2019) (4-9)

Shafts: KBS Tour 130 X

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (46-10F, 50-08, 54-10S), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (60-V)

Shafts: KBS Tour 130 X

Putter: Odyssey White Hot Versa #1

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Full WITB.

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Tour Rundown: Close-the-laptop Edition

Published

1 week ago

Nov 19, 2023

Ronald Montesano

This is the Tour Rundown that I dread writing. It means, simply, that I have to close the laptop and become a fan for about six weeks. True, there will be Q-Schools and Heroes, but the official work is done for the year. Q-Schools and Heroes are way better than Skins Games and the silliest of silly-season events, but I much prefer the official work of the world’s golf tours. Thank you for riding along in the cart with me this year, and for always picking up the beverage cart drinks. It does not go unnoticed.

As Americans head toward Thanksgiving week, the DP World Tour closed its season at its Tour Championship in Dubai, while the LPGA had its CME Race To The Globe along Florida’s Gulf Coast. As for the PGA Tour, it headed to coastal Georgia to end the FedEx Fall at my event (RSM — same initials). As always, lots of great golf led to dramatic finishes, so let’s begin this week’s Tour Rundown with Nelly Korda’s first LPGA ace.

NELLY. KORDA. ACE. ??? @nellykorda pic.twitter.com/Yjw6DyenLe

— LPGA (@LPGA) November 18, 2023

LPGA @ CME: It’s a Yang Thang in Naples

Amy Yang has been around the golf wires for a long time. It all began in 2006 when, as a precocious, 16-year-old, she won on the Ladies European Tour. Her first win on the LPGA came in 2013, and she recorded three more by 2019. It’s hard to believe that she has been among the ranks for 18 years, but after a four-year drought, Yang was the cream of the crop at the CME this week in Naples. She posted middle rounds of 63-64, and closed with 66, to win by three.

Chasing Yang the entire fourth round were her playing partners, Alison Lee and Nasa Hataoka. Hataoka hung with Yang for the majority of the day, until they reached the 16th hole. It was there that Hataoka flinched with bogey, to drop one back. Yang surged with birdies at the final two holes, to establish her margin of victory. Tied with Hataoka for second was Lee. She also surged late, and turned in a clean card, with six birdies and twelve pars on the day.

For the first twelve holes, the tournament seemed to be in Hataoka’s hands, until Yang made magic happen at the 13th. Faced with a wedge to the green, she…well, just watch what she did.

Amy Yang is putting up a fight at @CMEGroupLPGA ?

Watch now on NBC! pic.twitter.com/jmLPeXBya3

— LPGA (@LPGA) November 19, 2023

DP World Tour @ Tour Championship: Elder Hojgaard claims victory in Dubai

There are times when younger brother must defer to elder brother. No matter what heights Rasmus Hojgaard scales in the future, 2023 will forever be the year of his by-a-few-minutes-older brother, Nicolai. On Sunday in Dubai, Hojgaard won the only thing worth debating, the DP World Tour Championship. As Rory McIlroy had clinched the season-long points race, all eyes were on the leaders as day four teed off.

Beginning play in fifth position, Hojgaard cruised through 11 holes in four under par. A top-five finish looked certain, especially after a speed-bump bogey caused a stumble at the twelfth. The missed, five-feet, par attempt got under his skin, and the Danish Ryder Cupper ignited a five-birdie run through the penultimate hole. Suddenly, Hojgaard had the lead, with the gettable 18th left. A par there gave his chasers hope of a catch.

Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Wallace, and Viktor Hovland all began the final round ahead of Hojgaard. Fleetwood played solid golf to the closing stretch, reaching 17 tee at five-under on the day, and twenty-deep for the week. His tee shot to the short hole came up woefully short, and his approach putt went dangerously past. His missed, seven-feet putt for par was off-target, and Fleetwood would finish on 19-under, two behind the Dane.

Joining Fleetwood at that number were Wallace and Hovland. Wallace had the bad fortune of shooting 60 on Saturday. How do you follow a 60? Well, a 67 would have tied the top spot, and a 66 would have won outright, but Wallace posted 69. Four birdies and one bogey were not enough to catch the scorched trail that Hojgaard laid down. As for Hovland, his 68 was also solid; just not explosive.

Finishing off the year behind McIlroy along the points list were, in order: Jon Rahm, Adrian Meronk, Ryan Fox, and Victor Perez.

Ryder Cup rookie Nicolai Højgaard wins the DP World Tour Championship! ???#DPWTC | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/y52cIzvce4

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 19, 2023

PGA Tour @ RSM Classic: Oh-Boy! Aberg

Oh-boy leads into Oh-Bear (how you should pronounce Aberg). I wished to clarify that, before moving on to Ludwig’s first PGA Tour title summary. In terms of data, for which Aberg is known, two numbers stand out: 61 and 61. Those digits represent the 18-hole scores that the Swede signed off on, in rounds three and four. Let’s be honest: Unless you are on the cut line, 122 on the weekend will move you darned close to the podium, if not to its summit.

In Aberg’s case, he had the lead through 54 holes. Hot on his heels were the guy who HAS to win, Eric Cole, and fan favorite Mackenzie Hughes, the 2016 RSM champion. Cole stood two over through five on day four, so he was done. He rallied to tie for third spot. Hughes stayed close all day, with six birdies through ten holes. The closing octet was not kind to him, as he played it in seven pars and one birdie. That will not get the job done at Sea Island, unless a maelstrom washes in.

As for Aberg, the rookiest of rookies on the European Ryder Cup side in September, ten birdies and one bogey came his way on day four. Long off the tee, deadly with the wedges, and accurate with the putter, he was a wrecking crew and he capped his first professional year in the most positive of ways.