Tour News
Weekend Recap: Bill Haas wins Humana Challenge
In 2010, Bill Haas won his first PGA Tour event at the then-Bob Hope Classic. His father, Jay Haas, had just finished play at the Mitsubishi Championship on the Champions Tour. The elder Haas caught a late-night shuttle to the mainland and arrived in time to watch his son put the finishing touches on a one-stroke victory over three golfers, including Matt Kuchar.
Fast forward to 2015 and the script nearly repeated itself. This time, the now-veteran Haas, with six PGA Tour titles, made a late run to win the Humana Challenge by a stroke over a quintet of runners-up, including twice-bitten Matt Kuchar. Haas, a Wake Forest product, might become known as the “Desert Deacon” if he continues to demonstrate an affinity for tournaments played under the western sun.
Much like death and taxes, low scores in Palm Springs are never in doubt. One could assemble a 250-stroke ringer score of daily low rounds (63-61-63 -63) for this year’s event. Any score in the 70s is usually a ticket to the missed-cut express, although Charley Hoffman bounced back just fine this year from an opening 71, nearly catching Haas with rounds of 63-67-64. Brendan Steele has a final-round 64 to tie Hoffman, Sung Joon Park, Steve Wheatcroft and Kuchar for second place.
Bill Haas posted a 5-under 67 to trail the Thursday leader by four. After a slow Friday start, the South Carolina native birdied nine of his final 11 holes to make up ground on Matt Kuchar, who had played flawlessly (65-64) over the course of two rounds. For the second time this season, Kuchar was unable to carry a halfway lead to victory, although he certainly gave it his best, closing with a 67 after a nondescript 71 on Saturday.
In fact, few golfers had much success during Round 3. Only Shawn Stefani went low (63) and he was in dire need of that score to simply make the third-round cut. Haas put the blame for the banal rounds squarely on the shoulders of Mother Nature.
[quote_box_center]“I think the weather today, the weather, I mean, it’s perfect out there, but there is definitely some wind,” Haas said. “I don’t think it takes much wind here in the desert to really affect the way the golf course plays … So, it made me hit a few bad shots that made me then play safe and I couldn’t get aggressive on some of the holes.”[/quote_box_center]
After three rounds, Haas, first-round leader Michael Putnam, tour rookie Justin Thomas and 2014 U.S. Open runner-up Erik Compton were tied for the lead at 17-under. Putnam opened play with a double-bogey on Sunday’s first hole, made another on the back nine and dropped 14 spots into a tie for 15th. Compton fared little better in Round 4. After making 18 birdies over the first three days, the Florida native mustered a meager three birdies on Sunday, dropping to a tie for 10th.
Budding phenom Justin Thomas, 21, produced six birdies over the final 18 holes, but was undone by inexperience. A bogey and a double sullied his card and he finished two strokes behind the leader, in a tie for seventh.
Bill Haas did what veteran champions do. He weathered another slow start (over par after three holes) with a counter-offensive that featured a birdie-par-eagle-par-birdie stretch from holes four to eight. Haas avoided trouble on the back nine, posting an efficient 34 with two birdies.
All that can be said for the runners-up is that they ran out of real estate. Hoffman birdied five of his final six; Steele and Wheatcroft, their last two. Park ran off five birdies in his final eight holes, while Kuchar birdied No. 17 but could not find one, sub-par hole.
Last spring at Hilton Head, Haas took a tumble down some stairs and came up wounded.
[quote_box_center]“I fractured my wrist last year, not to the point where I couldn’t play,” Haas said. “I played on it, and doctor’s orders were if you want it to heal, you need to not play. So basically for three months I played a few outings and that was it. I didn’t practice, I didn’t grind it out, just because I was trying to get healthy. So, when I came out here, last Wednesday, I literally was knocking rust off, like we say.”[/quote_box_center]
Given the uncertainty about the wrist and the lack of competitive conditioning, it’s a wonder the two-time tournament champion entered the discussion. File this one under “horses for courses” and let’s move on to Scottsdale and the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
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News
Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
GolfWRX is live this week at the Wells Fargo Championship as a field of the world’s best golfers descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to tame the beast that is Quail Hollow Club in this Signature Event — only Scottie Scheffler, who is home awaiting the birth of his first child, is absent.
From the grounds at Quail Hollow, we have our usual assortment of general galleries and WITBs — including a look at left-hander Akshay Bhatia’s setup. Among the pullout albums, we have a look inside Cobra’s impressive new tour truck for you to check out. Also featured is a special look at Quail Hollow king, Rory McIlroy.
Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more galleries.
General Albums
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Monday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Akshay Bhatia – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matthieu Pavon – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Keegan Bradley – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Webb Simpson – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Emiliano Grillo – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Taylor Pendrith – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Kevin Tway – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
Pullout Albums
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rory McIlroy – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Eric Cole’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matt Kuchar’s custom Bettinardi – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Justin Thomas – driver change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler – putter change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s new custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Tommy Fleetwood testing a TaylorMade Spider Tour X (with custom neck) – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Cobra Darkspeed Volition driver – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
GolfWRX is on site this week in McKinney, Texas, at the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson (FKA the AT&T Byron Nelson).
Last year at TPC Craig Ranch, Jason Day ended a five-year winless streak. J-Day is in the field again, as are Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, and Will Zalatoris.
We have our usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums for your perusal. As always, we’ll continue to add links to additional albums as they make their way to us from the Lone Star State.
Check out links to all our photos below.
General Albums
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #3
WITB Albums
- Pierceson Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kris Kim – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- David Nyfjall – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Adrien Dumont de Chassart – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Jarred Jetter – North Texas PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Richy Werenski – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Wesley Bryan – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Parker Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Peter Kuest – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Blaine Hale, Jr. – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kelly Kraft – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Rico Hoey – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Pullout Albums
- Adam Scott’s 2 new custom L.A.B. Golf putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Scotty Cameron putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Ben Griffin playing Maxfli golf ball
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans
GolfWRX is live on site this week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for the PGA Tour’s one-and-only two-man team event.
As usual, general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums — including some pretty spicy custom putters and headcovers — await your viewing.
Be sure to check back for more photos from the Big Easy, as we’ll continue to update this page with additional galleries throughout the week.
General Albums
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Monday #1
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Monday #2
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Alex Fitzpatrick – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Austin Cook – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Alejandro Tosti – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Davis Riley – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- MJ Daffue – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Nate Lashley – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- James Nicholas – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Kevin Streelman – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Rasmus Hojgaard – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Tom Whitney – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- SangMoon Bae – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Daniel Berger – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Rory McIlroy – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Russ Cochrane – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Aldrich Potgieter – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Steve Stricker WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Drew Brees WITB (Legendary New Orleans Saints QB) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Derek Carr (New Orleans Saints QB) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Thriston Lawrence WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
Pullout Albums
- MJ Daffue’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Cameron putters – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Swag covers ( a few custom for Nick Hardy) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Custom Bettinardi covers for Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Doug Ghim’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Patrick Cantlay spotted testing a Scotty Cameron blade putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
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John
Jan 27, 2015 at 11:17 am
Completely agree. Bill Haas is one of my favorite players on tour.
Side note: Have they stopped doing photos from tournaments prior to the event?? They did some Wednesday pics for Sony, but nothing last week, and nothing so far this week.
Mark
Jan 27, 2015 at 8:22 am
5 more wins that Fowler. But is Haas a Superstar in the eyes of the media? ‘Fraid not. Pity because Bill Haas is your ideal Pro. Great pedigree, stylish, polite and a superb player. I hope he has a great 2015.