The post Who’s playing in the Presidents Cup? Meet the U.S. and International teams appeared first on Golf.

The post Who’s playing in the Presidents Cup? Meet the U.S. and International teams appeared first on Golf.

Due to the pandemic, this will be the first Presidents Cup since 2019, when the Tiger Woods-captained U.S. team narrowly edged the Ernie Els-led International squad with a miraculous come-from-behind win in Sunday singles.

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The U.S. team holds a dominating 10-1-1 record in the matches and most expect a similarly dominate performance with LIV Golf defectors being ineligible to play in this year’s event and taking the hardest toll on Trevor Immelman’s International team.

Without further ado, let us introduce you to the players who are playing this year.

United States Team

*denotes captain’s pick

Captain: Davis Love III

Love was a six-time member of the U.S. Presidents Cup team and compiled a 16-8-4 record in those matches. Love — who was born in Charlotte, N.C., home of this week’s host, Quail Hollow Club — won 21 times on the PGA Tour, including one major win at the 1997 PGA Championship. He also notably won the 2015 Wyndham Championship at the age of 51, becoming the third-oldest winner in PGA Tour history. Love was an assistant captain on the 2013, 2015 and 2017 Presidents Cup teams and captained the 2012 and 2016 Ryder Cup teams.

Sam Burns

Career Presidents Cup record: First appearance

Burns may have been overshadowed by close friend Scottie Scheffler in the early part of the 2021-22 season, but the Louisianan had a break out year himself, winning three times, including taking down Scheffler in a playoff at the Charles Schwab Challenge in May. This will be his first appearance at either the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup.

Patrick Cantlay

Record: 3-2-0 in one appearance (2019)

Cantlay had another solid year in 2022, winning once while defending his crown at the BMW Championship in Wilmington and teaming up with Xander Schauffele to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He played all of his matches in 2019 with Schauffele and figures to do so again. Cantlay was also very successful at last year’s Ryder Cup where he compiled a 3-0-1 record at Whistling Straits, the one tie coming in the only match he wasn’t paired with Schauffele.

Tony Finau

Record: 0-1-3 in one appearance (2019)

The big-hitting Finau had a slow start to the season before catching fire over the summer, notching five top-5s in a stretch of eight events, including back-to-back wins at the 3M Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic in July. He somewhat surprisingly did not notch a win in his only Presidents Cup appearance in 2019. He only had one loss in four matches, however, and he’ll be looking for a new partner as both his partners from 2019, Matt Kuchar and Bryson DeChambeau, are not playing this year. He’s picked up three wins in his two Ryder Cups in 2018 and 2021.

Max Homa*

Record: First appearance

Homa comes in as perhaps the hottest player in the matches. He won in dramatic fashion last week at the PGA Tour season opening Fortinet Championship, holing a chip shot from off the 18th green to win. He also finished a career best tied for fifth in the Tour Championship in his previous start. This will be his first team match appearance.

Billy Horschel*

Record: First appearance

If you were shocked to learn Horschel is making his first ever appearance in either the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup this week, you’re not alone. Horschel’s career resume includes seven PGA Tour titles, including this year’s Memorial Tournament, and the 2014 FedEx Cup. He’s had a mixed bag of a season, missing four of last eight cuts on the PGA Tour, but with the win in Columbus sandwiched between two of them. He did earn a top 10 in his most recent appearance during his title defense at the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship.

Kevin Kisner*

Record: 2-0-2 in one appearance (2017)

Kisner is the oldest player on Team USA’s roster and has become known as somewhat of a match play savant, including a win at the 2019 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and owning an undefeated record at the 2017 Presidents Cup. His best finish this past season was a second at — you guessed it — the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, but he did rack up five other top 10s. Kisner will also be looking for a new partner as he played with Phil Mickelson in all three team matches in 2017.

Collin Morikawa*

Record: First appearance

Morikawa came out just as hot as his first three years on Tour to begin this season with five straight finishes of T7 or better, but he fell back to earth a little toward the end of the year, his first on Tour without a win. Although he did lead the U.S. Open through 36 holes, he struggled Saturday and was out of contention by Sunday. The two-time major winner, who is still just 25 years old, showed better form at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August with a T5 finish, but needed to be one of Love’s six captain’s selections to make it to Quail Hollow. He led the U.S. team in qualifying for the Ryder Cup last year and went 3-0-1 at Whistling Straits, his lone tie coming in singles.

Xander Schauffele

Record: 3-2-0 in one appearance (2019)

Like Finau, Schauffele also had a strong end to the season, finishing in the top 20 in all but one of his last 11 events. Again, like Finau, he notched back-to-back wins at the Travelers Championship and Genesis Scottish Open. He also teamed with Cantlay for a team win at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and figures to see a lot of his close friend whom he has a 4-2-0 record with in Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup matches.

Scottie Scheffler

Record: First appearance

Scheffler has come a long way from being a captain’s selection at last year’s Ryder Cup. The Texan notched his first four PGA Tour wins last season, including a major victory at the Masters, and earned the World No. 1 ranking. While he didn’t come away with the FedEx Cup title, PGA Tour Player of The Year honors are a decent consolation — as well as the $5.75 million he got for finishing T2 at East Lake. He went undefeated, going 2-0-1 at Whistling Straits, teaming with Bryson DeChambeau in two four-ball matches. He also beat Kisner at this year’s WGC-Match Play.

Jordan Spieth*

Record: 8-5-1 in three appearances (2013, 2015, 2017)

After missing the 2019 matches, Spieth is back on the U.S. team at just the right time. With stalwarts like Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Patrick Reed absent this year, Spieth and Justin Thomas are the only players with multiple Presidents Cup matches under their belt coming into the week. The 29-year-old notched a win at the RBC Heritage this season and finished a respectable tied for 13th in the FedEx Cup. He carries a career 16-12-4 record in U.S. team cup matches and played with Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed in all of his partner matches in 2015 and 2017. At last year’s Ryder Cup, he paired most often with good buddy Justin Thomas.

Justin Thomas

Record: 6-2-2 in two appearances (2017, 2019)

Thomas may not have met all of his preseason goals, but he notched 11 top 10s last season and his second major title at the PGA Championship. He brings with him the most impressive U.S. team match record, going 12-4-3 across two Presidents Cups and two Ryder Cups. In his two previous Presidents Cups, he paired with Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler and Daniel Berger, all of whom are not playing this week. He figures to play more with Spieth as he did twice at Whistling Straits.

Cameron Young*

Record: First appearance

Young had a debut season to remember, notching six top-three finishes and was one of two rookies to qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship. Those top finishes also include just missing out on the playoff at the PGA Championship by one stroke, and the memorable eagle finish at the Open Championship at St. Andrews to earn the runner-up spot.

International Team

*denotes captain’s pick

Captain: Trevor Immelman (South Africa)

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Immelman is the youngest captain in International team history at just 42 years old. The South African is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, including one major, holding off Tiger Woods to win the 2008 Masters. He’s also picked up six victories around the world on the DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour. He’s a two-time veteran of the Presidents Cup and served as assistant captain under Ernie Els in 2019. Many fans will know him now for his broadcasting as he is expected to take over as the lead analyst for CBS’s golf coverage, following Nick Faldo.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout* (South Africa)

Record: First appearance

Bezuidenhout had a solid rookie year, making 20 cuts in 24 starts on the PGA Tour with 10 top-25 finishes. He’s perhaps better known in Europe, having a breakout year in 2020 while notching three victories including the Alfred Dunhill Championship. His best finish on the PGA Tour in 2022 was a T2 showing at the John Deere Classic and he advanced to the second FedEx Cup Playoff event at the BMW Championship. He’s one of five Presidents Cup first-timers selected by Immelman.

Corey Conners (Canada)

Record: First appearance

Conners played his way to the Tour Championship for the third time of his career thanks to 20 made cuts in 25 starts and four top-10 finishes. One of those top 10s came last month at the BMW Championship where he finished in T5, but he missed the cut last week in the PGA Tour’s season-opening Fortinet Championship. The Canadian has one win under his belt on the PGA Tour, coming at the 2019 Valero Texas Open.

Cam Davis* (Australia)

Record: First appearance

Davis notched five top-10s in 25 starts last season on the PGA Tour. His best golf came toward the end of the season when he made his last 10 cuts in a row. His best year on Tour came a season ago when he made 21 of 26 cuts and notched his debut win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. His cuts-made streak broke last week at the Fortinet Championship where rounds of 74 and 70 sent him to Charlotte early.

Sungjae Im (South Korea)

Record: 3-1-1 in one appearance (2019)

The iron man of the PGA Tour, nobody plays more golf than Sungjae Im. Im had another strong season on Tour in 2021-22, winning for the second time at the Shriners Children’s Open and finishing strong with three T2 finishes in his last five events, including at the Tour Championship. The World No. 19 will be heavily relied upon as one of just four veterans on the International team with Presidents Cup experience. All three of his partners from Royal Melbourne — Adam Hadwin, Abraham Ancer and Cameron Smith — are not on the team this year.

Tom Kim (South Korea)

Record: First appearance

Kim burst onto the scene in 2022, finishing third at the Genesis Scottish Open, seventh at the Rocket Mortgage, and then capturing his first win at the Wyndham Championship in August to secure his PGA Tour membership and even qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. He was only a special temporary member when he won, but had earned enough points to get his full status for 2023. He’s now exempt through 2024 and he auto-qualified for the International team.

K. H. Lee* (South Korea)

Record: First appearance

Lee has two PGA Tour titles and both have come at the AT&T Byron Nelson. At this year’s tournament, Lee outdueled Jordan Spieth down the stretch to defend his title. The rest of his season wasn’t much to write home about, with almost as many missed cuts (7) as top-25s (8), until he used T20 and T5 finishes in the first two Playoff events to catapult his way into his first Tour Championship appearance.

Hideki Matsuyama (Japan)

Record: 6-7-4 in four appearances (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)

Hard to believe the 30-year-old Matuyama is about to start his fifth Presidents Cup, but the Japanese star heads to Quail Hollow as the alpha of the International squad. It was another good year for the World No. 17 on the PGA Tour, finishing 11th in the FedEx Cup after winning twice, with one of those victories coming last fall in his home country at the Zozo Championship. Only one of his previous partners, Adam Scott, is on the roster this week and they haven’t played together since Matsuyama’s Presidents Cup debut in 2013.

Sebastián Muñoz* (Colombia)

Record: First appearance

Munoz hasn’t quite played up to the same level as he did in his breakout season in 2019-20 when he got his first win at the Sanderson Farms Championship and then went on to finish 8th in the final FedEx Cup standings thanks to a solid performance at East Lake, but his 2021-22 campaign was enough to earn a captain’s pick. He had two runner-up finishes on the season.

Si Woo Kim* (South Korea)

Record: 1-2-0 in one appearance (2017)

Kim was the only one of Immelman’s captain’s selections with previous Presidents Cup experience, winning a four-ball match and losing in foursomes and singles matches in New Jersey in 2017. That season was also the year of his signature win, The Players Championship. He won in early 2021 at The American Express, but has not played well as of late, only recording one top 10s in 21-22, last fall at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Both of his partners from 2017 are not on this year’s team.

Taylor Pendrith* (Canada)

Record: First appearance

Normally for a rookie, an injury can be devastating. Taylor Pendrith missed time between The Players in March and the Barbasol Championship in July because of a rip injury, but it didn’t stop him from earning nine top 25s in 16 starts. Since coming back from the injury, Pendrith finished worse than T13th once in six starts, including a tie for second at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and a tie for eighth at the BMW Championship.

Mito Pereira (Chile)

Record: First appearance

Heartbreak at the PGA Championship overshadowed what was otherwise a very respectable debut season on the PGA Tour for Pereira. He opened the year with a solo third at the Fortinet Championship and had two other top 10s, including at Southern Hills. Of course his season will be remembered for the leading the PGA through 71 holes, only to hit his tee shot in the water on 18, leading to a double bogey and missing the playoff. Pereira was rumored to be joining LIV Golf, but reportedly is waiting to jump so he could play in the Presidents Cup.

Adam Scott (Australia)

Record: 16-22-6 in nine appearances

The 42-year old hasn’t missed a Presidents Cup since 2001 and is by far the most experienced player on either team, having more appearances than the entire International team combined and as many as the entire American team combined. His 10th appearance will break his own record for the Internationals. He also has a chance to tie or pass Ernie Els’ International record of 21 points this week. Aging like fine wine, the 42-year-old didn’t win on the PGA Tour this year, but only missed two cuts all year and had five top 10s. His back-to-back T5s to start the FedEx Cup Playoffs helped him play his way into the Tour Championship from outside the top 70 at the end of the regular season. Matsuyama is the only teammate his paired with before on the International roster.

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The post Why Mito Pereira quit golf for two years as a teenager appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Mito Pereira quit golf for two years as a teenager appeared first on Golf.

Unsurprisingly, Pereira took up the game as a toddler with plastic clubs. He was competing locally by age six and internationally by age eight. Sounds like the story a lot of current Tour players could tell, right?

But unlike many elite players on Tour today, Pereira actually quit the game for two years as a teenager, and on this week’s episode of Off Course with Claude Harmon, he explained why.

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“I played golf from three years old to 15. Just golf,” Pereira said. “And then I had a break of golf. I didn’t play for two years. I just got bored of it.”

“Got bored of playing good?” Harmon asked with a chuckle.

“No, just got bored,” Pereira smiled. “Because you know, I started parties at 15, girls. Friends in school that were just having a normal life. Every weekend I have to play golf. Just, enough of it.

“And I just did everything else like a normal person,” he continued. “I played soccer, I started dirt bike, motor bike, tennis. I used to play a lot of tennis when I was a kid, but I did everything. Just a normal high-school kid.”

Pereira ultimately returned to golf, obviously, but credits the break with helping him to build a social circle outside of the game that remains to this day.

For more from Pereira, including why he was so embarrassed the first time he saw Tiger Woods in person, and why golf appealed to him as a kid, check out the full interview below.

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The post Why golf appealed to Mito Pereira as a kid appeared first on Golf.

That makes it all the more remarkable that 27-year-old Chilean Mito Pereira, who led last week’s PGA Championship for 71 holes before suffering a devastating double-bogey to finish T3, decided to pick up a club at all.

On this week’s episode of Off Course with Claude Harmon, Pereira explained what it was that drew him to golf instead of more popular sports like soccer or baseball.

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“My dad used to play,” Pereira began. “Just a weekend golfer, probably handicap 7. And I think my mom took me just one weekend, ‘Hey, let’s go watch dad at the course, at the club.’ I started obviously with plastic clubs, two or three years old. First tournament was six. First international tournament was the Junior World, in San Diego, was at eight. And I started actually to have really good results. I liked it.”

Pereira said that he would practice almost every day after school, despite needing to travel an hour each way to get to the course, and also despite the fact that in the winter, his after-school practice time was reduced to about 90 minuted due to darkness.

“I would get out of school at 3, get to the course at 4, it’s dark by 5:30,” he said.

Harmon then pressed Pereira on what exactly it was about golf that appealed to him, and Pereira delivered a thoughtful response.

“I think when I was a kid, I really liked the competition,” he said. “And then I really liked the different things that you could do on the course. I was always trying to hit draws, fades. Playing around, just playing golf. And then as I grew up, I realized that it was a really tough game. So I think now I like it, because you can never get enough of it. You can never get to perfection.”

For more from Pereira, including the embarrassing moment he had when he saw Tiger Woods in person for the first time, and why he decided to quit the game for two years as a teenager, check out the full interview below.

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Often forgotten in that last example is the fact that Mickelson wasn’t the only player to kick away a golden opportunity at Winged Foot. Colin Montgomerie, who famously never nabbed a major title in 75 career starts, also had an excellent chance to win.

After jarring a 75-footer for birdie on 17 that tied him for the lead and splitting the fairway with his tee shot on 18 that left him 172 yards from the stick, Montgomerie seemed destined for, at worst, a playoff. But then he hit his approach shot short and right into a gnarly, clumpy lie, from where he couldn’t chip the ball close. Three putts later, he had closed with an ugly double bogey, and at six over for the week, one stroke shy of eventual winner Geoff Ogilvy’s total.

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Montgomerie is back in the field at another major this week — the KitchenAid Senior PGA, at Harbor Shores, in Michigan — and on Wednesday he was asked if he had any advice for Pereira, in terms of how the Chilean might get over his dispiriting finish at Southern Hills.

Montgomerie did. In short, he said, it was one swing. One hole. One tournament. Pereira has many other big moments ahead of him. He is 27. At Winged Foot, Monty was 42.

“A young player, younger than I was and that was one of my last opportunities,” Montgomerie said Wednesday. “It won’t be his.

“All I’ve got to say to him is be patient, and I say that to anybody coming through. Be patient. It’s a hell of a long career and just be patient with it, and take — if you can — take as many positives as possible. I know that’s a bit cliche, you take the positives and everything.

“After 71 holes, he was ahead and that’s a hell of an effort. After 72, he wasn’t, but after the first [71] holes to be ahead is a bloody good effort and he should try and take as much positives as possible.”

To his credit, Pereria already seemed to have at least some of that perspective. “I finished third on my first major this year,” he said that evening. “I think I have to really just hold [on] to that.”

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How long Pereria might also feel the sting of not winning is another matter. Montgomerie was asked how long it took him to recover from Winged Foot.

“I’m not over that,” he said. “Never will be. Sleepless nights. Get up five times thinking about it every night.”

He was joking, but he wasn’t. In Monty’s autobiography, he described that week as “the major near-miss which can still wake me up in the middle of the night.” He added on Wednesday, “If somebody said to me, one shot left, if you want one shot again, obviously it’s that one.”

But on the flip side, Montgomerie said: “I’ve had a hell of a career. I’m very, very fortunate. I’d take nothing back. People say would you trade your money lists for a major? No. … I’ve had a great time at this, and I wouldn’t trade anything for anything. So that went pretty quickly to be honest. I got on with the next one.”

Pereria no doubt will aim to do the same, beginning this week at the Charles Schwab Challenge. He has a 12:45 p.m. starting time Thursday alongside Tom Hoge and Viktor Hovland. Back to work.

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Follow Claude to submit questions, enter giveaways and keep up with the latest Off Course updates on Instagram at @ClaudeHarmon3

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Follow Claude to submit questions, enter giveaways and keep up with the latest Off Course updates on Instagram at @ClaudeHarmon3

Thanks to our partners — 

Rapsodo, a mobile launch monitor you can get for the fraction of the price of others, is giving our listeners a code to try it out. Go to rapsodo.com/offcourse and use the code OFFCOURSE for $100 off your purchase. 

Cobra Golf’s new KING Forged TEC Irons are on the way and are now available for pre-order. Find out more or make your purchase today at cobragolf.com 

ADP uses data-driven insights to design HR solutions to help you and your business work better, smarter, more efficiently. So, you can think beyond today and have more success tomorrow. ADP. Always designing for HR, talent, time, benefits, payroll and people.

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Follow Claude to submit questions, enter giveaways and keep up with the latest Off Course updates on Instagram at @ClaudeHarmon3

Thanks to our partners — 

Rapsodo, a mobile launch monitor you can get for the fraction of the price of others, is giving our listeners a code to try it out. Go to rapsodo.com/offcourse and use the code OFFCOURSE for $100 off your purchase. 

Cobra Golf’s new KING Forged TEC Irons are on the way and are now available for pre-order. Find out more or make your purchase today at cobragolf.com 

ADP uses data-driven insights to design HR solutions to help you and your business work better, smarter, more efficiently. So, you can think beyond today and have more success tomorrow. ADP. Always designing for HR, talent, time, benefits, payroll and people.

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The post After stunning miscue, Mito Pereira was left to explain the unexplainable appeared first on Golf.

The post After stunning miscue, Mito Pereira was left to explain the unexplainable appeared first on Golf.

“It is going to be something huge,” Niemann said. “You look back, three, four years ago, nobody talked about golf, and now the whole country is watching TV right now seeing Mito leading the PGA Championship.”

You couldn’t blame Niemann for getting ahead of himself. Pereira wasn’t playing his best golf of the week, but, really, none of the most serious contenders were, either. With just a handful of holes remaining, the 104th PGA Championship was Pereira’s to lose.  

“I cannot imagine him not winning,” Niemann said.

Pereira couldn’t, either — at least not when he stepped onto the tee on the 72nd hole with a one-stroke lead. Pereira had played the nearly 500-yard closer beautifully all week, splitting the fairway and hitting the green in each of his first three visits. He parred the hole on Thursday and Friday and jarred a 27-footer for birdie on Saturday. One-under in three trips. One more par and he was a major champion.

“I thought I was going to win,” Pereira said later.  

As he addressed his tee ball, Pereira was trying to replicate the same shot he had hit a day earlier: a low straight bullet. “I’m really confident with that one,” he said. Moments after impact, though, it was clear he had not executed his plan. His awkward, sawed-off, holding-on-for-dear-life follow-through looked less like something you’d see from a world-class golfer in a major championship and more like a move you might see at your local muni. “Look at that follow-through,” Jim Nantz said from the booth. Nantz, like the rest of us, was incredulous.

You can’t miss right on 18 at Southern Hills — the fairway in the landing zone pitches hard in that direction toward a ball-gobbling creek — but that’s exactly what Pereira did. Just like that: Gurgle, gurgle. Game over. A drowning on national television.

Sam Snead knew the feeling. With a 72nd hole lead at the 1939 U.S. Open, he knocked his tee shot into a bunker. His next swing was even worse, a topped fairway wood that trundled into a ditch. He made triple bogey and finished fifth. Jean van de Velde knows the feeling. His lead-blowing triple on Carnoustie’s closer at the 1999 British Open is lodged in our collective memories like a horrifying car crash we just can’t shake. Phil Mickelson knows the feeling. His blocked tee shot at Winged Foot in 2006 and the subsequent messiness? He summed up the implosion in two words: “a nightmare.”

Perhaps it’s unfair to lump in Pereira’s miscue with those episodes; after all, he made just one loose swing, not a series of blunders. Still, though, it’s a tough gaffe to sugar-coat: Pereira couldn’t miss right, and he missed right. Then came the really hard part: trying to explain it. The swing will no doubt take weeks for Pereira to process, maybe months, maybe years. Maybe he will never fully get his head around it. But in the seven-figure-pay-check tier of professional golf, you don’t enjoy the luxury of digesting on-course horrors on your own schedule. The world wants answers immediately.

And so there was Pereira on Sunday evening at Southern Hills, a lone microphone on a stand in front of him and a group of reporters waiting to peer into his soul.

What happened?

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Nerves seemed an obvious explanation, and Pereira didn’t shy away from admitting he felt them. First on Thursday. Then a bit more on Friday. Then more still on Saturday. “The fourth day was terrible,” he said, speaking of Sunday, when he held the 54-hole lead by three. “I mean, this morning was tough.” Pereira didn’t articulate what his nerves felt like before that fateful swing, but presumably they were jumping. He did say, “You’re in such a stressful situation that everything can change.”

Your composure. Your clear-headedness. Yes, even your swing. When the vise starts to squeeze on major Sundays, mechanics can be one of the first things to go. Pereira needed just one more solid tee shot. Like Snead and van de Velde and Mickelson before him, he couldn’t summon it.

He also couldn’t explain it. “I don’t know what happened,” he said.

After taking a drop and tugging his third shot left of his mark, Pereira began the uphill march to the 18th green, where just minutes earlier he had envisioned the throngs greeting him there as a victor. Pereira said he felt a strange cocktail of emotions in that moment: pride, because he had put himself in a position to win, but also shame, because he had kicked away a chance to slam the door.

The player who went on to win Sunday knows what that feels like.

“I have had times in my career when I feel like I’ve let a tournament get away,” Justin Thomas said after he’d dispatched Will Zalatoris in a three-hole playoff. “It’s brutal. It’s not fun.”

Pereira’s fourth-round playing partner also knows what it’s feels like.

“It is tough to take,” Matt Fitzpatrick said of the unfortunateness he had witnessed on the 72nd hole. “You hope it’s not you.”

On Sunday, the disappointment and regret were Pereira’s burden to carry. Soon enough, it will be another player’s turn.

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The post Tour Confidential: Justin Thomas’ PGA comeback, Mito’s mishit, Tiger’s status appeared first on Golf.

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Justin Thomas came from seven strokes back to win the PGA Championship on Sunday, ultimately beating Will Zalatoris in a three-hole playoff. The win was Thomas’s second major title and 15th PGA Tour victory. What most fueled his charge?

Sean Zak, senior editor (@sean_zak): It sounds like his caddie Jim Mackay did. JT said in his presser that he wouldn’t be there, standing next to the Wanamaker Trophy, if it wasn’t for a kick in the pants that Bones gave him on the range Saturday night. He said he felt at peace leaving the property, despite shooting 74 Saturday, which says a lot.

Jessica Marksbury, senior editor (@jess_marksbury): As I was looking over the leaderboard on Saturday night, it struck me that Justin Thomas was one of only four other major winners — the only “experienced” guys on the leaderboard — who had a semi-realistic chance of making a run. (Bubba Watson, Webb Simpson and Stewart Cink were the others.) But seven shots seemed like an insurmountable tally! That’s the beauty of this sport, though. Anything can happen, and JT has been around long enough to know that if he kept grinding, he’d have a chance. Then, he made some clutch plays at exactly the right time.

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Josh Sens, senior writer (@JoshSens): I’m not sure I would call it a charge in the classic sense. Thomas played a very solid round, hitting a number of clutch shots down the stretch. But what he didn’t do was beat himself, which some of the less experienced players did over those closing holes. 

Zephyr Melton, assistant editor (@zephyrmelton): Sens put it perfectly. Yes, JT played well, but what he did best was avoid beating himself. That’s all he needed on a wild Sunday in Tulsa. 

James Colgan, assistant editor (@jamescolgan26): I’d argue Mito Pereira fueled his charge, with an assist from Will Zalatoris. The tournament crumbled ahead of JT, and as Josh said, Thomas deserves credit for stepping through the opening.

Mito Pereira, the leader for much of the final round, had his own destiny in his hands when he stepped onto the 18th tee with a one-shot advantage. But then came a shocking swing that led to his ball flying hard right into a creek; Pereira’s resulting double bogey dropped him into a tie for third. “I don’t know what happened,” Pereira said of the swing. How do you explain it?

Zak: It’s hard to explain. I can’t help but think he hit a pretty great shot, that was both too good and also not good enough. A bounding drive that could have gotten caught up in the rough, but didn’t. The kinda bad luck that comes from an imperfect shot that more experienced players might not have made. 

Marksbury: Hindsight is always 20/20 on a shot like that. It’s easy to question why he didn’t go with a different club or a more conservative line. But he was confident in the shot he envisioned and it just didn’t work out. Super unfortunate, but something anyone who’s ever played the game can relate to.

Sens: Not trying to be glib here, but I think we can chalk it up to the withering pressure of trying to win. One last call to find the fairway, something he did so well all week. Pereira wasn’t the first to deliver a tight swing in those circumstances . . . and he won’t be the last. 

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Melton: Pressure is a funny thing, and it affects everyone differently. He felt the pressure, and the result was a bad swing at the worst time. 

Colgan: I’m not sure Mito’s decision-making on the 18th tee with a one-shot lead is explainable. It was a no-brainer 3-wood, and he pulled driver instead. He paid for the decision with the tournament. I loved the way he played all week, but 18 was indefensible.

Outside of Sunday’s proceedings, the week’s biggest news came Saturday, when Tiger Woods withdrew after his third round. Now 15 months since his car crash, the 15-time major winner rallied to make the cut with a one-under 69 on Friday, only to shoot a 79 the next day, and call it a tournament soon after. What’s your Tiger takeaway from the week?

Zak: Thoroughly impressed he made the cut, but not surprised that it ended poorly. The Masters was just five weeks ago, and the same thing happened. I’d guess he doesn’t play at Brookline, and starts focusing on St. Andrews.

Marksbury: I’m still very surprised he elected to tee it up at all this week. It certainly didn’t seem like a course that would jibe with his current physical wheelhouse, despite his triumph in 2007. But, man, that was a lifetime ago! St. Andrews seems like a much friendlier and realistic place for us to see him next.

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Sens: That the mind is as willing as ever but the body, for good reason, isn’t. 

Melton: His body just isn’t ready for four rounds of high-level golf. We sort of knew this after the Masters (although there he was able to put four rounds together), and this week solidified that fact. 

Colgan: Agreed, Jess! I thought there was no chance we’d see Tiger again until St. Andrews. I think this week was an important one in teaching Tiger about his limitations. For the first time in his life, playing in some events is simply a non-starter. He’ll get better at peaking when he needs to, which should only help him down the line.

Rory McIlroy conquered his major championship first-round demons with a 65, only to go 71-74-68 after that to finish 8th. He has now gone eight years without a major championship — and yet, he seems to always be in the conversation. We’ve debated this topic before, but this week it seems even more apropos to ponder: What is holding him back at golf’s biggest events?

Zak: I’m not going to act like I know. It’s anyone’s guess, including Rory’s. I think he can do it and I think he will do it soon enough. But for some reason when that train starts wobbling on the tracks, he doesn’t have the means to settle it down. 

Marksbury: As confounding as it is for us to ponder, I can only imagine what it’s like for McIlroy himself. But I agree with Sean. Rory will win another major, and I think it will be soon! He’s clearly physically able. Maybe it will just take another Sunday-at-Augusta-esque charge from behind to really open the floodgates again.

Sens: No doubt, Jess. It’s got to be in his head at this point. Invariably, it’s the short approaches and in. He gets on a heater, cuts the course down to size off the tee, and then either the wedges or the putter betray him. Today, it was the putter. 

Melton: No clue, but the disappointing finishes are getting to him. After the round, the typically media-friendly Rory left as soon as he signed his card. It’s not like him to spurn the media, so you know this week weighed on him.

Colgan: I think Sean put it perfectly. The word here is composure. Rory doesn’t have a lot of it these days. That’s why his game comes and goes in spurts. I do think he puts it together soon, but he needs a catalyst mentally. Hopefully Southern Hills provides that.

Newly restored Southern Hills, which played host to the PGA on short notice after Trump Bedminster was stripped of the privilege, was generally well received by the players, and wild weather patterns meant we got see in a variety of conditions. What was your read on the course? Worthy major venue?

Zak: Southern Hills should host a PGA Championship once a decade, every decade. And maybe it should host a Ryder Cup, too. I’ve written about how the PGA Championship should lean in to Middle America, mostly for the fans and variety. But they should definitely lean in to Southern Hills from a quality-of-test basis. Not a single hole was too easy. Not a single hole was too hard. Each of them was an individual test, where birdie and double bogey was possible. It’s lovely.

Marksbury: I always enjoy watching the pros take on some good risk/reward opportunities, and the closing holes certainly produced some real drama this week. Count me among the fans! 

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Sens: It’s a remarkable course. And as someone said during the event, it did what great courses do: It punished mediocrity. A very tough test but also fair. And so much more fun to watch than the event would have been at Trump Bedminister. 

Melton: Love Southern Hills. It’s a proper test of golf, and it seems to always identify a deserving champion. I can’t wait for the next event out here. 

Colgan: The playoff was all you needed to watch to know it was brilliant. Risk/reward par-5; drivable par-4; monster two-shot par-4. Southern Hills had a piece of everything, and (most importantly) it was an actual TEST for the pros! We need MORE of that, not less. I can’t believe we saw people dog on the place throughout the weekend. 

Big names — Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay and Dustin Johnson — missed the cut. Bubba Watson shot a Friday 63. The beers at Southern Hills were $18. The defending champion stayed home. There were a lot of storylines this week. What was your favorite under-the-radar one?

Zak: World No. 1 looking different. Scottie Scheffler’s heater might not be over with, but it took a hit this week when he flamed out and missed the cut. There was a bit of a viral video that showed him slamming clubs into his bag, and plenty of frustration caught on the broadcast. It’s been all smiles and laughter during this epic run, but we weren’t sure what it was going to look like when things turned. I get the sense he’ll battle back in a big way, but it was interesting to see him run hot. 

Marksbury: Even though he came up short in the end, I’ve really enjoyed seeing Will Zalatoris in the mix so often over the last two years. Did you hear the crowd chanting for him during the playoff? He has such a nice aura about him, and all these near-misses are certainly building his name-recognition in a big way. You can’t help but think he’ll win a big one soon — and it will be fun to watch him bask in the much-deserved adulation.

Sens: Stewart Cink wasn’t part of many pre-tournament conversations but he became an intriguing story heading into Sunday. With Phil not around, there was Cink, with a chance to make it back-to-back for the graybeards.

Melton: Zalatoris’ much-maligned putting stroke deserves a little love. Although he came up a single shot short, he made plenty of clutch putts this week — including a downhill tester to save par at 18 in regulation. There are still moments when the flatstick looks shaky, but this week he (again) proved what a threat he is when he gets it rolling. 

Colgan: Eighteen dollars for a Michelob Ultra? In this economy?!?!? Nothing else even enters the conversation.

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The post ‘I don’t know what happened’: Pro’s shocking tee shot costs him 72nd hole PGA lead appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘I don’t know what happened’: Pro’s shocking tee shot costs him 72nd hole PGA lead appeared first on Golf.

“I wish I could do it again,” he said.

With a one-shot lead after 71 holes, Pereira was one hole from glory. All he needed was par to secure his first major championship, and the first for his native country of Chile. The final obstacle was Southern Hills’ brutal 18th hole, a 500-yard monster that played as the most difficult hole of the week.

Driver in hand, Pereira tried to hit a low bullet down the left side of the baked-out fairway. If he caught the proper spot in the short grass, the canted fairway would carry the ball to a flat spot just short of the creek.

As soon as the ball left the face, Pereira knew it was in trouble. The ball started too far right, and the creek running down the right side of the fairway was well in play.

“I wasn’t even thinking about the water,” Pereira said. “I just wanted to put it in play, and I guess I aimed too far right.”

The ball ended up directly in the center of the creek. To win his first major in regulation, Pereira needed to get up-and-down from 190 yards out. There was still a chance.

That long-shot hope was short lived. Pereira flew his approach long of the green, and his ensuing chip couldn’t hold the green. After a two-putt from just off the putting surface, Pereira walked to the scoring tent with a finishing, double-bogey 6 on his card.

Pereira’s team behind the green looked shell shocked. His wife, who was mic’d up by a Netflix crew in hopes of capturing the winning emotions, wiped tears from her eyes. She took off the mic and walked alongside her husband up the hill behind the green. There would be no inside-access to the heartbreak millions had just witnessed.

“I don’t know what happened,” Pereira said.

After a few questions, Pereira stepped off the stage. He hung his head in disbelief, and walked back to the locker room.

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