Kevin Kisner survives wild finish to take PGA lead

Will Zalatoris is in the midst of a record-setting season on the Korn Ferry Tour. He proved last week that his game is ready for the biggest stages, as well. Now he has another start on the PGA TOUR, and a chance to inch closer to an early call-up. Zalatoris is coming off a T6 finish in the U.S. Open. He got into the field as the top man on the Korn Ferry Tour's Points List. His impressive finish at Winged Foot earned him a start at this week's Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship. "It was a great experience. I've been playing well all year," Zalatoris said. "I've been really working hard over the past couple of years and it's nice to finally see it pay off on the big stage." There will be no Korn Ferry Tour graduates in 2020 after the coronavirus pandemic paused professional golf for several months, but Zalatoris could still play his way onto the PGA TOUR sooner than later. He could win three times on the Korn Ferry Tour (he has one victory so far), win a PGA TOUR event, or earn special temporary membership, which would allow him unlimited sponsor exemptions for the remainder of the season. Zalatoris had a sponsor exemption into this week's TOUR event, but didn't need it after finishing in the top 10 at Winged Foot. He made a hole-in-one in the first round, led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach and finished with rounds of 70-74-70-71 to tie FedExCup champion Dustin Johnson for sixth place in the first of six majors this season. By earning his way into Puntacana, Zalatoris was able to save one of the seven sponsor exemptions that non-members are allowed to accept. The next step is to earn special temporary membership, which goes to a player who earns an amount of non-member FedExCup points that equals or surpasses No. 150 on the previous season's FedExCup points list. Because the 2019-20 season was shortened by the pandemic, the benchmark is No. 150 on the 2019 list; that was Martin Kaymer, who earned 288 points. Zalatoris earned 105 for his U.S. Open finish. Zalatoris' play on the Korn Ferry Tour has been, in a word, impressive. He has finished in the top 20 in his last 11 starts, the longest streak in that circuit's history. He's hitting 81% of greens this season, which is on pace to be the most in KFT history, as well. He's also first in Scoring Average and Ball Striking. "He might be the best ball striker out there," said Josh Gregory, a performance golf coach based out of Maridoe. Zalatoris credits a lot of his recent success to his work with Gregory along with Troy Denton, who is the head golf professional at the club. Denton calls Zalatoris a "freak ball-striker." Gregory works with 11 golfers across the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA TOUR, and has been with Zalatoris for the last 18 months. He said Zalatoris was the "perfect candidate" for his way of teaching - mostly wrapped in games and drills and repetition. "That's perfect for his nature. He's extremely structured in everything he does. That's where the immediate connection was. Most importantly... he always worked hard. He just needed a bit more consistency for how to go about things each day," said Gregory. "Candidly of all my TOUR guys, there is nobody that's stuck to the plan better than he has." Past FedExCup champion Jordan Spieth has seen Zalatoris' fine ball-striking up close since they were youngsters. They play frequently together at Dallas' Maridoe Golf Club in matches with fellow TOUR stars Ryan Palmer and Scottie Scheffler and grew up playing junior golf in Texas. "He's always been a good player, and a really good ball-striker," said Spieth. "We've been playing quite a bit over the last couple of years and the progression of his game... he'll just be able to contend everywhere." Spieth said Zalatoris struggled during a growth spurt while in high school that saw him go from 5-foot-4, 140 pounds to 6-foot-1, 145 pounds in less than a year and a half. His golf as junior was solid to that point, but he said he felt his body was "growing at all different speeds" Zalatoris received the Arnold Palmer Scholarship from longtime Wake Forest Men's Head Golf Coach Jerry Haas despite his growth spurt struggles, and that was key for Zalatoris' psyche. He knew someone believed in him. Even then, Spieth said, Zalatoris had a good kind of swagger to his game. "He's always been a pretty cocky player and I mean that in the best way possible," said Spieth. "You have to have that on the golf course." Spieth believes it won't take too long for Zalatoris to have an impact on the TOUR. He's already played well on one of the bigger stages in the sport at the U.S. Open. It wouldn't be surprised if Zalatoris won a PGA TOUR event quickly. "I don't think it would surprise me at all," said Spieth. "You wonder how long I will take (Korn Ferry Tour golfers) to have success and then, boom, they win that week.”

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Sepp Straka became the first Austrian to win on the PGA TOUR after his Sunday charge at The Honda Classic. It’s the 28-year-old’s first TOUR title. Check out the clubs he used to get it done. RELATED: Final leaderboard Driver: TaylorMade Stealth Plus (9 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Kai’li White 60 TX 3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth Plus (15 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 80 TX Hybrid: Callaway Apex UW (19 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana DF 80 TX Irons: Srixon ZX7 (4-9) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Wedges: Cleveland RTX4 (46, 52, 56, 60) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Putter: Odyssey Stroke Lab Tuttle Ball: Srixon Z-Star Diamond Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

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LA QUINTA, Calif. — Andrew Landry regrouped to win The American Express after losing a six-stroke lead on the back nine Sunday. Landry broke a tie with Abraham Ancer with a 7-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th hole and made a 6-footer on the par-4 18th for a 5-under 67 and a two-stroke victory. Related: Leaderboard | Amateur with one arm makes hole-in-one  “That was probably the shot of the tournament for me,” Landry said about the 17th. “Just to be able to go over there and, to that right hole location, and just hold one up and hit a good distance and have a 7-, 8-footer to look at. … Thankfully, it went in and kind of made 18 a little bit easier.” Landy won the pro-am event at PGA West two years ago after losing a playoff to Jon Rahm. “This is a golf course that has suited me very well in the past,” Landry said. “And just to look back on some of the things that happened a couple years ago and then now, just to be able to finally get it done. I didn’t want to have to go back into a playoff again and we’re running out of daylight, so it’s good to finally get the job done again.” The 32-year-old Texan has two PGA TOUR victories, also winning the 2018 Valero Texas Open. He jumped up 161 spots to 17th in the FedExCup standings.  “That’s why you just got to keep grinding it out,” Landry said. “We all search for these weeks, and the majority of players out here are going to have them, four, five, six times a year and top-10 players are going to have them a little bit more often. So, these are the weeks that we search for and we just continue to just play our ball and keep doing what we do, and hopefully they come sooner than later.” Trying to become the third Mexican winner in PGA TOUR history and first since 1978, Ancer matched the Stadium Course record with a 63. Playing two groups ahead of Landry, Ancer birdied the par-5 16th and the island-green 17th and parred the 18th. “All week, really, I hit the ball great off the tee and iron shots, and in the first three rounds, I feel like I didn’t score as low as I should have for how good I hit the ball,” Ancer said. “But stayed patient and today the putts started to fall in.” Playing two groups ahead of Landry, Ancer birdied No. 16 and 17 and parred the 18th, missing from 35 feet and saving par with a 4 1/2-footer. He realized he was tied for lead just before teeing off on 17. “I wasn’t paying much attention to the leaderboard,” Ancer said. “And then that’s when I noticed and I was like, `All right, well, we got to make two other birdies.’ I made the putt there on 17, which was big, and then just couldn’t make it happen on 18. But I played good, man. I’m proud of how I played.” After missing the cut in seven of his first eight starts this season, Landry appeared to be cruising to victory when he birdied the first three holes on the back nine to open the six-shot lead. But he bogeyed the next three holes, made a par on the 16th that felt like another bogey, and was tied when Ancer ran in a 25-footer on 17. Landry finished at 26-under 262. He opened with a 66 on the Stadium Course, shot 64 in the second round at La Quinta Country Club and had a 65 on Saturday on PGA West’s Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course for a share of the third-round lead with Scottie Scheffler — four strokes ahead of third-place Rickie Fowler. The anticipated duel between Landy and Scheffler fizzled on the first six holes. Scheffler bogeyed the par-4 first after his drive rolled back down a hill into a large divot. He also dropped strokes on the par-5 fifth and long par-3 sixth to fall four strokes behind Landry. On the water-guarded fifth, his aggressive play with a fairway wood from a downhill lie near a right-side bunker went well left and, after a long chip, he missed a 3-footer for par. He also failed to get up-down-for par on the 234-yard sixth hole after hooking his tee shot. Scheffler shot 70, briefly giving Landry a scare with an eagle on 16, to finish third at 23 under. The 23-year-old former University of Texas player is in his first season on the PGA TOUR after winning twice and topping the Korn Ferry Tour Finals and overall points lists last season. Fowler had a 71 in the final group with Landry and Scheffler to tie for 10th at 18 under. From nearby Murrietta, Fowler played the event for the first time in six years.

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