Monday Finish: Fall wins, FedExCup superlatives and the cycle of success on TOUR

In the final round of The RSM Classic, Web.com Tour graduate Austin Cook shoots a final-round 67 for a four-shot victory over J.J. Spaun at the Seaside Course at Sea Island Resort. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where Cook broke through in just his 14th PGA TOUR start, and his fourth with a TOUR card, to end the eight-tournament fall swing of the 2017-2018 season. We now get a six-week break before the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua. Herewith, some key takeaways from the fall. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Fall success doesn’t just lead to FedExCup rewards; the reverse is also true. Justin Thomas and Pat Perez parlayed fall victories into career firsts last season, Thomas winning the FedExCup and Perez making it to his first TOUR Championship. But that, in turn, seems to have led to more wins this fall, Perez at the CIMB Classic at TPC Kuala Lumpur, Thomas at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, a new event in South Korea. Winning breeds winning, and now others hope to follow their example. “The FedExCup is a big deal to me,â€� said OHL Classic at Mayakoba champion Patton Kizzire, who leads the FedExCup with 659 points. “… I’m really excited to get a leg up and be No. 1 right now and be able to really try to push for that TOUR Championship.â€� 2. The “great eightâ€� fall tournaments change the narrative and change lives. Already we’ve seen four first-time winners this season: Ryan Armour at the Sanderson Farms Championship; Patrick Cantlay at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open; Kizzire at Mayakoba; and Cook at The RSM. Only one of those, Cook, was a rookie, although the former Arkansas Razorback was plenty familiar with Sea Island, where he competed for four years at the SEC Championships. 3. There’s still plenty of variation among TOUR winners. Height: The 5-foot-7 Cook broke through at Sea Island one week after 6-foot-5 Kizzire scored his own maiden victory at Mayakoba. Age: Perez and Armour are each 41; Justin Rose is 37; and Thomas, Cantlay and Cook are 24, 25 and 26, respectively. Playing style: Armour ranked 74th of 75 players in driving distance but made 441 feet, 3 inches worth of putts, 12th most by a winner in the ShotLink era, to win the Sanderson Farms. Brendan Steele was first in driving distance (327.8 yards) and strokes gained: off-the-tee (1.541) as he won the Safeway Open. 4. The Web.com Tour continues to be a great predictor for the fall. Consider Cook’s six tournaments before he won The RSM: T9 Albertsons Boise Open presented by Kraft Nabisco T11 DAP Championship T8 Web.com Tour Championship T25 Sanderson Farms Championship (PGA TOUR) T20 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open (PGA TOUR) T50 OHL Classic at Mayakoba (PGA TOUR) 5. If you want to find a future star on TOUR, look to The RSM. Kevin Kisner, the 2016 champ, went undefeated (2-0-2) at the recent Presidents Cup and tied for fourth at Sea Island this time around. Where will Cook, the fourth straight first-time winner at The RSM, go from here? And what about Aaron Wise? The University of Oregon and Web.com Tour graduate is trending in the right direction after a T13 finish over the weekend, his best result in five starts this fall. The Web.com Tour already has its first breakout star on the PGA TOUR in Cook. Is Wise next? FIVE INSIGHTS 1. Cook’s 23 birdies led The RSM, and he also led in strokes gained: tee-to-green. He went 49 straight holes without a bogey (from the first hole of the first round to the 13th in the third); hit 60 of 72 greens in regulation to tie for second in that stat; and is the fifth player since the start of the 2015-’16 season to have just two over-par holes while winning a 72-hole tournament. 2. Odd stat of the week: Kevin Streelman finished T17 at The RSM after making just one bogey over 72 holes. He led the field in Scrambling (91.67%) along with Cook. 3. Another week on TOUR, another record broken. Cook’s 194 total through three rounds was a new tournament record, breaking by two the 196 shot by the last two winners of The RSM, Mac Hughes last year and Kisner the year before. 4. Of the eight former University of Georgia golfers in the field, three finished T4: Brian Harman, Chris Kirk (the 2014 champion) and Kisner (the 2016 champion). 5. Armour was the fall’s biggest surprise winner at 311th in the Official World Golf Ranking when he won the Sanderson Farms. Cook wasn’t far behind at 302nd when he won The RSM. TOP 3 VIDEOS 1. What a way to finish! 2. Don’t judge a book by its cover, and don’t judge a shot by the reaction. 3. Cameron Tringale performs under pressure.

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