Five things we learned from Tiger Woods’ pro-am round

After a fall series where FedExCup storylines had skewed focus towards a resurgent old brigade it seemed fitting to end the 2020 portion of this season with a reminder of the young talent we've been blessed with of late. Viktor Hovland notched up PGA TOUR win No. 2 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic presented by UNIFIN at a rain soaked El Camaleon, making the 23-year-old Norwegian just the fifth European player (since 1945) to earn multiple TOUR titles before turning 24. It's an esteemed list that includes Rory McIlroy, Seve Ballesteros, Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm. Here’s five things you may have missed from the shootout on the Mexican coast. 1. Viktor Hovland is a character we can all love The Norwegian former U.S. Amateur champion has been dubbed the smiling assassin at times because he just always appears to be having a great time. He portrays a player who doesn't take the consequences inevitable in this great game too seriously, and as such makes him easy to cheer for. He claims he's terrible in the pressure moments ... claims he's a mess and not comfortable. But yet there was an apparent air of calm over him as he sent his tee shot to the fairway, his approach to 10-feet, and his final putt into the hole on the 72nd hole to win by a shot. If there is a weakness in the youngster's raw game, it is around and on the greens, where at times he can be a little unreliable chipping and putting. In Mayakoba he was 5 of 11 in scrambling for the week and had missed a short birdie putt at the 15th that would have made life extremely tough for the other competitors. Soon after a terrible approach to the 16th had him well short and in sand some 40-yards from the pin. But instead of letting it be the start of a downward spiral, Hovland stuck his third to about the same length as the putt he missed moments earlier. This time, he nailed it. That par left him in prime position to control his destiny and by the time he came to the last he knew birdie would win the title. Facing a 10-footer for it all he smoothed it in like he was one of the best putters on TOUR. Brilliant stuff. Read more here. 2. A second win can be tougher than the first While Hovland chalked up TOUR win No. 2 there were a handful of other players who were looking to do the same that obviously did not cross what can be an elusive barrier. Runner-up Aaron Wise broke through a couple of seasons ago at the AT&T Byron Nelson and positioned himself beautifully on Sunday a couple of groups ahead of Hovland. A birdie on the 15th had Wise at eight-under on his round and part of the lead at 19-under, making the former NCAA champ a huge threat. But despite some great shots coming home he was unable to sink one more critical putt, leaving the door open for Hovland to pounce. Clearly though, Wise is going to find himself with more chances in the coming months and years. Chances doesn't mean wins though. Just ask Tony Finau. With the help of a new putting setup Finau was tied second through two rounds and after an ace and three birdies on Saturday's front nine he was closing in on the lead. Even a poor back nine didn't take him out of it for the final round but it wasn't to be and a T8 finish adds to his near misses. Since his win at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open, Finau has 34 top-10s without another triumph and he hasn't finished worse than 19th in the FedExCup over the last four seasons. Emiliano Grillo jumped out on TOUR in the 2015-16 season and won the Safeway Open first up. He would have been forgiven for thinking it was easy to do. Over the last three seasons he's threatened a few times with four thirds and a runner up so when he took a healthy lead through 36 and 54 holes in Mexico it appeared it might be time. But while others tore up the soft layout on Sunday Grillo shot a 1-over 72 to freefall to a T8 finish. Adam Long, who stared down Phil Mickelson to win his lone TOUR title, looked steeled when he birdied the 16th on Sunday to pull within one of the lead but his next tee shot was wild and with it went his chances of doubling his career win tally. He would settle for a T3 finish. The bottom line? Golf is hard. Winning is very hard. Winning more than once is incredibly hard. 3. Mexico's finest to wait at least one more year for home win Eventually it will happen. There was great hope pre-tournament that this could be the year a Mexican winner could emerge in what has been the countries first regular TOUR stop for well over a decade now. Carlos Ortiz, a winner at the recent Vivint Houston Open, was more than solid on the way to a T8 finish that moved him up to sixth in the FedExCup standings. Abraham Ancer was left to rue a slow start with his 1-over 72 opening round but fought valiantly back to be T12. Roberto Diaz, Armando Favela, Aaron Terrazas and Isidro Benitez were unable to make the cut but all will take invaluable experience away from the week. 4. The production line appears never-ending While we sat back and applauded Hovland's gutsy win his fellow college teammate, and current housemate, Austin Eckroat casually finished T12 as an amateur. The Oklahoma State senior gave a glimpse into some more of the talent coming down the pipeline. Another of those young guns, 18-year-old Akshay Bhatia, Monday qualified into the tournament and once again showed glimpses of why he's backed himself to be professional in lieu of college. After a bogey-bogey opening on Thursday the youngster fought back to shoot 4-under and showed similar resilience to notch up three birdies late in round two after a double bogey threatened to send him home early. His end result of T52 is a little misleading as he dropped shots late Sunday firing at pins with aggressive intent. 5. We lost a legend this past week The news of the passing of Peter Alliss, who was a highly successful European Tour player before becoming the voice of golf in the UK for decades on television, was certainly sad for the golf community. A member of eight Ryder Cup teams, Alliss won 31 times worldwide and was also an accomplished course designer and author. But perhaps his greatest contributions were with a microphone, where on the BBC in England, and the ABC in the U.S., he was arguably without peer talking viewers through the action. Take some time to read about his influence on the game here.

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CROMWELL, Conn. — Jordan Spieth reached the 18th green at TPC River Highlands during his practice round Tuesday at the Travelers Championship. He felt no need to try any shots out of the front bunker. “I know what it does,� he told caddie Michael Greller. Indeed. Spieth’s hole-out a year ago in the first playoff hole against Daniel Berger didn’t just produce a win. It also ignited a celebration that was just as memorable. Spieth’s club throw with his gloved left hand toward the back bank of the bunker. Greller’s casual rake toss to his left. Then the side bump/chest bump between the two. Spieth — and perhaps others in this week’s field — may very well hole out from that same bunker this week. It’s doubtful anyone, though, could recreate the impromptu and unfettered show of emotion that followed. “That was pretty special,� Spieth said. “I don’t think we could do that again, no matter how many times we tried.� It’s a good thing, considering Spieth admitted he basically “blacked out� after his ball rolled into the cup for the unlikely birdie. He knew the shot was a good one but thought the ball would roll a few feet past the cup, so he strained to pick up the read for the comebacker over the lip of the bunker. “Then it drops,� Spieth said, “and you just react.� The fortunate thing, according to Spieth, was that no one got hurt in the process. Spieth said that while he’s thrown clubs in the past, he’s never done it in celebration. But this time, he couldn’t help himself. In typical Spieth fashion, he explained in detail Tuesday how he usually twirls the club after a bunker shot or chip shot, so his hand slid halfway down the shaft instead of staying on the grip. That gave him better accuracy and control as he tossed the club. “If my hands are still on the grip and I really threw it, it could have hurt somebody,� he said. “Instead, it was like throwing a baton, like throwing the middle of the baton.� Meanwhile, Greller’s rake toss — the unsung moment of the celebration — was a nice, high lob to his left. Greller, incidentally, retrieved the rake after the awards ceremony and has it in his home. Then as Spieth climbed out of the bunker, he launched sideways at Greller, who opted for the full chest bump. “Better than the other way around,� Spieth said. “There’s been a lot of pretty bad celebrations on the PGA TOUR. There’s been a lot of missed high fives — I’ve been part of plenty of them. It’s pretty hard to miss when I’m going into Michael for a chest bump.� The holed shot didn’t end the tournament, though. Berger still had a 50-foot birdie putt to extend the playoff, and Spieth followed his celebration by helping to quiet down the frenzied crowd. Spieth’s win was sealed when Berger narrowly missed. “I don’t regret anything of the celebration,� Spieth said. “I thought it just pure emotion. … It felt the moment and that’s where I was living. Then it was OK, I had it now Daniel’s got his turn. You know, let’s chill out. Once that was done, then it was time to celebrate.� Spieth, of course, has seen the replays of the shot many times — “every single day� for the following week or two after the tournament. Then it pops up every now and then on social media. Bill Haas knows what it’s like to produce a highlight moment in a pressure-packed situation. His chip shot from a half-submerged lie in the water at the 17th hole finished inside 3 feet, allowing him to save par in a playoff against Hunter Mahan at the 2011 TOUR Championship. One hole later, Haas won not only the tournament but the FedExCup title. “That was a really good shot that worked,� Haas said Tuesday after walking off the 18th hole (no, he did not try to recreate Spieth’s shot from the bunker). “But I seem to remember the bad ones more than the good ones. The best players remember the good ones more.� Haas is being too humble, of course. After all, he has six TOUR wins along with that FedExCup title. Yet when Spieth and Greller talk about the moment, they don’t focus on the shot. Only what followed. “More about the celebration, for sure,� Spieth said.

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