Justin Thomas wins Honda playoff, beating Luke List

Welcome to the Stats Insider, where we’ll take a closer look at Sungjae Im’s win at The Honda Classic. Im is just 21 years old but he’s already won the Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year Award, PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year and now a PGA TOUR event. RELATED: Slow and steady, Im withstands pressure at The Honda Classic | What’s in Im’s bag? 1. YOUTH MOVEMENT: We’ve seen several young stars win on the PGA TOUR recently, and Im continued that trend. He is the fifth player age 22 or younger to win on the PGA TOUR since July, joining Matthew Wolff, Collin Morikawa, Joaquin Niemann and Viktor Hovland. That’s just two fewer than in the preceding five seasons. Seven players age 22 or younger won on the PGA TOUR from 2014 to 2018. Compare that to the 15 years from 1985 to 2000, when just four players age 22 or younger won on the PGA TOUR. 2. TOP NOTCH: Im moved to No. 2 in the FedExCup with the win, just 135 points behind Justin Thomas. Im also had a runner-up at this season’s Sanderson Farms Championship, where he lost a playoff to Sebastian Munoz, and finished third at THE ZOZO Championship. He finished behind Tiger Woods and Hideki Matsuyama that week, and tied Rory McIlroy. Im’s three top-3 finishes this season are tied for the most on TOUR. 3. TOUGH STUFF: Im conquered one of the toughest tracks on the PGA TOUR. PGA National’s penal layout, firm greens and a windy week combined to make this one of the toughest non-majors in recent memory. Only 16 players broke par for the week and the average round this week was nearly 2 over par. Im’s winning score of 6-under 274 is the highest winning score (in relation to par) in a non-major since Brandt Snedeker’s win in the 2016 Farmers Insurance Open. This was the first non-major since 1996 where no one posted a round of 5 under or lower. Im shot 4-under 66 in both the second and fourth rounds. 4. IT’S A TRAP?: Im won The Honda Classic with Sunday’s performance on the Bear Trap. He birdied the two par-3s that bookend that infamous trio of holes. Nos. 15 and 17 were the second- and third-hardest holes Sunday, but Im birdied both. There were just 13 birdies on those holes Sunday. Im was one of just two players to birdie both holes in the final round. Daniel Berger was the other. 5. TEE-TO-GREEN MACHINE: Sungjae Im finished 11th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, fifth in Strokes Gained: Approach and fifth in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green. Add it all together, and he led Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green by a large margin. He gained 12.3 strokes from tee-to-green, three more than the next player in that statistic (Russell Henley).

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Last week's U.S. Open at famed Winged Foot Golf Club provided an opportunity for five players in the PGA TOUR University Ranking to grab some valuable points heading into a fall stretch heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Entering the week, all eyes were on Florida State standout John Pak, who opened with a 1-under 69 and finished the week as Low Amateur at T51. The 21-year-old, who debuted at No. 1 in the Ranking on July 22, maintained his top spot thanks to the program's system, which applies finishes from NCAA Division I Men's Golf events, as well as all major championships and PGA TOUR events - all over a rolling, two-year period. The other four PGA TOUR U players to compete at Winged Foot - Chun An Yu, Davis Thompson, Sandy Scott and John Augenstein - missed the cut, but gained valuable points looking towards a year-long effort to secure a top-15 spot in the final Ranking next June. The top five players will be provided access to the Korn Ferry Tour, while Nos. 6-15 will have their choice of one of the three International Tours to compete on. More PGA TOUR U: Top 25 standings | Game-changing pipeline for collegiate stars Yu opened his week with an even-par 70, but struggled during Friday's second round before finishing with a 10-over 80 to miss the cut. The Chinese Taipei native and Arizona State star kept his spot at No. 2 in the ranking, but it was the No. 3 position which delivered the first bit of movement following the U.S. Open. Oklahoma State's Austin Eckroat fell from No. 3 to No. 5 due to Thompson and Scott's presence in the field, as the duo ascended to Nos. 3 and 4, respectively. Thompson matched Pak's opening-round 69 (tied for the lowest amateur round in U.S. Open history at Winged Foot), but fell victim to a second-round 78 and missed the cut. The University of Georgia All-American, who was a finalist for the Haskins Award and Jack Nicklaus Award this year, was paired with former Bulldogs Brendon Todd and Harris English in the first two rounds. All told, UGA was represented with seven players in the U.S. Open field. Scott, who decided to return to Texas Tech this past summer in part due to the PGA TOUR University program, missed the cut with respectable rounds of 75-74—149. The 22-year-old Nairn, Scotland, native, was making his first career start in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event. While Pak, Yu, Thompson and Scott earned their U.S. Open exemptions last month, John Augenstein secured his ticket to Winged Foot when he finished runner-up in the 2019 U.S. Amateur, losing 2 and 1 to Georgia Tech's Andy Ogletree in the championship match. The Owensboro, Kentucky, native, who is slated to compete at the Masters in November, posted rounds of 74-75—149 to miss the cut, but still moved up three spots to No. 6 in the ranking given his appearance in the national championship. Nos. 7 through 10 remained unchanged in the new Ranking, with Garett Reband (Oklahoma), McClure Meissner (Southern Methodist), Trevor Werbylo (Arizona) and Jovan Rebula (Auburn) rounding out the top 10.

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