Zach Johnson jumps to front of pack at Valero Texas Open

Jon Rahm is on an absolute tear heading into The Open Championship. He’s 44 under par in his last 12 worldwide rounds. He is making birdie-or-better on more than 30% of his holes in that stretch. He’s never been worse than T11 after any round in that span. He not only won his first major championship at the U.S. Open but was one stroke of bad fortune from running away with the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, as well. RELATED LINKS: Twenty First Group | Nine Things to Know: Royal St. George’s Couple that with his past success at links-style golf courses in Europe, and you justifiably have a player who will be at the top of virtually everyone’s lists heading into the 149th Open Championship. Rahm is a two-time winner of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, with high finishes dotting his resume on similar courses throughout his young career. “It’s very refreshing when we come to this part of the world and play,” Rahm said last week at the Scottish Open, where he finished seventh. “And I think that’s why I’ve had success.” Twenty First Group analyzed every European Tour event (including The Open Championship) played on coastal courses of the British Isles since 2010, a collection of more than 25,000 rounds. Digging through the results not only articulated how great Rahm has been on links-style courses, but pinpointed some other key performers. Some names were expected. Some might be a bit surprising. Jon Rahm In his career, Rahm has averaged +1.8 Strokes Gained: Total per round on links-style golf courses (as defined in our classification), the best of any player over the last decade with 30 or more rounds played. Rahm’s iron play has been exceptional: in 33 rounds, he’s hit 72.6% of his greens in regulation – 6.6% more than the combined field averages in that span. Rahm has been able to capitalize on his length everywhere in his career, and these types of courses are no different. On links courses, the World No. 2 averages more than 10 yards farther than the field off the tee. It’s led to a direct benefit on par-5s – he’s gained an average of +0.28 strokes per par-5 played, second-best of any player since 2010 with 30 or more rounds under his belt. Since the first Masters was held in 1934, only three players have won their first two professional majors in back-to-back major starts: Craig Wood (1941 Masters, U.S. Open); Bobby Locke (1949 and 1950 Open Championships); and Jordan Speith (2015 Masters, U.S. Open). Rahm will try to join that list this week, as well as become the first player since Tiger Woods in 2000 to win the U.S. Open and The Open Championship in the same season. Rahm also is trying to finish in the top 10 in all four of this year’s majors. In addition to his win at Torrey Pines, he has finished fifth at this year’s Masters and T8 at the PGA Championship. Jordan Spieth He finished one shot out of a playoff at St. Andrews in 2015, then won The Open Championship two years later. Jordan Spieth’s links acumen is obvious, but the numbers paint a fuller picture of how good he’s been after crossing the Atlantic. In 28 rounds, he’s averaged a whopping +2.0 Strokes Gained: Total per round, the best of any player since 2010 with 20 or more rounds played. Spieth’s short game has been especially brilliant: he has scrambled, on average, 10.4% better than his opposition when playing links courses in his career. He’s also averaged more than half-a-putt fewer per round than the competition. This has led to him gaining strokes on the opposition regardless of hole type, doing so on par-3s, par-4s and par-5s. Since 2015, Spieth leads all players at The Open Championship in scoring average (69.6), rounds in the 60s (12) and one-putts (145). Tony Finau Quick. Who was the low American at the 2019 Open at Royal Portrush? It wasn’t Brooks Koepka (T4). It was Finau, who finished alone in third place. Finau is the only player to finish in the top 10 at both the 2018 and 2019 Open Championship. Finau has been good-to-great at virtually everything on links-style golf courses in his career. His driving distance, always a weapon, has given him a 12.6 yard average head start on the field. He’s hit more than 71% of his greens in regulation, a 7.2% increase over the field average. He also scrambles at a clip 8.5% higher than the field and has fewer putts per round than the average player, too. Finau has averaged 1.5 strokes under par per round on links courses, an exceptional clip considering more than half of his sample is coming from The Open Championship. Adam Scott With seven top-25 finishes since 2011, Adam Scott has been one of the most consistent performers this decade at The Open Championship. On links-style courses since 2010, Scott has averaged +1.7 Strokes Gained: Total per round, third-best among players with 40 or more rounds played in that span. Scott has been able to take great advantage of par-5s throughout his career on these courses: on average, Scott gains 0.3 strokes on the field per par-5 played, the highest average of any player in this study with more than 20 rounds. Outdriving the field average by more than 16 yards goes a long way, in turns out. Xander Schauffele Since 2010, there are just six players who have hit at least 5% more greens than the field and scrambled at a clip that is at least 5% better than the competition on European links courses. Two of those players have already been mentioned: Finau and Scott. Another one on that short list is Schauffele, who was the 54-hole co-leader at Carnoustie three years ago before ultimately finishing T2. It’s not an enormous sample size, but Schauffele has been terrific on these types of courses, gaining +1.8 strokes on the field per round. In addition to the scrambling and G.I.R. prowess we mentioned, he also averages more than six-tenths of a putt fewer per round, a number that puts him in the upper-15th percentile in that statistic. Schauffele has played in 17 major championships in his young career, finishing in the top 10 in more than half of them (nine). Since 2017, he is ranked fourth or better in the majors in scoring (70.6), birdies-or-better per round (3.8) and percentage of rounds in the 60s (39.1%). Could Royal St George’s be the site of his breakthrough major win?

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She had done everything the doctors suggested. Yoga. Specialized chiropractic exercises — three times a day — that were designed to slow the progression of the scoliosis she was diagnosed with at the age of 10. And that darn brace. For 18 months, she wore it 23 hours a day. She didn’t sleep or eat well because it constricted her, and it was difficult to muster enough breath to play her oboe or the saxophone. She was uncomfortable all the time. But Sydney Borchardt was willing to try anything to avoid spinal fusion surgery. “I’m very Type A,” Sydney, who is now 16, said matter-of-factly, “So, I was just ready to do whatever I needed to do.” Unfortunately, though, the curves in her spine continued to worsen, moving from 18 degrees at her initial diagnosis to 42 within two years. The doctors told Sydney and her family they needed to seriously consider fusion surgery to correct the deformity in her spine. “I remember walking back into our little hospital room and I just broke down,” Sydney says. “I was like, I worked so hard these past few years to try to prevent it and nothing worked. “So, it was pretty devastating and hard, especially as a 12-year-old and thinking about what spinal surgery would be like. And that’s when my mom and my dad started looking for other options.” Sydney’s parents discovered a procedure called Vertebral Body Tethering, which uses a flexible cord and the body’s growth process to straighten out the spine, unlike the rods used in fusion surgery. But their insurance company deemed it experimental and wouldn’t pay for it. So, Sydney’s mom, Melissa, found a Facebook group and posted about her situation. Almost immediately, she received a message from a man named Kyle who said to call him to talk about Shriners Children’s Hospitals. After Googling Kyle and his son, who also had scoliosis, she felt comfortable enough to make the call – and the conversation would change Sydney’s life. Kyle told Melissa that he had taken his son to a Shriners Children’s Hospital. While he was unable to meet the strict FDA requirements for a clinical trial – and ended up having a procedure similar to VBT in a Boston hospital that cost $69,000 – he was struck by the Shriners’ mission. “I’ll give you 69,000 reasons to call Shriners now,” Kyle told Melissa. Shriners is a network of 22 non-profit hospitals across the country. Doctors at these facilities treat children with spinal cord issues like Sydney as well as orthopedic conditions, burns and cleft lips and palates — regardless of a family’s ability to pay. Proceeds of this week’s Shriners Children’s Open on the PGA TOUR help in that cause. “They said, well, it doesn’t matter if your insurance pays or not,” Melissa says. “We’re going to do what’s best for Sydney. And then the relief of just worrying about whether you can afford to give her college or afford this specialty treatment, it just weighs on you as a parent.” The Borchardts, who live in Oklahoma City, ended up taking Sydney to Shriners Children’s Philadelphia for the VBT surgery. Doctors deflated her lung and put a medical rope in her spine, connecting it to seven screws before inflating the lung again. Within two weeks, Sydney said she was “ready to go,” and four weeks later, she was back in school, swimming and playing the oboe. And this week, Sydney is in Las Vegas, serving as one of four Patient Ambassadors for Shriners Children’s Hospital. “Oh gosh, I can’t even really describe what it means,” she says. “I’m just so thankful for the opportunities that they’ve given me. Honestly, surgery was a big deal. … So being able to go to Shriners and just feel so secure in what they were doing and feel so loved, I know that helped my parents feel more confident in their decision and made me feel more confident. “Now, being able to give back, I mean, I’ll never be able to repay what they did for me. So, this is just like a small thing of what I can do. Speaking on behalf of them and representing them feels like the only way I can ever kind of give back. And so, I enjoy talking about how amazing they are and the amazing care that they have given kids through all these years.” But there is more to the story. Sydney’s great-grandfather, the late Omer Jordan, was a Shriner and both her great-grandmother and grandmother, who also had scoliosis and underwent fusion surgery at the age of 38, were involved with the Daughters of the Nile. (The women’s organization itself has raised more than $45 million for Shriners Children’s Hospitals.) Jordan died before Sydney was born and she barely knew her great-grandmother. Melissa remembers them, though, and seeing pictures in their home of her wearing the crown and him wearing the red conical Fez that is symbolic of Shriners membership. “When they both passed away, they asked for donations for Shriners,” Melissa recalls. “So, we really didn’t think about it too much, but we saw the pictures and stuff, and then as Sydney got involved in Shriners, we were just kind of like, wow, you know, these guys, they do it selflessly.” Not surprisingly, Sydney’s journey over the last six years has brought her closer to her relatives. And in way things have come full circle, with her great-grandparents’ legacy helping her. “That’s exactly what me and Mom had been thinking is just, he doesn’t even know that he would eventually be helping his great granddaughter after all those years of raising money,” Sydney says. “And you know, we don’t have a lot of spare time in life. Life is crazy and busy, but he spent that time helping kids and it’s just so selfless of him. “And so, I really desire to be like my great grandfather and grandmother.” On Tuesday, Sydney was at TPC Summerlin where a host of PGA TOUR pros were preparing for the Shriners Children’s Open. Among the pros she met was four-time champion Ryan Palmer, whose late father was a proud Shriner. There was an instant connection as they talked about Sydney’s great-grandfather and Butch Palmer. “Just the fact of what they like, what they love doing most is helping these young kids, you know, these hospitals and taking care of these patients who can’t afford to get the care they need,” Palmer recalls. “And it just says what kind of people they were — her grandfather, my dad, Butch Palmer. “I mean, I got everything, you know, the things I love doing, helping with charities and my foundation, I’ve got it from him — just his love for helping kids and helping others. And what a great organization Shriners are and what they do for kids.” Butch Palmer was active in the Khiva Shrine of Amarillo (Texas) from 1985 until his death in 2015. He was the potentate in 2001 and Ryan remembers going to the temple as a youngster and listening to the Oriental band – where his dad played horn — practice. “Just the people I met along the way that are still close up dear to my heart,” says Palmer, who adds that it’s not a surprise to see some of them volunteering this week. “They’re close friends of mine that were friends of his. And so, a lot of good memories during those times, for sure.” As he got older, Palmer says he began to realize what being a Shriner and helping the kids really meant. And he knew how much his dad loved the Shriners Children’s Open, which his son first played in 2004. One year, the two even met some Player Ambassadors like Sydney. “He loved being a part of it walking around with his Fez and knowing that he was here with the Shriners, but also his son was playing in the tournament,” Ryan says. “So, each and every year I come here just seems like it’s getting bigger and better, and it means that much more to me to be here. “And it would speak volumes, I mean, no telling what it would be like to come out and possibly win this tournament one day and knowing what he stood for and what he did and how much the Shriners meant to him.”

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