Marc Leishman wins CIMB Classic by five shots

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The blood was pumping in his ears as he felt the eyes of the world drill into him. Somewhere in the distance, he heard laughter. Russell Knox had been climbing the leaderboard when he hit his tee shot in the water at the par-3 17th in the third round of THE PLAYERS Championship last year. Then he hit a second one in the drink, and a third. He finally made a 9. The gaffe sent him spiraling out of contention, from 8 under and tied for fifth place to 2 under and — well, it didn’t matter anymore. “The green felt like it was the size of a quarter,” he said afterward. Whatever else you want to say about THE PLAYERS — best field in golf, toughest tournament to win — it is also a theater of human frailty. One minute you’re in contention, the next you’re in a YouTube video. Knox agonized. Then he shrugged. Finally, he laughed. “I’d just thrown myself out of the tournament, so it was either react the way I did or be miserable in front of the local fans,” he says now. “I took the ‘make fun of myself’ approach.” His sense of humor helped, but so did the fact that he wasn’t alone. Not hardly. On Friday, Anirban Lahiri came to the 18th hole at even par and about to make the cut. He promptly pumped three balls in the water and made a 10 to miss by a mile. A single lapse at THE PLAYERS can escalate into utter chaos anytime, but especially on the weekend, when the cameras and other distractions multiply, and hazards (and the $1.89 million winner’s check) loom larger. This year there’s even more treachery on the back nine: water left of the short par-4 12th, where some will try to drive the green, which tilts toward the trouble — as if there isn’t already enough of it on this confounding Pete Dye course. ‘Wall of death’ In the third round in 2011, Graeme McDowell took a three-shot lead to the 18th hole. With a par to close out his round, which was being completed Sunday morning due to weather delays, he would add a sparkling 66 to early rounds of 67-69. Then it all went wrong. “I hit it about a yard in the right rough,” McDowell says. “The pin was in that middle-right spot and I couldn’t get to it, so I pitched my ball right on the front edge of the green, right where you’re supposed to, and there’s this wall of death there, this tier, and it went across the green and in the water and I made double. It’s still one of the worst breaks of my career. “I went from being three ahead to one ahead,” McDowell adds. “An hour and a half, two hours later I came out so deflated for the last round and had a really bad day.” McDowell shot a final-round 79 to finish T-33. Rory McIlroy says he learned the hard way to curb his aggressive instincts, missing the cut at TPC Sawgrass in his first three starts in 2009, 2010 and 2012. “I’ve definitely limited the amount of drivers I’ve hit,” McIlroy says, noting that the Stadium Course features several pinch points at 300 yards. Although his driving has historically set him apart, he adds, he’s had to come to terms with “hitting the ball in the same positions as everyone else off the tee and then trying to beat them in from there. It’s that sort of golf course.” McIlroy’s results since he accepted that fact: T-8, T-6, T-8, T-12. He also made the cut this week and hopes to chase down the leaders on the weekend. “You have to plot your way around,” says Chez Reavie, who shot 68-72 in the first two rounds this week and is in contention to win on the PGA TOUR for the first time since the 2008 RBC Canadian Open. “You can miss by two yards and it kicks down and you’ve got no chance. The biggest thing is when you’re in trouble, just hit the shot to get you out of trouble instead of trying the miracle shot. Just take your bogey.” Of course that is easier said than done, especially at the 17th hole, where there’s no place to miss on its island green. Of those who have played the 17th at least eight times, just five of the 146 players in this PLAYERS field came into the week having never missed it: Graham DeLaet (16 of 16), Daniel Summerhays (14), Scott Brown (12), David Lingmerth (8) and Reavie (8). DeLaet increased his streak to 18 after the first two rounds; alas, he missed the cut. Think of 17, though, and you probably don’t think of those names. Instead, you recall the fates of Len Mattiace (8 in 1998), Sean O’Hair (7 in 2007) and Sergio Garcia (7 in 2013), all of whom wrecked their title chances there in the final round. Or Knox, who suffered his memorable disaster in the penultimate round last year. Sometimes tragic, always expensive, their wipeouts at the slickest turn on the track were above all unforgettable. As a rule, the closer the player is to the lead — and the closer he is to the finish line — the faster and more indelibly it goes into PLAYERS lore if he crashes. Bob Tway was four off the lead when he made a record 12 on the hole in the third round in 2005. It was a hole to forget, but it could have been worse. He could have been playing the final round, in the lead, with every deep breath and nervous fidget being broadcast around the globe. ‘There’s no bailout’ In the board game Scrabble, it is said that two-letter words are “the glue of the game.” Similarly, short putts are “the glue of the game” for players trying to keep it together under extreme pressure, says 1999 PLAYERS champion and Golf Channel analyst David Duval. “Probably the 14th,” Duval says, when asked if there was a hole where he felt he was on the verge of potentially falling apart. “I was struggling. I don’t remember what all happened on every shot, but I ended up making like a 5-footer for bogey. I’m over it, I’m basically like, If you want to win this tournament, you’ve got to make this putt. “And you have to make them through the week. You can’t let the 4- and 5-footers get away from you here because you have a lot of them — for birdie, for par and for bogey. If you miss one or two for the week, that’d be about it. After that, you’re not going to win.” Adam Scott remembers the 10-foot bogey putt that won him THE PLAYERS in 2004. “You’ve got to manage yourself so well at Sawgrass, whether you’re playing good, bad or indifferent, because there are a lot of big numbers that can happen,” says Scott, who is within reach of the lead entering Saturday at 2 under (70-72). “You’ve got to play very smart, play within yourself the last two or three holes. It’s brutal through there because there’s no bail-out.” In 2004, Scott, then 23, led by as many as five shots in the final round. Then, playing well ahead of Scott, Padraig Harrington finished with six 3s to shoot 66. “All of a sudden,” Scott says, “my cruising around with a four-shot lead became two.” He bogeyed 14 and missed the green at 15, his ball nestling into a grassy hole left of the green, but he chipped it tight to save par. “A huge relief,” he says. Alas, the relief was short-lived. For all of the publicity 17 has gotten over the years, 18 is arguably harder. Water beckons on the tee shot, and for players who hit dry land but wind up in the right rough, water beckons again on the second shot. Scott hit what he calls “a beautiful 2-iron off the tee, which was way forward back then, and had about 200 yards in to that back pin.” He tried to chase a 6-iron onto the green and came over the top of it, his ball splashing down in the water as the crowd gasped. Now he looked like he was headed for a final-hole double-bogey to tie Harrington at 11-under 277, forcing a playoff. “At those times,” Scott says, “you’ve got to somehow think to yourself, wow, if somebody gave me a chip and a putt to win THE PLAYERS, I’d be pretty chuffed with that.” He gathered himself, remembered to breathe, and from 39 yards got up and down for bogey to win. For the weekend leaders at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, where watery doom lurks at every turn, the highest form of living can be simply refusing to die.

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NORTON, Mass. – Bryson DeChambeau spent a good portion of his third round Sunday chatting up his playing partner. You could’ve sworn he was prepping for an oral exam in quantum mechanics. Meanwhile, he also managed to fit in four birdies in his first seven holes, showing he had lost none of the momentum from last week’s victory in the FedExCup Playoffs opener. He was on top of his game, on top of the FedExCup standings and having a blast. Yet he was nervous. With good reason. “It’s Tiger Woods, guys,â€� DeChambeau explained, the simplest answer always being the best. For the first time in his blossoming career, DeChambeau played a competitive round with his childhood idol. Although they’ve become frequent practice partners, DeChambeau knew Sunday was different. Tiger would have his game face on. As it turns out, DeChambeau can deliver one pretty good game face, too. The FedExCup leader shot an 8-under 63 that left him at 12 under through three rounds of the Dell Technologies Championship and gives him a golden opportunity to claim the first two Playoffs events. For the second straight week, he’ll be in the final twosome in the final round, this time with tournament leader Abraham Ancer, who’s 13 under. Meanwhile, Woods had to settle for a 3-under 68 that left him at 7 under and perhaps too far back to break his five-year victory drought in Monday’s Labor Day finish at TPC Boston. Afterwards, DeChambeau wore a huge smile, and it was tough to tell if it came from moving up the leaderboard or simply because he fulfilled a childhood fantasy. “I’ve admired him my whole entire life,â€� DeChambeau said. “And to be finally able to play with him under tournament conditions, it was different. I was a little nervous, for sure. But I was able to get out there and execute shots and worry about my game and focus on hitting the best shots possible – and I was able to play really well like that.â€� DeChambeau said his nervousness didn’t disappear until after the seventh hole. By then, he was 4 under on his round. Woods was 3 under on his round at that point, but while DeChambeau remained hot on the back nine, Woods quickly cooled off. He wouldn’t post another birdie until the par-5 18th. “I didn’t get a lot out of my round today,â€� Tiger shrugged. Still, it was an interesting, entertaining Sunday – even if Bryson did most of the talking. Told that Woods didn’t always seem this chatty, DeChambeau corrected, “He still isn’t, by the way.â€� Woods was asked if earlier in his career – in other words, the dominant Tiger years — he would have been as willing to engage with his playing partner. He referenced the names of players much older than him: Mark O’Meara, Mark Calcavecchia, Davis Love III, Fred Couples and the late Payne Stewart. “We were always chatty,â€� Tiger said. “When you’re playing with friends, yeah, you’re competing, but you’re still playing with friends.â€� Whether DeChambeau has reached that level of friendship is tough to say. But it’s apparent that Woods has taken a shine to the 24-year-old and fellow California native. “He’s fantastic to play with,â€� Woods said of DeChambeau. “He’s great. … Two friends going out there competing and playing. We both have jobs to do today and try to shoot as low rounds as we possibly could do today. And he did that.â€� It helps, obviously, that DeChambeau has emerged at one of the game’s top young golfers. His win last week at THE NORTHERN TRUST was the third of his PGA TOUR career and made him just the 11th player in the last 30 years to post three wins before turning 25. Besides taking over the FedExCup lead, he also moved to 12th in the world rankings. “Pretty impressive,â€� Woods said. “And just the way he’s played, especially the last couple of weeks. He’s had opportunities and had runs, but I think he’s cleaning up the rounds. He’s not making that many mistakes. And if he does … I’ve talked to him over the past couple of months, he’s missing the ball in the correct spots. That makes all the difference.â€� Their friendship has grown to the point of open speculation that they will be partners at next month’s Ryder Cup. The fact neither of them are yet on the U.S. team seems to be a moot point. Three of Jim Furyk’s four Captain’s picks will be announced next Tuesday, and expectations are that Woods and DeChambeau will be chosen. “I think if all the stars were to align and that were to happen, I think we could feed off of each other pretty well,â€� said DeChambeau, whose focus the next few weeks remains squarely on the FedExCup race. As for Tiger’s perspective on the pairing? Well, Sunday’s 63 at TPC Boston was a pretty strong statement. “If he goes around and shoots 8 under par every time,â€� Tiger said, “that will work.â€�

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Go ahead and peruse Brooks Koepka’s bag setup from his win at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES. If you’re a gearhead, you’ll notice something feels out of place — and it’s not the Nike Vapor Fly Pro 3-iron he’s had in the bag going to 2016 when the Swoosh was still in the equipment game. Next to a Scotty Cameron T10 Select Newport 2 putter, Koepka’s Titleist Vokey Design SM4 TVD lob wedge is arguably the oldest club in his bag at the moment, with a product release date that goes back to 2011. There’s a reason why Koepka loves the wedge so much, and it has to do with a custom low-bounce TVD M-Grind he’s placed on his 60-degree for every TOUR title, including three major championships. Bottom line, Koepka and his lob wedge have some good history — so much so that when he decided to move into the current SM7 version earlier this year, Vokey Tour rep Aaron Dill added the same SM4 TVD M-Grind to the updated head. Koepka had three Vokey SM7 wedges in play during his win at this year’s U.S. Open, but like most professionals, fresh sets are needed throughout the season to ensure the grooves have extra zip for the major championships. Given Koepka’s success with SM7, many wondered why the 28-year-old suddenly decided to revert back to SM4 in his lob wedge late in the year, but retain SM7 gap and sand wedges. Of course, there’s a story behind the older model wedge getting a spot in Koepka’s bag. The week prior to the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Koepka made a call to Aaron Dill, Vokey’s Tour rep, to have three new SM7 wedges built in preparation for the PGA Championship and FedExCup Playoffs. It was a simple ask that Dill was able to knock out — shipping the clubs to Koepka’s house prior to his departure for Firestone. But there was one problem when Koepka arrived on site in Ohio: He left the wedges at home. In need of a set at the last minute, Koepka’s caddie, Ricky Elliott, asked Dill if he could build something new in less than a day. Dill is a modern-day magician on the grinding wheel, but on short notice, even he wasn’t able to completely fulfill Koepka’s request. The issue came down to the grind on the lob wedge, which is highly complicated and takes roughly two days for Dill to add Koepka’s customized SM4 TVD M-Grind geometry on a special SM7 head. “I’d say about 10 to 15 percent of the guys I work with need something exotic on their wedge,” Dill said. “A few of those grinds just take time to get it exactly right, and that’s the case with his grind.” To help Koepka out in a pinch, Dill reached into his bag of tricks, pulling an old SM4 TVD M-Grind head from the Titleist truck. Due to the number of players who still use exotic offerings on TOUR, Dill keeps special stock — custom grinds and head offerings that may have been retired — on hand each week for unique requests. Dill would eventually build Koepka an SM7 with his preferred grind after the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, but instead of putting it in play, the PGA TOUR Player of then Year chose to keep the older model SM4 in the bag for the remainder of the season and into the new 2018-19 campaign. What makes Koepka’s M-Grind so different from the standard version? According to Dill, it comes down to bounce characteristics that are lower than most golfers would prefer on the grind. Koepka’s lob wedge sits tight on the turf, due to the relief that’s added to the heel, toe and trailing edge, making it ideal for firm conditions — something he encountered for years in Europe before he earned his TOUR card. “When it comes to his lob wedge, the bounce on it is extremely low,” said Dill, who noted the bounce on a standard M-Grind is 8 degrees. “He’s got some terrific hands and delivers the wedge impeccably. He’s able to get away with just having very little bounce. “We talk about low bounce numbers, he’s about 8 to 9 degrees less forward angle than the original. It’s quite a bit. That’s just from him experimenting and finding what’s worked best for him. He’s been using that for years.” Koepka’s SM4 may be one of the oldest wedges on TOUR, but when it comes to the way it performs on the course, there’s a reason why he continues to use the same setup. The results speak for themselves. BUY EQUIPMENT HERE: PGA TOUR Superstore

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