Tiger Woods finds success with familiar putter back in the bag

Patrick Cantlay winning tournaments was never supposed to be a surprise given the seemingly limitless talent he showed at the junior and collegiate levels, but injuries and such conspired against him. That was then. This is now. Welcome to the Monday Finish where Cantlay’s incredible poise and guts under pressure was there for all to see, particularly for tournament host Jack Nicklaus, as he surged home to win at Muirfield Village. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Cantlay is an extremely good compartmentalizer. That means he is able to separate things in his mind with ease. And in golf, this is a very important skill. Cantlay does not get bogged down by outside distractions. He is basically all business, all the time. Something not right at home? Doesn’t matter on the course It doesn’t enter his thinking. Something weird happening in the crowd or with another player in his group? It doesn’t matter to Cantlay. He’s like a machine. And so when the pressure was applied down the stretch at Muirfield Village, it was as if it wasn’t there. All that was there was the next shot. And all he had to do was execute his golf swing. He did that and produced a brilliant 8-under 64 final round. The lowest ever by a Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide winner. 2. Cantlay is a very intelligent individual. When Jack Nicklaus gives you advice, you listen. Almost all people would pay the legend that courtesy. But then you have to decide if you use it. Cantlay has been close to Nicklaus since being awarded the Jack Nicklaus award in 2011. Two years ago when he came to Muirfield Village he sounded out the 18-time major winner for a 90-minute strategy session on how to play the course. This year Nicklaus found him and had some different advice for Cantlay. He told him enjoy the moment more. Take it all in. Maybe even smile. Those who have watched Cantlay a lot know he’s not much of a smiler. He’s all business. But he did heed Jack’s words. And he did win. For more on their special relationship, click here. 3. Adam Scott has to win again soon. It has been over three years since Adam Scott went 2-1-1 in three straight tournaments in early 2016, the last of his 13 PGA TOUR titles. At times, the Australian has looked like he may not scale the heights again at all. In fact a year ago he was scratching his way through a U.S. Open sectional qualifier. But since then he has clawed back to some of his best golf. He contended heavily in the 2018 PGA Championship (third) and THE NORTHERN TRUST (T5) near the end of last season. This season he was T10 at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, runner up at the Farmers Insurance Open, T7 at the Genesis Open, T8 at the PGA Championship and now runner up to Cantlay this week. At Torrey Pines his 19-under total would have won the event most years. His 17-under this week would have been enough to win the last eight Memorial Tournaments. Sometime soon Scott will salute again. Read more about Scott’s near miss, as well as Martin Kaymer and Jordan Spieth’s efforts here. 4. Martin Kaymer is a great thinker as well as golfer. For most of the weekend it appeared Kaymer would end a near five-year win drought before a tough final nine holes took away that opportunity. But while he play at Muirfield Village was eye opening for some, it was his talk and demeanor that was the biggest positive takeaway. Kaymer has won a PGA Championship, THE PLAYERS Championship and a U.S. Open. He has a throng of European Tour wins. But of course it has been a long time between drinks. His straight talking about it was very refreshing. The German star has ditched distractions from his life. “Just getting away from so many things, social media, watching TV, reading stuff that is not important. What do you really gain from social media during tournament days? There’s so much gossip, so much talk, so much distraction,â€� he explained. “And I just got out of that. I just didn’t want to read that because there’s nothing really to gain from it. And that was a big one for me … It’s just distraction, stimulation for your brain, just not thinking, not being there. So I tried to get away from that. And that automatically makes you more aware, makes me more conscious, and I think leads to more calmness, I guess. It helped me.â€� That calmness continued Sunday despite three late bogeys relegating him to third place. Kaymer fronted up to the media to talk about it all and when done actually asked if there was any more he could do. A true class act. 5. Tiger Woods can win the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Well duh … He did win the U.S. Open there by 15 shots in 2000. But there was some lingering doubt Woods might not be at his best heading there this time after he missed the cut at the PGA Championship. After his amazing Masters win, Woods was clearly down on energy at Bethpage Black, a symptom of some illness and also lack of competitive rounds since Augusta. But at Muirfield Village there were enough signs to show he can be in the mix at the U.S. Open. Woods scraped his way to a top-10 finish this week despite not having his best stuff. Some crucial double bogeys just as he was on a run stopped any hope of a sixth Memorial title. He will need to keep those mistakes from his game at Pebble Beach. But on Sunday he showed that he has the ability to be deadly accurate. He hit the first 12 greens in regulation and finished with 12 of 14 fairways. If he brings that to the U.S. Open then look out. Click here to read more about Woods. FOUR INSIGHTS 1. In the last three seasons, only five players have won with a bogey-free final round of 64 or better. It’s quite a group: Patrick Cantlay, Francesco Molinari (twice), Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama and Justin Thomas. 2. Cantlay shot 19-under at the Memorial without holing a shot longer than 20 feet. He holed just two shots from outside 15 feet. He moved to sixth in the FedExCup. 3. Cantlay played the par 5s a combined 12-under par, tying his career-best Par-5 Performance in an event on TOUR. Since 2017, Cantlay has the best Par-5 scoring of any player at the Memorial Tournament, playing them a combined 30-under par. WYNDHAM REWARDS The Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is in its first season and adds another layer of excitement to the FedExCup Regular Season. The top 10 players at the end of the FedExCup Regular Season will earn bonus payouts from the Wyndham Rewards Top 10. Patrick Cantlay surged into the Top 10, at sixth, following his win at Muirfield Village. The man to drop out of the reward zone at his expense is Jon Rahm. He slides from ninth to 12th. Marc Leishman moved from 14th to 11th, just outside.

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Aaron Wise (+6600) … Because, well, golf, in recent starts when he was a Sleeper (Valero Texas Open) and in the Power Rankings (AT&T Byron Nelson), he’s made the cut but underperformed. However, sprinkled around those Lone Star State stops was a T9 at Quail Hollow, a T17 at Kiawah Island and a T9 at Muirfield Village in what was his most recent. With crisp irons that have him eighth on the PGA TOUR in greens hit and contribute to his position of 23rd in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, it’s no wonder why his game travels. He got his first taste of the race track that is TPC River Highlands with four sub-70s a year ago, but he settled for a share of 46th place. With that experience and his recent surge, he’s expected to improve on that result to punctuate his birthday week. He turned 25 on Monday. Talor Gooch (+12500) … No matter his odds or his Official World Golf Ranking (70th), when you slot as a Sleeper for the fifth time in a season, it means you’re either doing enough to warrant persistent attention or not doing enough to climb the ladder. Or both. The 29-year-old last landed inside this focus at the AT&T Byron Nelson and finished T39. It’s among 17 cuts made in 23 starts this season. With three top 10s and another four top 20s, including in his last two starts, he’s 54th in the FedExCup. He’s also 93 starts and deep into fourth season on the PGA TOUR career without a victory. He hasn’t come close at TPC River Highlands where he’s 0-for-2, but he’s back for more with one of the most balanced skill sets in the field and, frankly, only one objective – to win. C.T. Pan (+15000) … It was just a month ago that he appeared here for the Charles Schwab Challenge and finished T32. It’s one of four consecutive paydays that have fortified his position to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs. Currently 95th in points with a pair of top 10s among five top 25s, he has to picks his spots because he’ll never win a long-drive contest. Not that he can’t hold his own, but a sub-6,900 yard walk like TPC River Highlands presents as more gettable prey for his sharper skills to attack. He placed T8 here in 2017 and T25 in his debut in 2015. David Lipsky (15000) … This is a bonus start thanks to a T8 in what was a bonus start at Congaree via a sponsor exemption two weeks ago. He’s seventh on the Korn Ferry Tour points list, so the well-traveled 32-year-old is playing on the equivalent of house FedExCup points before he’ll compete for official points as a PGA TOUR rookie in 2021-22. In the expanded 2020-21 KFT season, he’s recorded one win and a trio of runner-up finishes among six top 10s and a dozen top 25s. Austin Eckroat (+25000) … After Davis Thompson (RSM) and John Pak (Palmetto) missed the cuts in their Sleepers debuts, it stands to reason that the third member of what could evolve into a memorable Class of 2021 is the charm, although Eckroat also missed the cut at the Valero in his appearance in this space that week. Each is among PGA TOUR University’s top five that has fully exempt status on the Korn Ferry Tour this summer, but only Eckroat is doing damage early on. In his professional debut two weeks ago, he finished seventh at the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation where he led the field in putting. He then chased it with a T13 in Wichita with another superb performance on the greens. The Oklahoma State product will need to dial in his irons at TPC River Highlands to give his wand a chance, but he ranked T4 in greens in regulation en route to a T12 at Mayakoba last fall where roommate and former OSU teammate Viktor Hovland prevailed. Odds were sourced on Tuesday, June 22 at 5 a.m. ET. For live odds visit betmgm. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.

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Tiger Woods shot 29 over his first nine holes and finished with an 8-under-par 62 to hold the early lead at the BMW Championship, the third of four FedEx Cup playoff events.

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