Winner’s Bag: Matt Jones, The Honda Classic

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We know that you miss the competition on the PGA TOUR. So, together as we move forward through this hiatus, we will be taking a moment every week to recognize the tournaments that have been postponed or canceled, albeit in the familiar format of the Power Rankings. If you’ve lost track of where we are on the schedule – no matter your devotion as a fan, it’s a reasonable possibility – the Valero Texas Open was scheduled to be contested this week. With 89 editions in the books going back to the Warren Harding administration in 1922, suffice it to say that we’ve launched our special series with as large a database as the state in which the tournament has been held. The commitment is to rank only 10 golfers with honorable mentions who cannot go overlooked. It’s often not easy to limit a traditional Power Rankings to the usual 15, so there could be some solid debate generated when reviewing the entirety of a tournament’s history. As always, you are encouraged to engage in the conversation beneath the file. No doubt many of you are ready to reconnect in that space. I miss it, too. Only tournament success is considered for this version of the Power Rankings. Customary variables such as site and recency bias also do not carry as much influence. Rather, it takes into account era-dependent dominance and consistently strong form over time, but it doesn’t compare eras, project head-to-head considerations or adjust for quality of talent and field depth in any edition. As one example of history made at the Valero Texas Open, Tommy Armour III owns the tournament’s low aggregate of 26-under 254 in 2003. It also was a PGA TOUR record until Justin Thomas went one lower at the 2017 Sony Open in Hawaii, but it’s TA3’s only top-10 finish at the VTO in 21 appearances. It was a momentous week to be certain, but he didn’t come close to cracking the Power Rankings. Enjoy! ALL-TIME POWER RANKINGS: VALERO TEXAS OPEN 10. Loren Roberts Twenty-one years after debuting with a T22 in 1981, he prevailed as a 47-year-old in 2002, and then placed T2 in his title defense. Five top fives and two T9s baked into his 15-for-19 record. 9. Ben Hogan After three consecutive runner-up finishes through 1942 and a 27-month stint in the Army during World War II, he returned to Willow Springs Golf Club with victory in 1946. 8. Bill Mehlhorn Nicknamed Wild Bill and often wearing a cowboy hat, his wins in 1928 and 1929 punctuated a run of five straight top-five finishes, but he didn’t place worse than T16 in eight appearances. 7. Ben Crenshaw Won the first of his 19 PGA TOUR titles at Woodlake Golf Club in 1973. Added another victory in this event in 1986. Overall, he went 18-for-22 with six top fives and another two top 10s. 6. Jay Haas Totaled 23 starts and connected for two victories (1982, 1993), two seconds (1996, 1998), two T5s (1983, 1999) and another pair of top 10s. 5. Byron Nelson In eight starts from 1934-1946, he went T2-3rd-Win-T4-T8-T2-2nd-3rd. If there’s an upset, it occurred in 1945 when he won 18 times. His runner-up here was one of seven that season. 4. Sam Snead In five appearances comprising of at least one round on three different courses, he went 3rd-3rd-Win-2nd-Win and scored 86-under. Closed out his latter title in 1950 with a pair of 8-under 63s. 3. Arnold Palmer Six top 10s in just seven appearances, but he won three consecutive editions through 1962, the first year that Oak Hills Country Club hosted. 2. Justin Leonard Three wins, two seconds, a T5, a T10 and two T11s, all in 11 appearances at LaCantera Golf Club’s Resort Course from 1995-2009. His scoring average in 42 rounds on the par 70 was 67.48. 1. Charley Hoffman No. 1 in all-time earnings with a win (2016), two seconds and a third at TPC San Antonio. Two top 10s and a T11 at LaCantera. All told, he’s 14-for-14 with 11 top-15 finishes. HONORABLE MENTIONS • Mike Souchak … Recorded only three top 10s in 13 tries, but he established the 72-hole scoring record in 1955 at 27-under 257 at Brackenridge Park Golf Club. It was a mark that stood for 46 years, but the previous year, also at Brackenridge, Chandler Harper matched the then-record aggregate of 259 first set by Byron Nelson at the 1945 Seattle Open, one of Lord Byron’s 18 victories that season. • Bob Estes … The native Texan made 26 appearances, the first 25 consecutively from 1989-2013. His first TOUR title at Oak Hills in 1994 was one of seven top 10s and 14 top 25s in the event. • Lee Trevino … Because comparing actual dollars won is unfair over time, it’s notable that he reached six figures in tournament earnings with his last payday (T9) in 1983. His five top fives included a $45,000 victory in 1980. • Corey Pavin … Cashed in 16 of 19 appearances with an 11-start peak from 1988-2000 during which he recorded all eight of his top-15 finishes. It included a win (1988) among five top 10s. • Duffy Waldorf … Captured two wins at LaCantera (1995, 1999) among seven top 10s from 1989-2003.

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KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — Phil Mickelson survived a wild ride Saturday at Kiawah Island with a 2-under 70 in the PGA Championship that left him 18 holes away from becoming golf’s oldest major champion. RELATED: Jordan Spieth Slam chances dwindle at PGA Championship | Leaderboard The 50-year-old Mickelson walked off the 10th green with a five-shot lead and such amazing control of his game that it was shaping up to be another runaway on the Ocean Course. Far from it. Mickelson hit one tee shot into the water and another under the tire of a cart. Brooks Koepka rattled off three birdies to tie him for the lead. The difference was the closing hole at Kiawah, easier as the wind shifted from being in the players’ faces to coming from right-to-left off the Atlantic Ocean. Koepka, in the group ahead, went just long and took three putts for a bogey and a 70. Mickelson went well long and played a flop shot, a risky shot to most everyone but him, and nearly jarred it. He curled in the 4-foot par putt to become the oldest player with a 54-hole lead in a major since 59-year-old Tom Watson at Turnberry in 2009. That didn’t end well for Watson, who lost that Open Championship in a playoff to Stewart Cink. For Mickelson, it’s an opportunity to become the oldest player to win a major. Julius Boros was 48 when he won the 1968 PGA Championship. Mickelson was at 7-under 209. For all his success in the majors — five victories, runner-up finishes in all four of them — this is only the third time he has held the 54-hole lead. He will play in the final group with Koepka, a twosome with nine majors among them. Koepka will be going for his third Wanamaker Trophy in the last four years. Koepka, shaking off effects from ligament surgery on his right knee that has limited him to two tournaments in three months before arriving at Kiawah, called the third round his worst performance of his career. Louis Oostuizen knows the feeling. He started the third round tied with Mickelson and had a long three-putt bogey. The South African never caught up, though he had his chances until missing a 4-foot birdie putt on the par-5 16th and a 5-foot par putt on the par-3 17th. He wound up with a 72 and was two shots behind. At least they have a chance. Mickelson broke away quickly with four birdies in seven holes, and he even managed to avoid losing his focus. One distraction came from the fourth fairway, when Mickelson saw a drone in the air left of the green and said to a CBS spotter, “Can you radio to the TV guys to get the drone out of the flight of my shot?” He saved par from a back bunker. He went out in 32 — Mickelson played the front nine on Friday in 31 — and was five shots clear until he showed signs of sputtering. He badly missed a 7-foot birdie attempt on No. 11. He pulled his tee shot into a bunker on No. 12 and had to play back to the fairway, leading to his first bogey of the round. And then he drove into the water on the 13th with his 2-wood, had to hit his third shot from the tee because of where he thought it crossed the hazard line, and missed a 12-footer for bogey. Oosthuizen also found the water with a big fade, dropped further up the fairway and made bogey. “Mine was on the edge,” Mickelson said on why he hit again from the tee. “I just didn’t feel good about it.” It was tight the rest of the way. Mickelson is going after his first major since the 2013 Open Championship, and the final hour made it clear that this might not be easy. But it will be loud. The gallery is the largest at a major since the pandemic — the PGA of America has said there would be 10,000 people, a number that felt far greater — and Mickelson was the object of their raucous shouting. Kevin Streelman bogeyed the 18th for a 70 and was alone in fourth at 4-under 212, followed by Branden Grace and Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa, each with a 72. Jordan Spieth matched the low round of the day with a 68, still seven shots behind and most likely too far back to contend with a dozen players ahead of him. Spieth was headed back to his rental home to flip on the TV, a rarity for him. But it’s Phil. It’s theater. “I don’t watch golf but I promise you I’m going to turn it on to watch him today,” Spieth said. “It’s pretty incredible. I have no way to relate to it, right? But I also don’t think it’s necessarily that special because didn’t he win a World Golf Championships in the last couple years? “The guy’s got four good rounds on any golf course in him, and no one would bet against that.” Mickelson has had three good ones at Kiawah Island. One more for history.

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