The First Look: John Deere Classic

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After three months of a COVID-19 hiatus, the PGA TOUR returned last week for the hotly contested Charles Schwab Challenge. A stellar leaderboard kept us riveted to live golf all weekend before a wild finish saw Daniel Berger prevail in a playoff over Collin Morikawa. Welcome BACK to the Monday Finish where if somehow you weren’t glued to the screen all week like we were … well here are some things you may have missed. THREE KEYS TO SUCCESS 1. Perspective. Daniel Berger grew up as the son of a top level tennis player turned Davis Cup and Olympic tennis coach, but that doesn’t automatically spell success. But being around professionals from a young age gave Berger a great appreciation of how to make it to the top. For Berger, making the PGA TOUR and winning was expected. Sure it was cool, but at the end of the day… that’s what he was there to do. Berger made the decision to be a professional athlete before he knew exactly what sport that would be in! He even admitted he used to not really love golf, it just turned out to be the sport he was best at. And yep, he’s pretty good. He won back-to-back FedEx St. Jude Classics (2016, 2017) before it was turned into a World Golf Championships event and was on his way. Then he hurt his wrist and the injury curtailed everything. A young man who knew nothing but practice, practice, practice and play could not do this anymore. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, they say, and for Berger it was true. As the months dragged on he started to worry he might never be fully fit and be able to compete to his usual standards. But finally as 2020 rolled around things were looking up. His perspective changed when he returned to competition and was trending very nicely with a T9-T5-T4 run going before the COVID-19 enforced break. What’s another three months right? He vowed to make sure he made each week count and not take anything for granted anymore. So as the stacked leaderboard was getting dissected pre final round and his name wasn’t the main focus. “I just kept telling myself, why not me today?â€� Berger said. Why not indeed. Read more on his victory here. 2. Approach – Precision on approach has long been a key factor at Colonial Country Club and it continued with Berger outperforming the field by +1.362 strokes per round this week. He ranked fifth in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green on his way to hitting 77.8% of Greens in Regulation (T4). That was over 10% more than the field average (67.45%) and he had the fifth closest proximity to the hole average at 26-feet, 1 inch, a good 5-feet, 10 inches closer than the field average (31-feet, 11 inches). 3. Putting – Berger made a field leading 16 putts from over 10-feet for the week, a career best for him in a single tournament. He was deadly from 10-15 feet where he made 10 from 14 for a PGA TOUR season high 71.4% (minimum 10 attempts). Berger ranks third in make percentage among players who’ve faced at least 50 putts from that distance over the entire season and he is the only player to make 10 or more putts from 10-15 feet in one week…, a feat he’s now done twice having also done so at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. For more numbers to know, click here. OBSERVATIONS New normal. It was nearly three months between a ball being hit in a full-field PGA TOUR event thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and took a lot of work from countless people to enable the TOUR’s Return to Golf, albeit under new guidelines. The endeavor went extremely well. Social distancing was in the forefront of the mind and while things are certainly different without on-site fans, there was still plenty of excitement. We can be pretty confident the next four events, before we start seeing some fans in the crowds and the guidelines shift slightly again, can also be a success. Read more about how it all went down here and here. Putting is hard, crowd or not. Pressure doesn’t need thousands of eyeballs piercing at a player to rear its head. Coming down the stretch at Colonial countless players had chances to make their mark on the title only to see their hopes dashed on the greens. Jordan Spieth had a four-putt earlier in the week and offered the simple explanation of having picked up all his close range putts during the three month break from competition. Maybe Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa had done the same. Schauffele had a horrible horseshoe lip out on the penultimate hole from close range and Morikawa lipped out in sudden death from close also to hand the trophy to Berger. Morikawa had missed from 6-feet to win on the 72nd hole. Others missed from makeable range to join the playoff. Get the full run down here. Old school course creates cool contest. Colonial is an old-school course where bombing away can help, but not necessarily be the difference. You can play short and precise and do well and you can wail away and still survive if you are a little off. This helped give us a leaderboard of all types. Bryson DeChambeau, Gary Woodland and Rory McIlroy used power, Collin Morikawa, Justin Rose, Jordan Spieth and co used precision. Early in the week 58-year-old Tom Lehman started hot… anyone can play decent on this track. We might get something similar this coming week in Hilton Head. HV3 always an MVP. Harold Varner III doesn’t ask to be a role model. He just is one. As one of the few African Americans on the PGA TOUR, Varner III became the point person for talk on racial and social injustice issues weighing heavy on the nation at this time. Varner III was strong in his views but as always even stronger in his actions. For those of us lucky to spend considerable time with him the facts are always clear – he’s a champion human who always tries to make others around him smile and feel important. The fact he led at the halfway point this week and went close to a breakthrough win was cool to see. And he will win sooner rather than later. Read more about the TOUR’S response to social change here. QUOTEBOARD “It’s tough out here. It’s cutthroat, and the best players in the world every week are showing up. I worked my butt off the last year to be in this position, and I’m just glad it all paid off.â€� – Daniel Berger “Definitely progress,â€� – Jordan Spieth who notched his third top-10 this season as he looks for first win since 2017. WYNDHAM REWARDS The Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is a season-long competition that offers a $10 million bonus for the 10 golfers who end the regular season at the Wyndham Championship inside the top 10 in FedExCup points. The player atop the standings will earn $2 million, with varying payoffs for the others through $500,000 for the 10th place finisher. Sungjae Im continues to hold the top spot this week, in fact second place Justin Thomas and third Rory McIlroy also hold their spots. Patrick Reed’s T7 at Colonial helped him vault from sixth to fourth sending Brendon Todd and Webb Simpson down a slot each. Xander Schauffele finds himself inside the top 10, jumping from 12th, with his T3 finish while tournament winner Daniel Berger is now just outside the mark in 11th, up from 45th. Other significant movers this week in the FedExCup Justin Rose from 205th to 123rd, Jason Kokrak from 116th to 69th, Collin Morikawa from 41st to 18th and Jordan Spieth from 110th to 88th. Here’s how the standings look heading into this week’s RBC Heritage. SOCIAL SNAPSHOT

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LEXINGTON, Kent. – Turns out, the entry in his online bio is a little dated. Wes Roach actually has been to New York City. Once. But he’d love to make a return trip — particularly if it meant playing in the first event of the FedExCup Playoffs. And if he keeps playing the way he did on Thursday in the opening round of the Barbasol Championship, the former Duke standout just might be making his Playoffs debut. Roach fired a bogey-free 64 with matching nines of 32 at the Champions Course at Keene Trace Golf Club to finish two strokes off the lead held by J.T. Poston. He hit 11 of 14 fairways, all but two greens in regulation and ranked third in Strokes Gained: Total. “I played solid,â€� Roach acknowledged. “Hit a lot of fairways, gave myself some good opportunities with some wedges and short irons, and was able to hit some quality shots, and putted nice.  So yeah, everything was pretty good today.â€� Actually, Roach has been playing well for the last six weeks or so. In his last five starts, he’s finished 11th or better three times – shooting four rounds in the 60s each time. “Yeah, I’m starting to play a little better,â€� Roach said. “Been working awfully hard.  The first part of the year was a little bit tough, but had to keep grinding away.  You know, still a lot of work to do, a lot of golf to play, but I’m happy with the start.â€� Roach, who lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, is pleased to see the work he’s done with his swing coach, Brad Rose, pay dividends. He’s also been working on his fitness with Randy Myers since the beginning of March – which could come into play with heat indexes in triple digits expected the next three days. “My body’s moving pretty good, warms up pretty good with the heat,â€� Roach said. “I like playing in the heat.  I’m not too afraid of that at all.â€� The payoff could be job security for the 2019-20 season, should he solidify his spot in the top 125 in the FedExCup. He came to Kentucky ranked No. 124 with this tournament and two others remaining in the regular season. Oh, and a second trip to New York City, this time to to play in THE NORTHERN TRUST at Liberty National.  “I’m happy, but there’s a lot of golf left,â€� Roach said. “I’m very happy with the performance today, but can’t be satisfied, I guess.  There’s still a long ways to go.â€�

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