2017 CIMB Classic preview

Brooks Koepka did not have many details to share regarding his upcoming post-Thanksgiving showdown with long-hitting Bryson DeChambeau – the newest addition to Capital One’s The Match series that will air Nov. 26 on TNT. Asked when conversations for such a mano-a-mano television event even began, Koepka smiled and answered, “You can ask Bryson.” But on the eve of competing in the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas, Koepka did convey considerable respect for DeChambeau’s significant transformations, and had praise for DeChambeau’s surprising performance at last week’s Professional Long Drivers Association’s World Championship. DeChambeau made it through to the quarterflnals at the Long Drive, falling just shy of the four-man finale. DeChambeau achieved a swing speed of 219 mph and his longest drive on the grid was 412 yards. Kyle Berkshire eventually would win his second title (his winning drive measured 422 yards). A few of DeChambeau’s peers on the PGA TOUR could not help but take notice of his spirited march through the competition. Koepka said Wednesday that adding length has become a huge theme on the PGA TOUR, and will continue to have a big impact as younger players make their way out to the game’s top level. “I think you kind of saw it maybe coming out of COVID,” Koepka said at TPC Summerlin after playing nine holes in a pro-am. “I think you saw even other guys (other than DeChambeau) trying to hit it further. Swing a little harder, trying to maximize their distance. I think it’s going to change the game of golf forever, personally. If you’re going to hit it that far and you find a couple fairways, it’s tough to beat. It does get very difficult when you got wedge into hole where guys got 6-iron. Your odds are going to be in your favor. “That’s what he (DeChambeau) has done. It’s impressive to be able to actually change a body, change the way you swing, and yet still compete out here. I think that’s probably the most impressive thing. It’s one thing to do it and then just kind of mess around with it at home but not bring it to an actual tournament. So the fact he’s able to do that, the fact he did at the Long Drive, I don’t think anybody really thought he was going to get that far. The fact he did was quite impressive.” This new PGA TOUR season is but a few events old, but the driving average on TOUR thus far is 304.7 yards. A year ago, the average distance TOUR players hit their drives was 296.2. DeChambeau led all players in distance last season, averaging a record 323.7 yards through 83 rounds. Koepka doesn’t exactly bunt it off the tee; he averaged 310.7 yards and ranked 12th. Scottie Scheffler partnered with DeChambeau in two Four-ball matches at the 43rd Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits two weeks ago, and knew DeChambeau was as excited about the Long Drive as he was about the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. “He was definitely pretty interested in it last week,” Scheffler said. ”We had a great time playing together. He’s a great (Four-ball) partner and he’s a great alternate-shot player as well because he’s such a talented player. We had a great time in the team room. “His performance in the Long Drive was pretty cool. I think he told us his goal for the Long Drive was to make it to the final 16, I think he said that would have been a really big accomplishment for him. … I’m sure he’s feeling really good about his performance. It was pretty fun to watch.” Koepka, 31, is playing for the sixth time at Shriners (he was a runner-up in 2017), and will play next week at THE CJ CUP @ Summit, a second event in Vegas. Koepka said his 2020-21 season, which was slowed by knee and wrist injuries, was a disappointment, and that this season he’d like to not only win multiple events, but stay healthy throughout. One aspect of his game that held him back last season: Green-reading. He said he has worked on integrating AimPoint into his routine to better read breaks on the greens, which hopefully will lead to better results with the putter. “I’ve fallen off, to be completely honest,” said Koepka, an eight-time TOUR winner and four-time major champion now ranked ninth in the Official World Golf Ranking. “I’ve fallen off going to World No. 1, injuries, all this stuff, and I haven’t been where I expected myself to be. I think that’s been the disappointing part, so I was kind of kicking myself and trying to figure out how to get better, and that (AimPoint) was just one of the ways. “… There’s some things where you’ve got to keep improving year after year. You look at it, traditionally, 30 or 35 is when guys have their prime out here, and I’m just kind of starting that prime at 31. So hopefully that holds true. But you got to find a way.” Koepka and DeChambeau, who bantered through social media through much of 2021, will partake in a 12-hole match on Nov. 26 at the Wynn Golf Course at Wynn Las Vegas. DeChambeau, ranked seventh in the world, was part of a previous version of The Match, joining NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers in taking down the tandem of Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady. Koepka and DeChambeau were teammates on the winning U.S. Ryder Cup team two weeks ago, and, at the behest of U.S. team member Justin Thomas, even embraced in a playful embrace following the team’s final media session. As for more details on The Match? We’ll have to wait for those. “I think we’re excited,” Koepka said. “It’s going to be good. You’ll see it.”

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Cameron Smith made his record-tying 10th birdie of the round on the 17th hole, helping power his one-shot victory at The Players Championship on Monday.

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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – The Honda Classic beckoned Sunday morning with the potential to be a runaway, with Daniel Berger, a local boy, in the lead by five. That’s a pretty commanding advantage at most places. The Champion Course at PGA National, though, stands as a brutish bouncer at the door. It simply wouldn’t allow such a thing. RELATED: Full leaderboard | What’s in Straka’s bag? Instead, we got drama – heaps of it, in fact – and a late rain shower, an uncharacteristic off-day from Berger (74) and a first-time winner in Sepp Straka. Straka, a Georgia Bulldog by way of Austria – how many Austrians do you know with a Southern drawl? – started terribly with a missed 2-footer for par at the first hole, but finished brilliantly. He made birdies on three of his last five holes, played the Bear Trap in 1 under, shot 4-under 66 and became the first Austrian-born player to win on the PGA TOUR. Oh, and now a Masters invitation beckons, as well. It was a lot to take in for a 28-year-old who moved to Valdosta, Georgia, at age 14 and later became a Georgia Bulldog. “It’s crazy,” Straka said. “It’s a lifelong dream of mine just to be heading to Augusta in a month or so. It’s still surreal. I’m sure it’ll sink in here before long, but yeah, it’s just crazy.” Tied with Shane Lowry as he arrived at the par-5 18th hole in the day’s penultimate group, Straka ripped a 334-yard bullet off the tee, hit 6-iron from 192 yards safely onto the putting surface in a sudden downpour, and cozied his 48-foot putt for eagle just 9 inches short of the hole. He tapped in for birdie to finish at 10-under 270. Behind him in the wet left-side rough stood Lowry, the gritty Irishman who captured the 2019 Open Championship at Portrush. He had done so much good all day, played so well, but Lowry struggled in the rain, a poor third shot leaving him 43 feet to try to force extra holes. The birdie putt drifted off short. Lowry shot a bogey-free 67. Afterward, he accepted his ill-timed fate, chalking it up to that lottery we know as golf. But he did say having to play the entire 72nd hole in a driving rain – there was no electricity in the storm, so golfers played on – was “as bad a break as I’ve got in a while.” Lowry turned in a beautiful card – 15 pars and three birdies on a golf course where danger lurks at every corner – but in the end he failed to make birdie over his final seven holes, and therein was the difference. In the end, it was hard to figure out who was happier: Straka, the first-time winner in his fourth TOUR season, or all of his fellow Bulldogs who stuck around to watch him win. “I think it validates a lot for him,” said fellow Bulldog Chris Kirk, who is Straka’s standing partner in Tuesday practice games on TOUR. Kirk was in the mix until he was derailed by a triple bogey at the 15th hole, the start of PGA National’s Bear Trap. He tied for seventh. “Obviously, he knows how great of a player he is – we all know how great of a player he is – but getting that first win, it’s unreal, for sure. Making it to the PGA TOUR is one thing. Winning out here is a completely different story. It’s incredible.” Kirk said Straka is one of the best driver and 3-wood players that he knows, and winning was just a matter of time. Straka tied for 10th at the Olympic Men’s Golf Competition last summer, representing Austria, where his father is from, and hoped to ride some momentum out of that. But his fall wasn’t very good. He started working with instructor John Tillery in December, just to “fine-tune” some things. And his play of late has been much better. Starting five shots back on Sunday did little to slow him. “This course is crazy,” Straka said. “There are no gimme holes at all. … You want to stand on that 15th tee with a chance to win, and we were there.” Straka would birdie the par-4 16th (19 feet) to tie for the lead, and he then made one final birdie at the last. He led the Honda field in driving accuracy (47 of 56 fairways), hit 15 greens on Sunday, and when he missed, scrambled well all week (13 of 17, which ranked third). Berger’s five-shot cushion heading into Sunday was the largest 54-hole lead in tournament history. By the time he and Lowry stood on the sixth tee, they were tied. Lowry got there with birdies on the first and fourth holes, and Berger got there with a double bogey at the par-5 third and bogeys at the fifth and sixth. The goal for Lowry was to slowly cut into Berger’s big lead. When Berger played his first six in 4 over, Lowry was a co-leader. It came a lot sooner than he had expected. “I was ready for anything out there today,” Lowry said. “I feel like mentally, I’m very good at the minute. And yeah, before I knew it, I was leading the golf tournament. It was great. I really enjoyed it. Quite nerve-wracking.” Berger can be tougher than sandpaper, too, a competitor who loves the arena, much like Lowry. He holed a bunker shot for birdie at the par-3 seventh and, as hard as he fought, he would not make another until he holed a 28-foot chip at the par-4 14th. He went down swinging, hitting 3-wood right into the water guarding the par-5 18th, which led to bogey and a fourth-place finish. It was Berger’s third top-four at his hometown TOUR event. “I didn’t play well, so I didn’t win the golf tournament,” Berger said. “That’s unfortunate, but I actually felt good. I just didn’t hit the shots that I needed to at the right time. “That’s the way golf goes. There are plenty of guys that hit great shots today, and that’s why they’re winning golf tournaments.”

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