A Masterful performance by Dustin Johnson

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans can often throw up a player or two some PGA TOUR fans are unfamiliar with and while former World No.1 Jason Day has long been a favorite in the U.S. his partner this week, fellow Australian Jason Scrivener, may present as a mystery to some. Scrivener, 33, is a regular on the DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) and grew up following Jason Day’s junior path in Australia before the two became friendly via a management team connection. Here are five things to know about Scrivener, who with Day sits just three shots off the lead at the halfway point of the tournament. 1. Scrivener has been a DP World Tour member since 2015, playing in 177 tournaments thus far. While he is yet to win on the circuit formerly known as the European Tour, he has six top-3 finishes, and 24 top-10s. His career earnings in Europe are €3,811,844.77 with his best finish in the Race To Dubai coming last year at 21st. His lone win as a professional is the 2017 NSW Open where he held off current PGA TOUR player Lucas Herbert. The Zurich Classic is Scrivener’s seventh PGA TOUR start. He missed the cut in the 2018 U.S. Open, was T54 at the 2018 World Golf Championships–HSBC Champions, missed the cut at the 2020 Memorial Tournament before playing three times last season. Scrivener was T41 at the World Golf Championships–Workday Championship, T23 at the PGA Championship and missed the cut at The Open. 2. Scrivener was born in Cape Town, South Africa but moved to Zimbabwe when he was five years old. It was there, as a kid of seven or eight, he began taking an interest in golf as his father played the game at around a 4 handicap. The family, which consists of Jason’s parents and his three sisters moved to Perth, Australia when Scrivener was 10 and by 12, he was breaking par and beat his father for the first time. As a teenager he won the coveted Australian Boys Amateur (2007), joining the likes of Day, Adam Scott, Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, and Cameron Smith with that honor. 3. Scrivener recently moved to Orlando, Florida with wife Simone (also from Perth) and their eight-month-old baby son Felix. After trying to play several seasons in Europe as a commuter from Australia the young family decided to find a base in the U.S. to make a push towards the PGA TOUR. The decision was helped along after Scrivener witnessed the birth of his son, but then spent 10 weeks away, the majority of which came via enforced quarantines. Scrivener has joined Isleworth where he will practice with fellow Aussies Herbert, Ryan Ruffels, Gabi Ruffels and Curtis Luck regularly. While he will continue playing on the DP World Tour from his U.S. base Scrivener is already set to play in the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open at St. Andrews on TOUR later this season and hopes to garner further invites in an attempt to gain Special Temporary Membership, or a place in the KFT Finals. 4. He has royal connections and has met the majority of the UK Royal family. Scrivener’s cousin is Sara Parker Bowles – the daughter in law of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Sara (nee Buys) is Scrivener’s aunt’s daughter who married Camilla’s son Tom (whom she had with Andrew Parker Bowles before marrying Prince Charles). Scrivener attended the wedding and broke bread with Prince William and former Prince Harry among other high-profile guests. 5. He lists his hobbies as hanging on the beach, surfing, and watching professional cricket and cycling. Loves nothing more than cheering on the Australian cricket team against the English while amongst English golfers and would love to spend more time watching the Tour de France in future if time allowed.

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Jon Rahm had no issue being assessed a two-stroke penalty on his chip-in for an apparent birdie at the 16th hole Sunday en route to winning the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. While it reduced his margin of victory over good friend Ryan Palmer from five strokes to three, Rahm was still elated with the shot … and that his integrity remained intact. RELATED: Final leaderboard | What’s in Rahm’s bag? The shot in question was his second from the rough just off the green at the par-3 16th. As Rahm was at address, the ball moved slightly. Rahm then holed the shot, but slow-motion replays showed the label on the ball moving slightly. “I didn’t see it,” Rahm said. “You know, I promised open honestly and I’m a loyal person and I don’t want to win by cheating. … The ball did move. It’s as simple as that.” Rahm was first asked about the potential of a penalty during his post-round interview with CBS prior to reaching the scoring area. Slugger White, PGA TOUR Vice President of Rules & Competition, then showed the replay to Rahm and the penalty was assessed prior to signing his scorecard. Instead of birdie, he suffered a bogey at the hole, with the two-stroke penalty giving Rahm a 3-over 75 in the final round, leaving him at 9 under for the week. “The rule is 9.4,” White said. “It was a ball at rest by the player, moved, and since he didn’t put it back, he was assessed a general penalty, which is two strokes. That’s pretty much the bottom line. … “When he put the club down behind the ball, it moved ever so slightly to the left, so it changed positions. He accepted it like a gentleman and the man that he is, and we just went on with it.” Rahm, who moved to world No. 1 with the win and inside the top 10 (No. 8) in the FedExCup standings, said he was surprised when he was first informed about the potential for a penalty, and also a little confused. But after seeing the replay, he agreed with the ruling. “Had I seen it, I would have said something or maybe questioned — not questioned, asked for a rules official and explained what happened and would have gone from there. But I mean, he had to zoom it in the iPad so much to see what was a very minimal oscillation that could have basically just been me putting the club down and all the grass just simply going down,” Rahm explained. “It barely moves at all. Everything goes down with it. But the rules of golf are clear, and the ball did move. Unfortunately, it’s going to have a bittersweet feeling to what was possibly one of the greatest shots of my career, the shot that this Sunday gave me the victory, but … I accept the penalty. That goes to show that you have to fight until the end. “I could have very easily maybe just given up on the up-and-down on 17 and 18 and finished with two bogeys, and possibly after the penalty strokes given myself a scare and possibly gone to a playoff and still fought hard. Every shot counts, and I tried every shot and got those two last up-and-downs, as a true Spaniard would, and it is what it is.” The bottom line is that it didn’t change what Rahm accomplished this week. With the pressure on, he hit a great shot … and now he’s the world’s top-ranked golfer. He’s just the second Spanish golfer to be No. 1, following in the footsteps of the legendary Seve Ballesteros. “If it doesn’t change the outcome of the tournament, does it really matter? Maybe. Again, I accept what it is; it did move. It doesn’t take anything from the day, though. It’s still probably one of the greatest days of my life,” Rahm said. “I know it doesn’t sound like it because I’m still processing things and maybe in a week I’ll be completely ecstatic about everything, but proud that I did what I did, proud that I chipped that in, and proud that I finished the way I did.”

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