Blair’s-eye view: No. 8 at Old White TPC

Here are nine tidbits from the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship that gamers can use next week, next year or down the road. Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte has been the host since the creation of the event in 2003 and plays 7,544 yards to a Par-71. The 2017 WFC was played at Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, NC. Here are nine tidbits from the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte has been the host since the creation of the event in 2003 and plays 7,544 yards to a Par-71. The 2017 WFC was played at Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, NC.  Beautiful Day Australian Jason Day became the fourth multiple winner on TOUR this season as he posted 12-under 272 to win the Wells Fargo Championship for the first time. His final-round 69 saw him hold off Aaron Wise and Nick Watney by two shots to collect his 12th PGA TOUR title. Day’s day was anything but easy, but he tends to make it look that way when he’s in the hunt. His two-shot lead was three at the turn before bogeys at Nos. 13 and 14 made for an interesting finish. Day cranked up the class and blasted a 380-yard drive on No. 16 that he turned into a birdie. If that wasn’t enough, he almost broke the flag on No. 17 at the base. His tee shot on the par-3 smashed into the flag and stopped three feet from the hole. His birdie sealed the tournament, as he played “The Green Mile” in 3 under for the week. Entering the week without a finish inside the top 20 since February, gamers had to trust his T9 experience at the 2017 PGA Championship would be enough. Day hasn’t played this event since 2012 when he finished T9. His wins at Torrey Pines and Quail Hollow Club shouldn’t be too much of a surprise as he hits it a mile and has a fantastic short game. He checked all of those boxes this week even though he admitted he had less than his best on Sunday. He led the field in putts per GIR and SG: Around-the-Green while checking in second in SG: Putting, scrambling and sand saves. He joins Lucas Glover as the only winner to place all four rounds in the 60’s. Gamers will only have to go back to 2016 to see how badly Day destroyed TPC Sawgrass. The changes after his victory slowed him to T60 last year but no player has ever defended that event. Ever. Those with regret can patiently wait until the PGA Championship or The TOUR Championship (among others) for a chance to use him. PGA TOUR Fantasy Game presented by SERVPRO top selections: What a difference a Day makes! Plenty of the names above feasted on the easier conditions on Saturday but regressed in the final round. The breeze was up and the sunshine was out so scores followed suit. Finau had the round of the day with a bogey-free 66, the only bogey-free round on Sunday. PGA TOUR One & Done presented by SERVPRO top selections: It’s a win-win for the Day supporters as their man won and the three horses-for-courses at Quail Hollow Club did not. I was waving my DeChambeau pompoms a bit more vigorously after he holed that 18-footer for birdie on the last to take solo fourth. One of the cheers was for DeChambeau and the other was hoping to catch McIlroy down the road when he turns it on again. Play All 72 Regular readers of this column will know that Nick Watney has now cashed in 11 consecutive events. His best result of that stretch of 10 straight was T20 the last time he played his own ball at the Valero Texas Open. He played in the final twosome and collected his best finish, T2, since he was solo second at AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 2015. He beat Day by two shots that day. This week he needed a 58-foot putt on the last to drop to chop the runner-up cash. This was Watney’s third top-10 finish at QHC in the last five years so make a note for next year! Close Encounters Rookie Aaron Wise was tied with Day as he teed it up on No. 16. There’s no shame in making three pars to close on “The Green Mile” and that’s exactly what he did. He played his final 16 holes on Sunday in 4 under after bogeying the second hole. The former NCAA champion from Oregon picks up his best finish as a pro and sits inside the top 50 in the FedExCup standings at No. 49.  Bank on Lefty His worst 36-hole total (+2) in 14 appearances probably scared most of his investors to death. His 64-69 weekend saw Phil Mickelson claim another top 10 in Charlotte, the 10th of his illustrious career. Don’t fall into the trap of following him on to TPC Sawgrass, though. His recent record there is dire and his last top 10 was his win in 2007. The Landlord The only two-time champion at this event struggled to find anything in his game this week. Rory McIlroy’s T16 payday is his worst check he’s collected here in eight tries. Even his “bad” is good but he’s forced gamers to set the bar ridiculously high and I understand the frustration. I don’t think next week is time to break him out if he’s struggling across the board. Sunday Silence I don’t think many expected Peter Uihlein to back up his 62 with something tasty on Sunday. He didn’t, but his 71 only dropped him three spots to T5 to match his best finish of the season. … There have been two players over the years that cause gamers to bite their nails on Sunday: Paul Casey and Rickie Fowler. Casey bogeyed the last to fall into a share of T5 while Fowler finished double bogey-bogey to drop all the way to T21. … Peter Malnati held the 36-hole lead alone before 75-74 on the weekend saw him eventually land at T34. … Tiger Woods didn’t make a birdie on Sunday and ended up T55. Study Hall Sunday’s scoring average jumped to 71.973 from 70.368 as QHC played almost 100 yards longer than Saturday. The scoring average for the week was 72.132. … Wise and fellow top-10 finishers Charl Schwartzel (T9) and Sam Saunders (T9) led the field with 19 birdies for the week. … Emiliano Grillo bogeyed his last two holes to collect T9 money. That’s 13 straight paychecks this season when playing his own ball. 

Click here to read the full article…

Go ahead, try to make the argument that golfers aren’t athletes after watching Brooks Koepka muscle his way to a second consecutive U.S. Open victory.

Click here to read the full article…

The 2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth, comes into the 2019 Masters following his best finish in a stroke play event of the year: T30 at the 2019 Valero Texas Open. Addressing the media on Tuesday, Spieth expressed optimism in his game and what he’s working on off the tee. “I feel like my recent results aren’t a tell of where my game is actually at, and I feel I’ve made a lot of strides in the last couple days in the tee-to-green game, really just off the tee, my long game, which has been the only separation from being able to win golf tournaments over the last month or so,� Spieth said in a press conference at the Masters. In addition to working on his long game, however, Spieth has also made a rare equipment change to his putter ahead of the Masters. At the 2019 Valero Texas Open, Spieth switched into a SuperStroke Traxion 1.0 putter grip from his previous SuperStroke CounterCore Flatso 1.0 grip. The new grip technology features SuperStroke’s Traxion Control that’s designed for more surface texture, and Spyne technology, which is a raised ridge that runs up the under side of the grip.  According to a SuperStroke representative, Spieth had been using his previous CounterCore Flatso 1.0 grip for “almost two years!� Based on photos taken by PGATOUR.COM at the 2019 WGC-Dell Technologies While Spieth hasn’t changed the putter head – he’s still using a custom Scotty Cameron Circle T 009 putter – sometimes a slight change in feel can spark success for a golfer. So far in 2019, Spieth is ranked 70th in Strokes Gained: Putting, compared to 123rd in 2018, 48th in 2017, and 2nd in 2016. Spieth’s Masters record in just five events includes two T2 finishes, a third place finish, and a victory, with his worst finish being a T11 in 2017. If Spieth wants to ensure that T11 remains his worst career finish at The Masters, he’ll need his best result of 2019.

Click here to read the full article…