Despite lead, Oosthuizen fails to ‘go one better’

BRADENTON, Fla. - The last time we saw Tony Finau and Jon Rahm they were arm in arm at The Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles. Finau had just suffered another agonizing close call, this time a two-hole sudden-death playoff loss to Max Homa, and Rahm had made his way out to the green to console him. It was a sweet moment, and rare, but there's a backstory. "It's funny that we're playing together this week," Finau, 31, said after bouncing back with a 4-under 68 in the first round of the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession on Thursday. "We've kind of been hanging out a bit. I'm living in Scottsdale now, and we've gotten closer this past year." Rahm also shot 68; the two friends sit just two off the lead. Hideki Matsuyama, the third member of the group, triple-bogeyed the last hole and shot 72. How did Finau and Rahm get so close? Geography, for one. Finau used to be just a Utah guy but last year moved to Scottsdale and joined the Silverleaf Club, where he and Rahm practice and play. They not only walked off the green at the Genesis arm-in-arm, they flew across the country together on Monday, Florida-bound. They didn't talk golf but played cards - a game called Tens. "I'm going to say it right now, if you don't get along with Tony Finau, there's something seriously wrong with you," said Rahm, 26. "He's a standup guy, great guy, and we spend a lot of time together back home. A lot of practice rounds, a lot of golf. I just like hanging out with him." As for being there for Finau after his agonizing playoff loss, Rahm shrugged. It's just what friends do. "I've been very fortunate to win both playoffs I've been a part of," he said. "I haven't had any moments like that on a Sunday. For the most part every time I've had a tough moment (my wife) Kelley has been there, my parents have been there, so I've had family around. We can't have family around, so that's why I was there to have a familiar face." Finau, whose 21 top-five finishes since the start of the 2016-17 season are the most among players without a victory over that span, said he didn't recall what was said but appreciated the gesture. "I'm not one to play a victim card, but after that day it's a little bit bitter," he said. "To feel like you played good enough to win and fall short again, it's just nice to have someone to lean on. He's been in situations where he's won and lost and knows what it feels like at the highest level. He was able to console me for those few seconds and I was appreciative of that." It was a tender moment between competitors, but a better way to describe this friendship is: Game recognize game. "I feel like we both have that short swing and for the most part hit a fade, so we play golf courses very similarly," Rahm said after driving into trouble and bogeying the par-4 finishing hole at The Concession on Thursday. "I have a lot of respect for Jon and his game," said Finau, who made a scrambling par after taking an unplayable lie off the tee on 18. "It started a few years back when I told him I was moving to Scottsdale. We ended up playing some golf together through the quarantine, and kind of just got a lot closer through that experience. But he's a good dude." Finau, a one-time TOUR winner, is ranked 13th in the world and sixth in the FedExCup. He's also a father of four with wife Alayna. Rahm, a five-time TOUR winner, is ranked second and is 13th in the FedExCup. He and wife Kelley Cahill are expecting their first child later this year. "Tony keeps telling me just trust your instincts and you'll know what to do when it comes," Rahm said. The two will continue to practice and play together back home, and continue to battle together at The Concession. They may even start flying together more, Finau said. True, golf can be cruel, but a sweet friendship refreshes the soul. Win or lose, golf or cards, Finau and Rahm have a good thing going.

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WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. – A 59 is among the rarest feats in golf. In fact, only 10 men have ever broken 60, one of whom inexplicably did it twice. But to understand the significance of the 59 that Kevin Chappell shot on Friday during the second round of A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, you have to go back to Nov. 28 of last year when he was lying on an operating table having surgery on his lower back. RELATED: Chappell’s historic second round | Griffin’s special connection to The Greenbrier | New members came to play He’d tried to mask the discomfort for nearly five years, taking anti-inflammatories and pain-killers and undergoing physical therapy just to get him through another day or another tournament. On the way home from the 2018 Mayakoba Golf Classic, though, Chappell was physically spent. He couldn’t even make it to baggage claim after he landed in Phoenix. “The adrenaline had come out of my body and I couldn’t do it anymore,â€� he said. Just before Thanksgiving, things got worse. Chappell lost the feeling in his right leg. He couldn’t walk. So, after consulting several doctors, he made the decision to have a microdiscectomy and laminectomy at the L5-S1, which is where the lumbar spine ends and the sacral spine begins. The Greenbrier is the first tournament he’s played since the surgery. And in his second round Chappell shot a 59, the Holy Grail of the game. He tied the PGA TOUR record with nine straight birdies, too, and will start the third round at The Old White TPC just three strokes off the lead. “I just couldn’t feel more lucky to be here right now,â€� Chappell said. “Ten months ago, I was laying on my couch and couldn’t get up. So many people sacrificed to get me here, especially my family. A lot of people believed in me, put in a lot of hard work. “To go out and have my first start back on the PGA TOUR to shoot 59, get myself in contention going into the weekend, I just couldn’t be more proud of myself right now.â€� Chappell’s round of 11 birdies came nearly four months to the day after he was given the go-ahead to tee it up again – but for just nine holes. In the months following the surgery, rehab essentially became his job and he followed the orders of the doctors and therapists to the letter. In March, though, Chappell finally got the go-ahead to start chipping and putting. Wedges came shortly afterwards – he hit 12 the first week, 15 the second, 20 the third and so on. As much as he might have wanted to, he didn’t do more. “(I) was really, really diligent,â€� Chappell said. “Listened to my team and listened to my body.â€� Chappell finally played those first nine holes on May 11 – and as much as he would have liked to go on, that was all he could do. “I remember playing the ninth hole, par 3, hitting the shot into the green and thinking, I can’t hit any more shots, I’m tired,â€� Chappell said. “To be here today, four months later, playing – starting my first PGA TOUR event, it’s pretty surreal.â€� Chappell, the former NCAA champion, the winner of the 2017 Valero Open, didn’t doubt that he would play golf for a living again. He played a couple of Korn Ferry Tour events in August to get his feet wet. He has job security in the form of a major medical extension with 23 events to earn 268 FedExCup points to retain his TOUR card. “But to be able to compete at the level I knew I could do it at, I questioned that,â€� Chappell said. “But I think this certainly validates that my game is there. I still possess that ability. Through a lot of the hard work and passion and focus it’s — you know, it’s there.â€� The 59 – the second at The Old White TPC since the tournament began in 2010 — was Chappell’s lowest score on TOUR by three strokes, and it gives him a very real shot at his second TOUR win after a 10-month layoff. “What a story that would be,â€� he said. Of course, Chappell knows a lot can happen over the next two rounds. He knows better than to get ahead of himself, too. Besides, Friday was a day to savor. He wanted to share it with his wife, Elizabeth, who walked his first nine holes before going to pick up their two young children, Wyatt and Collins, at day care, as well as the rest of their family and friends. “Those three that made the biggest sacrifices are here,â€� Chappell said with a smile. “My kids will have no idea what dad did today, and they didn’t know what dad shot yesterday either. I wouldn’t have it any other way. “I’ll go home and get a big hug and probably shed a tear or two with my wife.â€� And get back to work on Saturday.

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It turns out this was an especially fruitful spring for Jordan Spieth. His win at the Valero Texas Open on April 4 ended a winless drought that had lasted nearly four years. Spieth revealed Friday that the win, his first since the 2017 Open Championship, came just weeks after he and wife Annie learned that she was pregnant with the couple’s first child. The Spieths kept quiet about the impending arrival but with Annie accompanying her husband to East Lake, and walking the golf course just a few months before her due date, it was impossible to keep the secret any longer. “It’s something you can’t hide now that we are close,” Spieth, the 2015 FedExCup champion, said after shooting 67. “It’s been a really great year. I’ve been blessed on a lot of fronts. … So it should be an exciting fall.” Annie is due Nov. 21. They are waiting until the birth to learn the baby’s gender. “She feels great,” Jordan said. “That’s the No. 1 priority and everything’s going smoothly.”

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