Don’t tease, Phil: ‘Match’ sequel is what fans need

JACKSON, Miss. – Mark Hubbard borrowed his longtime friend Max Homa’s caddie, Joe Greiner, for two weeks in fall 2020. They had a good vibe, and Hubbard was asked if he would ever consider employing Greiner full-time. “My brother was like, ‘Why wouldn’t Joe ever come caddie for you full-time?’ and I’m like, ‘Look, Max’s ceiling is so freaking high,’” Hubbard explained. “I know I’m good, but Max has potential to do all this stuff. “Not that I don’t see myself as a really good golfer, but I don’t think I’m ever going to be No. 1 in the world. I don’t have the length, and frankly, I don’t think I have the discipline enough. I like the rest of my life too much to practice that much and grind that much.” Hubbard is one of the TOUR’s free spirits, a throwback who doesn’t take himself or the game too seriously. He enjoys his down time, skiing, having a few beers with buddies. On the course, he’ll mix in the ‘snail’ putting method – wrapping the right arm over the shaft, and then looping the right pinky finger back under – to keep fans guessing. Hubbard also has plenty of game, the ample blend of talent and work ethic to make 163 career PGA TOUR starts, in addition to 91 Korn Ferry Tour appearances. Hubbard has won on the Korn Ferry Tour but not yet on the PGA TOUR; his best showing is a runner-up at the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open in fall 2019. That could change this week in Mississippi. The 33-year-old has opened the Sanderson Farms Championship in rounds of 67-69, firmly in the mix through two rounds at the Country Club of Jackson. True to form, Hubbard has shown a willingness to experiment in his process. After about four or five holes Thursday, he decided to abstain from using his own read on putts. His caddie Kyle Peters proceeded to make every read, and they made eight birdies in the final 13 holes on day one. “My caddie’s green-reading,” Hubbard said Thursday when asked the key to his round. “I just do not see the greens, which is interesting because they’re similar to the grass I see at home in Houston. “I think this is the first time ever (completely deferring on putts). I like to be very instinctual with my putting and just go with my first read. I probably bring him in on three or four putts a day, maybe; a tough week would be 10. For him to read pretty much every one today, that was big for us.” Hubbard is no stranger to an audible on the fly. He began the 2021-22 PGA TOUR season on conditional status, having finished No. 143 on the 2021 FedExCup standings. It meant a split schedule between the PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour, a year of monitoring alternate lists and staying prepared to change a flight on a moment’s notice. Rather than allowing the uncertainty to distract him, Hubbard thrived. He went T13-third-fourth in consecutive weeks in July to cement his spot in the FedExCup Playoffs, and he begins this season as a full TOUR member, no strings attached. The free spirit can play with even more freedom, as he eyes his first TOUR title. “I want to be the best version of myself, and for me, when golf becomes too much of a priority, the rest of my life suffers and I’m just not happy,” Hubbard said. “It is kind of that balance for me of finding how much do I grind and practice, because I do love it and I do care and I do want to be really good. There are times where it is kind of a means to an end, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that; I think I can still go out and win tournaments. I think I can still go out and win this weekend without killing myself over it and still go skiing and having beers with my buddies and whatever. “Maybe I’m wrong about that, but I think that’s why I’ve played well the years that I’ve played well out here, is because I’ve had the best balance for myself.” Hubbard’s attitude resonates with his peers, as evidenced by the scene around his post-round press conference Friday in Mississippi. Chris Stroud called over to proclaim Hubbard a “top-five player in the world,” and Chesson Hadley added a playful greeting. When asked how he’ll prepare for managing his emotions down the stretch, Hubbard noted he has listened to a variety of Homa’s podcasts and other conversations – “he’s someone who I think has struggled mentally in the past and has really turned it around, and now I feel like that’s one of my strengths,” he said Friday. The Denver native aims to channel that positive energy in chase of the Sanderson Farms Championship’s famed Reveille the Rooster trophy. If he falls just short, life will go on. He’ll do his best, though, to give it a run. “All that aside about the balance, this is absolutely my dream job,” Hubbard said. “I love the travel. I’ve got a really good group of friends out here. All of our wives get along. My wife is great; I’ve got an awesome little kid, another one on the way. I really couldn’t ask for anything more. “Anytime you can be in contention, that’s why we practice, that’s why we get up. Even though it’s not always my No. 1 priority, it’s a huge, huge part of my life, and I couldn’t be happier and more grateful that I’m out here.”

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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. THIS WEEK: Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard Highest-rated FedExCup players in the field 2. Sungjae Im 3. Rory McIlroy 5. Brendon Todd 6. Patrick Reed 7. Lanto Griffin 8. Sebastian Munoz 9. Hideki Matsuyama 10. Kevin Na No. 1 watch: Justin Thomas remains atop the standings for the ninth consecutive week. Top 10 moves: In winning The Honda Classic, Sungjae Im moved inside the Wyndham Rewards Top 10, jumping from 12th to second in the FedExCup standings behind Thomas. Falling outside the top 10 was Cameron Smith, who dropped from 10th to 11th. Scenarios notes • Six players in the field could replace Thomas atop the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 standings with a win this week – Sungjae Im, Rory McIlroy, Brendon Todd, Patrick Reed, Lanto Griffin and Sebastian Munoz. • A total of 44 players not currently inside the top 10 can move inside the top 10 of the standings with a win. The lowest-ranked player on that list is Talor Gooch, who is 65th in the FedExCup standings. • Defending champion Francesco Molinari currently is 168th in the FedExCup standings. If he successfully defends, he’s projected to move to 26th. • Last year’s Wyndham Rewards Top 10 champion Brooks Koepka currently is 220th in the FedExCup standings. If he wins The Honda Classic, he’s projected to move to 32nd.

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Justin Warren says he’s good at letting the bad shots go. Well, usually, anyway. His ability to do so is being put to the test after he missed a one-foot putt in a sudden-death playoff at the Monday qualifier for the Barracuda Championship in Reno. “Honestly I’ve just been trying to forget it,” Warren said Wednesday by phone from Henryville, Indiana, where he was playing a qualifier for a Forme Tour event. “It’s just one of those things, it’s awful and it sucks and it’s s—, but I’ve always been pretty good at putting things in the past and waking up and not thinking about it. But it’s been hard because it’s getting millions of hits.” There is no glory in golf quite like Monday-qualifier glory, as the story of Michael Visacki at the Valspar Championship illustrated in April. On the flip side, there is no agony like it, either. Warren could have qualified outright for his first PGA TOUR event had he not pushed a four-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th hole. It was, he said, an “uncommitted stroke” and the first putt inside 10 feet he’d missed all day. His 65 sent him into a playoff with Mark Baldwin, 37. The rest is history. On the first playoff hole, Warren rushed his tap-in and pulled it. Video of the gaffe quickly made the rounds as one of the most painful examples of golfing agony. Twitter went crazy, led by Warren himself, who admitted his routine “flew straight out the window.” TOUR winner Michael Thompson tweeted, “What a harsh lesson to learn. I pray Justin becomes a wiser pro because of that. There’s a reason we PGA TOUR pros take so much time over tap ins. It’s so easy to make a mistake. #everyshotcounts” Asked Wednesday for the distance of the putt, Warren said, “It was one foot. “I simply didn’t give the situation or the putt the respect it deserved,” he added. “I saw that my coin was going to be in Mark’s way, so I thought I’ll just get up there and tap it in. Make Mark have to make his eagle putt to take the spot. But I rushed. I was nervous.” To add an odd quirk to an already odd story, Warren wasn’t even supposed to be in Reno, where his “brain fart” opened the door for Baldwin to take the fourth and final qualifying spot. He was supposed to be home preparing for an Australasian Tour event followed by the first stage of European Tour qualifying tournament. (He missed getting through second stage by a shot in Spain in 2019.) Alas, Warren couldn’t get home due to the ever-evolving COVID restrictions. “I was supposed to be quarantining in Sydney right now,” he said with a rueful laugh. Until Monday, Warren was less famous than his grandfather, Barry Warren, who beat Bruce Devlin in the final of the 1957 Australian Amateur. Justin, 25, played for South Mountain C.C. in Phoenix and was an NJCAA (Div. II) champion in 2016 before finishing his collegiate career at Arkansas Little Rock. Among his professional highlights was a fourth-place finish at the 2019 New South Wales Open, one of the bigger events of Australasian Tour. “I was tied for the lead going into the last,” he said, “but I went for glory and hit into the water and made double.” Until he’s able to get home, Warren’s plan is to try to make the best of it by entering more qualifiers. He is at Indiana’s Champions Pointe Golf Club for a pair of Forme Tour qualifiers, and otherwise isn’t exactly sure where he’ll tee it up next. The Barracuda was his sixth try at Monday qualifying for a TOUR event; he still has to play in the pre-qualifiers. “I’ve had a few decent results, so I have a little money in the bank to pay for it,” he said. “And some members from my home club (Australian Golf Club in Sydney) have helped out.” It’s a precarious existence for a player who doesn’t have a car and is relying on rentals and Uber and rides from friends to get around. His caddie at the Monday qualifier at Hidden Valley C.C. was Tom Patterson, an Australian who plays for the University of Nevada – Reno. Warren is friends with fellow Australian Matt Jones and looks up especially to Rory McIlroy, whose driving game and general comportment he admires. Warren, too, is a long and generally straight driver of the ball, and if he has any regrets from his time at Hidden Valley, other than the whiffed tap-in, it’s that he failed to birdie two par 5s despite having short irons in for his second shots. But really, the tap-in was the biggie. “I’m still thinking about it because my phone is still blowing up about it,” he said before starting another practice round in another city, ever hopeful that his next competitive round might be the one in which he turns the corner. “I’m just trying to put it in the past and play well this week.”

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