Duncan wins first TOUR title at The RSM Classic

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – South Africa’s Branden Grace wasn’t sure what to expect in his first start at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, but he couldn’t have expected this. In one of the wildest scoring lines on the PGA TOUR so far this season, Grace’s topsy-turvy second round on Friday included two eagles, including a hole-in-one at the 194-yard, par-3 seventh hole; a double bogey at 11; and five birdies for a 7-under 64. That put him in the lead at 11 under after the morning wave. “I just felt like the putter was on a roll today,â€� he said. The winner of the 2016 RBC Heritage, Grace, 30, was dialed in Friday, hitting 11 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens. He needed just 25 putts and was helped especially at the par-3 seventh hole, where he needed zero putts. It was the third ace of his career, his first outside of China. His caddie had to talk him out of a 7-iron and into an 8-iron. “The guys behind the hole actually started jumping up before the ball actually went in,â€� Grace said with a laugh. “When people start jumping, you know it’s there, or thereabouts.â€� The eight-time European Tour winner also enjoyed a highlight at the course’s more famous par-3 hole, the 155-yard 16th. After making par there in the first round, Grace rolled in a birdie putt from just over 14 1/2 feet Friday, setting off a sonic boom amongst the stadium full of crazies. Asked about the hole, he shook his head and smiled. “I think obviously being part of three Presidents Cups helps,â€� he said, “because there is nothing like the 16th, yeah, I must say. There’s no event that gets close. Even the majors—obviously, there’s a big hype, but people are a little bit more on the safe side, if I can call it that, with how much noise they make and how crazy they get. “But I think it’s been awesome,â€� he added. “… I thought it can’t be that bad today. This morning, when I was warming up, 7 o’clock when those gates opened, the guys were running and running to that 16th, screaming and going crazy already. I mean you knew it was going to be a loud one today. And obviously making a birdie there was pretty awesome and everybody going nuts.â€�

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The last two winners on the PGA TOUR – Rory McIlroy and Seamus Power – have both represented Ireland in the Olympics. They were almost college teammates, as well. And not at a school that’s necessarily top of mind when you think of American powerhouses. East Tennessee State in Johnson City, Tennessee, competes in the small Southern Conference and in the Football Championship Subdivision (more commonly referred to as Division I-AA). Golf may be the school’s strongest sport, thanks in part to a pipeline from Great Britain and Ireland that included Power. The Buccaneers, led by Irishman Keith Nolan, finished third in the 1996 NCAA Championship – ahead of a Tiger Woods-led Stanford team – and twice played in the NCAA Championship during Power’s tenure. Power, who won his second PGA TOUR title Sunday at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, almost was preceded on campus by McIlroy, who won THE CJ CUP in South Carolina a week earlier to ascend to No. 1 in the world. McIlroy signed a letter of intent to play golf for the Buccaneers beginning with the 2005-06 season. “The youthful McIlroy brings an extensive and successful resume to Johnson City,” reads the news release from November 2004, which is still available online. McIlroy opted to stay in Ireland and play amateur golf, however, but ETSU’s coach at the time, Fred Warren, kept the signed letter of intent and had it framed. “I signed a letter of intent to play for ETSU, did my SAT, did everything like that so I (was) fully ready to come over and play college golf,” McIlroy said in 2015. “But at that point I knew that I really wanted to turn pro earlier than the four years he was going to be here. I had no intention of graduating at all, so I thought it was just better to play that full time amateur golf in Ireland. … By the time I was probably just getting out of college I had just won my first major, so sort of it was a good decision in the end.” The Ireland-to-ETSU connection actually was started by John Paul Fitzgerald, who played for the Buccaneers and became McIlroy’s caddie for several years. Next was Nolan, who finished T9 in that 1996 NCAA Championship and represented Great Britain & Ireland in the following year’s Walker Cup. Warren watched Power play at the 2005 European Boys’ Team Championship at Monticello Golf Club in Italy. If it had not been for the interest from East Tennessee State, Power was considering taking an accounting course at a university in Ireland, according to a New York Times article. Power still had doubts about attending ETSU even as he was on his flight bound for the States. “Where am I going?” Power told the Times. “I didn’t have a telephone. I didn’t have many dollars. If I land over here, and if something as simple as my coach isn’t at the airport to pick me up, I have no idea what I’m going to do.” According to a 2016 profile on PGATOUR.COM, Power’s scholarship actually became available after McIlroy decided to not attend East Tennessee. McIlroy played amateur golf until turning pro after the 2007 Walker Cup. Power started at ETSU in the fall of 2006 and graduated with an accounting degree in 2011. He also was a two-time conference champion. He spent several years on the mini-tours before playing his first full Korn Ferry Tour season in 2015. He was a PGA TOUR rookie for the 2017 season, but failed to make the FedExCup Playoffs in three of his first four seasons. He started 2021 ranked 429th in the world but has now risen to a career-best 32nd in the OWGR. He also is fifth in this season’s FedExCup.

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