Padraig Harrington becomes eligible for PGA Tour Champions when he turns 50 on Aug. 31, but his focus is on retaining the Ryder Cup.
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SAN DIEGO - Marc Leishman wasn’t one to spend time on the range as he was growing up - and who could blame him. In those days you had to pick up your own range balls at Warrnambool Golf Club. Instead, he would use the course proper as his practice facility, challenging his mates to contests on each hole. Warrnambool is a coastal town in Victoria, Australia, a little over three hours drive from Melbourne. The course was rarely full, which allowed a group of youngsters to spend a bunch of time on each hole without slowing pace of play. "It might take us three hours to play nine holes - not holding people up - but we forever came up with things to do," Leishman recalls. "We put ourselves behind trees, or in divots, or tough bunker lies – really in all sorts of spots where we had to use our imagination. We had a lot of fun." Imagination. It's a word used less and less in modern golf. The art of golf is - at times - being bludgeoned by the science. In the past, the likes of Seve Ballesteros would wow the masses with his creativity from all over the course. In more modern times, Bubba Watson has shaped the ball in ridiculous ways. But now the game is skewed towards the athletic prowess and strength of a player and brute force can get you to places never seen before. We have players like Bryson DeChambeau following the science of the swing and of the body and calculating all sorts of variables around every shot to chase perfection. We have technology and stats measuring everything. Gadgets and gizmos a plenty, whozits and whatsits galore. Science has indeed taken the sport to incredible new heights. But science isn't everyone's best subject. Leishman has always been an artist. The joy in his golf comes from shaping the ball both ways or hitting it high or low on demand. He craves hard and fast courses and thrives in the wind. He loves being able to hit the same club across a wide yardage range and gets juiced up when the opportunity to paint a picture surfaces in his game. "That’s when I play my best golf - when I have to use my imagination. Augusta requires a lot of it, the British Open requires a lot of it and it’s what makes golf fun for me," Leishman says. I would call myself an old school pro. The game is an artistic game for me, and I love when you have to control it on the ground and through the air and you really have to think. It is a style that has seen him win five times on the PGA TOUR including last year at the Farmers Insurance Open where he defends this week at Torrey Pines. In the final round a year ago, Leishman couldn't buy a fairway. He was 70th in the field for Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee losing -1.235 to the field. But he invented ways to get himself to the greens regardless of the inaccuracy and gained +4.778 strokes putting as he made 151 feet, four inches worth or putts. Not long after Leishman was runner up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard, an event he won in 2017. Then he opened THE PLAYERS Championship with a 5-under 67, his career best first round at TPC Sawgrass where his scoring average is a not so impressive 72.25. At seventh in the FedExCup, he was rolling along nicely. Of course, we all know what happened to the world next. But Leishman had no clue the COVID-19 pandemic would derail his form so significantly. Not many players - if any - spiraled like he did after the extended pandemic break. In his six regular season starts upon return, Leishman missed three cuts and posted a T40 as his best result. His early season form kept him in the duration of the three FedExCup Playoffs but he was a virtual passenger. Leishman missed the cut at THE NORTHERN TRUST. He then shot 80-78-79-73 (+30) in the no-cut BMW Championship (another tournament he's won before) to be dead last, nine shots worse than second last and 34 shots behind winner Jon Rahm. In the TOUR Championship he was 29th of 30 players. His start to the 2020-21 season wasn't much better as the now 37-year-old missed the cut at the U.S. Open followed by a T52 and T70 at the limited field CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK and ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD. It wasn't pretty. So, what happened? It was a bunch of factors but at its core - Leishman got bogged down studying science and got frustrated with his art not making it to a gallery. "Having a big rest over the pandemic break was good for me to be with family but for my golf game it wasn’t so good for me," Leishman explains to PGATOUR.COM. “Normally on weeks off I don’t play at all, so I virtually have never played golf with no crowds. It’s either in a tournament or in a practice round at a tournament so that was very new to me. Even when I play golf back home in Warrnambool there are people watching me so returning without fans was weird. I really struggled with energy." The energy he refers to is the competitive instinct of the artist who loves to entertain and who thrives on an internal underdog factor. Leishman long went unheralded by the American public who confused him with other golfers and even when his profile rose, and he was grouped with big name stars, Leishman's nationality usually meant he'd be fighting for the majority of support. It was fuel for him. "When you’re struggling with crowds around it can still be fun because if there are 50 people watching and you hit a shot from the trees you can kind of entertain or show off your skills a little bit," Leishman says. "It gets you engaged even if you’re going to miss the cut – you think these people might remember this if I pull it off. But I was in the trees a lot last year and you can’t even show off when no one is there. "As an artistic player, when you start drawing dodgy pictures with your shots, which I was doing, you start to think about it too much and I started getting technical. I started thinking science and that's never good for me. I was looking in the wrong places for solutions." Now, it's not like Leishman hadn't had some tough weeks in his career before. But in normal circumstances, time with coach Denis McDade would quickly fix any swing issues. Problem was McDade is based in Australia and the pandemic made travel to the U.S. very difficult indeed. Sure Leishman could have looked for a local coach but he's a fiercely loyal type of guy. He's had the same coach and same caddie since he burst on to the PGA TOUR and was Rookie of the Year in 2009. McDade is loyal also. Despite plenty of roadblocks he made his way to the U.S. in late October last year and hooked up with Leishman in Los Angeles during the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. After watching the opening two rounds intently, he had the answer. "It was huge for him to come over and a massive commitment from him," Leishman says. "He has a family back home, but he was over here for six weeks and he got home and had to spend two weeks mandatory quarantine in a hotel room where you don’t get given a room key. He missed his birthday and his wedding anniversary during quarantine, so I am really appreciative and want to thank him. "In the end it wasn't really my swing at all. It was the way I was getting into the ball - I was standing too far away from it," Leishman reveals. "I was being technical on the tee; I was doing drills in the tournaments before every tee shot which I had never done before, and it was getting me too far away from the ball and my weight too far on the toes. When my weight is on the toes my balance is bad and I miss it right and left and it’s just a disaster – I was in a hiding to nothing. "So, it was something really simple and that's where it’s really good that I’ve been with Denis for 18 years. He knows my tendencies and he saw it straight away. If I had gone to someone else or jumped ship with him not being able to come over, a new coach may or may not be able to see that." The results were near instant. In his next start at The Masters, Leishman was T13, hitting the ball better than most of the field but only falling behind on the greens. Two weeks ago at the Sony Open in Hawaii, he finished T4, his first top 10 since the pandemic break. Now he gets another crack at Torrey Pines where he has a win, two runner ups and two further top 10s in his portfolio. Look out. The artist is back.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – It was supposed to be harder. A year ago THE PLAYERS Championship made a return to its traditional March slot in the PGA TOUR schedule after 12 years where the best on TOUR contested the flagship event in May. The warnings were stark to the new breed of player who had not experienced TPC Sawgrass in the earlier timeslot … this will be tougher. RELATED: Pete Dye: The genius who loathes plans | Rory gets a good read | Power Rankings Ponte Vedra Beach in March compared to May brings different winds and potentially cooler temperatures for a start. Pete Dye’s masterpiece is tough enough but add gusting winds of note and you might be swimming after your ball more than you would care to. Former FedExCup champion Justin Thomas obviously never played in March prior to last year as he was just 13 years old in 2006, but he certainly got wind of how it used to be. “I’ve heard some horror stories from guys in the past about how in Jacksonville this time of year you can get some cold, cold days, you can get a strong north wind where we’re hitting 6-, 7-, 8-iron on 17. I would imagine if that’s the case then you won’t be seeing any (record rounds),â€� Thomas said. We know the stats backed up the narrative. When comparing the 12 tournaments in May compared to the previous 12 that were in March, eight of the nine toughest scoring average years were in March. In total the March dates averaged out at 73.40 with the May contests in at 72.48 so it was almost an entire stroke harder in March compared to May in that time period. Also in that time the six course record equaling scores of 9-under 63 posted were all in May and there were 117 more rounds in the 80s in March over May. But for all the concern … reality painted a different picture in 2019. In the March return the scoring average for the week sat at 71.512. Almost half a stroke under par. Winner Rory McIlroy was rarely troubled. The two-time FedExCup champion went out there and shot 67-65-70-70 to win his first PLAYERS at 16 under. It was clearly not so tough for him. So what happened? Well nice weather without overly tough breezes certainly helped. And while most players still maintain TPC Sawgrass does not hold significant bias towards one style of player over another, it now certainly plays into the hands of a longer hitter more than it did before given the potential for softer conditions. Generally speaking each hole at Sawgrass has a sweet spot to play from on approach and in May, with the ball rolling out in warmer and firmer conditions, pretty much all players could get to those spots albeit with different clubs. In March, with softer conditions and less roll, it can be harder to get to those spots for some. The forecast this week is similar to a year ago. It calls for dry weather with afternoon highs in the upper 70s each day. Winds of eight to 16 miles per hour will be out of the southeast on Thursday and Friday shifting to more of an east/northeast direction this weekend. With players reporting that the fairways and greens are playing a little soft at the moment it may well be a green light to the elite in this 144-man field unless things bake out. “The greens are a little soft at the moment. Unless conditions drastically change it is going to be low scoring this week again really. Even though it plays longer in March and there is some decent rough out here … if the greens are soft it doesn’t matter,â€� former champion Adam Scott says. When explaining how the change helped him towards victory a year ago McIlroy confirmed a shift towards his length certainly helped. Those with a little more length get the benefit of having shorter irons and wedges into greens, and less of the field can match them. “Off the tee, the course certainly plays a lot longer in March than it does in May, so I was able to hit driver a lot more. The fairways are a little softer, so the course plays a touch wider,â€� McIlroy said. The 12 winners in March prior to McIlroy averaged six yards further than the field in driving distance while the May winners averaged just 2.2yards more. McIlroy was 17 yards above the field average driving distance in 2019. It is why Bryson DeChambeau and his extra length off the tee this season is confident. It is why those without the prodigious length are putting some extra practice in with their mid irons. On top of that, players are trying to tune up their short games. “And then the other thing is having the rough overseeded around the greens, that was a big thing for me because I’ve always been more comfortable chipping out of that sort of overseeded rough rather than a pure Bermuda,â€� McIlroy added. “Pure Bermuda, especially in May time here, it was sort of a hit and hope. It was a little bit of a guessing game around the greens, where at least nowadays, if you do miss a green … the guys with the best short games and the best techniques can sort of rise to the top a little bit.â€� There is at least one player in the field really diving into the statistics of how he can make the most of his game at the course. Five-time PGA TOUR winner Marc Leishman is in great form thanks to a win earlier this year at the Farmers Insurance Open and a runner up finish last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard. But his record at THE PLAYERS has just one top 10 (T8 in 2013) in 10 previous tries with a scoring average of 72.25. He missed the cut in the March return last year and as such has decided to lean heavily on the analytics used by the International Team at last years Presidents Cup. Captain Ernie Els went within a whisker of leading the Internationals to a rare win over the U.S. thanks heavily to data driven pairings. Leishman has handed over some of the game plan at Sawgrass to the stats gurus. “My record here is terrible so it’s worth a try. Even my parents don’t have confidence in me here. They booked travel from Australia and are landing in Virginia Beach on Saturday instead of here thinking they’ll see me,â€� Leishman joked. “But in all seriousness the course plays longer in March for sure and sometimes that can sort of trick you into trying to hit it further when you don’t need to. I’m going to put my game plan in the hands of the data guys a little as a trial. It worked for me in Melbourne so I might as well have a crack at this. There are now certain holes I know I do need to try to get the ball out there further and others where I need to focus more on accuracy.â€� Leishman averages about a stroke better than the field per round when it comes to Strokes Gained: Approach the Green this season. He sits fifth on TOUR at +1.099 entering the tournament. It has long been a key component to his success as an elite player. The data team highlighted how that strength of his game has been a significant weakness at Sawgrass, hence the need to change tact. In fact four of his 10 previous PLAYERS appearances had Leishman lose significant strokes per round to the field in that statistic and he’s never gone close to his best numbers here. “If you are not trying to learn you’re not evolving as a player,â€� Leishman says. “When it comes down to it … at THE PLAYERS you always need to be at your best or very near to it whether it is played in March, May or Christmas Day.â€�
Welcome to the Stats Insider, where we’ll take a closer look at Sungjae Im’s win at The Honda Classic. Im is just 21 years old but he’s already won the Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year Award, PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year and now a PGA TOUR event. RELATED: Slow and steady, Im withstands pressure at The Honda Classic | What’s in Im’s bag? 1. YOUTH MOVEMENT: We’ve seen several young stars win on the PGA TOUR recently, and Im continued that trend. He is the fifth player age 22 or younger to win on the PGA TOUR since July, joining Matthew Wolff, Collin Morikawa, Joaquin Niemann and Viktor Hovland. That’s just two fewer than in the preceding five seasons. Seven players age 22 or younger won on the PGA TOUR from 2014 to 2018. Compare that to the 15 years from 1985 to 2000, when just four players age 22 or younger won on the PGA TOUR. 2. TOP NOTCH: Im moved to No. 2 in the FedExCup with the win, just 135 points behind Justin Thomas. Im also had a runner-up at this season’s Sanderson Farms Championship, where he lost a playoff to Sebastian Munoz, and finished third at THE ZOZO Championship. He finished behind Tiger Woods and Hideki Matsuyama that week, and tied Rory McIlroy. Im’s three top-3 finishes this season are tied for the most on TOUR. 3. TOUGH STUFF: Im conquered one of the toughest tracks on the PGA TOUR. PGA National’s penal layout, firm greens and a windy week combined to make this one of the toughest non-majors in recent memory. Only 16 players broke par for the week and the average round this week was nearly 2 over par. Im’s winning score of 6-under 274 is the highest winning score (in relation to par) in a non-major since Brandt Snedeker’s win in the 2016 Farmers Insurance Open. This was the first non-major since 1996 where no one posted a round of 5 under or lower. Im shot 4-under 66 in both the second and fourth rounds. 4. IT’S A TRAP?: Im won The Honda Classic with Sunday’s performance on the Bear Trap. He birdied the two par-3s that bookend that infamous trio of holes. Nos. 15 and 17 were the second- and third-hardest holes Sunday, but Im birdied both. There were just 13 birdies on those holes Sunday. Im was one of just two players to birdie both holes in the final round. Daniel Berger was the other. 5. TEE-TO-GREEN MACHINE: Sungjae Im finished 11th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, fifth in Strokes Gained: Approach and fifth in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green. Add it all together, and he led Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green by a large margin. He gained 12.3 strokes from tee-to-green, three more than the next player in that statistic (Russell Henley).
