Imagining a course with 18 of the most merciless holes in U.S. Open history

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Tony Finau came to the Waste Management Phoenix Open riding more of a dubious achievement than a streak, having missed the cut in his last four attempts. Webb Simpson, conversely, had done everything but win it, posting six top-20 finishes. RELATED: Leaderboard | Bryant tribute on 16th hole They will be separated by just a stroke going into Sunday. Finau (62, 16 under) is bidding to win for the first time since the 2016 Puerto Rico Open at Coco Beach, while Simpson (64, one back) is still seeking his first victory since the 2018 PLAYERS Championship. “If I want to accomplish the things I feel like I can accomplish, I have to put those types of expectations on myself,� Finau (62) said when asked about winning again after a nearly four-year drought. “I look forward to tomorrow. My game’s in a good place, and I always tell myself whatever happens, you’re going to learn from it and get better and stronger.� Finau leads the field in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (+9.435) and Scrambling (12/13), and the 62 matched his career low. He hit 12 of 14 fairways after hitting just 13 of 28 the first two days.  But what’s with his record at this rowdy, perfectly manicured course in the desert? “No, it’s crazy,� said Finau, who is coming off a T6 at the Farmers Insurance Open, earlier this week. “I like the golf course. I like the vibe. I like the energy. Just haven’t performed.� Well, now he has. Simpson’s round included an ace at the 196-yard 12th hole. He not only has a good track record at TPC Scottsdale, he came into this week with top-10s in all three of his starts this season. “My first thought was that couldn’t have gone in,� Simpson said of the ace, his third on TOUR, which he made with a 7-iron. “And then it dawned on me they were really excited (in the crowd), so it was fun.� Should he and Finau falter, Hudson Swafford (66) and J.B. Holmes (70), a two-time winner here, are only two off the lead at 14 under par. Xander Schauffele (66, 13 under), who has a history of going low to win, is only three back along with Adam Long (66) and Scott Piercy (68). Simpson leads the field in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green (5.939). He finished runner-up here in 2017, and is seeking his sixth TOUR victory. “I’ve learned from every tournament, good or bad,� he said of his close calls, which included a runner-up at The RSM Classic to start his season and a third at the recent Sony Open in Hawaii. “I know what I’ve done wrong in the past, I guess, year, year and a half. “But I’ve also had a few seconds where guys have shot 8- or 9-under,� he added. Other than Simpson’s ace, the shot of the third round was arguably Finau’s tee ball at the rowdy par-3 16th, which he again played wearing the late Kobe Bryant’s jersey. The ball nearly landed in the cup, and he made the five-footer from behind the hole for birdie. “That was quite fun to hit that shot,� Finau said. “And man, I’m pretty happy with being a couple under in that Kobe jersey; looks like I’ll be wearing it tomorrow.�  A massive Los Angeles Lakers fan, Finau spoke about trying to emulate Bryant’s drive, a legacy of “hard work and so much love for your craft that you get lost in your work.� He also may be drawing on his steely resolve at the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne, where the U.S. Team roared back on the final day to win a squeaker. Although his record was only 0-1-3, Finau came up clutch, especially as he birdied the last two holes of a Four Ball match in which he and partner Matt Kuchar clawed their way back to tie Byeong Hun An and Adam Scott. Time will tell whether the legacy of Bryant, or memories of clutch play at the Presidents Cup, will steady him enough for his second TOUR win. “I’ve got 18 holes to try and win this golf tournament,� Finau said, “and my expectation is exactly that.�

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NAPA, Calif. – Mack “Popsâ€� Champ never predicted it would come to this. Not when his oldest brother, Clyde, found a rod and bent it into an L shape before taping up the grip for their first golf club. Not when they hit balls in the open fields by the railroad tracks near their home outside Houston, the best they could do because they weren’t allowed on the course except as caddies. But it happened, his grandson Cameron winning the Safeway Open at Silverado on Sunday as the man who got him started, Mack, 78, watched on TV. He’s been in hospice care back in Sacramento, hasn’t eaten more than popsicles for three weeks, but he saw every minute. It was real, and there wasn’t a dry eye. Just an hour or so south of their hometown, Cameron won and sobbed onto the shoulder of his caddie, Kurt Kowaluk, as they embraced. “I think it was just kind of meant to be,â€� Cameron said afterward.  RELATED: How Champ’s grandfather paved the way | Final leaderboard Added his father, Jeff, his eyes welled with tears and voice breaking, “For this to happen before these last days that we’re going to have with my father here, it’s the man upstairs. It’s amazing.â€� With Mack on hospice and no one sure just how many days he has left, Champ wasn’t sure he was going to play this week. But he didn’t just play, he excelled. He blasted a 369-yard drive down the 18th fairway – the longest of the day by 33 yards – to set up his decisive birdie, and his final-round 69 left him at 17 under par, one shot better than Adam Hadwin (67).  Marc Leishman (65) finished third, three back. “No matter what,â€� Champ said, “even if I never win another tournament again or I win however many, this will definitely be the greatest moment of my golfing career.â€�  It was Champ’s second PGA TOUR win, and the second time in as many seasons he’s won in his second start. He moves to No. 2 in the FedExCup, and earns a spot in the Sentry Tournament of Champions and, for the first time, the Masters Tournament, among other select events. Mack couldn’t have predicted any of it, but he had an inkling. After all, it was Mack who bought the boy his first set of plastic golf clubs. And it was Mack, an Air Force man who got close to scratch while playing overseas, who knew what talent looked like. “First time I knew he had pretty good coordination,â€� Mack told the PGA TOUR earlier this year, “I don’t think he was 2 years old. I told him, I want you to take this long tee, you stay over here, and I’m going to go over and I want to see if you can hit it over the top of the house.â€� It was not a big house, single story. The Champs never had a lot. But Cameron hit it over that house; Mack, on the other side, watched the ball clear the roof and come down near his feet. “It took him about four or five hits,â€� he said, smiling, “but he said, ‘Grandpa! I hit it over the top of the house!’ I said, ‘I know! I’m over here, Cameron!’ (Laughs) And from that day on, when he came in, I’d have little putting dishes in the hallway. We just made games. Chipping over bushes. Chipping into coffee cans. You know. I never thought it would lead to this, back then, but I saw something in how he would just swing the club.â€�  Added Cameron at the Safeway, “We just hit them back and forth, whiffle balls, to each other. I think it just started from that.â€� He calls his grandfather, “The most loving man I know,â€� and Jeff points out that when Mack needed a kidney transplant in ’75, he got one against the odds. “Somebody wanted him to get that transplant,â€� Jeff said. It was toward the end of last season when Jeff told Cameron that Mack had cancer. After the season, Jeff revealed that it was Stage IV. Chemo gave Mack some time, but when he stopped being able to keep down food and water, he knew the end was coming. “One day he called me and said, ‘I’m ready,’â€� Jeff said. With his grandfather in hospice, Cameron missed the pro-am and didn’t play a practice round as the family shuttled back and forth between Sacramento and Napa. Somehow, though, he played mostly mistake-free at Silverado, where wrote “POPSâ€� on his shoes and golf balls and led the field in driving distance. In a sense, he said, the situation back in Sacramento might have calmed him, imbuing a sense of perspective that was lacking as he struggled for much of last season. “Obviously, golf, it’s my career,â€� Champ said. “I love doing it, but it made me realize it’s not the most important thing, that there’s a lot more to life.â€�   Although he lived through racial discrimination as he grew up in Columbus, Texas, about 75 miles west of Houston, Mack didn’t let it dim his outlook. “It’s not where you come from,â€� he said, “it’s where you’re going.â€� (Cameron had the words stamped on his wedges.) While he wasn’t allowed to play on the nine-hole course where he caddied for 75 cents a loop, he would take up golf in the Air Force, at courses and driving ranges in Germany and England. He taught himself the swing in part by reading “Sam Snead’s Natural Golf.â€� Although son Jeff was not a golfer but a minor-league baseball player – a catcher – Cameron most assuredly was. They not only hit whiffle balls over the house, Mack caddied for a teen-age Cameron at a First Tee event at Pebble Beach. It was only fitting that when Cameron won the Sanderson Farms Championship last season, Mack was brought into the celebration by iPhone. It happened again at the Safeway, Cameron and Jeff sharing a long embrace before Jeff handed his son the phone. Grandpa Mack was on the line, and they shared a brief conversation.  “For him to be able to see me make that putt on 18 on the 72nd hole to win,â€� Cameron said, “like I said, that will go down as the greatest moment ever in my golfing career.â€� The putt, by the way, was 3 feet, 8 inches long. “Focus,â€� Mack always stressed. Cameron did. Then came a long procession of hugs for the winner, starting with his parents – his mom, Lisa, had been with Mack but came to Silverado for the final round – and moving on to siblings and spouses of siblings, friends down from Sacramento, his agent, and others. “Who am I forgetting?â€� Champ said after running through the long list.  Finally, someone handed him a phone, and holding the wine-cask trophy for a victory selfie, Champ looked into the camera and said it all: “This one’s for you, Pops.â€� On this day, especially, no one was forgetting Mack Champ.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Abraham Ancer of Mexico won the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational on Sunday for his first PGA TOUR title, beating Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama and Sam Burns with a 6-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole. Ancer won the WGC event at TPC Southland after Burns’ 5 1/2-foot putt — on the same line as Ancer — lipped out. “This is surreal,” said Ancer, the 30-year-old former University of Oklahoma player who was born in McAllen, Texas. “I felt I left so many shots out there on the back nine, but you never know.” Ancer, who finished second at the Wells Fargo Championship in May, played more aggressively on the second extra trip down the par-4 18th. “I went right at it and the shot played perfectly in my mind and it came out just how I pictured it,” he said. Harris English, the leader after each of the first three rounds, faltered on the back nine to give Ancer, Burns and Matsuyama a chance. Ancer closed with a 2-under 68 to match Matsuyama and Burns at 16-under 264. Matsuyama shot a 63, and Burns had a 64. English, the 2013 champion at TPC Southwind, was a stroke back after a 73. On the first extra hole, Ancer, Burns and Matsuyama, coming off a bronze-medal playoff loss in the Tokyo Olympics, made decent runs at birdies. Matsuyama had the shortest attempt — from 20 feet — and it nearly went in the cup before lipping out. English was seeking the fifth title of his career — and third this season — but collapsed on the back nine. Ahead by two strokes at 20 under at the turn, he played the back nine in 5 over, missing a 13-foot birdie putt on 18. Bryson DeChambeau, two strokes behind English after a third-round 63, had a 74 to tie for eighth at 12 under.

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