Kajitani wins Augusta Women’s Amateur in playoff

Welcome to Numbers to Know, where we will dive into Jon Rahm’s triumph at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. Rahm survived a tough Sunday to claim his fourth PGA TOUR win and moved to world No. 1 as a result. 1. MASTER CLASS: Rahm outperformed the field by +3.866 strokes per round from tee to green at Muirfield Village on the way to his win. It was the best Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green performance of his PGA TOUR career. The only other time he averaged over three strokes gained per round in a tournament from tee to green was the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open which he also won. Rahm is also the first player this season to gain over 15 total strokes (+15.46) from tee to green in a PGA TOUR event. 2. WINNING AS A HABIT: Rahm became just the fourth player to win at least once in each of the last four seasons on the PGA TOUR. He joined Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau with this honor. Technically, since Rahm got his card through the non-member FedExCup points list in 2015-16 where he played nine times, twice as an amateur, he has not won on each of his seasons on TOUR. However, in those nine starts he had three top 10s including a T3 at the 2016 Quicken Loans National and a T2 at the 2016 RBC Canadian Open. 3. NUMERO UNO: Rahm moved to eighth in the FedExCup standings, setting himself up for a run at the Wyndham Rewards title and the FedExCup itself. He would become the first Spanish player to win either of those titles should he do so. But the win at the Memorial Tournament also jettisoned him to world No. 1 at just 25 years of age. He is the fifth youngest player to reach world No. 1 and just the second Spanish player behind Seve Ballesteros. Rahm is the 24th player in history to be world No. 1 (the official rankings began in 1986). 4. BACK-NINE BANDIT: The back nine at Muirfield Village is the tougher of the two sides. At the conclusion of the tournament the front side scoring average was 36.831 (+.831 over par) while the back played to a 37.351 (+1.351 over par). Rahm’s win was helped by his stellar play on the tough side through the first three rounds. At the 54-hole mark Rahm was 9-under on Nos. 10-18, three shots better than Carlos Ortiz and at least four shots better than the rest of the field, including Ryan Palmer (-5) who would be his main rival for the title. Rahm had 10 birdies and just a lone bogey on the stretch in the opening three rounds. On Sunday, however, he shot 41 on that side of the course, helped by a two-shot penalty on the 16th hole. As such he was the first winner to shoot 41 on the back nine in the final round of an event on TOUR in the last 37 years (official events). He still finished the tournament as one of the best players on that stretch at a 4 under total, beaten only by Palmer (-5) and Matt Wallace (-5). 5. REGULAR SEASON RACE HEATS UP: With just four weeks to go before the FedExCup Playoffs begin Rahm made a huge step forward in the Wyndham Rewards race. He is no stranger to the bonus system for those in the regular season top 10, having finished 10th last season. But Rahm is one of just three of last season’s top 10 who are currently trending to be there again this season. Webb Simpson (second), Rory McIlroy (fifth) and Rahm (eighth) are well placed particularly given that last season, eight of the final top 10 in the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 were already inside the cut off with four weeks remaining in the regular season. Since 2009, only two players have been outside the top 25 of the FedExCup standings with four weeks to go and went onto finish the Regular Season inside the top 10 . Y.E. Yang did so in 2009 by moving from 28th to seventh and Simpson made a late run last year going from 26th to ninth. In the last 11 PGA TOUR seasons, McIlroy is the only player to finish first in the final regular season standings after being outside the top-three of the FedExCup standings with four weeks to go (he was 11th). Since 2009, with four weeks left, 22 players started outside the top-10 and played their way into the final top 10 of the regular season standings (most in a season is three in 2010, 2013 and 2014).

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Merritt missed a 6-foot par putt on the fifth hole of a playoff at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, which gave Davis the victory.

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Here are nine tidbits from the third round of the World Golf Championship-Mexico Championship at the Club de Golf Chapultepec outside Mexico City that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Be on the lookout for the Emergency 9 shortly after the close of play of each round of the tournament. Curry Up Shubhankar Sharma maintained his two-shot lead playing in the final group in Round 3 with Xander Schauffele and Rafael Cabrera Bello. The 21-year-old Indian posted 69 (-2), his third-consecutive round in the 60’s, to post the 54-hole lead. Just nine gamers selected him in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO while less than one percent of gamers selected him in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO. The heat turns up on Sunday as he’ll spot Phil Mickelson two shots in the final group as he hopes to achieve the unthinkable. The Final Group Mickelson’s torrid run continues as his third-round, bogey-free 65 has him poised to win his first TOUR event since the 2013 Open Championship. He entered the week with an aggregate score of 36-under-par in his last three events (T5, T2 and T6). According to stat maven Justin Ray, Phil Mickelson has never cashed T6 or better in four straight events. Ever. Who will be dealing with the most pressure in the final group? Stay tuned. Been There, Done That #NappyFactor is the most wonderful “Loch Ness Monster” of gaming. Sergio Garcia, whose wife’s baby is due March 17th, has won this year and also posted T32 in Dubai and T33 at The Honda Classic. He is the most recent winner of the top five and should be confident heading into tomorrow with who is surrounding him on the leaderboard. Running Down a Dream The other half of the Spanish Armada, Rafael Cabrera Bello, held serve with 69 and enters Sunday T2. Like Sharma, he’s trying to breakthrough with his first win on the PGA TOUR. He’s only won once in since 2013, so you can see why I’m leaning on Garcia. RCB leads the field in Strokes Gained: Putting for the week, but I’m interested to see if that putting stroke holds up on the back nine Sunday. Repeat After Me Defending champion Dustin Johnson is not going quietly into the good night. His 68 in Round 3 has him sitting just three shots off the lead and in position to repeat. After missing 16 putts (!) inside 10 feet last year, he’s first in putts-per-GIR and fifth in Strokes-Gained: Putting this time around. Imagine if he finds a couple more fairways and greens tomorrow! Moving Day: Right Way I’ve cursed Englishman Tyrrell Hatton by spelling his name incorrectly since he’s been on TOUR. #MyBad. I’d suggest you join Twitter just to follow him as his sense of humour alone is worth the follow. Gamers have heard the phrase “beware the injured golfer” before. Hatton entered the week with a bit of “Tourista” and was unsure of how he would perform, especially wearing white trousers. The answer was a resounding, bogey-free 64 in Round 3 to complete his second round in a row without a bogey, moving up 18 spots to T2. … One question that newer gamers have usually centers on how the previous week’s winner will perform next time out. Justin Thomas resides in the group of “no worries” after his Hawaii double to begin 2017. He reinforced that angle with 62 today that jumped him 28 spots to 10th. He’s only four shots out of the lead, and he’ll need another low one tomorrow to bounce higher up the board. I’m not betting against that happening. Moving Day: Wrong Way Bubba Watson had three birdies but also had a pair of bogeys and a double to drop out of the top five to T17. Pro gamers will point out trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube is easier than predicting Watson’s results. … Daniel Berger is trying the patience of gamers for the second week in a row. His Sunday 75 at The Honda Classic knocked him down the leaderboard to T29. His 72 (+1) knocked him out of the top 15 on Saturday. … Louis Oosthuizen’s 75 at The Honda Classic on Sunday saw him finish T24. His 76 in Round 3 dropped him from T5 to T32. Can’t Win For Losing The most popular golfer in both PGA TOUR game formats, Tommy Fleetwood, helped in both of them today. I wrote yesterday that I would bench him in an effort to spark him up the leaderboard. His 67 moved him up 11 spots to T29 and helped the gamers who kept him in the lineup for Saturday. He’s 10 shots out of the lead, so he’ll need a Justin Thomas-like performance tomorrow to reward his O&D investors. Study Hall The 62 posted by Justin Thomas saw him post the course record, one shot better than his buddy Jordan Spieth (63) from last year. … Pat Perez leads the field with 17 birdies. … The cleanest card goes to Tyrrell Hatton (spell-checked) as the Englishman has two bogeys and nothing worse. … Jhonattan Vegas has 40 pars but his 10 birdies and four pars are only good for T17. Bogey avoidance is nice but making birdies is better.

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