Kizzire holds off Fowler to win OHL Classic

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SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda — Seamus Power did enough right and left all the mistakes to PGA TOUR rookie Ben Griffin on Sunday to win the Butterfield Bermuda Championship for his second TOUR title. Power took the lead for good with a 25-foot birdie putt at the 14th. A bogey on the final hole gave the Irishman a 1-under 70 and a one-shot victory over Thomas Detry, who earlier had holed a bunker shot on the 18th for birdie and a 67. But it was Griffin who had the best chance. Just more than a year after Griffin was working as a loan officer, he had a shot at winning on the PGA TOUR and going to the Masters. He started the back nine at Port Royal with back-to-back birdies, putting him at 5 under for the day and with a two-shot lead over Power. And then it all fell apart. Griffin bogeyed four straight holes, followed by a double bogey on the par-3 16th that effectively ended his chances. The turning point came at the 14th when Griffin hooked his tee shot, had to take a penalty drop and make his third straight bogey, while Power holed his birdie putt for a two-shot swing and his first lead of the day. Both made bogey on the 15th. Griffin hit a hard draw into a strong wind that went into the hazard above the Atlantic Ocean, leading to another penalty drop and another missed putt for a double bogey. “This course was always going to be a tale of two sides,” Power said. “I knew it was going to be hard coming in and it was. I’m delighted to get it done.” Power won last year at the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky, held the same week as The Open Championship. This victory moves him to No. 32 in the world. He came into Bermuda at No. 48, the highest-ranked player in the field. After making four straight bogeys and then a double bogey, Griffin used iron off the tee on the par-5 17th and watched it run through the fairway and into the water. He took his third penalty drop in four holes, though at least managed a par. Power went just over the green and chipped to 3 feet for birdie, giving him a two-shot lead over Detry and room for error playing the last hole. “It was a fun week. I hate to finish the tournament the way I did,” said Griffin, who shot 72 and tied for third with Patrick Rodgers (65) and Kevin Yu (67). “As I gain more experience, I’m going to get more comfortable.” Griffin and Power were tied going into the final round, and it was Griffin who seized control early with four birdies in the opening six holes. He looked like a winner when he rolled in birdie putts on the 10th and 11th to extend his lead to two shots. But he missed a 6-foot par putt on the 12th, and he missed a 4-foot par putt on the next hole, and it only got tougher from there. Aaron Baddeley, who got in as a Monday qualifier, was in the mix until a pair of late bogeys. He still tied for sixth and was among those who earned spots next week in Mexico for finishing in the top 10. Tennessee freshman Caleb Surratt shot a 64 to make the cut. He followed that with an 85 in the third round, only to improve by 20 shots with a 65 on Sunday.

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Recent incidents about pace of play have led the PGA TOUR to take a deeper look at its policy on the issue, and ShotLink technology could provide an answer. The TOUR’s current pace-of-play policy only addresses players whose groups have fallen out of position. The TOUR is now exploring whether to expand its policy to also address players whose groups are in position, but who take an excessive amount of time to hit a shot. “We know that the individual habits of players when they are preparing to hit a shot can quickly become a focal point in today’s world, and our players and fans are very passionate about this issue,â€� said Tyler Dennis, the PGA TOUR’s Chief of Operations. “We have leveraged our ShotLink technology to provide every player with a pace of play report that they can access which breaks down the varying parts of their game and gives feedback on the amount of time on average that the player takes to hit a particular shot. “We are currently in the process of reviewing this aspect of pace of play and asking ourselves, ‘Is there a better way to do it?’ We think technology definitely plays a key role in all of this and we are thinking about new and innovative ways to use it to address these situations.â€� There are many factors to consider when deciding an appropriate amount of time to play a shot, Dennis said. “We have learned over the years that pace has a lot of factors that play into it, and it’s actually quite complicated,â€� he added. “The overall time to play a round is affected by things like the number of players on the course, tee time intervals, amount of daylight, course set-up and the weather. Some of these are things we can influence, and some are not.â€� The amount of fans and media following a group also can impact the pace of play, said Justin Rose. “The crowds are a lot bigger here and a lot more vocal and there’s a lot more movement and distraction, I think which obviously creates the atmosphere that we want to play in front of,â€� Rose said. “You can’t have it both ways. You can’t have it fun and rowdy out here and yet expect guys to hit shots on a clock through situations where the environment isn’t ready for them to play.â€� The topic became a hot-button issue again this week after two videos of Bryson DeChambeau went viral on Twitter. DeChambeau felt compelled to defend himself after seeing the response on social media. “When people start talking to me about slow play and how I’m killing the game, I’m doing this and that to the game, that is complete and utter you-know-what,â€� DeChambeau said after his third round Saturday. “That’s not fair.â€� The first video showed DeChambeau pacing off a 70-yard approach shot after he hit his tee shot well left of the drivable par-4 16th hole in the second round. After returning to his ball, DeChambeau had to wait for the players on the nearby sixth tee to hit their shots. He let playing partner Tommy Fleetwood play his shot while DeChambeau waited for the tee to clear. Those factors increased the amount of time it took for DeChambeau to hit his shot. Another video showed DeChambeau taking 2 minutes, 20 seconds to hit a putt on the eighth hole, his second-to-last hole of the day on Friday. DeChambeau defended himself by saying that he walks quickly between shots to reduce the overall time it takes to play a hole. “It was a very difficult read,â€� he said about the putt on No. 8. “It was on a bit of a crown, trying to read it to the best of my ability. I couldn’t figure out a way to play it four inches out because that’s what the book said. That’s what it looked, or that’s what it said in the book, but it didn’t look like that to my eyes. We walked around, took a little bit of time. I was ready to hit. My caddie pulled me off because he saw something different. That’s just what’s going to happen every once in a while. “Is that every time? No. That’s probably 1% of the time that I take over two minutes. “You look at me, most of the time, I am doing my absolute best to get to that next shot. The time to hurry for me and the way I play the game — this is not always how some people view it, but the time to hurry is in between shots.â€� Justin Thomas played with DeChambeau in the first two rounds at Liberty National. “I like Bryson as a person, but he’s a slow golfer,â€� Thomas told reporters Saturday. “I hate saying this because I don’t want Bryson to think I’m throwing him under the bus or anything like that, but it’s just unfortunate where the pace of play is in the game at the moment.â€� DeChambeau’s group still played in 4:51 on Friday. That was just one minute slower than in Round 1 and consistent with other groups in the second round. The TOUR has seen positive results from increasing the intervals between tee times this year. “We are seeing great improvements to the flow and in particular to the speed with which we can recover following an issue with a group that results in a momentary slow-down in pace,â€� Dennis said. Under the TOUR’s current pace-of-play policy, players are “on the clockâ€� when their group falls out of position. Players are given an allotted time between 40 and 50 seconds (depending on factors such as order of play) to hit a shot. The first bad time results in a warning, while a second bad time in the same round is a one-stroke penalty. Players are fined for a second bad time in a season, and each bad time thereafter, and for each time they are put “on the clockâ€� after the 10th time. There is not currently a policy to assess penalties or fines when players’ groups are in position, but the TOUR could consider adding one. “We are really focused at the moment on leveraging our ShotLink technology to assist us with these factors,â€� Dennis said. “This year, we have rolled out version 2.0 of an application which allows the officials to monitor every group in real-time, from their positions out on the course, and respond more quickly when a group is getting behind.â€�

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