Late birdie gives Hsu share of lead at Kingsmill

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Cameron Smith led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting en route to his win at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Clearly 2022’s new rule surrounding yardage books – and the banning of the old, in-depth greens books – didn’t impact the Australian. The winners-only event at Kapalua’s Plantation Course was the first TOUR event since the implementation of a local rule on TOUR that limits the information in players’ yardage books. From this week forward, only committee-approved yardage books can be used and players can only add handwritten notes from information they’ve seen with their naked eye or on a broadcast. Measuring instruments cannot be used to gather information for notes added to the book. That eliminates the old greens books that used technology to measure the slightest slopes on a putting surface. “I’ve never really been a big fan of the greens books,” Smith said. “I do AimPoint Express and I like to feel a lot of stuff. I like to see stuff and I like to feel stuff, so the greens books, for me, took away a lot of that. I gave them a crack a couple of times but I was never really a fan.” That seemed to be the overwhelming sentiment from the 38 players who teed it up last week. “I haven’t really consulted the green book too much in the past,” said FedExCup champ Patrick Cantlay. “Every once in a while, I used to ask my caddie to consult it. I don’t think it will make too much of a difference for me.” Last year’s Sony Open in Hawaii champion, Kevin Na, said he might’ve entered the history books if not for a reliance on the books a year ago. “I remember last year at the Sony Open I looked at it one time on 17 when I had a chance to shoot 59 and it didn’t work out too well, so that was the last time I saw it,” Na said. “My caddie used to carry one, and he would look at it here and there. But I don’t feel like it’s a huge change for me because we’ve never really looked at it a lot. So, I actually like that it’s gone. I feel like I am a pretty good green reader out there so it’s an advantage for us.” The changes were player-driven through the TOUR’s Player Advisory Council (PAC). A former chairman of that committee, Jordan Spieth, believes he also will find an edge with the new rule despite the fact he’s used the books extensively in the past. “It will be an adjustment, certainly as we get to the West Coast, and places like Riviera, but there’s three things to putting. There’s reading the putt, there’s stroking it on line and there is hitting it at the right speed,” Spieth said. “I think that two of those were skills that you don’t technically need to have with (arm-lock) putting and the greens books. At least one of them right now is back to where it will become a skill to have to read them.” While Spieth’s caddie, Michael Greller, studied AimPoint in the off-season to broaden his knowledge base, Spieth wasn’t planning to do the same anytime soon. He will rely on his natural feels. “We’ve never had the greens books at Augusta,” Spieth added, “and I seem to find myself in a really good space on the greens there, really feeling putts. My Strokes Gained at Augusta has always been really solid so I like looking at that as a reference point. “I think if anything this could potentially help me in the Strokes Gained area. I’m not saying I’m going to make as many putts as I would with them, … but relative to other people, I would say green reading would be a strength of mine and therefore I feel good about the differences.” Other players who used the books heavily in the past were hopeful it would free up their mind and allow some instinct to come in. “I’m excited for it,” said FedExCup leader Talor Gooch. “I use the green reading books, but I think it was to a detriment at times and I play my best when I think less, I calculate less, I kind of try to be reactive and so having no greens books is great for that.” Joel Dahmen added that it could be good for him to get his head out of the book. “I probably bury my head in them too much as it is,” Dahmen said. “I don’t use them at home and I putt OK, so there’s no real reason to have them out here for me. But it’s a little more work for the caddie on Tuesday and Wednesday for them to get the slopes and the grain out there.”

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Every shot counts. That old golf chestnut takes on extra significance on the final day of the Regular Season. This time it was Kevin Kisner who seized the day and emerged from a six-man sudden-death playoff to capture the Wyndham Championship, his fourth PGA TOUR title and first since the 2019 World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. Chesson Hadley was among the day’s other big winners, firing a fireworks-filled 62 to finish T15 and grab the 125th spot in the FedExCup and the final berth in the FedExCup Playoffs, which begin with THE NORTHERN TRUST at Liberty National on Thursday. Emotion poured out of him as he recounted his trials and tribulations of the last year, and how much he still cares. Here are five stories you may have missed from the Wyndham Championship. 1. Kevin Kisner gets off the bagel It made no sense that Kisner was 0-5 in playoffs on TOUR considering the mano-a-mano nature of the beast, and the fact that his last TOUR win was at the mano-a-mano 2019 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, where he defeated none other than Ian Poulter in the final. But that’s golf, and he’s winless no more after his short-range birdie on the second extra hole of a six-man playoff at Sedgefield Country Club. He’d finally gotten into the win column. “To be honest, coming down with three or four holes to go, I really didn’t think I had a chance to win,” said Kisner, who jumped 40 spots into 29th in the FedExCup. “I wasn’t watching the boards all day. When I birdied 16, I looked up and saw that I was only one back and I knew that 17 was a birdie hole and if you could hit a good drive on 18 you could have a chance. “It’s a crazy way to break the no-wins-in-playoff streak,” he continued, “but it was a fun week, awesome week put on by everyone here in Greensboro.” For more on Kisner, click here. 2. Six for a playoff tied TOUR record A half a dozen players is a lot for a playoff. In fact, it was tied for the most in TOUR history. Robert Allenby beat Brandel Chamblee, Dennis Paulson, Jeff Sluman, Bob Tway and Toshi Izawa in a six-man playoff at The Genesis Invitational in 2001. Neal Lancaster defeated Tom Byrum, David Edwards, Yoshinori Mizumaki, David Ogrin and Mark Carnevale in a six-man playoff at the 1994 AT&T Byron Nelson. This time around even the participants themselves seemed amused by the spectacle. “I was just remembering Russell Crow and Gladiator: ‘Are you not entertained?’ said Canada’s Roger Sloan. “It’s so cool to be a part of this. Great finish and a lot of great players here in the playoff. Congrats to Kisner for pulling it out, but man, that was a lot of fun.” Added Kevin Na, when asked if he’d ever seen anything like this: “You know, the last time I saw one was 2001 Riviera, I watched it on TV when I was a kid, Robert Allenby. It was kind of fun being a part of it. I had my chance on 17 in regulation, I thought I made that putt, it horseshoed out and maybe just wasn’t meant to be.” 3. Roger Sloan lost playoff, but won Playoffs Roger Sloan saw the glass half full. While he didn’t win the playoff, Sloan (final-round 66) moved from 131st to 92nd in the FedExCup with his T2, moving from outside to inside the Playoffs. He was headed to Liberty National for THE NORTHERN TRUST and planned to stay with friends in Manhattan; Liberty National was the site of his only other Playoffs berth in 2019. “I was in a good place this week,” he said. “I was okay with no matter where the chips fell and I think that gave me a lot of power on the golf course. Just very thankful.” 4. Chesson Hadley had a crazy, great Sunday Chesson Hadley made his first-ever hole-in-one at the 160-yard 16th hole on the way to a 29 on the back nine, his opening nine of the final round, and carded a final-round 62. Then the skinny 34-year-old from Raleigh, North Carolina, had to sit around and wait to see if it would be enough to reach the Playoffs for the first time since 2019. “It will be close,” said Hadley, whose ace earned one million Wyndham Rewards points for Birdies for Backpacks, and one million for himself. “I mean, it will be really, really close.” When Justin Rose (67, T10) missed from 10, 14, 9 and 5 feet on the final four holes, Hadley slipped into the 125th spot and was in. He screamed into the phone when he got the news. It was a nice moment for a guy who had had a tough season, having missed 14 cuts in 26 starts and, when he did play well, let a four-shot lead slip at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree. For more on Hadley, click here. 5. Some big names will miss Playoffs Hadley (T15, 132 to 125), Sloan (T2, 131 to 92) and Scott Piercy (T15, 126 to 116) played their way into the top 125 and the Playoffs. Ryan Armour (MC, 122 to 127), Patrick Rodgers (MC, 123 to 128) and Bo Hoag (MC, 125 to 129) came up empty at the Wyndham and were out. Then there was Rose, who won the 2018 FedExCup and hadn’t missed the Playoffs since their inception in 2007. He wasn’t the only big-name player to falter and fail to make it to THE NORTHERN TRUST. Rickie Fowler (FedExCup No. 134) missed the cut and will miss the Playoffs for the first time, while 2018 Ryder Cup stars Tommy Fleetwood (137) and Francesco Molinari (142) also failed to advance. Ryan Moore missed the Wyndham cut to end his season at 144th, outside the top 125 for the first time in his career. Ditto for Charles Howell III, who skipped the Wyndham (139th). “Yeah, it sucks,” Fowler said. “I mean, I know what I’m capable of, I’ve been up there and played against the best in the world and been a top-5, top-10 player in the world for a number of years in my career. I’m not in a position where I’m comfortable or where I want to be.” For more on Fowler, click here. FINAL: COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10 The Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 concluded at the 2021 Wyndham Championship. It highlights and rewards the extraordinary level of play required to earn a spot in the TOP 10 at the conclusion of the FedExCup Regular Season as determined by the FedExCup standings. The competition recognizes and awards the most elite in golf.

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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Wyndham Clark zoomed to the top of the leaderboard midway through his third round at The Honda Classic. Here are a few things you should know about the PGA TOUR rookie who currently resides in Las Vegas. His mom took him to the driving range for the first time when Wyndham was just 3 years old. “I hit a bucket of balls and asked to hit another bucket,â€� Wyndham recalled. Lisa Clark remembered an elderly gentleman golfer asking how long her son had been playing the game. She said, “30 minutes,â€� to which the man replied, “Don’t change his swing.â€�   At 6 years old, young Wyndham made his first hole-in-one. “Hit driver from 125 and made it,â€� Clark said. “I actually got on the front page of the Denver Post. I have that framed. So, I remember that as well.â€� Clark attended Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and become close friends with classmate Christian McCaffrey, the star running back for the Carolina Panthers.   After graduating from high school, he initially went to Oklahoma State to play golf (and through that connection, became friends with Rickie Fowler). During Clark’s freshman year, his mother’s breast cancer, which had been first diagnosed in 1997, returned. She died in August of 2013. Wyndham wants to honor his mom’s memory – he calls it “Play Bigâ€� — and hopes to start a breast cancer foundation.   “She’s a lot of the reason why I play today,â€� Clark once told the school newspaper at Oregon. “She was there when I played bad, and there to console me and make me feel better. When I played great she was there to hug me and be super excited for me. She was a huge part of my upbringing.â€�   After his mother’s death, Clark contemplated quitting the game. “It just wasn’t as much of a priority for me after she passed,â€� he said. “It got to where it was really hard and just not enjoyable. But I know that she wouldn’t want me to do that. … She’s really helped me get through a lot of tough things since she’s passed. I want to honor her and honor what she wanted me to do and try to make her proud.â€�   Ten days after his mother’s death, Clark competed in the U.S. Amateur, finishing ninth. Oklahoma State head coach Alan Bratton was his caddie.   Clark transferred to Oregon for a change of scenery and enjoyed playing for coach Casey Martin. He was Pac-12 Player of the Year for the Ducks team, with three individual tournament wins and 10 top-10 finishes in 11 starts. He shot 69 or better in 18 of 28 rounds that season, including all three rounds of the Pac-12 Championship, which he won. He was also named GolfWeek Player of the Year, was a finalist for the Ben Hogan Award and was a semifinalist for the Division I Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year award.   The Ducks also won the NCAA Championship in 2017. “I’ve never won a championship that big. Not only did I do it individually, but we did it as a team, which was awesome. It was really fun to share, and we all had a blast doing it,â€� Clark said.   Clark also graduated with a business degree. “It took me five years,â€� he said. “I’m a good student, but I didn’t put 100 percent effort into it. When I did graduate, it definitely felt like I accomplished something. It’s nice to have my piece of paper, my degree.â€�   After a T-23 finish at the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament – which included a hole-in-one during competition — Clark guaranteed himself eight starts to begin the 2018 Web.com Tour season. He parlayed that into full status, and eventually made 24 starts, with four top-10 finishes. He finished 16th on the regular season money list to secure his PGA TOUR card for the 2018-19 season.   In his first 10 starts this season, his best result is a T-10 at last week’s Puerto Rico Open. Because of that top-10 result, he earned a spot in the field this week at PGA National. He entered this week ranked 13th on TOUR in birdie average (4.66 per round).   He currently lives in Las Vegas, and practices with fellow residents Scott Piercy and Ryan Moore, who have given him advice on being a TOUR pro, as well as insight into the courses on TOUR.   Asked once if it was an advantage or disadvantage growing up in Colorado as a golfer, Clark replied (to CHSAA.org): “I think it’s a disadvantage, personally. Because you don’t ever really play at altitude at any of these events. The most you play at is maybe 1,000 feet. I think growing up in Colorado, not only are you playing different distances, but the ball actually spins less and is affected by the air less. So the ball goes straighter and doesn’t go offline as much. When you go play in Florida or other places where the air is thick, your misses are exaggerated a lot more. I think that’s definitely a disadvantage.â€� So far, Florida seems to be working out quite nicely for Clark.

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