Max Homa wins wild Fortinet Championship

Patrick Cantlay winning tournaments was never supposed to be a surprise given the seemingly limitless talent he showed at the junior and collegiate levels, but injuries and such conspired against him. That was then. This is now. Welcome to the Monday Finish where Cantlay’s incredible poise and guts under pressure was there for all to see, particularly for tournament host Jack Nicklaus, as he surged home to win at Muirfield Village. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Cantlay is an extremely good compartmentalizer. That means he is able to separate things in his mind with ease. And in golf, this is a very important skill. Cantlay does not get bogged down by outside distractions. He is basically all business, all the time. Something not right at home? Doesn’t matter on the course It doesn’t enter his thinking. Something weird happening in the crowd or with another player in his group? It doesn’t matter to Cantlay. He’s like a machine. And so when the pressure was applied down the stretch at Muirfield Village, it was as if it wasn’t there. All that was there was the next shot. And all he had to do was execute his golf swing. He did that and produced a brilliant 8-under 64 final round. The lowest ever by a Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide winner. 2. Cantlay is a very intelligent individual. When Jack Nicklaus gives you advice, you listen. Almost all people would pay the legend that courtesy. But then you have to decide if you use it. Cantlay has been close to Nicklaus since being awarded the Jack Nicklaus award in 2011. Two years ago when he came to Muirfield Village he sounded out the 18-time major winner for a 90-minute strategy session on how to play the course. This year Nicklaus found him and had some different advice for Cantlay. He told him enjoy the moment more. Take it all in. Maybe even smile. Those who have watched Cantlay a lot know he’s not much of a smiler. He’s all business. But he did heed Jack’s words. And he did win. For more on their special relationship, click here. 3. Adam Scott has to win again soon. It has been over three years since Adam Scott went 2-1-1 in three straight tournaments in early 2016, the last of his 13 PGA TOUR titles. At times, the Australian has looked like he may not scale the heights again at all. In fact a year ago he was scratching his way through a U.S. Open sectional qualifier. But since then he has clawed back to some of his best golf. He contended heavily in the 2018 PGA Championship (third) and THE NORTHERN TRUST (T5) near the end of last season. This season he was T10 at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, runner up at the Farmers Insurance Open, T7 at the Genesis Open, T8 at the PGA Championship and now runner up to Cantlay this week. At Torrey Pines his 19-under total would have won the event most years. His 17-under this week would have been enough to win the last eight Memorial Tournaments. Sometime soon Scott will salute again. Read more about Scott’s near miss, as well as Martin Kaymer and Jordan Spieth’s efforts here. 4. Martin Kaymer is a great thinker as well as golfer. For most of the weekend it appeared Kaymer would end a near five-year win drought before a tough final nine holes took away that opportunity. But while he play at Muirfield Village was eye opening for some, it was his talk and demeanor that was the biggest positive takeaway. Kaymer has won a PGA Championship, THE PLAYERS Championship and a U.S. Open. He has a throng of European Tour wins. But of course it has been a long time between drinks. His straight talking about it was very refreshing. The German star has ditched distractions from his life. “Just getting away from so many things, social media, watching TV, reading stuff that is not important. What do you really gain from social media during tournament days? There’s so much gossip, so much talk, so much distraction,â€� he explained. “And I just got out of that. I just didn’t want to read that because there’s nothing really to gain from it. And that was a big one for me … It’s just distraction, stimulation for your brain, just not thinking, not being there. So I tried to get away from that. And that automatically makes you more aware, makes me more conscious, and I think leads to more calmness, I guess. It helped me.â€� That calmness continued Sunday despite three late bogeys relegating him to third place. Kaymer fronted up to the media to talk about it all and when done actually asked if there was any more he could do. A true class act. 5. Tiger Woods can win the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Well duh … He did win the U.S. Open there by 15 shots in 2000. But there was some lingering doubt Woods might not be at his best heading there this time after he missed the cut at the PGA Championship. After his amazing Masters win, Woods was clearly down on energy at Bethpage Black, a symptom of some illness and also lack of competitive rounds since Augusta. But at Muirfield Village there were enough signs to show he can be in the mix at the U.S. Open. Woods scraped his way to a top-10 finish this week despite not having his best stuff. Some crucial double bogeys just as he was on a run stopped any hope of a sixth Memorial title. He will need to keep those mistakes from his game at Pebble Beach. But on Sunday he showed that he has the ability to be deadly accurate. He hit the first 12 greens in regulation and finished with 12 of 14 fairways. If he brings that to the U.S. Open then look out. Click here to read more about Woods. FOUR INSIGHTS 1. In the last three seasons, only five players have won with a bogey-free final round of 64 or better. It’s quite a group: Patrick Cantlay, Francesco Molinari (twice), Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama and Justin Thomas. 2. Cantlay shot 19-under at the Memorial without holing a shot longer than 20 feet. He holed just two shots from outside 15 feet. He moved to sixth in the FedExCup. 3. Cantlay played the par 5s a combined 12-under par, tying his career-best Par-5 Performance in an event on TOUR. Since 2017, Cantlay has the best Par-5 scoring of any player at the Memorial Tournament, playing them a combined 30-under par. WYNDHAM REWARDS The Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is in its first season and adds another layer of excitement to the FedExCup Regular Season. The top 10 players at the end of the FedExCup Regular Season will earn bonus payouts from the Wyndham Rewards Top 10. Patrick Cantlay surged into the Top 10, at sixth, following his win at Muirfield Village. The man to drop out of the reward zone at his expense is Jon Rahm. He slides from ninth to 12th. Marc Leishman moved from 14th to 11th, just outside.

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NAPA, Calif. — Slow starts plagued Adam Scott last season, a prime reason he was winless despite solid overall numbers. After taking a brief break, the 39-year-old Australian is back and emphasizing quicker, more aggressive starts. Andrew Landry is just looking for a jump-start after missing the cuts in the first two events of the PGA TOUR this season. Scott and Landry shot 7-under 65 on Thursday to share the first-round lead at the Safeway Open. Francesco Molinari and Matthew NeSmith were a stroke back. Cameron Champ, Adam Long and Chris Baker shot 67. Playing in the morning pairings at Silverado Country Club, Scott had six birdies and an eagle to make up for an early bogey. Landry teed off 4 1/2 hours later and played bogey-free with seven birdies. “This is a nice way to start,” Scott said. “I would like to have a lead going into Sunday and see what I can produce, to be honest. I’ve been four and five back. It’s a lot to ask all the time when you’re as far behind as I kind of was.” Scott hasn’t won on the PGA TOUR since taking the Honda Classic and World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship in consecutive weeks in 2016. Since then he has been up and down the scoreboard, frequently scurrying to catch up in the latter rounds after getting off to sluggish starts. That wasn’t the case in Scott’s season debut. Despite having only played two rounds previously at the picturesque, 7,166-yard course, he had four birdies on the front nine to compensate for a bogey on No. 13. After birdying two of the first three on the back nine, Scott drained a 53-foot putt for eagle on the 566-yard, par-5 fifth. “Fun to kind of keep the momentum going and get the most out of the round,” Scott said. “If I had complaints about last season, I didn’t get the most out of my good rounds or my good weeks. Today felt like I kind of got the most out of myself.” Scott saved par after his drive went into a green-side bunker on No. 7, made another par on No. 8, then narrowly missed a birdie and three-putted for par on No. 9 to close out his day. Landry had five birdies on the front nine. The Valero Texas Open winner last year, he saved par after going into the bunker on the second hole of the back nine, then birdied Nos. 5 and 8 to get to 7 under. “I was rolling the ball so well that I just figured, hey, I can make a lot of putts right now,” Landry said. “That’s kind of what I did all day. Ball-striking wasn’t as good as I wanted but the putting was there and made up for it.” Former NFL quarterback and current CBS analyst Tony Romo opened with a 70. Romo is playing on a sponsor exemption. If he makes the cut, he will skip Sunday’s NFL broadcast in Chicago between the Bears and Minnesota Vikings. Defending tournament champion Kevin Tway, Justin Thomas and FedExCup points leader Sebastian Munoz were in the group at 71. Munoz three-putted two par 3s to offset three birdies. Phil Mickelson shot 75, making a quadruple-bogey 9 on the par-5 fifth. Jim Furyk also had a 75.

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Welcome to the Stats Insider, where we’ll look at Justin Thomas’ victory at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES. It was his 11th career victory, and second in his last four starts. He appears to be back on track after the wrist injury that interrupted last season. Thomas is just 26, but let’s appreciate the fact that we’re watching a player who seems destined to be in the World Golf Hall of Fame one day. RELATED: Thomas closes out 11th PGA TOUR title | What’s in Thomas’ bag? 1. GOOD COMPANY: In the last 60 years, only two players have collected more victories before their 27th birthday: Tiger Woods (34) and Jack Nicklaus (20). Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth also earned 11 wins before turning 27. Thomas turns 27 on April 29, while Spieth will celebrate that birthday on July 27. 2. WINNER, WINNER: Thomas turned pro after the 2013 Walker Cup, then earned his TOUR card after one season on the Korn Ferry Tour. His 11 wins since joining the TOUR for the 2014-15 season are the second-most in span. Only Dustin Johnson (12) has more wins. Ten of Thomas’ wins have come since the start of the 2016-17 season. That’s two more than anyone else. Only three other players have won more than four times in that span: Dustin Johnson (8), Brooks Koepka (6) and Bryson DeChambeau (5). Thomas has now won four of nine TOUR starts in Asia, winning two times apiece at the CIMB Classic and THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES. 3. CLOSER: Thomas and Danny Lee shared the lead after a three-shot swing on the final hole of the third round. Thomas pulled away with a final-round 67, though, to win by two shots. Thomas has held at least a share of the 54-hole lead on 11 occasions. He’s converted eight into victories. He has a knack for pulling away in the final round. Eight of his 11 wins have been by multiple strokes. Six have been by three or more strokes. 4. IRONS ON FIRE: Thomas’ strong iron play was on display again at Nine Bridges. He was 13 under on the par-4s. That was five strokes better than anyone else in the field. He hit 61 greens, which was third-best in the field. Thomas missed just six greens in the final three rounds. “You have to be in control of your irons and your golf ball and making sure your distances are correct because these greens are very difficult,â€� Thomas said after his win. “Making sure you’re on the right tiers and right spots is very, very important.â€� That explains his success at Nine Bridges. Thomas is one of the best iron players on TOUR. He was second to Henrik Stenson in Strokes Gained: Approach last season. It was the third consecutive season Thomas ranked sixth or better in that statistic. He has the seventh-best Strokes Gained: Approach average since ShotLink started (minimum 300 rounds). 5. SPIETH’S START: THE CJ CUP was Spieth’s first start since the BMW Championship. He finished T8. Spieth, who finished second in Strokes Gained: Putting last season, continues to lean heavily on his putter while he’s sorting out his full swing. He finished second-to-last in driving accuracy at THE CJ Cup while ranking first in putts per greens in regulation (1.61). He hit 11 fairways in the first round but then less than half in the final three rounds (20 of 42). Nine Bridges had the fifth-easiest fairways to hit last season. Last season, Spieth needed 14 starts to record his first top-10. He’s undoubtedly s moving in the right direction – he has three top-15s in his last five starts – but he said Sunday his ball-striking is still “a work in progress.â€�

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