Molinari outlasts loaded field to win Open

Dow Finsterwald, a long-time PGA TOUR professional who won the 1958 PGA Championship and captained the winning 1977 U.S. Ryder Cup team, died November 4. He was 93. As a young man growing up in Athens, Ohio, born in 1929, Finsterwald played numerous sports but gravitated toward golf even though his father, Russ, was the head basketball and football coach at Ohio University. The younger Finsterwald joined his father as a Bobcat but as a member of the golf team. It was at Ohio University where Finsterwald realized he could make a living playing golf. “Dow was destined to a career in sports because of his father’s influence, and golf was fortunate to have him as a player, teacher and administrator,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “His contributions to our sport were significant, and we take time today to remember Dow and all of his accomplishments in a well-lived life.” Finsterwald joined the PGA TOUR in 1952 after playing in eight TOUR tournaments in 1950 and 1951 as an amateur. Finsterwald made his TOUR debut while still an amateur, at the 1950 North and South Open at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, where he tied for 33rd. He played on TOUR as a professional for the first time at the National Celebrities Open, tying for 35th. Finsterwald’s first of 12 PGA TOUR victories came at the 1955 Fort Wayne Invitational. Six weeks later, he won again – at the British Columbia Open in Canada. He enjoyed 10 top-10s in his 28 made cuts that season and finished 14th on the money list. Those 1955 victories began a streak of six years where he won at least one tournament. Finsterwald’s top season came in 1959. That year, he won three times – the Greater Greensboro Open, the Carling Open and the Kansas City Open – and finished second five additional times. A year earlier, Finsterwald earned his only major championship, winning the PGA Championship at Pennsylvania’s Llanerch Country Club. In the first year the PGA of America contested the tournament at stroke play, Finsterwald shot rounds of 67-72-70-67 to defeat Billy Casper by two strokes. He added the Utah Open title to his resume later in the season and went on to earn PGA Player of the Year honors, a year after capturing his only Vardon Trophy for the lowest stroke average on TOUR. Of his 28 second-place TOUR finishes, the most excruciating was his playoff loss – with Gary Player – to Arnold Palmer at the Masters Tournament. The trio finished regulation at Augusta National tied at 8-under 280, with Palmer eventually rolling to a three-shot playoff victory over Player and a nine-stroke win over Finsterwald in the 18-hole extra session. Taking away some of the sting from that loss was the fact Palmer was Finsterwald’s closest friend on TOUR. Theirs was a friendship that endured until Palmer’s death in 2016. While playing the TOUR, Finsterwald also was the Director of Golf at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo., a position he held for 28 years. He also served a three-year term as Vice President of the PGA of America. As his PGA TOUR career wound down, he enjoyed a career highlight, captaining the U.S. Ryder Cup team against the Great Britain and Ireland team led by Captain Brian Huggett at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club. Led by Ryder Cup veterans Jack Nicklaus and Raymond Floyd and rookie team members Tom Watson and Lanny Wadkins, the Americans coasted to a five-point triumph. After his PGA TOUR playing career, Finsterwald enjoyed a busy PGA TOUR Champions schedule, seeing action in 189 career tournaments, including two in the Tour’s inaugural season of 1980. His best performance came in 1982, when he finished second to Don January at the Michelob Senior Classic in Tampa, Florida. Four years after his father’s induction into the Ohio University Athletics Hall of Fame, Finsterwald followed him for his golf exploits. In 2008, the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame also inducted him. Finsterwald is survived by three sons and a daughter. His wife, Linda, predeceased him in 2015. The couple’s middle son, Dow Finsterwald, Jr., was the long-time head pro at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, before retiring in 2021.

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Joel Dahmen … It was only two starts ago when he last appeared on this page, and he delivered with a T8 at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD. After a solid summer, it's his only top-35 finish in six starts as he descends on Mayakoba for the fourth consecutive year. Given his relative success, it's easy to understand why he keeps booking the trip. He's 3-for-3 with a T23 in 2017 and a T6 last year. All 12 of his scores are red and his average is 68.33. Rory Sabbatini ... The grasses are different in Hawaii than they are at Mayakoba Resort, but the native of South Africa always has had an affinity for teeing it up in the islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Certainly, that goes for many guys who qualify for either of the first two events that launch a calendar year, but his longevity and success prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. His talent has flourished in non-tropical settings, of course, but he's also thrived at El Camaleón with a pair of top fives baked into a 7-for-9 record. The 44-year-old also has a pair of T12s already this season, including in the last event along the water at Sea Island. Scott Piercy ... Among the throng of tee-to-green surgeons who have found the fountain of youth at Mayakoba. In his first five appearances, a T20 in 2009 was the lone highlight, but he's gone T16-T4-T6-T26 since 2014. That run included a final-round 62 that equaled the course record in 2018. Now 42 years of age and separated from the distractions of a few months ago, he's positioned to pile on having gone 5-for-5 with three top 20s upon arrival. Chesson Hadley ... Disappointed recently at TPC Summerlin but he's recovered with top 25s in two starts to make it three on the season and four in his last eight. He's been streakier than consistently solid throughout his career, so it's fair to consider this moment in time as a good one to put his first FedExCup points on the board at Mayakoba. He did make the cut in his last trip in 2017, but he withdrew during his third round with an illness. En route to five top 25s among 12 cuts made in 2019-20, he ranked 22nd in fairways hit, 20th in greens in regulation, T4 in proximity to the hole and 19th in putting: birdies-or-better. Those ingredients helps explain why he's been making noise of late. Doug Ghim ... If victories by Martin Laird (Shriners) and Robert Streb (RSM) don't resonate as second chances fulfilled (since both would have needed to retain their fully exempt status at the Korn Ferry Tour Finals if that series wasn't canceled), try Ghim's resurgence on for size. It's the learning curve incarnate. After a lackluster rookie season during which he started near the bottom of the KFT graduate category and didn't climb higher than 35th after any reorder (en route to finishing 184th in the FedExCup), the 24-year-old has pounced early and often to sit 56th in points for his debut at Mayakoba. He's 4-for-5 with three top 20s and a T23. Currently 28th in greens hit and 44th in converting those chances into par breakers. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.

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