Monday Qualifier McDaniel goes low Sunday

AVONDALE, La. — Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman outlasted Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in a playoff that capped a tight and tense final round Sunday. RELATED: Leaderboard | Winner’s Bag: Marc Leishman/Cameron Smith, Zurich Classic of New Orleans Smith and Leishman won with a par on their second trip up the par-5 18th after Oosthuizen pushed his tee shot into the water and narrowly missed an 11-foot putt for bogey. The Australians forced the playoff by shooting a 2-under 70 in alternate-shot play at the PGA TOUR’s lone regular-season team event. Oosthuizen and Schwartzel began the round with a one-stroke lead, but shot a 71 with three pars and two bogeys. It’s Smith’s third career victory — second at the Zurich team event — and best result since tying for second at the pandemic-delayed 2020 Masters last November. It also was his sixth top 10 since the current TOUR season started last October. Smith’s last victory came at the 2020 Sony Open in Hawaii. It was Leishman’s sixth career victory, his best result since tying for fifth at the Masters this month and his first win since the 2020 Farmers Insurance Open. The climactic finish capped off a compelling duel between two teams that teed off together in the final grouping and took turns holding leads that never grew to more than two strokes. After Smith made birdie putts of 9 feet on the par-5 seventh and 7 feet on the par-3 ninth to pull his team even atop the leaderboard, the Aussies went in front on 10, when Schwartzel’s approach found the bunker and his team two-putted for bogey. Smith and Leishman took a two-shot lead with a birdie on the par-5 11th, where Leishman drove 307 yards into the fairway and Smith sent the team’s second shot 265 yards to the green, setting up a birdie. But they gave a stroke back on 13 when Leishman’s drive went into the TPC Louisiana’s trademark, towering and old-growth cypress three that stands alone like a monolith in the fairway. That forced the team to take a drop that led to a bogey. The South Africans moved back into the lead on 15, where Schwartzel followed up Oosthuizen’s 205-yard approach shot with a nearly 15-foot putt for birdie, while Smith, whose approach had fallen short of the green, narrowly missed a 13-foot putt for par. Smith then bounced his booming, 294-yard tee shot on 16 into the water, but it went out of bounds close enough to the green that Leishman was able to hit a chip on his team’s third shot and rolled it in from more than 23 feet for birdie to tie Ooshuizen and Schwartzel at 21 under. Both teams bogeyed the par-3 17th to head to the par-5 18th tied at 20 under. Peter Uihlein and Richy Werenski shot a 67, with six birdies and one bogey, to shoot up the leaderboard from 18th to third. Billy Horschel and former LSU player Sam Burns shot a 69 to tie for fourth with Brandt Snedeker-Keith Mitchell and Brendan Steele-Kegan Bradley. Ryan Palmer and Jon Rahm, the defending champions from 2019, closed with a 70 to finish seventh at 17 under.

Click here to read the full article…

Karma. Inspiration. Good vibes. Jon Rahm was feeling all three at the 121st U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, his home away from home since capturing his first PGA TOUR win at the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open. His parents were in attendance. His wife and baby boy were there. He’d watched friend Phil Mickelson win the PGA Championship, and gotten a green light to get out of quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday two weeks earlier. It all lined up. Instead of letting the bogeys stop him, Rahm, 26, kept his head up, and when it was time to seize the tournament, he did so with curling, left-to-right birdies on 17 and 18. “It was something I knew I could do,” he said. Here are five stories you may have missed from the U.S. Open. 1. Jon Rahm left no doubt Rahm, who moved to No. 1 in the world and No. 2 in the FedExCup, already looked like the best player in the world coming into the week. He’d built up a six-shot lead through 54 holes at the Memorial before having to withdraw after receiving a positive COVID-19 test result, and after getting out of quarantine he remained the pre-tournament favorite despite inevitable rust. Now, though, there’s no doubt he’s playing better than anyone in the game. He became the first player from Spain to win the U.S. Open, and the fourth Spanish player to win a major after Sergio Garcia, Jose Maria Olazabal and Seve Ballesteros. And his sixth PGA TOUR victory came on the site of his first, at the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open. That, Rahm said afterward, explained the victory as well as anything else. He proposed to his wife Kelley on a hike just north of the course, and she loved La Jolla before they even met. “This one is very, very incredible, very hard to believe,” said Rahm, the first player ever to twice win the Ben Hogan Award as the nation’s top collegiate (Arizona State, 2015-16). “That this story can round up and end up so good. It almost feels like it’s a movie that’s about to end and I’m going to wake up soon. With the setback I had a couple of weeks ago, to end up like this, it’s incredible. I do love Torrey Pines, and Torrey Pines loves me.” For more on Rahm’s victory, click here. 2. Louis Oosthuizen played to win Although he moved from 27th to 10th in the FedExCup and held his ground with a final-round 71, Louis Oosthuizen was having a hard time finding the silver lining in solo second place. It was the sixth runner-up in a major for the 2010 Open Championship winner. “Right now, I didn’t win it,” he said. “I’m second again. “No, look, it’s frustrating,” he continued. “It’s disappointing. I’m playing good golf, but it’s not – winning a major championship is not just going to happen. You need to go out and play good golf. I played good today, but I didn’t play good enough.” The turning point came when his drive at the par-4 17th hole bounded into the lateral hazard, from which he took a drop and made bogey. Now he needed to eagle the last, which wasn’t to be. “I took the tee shot on at 17, and I knew it was a crucial hole for me to take it on and give myself a birdie opportunity,” he said. “I didn’t pull it off, but standing on that tee again, I’ll probably do the same thing, taking a driver and taking the shot on. “I feel like I had my shots,” he added, “I went for it, and that’s what you have to do to win majors. Sometimes it goes your way, and other times it doesn’t.” 3. Bryson DeChambeau looked relatable Leading midway through the final round, Bryson DeChambeau had to like his chances to repeat. Alas, two back-nine bogeys, a double-bogey, and a quadruple-bogey added up to 44 and a T26. Never had he looked more relatable. What happened? “Unfortunately, had bad break after bad break happen,” DeChambeau said. He also hit just three fairways. DeChambeau came to the par-5 13th with a chance to get one of his dropped shots back, but his drive sailed into the right rough, and he stayed there as he hacked his way toward the green. Each lie seemed worse than the last, and his shots became increasingly erratic on the way to a double. The par-4 17th was an even crazier misadventure, his drive winding up in the hazard left, leading to a penalty. “I hit a great second shot – well, third shot, and the ball just spun too much,” he said. “The wind died down and it landed short and came back off that front edge into a really, really bad lie. I tried just chopping it out, and I caught the hosel just from a weird lie.” The quad was the highest score of any player on 17 all week. Overall, though, DeChambeau said he was pleased to have contended. “It’s golf,” he said. “It’s life. I’m just proud that I can hold my head right now. I’m OK.” For more on the carnage Sunday, click here. 4. Rory McIlroy liked his progress Although he three-putted the 11th hole for bogey, and double-bogeyed the 12th to all but end his chances, Rory McIlroy (73, T7) was anything but down about his performance. The changes he’s made under new coach Pete Cowen appear to be yielding good results. “I keep saying, I’m on the right path,” McIlroy said. “I feel way more comfortable with what I’m doing way out on the course, especially in a situation like this.” He added that he got slightly unlucky on the double-bogey on 12, where his second shot from the fairway bunker wound up in a nearly impossible lie in a greenside bunker up ahead. He could barely get a club on the ball and watched it squirt sideways into the thick rough. From there he could only manage to hack it onto the green and two-putt for a routine U.S. Open double. Also, he didn’t make much on the greens. “The way I hit the ball tee to green today,” McIlroy said, “I just felt much more comfortable and in control of everything than the previous few times that I’ve been in this position… Considering where I’ve been the previous few majors, it’s a big step in the right direction.” 5. Guido Migliozzi was a revelation South Africa’s Garrick Higgo and Wilco Nienaber were the up-and-comers getting the most buzz at the start of the week. But it was Guido Migliozzi who stole the show amongst lesser-known players. The 24-year-old Italian, who came to Torrey Pines having finished second in his last two starts on the European Tour, called Torrey South “a monster course” but slayed the monster. Fist-pumping his way through his first major, he shot a final-round 68 to finish 2 under and in a three-way tie for fourth with Brooks Koepka and Collin Morikawa. As a result, Migliozzi will be making his first start in the Masters Tournament next April, and also will get into the 2022 U.S. Open at the Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. More immediately, he qualified to represent Italy in the Olympic Games in Japan next month. “I grew up watching the Olympics on TV,” he said. “To be able to play in an Olympics game is a dream come true. It will be another monster week. A lot of feelings, a lot of vibes, can’t wait.” COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10

Click here to read the full article…

Detroit is Motown, Hockeytown and now for four years running, Rocket Mortgage Classic-Town. This week, the PGA TOUR makes its penultimate regular season stop at Detroit Golf Club. While the event’s history might not yet span a half-decade, the golf course’s lifespan is spread across three centuries. When Donald Ross designed the track over 100 years ago, he might not have considered the likes of Cameron Davis and Joaquin Niemann attacking the flat terrain. 1. Technically a composite course Detroit Golf Club opened in 1899 during the William McKinley administration. The initial course had six holes and annual dues were $10. Three more holes were added in 1900. In 1913, after the club purchased some more property, it requested the presence of Donald Ross, just a few years removed from designing Pinehurst Nos. 1, 2 and 3. In Detroit, Ross felt he had enough room for two 18-hole courses. The North Course, a par 72, would ultimately become more daunting than the South Course, a par 68, with the North Course now roughly 870 yards longer. In 1914, Ross’ brother Alec was made head club professional, a post he maintained for 31 years. Alec, an accomplished player, won the 1907 U.S. Open. The Rocket Mortgage Classic layout is comprised of 17 holes from the North Course and one from the South Course. The PGA TOUR layout begins with holes 8 and 9 serving as Nos. 1 and 2, followed by hole 1 from the South Course serving as No. 3. The course then plays holes 2-7 of the North Course as Nos. 4-9 before the standard North Course back nine makes up the championship final nine. 2. Who’s who of Detroit Detroit Golf Club established itself roughly four years before the Ford Motor Company became incorporated. The Ross renovations were apparently enough to convince Henry Ford himself to join, as he became a member in 1915. His son Edsel, who served as Ford’s president from 1919-1943, was also a member. Since its start, Detroit Golf Club has brought together a who’s who of Detroit. Original Ford Motor Company stockholder and philanthropist Horace Rackham funded the initial $100,000 to pay for Ross’ 36 holes. U.S. Senator James Couzens, who sold his Ford Motor Company stock to Henry Ford for $30 million in 1919, was a common presence on the course, as was Fred Wardell, the founder of the Eureka Vacuum Cleaner Company, based in Detroit. In more modern terms, athletes have made up much of Detroit Golf Club’s celebrity base. Justin Verlander, Jerome Bettis, Jim Leyland, Jim Schwartz and Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson have been among those to call Detroit Golf Club their golf home. On the arts side, famed poet Edgar Guest was an early member, while Kid Rock is a more modern member. Aretha Franklin owned a home near the seventh hole in which she is believed to have recorded her 1998 album “A Rose is Still a Rose.” Of course, prominent golfers have called Detroit Golf Club home. After Alec Ross stepped aside from his post as head club pro, he was replaced by another major champion, Horton Smith (1934 and 1936 Masters winner), who held the job from 1946 until his death in 1963. Adding to this club pro legacy was Walter Burkemo, who had won the 1953 PGA Championship at nearby Birmingham Country Club. Meanwhile, in 1986, Detroit mayor Coleman Young made history when he became the club’s first African-American member. While not a golfer, Young applied for a non-golfing membership and hoped his admittance would open the door for more African-Americans in the city. Dennis Archer, an associate justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, who would serve as Young’s mayoral successor, followed as a member. Since 2003, Detroit Golf Club has had three different African-American presidents. 3. A flat challenge Two weeks removed from a trip to Scotland, the PGA TOUR is far from the contours of St. Andrews and now visiting the plains of the Midwest. When Detroit Golf Club entered the PGA TOUR rotation in 2019, its standard deviation of terrain change stood at 2.18 feet, edging TPC Louisiana (2.23) for the lowest mark. In other words, Detroit Golf Club is the flattest course on the PGA TOUR. For reference, the highest point at Augusta National Golf Club is 318 feet (No. 1 green) and the lowest point is 170 feet (No. 11 green). That’s a change of 210 feet. The elevation change at Detroit Golf Club from highest point to lowest point is roughly 43 feet. While Donald Ross did apply some undulation to the fairways, the greens do not present the same runoff as Pinehurst No. 2. A century later, Detroit Golf Club holds up as a beautiful piece of property, but it has had its challenges holding up against the best PGA TOUR players in the world. The 2019 event’s cut line of 5-under was the PGA TOUR’s lowest since 2016. Nate Lashley won that year at 25-under. Golf course superintendent Jake Mendoza, who had stints on the staff at Winged Foot and Medinah before taking the Detroit Golf Club gig in 2018, mentioned in 2020 the green speeds might have been conservative in 2019 and expressed an interest in speeding up the surfaces in 2020. The winner’s score dropped to 23-under in 2020 and 18-under in 2021. 4. Traditional test Many old-time American golf courses present some easier holes on the front nine to help guide players into the round. Detroit Golf Club provides scoring opportunities early but also requires players to execute with precision when choosing to be aggressive. The first side of the card is marked by a heavier tree line, with Nos. 6, 7 and 8 representing a trademark stretch on the course. These holes (4, 5 and 6 on the member layout) demand tee shots into tight fairways with undulation running balls off the sides of the short grass. Two-tiered greens await by the flagstick, setting a fine line between one-putt opportunities and three-putt fits. “We don’t have a lot of elevation change out here,” Mendoza told The Detroit News in 2019. “But there’s no flat lie anywhere on those three holes.” No. 4 should also present some theatrics, as the par 5 is listed at a whopping 635 yards. Two precise woods are needed for a chance at reaching the green in two, and an errant tee shot into the trees could have even the longest hitters scrambling for par. Nos. 17 and 18 represent a tale of two mindsets, as the 577-yard, par-5 17th played as Detroit Golf Club’s easiest hole in 2021 (4.589), while the 455-yard, par-4 18th ranked as the second most difficult at 4.135. In total, the front nine played to a 35.04 average last season, with the back nine playing to 35.51. Both nines play to par-36 for the TOUR field. 5. A forgotten Cinderella Ryder Cup In 1937, the U.S. Ryder Cup Team, led by non-playing captain Walter Hagen, went to Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club in England and defeated Great Britain, 8-4, winning the final four singles matches behind Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Ed Dudley and Henry Picard. Two years later, World War II began in Europe and the Ryder Cup would not return until 1947. At least, not officially. Teams on both sides had actually been selected for the 1939 Ryder Cup, with Great Britain canceling two months before the competition. As the story goes, Hagen, who had been captain for all six Ryder Cups and was slated to be captain a seventh time, was bragging at an exhibition in Toledo about how his team would have defeated Great Britain again. Gene Sarazen, who at age 37 was slated to miss the Ryder Cup team for the first time, called out Hagen, saying he could put together a team that could knock off Hagen’s roster. Hagen accepted the challenge and in 1940, Sarazen brought a team of challengers to Oakland Hills, near Detroit. With Ben Hogan, Jimmy Demaret and Craig Wood on his roster, Sarazen’s team fought gamely but ultimately lost, 7-5. In 1941, this time at Detroit Golf Club, Sarazen bulked up his team, convincing Bobby Jones, who notably never gave up his amateur status, to play. Jones ultimately served as a difference-maker, propelling the challengers to a stunning 8.5-6.5 win. In his highly anticipated singles match, Jones, who retired from all non-Masters majors after 1930, battled Picard, who had recently won the 1938 U.S. Open and 1939 PGA Championship. Jones won, 2 and 1, essentially adding one final legend to his name. Remember D3: The Mighty Ducks, when Gordon Bombay and Ted Orion led the Eden Hall JV hockey team to a win over the varsity team? That’s basically what this was like. This adjusted Ryder Cup format continued in 1942 at Oakland Hills and 1943 at Plum Hollow Country Club, also in the Detroit area, with the U.S. Team defeating the challengers on both occasions. Hagen, who missed out on the reselected team in 1942, actually played with the challengers those two years.

Click here to read the full article…