Pepperdine beats Oklahoma for men’s golf title

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DETROIT — Tony Finau sent an approach from 250 yards soaring over trees and onto the seventh green at Detroit Golf Club, going for the reward and ignoring the risk with a difficult shot. The way he has been playing over the last week, it made a lot of sense. Finau, coming off his third career victory on the PGA TOUR, and Taylor Pendrith shared the first-round lead at 8-under 64 on Thursday in the Rocket Mortgage Classic. The pivotal shot on Finau’s 16th hole, a 560-yard par 5, set up a two-putt from 43 feet for one of his eight birdies. “I had to get all of it to get it to the hole and hit it right in the middle of the green,” he said. The leaderboard was filled with players who took advantage of favorable scoring conditions with morning tee times. In the afternoon, the wind picked up and the scores did as well. Former U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson, Michael Thompson, Cameron Champ, Lee Hodges and Matt Wallace were two shots back. Si Woo Kim and Kurt Kitayama, both ranked among the top 70 in the world, were in the pack at 67. Finau, who rallied from a five-shot deficit with 11 holes left to win the 3M Open by three shots Sunday in Minnesota, opened with a birdie and had five birdies on his front nine. After cooling off with four straight pars, Finau closed with his seventh and eighth birdies in a bogey-free round. He hit all 18 greens in regulation for the first time in 728 PGA TOUR stroke-play rounds. “Do the math, I missed 10 putts,” he said. “Obviously, 64′s a very good round, but this is a golf course where a lot of guys are going to make birdies.” On the par-4 eighth hole, he made a 41-foot putt downhill with a slight break from right to left for another birdie and a three-shot lead. “It was nice to just get a bonus birdie on 8 after a poor wedge shot, but that’s why we call our putter the equalizer,” Finau said. Pendrith, a 31-year-old PGA TOUR rookie, surged into a share of the lead with five birdies in a seven-hole stretch on his back nine. Toward the end of his round, the relatively anonymous player in the world noticed the ‘h’ in his last name was missing on the leaderboard. Alas, the 8 under next to his misspelled name was correct. “That’s all that matters,” he said with a grin. Pendrith is atop a leaderboard for the first time on the PGA TOUR following an opening round. The Canadian did have the third-round lead by three shots last October at the Bermuda Championship before closing with a 76 and finishing a career-high fifth. In March, he was 13th at THE PLAYERS Championship and came away with a career-best $327,222 — and a broken rib. The injury prevented him from competing for nearly four months, leading to him being ranked No. 237. He has bounced back with ties for 11th and 13th at tournaments earlier this month. “When I’m healthy, I can compete with the best,” Pendrith said. Nate Lashley, who won his first and only PGA TOUR title in Detroit four years ago, shot a 68 after getting an anti-inflammatory shot in his right foot. “I’m having surgery next week,” he said, adding he will need four to six weeks to recover. Mark Hubbard was also four shots off the lead after a topsy-turvy round with four birdies, two bogeys and an ace on the par-3, 216-yard 11th hole. Hubbard dropped his club and his head after hitting his tee shot. “That’s embarrassing,” he said while the ball was in flight. The ball landed on the front of the green and rolled toward the cup before going around it and dropping in. “That’s probably going to end up being one of my favorite hole-in-ones,” said Hubbard, who has nine career aces. Defending FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay, ranked No. 4 in the world, and 13th-ranked Will Zalatoris both shot 70. Cameron Young was another shot back and 20th-ranked Max Homa had a 72.

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On the PGA TOUR, victories come in astounding fashion, arguably every single day. Sure, one player will be crowned champion each Sunday, but through the unparalleled efforts of its players, so many others reap far greater rewards. Those are the ones who receive the prize of things like food and shelter, medicine – and, even life. More inspiring than the hard-charging assaults TOUR players put on the courses is the collective soft heart they are driven by to turn those courses into platforms. No player on TOUR epitomizes that M.O. more so than Paul Casey. So, here’s the deal with just part of Casey’s commitment to UNICEF. It’s not a well-known tidbit of information, for recognition isn’t what drives the three-time TOUR winner. For every birdie he makes in any professional event – PGA TOUR or otherwise – Casey donates $100 to UNICEF. He doubles the amount for eagles. RELATED: Leaderboard | Amateur with one arm makes hole-in-one | How Phil became a social media star “Paul is a true champion for children in all that he does,â€� said Shanell Mosley, Deputy Director of Sports Partnerships at UNICEF USA. “He wears the UNICEF logo on his golf bag with so much pride and continually educates fans about UNICEF’s work, advocates on behalf of the rights of children around the world and raises crucial funds for the world’s most vulnerable children.â€� Since 2016, Casey has raised more than $300,000 for UNICEF. During the second round of The American Express at PGA West in La Quinta, CA., Casey’s amateur partners were Jimmy Dunne, vice chairman at Wall Street investment banking firm Piper Sandler, and investment banker, Adebayo Ogunlesi, a managing partner at the private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners. An idea entered Casey’s head. “Yesterday, I asked Steve Squeri, the CEO of American Express, if he wanted to match my pledge, since I’m paired with him on Saturday at the Stadium Course,â€� Casey said. “He said, ‘Yeah, brilliant’.â€� Casey made the same ask of Dunne, with whom he has been friends for years.   “He’s such a good guy,â€� Casey said. “So, I pitched the idea to him this morning, and he goes, ‘Yeah, I’m in. But I’m going to do one better than that,’.â€� Dunne would offer $1,000 for every birdie Casey made and $10,000 for every birdie he made. He also pledged $10,000 for birdie he made himself in Friday’s second round. “I made five, but the beautiful thing about this story is that Jimmy’s a good player,â€� Casey said. “He hit some great shots, but this is a difficult golf course, and I could see him, he was trying so hard. He missed a few putts for birdie, but then we got to the 15th hole and that’s when it all changed.â€� Dunne hit his tee just into the right rough, leaving himself 165 yards from the hole. For an eagle, he holed his approach shot. “He comes running up the hill with the biggest smile on his face,â€� said Casey. “He said we had never discussed eagles. I told him that was completely at his discretion.â€� Dunne would offer up $25,000 for the feat. In addition, Dunne secured a matching amount from Ogunlesi. “And it gets better, because on the next hole Jimmy almost flies it in for an eagle,â€� Casey said. “The ball ran to the back of the green and then he holed it for a birdie, which is another $10,000.â€� When the group finished their round, Casey did some quick math and informed Dunne and Ogunlesi that – all in – they were each in for $40,000. Dunne, though, took issue with Casey. “Jimmy looks at me and says ‘We can’t, 40 is no good’,â€� Casey said. “He looks at Adebayo and suggests $50,000 each…to UNICEF. Adebayo said ‘Sure’.â€� “I was immediately stunned when I heard the news,â€� said Mosley. “In fact, I had no words and it made me rather emotional because I could hear the joy in Paul’s voice.â€� “That’s what’s cool about these events to me,â€� Casey said. “Yes, somebody’s going to win at the end of the week, but it’s the impact that it has on people’s lives that truly makes the difference. Golf and the PGA TOUR are the platforms that allow these kinds of things to happen. It’s the coolest.â€� “He has an incredibly big heart and is so passionate about the work that UNICEF does,â€� said Mosley. “He continues to leverage his platform to make a difference for children and it means so much to the UNICEF family. We speak about the resiliency of UNICEF staff in the field and in a very real sense, Paul is an extension of our team. He won’t stop until every child has their basic needs met such as access to health care, clean water, nutrition, and education.â€�  As is the case for every TOUR player, some finishes are better than others for Casey. But, when he knows his every swing helps give children across the world a greater chance of getting into some swing of normalcy, he carries on, head held high. “He continually uses his platform for good and to raise awareness about UNICEF’s lifesaving work for children,â€� Mosley said. “We are also incredibly grateful to the individuals that accepted Paul’s birdie challenge and for their generous contribution. I can guarantee this is a story that many of us will never forget. Who would have thought a round of golf could literally save a child’s life?â€� Apparently, Paul did. For more information or to donate to UNICEF, visit unicefusa.org/wontstop

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