The Honda Classic is the Super Bowl of Monday qualifying

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The final 18 holes at THE PLAYERS Championship can seem like an eternity. The finish line feels so far away. That’s because the final result often hangs in the balance until the very end. Rarely do we see a player jubilantly walking down the final fairway, doffing his cap to the crowd. He still has stressful shots to hit to complete his victory. The closing holes on THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass were designed to induce drama, and they usually fulfill their purpose. It looks like Sunday could be another PLAYERS Championship that won’t be decided until the final putt drops, thanks to difficult conditions and a crowded leaderboard. Kyle Stanley and J.B. Holmes share the lead at 9-under 207, taking disparate paths to the top of the leaderboard. Holmes has been one of the least accurate drivers this week but leads the field in Strokes Gained: Putting. Stanley has taken a more traditional road to the lead, ranking in the top 15 of both driving accuracy and greens in regulation. Holmes’ wild play – he also ranks 65th in greens hit — has bucked the conventional wisdom at the Stadium Course. Pete Dye’s design emphasizes accuracy over brute strength, especially when conditions are firm and the greens are hard to hold. Ball-striking is important because the penalty is so high for wayward shots on Dye’s penal design. “This golf course just beats you up,” said Emiliano Grillo, who’s three shots back. “You just have to play well.” There were 74 scores of double-bogey or worse recorded Saturday, and 238 this week. There have been 286 shots hit into the water, including 142 on the famed trio of finishing holes. “Around this golf course, with 16, 17 and 18, anything can happen,” said Louis Oosthuizen, who’s one shot back. “No lead can be big enough. You can be three back and you can win the event. That’s what makes this golf course great. We’ve seen over the years great finishes around this golf course and horrible finishes.” The volatility of the finishing holes, especially when the anxiety is highest on a Sunday afternoon, is one reason comebacks have been prevalent at TPC Sawgrass Seven of the past 10 PLAYERS have been come-from-behind victories, including four wins by players who trailed by three or more strokes entering the final round. There are six players who will start Sunday within three strokes of the lead. It was just two years ago that Rickie Fowler was 4 under on those three holes before winning in a playoff. And, of course, we’ve seen the heartbreak that players such as Sean O’Hair and Len Mattiace have suffered on the island green. “I like the course, but some shots are a bit too scary for me,” said Francesco Molinari, who’s five shots back. “Even if you are suffering out there, you know that everyone is doing the same.” That’s especially true this year. The field averaged 74.04 strokes Saturday. There were seven scores in the 60s on Saturday, as well as seven scores of 79 or higher. This week’s cumulative scoring average is 73.4, on pace to be the highest since 2008. The winner that year? Sergio Garcia. He’s in contention again this week after shooting a 67 on Saturday that moved him within four shots of the lead. He’s looking to become the only player other than Tiger Woods to win the Masters and THE PLAYERS in the same year. Woods won the 2001 PLAYERS a month before completing the Tiger Slam at Augusta National. Garcia is the most successful player among those in the top nine of the leaderboard. He and Oosthuizen are the only major champions among the bunch, and Garcia’s 10 PGA TOUR titles lead the group. Patrick Cantlay and Alex Noren are seeking their first PGA TOUR victories, while four of the top nine have just one TOUR title (Stanley, Oosthuizen, Grillo, Si Woo Kim). The task will be even tougher because high winds are expected to hit the Stadium Course again on Sunday. The final 20 players to tee off Saturday averaged 74.8 strokes, including eight scores of 75 or higher. Of the seven scores in the 60s shot on Saturday, only one came from a player who teed off after noon. Kim, who teed off at 1:30 p.m., shot 68. “Around this golf course without wind, it’s a pretty fine line,” said Fowler, who sits at even par. “You start adding wind to the equation (and) it makes this place, to the average golfer, almost impossible.” These aren’t your average golfers, but they’ll face a tough task Sunday if they want to walk away with THE PLAYERS Championship.

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LA QUINTA, Calif. – Jon Rahm didn’t want to return to PGA West on Monday. He took care of that with a 12-foot birdie putt that ended a dramatic, back-and-forth playoff with underdog Andrew Landry. Neither player missed a green in the four holes of sudden-death that were needed to decide the CareerBuilder Challenge. Rahm was the first one to finally sink a birdie putt on the Stadium Course’s 18th green, which was ensconced in shadows as the sun sank further behind the Santa Rosa Mountains. The victory moved Rahm to No. 2 in both the FedExCup and Official World Golf Ranking. It was his second victory on the PGA TOUR, coming four days before he begins his title defense at the Farmers Insurance Open. He now has two wins and a runner-up in his past three worldwide starts. “I would like to win one … on the PGA TOUR the old-fashioned way, (and) not stress out on the last few holes,â€� Rahm, 23, said. “But, to be honest I couldn’t have dreamed of a better way to do it. Tournaments like this build character.â€� Rahm started the final round two shots off the lead, but shot a final-round 67 to finish at 22-under 266. Landry, playing in the final group, made an 11-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to force extra holes. He shot 68 on Sunday. Landry was like the Jacksonville Jaguars, giving the heavy favorite all it could handle Sunday. Landry is a Web.com Tour graduate who began the week ranked 184th in the Official World Golf Ranking. Rahm has been one of the game’s stars in his brief pro career that began less than two years ago. Landry’s longest birdie putt on the four playoff holes was 22 feet. He was unable to convert any of them, though. “That was outstanding to play the way he did,â€� Rahm said. “Hitting right after me every single time and to hit the fairway and the green right after me, it’s really hard to do, it’s not easy. The pressure was on him 80 percent of the time.â€� Rahm missed a 9-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole after Landry missed from 17 feet. It was Landry who missed a shot putt on the next hole, failing to convert from 8 feet. Both players two-putted the next hole, the par-4 10th, before they knocked their approach shots close on their third trip to No. 18 in the playoff. “I did not want to come back the next day and play,â€� Rahm said. “After Andrew hit his shot, I had a good angle and a good lie in the rough, so I decided to take dead aim and hope for the best.â€� Rahm made his 12-foot birdie putt, and Landry failed to convert from a foot closer. Like the AFC Championship, the heavy favorite finally prevailed. OBSERVATIONS Final group: Landry didn’t follow his fellow Austin Cook, his fellow Razorback, into the winner’s circle, but he handled himself well in the final group. He was Rahm’s toughest competition Sunday, making five birdies and just a single bogey in the final round on PGA West’s Stadium Course. His bogey at the par-3 sixth hole was his only bogey of the tournament. His runner-up at the CareerBuilder came just two starts after he finished T4 at The RSM Classic. He ranks 11th in the FedExCup. This was Landry’s first time in the final group since he played alongside eventual winner Dustin Johnson in Sunday’s final group at the 2016 U.S. Open. Landry shot 78 that day to drop to 15th place. This time, he almost walked away with his first PGA TOUR title. Landry lost his TOUR card in 2016 but earned it back by finishing fourth on the Web.com Tour money list. Hark Week: Brandon Harkins, a 31-year-old who played his college golf at a small Division II school in Northern California, continues to impress in his rookie PGA TOUR season. Harkins shot 70 on Sunday to finish T8 and move to 32nd in the FedExCup standings. Harkins, an alum of Chico State, has finished in the top 25 in five of seven starts this season. The CareerBuilder was his second top-10 of the season. Harkins, who turned pro in 2010, didn’t play his first Web.com Tour season until last year. He needed just one season on that circuit to graduate, finishing 21st on the money list after a runner-up finish at the Ellie Mae Classic at TPC Stonebrae, just 38 minutes from his hometown of Walnut Creek, California. RAHM’S EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS CALL OF THE DAY Notables Patton Kizzire – The FedExCup leader shot a final-round 72 to finish T42 at 11-under 277. It was just his second finish outside the top 15 in his past seven starts. Austin Cook – Cook, the 54-hole leader, shot a final-round 75 to finish T14. The PGA TOUR rookie was seeking his second victory of the season (RSM Classic), but he made two double-bogeys in the final round and only two birdies. Brendan Steele – The native of nearby Idyllwild shot a final-round 68 to jump 22 spots into a tie for 20th. He held onto the eighth position in the FedExCup. Zach Johnson – The two-time major winner also finished T20, his sixth consecutive top-25 finish. QUOTABLES So far I’ve only lost against Superman this year.I played pretty good. I didn’t throw up on myself or do anything crazy. SUPERLATIVES Low round: 8-under 64 – Sam Saunders made nine birdies, and just a single bogey, to shoot the low round of the day by two shots. Saunders, who started the day on No. 10, made birdie on six of his final eight holes to jump from T42 to T8. Longest drive: Keith Mitchell hit a 332-yard drive on the Stadium Course’s par-5 16th hole. He only had 221 yards remaining to the green, but three-putted from 34 feet for par. Mitchell had two of the day’s three longest drives, also hitting one 328 yards on the par-5 eighth hole (he got up-and-down from a bunker for birdie). Mitchell shot 74 and finished T69. Rahm hit a 330-yard drive on the par-5 eighth hole en route to a par. Longest putt: 62 feet – Kevin Na holed a long one for birdie on the par-4 15th hole. He shot 2-under 70 on Sunday en route to a T42 finish. Easiest hole: The 559-yard, par-5 eighth hole played to a 4.51 scoring average, allowing two eagles and 36 birdies to the 77 players who competed Sunday. Hardest hole: The 210-yard, par-3 13th hole played to a 3.46 scoring average. Rahm’s birdie there was one of just eight on the hole. There were 21 bogeys and nine scores of double-bogey or worse. Only 35 percent of the field (27 of 77) hit the green Sunday.

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