The Visual Evolution of Pebble Beach

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Ollie Schniederjans was still a little raw, and a little hurt. Two hours earlier, with the eyes of the world watching intently, he had worked his way into a tie at the top at THE PLAYERS Championship. Two hiccups on the back nine, though, including a triple-bogey 6 at the most famous hole in American golf, had given him an even-par 72 and a T16 finish. “I cost myself a lot of money on 17,â€� he said, “so that’s hard to deal with right now.â€� Now, though, he looks ahead to this week’s Valspar Championship, and, big-picture, he likes what he sees. Because Ollie Schniederjans 2.0 is finally achieving liftoff. He has a new swing coach (Butch Harmon), a new trainer (Brendan McLaughlin, who also works with Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson), and a new caddie (Damon Green, formerly with Zach Johnson). At TPC Sawgrass, Schniederjans, who stands out for his conspicuous lack of headwear and his feathery brown bangs, was even sporting a new mustache. “Just since today,â€� he said after the wild final round. “Yesterday I had a goatee.â€� Not long ago, it appeared Schniederjans didn’t need to change anything. He was a member of golf’s heralded Class of 2011—Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas were co-valedictorians—and marked for greatness as he mowed through the amateur ranks and was an All-American at Georgia Tech. But his early professional career fizzled. While Spieth and Thomas were racking up a combined 20 PGA TOUR titles, Schniederjans was running in place. He was 60th in the FedExCup in 2017, when he had his best chance to win before finishing runner-up at the Wyndham Championship, and 98th last season. If anything, he felt himself getting worse. “I wasn’t hitting it good enough,â€� he said at THE PLAYERS. “I couldn’t work it both ways. I couldn’t get it in the air real well. I lost a lot of speed last year.â€� What’s more, he added, he was stubbornly clinging to his old ways. “A lot of time was wasted,â€� he said, “and energy was wasted just trying to figure things out on my own.â€� He went to see Harmon for the first time in December, traveling to the renowned teacher’s home base in Las Vegas. He began working with Green at the Sony Open in Hawaii, in January, and made a second pilgrimage to Vegas for another full-day visit with swing coach Harmon. All the while, McLaughlin was overseeing his new program to strengthen his body for golf. That’s a lot of changes all at once, and the results were slow to come. Schniederjans came into last week languishing at 193rd in the FedExCup and 239th in the Official World Golf Ranking. He kept at it, though, not content to be mediocre and unwilling to quit before the changes had had a chance to take hold. They did so at THE PLAYERS, where Schniederjans, who took up golf at the relatively advanced age of 12, seemed to play better as he got closer to the lead. “That was the one thing Zach was good at, too,â€� caddie Green said. “We’ve talked about it a lot, how you have to be the guy who wants the ball and wants to take the shot at the end of the game. He really does, and you could see it. I’ve been telling him for the last month, ‘You’re going to peak at TPC, I can just feel it.’ Just tryin’ to get in his head and give him a little confidence.â€� Schniederjans has certainly never lacked drive; he burns to be one of the best in the world and is constantly having Green film his swing. Green calls him “an old soul for a 25-year-old,â€� such is his low-key, studied approach to improvement. His physical tools are also impressive. It’s one thing to reach the par 5s in two shots at TPC Sawgrass, but quite another to reach with a 9-iron, like Schniederjans. (He’s 11th on TOUR in driving distance, averaging 309.5 yards.) “He’s got around 125 mph ball speed, which is sick,â€� Green said. “If he can hit a few more fairways and improve on his putting, which let us down a little at TPC, he’s gonna do damage.â€� Schniederjans’ big weekend at THE PLAYERS was the long-awaited affirmation that he’s on the right path. With the leaders faltering early, he birdied three of the first six holes to tie for the lead, rising to the occasion like old times. This was exactly what was predicted for him. Alas, he double-bogeyed the 10th, rallied with three birdies, then rinsed his tee shot on 17, the resulting 6 a buzz-kill at the end of an otherwise electric weekend run. Still, these are early days, and the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook, which has given us first-time winners like Adam Hadwin, Kevin Streelman and Gary Woodland, awaits. Schniederjans calls caddie Green a huge help, and says the same for Harmon and McLaughlin. He’s got the right support team, and his decision to change everything is finally paying off. “I played extremely well – I had two terrible holes that cost me the tournament,â€� he said. “I know when I get in the mix, I can get the job done. I’ve just got to keep putting myself in this position.â€�

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Emergency 9 Here are nine tidbits from the third round of the Fort Worth Invitational that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Colonial Country Club is the longest-serving host on TOUR (1946) and plays 7,209 yards to a Par-70. Pain or Gain These were the top-10 picked golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO: The hot temperatures led to the lowest scoring-round total for the week and those with the earlier tee times took advantage. Looking at the table above, only Koepka and Rahm improved on their positions from Round 2, with Rahm making the biggest jump. With a very similar forecast on the cards tomorrow, I’d expect similar scoring conditions but it might not matter as well as Justin Rose is playing. Four Shots Clear The only blemish on the Round 3 scorecard for 36-hole leader Justin Rose was a square on No. 16 that trimmed his five-shot lead down to four. Koepka will join Rose in the final pairing tomorrow and we’ll see if he can put any pressure on the world’s No. 5 player. Rose continued his stellar play as he only squared one bogey for the third consecutive round as he posted 14-under-par 196. He doesn’t have any “others” on his card either. The last Sunday round he signed for was 66 at THE PLAYERS. One more of those and he’ll win comfortably. His last TOUR win saw another premium player blow a large lead. Dustin Johnson led by six heading into the final round at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions but Rose fired 67 in that final round to post his only win of this season. Separated After toasting TPC Sawgrass for 63 on Sunday two weeks ago, Brooks Koepka signaled he was ready for action. After his 63 in Round 2 this week, any doubts should be thrown out the window. He trails by four and has had to sign for two double bogeys this week. He’s made as many birdies as Rose (T2 for the week) but he knows he’ll have to make plenty more tomorrow. This should be a great duel in the Texas sun. Gree-LOW It says it right there in the pronunciation of Emiliano Grillo’s name: Low. Maybe GO LOW tomorROW? He had a chance in the final group in Round 3 to put pressure on the classy Englishman as he began play one back. He lost the two-ball by three shots and now is tied with Koepka for second. He’ll have a different partner for the final round as Corey Conners, the Canadian rookie who fired the co-low round of the day (63), will be riding shotgun. His lowest final round this season was 66 on Sunday at The Honda Classic. Uno Mas Jon Rahm reintroduced himself to the chase after 64 in Round 3 but sits six shots adrift heading into Sunday (T4). His final round 66 in his debut last year saw him claim T2 but I’ll be interested to see if he pins his ears back and tries to chase Rose down. His final round scoring average is 71.44 so it’s going to take something from the top drawer but I believe he has that extra gear. Nothing to Lose J.T. Poston has quietly rattled off eight consecutive rounds in the 60’s over his last three events and his bogey-free 65 has him in the four-way logjam for T4. His only top 10 in 13 previous start was T4 after a final round 66 in Las Vegas last fall. Sitting at No. 113 in the FEC standings, a top 10 would be a very nice bump on Sunday. Moving Day Nobody falls in and out of love quicker than I do with Louis Oosthuizen and I’m paying the price this week. His 64 vaulted him 30 spots up the board to T4 after 71 in Round 2. He’s T4 in scrambling for the week and will probably need to make at least seven more birdies Sunday to get into the mix. … Ted Potter, Jr., shared the low round of the day honors with Conners as his 63 saw him make up the biggest ground. Potter began the round T51 but after signing for seven birdies without a bogey or worse he found himself T9 at the end of play. The AT&T Pebble Beach champion has now rattled off four paydays in a row on TOUR. Moving Day: Wrong Way Bryson DeChambeau started T6, birdied his first two holes and looked to be on his way to chasing down the leaders. His final 16 holes were played in 3 over and didn’t include a par-breaker. He dropped 25 spots to T31 and will need something lower than 65 to crack the top 10. … Jordan Spieth is still trying to get out of third gear this season. On a day where plenty of low scores were to be had, the 2016 champ and podium regular at this event was stuck in reverse. Beginning the day T23, a low one could have stuck him in the rear-view mirror of the leaders but a level-par round of 70 saw him drop to T38, 11 shots back. Study Hall The easiest scoring conditions of the week were in Round 3 as the field averaged 68.462 (-1.538), easily surpassing the 69.760 from Round 1. … I’ve been tracking Strokes Gained: Putting numbers all week for the top five or so after each round. The top eight players after Saturday consist of two players in the top 20 in this category, Grillo (2nd) and Koepka (11th). There were six bogey-free rounds in Round 3 and all players posted 66 or lower… Brian Harman leads the field with 18 birdies and has snuck into the top 10 (T9) entering Sunday. … Gamers with an eye on the future will notice Rory McIlroy and Francesco Molinari will be the final pairing at Wentworth tomorrow for the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour.

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