Top 30 Players to Watch in 2019: No. 7 Bryson DeChambeau

Kyle Stanley … As long as he continues to commit to tournaments where he matches up nicely, he belongs on this radar. The 30-year-old is making his third appearance on this page this season. The first two times were charms when he placed T5 at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions and T14 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. They are among seven top 25s in 12 starts. Currently fifth on the PGA TOUR in fairways hit and co-leads in greens in regulation with an average of 13 per round. He’s also performed well at Quail Hollow with a T6 in 2013. And while he missed the cut in the 2017 PGA Championship during a five-start letdown post-victory at The National, he’s not seeing the renovation for the first time. Charles Howell III … Now that we’re into the second half of 2017-18, the veteran of 512 PGA TOUR starts slides into the annual position of surprise. His early-season work is the stuff of which careers are made, but expectations drop henceforth. Despite that, he’s never passed on the opportunity to play Quail Hollow where he’s 11-for-15 (including a T73 at the 2017 PGA Championship) with five top 25s. At 14th on TOUR in greens hit and 31st in strokes gained: tee-to-green, it actually wouldn’t be surprising to see him contend. Byeong Hun An … With a confident game off the tee and finesse around greens, it’s just a matter of time before all of the levers are pulled at the same time and he’s hoisting hardware at the conclusion of a PGA TOUR event. The 26-year-old has connected for four top 25s in his last seven starts, including a T7 at the RBC Heritage where he ranked fifth in strokes gained: tee-to-green. He’s 21st on the season in that stat, fourth in total driving and 22nd in adjusted scoring. Placed T28 in the 2017 PGA Championship. Grayson Murray … The PGA TOUR sophomore has scattered six top 20s this season. Included are a T14 when he last appeared in this section for the Houston Open and a T16 in his last start at the Valero Texas Open where he led the field in distance of all drives. Overall on TOUR, he’s 15th in that stat and seventh in birdies-or-better percentage. That kind of swagger played well at Quail Hollow in his PGA Championship debut when he ranked second in par-5 scoring. After sitting sixth through three rounds, he’d eventually settle for a share of 22nd place. Scott Brown … Seeking to avenge his playoff loss with Kevin Kisner at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans last year, the duo went down as the 54-hole target with a closing, field-high 77 to finish T15. While that stings, it’s still in the books as Brown’s first top 40 since mid-November. The Southeastern native and resident with a history of being streaky can ride that positive at Quail Hollow where he finished T13 at both the PGA Championship in 2017 and the Wells Fargo Championship in 2015.  

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SAN ANTONIO – Here’s how Sergio Garcia overcame the disappointment of his Masters defense that included an octuple-bogey 13 on the par-5 15th hole in the first round. He changed the diapers – “a lot of nappiesâ€� he calls them, using the British term – of his daughter Azalea that wife Angela gave birth to a month ago. He hung out with his parents and with Angela’s parents, making a couple of trips to their 1,200-acre ranch near Austin. He practiced a bit with his dad, Victor. Last weekend, he joined Ben Crenshaw in a two-day member-member tournament at Austin Golf Club. They won, of course. “That was nice,â€� Garcia said. He generally just kept busy, and now this week he’ll play in the Valero Texas Open, making his first start since 2010 at the TPC San Antonio Oaks Course. Even though he was a player-consultant to designer Greg Norman, there is lots to learn and recall. He played the back nine on Tuesday and quickly realized that patience will be a key in dealing with the stiff breezes that roll through the 7,435-yard layout. What Garcia didn’t do was brood over how his defense of the Green Jacket will likely be remembered for the five balls he pumped into the water at the 15th in the first round. “I think having a Green Jacket helps,â€� Garcia said. Indeed it does. Shrugging off the 15-over score at Augusta National – the highest score ever recorded by a Masters champ in his title defense — can be difficult for any elite player. Garcia acknowledged Tuesday that had this happened earlier in his career, he might’ve struggled to put it in perspective and move beyond it. But he’s a major champion, as well as a husband and father. There is no time to dwell on past negatives. He’s busy dealing with the present and planning for the future of his family. “It’s one of those things that happens, and it’s happened to me before and it probably will happen again in the future,â€� Garcia said. “That’s the nature of golf. There at Augusta it can happen. So it’s what it is. … “You just deal with it the best way possible. Obviously I was trying to hit the right shots throughout the process and unfortunately the result didn’t want to come out the way maybe it should have, but it’s one of those things.â€� Had the 6-iron he hit with his approach climbed up the hill, he might have been staring at an eagle opportunity. Instead, it rolled back into the water, and “those thingsâ€� unraveled from there. His 13 was the highest score ever recorded on that hole and tied for the highest on any hole at Augusta National. Tough to put that into perspective, especially when you don’t think there was a bad shot in the mix. But Garcia, who became the 11th defending Masters champ to miss the cut, has found the perspective. “As soon as we finished Friday afternoon, you know, it was pretty much forgotten and the week was over,â€� Garcia said. “That’s what it is. I think at the end of the day you’ve got to realize that sometimes it happens, sometimes it goes the wrong way, and without doing much wrong, it can happen. But you learn from it and you move forward and try to be better.â€� Garcia will certainly try to be better at TPC San Antonio than his first visit in 2010, when he tied for 45th while shooting 1 under. The tournament was held in May that year, but when it was moved up a month to April starting in 2011, Garcia was unable to keep it on his playing schedule due to travel conflicts with the Spanish Open in his native homeland. Garcia skipped last week’s event won by Jon Rahm. His adopted homeland now is Texas, since it’s Angela’s home state. It’s also a state in which Garcia has enjoyed three of his 10 career PGA TOUR wins – two in Dallas, one in Fort Worth. Garcia said it’s no coincidence that he’s done well in Texas. “I think I’ve always enjoyed playing in the wind,â€� he said. “It’s usually windy here in Texas, so I’ve always felt quite comfortable in this state. I’ve been fortunate to do fairly well throughout my career in Texas.â€� “I guess now I feel like even more of a Texan than I felt even before. It’s a good state.â€� Consider Garcia to be in a good mental state, too. Dealing with the mess at Augusta National is one thing. Dealing with the mess of a month-old child? That’ll quickly bring anybody back to reality.

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Chasing a second victory of the season Justin Rose goes low four days in a row to comfortably take care of business in the ball-striking paradise that is historic Colonial Country Club. Welcome to the Monday Finish where the former U.S. Open champion held off the challenge from the current U.S. Open champion to become the fifth multiple winner of the 2017-18 FedExCup season as he cruised to a three-shot win. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Rose – when he’s got his game clicking – is both awesome and annoying to watch. Awesome because the precision and skill with which he strikes the ball just leaves you in awe, and annoying because it just reminds you how your own game will likely never feel that flawless. Of course Rose made mistakes over the four days, but they were few and far between. And when he did he bounced back quickly. A bogey on the third hole on Sunday was followed by four birdies in the next six holes. A short miss for birdie on the 10th was followed with birdie on 11. He just stayed clutch all week long. Now second in the FedExCup, Rose is one of the early favorites to take the season-long race. And his chances for the upcoming U.S. Open look very good indeed. Read more about his win here. 2. Speaking of players rounding into form heading towards the U.S. Open … last year’s winner at Erin Hills is clearly back from his injury concerns. Brooks Koepka did everything he could to make Rose uncomfortable on Sunday but it wasn’t enough. His final-round 63 was his second of the tournament and third in five rounds after he equaled the TPC Sawgrass course-record 63 in the final round at THE PLAYERS. The concerns about his wrist injury, which had him out of action for months after surgery earlier this season, have seemingly completely disappeared. Koepka might be sick of Rose though. He was runner-up to him at the World Golf Championships–HSBC Champions also. 3. What a roller coaster week for Kevin Na. Open with a sublime 62. Finish with a scintillating course-record tying 61. But sadly he was 3 over for the middle rounds (73-70). It shows how hard it is to put four rounds together on the PGA TOUR. You can be untouchable for half a tournament but it won’t cut it against the best. His putting stats from Round 1 to Round 2 were insane. Round 1: Na gained 3.358 strokes on the field but then lost 4.273 strokes on the greens in Round 2. Thursday he had 22 putts, making 126 feet, 7 inches of them. Friday it was 34 putts and just 44 feet, 8 inches. With back-to-back top-10 results in Texas, Na has moved to 46th in the FedExCup and is how we say … trending. 4. Emiliano Grillo is having a sneaky decent season. His rookie season of 2015-16 – where he claimed his lone PGA TOUR win and was Rookie of The Year after finishing 11th in the FedExCup – was backed up with a fair 2017. He finished 67th last season with just two top-10s but yesterday’s third-place finish now gives him five top-10s this season. The Argentinean missed just one cut out of 16 starts this season and sits 29th in the FedExCup standings. He’s one to keep an eye on. 5. It is getting harder to believe Jordan Spieth when it comes to his putting. He says it is coming around. He says he made progress this week. But he ranked 70th of the 78 players to make the cut in Strokes Gained: Putting at Colonial. Now we certainly hold Spieth to a higher standard than others on the greens because we have seen him be incredible with the flat stick in the past but the longer this continues the less likely it won’t grow into a more significant mental road block. He missed seven putts inside 10 feet this week – one of those was inside 3 feet, another one inside 5 feet and two more inside 7 feet. He is now 192nd on the PGA TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting this season. Yes that’s right. The guy who was ninth on TOUR in 2015, second on TOUR two seasons ago and 42nd on TOUR last year in the stat is now 192nd. While it is certainly a funk, champions always seem to find a way and we remain hopeful an uptick is just around the corner. FIVE INSIGHTS 1. Rose opened his final round with a front-nine 30, marking the 20th time he has shot 30 or better for his front or back nine holes in a round on TOUR (fifth time in a final round). Rose finished with a four-round total of 260 coming one shot short of Zach Johnson’s tournament record of 259 (2010) at the Fort Worth Invitational. He has now converted three of 13 career 36-hole leads or co-leads (2010 The National, 2011 BMW Championship, 2018 Fort Worth Invitational) and four of 14 career 54-hole leads or co-leads (2010 The National, 2011 BMW Championship, 2015 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, 2018 Fort Worth Invitational) to victory. 2. Just over half (55%) of Rose’s total strokes gained for the week were a result of his approach shot performance. Of events where ShotLink lasered all four rounds it was a career second best effort in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green for Rose (+2.562). In fact his SG: Approach-the-Green performance was the best by a winner this season and was also the best dating back to last seasons the Memorial Tournament where Jason Dufner recorded a +2.671 per-round average performance. Rose marked the ninth of the last 10 winners of the Fort Worth Invitational to have outperformed the field by over +0.5 strokes per round in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green. 3. Rose is the first winner since Zach Johnson (2010) to lead the field in Greens in Regulation on the way to victory at the Fort Worth Invitational. Rose played the par 4s at Colonial Country Club at a combined 14 under, which tied for the second-best performance on the par 4s by a winner and the tied for third-best since 1983 at the Fort Worth Invitational. 4. Rose tied Nick Faldo for the most PGA TOUR victories by an Englishman since 1983 and moves to second in the FedExCup following his ninth win. He also moves to third in the world rankings. It is his ninth top-10 finish since the start of the 2017 FedExCup Playoffs, the most of any player in that span. 5. Chilean former top amateur Joaquin Niemann – at just 19-years-old – is on track for potential Special Temporary Membership and perhaps a PGA TOUR card. His eighth place finish helped his season tally to 180 non-member FedExCup points, which would rank him 144th in this season’s FedExCup standings. He can earn his card for the 2018-19 season if he finishes in the top 125. Niemann has starts in the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide and the FedEx St. Jude Classic in the next two weeks. He needs just 89 points to earn special temporary membership, which would allow him to accept unlimited sponsor exemptions this season in his quest for the top 125. He has already likely done more than enough to feature in the Web.com Finals.

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