Top 5 guarantees nothing … for now

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Si Woo Kim learned the bad news shortly after becoming the youngest winner of THE PLAYERS Championship: no one has ever gone back-to-back at TPC Sawgrass. The strongest field in golf and the penal Stadium Course make it tough to win the event more than once. Kim’s game is trending in the right direction after enlisting two of the game’s top coaches, though. He began working with Josh Gregory in February and Andrew Getson a month later.  They helped Kim have success at two other Pete Dye courses, Harbour Town Golf Links and Austin Country Club. Now Kim’s focus is on Dye’s groundbreaking design in northeast Florida. “I’ve noticed a lot of champions that come back don’t play well,â€� Kim, 22, said. “I would like to change that.â€� Gregory, who also coaches Masters champion Patrick Reed, has focused on Kim’s short game and serves as his “performance coachâ€�, helping him devise training regimens that bring out his best. Getson, the coach of 2007 PLAYERS champion Phil Mickelson, has helped Kim with his full swing. “After winning THE PLAYERS last year, I think I set a high expectation for myself, which kind of hindered me for the rest of the season and into this year,â€� said Kim, who also won the 2017 Wyndham Championship. The self-imposed pressure showed in his early-season results. He was 27 over par in his first 12 rounds of 2017-18. Even with a third-place finish in the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, he was 59th in the FedExCup after missing the cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Things started to turn around in his next start. Kim made the Round of 16 at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play and finished T24 at the Masters. Then he was runner-up at the RBC Heritage. Since Bay Hill, Kim has leapt 31 positions in the FedExCup. Getson, who prefers to keep his instruction simple, said most of their work has focused on Kim’s posture at address. “He was twisted up like a pretzel,â€� Getson said. “His weight was a little on his left side, his shoulders were a little open. We got him into a more athletic position.â€� When Kim was misaligned, he used his hands to take the club back. The club got inside too quickly and his weight stayed on his left side. That caused his club to get too steep on the downswing. Getting into the proper address position has helped him rotate properly throughout the swing. They’ve also worked to keep his chin up so that it doesn’t inhibit his shoulder turn. Now Kim is taking the clubhead back on the proper path and shifting to his right side. “Once he gets set up correctly, he turns beautifully,â€� Getson said. “He’s extremely talented. When I ask him to do something, he does it within two swings.â€� Kim ranks 23rd in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (+0.59) after ranking second (+1.36) in that statistic at last year’s PLAYERS. The short game also was key to Kim’s PLAYERS win. He was third in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green (+1.23) at TPC Sawgrass; he ranks 32nd (+0.29) in that statistic this season. Gregory has improved Kim’s putting and helped him develop a wider array of short-game shots. They’ve done it through technical changes and drills. Kim made only one bogey in THE PLAYERS’ last two rounds despite hitting just 19 of 36 greens in regulation. He needed just 49 putts in the final two rounds. This season, Kim ranks 201st in Strokes Gained: Putting despite a recent improvement. He lost strokes in the first six events where the statistic was measured, from The RSM Classic to the Genesis Open. Kim has gained strokes in three of his last five stroke-play starts. His putter cost him down the stretch at the RBC Heritage, but he still gained strokes on the greens that week. He was second-worst on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting when he arrived at Harbour Town. The problem? Kim’s was lifting his left shoulder through impact. “He’d lift that shoulder and that would keep the face open,â€� Gregory said. Gregory also changed Kim’s swing on short-game shots. “His face was too shut on the backswing and he was cutting across the ball. Now the face is more open and he feels like he’s hitting a bit more of a draw,â€� Gregory said. “The swing is a little more rounded. We’re trying to give him more shots around the green, especially some higher, softer ones.â€� Gregory also designs drills that make it easier for his players to take their improvements onto the course. For example, Gregory will have Kim hit three chip shots to the same flag. Each shot must have a different trajectory, though. “You need three short-game shots: the low, drawing, running shot, the medium spinner and the high, soft shot,â€� Gregory said. “They’re all done with the same swing. It’s just about changing the clubface.â€� Kim also will chip or putt to one hole but move 10 feet farther back each time. “The more you can randomize practice, the easier it is to transfer to the course,â€� Gregory said. He also has Kim place five balls around a hole on the putting green. Instead of placing the balls in a circle, Gregory will put each ball at a different distance ranging from 4-12 feet. This forces Kim to hit putts with different breaks from different distances. Kim was leaving too many of his putts from 8-15 feet short and on the low side. That was the problem down the stretch at RBC Heritage, where he missed several short putts to fall into a playoff with Satoshi Kodaira. Now Kim can combine these physical improvements with what Getson considers his strongest attribute. “His mind is his biggest asset. He’s not scared,â€� Getson said. “He’s not scared to stand there and hit the shot he needs to hit. TPC Sawgrass requires you to produce the right shot at the right time, and he can do that.â€� Kim has put in the work. Now it’s time to see if he can make history.

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Walk up music, great food, and sensational team golf… it is with a fair bit of sadness we bid farewell to the vibrant city of New Orleans, where a veteran Texan and a fiery young Spaniard combined brilliantly to reign supreme. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where Ryan Palmer rode the seemingly limitless talent of Jon Rahm and Rahm used the steady veteran Palmer’s nerve and experience to get the job done in an unlikely but beautiful pairing at the Zurich Classic. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Ryan Palmer is one of those guys you can’t help but cheer for. Nine years. That is the gap between Ryan Palmer’s third PGA TOUR win and his fourth this past weekend. Through that time, he battled both on and off the course. His putter deserted him and while he wouldn’t use the word, he had the yips. Off the course, his wife Jennifer battled cancer. But Palmer found a way to stay positive and grind through. Jennifer is now cancer-free and Palmer is a winner again. His strength over the four days and ability to talk calmly and cleverly with the sometimes-impulsive Rahm was certainly impressive. But you don’t need to know Palmer to know he is a great guy… just look at who has agreed to team up with him in the three years the Zurich Classic has been a team-format event… Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm. Those young guns have their pick of a partner… and they’ve gone with Palmer. For Rahm, it has paid off big time. Read more about Palmer’s battles and journey back to the winners circle here. 2. Jon Rahm is brilliant… and going to get better. If you watch Rahm closely, you are going to let out an audible gasp within a few shots. A new memorable moment is always just around the corner. They are mostly awe-inspiring feats with his clubs, but sometimes it’s an aggressive decision you shake your head at. When he pulls it off, your head near shakes off your neck. Of course, sometimes his emotions have got the better of him… but that also just adds to the viewing experience. Who among us hasn’t had the game of golf twist our insides so hard we want to explode? But with his third PGA TOUR win in as many seasons, the 24-year-old continues to mature. Harnessing his emotional passion is always going to be a key for the Spanish star. That doesn’t mean bottling up his emotions, it means using them for the greater good at the right times. He admitted Sunday he was left out of Foursomes play in his Ryder Cup debut because of his sometimes-erratic game off the tee, but in New Orleans, with some help from Palmer and their caddies, Rahm played smart even when temptation presented itself. Seeing a positive result from a 7-iron layup off a tee just adds to experience bank of the youngster who Palmer says, “will be winning lots of tournaments (and) multiple majors.â€� Read more of Rahm’s maturity and contribution here. 3. Team golf is a brilliant concept The marriage of team golf and New Orleans continues to thrive. Now three years into the two-man team format, the Zurich Classic is certainly a welcome point of difference on the PGA TOUR schedule. So often we see these guys battling each other as individuals, but having them play under the gun with a partner brings out some fascinating golf. Even the partnerships alone are always great to read about. There are obvious ones with countrymen and college friends, and we also had a father and son duo… But how did a 42-year-old Texan end up with a 24-year-old Spaniard? Find out how the winners ended up together here. We celebrate individuals in our sport every week, so it is fun to celebrate a great partnership once in a while. 4. The International Presidents Cup team needs some players to stand up and lead on the course. It was a positive week off the course for International Team captain Ernie Els and several of his prospective team members, as they came together and bonded ahead of December’s Presidents Cup challenge against what will be a stacked U.S. side led by Tiger Woods. But on the course… well it certainly could have been better. Els managed to get several teams put together made of International hopefuls, with Australians Jason Day and Adam Scott leading the way. But theAussies, and most others, failed to make the cut. It was a sobering result. Of the 39 teams who made the cut, just five of those were made up of two international eligible players – the highest-finishing team was the Indian duo of Anirban Lahiri and Shubhankar Sharma at T22, some 10 shots off the pace. Through three rounds, the South African duo of Branden Grace and Justin Harding looked to be the shining light for Els as they sat in third place. But a final round 80 in alternate shot left some doubts on those two together at Royal Melbourne. Seven other individuals who are International team eligible made the weekend, with Kyoung-Hoon Lee finishing the highest at T3 as he played with American Matt Every. While David Hearn (T5), Curtis Luck (T5) and Nick Taylor (T9) were also on teams inside the top 10, none of those players were on the selection radar going into the week. If the Internationals have any hope of stopping American dominance in the competition, they need a strong leader to emerge. 5. Tommy Fleetwood is going to break through on the PGA TOUR very soon, perhaps in a major way. We all know Tommy Fleetwood is world class. He has won four times on the European Tour and contended in major championships. However, we are still waiting for his breakthrough win on the PGA TOUR. He and Sergio Garcia showed plenty of class on the way to their runner-up finish in New Orleans, which was Fleetwood’s fourth top-seven result this season. A quick look into his stats can solidify confidence in the Englishman, who surely will find a win at some point this season. He’s fourth in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. His putting stats could be improved, but at 95th in Strokes Gained: Putting he’s not completely behind the eight ball. You can picture that big smile and flowing hair holding up a trophy very soon… FIVE INSIGHTS 1. Jon Rahm has now won in each of his first three seasons on the PGA TOUR. He jumped from 23rd to sixth in the FedExCup standings and also climbed into the Wyndham Rewards Top 10. 2. Ryan Palmer has not made the TOUR Championship since 2014 but his shared victory with Rahm moves him to 19th in the FedExCup standings before he hits his beloved Texas swing in the upcoming weeks. 3. Palmer’s win was his fourth overall but first in nine years. A total of 3,388 days elapsed since Palmer’s last victory at the 2010 Sony Open in Hawaii. 4. The scoring average for Four-ball over the tournament was 65.685 whereas the average for Foursomes was 71.561. The best Four-ball round was a 12-under 60 from Brian Gay and Rory Sabbatini in round one. Palmer and Rahm’s 7-under 65 in round two was the high mark in alternate shot. 5. Former two-time Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard champion Matt Every had his first top-10 (T3) since a T8 at last season’s Houston Open, more than a year ago. It’s his first top 5 since his second Bay Hill title in 2015. WYNDHAM REWARDS The Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is in its first season and adds another layer of excitement to the FedExCup Regular Season. The top 10 players at the end of the FedExCup Regular Season will earn bonus payouts from the Wyndham Rewards Top 10. Jon Rahm has smashed his way inside the rewards zone with his victory, coming in at sixth. His partner Ryan Palmer is up to 19th, very much within striking distance going forward. Justin Thomas is the man to drop out thanks to Rahm.

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