Brooks Koepka has now won as many majors as Rory McIlroy and one more than Jordan Spieth, so why is the 29-year-old only now getting recognition?
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JACKSON, Miss. - Peter Malnati was an alternate for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open next week, so he was just hoping for a top-10 finish to get himself to Las Vegas. He did better than that. The winner of the Sanderson Farms Championship five years ago, Malnati scorched the Country Club of Jackson with a final-round 63 to finish 18 under par. Then he hung out for a few hours with wife Alicia and their son Hatcher, watching as one by one the others failed to match him, before Sergio Garcia birdied the 18th hole to complete a final-round 67 and beat him by one. Alas, Malnati's belly laugh at Garcia's final approach shot - which nearly went in before settling to 30 inches from the pin - spoke volumes. Fine, he didn't win, but he'd potentially revived his career. "I’ve really struggled with my long game," said Malnati, who again missed the FedExCup Playoffs last season and was 312th in the world coming into the Sanderson Farms. "Consistency in my long game, I should say. I’ve had weeks where I’ve been good, but I’ve really struggled with consistency for the last several years." He's thought about breaking his swing down to fix what he calls his idiosyncrasies, but with the year-round schedule, he said, "There’s never a time to take a two-month break to work on a golf swing." Malnati wasn't great with his long game Sunday, either, barely finishing in negative numbers in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, but he took just 23 putts. Then he had to wait an hour and 40 minutes for the final group, Garcia and Australian Cameron Davis, to finish. "Honestly after the restart, he wasn't playing very well," said his caddie, Chad Antus. "Not up until (the Wyndham Championship in) Greensboro did he hit it very well, and then last week (at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship) he didn't finish that great (T41) but he hit it good, and that continued this week. It's one of the best weeks I've seen him hit the ball, and he putted amazing today." Malnati made 139 feet, 6 inches worth of putts Sunday. "It was impressive," said Antus, who has worked for Malnati for three and a half years. "Our biggest goal was to try and top-10 because we were third alternate for next week." They're not third alternate anymore. Malnati planned to join Alicia for the long drive home to Knoxville, Tennessee, and then fly to Vegas for the Shriners. Given how far off the radar he's been the last five years, it was, for all intents and purposes, a win.
Associated Press Golf now has a modern set of rules for the Royal & Ancient game, an extensive overhaul that took six years and is aimed at making the rules easier to understand. The R&A and USGA announced the final version of modernized rules Monday. They take effect Jan. 1. “This was out of recognition that, in trying to make the rules more fair, they became too complicated,” said Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s senior director of rules and amateur status. “With 30-plus years of tinkering, they got complicated, and that wasn’t good for the game.” Among the changes will be how to take penalty drops — from knee-high starting next year, instead of from shoulder height. There no longer will be penalties
Welcome to The Monday Finish where Webb Simpson took apart the best field in golf at THE PLAYERS Championship like it was 2012 when he won the U.S. Open. But to be fair the 2018 version of Simpson is probably even better. Here are five observations and insights from TPC Sawgrass where Simpson completed a remarkable resurrection to the top echelons of golf and stamped himself a man to watch going forward. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Simpson showed composure late Webb Simpson didn’t just win THE PLAYERS Championship – he dominated it. How can you not be impressed with his four-shot win? He was six in front on the 18th fairway on Sunday before playing one of the few loose shots of his four-day effort. No one had ever lost a seven-shot lead on the PGA TOUR – a record that would bring its own brand of pressure. So when he bogeyed a couple of holes around the turn at the same time Tiger Woods was eliciting huge roars with a birdie blitz, it could have been a moment to implode. Especially for a guy in the midst of a very long win drought. But Simpson stayed composed and steadied the ship, showing a steel reminiscent of his younger years when he won four times in just over two years. More wins could easily start flowing now. Read Mike McAllister’s column in the win here. And read Sean Martin’s in depth look at Simpson’s special relationships that helped him succeed here. 2. Putting lesson revives Simpson’s career The Simpson putting resurrection is nothing short of incredible. After being forced away from his preferred anchored putting style Simpson went from being ranked inside the top 53 players for Strokes Gained: Putting from his debut year in 2009 through the 2014 season to a basement ranking of 174th in 2015 and 177th in 2016. But after getting a tip from former PLAYERS winner Tim Clark it came to pass that Simpson found his comfort again. And after dominating the field in putting this week he moved his season ranking to fifth in Strokes Gained: Putting. With his accurate ball striking making up for a lack of length, Simpson is the real deal again. Read more about his putting here. 3. Woods well ahead of schedule Tiger Woods is ready to win. That’s the takeaway from TPC Sawgrass after he rallied brilliantly after making the cut on the number. His 65-69 weekend showed he has what it takes to go low, even if the late flame out still happened on Sunday to see him finish T11. Woods played Nos. 1-12 in 14 under on the weekend but Nos. 13-18 in 4 over. Once he marries everything up over a four-day period he could easily find himself lifting up PGA TOUR title no. 80. Read more on Tiger’s surge here. 4. Thomas makes big move We have a new world No. 1 in FedExCup leader Justin Thomas after his finish at TPC Sawgrass was enough to usurp Dustin Johnson. It has been a huge couple of years for Thomas with a FedExCup win and a maiden major amongst his triumphs. The back half of the PGA TOUR season is set to be sensational as Thomas, Johnson, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Jason Day, Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy all try to lay claim on the top spot in the world and in the FedExCup. Read how Thomas reacted to the news of his ascension here. 5. Koepka back to form after injury It appears current U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka is over his wrist injury after his awesome course record equaling 9-under 63 in the final round. The highlight of the round was obviously the 208-yard 6-iron for albatross on the par-5 16th. It was just the fourth albatross in PLAYERS history and the second on the 16th. Having been limited to starts this season thus far thanks to surgery Koepka seemed destined to be a passenger in his U.S. Open defense. But now he is looking like he might be a genuine contender once more. Read about his record round here. FIVE INSIGHTS 1. With his win, Simpson moved to eighth place in the FedExCup and 20th in the world rankings. It is his first time back in the world top-20 since February 2014. Simpson improves to No. 3 in scoring average on TOUR in 2017-18 at 69.455; Dustin Johnson leads at 69.198. 2. Simpson gained 9.368 strokes on the field in the Strokes Gained: Putting category at TPC Sawgrass to be well clear at the top. It moved his season rank in the statistic to fifth. 3. Simpson led the field in driving accuracy (82.1%) but ranked last (71st) in driving distance at 280.5 yards. He had the most fairways hit (46/56) by a champion at THE PLAYERS since Fred Funk hit 48 in 2005. 4. There were 65 eagles made on the week, the most in THE PLAYERS history and most in the 2017-18 season. 5. Simpson set and tied multiple PLAYERS records: Set largest 36-hole lead (5 strokes; previous: 4, Jason Day 2016); Set largest 54-hole lead (7 strokes; previous: 5, Alex Cejka 2009); Set low middle 36-hole score (13-under 131; previous: 12-under 132, Ken Duke 2016); Tied low 54-hole score (19-under 197; tied Greg Norman 1994); Tied low 36-hole score (15-under 129; tied Jason Day 2016); Tied low 18-hole score (9-under 63 Round 2; tied now with seven others); Tied most consecutive birdies (6 – Holes 11-16 Round 2; tied now with nine others); Tied high finish by a winner at TPC Sawgrass (73; tied David Duval 1999).
