BMW Championship. Patrick Wins At 6th Play-Off Hole.

Patrick Cantlay defeated Bryson DeChambeau at the sixth playoff hole of sudden death at Caves Valley Gold Club, to win the BMW Championship, in Maryland.

Patrick and Bryson both carded final rounds of -6 under par 66 to top the BMW Championship leaderboard with -27 under totals.

In the end it was a battle of the putters, Bryson missed a 12ft birdie putt on the last hole in regulation, and then missed three other birdie putts to win the tournament. Patrick holed all his putts, some from distance, to half the holes and then finally rolled in a 17 footer to win at the sixth extra hole, the par four 18th, to become the only three time winner on tour this season. Bryson had an 8ft to half the hole, but once again he missed, losing the title race.

With this win Patrick grabbed the final automatic qualifying place on the US Ryder Cup team.

Sungjae Im, South Korea, was in third place at -23 under, with a final round -5 under par 67.

Rory McIlroy finished in fourth position, he also carded -5 under 67, he too had a day of putts sliding by the edge, posting a final score of -22 under.

It does not matter how far you can hit the ball off the tee, you still have to put the ball in the hole to win.

Now its off to the Tour Championship at East Lake for the final round of the FedEx Cup

BMW Championship. Bryson and Patrick Share 54 Hole Lead.

Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Cantlay are tied at the top of the BMW Championship leaderboard after 54 holes at Caves Valley Golf Club in Maryland.

                                      Bryson & Patrick

Bryson had an up and down round of -5 under par 67, which included back to back Eagles and back to back shots in the water, while Patrick cruised along bogey free, until the final hole, where he carded his only bogey, to sign for -6 under par 66, they both posted tournament totals of -21 under par.

Patrick said the course was easy;

“It was another day on a soft, easy golf course.”

Bryson of course had nothing to say. Actually I was probably the first person to be excommunicated, couple of years ago I was banned from his facebook page.

Sungjae Im, South Korea, has third spot to himself at -18 under par.

Four players are sharing fourth place at -17 under, Rory McIlroy, and Sam Burns with -7 under par, Abraham Ancer, -6 under 66, and Sergio Garcia with -5 under 67.

Rory gave his view on the easy conditions;

“I certainly think the FedExCup Playoffs are different than the majors.”

“The Tour is a, this is going to sound a little bad, but I think it’s more of an entertainment product rather than the majors. The majors are set up a little bit differently and it’s supposed to be the toughest test that we face all year.”

“It’s a little bit different.”

“I do like the harder tests, but I don’t want a really hard test every single week.”

BMW Championship. Three Tied At The Top.

World #1 Jon Rahm, Spain, Sam Burns, USA, and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland are all tied at the top of the BMW Championship leaderboard on day one at Caves Valley Golf Club in Maryland.

                                       World #1 Jon Rahm

Jon and Sam were bogey free, while Rory had one bogey, at the par three 13th, which was offset by an Eagle at the par five 16th, to all be tied at the top of the BMW Championship leaderboard at -8 under par with rounds of 64. Following a storm preferred lies were in operation today.

Rory used a new 3 wood to great effect on the par five 16th reaching the green in two, and then rolled in the putt for Eagle. He threw his old 3 wood into the trees at the Northern Trust last week;

“I needed to try to get into a new three-wood, because I threw my three-wood onto the New Jersey Turnpike off the ninth hole on Monday, and so I was without a three-wood coming here.”

“I might not have reached the road but I threw it into the trees off the ninth tee at Liberty National, so if someone wants to go get a three-wood, there’s one in there somewhere!”

“I think having two weeks off after the Tour Championship is going to be nice. I was planning to go over to Wentworth to play the BMW PGA, but it’s just too much travel.”

“And with what’s coming up with Ryder Cup, that’s a long week, no matter if you’re in Europe or the States, especially as I haven’t missed a session yet. So say I play five sessions again, yeah, it’s a really long week.”

“I think I feel like a lot of guys feel right now, a little jaded, a little tired, end of the season, there’s been a lot of golf, so a lot of travel.”

Sergio Garcia has fourth place to himself after a -7 under par opening round of 65, while Abraham Ancer and Patrick Cantlay share fifth spot after rounds of -6 under par 66.

The race to get into the top 30 for next weeks Tour Championship hots up, with players moving up and others dropping out. It will be interesting to watch these movements as this tournament progress’s.

Did you know this;

 Golf was banned in Scotland from 1457 to 1502 to ensure citizens wouldn’t waste time when preparing for an English invasion.

Tokyo Olympics, Xander Leads.

Xander Schauffele leads the Tokyo Olympics Men’s Golf tournament at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Japan.

Xander carded a third round -3 under par 68 to lead the Tokyo Olympic men’s championship by one shot at -14 under par.

Local favorite Hideki Matsuyama from Japan holds second place at -13 under after his third round score of -4 under par 67.

Sharing third spot at -12 under par are, Paul Casey, England, -5 under par 66 today, and Carlos Ortiz of Mexico, who had a -2 under par 69, which included a bogey five on the last hole.

Sebastian Munoz, Columbia, -5 under 66, Rory McIlroy, playing for Ireland, -4 under 67, Mito Pereira, Chile, -3 under 68, and Sepp Straka of Austria with -3 under 68 are all tied in fifth position.

Irish Open. Lucas Still Leads.

Lucas Herbert of Australia still leads the Irish Open, by two shots after 36 holes at Mount Juliet Estate in Ireland.

Lucas carded a -5 under 67 in his second round, which included a double bogey and a bogey, to lead the Irish Open by two shots at -13 under par;

“It was a little frustrating but I also felt like I did pretty well to scrap 67 out of that, I holed some really nice putts and then missed some where I probably thought that was a good chance to make.”

“The double on three didn’t help as well so for a round that hopefully is not one of the better ones of the week, I felt like I did really well to get a lot out of it and put myself into a very good position going into the weekend.”

“I think it’s definitely something that comes with a win where you know you’ve proved to yourself that you can win, you can hit shots under pressure and actually win.”

“So I’ll be taking a lot of experience from that into the weekend and try and draw on that confidence as well.”

Sharing second place at -11 under are Andy Sullivan, England, -6 under 66 today, and Grant Forrest of Scotland who had a second round -5 under 67.

Best of the Irish boys are Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland, he had a -5 under 67 today after his even par yesterday, and Shane Lowry, Ireland, he had a -3 under 69 second round to post the same -5 under total, at the wrong end of the leaderboard.

Irish Open. Lucas Herbert Leads

Lucas Herbert of Australia leads the Irish Open after day one at Mount Juliet Estate in Ireland.

Lucas carded a first round -8 under par 64 to lead the Irish Open by one shot on day one, with good putting the key;

“Made a really long one on 18 for birdie and that kind of sparked things and got things going, was able to play really nice that last nine holes.” 

“I felt like I was trying to get to five or six under and I didn’t really want to try and just attack really, really hard. It was just try and hit the ball in the right spots, give yourself some looks on the greens I and felt like if I could get to five or six under that would be a really good day.” 

“A few more rolled in and I got to eight.”

“It’s a little bit tight in spots as well where you’re not taking driver and just sending it. You have to play to some positions.”

“Second group out we were, the greens were unbelievable. I can’t remember putting on greens that nice.”

Johannes Veerman from the USA claimed second place at -7 under par following his bogey free opening round of 65.

In third spot was Grant Forrest of Scotland, another shot back at -6 under par with a first round core of 66.

Rory McIlroy could only manage a even par first round of 72, poor putting especially hurt;

“I just couldn’t really get anything going, I hit a few iron shots left, I know that. So I’m going to go to the range after this and work on a couple of things.”

“Apart from that, the putts that I did miss, I hit good putts and I misread them or they didn’t do what I thought they were going to do.”

“It was just one of those days. I just couldn’t get anything going. But it could have been worse.” 

“I saved par the last three holes and at least got in at even par and can get a good night’s sleep tonight and get out fresh in the morning. It’s obviously out there.”

“I just need to play better and if I play better, I’ll shoot a better score. I think it’s a bit early in the tournament to start to try to shoot certain scores and see what I need.”

“If I play better tomorrow, I’ll shoot a better score and we’ll go from there.”

 

U.S. Open. 54 Hole Three-Way Tie.

Mackenzie Hughes, Canada, Louis Oosthuizen, South Africa and Russell Henley are all tied for the US Open lead after 54 holes at Torrey Pines Golf Club in California.

Mackenzie Hughes

Mackenzie, -3 under par 68, Louis, -1 under 70 and Russell with an even par third round of 71 are all tied at the top of the US Open leaderboard with -5 under par totals.

Mackenzie thinks it will all come down to mental toughness;

“I’m excited. You get goosebumps thinking about it, so I know I’m going to be nervous tomorrow.”

“I know that my game is good enough to win on the PGA TOUR. I’ve done it before.”

“It really just comes down to mental toughness. I really think that the hard thing to do when you’re in the midst of struggling is to stay positive in light of that.”

“It’s really easy to get down and to be negative and to pout and feel bad for yourself, but I’ve been trying to do the hard thing, which is to be positive, glass half full, optimistic, looking for the progress, and that’s kind of a little bit what I’ve been working on.”

“More of that tomorrow, and win or lose, I’ve been making a lot of progress, and I’m excited for the challenge.”

Louis has come 2nd in five Majors, he needed an Eagle on the last hole to get into contention here, via a 52ft 4 inch putt;

“I only thought it was going in when it hit the pin and went in.”

Russell relied on some good recovery shots;

“Definitely wasn’t a perfect back nine, but hit a lot of good shots, a lot of good recovery shots.”

These three will be looking over their shoulders at the two guys who are behind them, T4, at -3 under par;  defending U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, -3 under 68 today, and four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy, who carded a third round -4 under 67. 

Rory needs another good round tomorrow to win;

“I thought like two 68s over the weekend from where I was after Friday was going to have a good chance.”

“I’ve done the first part of that job. Now it’s up to me tomorrow to go out and try to play a similar round of golf.”

Defending Champion Bryson has an extra edge to his game, he wants to win to equal his arch-enemy Brooks Koepka, by becoming a back-to-back U.S. Open champion;

“You’ve got to be really patient out here at these majors.”

“It’s something that is not easy to do. I feel like I’m starting to understand major championship golf and how to play it and how to go about managing my game, my attitude and just my patience level.”

“If I can continue to do that tomorrow, I think I’ll have a good chance.”

 

 

Wells Fargo Championship. Rory McIlroy Wins.

Rory McIlroy wins the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club, ending his 18 month winless drought.

Rory carded a final round -3 under par 68 to win the Wells Fargo Championship by one shot at -10 under par, the only player in double digits;

“It’s never easy, it felt like a long time.”

“This is one of my favorite places in the world, to break the drought and win here, it’s awesome.”

“To bring out the best in myself, I needed this.”

“Winning on Mother’s Day, thinking of Erica, thinking of my mother back home. It just feels awesome.”

In second place was Abraham Ancer, from Mexico, with the low round of the day -5 under par 66, to post -9 under at the top of the leaderboard and see if anyone could beat it.

Viktor Hovland, Noway, -4 under 67 today, and Keith Mitchell, +1 over par 72 tied in third position with -8 under par totals.

Wells Fargo Championship. Keith Mitchell Leading.

Keith Mitchell leads the Wells Fargo Championship after 54 holes at Quail Hollow Cub in North Carolina.

Keith had a third round -5 under par 66 to lead the Wells Fargo Championship by two shots  after 54 holes with a -9 under par total;

“I just feel like everything’s really working, my driver feels great, and around this place you’ve really got to drive it well.”

“Really just trying to keep the ball in front of me right now and see what we can do tomorrow.”

“Some golf courses on the PGA TOUR you can hit bad shots, get away with it and still try to make birdie.”

“You can’t do that here. I think that’s a true test of golf. I don’t think golf would be fun if every course was like this.”

“I just feel more comfortable around a tougher course.”

Rory McIlroy,-3 under 68;  is tied in second place second place at -7 under par with Gary Woodland, who signed for -1 under par 70. 

Rory is excited to be back in the mix and celebrating his birthday once again at Quail Hollow;

“Just so cool to play in an atmosphere like that again.”

“I’ve missed it. I didn’t think I would miss it as much as I did, but I really have.”

“I’m excited about tomorrow.” 

It’s a golf course that I am comfortable on, and going into a final round tomorrow with a chance to win, I feel like I need everything I can get to try to get over the line.”

“For me to be in contention for the first time in a while and for it to be here is probably beneficial.”

Gary has battled injuries and is also happy to be in position to win again;

“I haven’t been excited to play, to be honest with you, for the last year.”

“It feels great to be back in this position.”

 

Wells Fargo Championship. Three Tied At The Top.

Matt Wallace, England, Gary Woodland and Patrick Rodgers are all tied at the top of the Wells Fargo Championship leaderboard after two rounds at a very windy and difficult Quail Hollow Club in North Carolina.

Gary Woodland

Gary, -2 under 69 today, Patrick, -3 under 68, and Matt, from England with -4 under 67 are all tied at the top of the Wells Fargo Championship with -6 under totals for 36 holes.

Gary has his swing back, and is excited for the rest of the challenge;

“I’ve seen some shots this week that I just haven’t seen in a long time.”

“The golf swing feels so much better. Confidence has gone way up, which I did not have really in the last year.”

“It’s exciting right now.”

Kramer Hickok, -2 under 69 has third place to himself at -5 under for the tournament.

In the bunch of guys at -4 under is Rory McIlroy, who carded the low round of the day in the awful conditions, -5 under par 66, a great shot on the 14th from close to the course side mansions, an errant tee shot being the problem, the ball made its way onto the green, stopping one foot short of the hole;

“That was probably the catalyst to going on a nice little run.”

First round leader Phil Mickelson selected the reverse button, signing for a second round +4 over par 75, now on the leaderboard T 10 at -3 under par, a bogey 6 on the par five 15th and a double bogey 5 on the par three 17 the main culprits ;

“The back nine, I just wasn’t sharp.”

“I think an example of what I’ve been talking about is on 17, we’re standing over the ball and I’m changing my mind and I’m changing the shot, moving the clubhead a little bit. Instead of backing away and kind of refocusing, I just hit it and I’m not really aware of what I’m doing.”

“So I’ve got to fix that.”

“I just can’t keep doing that, I’m optimistic for the weekend though.”