The Northern Trust. Play-Off Win For Tony Finau.

Tony Finau defeated Cam Smith of Australia, in a play-off to win The Northern Trust title at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey.

Tony, -6 under par 65 today, and Cam with -4 under 67, were tied at the top of The Northern Trust leaderboard with -20 under par tournament totals. Tony won with a par at the first extra hole, the par four 18th, when Cam fired his tee shot way out of bounds to the right.

Tony has contested 142 events in five years since his breakthrough victory on the PGA;

“I feel like it’s been a long time coming but I also feel like you have to earn everything out here.”

“Nothing’s given to you and I was able to earn this win, and you know, hopefully the future continues to be bright.”

“I’m playing some great golf. We’ve got two big tournaments in front of me, so I’m going to enjoy this one. I’m playing great golf. I feel like I can go on a run, so why not continue right on to next week.”

“This one took everything I had because I knew I had to get to 20 under. I was chasing down the best player in the world. Jon is a good friend but I know what type of game he has, and he’s not going to let up on a lead.”

“So I knew I was going to have to catch him and eventually pass him, and Cam was playing well. I gave it everything I had. I hit a great putt on 17 I thought was going to go in, it would have been nice to have a little cushion on 18 tee.”

“But this is cool. I’ve been thinking about that walk up 18 for a long time. It’s been years. It’s nice to finally have that and now put this second win behind me.”

Jon Rahm, the World #1 from Spain, who looked like winning for most of the week, crashed out, carding bogey’s at 15 and then 18 to finish with a -2 under 69 and third place alone at -18 under par;

“I haven’t been able to digest it.”

“My son put a smile on my face so at least I’m not in a terrible mood.”

The Northern Open Set For A Monday finish, With Jon Rahm & Cam Smith Tied at the Top

Cam Smith, Australia, set a new course record of -11 under par 60 to share the top spot on the Northern Trust leaderboard with World #1 Jon Rahm at Liberty National Golf Club. They will have to wait until Monday to tee off in the final round due to a huge storm heading towards New Jersey for Sunday.

Jon Rahm

Jon, from Spain, with -4 under par 67 today was caught at the top of the Northern Trust leaderboard by record breaking Cam with his -11 under par 60.

Cam had a 12ft putt on the last hole to sign for a 59;

“Just didn’t do it.”

“Jon is playing some pretty good golf at the minute, so we’ve got to try to catch up.”

Jon was bogey free for the tournament, until the 13th hole where he had to sign for double bogey 7 on the par five, and followed that with a bogey at the par four 16th, he needed that birdie on seventeen to catch Cam at the top of the leaderboard. With the final round already postponed he did not want to be behind;

“I didn’t want to leave it up to chance.”

“If COVID quarantine has taught us anything, it’s what to do the whole day cooped up in a room.”

He thought his approach shot to the 13th was good;

“It was a little higher than I expected it and seems like the wind might have picked up a little bit.”

“It looked like about this short from covering, so it’s one of those things that happen in golf.”

Erik Van Rooyen from South Africa, who wears the ankle stranglers pants, is in third place, one shot back at -15 under par, he had a -9 under 62 today.

Justin Thomas, -4 under 67 today, and Tony Finau with -3 under 68 share fourth position at -14 under par.

 

The Northern Trust. World #1 Jon Rahm With 36 Hole Lead.

Jon Rahm of Spain leads The Northern Trust after 36 holes at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey.

Jon carded a second round -4 under par 67 to lead The Northern Trust by one shot at -12 under par;

“Believe it or not, hit my fair share of bad shots today,  much like yesterday, I was able to save a couple of good ones.”

“Coming into the weekend, I’m definitely going to have to clean a couple of those mistakes up.”

“It’s a trophy that a very select group of people are going to be able to put their name on.”

“It’s one of those, kind of like in majors and great events like THE PLAYERS, to; where you have to show up and play good.”

Tony Finau signed for -7 under par 64 to move into second place on  his own at -11 under par;

Three players are tied in the third position with -10 under par totals, Justin Thomas, -2 under 69 today, Keith Mitchell, -7 under 64, and Olympic Gold Medalist Xander Schauffele with a course record equaling -9 under 62.

After yesterdays 63 Justin said he just stayed patient: 

“I was patient. I still wasn’t forcing anything, I know I can make a lot of birdies, that it’s still early in the tournament.”

Jordan Spieth also equaled the course record of -9 under par 62 today to get to -8 under for the tournament, T10;

“When things starting well, you go on a run, right? You get momentum and the ball finds the cup and when it’s not going well it bounces the wrong way.”

“It’s weird, but you always focus on when you get a bad break versus the good one, but I would imagine, yeah, it evens out.”

“I feel like I’m on the right side of some momentum right now and I just have to keep it going.”

Notables among those missing the cut of -1 under; Adam Scott, Dustin Johnson, Si Woo Kim, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson, Collin Morikawa and Phil Mickelson, the FedEx Cup is over for them.

The Players Championship. Sergio Has The 1st Round Lead.

 

Sergio Garcia of Spain has the first round lead in The Players, at TPC at Sawgrass in Florida.

Sergio carded a first round -7 under par 65 to lead The Players by two shots after round one;

“For some reason, it just kind of fits my eye.”

“I see what I want to do pretty much every hole, and then it’s a matter of doing it.”

Brain Harman is  in second place, two shots back at -5 under par following his opening round of 65.

Three players are then tied in third spot at -4 under par, Matt Fitzpatrick, England, Corey Conners, Canada, and Shane Lowery, of Ireland.

Playing themselves out of the tournament were defending champion Rory McIlroy, +7 over par 79 today, Tony Finau, +6 over 78 and Henrik Stenson with the worst score of the day +13 over par 85. Kevin Na withdrew after a few trips to the water on the par three 17th island green, signing for an eight there, and +9 over par 81 overall.

Rory’s understatement;

“The big number on 18 didn’t help and then doubling the first wasn’t helpful, either.”

“It’s hard to recover when you just haven’t played good. If you take that 18th hole out, it still wasn’t a very good day.”

Late in the day first round play was suspended due to bad light.

The Genesis Invitational. Max Homa Wins, In A Play-Off Against Tony Finau.

Max Homa wins the Genesis Invitational, at his favorite course, in a play-off against Tony Finau, at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades in California.

Max had a final round -5 under par 66 to post -12 under par at the top of the Genesis Invitational leaderboard, but was caught on that score by Tony Finau, who carded a last round -7 under par 64, the low round of the day. Max won with a par at the second extra hole, the par three 14th.

Max missed a chance to win on the final hole in regulation;

“Obviously wasn’t a very good putt. It broke a little more than I would have liked it to for a three-footer. I just was a little nervous, honestly.”

“This tournament means a lot to me.”

“Sometimes when you get your creative brain working, you see it. I felt pretty good about putting it on the front right of the green. Just sometimes you have to trust your instincts and that’s kind of the fun of golf.”

“It’s not always fairways and greens, you’ve got to be an artist at times and fortunately I did it when I needed to.”

“I don’t know if I could ever do anything cooler in golf than this.”

“Just for me, for my caddie Joe, we were raised 25 miles north of here. Tiger Woods is handing us a trophy, that’s a pretty crazy thought. We grew up idolizing him, idolizing Riviera Country Club, idolizing the golf tournament.”

“To get it done, it’s almost shocking, but it feels like it just can’t be topped.”

Tony came up second again, but remains positive;

“Anytime I’ve had a chance to win, I haven’t been the guy that went low and today I was, so I can take a lot of confidence from that.”

 “That’s something that I wanted to happen today to just prove to myself on Sundays that I can put myself in the thick of it and shoot a number.”

“At the end of the day I’m going to be able to look back on that and have a lot of positives to take from it.”

Longtime leader Sam Burns finished one shot short of the play-off at -11 under par, in third place, a final round -2 under 69 not good enough.

Saudi International. World #1 DJ Wins.

World #1 Dustin Johnson wins the Saudi International, for the second time, at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, in Saudi Arabia.

Dustin shot a final round -2 under par 68 to win the Saudi International by two strokes at -15 under par;

“Conditions when we started were really tough.”

“I knew I was hitting it well, I saw the leaderboard and I knew the guys were playing well.”

“I kept giving myself chances, I didn’t hole any of them but I hit good shots and I finally holed a really nice putt on 13 and from there on I played solid.”

“Couldn’t hole any putts today. Just the reads, I’d see it going left to right it would go right to left; I’d see it going right to left it would go left to right. It was tough all day today.”

Sharing second place were Justin Rose, England, with a bogey free last round -5 under 65, and Tony Finau, USA, at -3 under par 67 on the day.

Justin was happy with his final round effort, but he too could not get the putts to drop;

“That was the best golf I played in quite some time.”

“I did not make one putt today; the longest putt I made was seven feet for par on 16 so really clean round of golf.”

“I didn’t putt poorly at all. I was quite aggressive with my putting. I was getting them to the hole and rolling them two or three foot by and kept making the ones coming back in the middle.”

 “To play a bogey-free 65 on a Sunday is something to take and fuel the upcoming run.”

Saudi International. World #1 DJ Leads.

World #1 Duston Johnson has a two shot lead at the top of the Saudi International leaderboard after 54 holes at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in Saudi Arabia.

DJ carded a -4 under par 66, which included a double bogey six at the 13th, to lead the Saudi International by two shots at -13 under par;

“It was a good finish, I felt like I played really well all day, other than 13, but I didn’t think I hit that bad a shot. I pushed it a hair right of the flag but just came up well short of where I thought it would and ended up making six there.”

“Other than that, I drove it well and hit a lot of really good iron shots in there to give myself a lot of good chances at birdie. Didn’t hole a whole lot of putts but finishing nicely definitely helped the day out.”

“It’s always good to win no matter when it is, it’s a really good field. I’d definitely be very pleased.”

“It’s a pretty big golf tournament and it will definitely give me a lot of confidence for the rest of the year.”

Victor Perez of France has second place at -11 under par, he also signed for third round -4 under 66;

“I think that’s as good as it gets, I’ll be very excited for the challenge. I think this is all you strive for.”

“I think obviously I will need to make some putts tomorrow. Somebody is going to have to put in a low one to win and if it’s going to be windy, it’s going to be a grind coming down the stretch for sure.”

Four players are tied in third spot at -10 under, Tony Finau. -3 under 67 today, Tyrrell Hatton, -4 under 66, Andy Sullivan, -2 under 68, and Soren Kjeldsen with -5 under 65.

 

Farmers Insurance Open. Patrick Reed Wins.

Controversial rules manipulator Patrick Reed won the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego, California.

Patrick won the Farmers Insurance Open with a final round -4 under par 68 for a total of -14 under par. Patrick mentioned getting the good breaks;

“You look at all the great players throughout times, all of them are really resilient. It doesn’t really matter what’s going on around them, what’s going on on the golf course, whether they’re getting good breaks or bad breaks, they seem to really figure out a way to get the job done, to really just drive in and to keep on improving each shot each day.”

“That’s golf, that’s what you’re supposed to do. That’s why I love the game. It throws punches at you; you throw punches at it. And at the end of the day hopefully you’re the one standing.”

“Golf’s hard as it is, and you come to a place like this where it’s so demanding. Not just off the tees. It doesn’t matter if it’s a drive, an iron shot, a wedge shot, putt, you have to be all locked in 24/7.”

Fives players were then tied in second place, Tony Finau, -3 under 69 today, Henrik Norlander, -3 under 69, Ryan Palmer, -2 under 70, Xander Schauffele, -3 under 69, and Viktor Hovland with -1 under 71.

Farmers Insurance Open. Viktor Hovland With 36 Hole Lead.

On a topsy turvy weather day ranging from sunshine, to rain and hail, and a decent amount of wind, Viktor Hovland won the battle against the elements to top the Farmers Insurance Open after 36 holes.

Viktor carded a second round -7 under par 65, on the South Course, to top the Farmers Insurance Open leaderboard at the half-way stage with a -9 under total, at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego in California. Viktor is used to these conditions;

“That’s helped me for this week. It got really cold, obviously raining and hail, so being Norwegian I think that also helps.”

 “I just played really solid and made some putts.”

“I think especially playing a tough course like the South Course, you can’t really fake it, especially in these conditions.”

“Playing a hard golf course and then playing well, that I think is what gives me the ultimate kind of belief that I played really well today. You just can’t really fake it.”

“But it’s another day tomorrow and we’ve got two more rounds left, so it’s definitely not going to roll over and give anything to you.”

Six players are tied in second place at -8 under par; on the South Course were, Adam Scott, Australia, -3 under 69, Lanto Griffin, -2 under 70, Patrick Reed, even par 72. Playing the North Course were; Jon Rahm, Spain, -5 under 67, Tony Finau, -5 under 67, and Ryan Palmer, -2 under 70.

Jon summed up the conditions today;

“Those fairways are narrow enough as it is. When you start adding the side wind, it’s just not fun.”

“I can’t really stress how hard it can get, North is easier. South today is brutal, I mean absolutely brutal.”

“Every shot counts out there. Even being on the fairway some shots are not easy and with this wind and rain coming in and out, for those who played the North today, we should be really fortunate to play that course today.”

Among the premier players missing the cut today were last weeks winner Si Woo Kim, Martin Laird, Jordan Spieth, Russell Knox, Billy Horschel, Bubba Watson, Jason Day and Brooks Koepka.

 

 

The American Express. Three-Way 54 Hole Tie At The Top.

Tony Finau, Max Homer and Si Woo Kim are all tied at the top of The American Express tournament leaderboard after 54 holes at PGA West, on the Stadium Course today in La Quinta, California.

Tony, – 5 under 67, and Si Woo, who is from South Korea, who signed for a bogey free third round of -5 under 67, while Max carded a  -7 under 65, all three to be tied at the top of The American Express leaderboard at -15 under par.

Everyone says it’s about time Tony won again:

“I’ve got pretty good vibes out here, hopefully bring some of those winning vibes later this week.”

“That’s, to me, what the exciting thing is. Every time I don’t close a tournament, I’m never thinking, wow, I’ve let another one slip, I’m never going to have this opportunity again.”

“For me, it’s like, what did I learn, how can I take what I learned into the next opportunity?’ And I’ve got another opportunity tomorrow.”

Max says the Stadium Course feels like home, amassing 17 birdies over his two rounds played there this week;

“There’s obviously a handful of very daunting holes, but I’ve been fortunate enough to play here a ton, so I have a pretty good feel for the place.”

“I’ve been able to put myself in a position to have good looks for birdie, and I’ve been putting great. It’s just something about these greens. It feels like home.”

Richy Werenski has fourth spot to himself at -14 under par following his third round of -7 under par 67, he also likes PGA West;

“I’ve been giving myself plenty of looks and just haven’t been converting them, and today I finally made some putts.“

“So I think we’re kind of turning the corner.”

“I’ve always liked this place. I’ve never finished really, really high here, but I’ve always known that I could play really good. It just fits my eye.”

Low round of the day came from Russell Knox, a bogey free -8 under 64,  Russell said his first two rounds were untidy;

“The first two days I’ve hit the ball very well, but I’ve been extremely untidy especially around the greens.”

“I think I missed six putts inside five feet, so I basically just told myself today to not miss the short ones and keep rolling the good ones.”

“I got into a beautiful rhythm with the putter , started seeing the lines pretty early and just kind of kept it going.”

“Rounds like those are fun.”