JB Slow Plays JT
Another week on the PGA tour, another young stud blowing a big lead on Sunday. Just like Rickie Fowler a few weeks ago, Justin Thomas was up big after the third round. But unlike Rickie, Thomas could not hold off JB Holmes. It wasn’t so much that JB came out on Sunday and won this tournament. It was more that Thomas didn’t have enough rocks in his pockets to keep him steady over putts in the windy conditions Sunday.
But JT’s faults are JB’s gains because JB methodically or is it painstakingly? Or is it slowly? ended up winning by one stroke. It is not too often tour players call out other tour players for on-course antics but that has not been the case for JB this year. His slow play is catching the eye of his peers and let’s make no bones about it – JB is SLOW on the course. There were a few times on Sunday I was left shaking my head and asking what the heck is he doing while the other two playing partners are hitting. He cannot be analyzing things while they are hitting too? There is no way he takes that long there. But I don’t think JB was ever put on the clock on Sunday so I am sure his mentality is if they are not going to warn him, why would he change what he is doing.
While JB and his family were happy with his pace, I am pretty sure the sponsors and companies who pay for ad time on CBS were also happy because of the new feature where they show split screen ads during the play. JB’s long shot preparation allowed for a ton of extra ad time. I could go on about how slow JB is for pages but let’s move on. For his trouble, Holmes took home a shade over $1.3 million dollars and a beer funnel of a trophy. I am starting to wonder when the good trophies are going to start being presented. Anyways, congratulations to JB Holmes on his 5th PGA Tour win and hopefully your 6th win doesn’t include a 9 hour Sunday round.
Top 10
The rest of the top 10 was a tale of the good, the bad and the ugly. Let’s start with the ugly. I touched on it earlier but JT started the 4th round up by four shots. But a 4 over round of 75 (10 shots worse than round 3) left JT as the bridesmaid this week. There was only one round uglier than JT’s in the top 10 and it was Adam Scott and his 76 to drop him into a tie for 7th. There wasn’t much for really bad rounds but I guess Rory would fall in there because even though he finished tied for 4th, if he could putt it is likely Rory hoisting the beer funnel on Sunday.
While the final group might fool you, there was actually some good golf played on Sunday. Si Woo Kim shot the round of the day with a 5 under 66 to jump 7 spots into solo 3rd place. It is even more amazing considering Si Woo was putting with the pin in from everywhere and a few times it looked like the flag was going to hit him due to the wind. Si Woo is always a feel good story because he has to bank as much money as he can before the army comes calling. It was windy and the big cat Marc Leishman was in the top 5 – surprise, surprise. Likely the most consistent guy of the week was Chuckie MF’ing 3 stix finishing in solo 6th and my dude cashed another big ol cheque, $266k big.
This top 10 was filled with guys you can cheer for. Michael Thompson banked his second straight top 10 with a tie for 7th with Scott. Six people tied for 9th to round out the top 10. Hideki Matsuyama jumped 27 places on Sunday to get into the top 10. The Mexican Bean pole Carlos Ortiz picked up his second top 10 of the season. Kelly Kraft and Vaughan Taylor were also in that 6 way tie although we never saw a shot of theirs all week so who really knows. Jonathan RAM hung around all week to get that $177K payday for 9th and last but certainly not least, DJ quietly banked another top 10 and looks like he is adjusting to golf on this side of the Atlantic again.
Canadian Contingent
It was a quiet week for the Canadians playing in this tournament. Nick Taylor had another respectable performance with a tie for 33rd and it seems like it is only a matter of time before he breaks out. The cut making machine Adam Hadwin made the cut as per usual but crumbled on the weekend to finish 75th. Mac Hughes was also in the tournament but missed the cut.
Notables
The other notable finishes that need to be discussed are: Tiger Woods was electrifying the crowds like the Tiger of old on Saturday, but the excuses came out Sunday with the 9 hour round and the cold windy temperatures. Tiger wilted to a very respectable T15 finish. The 15th spot had quite a few notable names in it. Bryson never really got it going but still managed to claw to 15th. Bubba Watson looked poised to potentially repeat then it got windy and Bubba STINKS in the wind. Xander was up there again but inconsistent this week but watch out for this guy this year. Just sayin.
Tony Finau was also in this group and it seems like Tony is always in the 10-30th spot this year. Then there was Beau Hossler and Patrick Rodgers. Arguably the most handsome and ugliest guys on tour. I won’t name names though. Matt Kuchar was in the news again for caving to the shake down his rent-a-caddie put on him this week to the tune of 50K, the good news is Kuchar took home $50,320 for finishing 28th this week (EIS). Phil is just too old to play well for back to back weeks but at least we get to see those thighs he calls calfs on a regular basis with the new shorts rule.
The Genesis Open was the first stop on the Sergio Garcia apology tour. His agent or publicist or someone made him kiss babies, hand out merch to fans and basically be one step away from being fully prepared to be like the guy from the Fyre Festival documentary. Sergio also finished in 37th. Vijay Singh was in this tournament and he missed the cut so maybe the new workout isn’t working for Vijay but I doubt that is going to stop Vijay from going even harder on that workout. Get back to the range Veej.
Finally, we get to the thanks for coming out award for this week. Usually an award reserved for guys hovering around dead last but the display from Jordan Spieth on Sunday locked him into this award. Jordan shot a 10 over 81 with 2 bogeys, a double, a triple, a quad and a 2 hole stretch where he had 7 putts. This award may have never had a better fit. Thanks Jordan.
On To Mexico
Well that wraps up the Genesis Open. The early round delays made for great weekend golf watching with golf basically on all day Saturday and Sunday. However, I am a little disappointed they didn’t bring Clint Eastwood back this week. The slow play of JB Holmes made it feel like Clint was on the call again. Next week we have two tournaments going. The WGC in Mexico where all the big guns are paying and the Puerto Rico Open which will likely lead to a first time winner which is always exciting. My money is on the Italian mob boss Dominic Bozzelli. I’ll be back next week to recap it all.