Those patio lanterns,

they were the stars in the sky,

those patio lanterns,

lighting up our lives

Those patio lanterns…..

Wait that’s the wrong Mitchell……Congratulations go out to Keith not Kim Mitchell this week. Keith Mitchell held off two of golfs hottest players on Sunday to capture the title at the Honda Classic this week. The whole world (myself included) was pulling for a super playoff with potentially 6 players being involved as the final groups teed off on the back nine Sunday.

A couple early low rounds from Lucas Glover and Ryan Palmer set the pace early only to come up a few shots short. K.H Lee, 54-hole leader Wyndham Clark and 56 year old Vijay Singh were eaten up by the Bear Trap. That left Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler and Keith Mitchell as the last 3 remaining for a playoff.

But Keith Mitchell playing in a few groups behind the big name superstars made the bear trap look like the easiest holes on your local municipal course including a clutch birdie putt on the 18^th hole to win the 2019 Honda Classic. For his trouble Keith took home $1.225 million dollars and a crystal trophy. I am not even going to comment on the trophy this week. As much as getting your first PGA tour win in your 40^th start is impressive.

It was Mitchell’s Caddie Crunchy Pete who stole the show Sunday. Whether it was him busting out a compass mid round for whatever reason or his twitter page becoming headline news with the comparisons to the caddy in Happy Gilmore. After seeing that I had to rewind to make sure he had two shoes on. He also won the internet on Sunday when he took a picture of the cheque Keith won and tweeted about not being good at math but what is 10% of this. In case you were wondering he took $125k this week.

TOP 10

The top ten was filled with great story lines, nobodies and guys turning back the clock. It would have been something if after opinionated Brooks mode was engaged earlier this week that Brooks Koepka came out and made a statement and won this tournament, but he will have to settle for a tie for 2^nd.

Rickie started the week pretending to poop out a golf ball in a mockery of the new drop rules for the PGA Tour and ended the week by pooping away a chance to win this tournament with one of the worst par 3 displays I have ever seen by a professional golfer ever. Lucas Glover brought home $300K this week and is up to 92^nd in the OWGR, let that sink in. Hopefully his wife reads this.

Ryan Palmer had an amazing Sunday to finished T4 with Lucas his 63 was the low round of the day. The Texas swing cannot come soon enough for Palmer. Vijay Singh workout King was right there until he hit it in the water on the 71^st hole. I have always disliked Vijay but man was it hard not to root for him on Sunday. Kyoung-Hoon Lee and Wyndham Clark finished tied for 7^th. Which is about where you figured they would finish after seeing they were 1^st and T2 going into Sunday.

The Sergio Garcia apology tour continued this week with another good showing a T9 finish and a few more autographs and publicity photos taken along the way. Jim Furyk and Jason Kokrak also finished T9 to round out the top 10 this week.

Canadian Contingent

There were 6 Canadians in the field this week and I would say this was a pretty successful week for the contingent from the great white north. Friend of the pod Roger Sloan finished T30 for another respectable week after a T2 in Puerto Rico last week. Keep it up Rog, I am here to caddy whenever you need me.

Nick Taylor also finished T30 this week another solid week for a guy who plays a lot of golf, 11 tournaments so far this year and only 3 missed cuts. Ben Silverman finished T36 which is decent, but you know he was hoping to be a little higher after a hot start and this being one of his home courses that he has had some success on in the past.

Adam Svensson continued his streak of starting tournaments well and having weekends to forget. He was in the hunt this week until a 5 over 75 on Sunday plummeted him to T59. Still a cheque to be cashed, ask CH3 how those can add up.

Drew Nesbitt was the talk of the tournament Thursday when he took off his shirt to reveal the extremely white shirt he had on underneath or atleast that is what it looked like, rolled up his pants and hit a shot out of the water. Then got up and down for par. Unfortunately, Drew was caught in the dreaded MDF finish this week. Finally, Mac Hughes missed the cut this week for his 4^th straight missed cut after a T29 at the farmers insurance open. I am sure he will turn it around soon though.

Notables

Adam Schenk finished T30 which most of you are thinking “sounds about right” but he was the victim of the stupid caddy standing behind the player as he addresses the ball rule. That cost Schenk a two stroke penalty in the 3^rd round. Had he not gotten that penalty he would have been in the final pairing.

Justin Thomas and Gary Woodland had rollercoaster showings this week. A couple of the biggest names in the tournament. Justin Thomas went 68-74-67-71 to finish T30 but there were times he was in the top 5 and times he was dead last on Saturday. He also played through the 2^nd round with a dead arm and had a twitter fight with the USGA. What a week. Gary Woodland was in the same boat he needed to birdie the last 2 holes on Friday just to make the cut. Then came out hot on Saturday shooting 66, only to fizzle out on Sunday with a 73 and a T36 finish.

Charl Schwartzel had a very respectable week after struggling for some time lately. Charl finished T16 despite using what may be the ugliest putter in the history of golf. But hey, whatever works I guess. Charl was also involved in a heated argument with a rules official after he was put on the clock at one point this week. He was paired with Ben Crane so I imagine Charl was pleading his case that Crane was the one slowing them down. Either way, Crane and Charl in the same group is going to result in slow play. Throw JB Holmes in there and that tournament is still going on.

Cam Smith hadn’t missed a cut for almost a calendar year and then this week happened. Cheer up lil guy there is always next week to start a new streak.

Finally, the thanks for coming out award this week goes to Alex Cejka. Cejka was DQ’d from the Honda Classic for using an old yardage book that had the larger green diagrams in it. I mean how hard is it to grab a new yardage book you got to think they hand them out when you check in. Anyways that blunder cost him an embarrassing walk off the course mid round and earned him the thanks for coming out award this week.

On To Next Week

Another week in the books, another first time winner on tour and another GD crystal trophy. At least next week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational we will see a legit trophy with Arnie on top and let’s not forget about the sword the winner gets. Maybe Justin Rose will play in this, we know Tiger is out and setting the ground work for a go to excuse down the road. Anyways, whatever happens, I will be back next week to recap it.