Bryson Dechambeau Is A Force
What happens in Vegas hopefully doesn’t stay in Vegas. That is what known cool guy off the course, and complete friggin putz on the course Bryson Dechambeau probably thought to himself after winning the Shriners Hospital for Children Open (SHCO) on Sunday. Dechambeau is rising the ranks on the likability scale for his off-course antics. First, he dressed up as Rickie Fowler on Halloween and asking Rickie himself for an autograph. Then, he spent extra time with kids from the Shriners hospital in attendance even before he won. Lastly, he made eagle on 16 and did a fist pump that rivals Tiger’s.
But then you remember his swing, his clubs, his outfits and all the other science gimmicks he tries to incorporate, and you realized you are pissed he won this weekend.
But Bryson won none the less, took home 1.26 million dollars and a crystal jug style trophy that ranks somewhere in the middle of the quality of trophy rankings. With rounds of 66, 66, 65, 66 for a -21 finish you would have thought he ran away with this tournament. But, Patrick Cantlay went toe to toe with Bryson all day Sunday and this tournament was shaping up
to be another playoff finish. Until Cantlay bogeyed two of his last 8 holes to finish one stroke behind Bryson in the end.
Close Finish
Now before you all say Cantlay would have been an out of nowhere winner, he is the defending champion at this tournament. So, it is safe to say he enjoys Las Vegas.
Sam Ryder finished two shots back after shooting a final round 62. What is even more
impressive is he played this round wearing no socks and pants that make Tony Finau’s pants
look long. Come PGA, time to intervene! Guys are getting pretty fast and loose with the dress
code here. I mean I am sure Sam Ryder has been dressing like this for a few years. I guess that is the perks of never contending. Your outfits never get ripped apart by some random Canadian
Golf podcast. Having said that Ryder has two Top 5 finishes this year, so we might get to see
how short these pants will get in the future.
Rickie Fowler finished in a tie for 4th which isn’t bad considering the announcers had written him off early Saturday saying he just didn’t have it this week. Rickie tied for 4th with Abraham Ancer who seems to be heating up again heading into next week’s tournament in his home and native Mexico. And Robert Streb, who I am only mentioning because I picked him in our DTG picks, and helped clinch the week win for me. Way to go Robert!
Who told Ryan Palmer that Las Vegas was in Texas? The Texas course horse had a
great week finishing T7 and Lucas Glover took home 218k for his T7 finish. Is that going to be
enough to keep his wife at bay? Or is she going to point out he shot even par Sunday and left a
lot of money on the table with that score, anyways Pray for Lucas.
Rough Week For Team Canada
There were five Canadians in the field this week. Only one of them made the cut. Nick Taylor
finished T36 and took home 32k and a couple FedEx cup points for his troubles. Mack Hughes
missed the cut by 1 shot. Adam Svensson and Roger Sloan missed by 2 shots. You got to feel for Roger Sloan though. It is tough to compete in a professional golf tournament when his week peaked on Wednesday when he was interviewed by none other than Martin B. Ballgame from DTG (check out this week’s podcast for the interview). Corey Connors missed the cut by 4 shots which is kind of bitter sweet. It’s too bad he missed the cut BUT last week I said his swing was too inconsistent for him to be a constant performer. So, thanks for proving me right Corey and go get’em next tournament.
Notables
There were a few other notable finishes this week. Jordan Spieth made his first October start
ever and what did he get for his efforts? A T55 finish and now he is looking up at Tiger Woods in the world golf rankings. The good news is he is getting right back on the donkey in Mexico this week.
Last week’s winner Cameron Champ looked like he was ready to show the world he was
here to be taken seriously being in contention all week. But a Sunday stumble left him in a tie
for 28th . Watch out though because he is going to be tough to beat no matter who is in the field if he puts all aspects of his game together in the same week.
Apparently, Tony Finau was in this tournament. Not too often does he play in a tournament and be completely irrelevant like he was this week. I don’t even think they showed one shot of his on route to a T36.
The Lovable Doofus Matt Kuchar was also in this tournament. Is it just me or is that guy riding off into the sunset already? Fun Fact: Kuchar has not won on the PGA Tour for almost 5 years now and still has a decade before he can play on the Champions Tour. Could be a long 10 years for ol’ Kuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccchhhhhh.
Top 3 turd on tour Kevin Na missed the cut. LOL.
And of course, the thanks for coming out award. At first, I was going to give it Preston Otte who shot a smooth 85 on Day 1 which was 22 shots worse than the best score of the day. He followed that up with a 79 on Friday. But I cannot give him the award because he is the head pro at TPC Summerlin and not a PGA tour professional. So, that means the thanks for coming out award goes to Ryan Blaum who made the cut and finished dead last, 24 strokes behind Bryson Dechambeau.
Will You Accept This Rose?
Another exciting week on the PGA tour this week. Especially with it still being the so-called silly
season. Hate him or love him you got to respect what Bryson has done in the past calendar
year. 4 wins in 2018 is pretty insane. What is even more insane is that Justin Rose won on the
Euro tour this week at the Turkish Airlines Open and with only two tournaments left in the
season Justin Rose has positioned himself to have a real good chance to win the Fedex Cup and the Race to Dubai in the same season. Something that has only been accomplished by one
other person and that was Henrik Stenson in 2013. So if you are having a tough time getting
amped to watch the silly season on the PGA tour wake up early the next two weeks and watch
Justin Rose try and leap frog Moliwood and make history.