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American Jimmy Walker fired 62-63 on the weekend to blow away his competitors and shoot 23-under-par 257 to win the Sony Open. His nearest competitor, Scott Piercy, was NINE shots behind in solo second. The podium was filled with Harris English, Gary Woodland and Matt Kuchar, all 10 shots adrift. Walker, in his defense of his 2014 title, missed Russell Henley’s course record, 256, by one shot. That was the only thing that went wrong this week.
Why This Won't Surprise Gamers:
For the FOURTH time since the beginning of the 2013-14 season, Jimmy Walker has raised the winner’s trophy on TOUR. Walker now has won four times in his last 32 starts after not breaking through until October of 2013. During his final round, he holed a 17-footer for birdie on No. 15 to take a seven shot lead at the time. It was his 500th birdied since the beginning of this run. FIVE HUNDRED BIRDIES. Since he was the champ here last year gamers should have been too surprised that he played well. In four previous events this season he logged a T4 and was P2 last week to Patrick Reed.
Read this last part slowly: Walker has now posted 23 of his last 26 rounds in the 60s at the Sony. These include rounds of 62 and 63 this WEEKEND plus 63 to close in 2014 and 64 to close in 2013. Not bad for a guy whose first tournament round on this course was 80 in 2006!
Why This Will Surprises Gamers:
When the defending champion wins, this paragraph should remain BLANK. It will next time! I could argue that his “collapse” down the stretch last week at Kapalua could have put off gamers. I argued in our LIVE CHAT on Wednesday that I believed he was passed that point in his career where he was concerned with winning. This week showed gamers that he is, my opinion be damned.
How Walker Won This Week:
Oh boy, where to start?
He led the field with 29 birdies, GIR, SGP, SGT and putts per GIR.
He made 17 birdies and just two bogeys on the weekend.
Moving Forward:
This week proved to salary AND weekly gamers that Walker has ascended to another level after his disappointment last week. His win also reaffirms/reinforces the “West Coast Theory” with Walker. Frys.com, Vegas, Pebble, Kapalua have all provided his best rounds and best finishes. He claims that Riviera is his favorite track as well as he loves golf on this side of the country. WRITE ALL OF THIS DOWN. Walker was in brand-new territory last season as his victories put him in events he otherwise wouldn’t have played. Now that he’s been-there, done-that, his value INCREASES in my eyes. Remember, he placed in the top 26 of all four majors. Really remember that he finished in the top 10 of three of the four. He closed the season T9, T20 and T17 in the FedExCup Playoffs. I’m not sure what other convincing I can do to make gamers see the value here.
With This Win:
He racks up 500 FedExCup Points, $1,008,000 million and a return trip to Kapalua. He also racks up very valuable Presidents Cup points so Jay Haas won’t have to worry about burning a captain’s pick on him! He is now in first place in the FedExCup standings, a position he spent most of 2014.
Déjà vu All Over Again?
After 28 wins in 45 events last season, Walker joins Patrick Reed, Charley Hoffman, Bubba Watson, Ryan Moore, Robert Streb and Ben Martin as the USA have won seven of the first nine events to open the new season. Sang-moon Bae (Korea) and Nick Taylor (Canada) have kept the USA from total domination.
In the first nine events only Bae, Martin, Moore and now Walker have closed their 54-hole leads. Walker is the only person on BOTH sides of his list as he couldn’t close out his lead last week at Kapalua.
After 13 first-time winners in 2013 there were only 10 last year. After nine events in 2015, Martin, Streb and Taylor have made the breakthrough.
Walker joins Ernie Els, Corey Pavin, Lanny Wadkins and Hubert Green as the only multiple winners of this event. Walker is the only one not to have a victory in a major. Not yet, at least…
Walker joins Els as the only players to defend after the 1999 redesign.
Justin Thomas, a rookie on TOUR, set the new course record, 61, on Friday. He’s been mentioned quite a bit over the last few weeks. Gamers, please take notice unless being last to the party is on the agenda.
Walker makes 11 winners of the last 17 to play the week prior at Kapalua. Rust removal is never a bad thing in my opinion! Neither is acclimating to a five hour time difference from the East Coast of the continental mainland!
Young Guns Versus Prime Time Versus Old Guys
Bae got the youngsters (under 30) on the board first in 2014-15 followed by Martin and Streb, both 27. Nick Taylor, 26, popped in and Reed joined the party at a whopping 25 last week at Kapalua.
I annually keep track of the age of the winners on TOUR because I’m an ageist.
Jimmy Walker, who celebrated birthday No. 36 on Friday, joins Charley Hoffman (37), Bubba Watson (36) and Ryan Moore (31) on the board for the prime time guys (30-39 years).
The old guys (40 and over) haven’t hit the winner’s circle yet in the new season but were led by Jerry Kelly, 48, who is a fixture in the top 10 at Waialae. He finished T6 this year. Brian Davis, 40, was also T6 but he’s a YOUNG, old guy!
Hindsight
What I learned from the finishers in the top 10 this week:
Scott Piercy: His solo second continued a very solid opening to the new season as he adds his first podium to T7, T17 and T16 in his first six events. After missing most of last spring/summer with a shoulder issue, Piercy is proving that he’s rested and roaring to go. He should have been locked up in EVERY salary game format based on his 2014 dollars. His solo second is his best finish on TOUR since his 2012 RBC Canadian Open victory. We learned that he’s healthy and he is still carrying his 2014 form to the new calendar year. His three eagles and four bogeys reinforce this. Ding and Ding.
Harris English: After solo fourth last year and T9 (which included a 62) in 2013, his rookie year, English resided this week in the HORSES FOR COURSES section. He added to his reputation as a master of Waialae by taking advantage of his ball-striking (eighth; strokes gained tee-to-green) to finish T3 this year. Gamers will be VERY excited with this result because it’s English’s first top 10 in his last 11 events and only second top 25. Now it’s time to do it on a course where he hasn’t torn it apart for me to get excited but it’s a step in the proper direction.
Gary Woodland: His T3 this week paired with his T2 at the CIMB gives him two podium finishes in his last three starts. He didn’t break 73 in four rounds in the week following the CIMB so I wasn’t sure where his game was at this stage of the season. His course history was non-existent as well as he only broke 70 once in two tournaments, both MCs. There’s no question about his talent or ball-striking and I would expect to see him more in this column as the season rolls on.
Matt Kuchar: Entering the week off T21, T22 and T17, gamers were understandably concerned with his current form. After he opened 65-63 that concern blew away with the trade winds and not even 68-71 on the weekend could knock him out of the top three. His last four starts at Waialae are T3, T8, T5 and T5. I’d suggest just getting used to the fact that two starts will be burned in every format each year in Hawaii (pending he wins to get to Kapalua). Did I mention he finished T3 without making a birdie on Sunday? Ok, good! I left him off my Yahoo! squad this week and paid the price. The good news is ANY week he’s in the lineup gamers should prosper! #Chalk
Jerry Kelly: Make it back-to-back top 10s (T3 last year) at WCC for the evergreen Kelly and eight top 10s in 18 starts in his career. Make it back-to-back top 10s on TOUR for the cheese head as he was fifth at Mayakoba his last time out. I’m an ageist but he was listed in the HORSES FOR COURSES section. I’ll pencil him in for seaside resort courses one more time in 2015-16. I’ll also keep an eye on the courses he’s played well on in his career to if I need a weekly roster filler moving forward.
Brian Davis: The other member of the 40-plus club in the top 10 this week, T6, the Englishman hasn’t been in this atmosphere since the 2013 DBC (solo eighth). In his last 34 events on TOUR, he’s only hit the top 25 four times so he was quite the surprise this week. Seeing that he's MC in three of five career starts and never finishing better than T45, I’ll chalk this one up to a large surprise. He putted the dimples off the ball (third; SGP) and only made two bogeys on the weekend.
Zach Blair: His name popped up for gamers as he was in the final group at the Frys.com before his 74 on Sunday knocked him to T12. His T6 this week opened my eyes as rookies/youngsters don’t usually play well on these classic tracks. He also was T25 at the Australian Masters last December and that’s never an easy track. After opening with four bogeys and a double for 71 on Thursday, he closed 66-64-67 with just three bogeys for his first top 10 on the big boy circuit. Rolling in 21 birdies didn’t hurt anything. He now has my attention moving forward.
Rory Sabbatini: He’s posted 66 or better in his last four events on TOUR and has racked up finishes of T22, T8, T56 and T6 this week. This week followed form as he opened with 64 and closed with 63 but found 67-74 in the middle that kept him from the big bucks. These results were after 11 events in a row with nothing inside the top 37. Investors make sure to bring a seat-belt and shock absorbers for this bumpy ride but he makes sense at Waialae where he’s made 10 of the last 11 weekends and half of those are T13 or better.
Max Homa: He jumped onto the radar in his first event as a pro as he finished T9 at the 2013 Frys.com. He couldn’t parlay that into a sustained run but he went on to win later that year on the Web.com. He earned his card by finishing 17th on their money list last year. He’s now made four cuts from seven this season but his T6 this week beats the T39, T43 and T29 prior. Let’s see what he learned from his last go-around.
Shawn Stefani: He backed up his solo second last time out at Mayakoba with T6 this week. That’s four weekends in a row and what I like is that his best finishes are on multiple styles of courses. He lost in a playoff to Justin Rose at Congressional last summer and was T5 at SHO. He was T7 at Innisbrook and TPC Southwind in 2013. Now, he adds Waialae and Mayakoba to his bounty. I’m definitely interested as his game travels.
Justin Thomas: As pointed out in the preview, each year only a few up-and-comers perform on this track because of the quirks of weather, wind and design. Thomas is proving why he was probably the most highly thought after rookie entering this season as he set the course record, 61, in the second round. It took him until hole No. 38 to make his first bogey on the week. His 70-70 weekend saw him finish T6 which is his second top 10 in his last three events. He now has three top 10s in 15 career starts as a pro.
Chalk Dust
A quick recap of what happened to the Chalk from my preview column:
Jimmy Walker: WIN
Russell Henley: After a vomit-inducing 72 on Thursday, the 2013 champ and tournament record setter responded with 64-67-67 to finish T17. His 2014-15 has begun T4-T35-T3-T17. He only made four bogeys on the week so he’s hardly faltering.
Chris Kirk: He closed last week with 62 to save face at Kapalua and he pulled the same trick again this week at Waialae. After learning my lesson, I put Kirk in the lineup Sunday and he responded with 64 to jump up 35 spots to T26. He opened 66-67 before being derailed by a Saturday 74. Yeah, it happens, but so does getting low and that’s why he’s valuable in the Yahoo! format. Oh, and he’s doing all of this while not making ANYTHING on the greens. He had THREE bogey-free rounds this week and finished T26. It’s coming. Be patient.
Jason Day: He opened with 65 but was just five under the rest of the week to finish T17 but he’s HEALTHY! He’s now seven of his last eight in the 60s at WCC but nothing spectacularly low. That’s the next step here.
Matt Kuchar: T3
Hideki Matsuyama: His 66 on Friday saw him make the cut but his second 72 of the week on Saturday saw him MDF. Each round of 72 had a double bogey but his 66 had no bogeys of any kind. His normally sound ball-striking was quiet for most of the week and he didn’t continue the form he showed last week just missing out on the playoff at the HTOC. Going forward, I’m not concerned but I’ll remind myself that he is 22 and this happens.
Zach Johnson: Just when I believe to have a handle on Johnson I feel that I lose my grip. After a very solid week at Kapalua last week, he didn’t fire this week at a course where he has won and racked up T8 last year. He made 10 birdies in four rounds. Consistently inconsistent. Grumble.
Sang-moon Bae: 70 or better in all four rounds usually results in something better than T51. Not when only 12 birdies find the card. In his last two trips he’s carded 70 five times in eight rounds. He’s won, MC, T5, sixth and T51 to start the year. Keep an eye at Rotoworld.com to follow his current legal situation and how it will affect his schedule moving forward.
Charles Howell III: The king is dead; long live the king. After T2, T3 and T8 the last three years, CH3 finally didn’t fire and limped home T26. Sure, all four rounds were in the 60s, as they usually are, but he came home in 36 to miss the top 10 for the just the second time in seven years.
Tim Clark: On the fifth hole on Sunday, Clark reacted to a shot out of the rough by grabbing his elbow. He was 11-under at the time and in the top five. He made three pars the rest of the day and shot 74 to finish T30. For gamers who stuck with him on Sunday, it was unlucky; gamers who have been around the block aren’t surprised that Clark is having elbow problems. RED LIGHT FLASHING for weekly gamers and especially season-long investors.
Marc Leishman: His sixth trip to WCC brought his worst finish but his best round, a 62 on Friday. He didn’t break par the rest of the week but showed his penchant for getting low here. He could be the next Jimmy Walker on this course but Walker backed his 62 up with a 63. His T37 was his first finish outside of the top 27.
Robert Streb: T17 as his opening 63 put him just off the lead but his 69-69-69 kept him at arms-length. His excellent 2014-15 rolls on and this is just more evidence that he’s not going anywhere. He’s currently No. 2 in the FedExCup standings.
Webb Simpson: He stopped for a quick lesson with the putter with Butch Harmon on the way out. Simpson is now using a standard putter after years with a belly. He broke the belly over his knee and put it in his trophy case so he wouldn’t be tempted to use it again. Whatever Harmon told him, unsurprisingly, worked and he opened by making everything on the greens and firing 62. He was 12-under after two rounds and 11-under after Sunday to finish T13. The putter’s mojo didn’t last but it’s a step in the right direction. Stay tuned.
Ryan Palmer: Like Streb he fired a 63 with three 69s to finish T17 except his 63 was on Friday. The 2010 champ now has finished T8 and T17 in his last two here. He’ll be one of the favorites next week in the desert now that the rust is gone.
Kevin Na: He was seven-under heading to the weekend and 71-74 knocked him all the way back to T64. Keep up with his career of “all-or-nothing” at Waialae. Sigh.
Coming TUESDAY Afternoon
I’ll publish my weekly preview, Range Rover, around lunchtime, children permitting. I’ll focus on history, course characteristics, winning qualities and those who I think will and will not.
Coming TUESDAY Afternoon Pt. II
Playing the Tips will be up and running this and every Tuesday late afternoon and will list all of the Rotoworld experts picks in the GolfChannel.com game, the Yahoo! Fantasy Golf game, DFS plus the European Tour! Oh, and my One-and-Done feature. Look for it every Tuesday until the Presidents Cup.
Coming Wednesday
And the analysis doesn't end here. Rotoworld's Rob Bolton and I will be co-hosting a one-hour live chat Wednesday at NOON ET. We will be breaking down the field at the Humana plus answering your questions. Simply return to the golf home page to join in on the chatter. Don’t forget to follow Rob (http://twitter.com/RobBoltonGolf) and Glass (http://twitter.com/mikeglasscott) on Twitter.
