Straits Flushed
Australian Jason Day broke through and won his first major championship as he toasted Pete Dye's Whistling Straits (Straits Course), in Kohler, Wis., to the tune of 20-under-par 268 to defeat American Jordan Spieth by three shots. South African Brendan Grace rounded out the podium two shots further behind. Day becomes the first Australian to win a PGA Championship since Steve Elkington in 1995 and first Aussie to win a major since Adam Scott in 2013.
Why This Performance Doesn’t Surprise:
This could take awhile so grab some popcorn!
Day entered the week off finishes of T9-T4-WIN-T12 and 14 of his last 16 rounds were par or better. Of those four events, three were majors or WGC events.
He was the 54-hole leader or co-leader at Chambers Bay, St. Andrews and Whistling Straits so big events and big courses hardly bother him.
His first PGA was here in 2010 and he was paired with Martin Kaymer on Sunday, four shots behind 54-hole leader Nick Watney. He had a front-row seat to see how the business was done on this track.
His talent is immense as is his story. CBS did a wonderful job showing how he got to this point and where he came from to do it. Similar to countryman Adam Scott, Day's game and career has been designed around winning the Masters and major championships. He can cross one of those off his list.
This was Day's 10th top 10 in 21 majors and seventh in his last 12. His three previous majors this year saw him just fall short (T28-T9-T4) so he was recently conditioned on what it takes to win (see: final group heartache). Remember that he also produced the lowest score ever NOT to win a U.S. Open when he was eight shots behind McIlroy at Congressional in 2011.
Day had already won twice this season (Farmers Insurance, RBC Canadian) on top of his exploits in the majors so he was more than knocking on the door. Day avoided joining Hunter Mahan (2013) and Rickie Fowler (2014) as players who seemed to be in contention every Sunday in the majors but couldn't break through.
Why This Performance Surprises:
His first 54-hole lead on TOUR was in 2010 at the AT&T Byron Nelson. He went on to win for the first time on TOUR. The last seven times he's had the lead or co-lead he has not won, including the last two majors before the PGA. His other two wins this season he came from off the pace. He defeated Victor Dubuisson to win the 2014 WGC-Match Play (no leads in match play!).
Winning the first one is always the hardest. Something about not doing it until you have done it was the quote Faldo used and it makes perfect sense. The mountain is the most rugged at the summit and some of the better players of the last 15 years couldn't navigate that final stage. Garcia. Westwood. Stenson. Dustin Johnson. Kuchar. Day had a CV of bad beats and tough finishes and until the trophy is lifted there would always be questions.
No more.
How Day Won This Week:
Quite simply, he destroyed Dye's masterpiece on the shores of Lake Michigan quite handily. He has no problem going low and becomes the 13th player to put all four rounds in the 60s while winning a major championship (68-67-66-67). He joins Jordan Spieth (2015 Masters) and Tiger Woods (2000 St. Andrews) as the only players to hit 19-under-par. He and Woods are the only two players to hit 20-under-par. He's the only player to win a major 20 shots below par.
He ranked T1 in birdies and T2 in eagles (2). He only made seven bogeys on the week (T6) and one double. He was 29-under in par-breakers. In a major championship. Blimey. He made no less than seven birdies in the final three rounds.
His ball-striking, as most thought would be the case, was out-of-this-world for the week. He was T5 in fairways, fifth in distance and second in GIR. He led the field in strokes-gained: tee-to-green (SGTTG). His putter also stood up and was counted as he was fifth in putts-per-GIR and 13th in strokes-gained: putting (SGP). Surprisingly the Aussie was only 50% (3 of 6) in sand saves. Hey, nobody's perfect, but man, he was close!
If the above wasn't enough, he played the par-five holes 14-under for the week. That alone would have been good enough for T4!
If there were any doubts entering the final round about his nerve closing the deal, they were quickly erased with four circles in his first seven holes. As the round percolated, every time Spieth, Grace or Rose would pop into the rearview mirror, Day answered, answered and answered again. He made plenty of birdies and quality pars that never gave the field any hope of catching up. The key shot/hole for me that sealed the deal was his up-and-down after throwing the sod over his wedge from the middle of the fairway. That could have been the unraveling. That could have been the thoughts creeping into his mind from not getting it done at St. Andrews last time out. It wasn't. He was too great for the field and this course.
Whistling Straits proved once again it's not a links course but a links-style course. There is plenty of danger around each bunker, bluff and vista but Pete Dye's big boy reminded gamers again that great shots are greatly rewarded and poor shots are not. The players who put their golf ball in the first cut or in the middle of the fairway had a chance to attack pins. The players who attacked pins with proper distance control had the best chance of holing putts. Errant or marginal shots led to marginal results and both Day and Spieth carved the place to shreds. The weather, thought to be a factor this week, bothered players Thursday afternoon but after that was hardly a huge factor. The top 16 players were double digits under-par. The playoff in 2010 was two players at 11-under.
Moving Forward:
What I've learned this year with Day is when he's healthy he's absolute fantasy gold. The question had been, too often for most gamers, whether or not he could last the season without missing significant events. After being treated for Vertigo he's been lights-out. He's also avoided the thumb, wrist, calf, ankle, back, etc., that he runs into annually. He's 27 and should be locked up for as long as possible in any keeper leagues and his starts in Yahoo! must be rationed. Child No. 2 arrives this fall so we'll all learn how this affects his golf attitude moving forward. Child No. 1 hardly saw him miss a beat; the injuries contributed to that. As long as everyone is happy and healthy and Col Swatton remains on the bag, it's all systems go so BUY, BUY, BUY!
With This Win:
Day banks $1.8 million, 600 FedExCup points and the Wannamaker Trophy.
Déjà vu All Over Again?
After 28 wins in 45 events last season, the USA was quite dominant but it has been the rest of the world to collect the biggest checks the last two weeks with Shane Lowry at the WGC-BI and Day this week at the PGA.
Brooks Koepka, Bill Haas, Jimmy Walker, Patrick Reed, Charley Hoffman, Bubba Watson twice, Ryan Moore, Robert Streb, Ben Martin, Brandt Snedeker, James Hahn (born in Korea; US citizen), Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Matt Every, Walker again, J.B. Holmes, Spieth again, Jim Furyk, Rickie Fowler, Chris Kirk, Spieth three more times, Zach Johnson, Scott Piercy, Troy Merritt and J.J. Henry are the USA champs.
Alex Cejka (Germany), Paddy Harrington (Ireland), Sangmoon Bae (Korea), Nick Taylor (Canada), Jason Day, three times, (Australia), Justin Rose (England), McIlroy times two (Northern Ireland), Steven Bowditch (Australia), David Lingmerth (Sweden), Fabian Gomez (Argentina), Danny Lee (South Korea) and Lowry (Ireland) are the 15 international winners in 42 events. It’s quite the global game as the winners represent Germany, Ireland (twice), Korea (twice), Canada, Australia (four times), England, Northern Ireland (same guy twice), Sweden and Argentina.
Only 17 players in 41 events this season have closed the 54-hole leads. This was the 41st event as the WGC-Match Play doesn't have a 54-hole leader.
After 13 first-time winners in 2013 there were only 10 last year. After 41 events in 2015 Gomez, Lingmerth, Martin, Streb, Taylor, Koepka, Hahn, Cejka, Lee, Merritt and Lowry have broken through to make it 11 players.
The course record was beaten this week by Hiroshi Iwata, just like everyone predicted, with his 63 on Friday. He made 10 birdies and an eagle on a major championship course. He opened with 77. He finished 70-71 for T21. #RollerCoaster
The tournament record at Whistling Straits was eight-under-par in 2004 in the first edition. In 2010 11-under was the number. Day's 268 destroyed all of that, not only at Whistling Straits but for every major championship.
Day becomes the 15th international player to raise the trophy.
Of the last eight PGA winners, six now have been interntaionals.
All three winners at Whistling Straits are internationals.
Day is the fifth winner of the last six who have been in their 20s.
1982 is the last year where the USA won all four majors.
Young Guns Versus Prime Time Versus Old Guys
I annually keep track of the age of the winners on TOUR because I’m an ageist. GET OFF MY VIAGRA.
Under 30 -- Young Bucks
age in ( ) at time of victory
Sangmoon Bae (28) Frys.com
Ben Martin (27) Shriners
Robert Streb (27) McGladrey
Nick Taylor (26) Sanderson Farms
Patrick Reed (24) HTOC
Brooks Koepka (25) Waste Management
Jason Day (27) Farmers, RBC Canadian, PGA Championship
Jordan Spieth (22) Valspar, Masters, U.S. Open, JDC
Rory McIlroy (26) WGC-Match Play, Wells Fargo
Rickie Fowler (26) THE PLAYERS
David Lingmerth (27) Memorial
Danny Lee (24) Greenbrier
Troy Merritt (29) QLN
Shane Lowry (28) WGC-BI
Prime Time Guys -- 30-39
Ryan Moore (31) CIMB Classic
Charley Hoffman (37) OHL Mayakoba
Bubba Watson WGC-HSBC Champions
Jimmy Walker (36) Sony Open, Valero
Bill Haas (32) Humana
Brandt Snedeker (34) AT&T Pebble Beach
James Hahn (33) Northern Trust
Dustin Johnson (30) WGC-Cadillac Championship
Matt Every (31) Arnold Palmer
J.B. Holmes (32) Shell Houston
Justin Rose (34) Zurich
Chris Kirk (30) Colonial
Steven Bowditch (31) AT&T Byron Nelson
Fabian Gomez (36) FedEx St. Jude
Scott Piercy (36) Barbasol
Zach Johnson (39) The Open Championship
Crusty Veterans -- 40-up
Padraig Harrington (43) Honda
Alex Cejka (44) Puerto Rico Open
Jim Furyk (44) RBC Heritage
Hindsight
What I learned from the finishers in the top 10 this week.
Jordan Spieth: The only surprise this week was he didn't win. His solo second takes him to world No. 1 in the OWGR for the first time. He was 54-under-par in four majors this year and racked up two wins, a solo second and T4. Good job, great effort. The funniest stat of the week was this was the first time he made the cut in three tries at the final major of the year. Entering the year his biggest "weakness" was his ball-striking. I think gamers can forget about that moving forward. Day's record is quite good in majors but check this out: Spieth has played 12 majors and has five top 10s. They are all top-five finishes. Not bad for 22.
Branden Grace: For the second time in three majors the South African big knocker was lurking on Sunday. Paired with Spieth at Chambers Bay he found OB on No. 16 on Sunday to fall to T4. This week he made double to open the back nine but rallied for a birdie on the penultimate hole to secure third alone. He made 84 feet of putts on his first five holes on Sunday after an excellent bogey-free 64 on Saturday to enter the fight. Unlike Chambers Bay he was always in chase mode but the separation was too great at the top. He's only MC twice in 19 events this year and has six top 10s including two early wins. No excuse for this result "to surprise" anyone.
Justin Rose: Like the rest, he was playing for the championship of the second flight and his bogey on the final hole allowed Grace a few more bucks. For the third time this season Rose hit the top 10 in a major and for the second time was steamrolled. He rode shotgun when Spieth was 19-under at Augusta to T2 and was T6 at St. Andrews. This was his fifth top 10 in his last seven worldwide and his fourth consecutive event T6 or better. Gamers, he skipped the first playoff event last year to see his kids off to school so that could be in play moving forward.
Brooks Koepka: He was listed No. 7 in Range Rover and he finished T5. Oops, sorry. He's a wonderful talent that is rarely seen as he was seven-under on Sunday and CBS showed three shots. He's an outstanding player who getting better with more experience. He was T33 at Augusta followed by T18 at Chambers Bay and T10 at St. Andrews. He was T4 at Pinehurst and T15 at Valhalla last year. Shall I continue? He played he first three WGC this year and finished T17-T17-T6. Big talent, big stats and big results should equal big interest among all gamers.
Anirban Lahiri: The Indian is now the best finisher from the subcontinent in the majors as his T5 surpasses T9 from Jeev Milkha-Singh from 2008. He's 28 and made the cut in three of four majors this year (T49-MC-T30-T5). He played himself into the top 50 in the world with two wins in three weeks on the Asian Tour in February. He posted nothing inside the top 35 until the French Open at the beginning of July (T30). He was fifth at the Omega European Masters three weeks ago so he was rounding into form. The question about the Asian Tour players is whether or not their game can travel. Lahiri is answering those questions. Stay tuned.
George Coetzee: His superb 65 in round two had me digging to see why I didn't rate him this week. He won twice earlier this year and had a pair of T3s. I panicked but found my answer. After his last win in Mauritius he played seven events. He MC five times and finished T70 and T74 in the other two. That's not the form I would look at as positive heading into a major! This was his best finish in 13 majors. Of course it was.
Matt Kuchar: The exception to the rule on the shores of Lake Michigan, Kuchar for the second time in two PGAs on this monster had a top finish. He led after 18 and 36 holes in 2010 before finishing T12. He posted three rounds of 68 around his second round 72 to crack the top 10 for only the second time in seven PGAs since 2009. Both of them are at Whistling Straits. Kuchar has made the cut in 11 consecutive majors.
Dustin Johnson: Wow. Congrats to those of you who loaded up on his this week looking for the fairy tale redemption story. He was wonderful counter-programming this week for the course-horses believers who figured he's just too good at golf to not play well at Whistling Straits. Well, that was interesting. He was T65 in fairways and T36 GIR so he hardly played to his strengths. It was the putter that saw him pick up another big finish in Wisconsin as he was third in PPGIR and seventh in SGP. He'll be No. 1 in my rankings at Plainfield at The Barclays in two weeks.
Robert Streb: He limped into the weekend at just one-under but he made the most of his chance as his 67-67 saw him finish T10. Like Koepka, he got better as he went through his first season with major golf. He MC at Augusta, T42 at Chambers Bay and was T18 at St. Andrews so he's off to a flying start. His year on TOUR has been just as steady, if not better, as he's made 10 cuts on the bounce. His T10 this week backed up his solo fifth last week at another big boy event WGC-BI. His worst finish in his last five is T18. #LeeeGittttt
Tony Finau: I wrote in my preview that I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he contended this week because every year there seems to be a young American who plays well in this. He made his first 32 putts inside of 10 feet. He backed up his T14 at Chambers Bay with T10 this week. That's some summer for a rookie who is going to win sooner than later but you already know that from reading about him in this column. He's hit the top 10 five times and the top 25 in 15 of the 20 times he's played the weekend. Not bad, rookie!
Chalk Dust
A quick recap of what happened to the Chalk from my preview column:
Jordan Spieth: Solo second, see above.
Bubba Watson: T21; improved every round (72-71-70-68) but never could get low enough to make the leap into the top 10. He was T4 GIR on the back of T60 finding fairways but couldn't make enough putts.
Justin Rose: Solo fourth, see above.
Jason Day: WINNER, see above.
Rory McIlroy: Solo 17th; In his return to competition off snapping a tendon in his ankle I'd consider this pretty good. The better news for gamers is he had absolutely no problem with it over the four days so I don't anticipate any problems moving forward. Sure, he's not No. 1 in the world anymore but I'm guessing this will put a bit of motivation back in his step. He announced on Sunday that he is SKIPPING The Barclays and will make his return at the DBC on Labor Day weekend.
Rickie Fowler: T30; Last year's darling of the majors (T5 or better in all four in 2014) opened with 73 and never found a round in the 60s to the disappointment of gamers everywhere. As was discussed on Twitter during the final round, Hunter Mahan was in the final group twice in 2013 and never closed. Fowler was the bridesmaid last year and never broke into the top 10 this year (T12-MC-T30-T30).
Brooks Koepka: T5, see above.
Henrik Stenson: T25; He entered the 2015 season with four top fours in his last six majors but similar to Fowler, the big Swede, did not fire this season in the biggest events. He posted T19-T27-T40-T25 but only posted four rounds in the 60s. His T6 last week and profile to attack big, nasty courses never materialized after opening with 76.
Robert Streb: T10, see above.
Adam Scott: Probably the second biggest disappointment of the week (you'll read about the first one next) after 76-75 MC. Much has been made about whether or not Steve Williams will stick on his bag man. Much has been made about the "un-anchoring" of his putter starting next season. What's been lost in all of this is his ball-striking the last two weeks has been abysmal. He was sub-50% this week in fairways and GIR after 39% fairways and 50% GIR last week at Firestone. When Adam Scott doesn't fire on the hardest courses, that's room for concern moving forward.
Zach Johnson: After his win at The Open Championship gamers gave him a pass last week at Firestone in his first event since winning the Claret Jug. Johnson was leaned on heavily this week because he was T3 at WS in 2010 and is known for keeping the ball in the fairway. He was three-under through his first three holes on Friday but the rally was short-lived. He only hit 12 of 28 fairways for the week.
Hideki Matsuyama: For the second week in a row the young Japanese star finished T37 in a big-time event. Unlike last week where he flashed a momentum-inducing 66 on Sunday he didn't find one round in the 60s during his first trip to Whistling Straits. He's set the bar so high with his early performances it's easy to see why gamers like me (OAD this week) are frustrated. Last year at the PGA he was T35 and rattled off MC-T30-T57-T20-22nd to close Wyndham-The TOUR Championship so buyer beware on him slowing down.
Louis Oosthuizen: T30; Saved his best round for last and his 69 moved him up 22 spots to secure four finishes of T30 or better in the four majors (T19-T2-T2-T30). He was 27-under for those events and proved that WHEN HEALTHY he needs to be inspected for most formats.
Matt Kuchar: T7, see above.
Sergio Garcia: Some will argue that this course just doesn't fit his eye. I will argue after four more rounds of 70 or worse that this might be the case. He MC in 2004 and 2010 and T54 this season doesn't help either. Since his T2 in 2008 he's missed three cuts and has finishes of T12-T61-T35-T54. Might not be the major to "save" him for down the road.
Danny Willett: The 27-year-old Englishman has now made three cuts in a row at the final major but nothing better than T30 with his T54 this week. He was under the weather last week in Akron so I'll give him a pass this week. He's shown in the past when healthy he's a complete factor and gamers would do well to lock him up in keeper leagues if they haven't already.
Patrick Reed: I can't figure him out, sorry. When I fade him he plays great; when I'm on him he doesn't. He's an immense talent who still have enough inconsistencies to drive gamers up the wall. T30 this week included 75 on Thursday and 73 more on Sunday to wipe out 69-67 in the middle. SOMETHING FOR EVEYRONE!
Branden Grace: Solo third, see above.
Jim Furyk: He won't be playing the next big one at Whistling Straits but he'll probably be Stricker's vice captain at the 2020 Ryder Cup. His T30 was solid but nothing more as excellent ball-striking didn't get any support from his putter. He's a course-horse and this track just doesn't fit but his form entering the week was too solid to dismiss altogether.
Martin Kaymer: The "defending champ" began the final round four shots back just like did in 2010. He played with Jason Day that afternoon and beat Watson in a playoff to win his first major. This year, he was the only player in the top 20 to post a final round score OVER par. His 65 on Saturday put him into position but an early double wiped out any momentum. There's no doubt the big German loves this course as he only made five bogeys for the week. Sadly he also made two doubles but T12 is excellent for course-horse players who knew he had been warming up in July.
Coming TUESDAY
I’ll publish my weekly preview, Range Rover, around lunchtime, children permitting. I’ll focus on history, current form, course characteristics, winning qualities and those who I think will and will not.
Coming TUESDAY Afternoon
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 Wyndham Championship 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.
