Chris Stiles: A win for the kids, and for grandpa too

Aug. 7—GREENSBORO — As a kid, Lucas Glover thought Sedgefield Country Club had "the best pool ever" when the Greenville, South Carolina native visited relatives at the Greensboro course.

Glover's own kids must think Sedgefield is pretty cool, too. It's where Daddy wins.

Glover won the Wyndham Championship Sunday, earning his fifth career PGA Tour win — but the first with his children in attendance. After the final putt dropped, Lucille and Lucas Jr. ran onto the 18th green to greet their victorious father; Lucille cried happy tears, while Lucas Jr. proclaimed "Daddy — you won!" over and over in his excitement.

"That was pretty cool they got to run out (on the green) and do that," Lucas Glover Sr. said. "We've had a fun week and they've had fun. It's very satisfying for them to get to experience it with me."

During the wholesome experience, Glover's mind wandered back to his own childhood, and the man who got him started in the game of golf — his grandfather. The win came on the late Dick Hendley's 97th birthday.

When play resumed after a two-hour weather delay with four holes to go, Glover felt he saw a sign of his grandfather's presence.

"There was a rainbow behind 15 tee ... I think that was him," Glover said just after he was presented the Sam Snead Cup.

"He got me started playing and was my mentor and my hero and all that stuff," he told the press later. "I tried not to think about it too much until the end there. I like to think I had a leg up on everybody today because of that."

And perhaps he did — the stretch run to Glover's win included both a good break for the victor and a bad one for his main challenger, Russell Henley.

Glover got a fortuitous bounce from a moving golf cart after an errant drive on the 18th hole, keeping the ball from bouncing further into the pines left of the fairway and maintaining a playable angle for what was ultimately a layup second shot, leading to an up-and-down par to seal the two-stroke win over Henley and Byeong Hun An.

Henley, meanwhile, had birdied the 15th hole when play resumed after the delay to take a one-stroke lead, playing one group ahead of Glover. His tee shot on the 16th landed short of the ridge that divides the green on the par-3, rolled back short of the green and found a massive divot where multiple other chip shots had been taken. The ensuing bogey dropped Henley back into a tie with Glover.

"I don't know how Russ' ball got there on 16. I've got a pretty good idea, so he probably hit a pretty good shot. It just came down the hill and then he got unlucky," Glover said. "I did the same thing and I got a good break, so we probably both executed what we were looking to do."

A bad drive led to bogey at the 17th for Henley, then a failed up-and-down attempt at the 18th left him helpless as Glover played the home hole behind him with a two-stroke lead.

More broadly, Glover separated himself from the pack by playing steady golf, looking as comfortable on Sunday afternoon as any other point in the tournament. After an opening bogey, Glover was bogey-free the rest of the day; those around him — Henley, who lost a Sunday lead at the Wyndham for the second time in three years, and 54-hole co-leader Billy Horschel, who was without a birdie until the last hole as he fidgeted his way around Sedgefield — seemed to be far more affected by the pressure.

Henley even admitted as much: "Yeah, just never got comfortable, felt a little jittery out there," he said. "Just never got into a good sync with my swing, felt kind of rushed from the top of my swing, just didn't do a good job of handling the restart."

It was a sign of experience paying off for Glover, a U.S. Open champion and two-time U.S. Presidents Cupper in his 20s who is now in the veteran phase of his career at age 43. Needing a top-two finish to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs, he won the Wyndham Championship for the first time in his 19th appearance in the event, the most in the field.

"I think it just comes down to execution even if you're uncomfortable," Glover said. "Execution and a bit of luck to win out here is what it comes down to here. Experience is knowing that. All you can do is execute the shot you see and feel, and if you do, you do, if you don't, you've got to go figure it out."

Glover's experience on Tour hasn't necessarily all been positive; he spoke openly after Sunday's win about a 10-year battle with the yips in his putting stroke, describing in detail the exact moment they began, and saying he's been "so far down that road" that if a recent switch to the broomstick-style putter hadn't worked, he was prepared to attempt putting left-handed.

But he's been able to "figure it out" there too, ranking 15th for the week in strokes gained: putting, and making several key putts while dueling Henley Sunday afternoon.

One key, he said, has been thinking about it as little as possible and just playing golf.

Just playing golf, like when he was kid with his grandfather.

Decades later, that kid's own children watched Daddy just play golf — and do it better than everyone else.

Sports editor Chris Stiles can be reached at 910-816-1977 or by email at cstiles@robesonian.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @StilesOnSports.