Monday Rundown: Great Scott!
Adam Scott became the third Australian to win on the PGA Tour this year, claiming the Genesis Invitational after an enthralling week at Riviera CC. Meanwhile, in South Africa, pre-tournament favourite Christiaan Bezuidenhout eagled the 72nd hole to beat George Coetzee by one shot at the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt Golf Estate.
The table was set, the guests had arrived, and an array of delicious ingredients were prepared. There was very little, it appears, that could spoil this meal.
While CBS Golf may have tried their best to spoil the evening with coverage that was, shall we say (for now), lacking, the tournament was otherwise especially memorable. The biggest and best descended upon this Californian masterpiece, and it had more than just a menacing bark.
Every player in the field had felt Riviera's bite come Sunday evening.
The final group of Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy and Matt Kuchar all felt some trauma on Sunday, with McIlroy and Scott playing the Par-4 fourth hole in a combined 13 strokes. While Scott managed to rally, McIlroy and Kuchar both went on to post over par rounds of 73 and 72 respectfully, though all three still finished inside the Top-5.
In the group in front of them, Harold Varner III had a day to forget. Despite an eagle three on his first hole on Sunday, Varner went on to record four bogeys and one double bogey en route to a final round 74, which dropped him from T-4, to just outside of the the Top-10.
HV3's struggles were encapsulated by a 126 yard top with his 3-wood off of the 10th tee, which came while tied for the lead. The resulting double bogey six ultimately derailed his title chances, and the young North Carolinian will have to wait some more for his first PGA Tour title.
Tournament host Tiger Woods also had a week to forget, even despite starting like an Olympic sprinter, making eagle on his first hole of the tournament, and cruising to four under par after just seven holes.
There was little else to get excited about for Tiger fans, however, as rounds of 73, 76 and 77 followed his opening 69, as he succumbed to just his second career last-placed finish.
Very little of this will be incredibly indicative of form moving forward, as it was one of the toughest days for the professionals all season. In fact, only nine players broke 70 on Sunday, equating to just 13% of the final round field. Only four holes on the entire course played under par during the final round, as the scoring average in Round 4 came in at just above one shot over par.
There were some eye-catching performances on Sunday, however. Scott Brown, Sunk Kang, Hideki Matsuyama and Bryson DeChambeau all put sub-70 rounds together to bring them into contention, but ultimately fell short.
Even despite a couple of blips, it never really appeared as though Adam Scott was out of the driving seat on Sunday. He made double bogey on the fifth, and had to hole a testing six footer on 15 to avoid a second on the day, but aside from this, Scott was in control.
He drove the ball excellent, was assured with his approach play, and his putting was absolutely magnificient. In Round 4 alone, Scott gained two strokes on the greens, which proved to be the difference as he cruised to his second worldwide win of the 2020 season.
Meanwhile, at Fancourt Golf Estate, the Challenge Tour played host to the Dimension Data Pro-Am. Despite being a Challenge Tour event and co-sanctioned with South Africa's Sunshine Tour, it typically draws a lot of top Springbok golfers. This year was no exception, with European Tour regulars dominating the top end of the leaderboard.
After opening with a 61, Christiaan Bezuidenhout soared to a score of 25 under par, defeating fellow European Tour member George Coetzee by just one stroke. It was a hard fought win for Bezuidenhout, who arrived at the 72nd tee trailing Coetzee by one shot, but an eagle up the Par-5 18th sealed the victory.
JC Ritchie continued his good form on the Challenge Tour this season, placing 5th for the tournament, and moving up to 1st overall in the Road to Mallorca standings.
Looking forward to the week ahead, there will be two events on the main tours. It's the first WGC event of 2020 at Chapultepec in Mexico, and the alternate PGA Tour event will be the Puerto Rico Open.
Talk about a fantastic tournament.
This week really had everything. The top players in the world were pushed beyond the boundaries of their comfort level, and the result was being able to watch more captivating, fascinating golf shots in the first half hour of a stunted broadcast, than would have been imaginable in four full rounds at a majority of other PGA venues.
Not only was the course intriguing for the ardent viewer, but the leaderboard moving to the final-nine holes was chock-a-block with exciting story lines.
You had a final group packed full of talent, with Adam Scott eventually having to hold them off as tournament drew to a gripping finish. There was the potential of a Joel Dahmen/Sung Kang playoff, which would have been the golf equivalent of a gun duel at High Noon. Fan favourite Max Homa made a charge at the title on the back nine, as did top-players Hideki Matsuyama and Bryson DeChambeau. Ten players started the day within three shots of the lead or better.
Eventually, the best player came out on top, which was the perfect way to end a sublime week. This was a tournament many golf fans won't forget in a hurry.
(Special mention to "Player of the Week Runner Up," Martin Trainer, who after 22 consecutive missed cuts on Tour, made the cut on the number at Riviera. Hopefully The Quick Hook was slightly premature in including Martin Trainer's game in the "In Memoriam" section in the last edition of the Monday Rundown.)
Even watching from the UK on Sky Sports, it was apparent how bad the broadcast was in the States. Failing to show Max Homa and Joel Dahmen on Sunday until they trailed the tournament leader by just one shot was epicentre of their problems, but not the sole issue.
Co-leader Harold Varner III topped a tee-shot off of the iconic Par-4 10th hole, and they failed to show this for an hour.
On Friday, Sky Golf commentators announced that they would be going to the limited coverage of solely their own cameras for the final hour and a half of play, as CBS cameras were done for the day. World Numbers One and Two Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka still had a majority of their back-nine to play. This is inexcusable.
A number of fervent golf fans felt aggrieved by the broadcasters shortcomings, taking to online platforms to ardently admonish the product they were being provided - and rightfully so. While Sky cut to informative graphics and video segments of Andrew Coltart demonstrating the difficulty of the architecture of Riviera CC, CBS seemed to cut to commercials, an interview with a CEO whose shirt buttons were in more need of support than HV3's Sunday scoring average, and to yet more repetitive and irrelevant conversations between Sir Nick Faldo and Jim Nantz.
Worse than all this, they seem to adopt a defensive snarl anytime a critical finger is extended in their direction. There is certainly no admission forthcoming that they got it wrong, and it would appear the denial has manifested so deep, that golf fans can't expect CBS to even pretend to envisage a scenario in which they promise their viewers sunnier horizons.
Golf fans deserve better, but by all accounts, better isn't coming.
Noren is no longer playing second fiddle to Henrik Stenson in the race to be Sweden's top ranked golfer, as he has now dropped below Marcus Kinhult in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Once ranked as high as number eight in the world, Noren has been skydiving down the standings for over two years now, and after this week finds himself on the verge of dropping out of the official Top-100, sitting in the 96th spot.
He hasn't missed a cut on the PGA Tour since the US Open last June, but his best finish in that period on both the PGA and European Tour is T-10. He'll tee it up this week in the alternate PGA event in Puerto Rico, looking to bring an end to this downward spiral.
Needing a birdie for a playoff in his home country, Christiaan Bezuidenhout went one better. Go to the 1 minute and 47 second mark in this video for the approach and the putt.
Photo from PGA Tour
Riviera CC and the Genesis Invitational have everything that a golf tournament needs to be successful. It has one of the most architecturally interesting golf courses on the PGA Tour, Tiger Woods as a tournament host, and it's just far enough away from the 'wraparound season' that all of the big names mark it as the event that will bring them into the new golf season.The table was set, the guests had arrived, and an array of delicious ingredients were prepared. There was very little, it appears, that could spoil this meal.
While CBS Golf may have tried their best to spoil the evening with coverage that was, shall we say (for now), lacking, the tournament was otherwise especially memorable. The biggest and best descended upon this Californian masterpiece, and it had more than just a menacing bark.
Every player in the field had felt Riviera's bite come Sunday evening.
The final group of Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy and Matt Kuchar all felt some trauma on Sunday, with McIlroy and Scott playing the Par-4 fourth hole in a combined 13 strokes. While Scott managed to rally, McIlroy and Kuchar both went on to post over par rounds of 73 and 72 respectfully, though all three still finished inside the Top-5.
In the group in front of them, Harold Varner III had a day to forget. Despite an eagle three on his first hole on Sunday, Varner went on to record four bogeys and one double bogey en route to a final round 74, which dropped him from T-4, to just outside of the the Top-10.
HV3's struggles were encapsulated by a 126 yard top with his 3-wood off of the 10th tee, which came while tied for the lead. The resulting double bogey six ultimately derailed his title chances, and the young North Carolinian will have to wait some more for his first PGA Tour title.
Tournament host Tiger Woods also had a week to forget, even despite starting like an Olympic sprinter, making eagle on his first hole of the tournament, and cruising to four under par after just seven holes.
There was little else to get excited about for Tiger fans, however, as rounds of 73, 76 and 77 followed his opening 69, as he succumbed to just his second career last-placed finish.
Very little of this will be incredibly indicative of form moving forward, as it was one of the toughest days for the professionals all season. In fact, only nine players broke 70 on Sunday, equating to just 13% of the final round field. Only four holes on the entire course played under par during the final round, as the scoring average in Round 4 came in at just above one shot over par.
There were some eye-catching performances on Sunday, however. Scott Brown, Sunk Kang, Hideki Matsuyama and Bryson DeChambeau all put sub-70 rounds together to bring them into contention, but ultimately fell short.
Even despite a couple of blips, it never really appeared as though Adam Scott was out of the driving seat on Sunday. He made double bogey on the fifth, and had to hole a testing six footer on 15 to avoid a second on the day, but aside from this, Scott was in control.
He drove the ball excellent, was assured with his approach play, and his putting was absolutely magnificient. In Round 4 alone, Scott gained two strokes on the greens, which proved to be the difference as he cruised to his second worldwide win of the 2020 season.
Meanwhile, at Fancourt Golf Estate, the Challenge Tour played host to the Dimension Data Pro-Am. Despite being a Challenge Tour event and co-sanctioned with South Africa's Sunshine Tour, it typically draws a lot of top Springbok golfers. This year was no exception, with European Tour regulars dominating the top end of the leaderboard.
After opening with a 61, Christiaan Bezuidenhout soared to a score of 25 under par, defeating fellow European Tour member George Coetzee by just one stroke. It was a hard fought win for Bezuidenhout, who arrived at the 72nd tee trailing Coetzee by one shot, but an eagle up the Par-5 18th sealed the victory.
JC Ritchie continued his good form on the Challenge Tour this season, placing 5th for the tournament, and moving up to 1st overall in the Road to Mallorca standings.
Looking forward to the week ahead, there will be two events on the main tours. It's the first WGC event of 2020 at Chapultepec in Mexico, and the alternate PGA Tour event will be the Puerto Rico Open.
Player of the Week
Riviera CC
Talk about a fantastic tournament.
This week really had everything. The top players in the world were pushed beyond the boundaries of their comfort level, and the result was being able to watch more captivating, fascinating golf shots in the first half hour of a stunted broadcast, than would have been imaginable in four full rounds at a majority of other PGA venues.
Not only was the course intriguing for the ardent viewer, but the leaderboard moving to the final-nine holes was chock-a-block with exciting story lines.
You had a final group packed full of talent, with Adam Scott eventually having to hold them off as tournament drew to a gripping finish. There was the potential of a Joel Dahmen/Sung Kang playoff, which would have been the golf equivalent of a gun duel at High Noon. Fan favourite Max Homa made a charge at the title on the back nine, as did top-players Hideki Matsuyama and Bryson DeChambeau. Ten players started the day within three shots of the lead or better.
Eventually, the best player came out on top, which was the perfect way to end a sublime week. This was a tournament many golf fans won't forget in a hurry.
(Special mention to "Player of the Week Runner Up," Martin Trainer, who after 22 consecutive missed cuts on Tour, made the cut on the number at Riviera. Hopefully The Quick Hook was slightly premature in including Martin Trainer's game in the "In Memoriam" section in the last edition of the Monday Rundown.)
Bust of the Week
CBS Golf
Even watching from the UK on Sky Sports, it was apparent how bad the broadcast was in the States. Failing to show Max Homa and Joel Dahmen on Sunday until they trailed the tournament leader by just one shot was epicentre of their problems, but not the sole issue.
Co-leader Harold Varner III topped a tee-shot off of the iconic Par-4 10th hole, and they failed to show this for an hour.
On Friday, Sky Golf commentators announced that they would be going to the limited coverage of solely their own cameras for the final hour and a half of play, as CBS cameras were done for the day. World Numbers One and Two Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka still had a majority of their back-nine to play. This is inexcusable.
A number of fervent golf fans felt aggrieved by the broadcasters shortcomings, taking to online platforms to ardently admonish the product they were being provided - and rightfully so. While Sky cut to informative graphics and video segments of Andrew Coltart demonstrating the difficulty of the architecture of Riviera CC, CBS seemed to cut to commercials, an interview with a CEO whose shirt buttons were in more need of support than HV3's Sunday scoring average, and to yet more repetitive and irrelevant conversations between Sir Nick Faldo and Jim Nantz.
Worse than all this, they seem to adopt a defensive snarl anytime a critical finger is extended in their direction. There is certainly no admission forthcoming that they got it wrong, and it would appear the denial has manifested so deep, that golf fans can't expect CBS to even pretend to envisage a scenario in which they promise their viewers sunnier horizons.
Golf fans deserve better, but by all accounts, better isn't coming.
Free Fallin'
Alex Noren
Noren is no longer playing second fiddle to Henrik Stenson in the race to be Sweden's top ranked golfer, as he has now dropped below Marcus Kinhult in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Once ranked as high as number eight in the world, Noren has been skydiving down the standings for over two years now, and after this week finds himself on the verge of dropping out of the official Top-100, sitting in the 96th spot.
He hasn't missed a cut on the PGA Tour since the US Open last June, but his best finish in that period on both the PGA and European Tour is T-10. He'll tee it up this week in the alternate PGA event in Puerto Rico, looking to bring an end to this downward spiral.
Moment of the Week
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Needing a birdie for a playoff in his home country, Christiaan Bezuidenhout went one better. Go to the 1 minute and 47 second mark in this video for the approach and the putt.
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