Champ wins Safeway Open for second TOUR title

By
Mo Yoshimoto,

By
Mo Yoshimoto

Published September 30, 2019 09:34 AM

Safeway Open

Silverado Resort & Spa

Napa, CA

Winner’s Share: $1,188,000

Playing out of the final twosome, overnight leader and Sacramento native Cameron Champ answered an adrenaline-affected bogey on the 71^st hole (missed par-saver from 4’5”) with an up-and-down birdie at the last to cap-off a 3-under-par 69 and win by one over runner-up Adam Hadwin (67).

The World No. 170, a pre-tourney 80/1 outright, claims his second PGA TOUR victory in 35 events (33 pro), and with the win, earns a host of goodies, including and invite to his first Masters in April.

This was the 13^th Safeway (dating to 2007) and first time it wasn’t contested in the month of October. Since the advent of the wraparound schedule in 2013-14, the tournament had been the lid-lifter for the previous six seasons.

It moved to event No. 3 as part of the TOUR’s revamped – and beefed-up – fall schedule, which features 11 events prior to the holiday break.

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Last season, Champ opened his rookie campaign here in Napa. After kicking off with 70-71, he was one of 19 to make the cut (T68) on the number, and then, one of nine to survive a secondary cut (T66) on the number.

The Texas A&M product wrapped with 68 (5 birdies, 1 bogey) to vault 41 spots for a then-career-best T25, and in perhaps a precursor on what was to come, led the field in SG: Off-the-Tee (6.418).

As a Web.com Tour grad (11^th in priority rankings), he sat out the next two weeks, not qualifying for limited-field no-cut events in Malaysia and Korea, but played the Sanderson Farms in Mississippi opposite the WGC-HSBC in China.

In his ninth career start, seventh pro and second as a member, Champ won the Sanderson Farms by four on 21-under, leading/co-leading after each of the first three rounds.

He birdied five of his final six holes to win by four on 21-under after being the 54-hole leader by four.

Champ followed with three top 30s, two of those top 10s, and then a T11 (of 33) at the Sentry TOC on Maui, where he was the only rookie to crack the winner’s only field.

In his next 18 starts, he missed 11 cuts, WD’d one, and failed to record a top 25 before T21 at THE NORTHERN TRUST to kick-off the post-season.

Champ was eliminated with a T65 at the BMW and finished 62^nd in the FedExCup standings.

As a result of the re-tooled schedule this season, the Sanderson Farms came before the Safeway, and the Texas resident posted a T28 (68-71-69-70) last week at the CC of Jackson as defending champion, where (again) he led the field in SG: Off-the-Tee – by a wide margin – at 7.948.

Prior to turning pro at the 2017-18 OHL Classic – and foregoing the rest of his senior year as an Aggie – Champ played two events as an amateur. He made his TOUR/major debut as a sectional-qualifier (Newport Beach, CA) in June of 2017 at the U.S. Open (Erin Hills), and finished T32 (T8 after 36 holes), one swing back of tying Scottie Scheffler for low-am honors.

In his next start in October on a sponsor exemption, Champ missed the cut here by three on 2-over 146 (73-73).

He played 2018 on the Web, recording 10 top 25s in 21 events, five of those top 10s, including one win at the Utah Championship to earn his promotion to the main stage. Champ also sprinkled in five TOUR events on sponsor invites, missing four cuts and posting a T73/MDF at the Valero.

After winning the Sanderson Farms – with prodigious drives and 190+ mph ball speeds – Champ was the next, can’t-miss youngster. Understandably, he faded from the scene for a bit, but returned to the winner’s circle this week in dramatic- and heart-wrenching fashion.

After receiving news that his grandfather, Mack Champ, who introduced him to golf, was in hospice for terminal stomach cancer, Cameron played this week with a heavy heart.

“Oh no, it’s settling in and will probably continue. With what’s going on, I don’t know if it was meant to be or what… this is kind of my home event, to have so many family and friends here, it’s just been awesome.”

“With my grandpa, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to play. It was going to be a last-minute deal. We weren’t sure how we were going to hold up. So, I showed up Thursday and teed it up with no practice round, nothing. I think the whole week it was just – there was nothing else on my mind.”

Hadwin, out of the penultimate twosome, was four back of Champ with four holes left in his round, but birdied 16, 17 and 18 to post 16-under.

Champ, after dropping a shot at 17 to fall to 16-under, was 42’11” short of the target on 18 in two, and then deftly pitched to 3’8”, and made.

Lengthy embraces ensued with his caddie, Kurt, and his father, Jeff.

“I’ll say this now: I really feel like this will be, no matter what, even if I never win another tournament again or I win however many, this will definitely be the greatest moment of my golfing career.”

Final Leaderboard (pre-tourney odds outright):

1- (-17) Cameron Champ (80/1)

2- (-16) Adam Hadwin (80/1)

3- (-14) Marc Leishman (40/1)

4- (-13) Charles Howell III (66/1)

4- (-13) Zac Blair (300/1)

4- (-13) Justin Thomas (13/2)

Note: Repeat top-10 finishers in the event: Thomas (4-8-3)

Champ’s Position by Round:

R1: T5 (2 back)

R2: T3 (3 back)

R3: 1 (by 3)

Champ on Sunday:

After kicking off with 67-68-67, Rounds 1 and 3 bogey-free, the 24-year-old began with a three-shot lead over three players, including Hadwin.

He hit five (of 14) fairways and 11 greens in regulation, losing strokes approaching (-0.212) and around-the-green (-0.037), but gaining 0.828 off-the-tee.

Champ squared two bogey-5s at holes 8 and 17 (failed scrambles), outflanked by five circles at 1, 5, 6, 9 and 18, all from inside of nine feet.

He posted 1.636 putts per GIR and 1.286 SG: Putting with 26 total putts, buoyed by three par-savers from between nine and 14 feet, and also chipped in for par 3 at 11 from 13’11” after muffing his pitch-shot second out of the rough.

OUT: 3-under 33 (4 birdies, 1 bogey); leads by 4 (over Leishman; 6-under thru 17).

IN: even-par 36 (1 birdie, 1 bogey); WINS by 1

For the week, Champ tallied 21 birdies against four bogeys.

How Champ Won the Tournament:

Ranked 1^st (or T1) in: SG: Off-the-Tee; SG: Tee-to-Green; Birdie to Bogey Ratio; Scrambling; All-Around

Ranked 2^nd (or T2) in: N/A

Note: See “Strokes Gained Leaders Stats” at the bottom, along with his full stats.

Lowest-Ranked Stat(s): Proximity to Hole (T50); Putts per GIR (T38)

Champ at Safeway:

Starts: 3

Top 25s: 2

Top 10s: 1

Wins: 1

Form: 1-25-MC

Champ’s TOUR Career:

Starts: 35

Cuts Made: 18 (51.4%)

Top 25s: 7 (20.0%)

Top 10s: 4 (11.4%)

Top 3s: 2 (5.7%)

Wins: 2 (5.7%)

Champ’s Season:

Starts: 2

Cuts Made: 2

Top 25s: 1

Top 10s: 1

Top 5s: 1

Wins: 1

Season Form: 1-28

By the Numbers:

11/8: Champ’s revised outright betting entering R4.

6.418; 6.701: Champ finished No. 1 here last season in SG: Off-the-Tee (6.418) en route to the aforementioned T25, and finished No. 1 again this week (6.701). And, was No. 1 in SG: OTT last week at 7.949.

18: In his short TOUR career, Champ has made 18 cuts, missed 16 and WD’d once.

2: Two of Champ’s four top 10s are wins.

46: This was the third event with the new cut rule of top 65 and ties. Sixty-seven (67) players made the cut, 20 (T48) on the number. Under the old cut rule, 85 players would’ve made the cut, resulting in a difference of 18 players. Through three events, 46 less players made the weekend as a result of the new cut rule.

22: Champ was the 54-hole leader by three. It was his first time in the top 10 after 54 holes since T2 at last season’s RSM (22 starts ago), where he finished solo 6^th, which was also his most recent top-10 finish.

1321: Playing this season on a one-time Top 50 career money exemption, Bo Van Pelt made his first TOUR start in 1,321 days, dating to a MC at the 2016 AT&T Pebble Beach. He finished T62 on even-par (72-70-72-74).

2: Making his season debut, Hadwin, who began in a three-way T2, three back, records his fifth top-3 finish and third runner-up in 146 events, first since T2 at last season’s Desert Classic (in CA).

3: Leishman, who checked in off a mid-tourney WD (back) at The Greenbrier, back-doored a solo 3^rd with a day-tying-low 65 out of the 12^th-to-last twosome. It’s his 18^th top-3 finish in 272 events, first since solo 3^rd at last season’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude five starts ago.

T17: Adam Scott, an 18-hole co-leader, and 49-year-old Jim Furyk, shared top debutant honors (of 31) with T17s on 9-under 279, eight adrift.

T23: 17 (of 21) TOUR rookies were in the field with Scott Harrington and Harry Higgs sharing top-rookie honors with T23s on 8-under 280.

0: Through three non-team event this season, the pre-tourney fave/co-fave won zero times. Last season, two fave/co-faves won (in 45 non-team events): Rory McIlroy (12/1 co-fave) at THE PLAYERS, and Collin Morikawa at the Barracuda (10/1).

13/2: At No. 6 in OWGR, Thomas was top-ranked and a pre-tourney 13/2 fave outright. He finished T4 in his season debut, and was the only repeat top-10 finisher in the event (three in a row). It’s also the 26-year-old’s third straight top 10, dating to last season, each doubling as top 5s.

76: Attempting to win in back-to back weeks, Sebastian Munoz was T2 after 54 holes before 76 (1 birdie, 5 bogeys) out of the final pairing, falling 31 places to T33.