Shriners Hospitals for Children Open:
Beginning the final round one shot back of 54-hole leader Lucas Glover, World No. 451 Rod Pampling, a pre-tourney 250/1 outright, spun a 6-under-par 31-34=65 to win the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open on 20-under 264, two clear of Brooks Koepka and three better than Glover, who shot 69.
The 47-year-old, the first- and second-round leader, claims his third PGA TOUR title in his 342nd career start, first since the 2006 Bay Hill (now Arnold Palmer) Invitational 221 starts ago.
Making his seventh Shriners appearance, first since T68 in 2012, the Aussie led by two after a course-record-tying and career-low 60 in R1, and led by one at the midpoint with 68, just his second career 36-hole lead/co-lead (2006 DEAN & DELUCA, finished solo 3rd).
Interestingly enough, he’s the second straight 250/1 outright to win the event (Smylie Kaufman), and even more compelling, got into the field on a clerical error.
Last year’s edition was played October 22-25, the second event of the season, and had a field size of 144. This year, it was pushed to November, the fifth event of the season, and despite the reduction in daylight hours, the field size was mistakenly left at 144 (was supposed to be reduced to 132). As a result, both the first and second rounds bled over into the following day, even with perfect weather conditions.
Playing with Glover and Koepka in the final group on Sunday, Pampling went out in bogey-free 4-under, birdieing holes 4, 6, 8 and 9 to reclaim the lead by one at the turn, before bogeys on 10 (3-putt from 62’10”) and 12 (failed scramble).
The Web.com Tour grad bounced back with three straight birdies at 13-15 and walked off (and walked in) a 32-footer for birdie-3 at the 18th.
With the win, his first top-10 finish since T10 at the 2015 Puerto Rico Open, the transplanted Texan earns a two-year exemption on TOUR and a host of other goodies, including invites to the Tournament of Champions, THE PLAYERS, PGA Championship, and the Masters, where he’ll make his first appearance since a T37 in 2007.
He arrived off a missed cut at the Safeway Open and a T42 last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
Inclusive of Pampling, four of the first five winners this season have emerged out of the final group on Sunday. Only Brendan Steele, who won the season-opener in Napa, bucks the trend, coming from four back with a 7-under 65 out of the third-to-last threesome.
With a Strength of Field rating of 185, Pampling deposits 36.00 world-ranking points and leaps 282 places to 162nd in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR). His career-high OWGR is 22nd after the 2006 Memorial. In total, seven of the top 50 in OWGR were in the field this week and just two of the top 25.
Pampling collects 500 FedExCup (FEC) points for the win, jumping 135 spots to a career-best 4th in the FEC standings.
This was the 34th overall playing of the Shriners and ninth consecutive with TPC Summerlin as the sole venue. The 7,255-yard par-71 layout (35-36) played under-par in all four rounds with a cumulative scoring average of 69.623. Pampling posted rounds of 60-68-71-65 for 14.317 SG: Total.
Winner’s Weekly Stats (ranking of 74 players):
Eagles: 2 (T3)
Birdies: 24 (T2)
Bogeys: 8 (T30)
Par-3 Scoring: 3.06 (T42)
Par-4 Scoring: 3.70 (1st)
Par-5 Scoring: 4.33 (T17)
Driving Distance: 308.4 (38th)
Driving Accuracy: 34/56 (T15) at 60.71 percent
Greens in Regulation: 56/72 (T11) at 77.78 percent
Proximity to Hole: 36’9” (35th)
Putts per GIR: 1.679 (T17)
Total Putts: 112 (T12); by round: 24-31-32-25
Scrambling: 11/16 (13th) at 68.75 percent
SG: Off-the-Tee: 0.854 (T32)
SG: Approach-the-Green: 6.681 (2nd)
SG: Around-the-Green: 5.196 (1st)
SG: Putting: 1.587 (39th)
SG: Tee-to-Green: 12.731 (1st)
Golf Channel Perfect Picks:
Golf Channel’s game is scheduled to begin with the Tournament of Champions Jan. 5-8, 2017.
Draw:
In total, 74 players from a field of 144 pros made the cut of 3-under 139:
31 (of 69) EARLY/late; (3 WDs)
43 (of 70) LATE/early; (2 WDs)
As far as making the cut, it was more advantageous for LATE/early, but, of the SIX players who finished in the top 5, FOUR were EARLY/late, including the champion, while TWO emerged from the LATE/early ranks.
Yahoo! Low Rounds:
Like Golf Channel, the Yahoo! game is expected to begin with the Tournament of Champions.
That said, here were the low rounds:
R1: Rod Pampling (60) **career low in 1,074th career round; tied course record
R2: Chez Reavie (61) **tied career low
R3: Russell Henley (63) **tied career low
R4: Francesco Molinari (61) **career low in 293rd career round
What We Learned:
Last season, the pre-tourney odds-favorite(s) won just TWICE in 46 events: Jordan Spieth at the Hyundai TOC and the DEAN & DELUCA – NONE so far this season through five events.
Brooks Koepka: The 26-year-old, a pre-tourney co-fave at 18/1 outright, orchestrated a 4-under 67 in the final round to finish off his fourth appearance on 18-under 266, good for solo second, two adrift of champion Pampling. He began the final frame in a two-way T2 (with Pampling), one shy of 54-hole leader Glover.
The FSU product was chasing his second TOUR title in his 65th career start, joining his maiden win at the 2015 WM Phoenix Open where he came from three back in the final round with a 5-under 66 to win by two.
Coming off a T40 last week at the WGC-HSBC, Koepka kicked off with a career-low 62 and chased with 67-70-67. It’s his third career runner-up, joining a P2-T2 in back-to-back starts last season at the Byron Nelson and the FedEx St. Jude.
Ryan Moore: The 2012 champ and Las Vegas resident was the other co-fave and concluded his 11th appearance with a T15 on 13-under 271 (68-66-68-69). It’s his third straight top 25 to begin 2016-17 (T23, WGC-HSBC; T17, CIMB) after finishing last season with a playoff loss at the TOUR Championship.
27: First-timers (of 144):
Francesco Molinari: The 33-year-old, who turns 34 on Nov. 8th, back-doored a T4 with a career-low 61 (bogey-free) for top debutant, climbing 42 spots in the finale. That’s back-to-back top 10s on TOUR (T6 at WGC-HSBC; 67-69-68-70), and three straight (worldwide) if you throw in his one-shot win at the Italian Open seven weeks ago.
19: TOUR rookies:
Ryan Brehm: Of the 19 rookies in the field, the 30-year-old Michigander took top honors with T27 on 11-under 273 (67-69-67-70). He’s 3-for-3 to start the season with a best of T18 last week at the Sanderson Farms and has tossed up nine straight sub-par rounds.
Ryan Blaum: It’s going to be easy to get these two Ryan’s (Brehm and Blaum) mixed up. The 33-year-old Floridian was next-best rookie with T31 on 10-under 274 (67-70-68-69). He’s also 3-for-3 to start the season with a best of T11 (Sanderson Farms) and has put ALL 12 rounds in the red. Like Pampling, Blaum got into the field on the above-mentioned clerical error.
Defending Champ:
Smylie Kaufman: The second-year man, who celebrates his 25th birthday Nov. 30th, finished T72 (of 74 players) on even-par 284 (71-67-75-71),16 shots worse than his winning aggregate last year.
Since a T10 at the Quicken Loans back in June, 11 starts ago, the LSU alum owns just one top 25 (T24, Deutsche Bank) and has five missed cuts.
Last Week’s Winner(s):
Cody Gribble: Last week’s four-shot winner at the opposite-field Sanderson Farms (20-under 268) finished T65 this week on 3-under 281 (72-66-72-71). Not horrible for the 26-year-old after claiming his first title in his eighth career TOUR event, second as a member. He’s 3-for-3 to start the season with two top 10s (T8, Safeway).
Hideki Matsuyama: Last week’s SEVEN-shot winner at the WGC-HSBC Champions was idle.
Notable Finishes (Good and Bad):
Lucas Glover: Making his 341st career start, the 36-year-old, who turns 37 on Nov. 12th, was the only player from last week’s top 5 at the Sanderson Farms that finished in the top 10 this week. Unfortunately, he was the 54-hole leader by one (68-65-65) but backed up with a 2-under 69 (six birdies, four bogeys) for solo 3rd on 17-under 267. Glover is now 0-for-3 when leading/co-leading at the three-quarter mark.
The Clemson alum was chasing his fourth TOUR title, first since the 2011 Wells Fargo, and this is his first podium since that win. Coupled with his T5 last week, he’s moved from OWGR #246 to #169.
Geoff Ogilvy: Playing this season on a Top 50 career-money-list exemption, the 39-year-old posted a three-way T4 on 16-under 268 (67-67-66-68). It’s his first top 10 since a back-door T9 at the RBC Canadian Open in July where he closed in 9-under 63. The Aussie also records his best finish since T2 at the 2014 Deutsche Bank.
Keegan Bradley: In his last start two weeks ago, the 30-year-old was a first-round co-leader at the CIMB, eventually finishing solo 6th. In today’s final frame, he climbed 14 places on the leaderboard with a bogey-free 5-under 66 for a three-way T7 on 15-under 269 (67-65-71-66). The St. Johns alum records his first back-to-back top-10 finishes since connecting four straight in 2013.
Aaron Wise: Making his tourney debut and fifth career TOUR start, the sponsor invite and OWGR #623 was T3 at the midpoint and hung on for a five-way T10 on 14-under 270 (66-65-71-68). With the T10, the South African, who resides in California, receives a top-10 exemption into this week’s OHL Classic.
The NCAA Individual and Team Champion (Oregon), who’s a Web.com TOUR member for 2017, totaled three eagle-3s and 19 birdies against nine bogeys and a double. His previous best was T16 at the John Deere back in August and had missed the cut at the Safeway and Sanderson Farms this season, also on sponsor exemptions.
Cameron Smith: After narrowly missing a top 10 at the Sanderson Farms, the 23-year-old Web.com Tour grad bags his first top in his third start of the season and third overall in 40 career starts, first since T4 at the 2015 US Open.
Last week, he was T6 thru 54 holes before an even-par 72 dropped him to T11. This week, the Aussie, who lives in Jacksonville, Florida, posted rounds of 66 and trip 68s for 14-under 270. For the week, he totaled one eagle and 24 birdies against 10 bogeys.
Chris Kirk: The 31-year-old was T2 last week (as 54-hole co-leader at Sanderson Farms) and was T3 thru 36 holes this week (66-65), but PLUMMETED to T61 with weekend rounds of 75-74.
Jimmy Walker: The 37-year-old was the top-ranked player in the field at OWGR #18 and missed the cut by 11 on 8-over 74-76=150. He finished T77 (tied last) at the no-cut WGC-HSBC on 18-over 306 (78-79-77-72) and finished 28th (of 30) at the TOUR Championship on 7-over 287 (74-74-71-68).
That’s 36-over in his last 12 loops for the Oklahoma native, but, let’s not forget that he won the PGA Championship seven starts ago and also was solo 3rd at the Deutsche Bank.
Up Next:
The TOUR heads to Mexico for the OHL Classic at Mayakoba at the 6,987-yard par-71 El Camaleon GC with Graeme McDowell defending.
The 37-year-old was the 36-hole leader by one and came from three back in the final round with 5-under 66, eventually winning in sudden death over Jason Bohn and Russell Knox. He warmed up with a missed cut (by one) this week at the Shriners on rounds of 70-70.
Stay tuned to this space for all the latest player news and analysis as the TOUR prepares for the sixth (of seven) tournaments this fall prior to taking a seven-week break for the holidays.
