Safeway Open:
Brendan Steele, a pre-tourney 40/1 outright, erased a four-shot deficit at the Safeway Open with a final-round 7-under-par 32-33=65, birdieing his final three holes in Napa to clip 54-hole leader Patton Kizzire by one with a winning 72-hole aggregate of 18-under 270.
The 33-year-old claims his second PGA TOUR title in his 153rd career start, joining his maiden win (141 starts ago) at the 2011 Valero Texas Open, which he won as the 54-hole leader during his rookie season.
At last year’s Safeway, the California native and resident led after each of the first three rounds and carried a one-shot lead into the finale before a closing 76 left him T17, so this is redemption in its finest form.
Steele collects 500 FedExCup (FEC) points for the win, earns a two-year exemption on TOUR, and amongst other goodies, a return trip to the Masters (2012).
With a Strength of Field rating of 198, he banked 38.00 world-ranking points, bumping him 31 spots from 88th in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) to career-best 57th.
This was the 10th playing of the Safeway Open, third overall and third straight at the Silverado Resort and Spa’s North Course. The 7,166-yard par-72 layout (36-36) played under par all four rounds with a cumulative scoring average of 70.827. Steele posted rounds of 67-71-67-65 for 12.745 SG: Total.
NOTE: Preferred lies were in effect for rounds 2, 3 and 4, and rounds 2 and 3 were each contested over two-day periods due to significant rain delays.
Making his sixth consecutive appearance, the UC-Riverside alum posted his third straight top-25 finish (each at Silverado) with T21 on debut in 2015, the aforementioned T17 last year, and now the victory. In 12 rounds at Silverado, he’s carded 11 at par or better (10 sub-par), and owns a 69.08 scoring average.
Don’t forget, Steele entered the week sharing the course record of 63 (2016/R1) before Scott Piercy broke it with a first-round 62 this week.
Steele opened the tourney with bogey-5 at the 10th but played his final 17 holes in blemish-free 6-under for a 67 (T9) and five back of Piercy. Following an up-and-down 71 in R2, he had dropped to T16 at the midpoint, NINE adrift of Piercy.
NOTE: Last season, the largest come-from-behind win from the MIDPOINT was Aaron Baddeley, who was 11 back thru 36 holes before winning the Barbasol (playoff) with weekend rounds of 64-66 in Opelika, Alabama. Brandt Snedeker was next-best with third and fourth rounds of 70-69 to come from EIGHT back to win the Farmers at Torrey Pines.
Steele’s third-round 67 moved him to T6, now four shy of Kizzire.
Playing out of the third-to-last threesome in the finale, he circled birdies on Nos. 1, 5, 7 and 8 in a bogey-free first half, three conversions from inside of nine feet and a 27’9” birdie-2 at the seventh. After an errant tee shot on the par-5 ninth led to a penalty drop, the Irvine, California, resident would find the surface with his fourth shot and canned a 13-foot par-saver to go out in 32. Kizzire made the turn in bogey-free 2-under 34.
After a 4’4” birdie at the par-4 10th and a routine par at the par-3 11th, Steele had moved from T6 to solo second. At that point, the leaderboard read:
1- Patton Kizzire: -17 (thru 9 holes)
2- Brendan Steele: -16 (thru 11)
T3- Kevin Na: -15 (12)
T3- Johnson Wagner: -15 (9)
He squared a lone bogey at the par-4 12th, 3-putting from 39’1”, saved par from 6’6” at the par-4 13th, and added a two-putt birdie at the par-5 16th to climb within one of Kizzire. Steele joined the top spot with an 18-foot birdie-3 at 17 and took the lead with a seven-foot birdie on the par-5 18th to post 18-under.
In the end, his 65 stood tall and matched the low round of the day with Harold Varner III, who tied for 15th, Vaughn Taylor (T15), and PGA TOUR rookie JT Poston, who finished T57 in his TOUR debut on rounds of 72-69 (made cut on the number), and 78-65.
In 25 events last season, Steele led or co-led seven times after ANY round but only mustered two top 10s out of it, posting a season-best T3 at the no-cut CIMB Classic. He finished 63rd in the final FEC standings, exiting the Playoffs with a T22 at The Barclays, 72nd (last place) at the Deutsche Bank, and T64 (of 68) at the BMW Championship.
Patton Kizzire: The 54-hole leader and second-year man ended his tourney debut with a 2-under 70 (three birdies, one bogey), but that was -0.486 strokes worse than the field average in the final round.
Interestingly enough, the Sea Island, Georgia, resident also shot the same closing score, 2-under 70, as a 54-hole co-leader at the 2015-16 Sanderson Farms in Mississippi, dipping to T4. He’s now 0-for-2 when leading/co-leading at the three-quarter pole.
For the week, the Auburn alum posted rounds of 64-71-66-70 and carded 22 birdies against five bogeys. He was 63rd (of 70) in SG: Off-the-Tee (-1.965), 18th in SG: Approach-the-Green (3.028), and No. 1 in SG: Putting (9.707), including a 2.731 in the final round. This was his first top 10 since T8 at the 54-hole Zurich Classic back in early-May (13 starts ago). The Alabama native bumps 24 spots to OWGR No. 79.
This was the 30-year-old’s 32nd career TOUR start and second runner-up finish. He back doored a T2 at the 2015-16 Shriners (one start before the above-mentioned Sanderson Farms) with a career-low 7-under 63.
In total, Kizzire went 20-for-27 in last season’s rookie campaign with seven top 25s, five for top 10s. He finished 82nd in the FEC standings and was eliminated from the Playoffs after missed cuts in both The Barclays (78-69) and the Deutsche Bank (78-71).
Winner’s Weekly Stats (ranking of 70 players):
Birdies: 24 (1st)
Bogeys: 4 (T1)
Double Bogeys: 1 (T43)
Par-3 Scoring: 3.06 (T38)
Par-4 Scoring: 3.78 (T3)
Par-5 Scoring: 4.38 (T2)
Driving Distance: 291.6 yards (T23)
Driving Accuracy: 36/56 (T5) at 64.29 percent
Greens in Regulation: 54/72 (T21) at 75.00 percent
Proximity to Hole: 30’0” (14th)
Putts per GIR: 1.648 (8th)
Total Putts: 111 (T8); by round: 26-31-28-26
Scrambling: 14/18 (T9) at 77.78 percent
SG: Off-the-Tee: 1.600 (20th)
SG: Approach-the-Green: 4.324 (8th)
SG: Around-the-Green: 0.275 (38th)
SG: Tee-to-Green: 6.200 (11th)
SG: Putting: 6.546 (6th)
Top 10 Performers Weekly Stats:
Safeway Open | |||||||
Player | |||||||
291.8 (23) | 64.29% (T5) | 75.00% (T21) | 29' 8" (14) | 77.78% (T7) | 1.636 (6) | 11/ 41; 26.83% (2) | |
289.4 (36) | 41.07% (T67) | 75.00% (T21) | 35' 10" (61) | 77.78% (T7) | 2.427 (1) | 11/ 44; 25.00% (T6) | |
300.8 (10) | 57.14% (T29) | 73.61% (T35) | 26' 4" (2) | 73.68% (T12) | .486 (29) | 8/ 38; 21.05% (25) | |
299.0 (12) | 57.14% (T29) | 79.17% (T7) | 32' 9" (T38) | 53.33% (66) | .820 (18) | 10/ 43; 23.26% (11) | |
286.5 (42) | 57.14% (T29) | 79.17% (T7) | 36' 3" (T62) | 73.33% (15) | 1.692 (4) | 11/ 46; 23.91% (10) | |
282.9 (50) | 57.14% (T29) | 76.39% (T16) | 27' 5" (5) | 70.59% (T21) | 1.534 (7) | 9/ 42; 21.43% (T21) | |
274.4 (62) | 62.50% (T10) | 83.33% (1) | 29' 2" (T12) | 83.33% (2) | .799 (21) | 11/ 52; 21.15% (24) | |
280.6 (52) | 44.64% (T62) | 75.00% (T21) | 28' 0" (6) | 66.67% (T31) | .837 (17) | 6/ 36; 16.67% (T42) | |
291.0 (T26) | 55.36% (T36) | 77.78% (T11) | 28' 6" (8) | 62.50% (T44) | .272 (37) | 5/ 36; 13.89% (55) | |
283.1 (49) | 51.79% (T46) | 75.00% (T21) | 30' 5" (T17) | 66.67% (T31) | 1.115 (9) | 9/ 40; 22.50% (16) | |
304.1 (7) | 48.21% (T53) | 75.00% (T21) | 30' 11" (23) | 66.67% (T31) | .765 (22) | 10/ 39; 25.64% (3) | |
288.3 (39) | 60.71% (T14) | 77.78% (T11) | 33' 9" (46) | 68.75% (27) | 1.420 (8) | 13/ 48; 27.08% (1) | |
Tour Average | 288.4 | 53.22% | 71.12% | 33' 9" | 61.12% | N/A | 792/ 4,687; 16.90% |
Source: PGA TOUR Media
Golf Channel Perfect Picks:
Golf Channel’s game is scheduled to begin with the Tournament of Champions Jan. 5-8, 2017.
Draw:
In total, 70 players from a field of 143 pros and one amateur made the cut of 3-under 141:
42 (of 72) EARLY/late
28 (of 72) LATE/early
Of the 12 players who finished in the top 10, 11 were EARLY/late. Only Phil Mickelson (T8) emerged from the LATE/early ranks after posting trip 69s and a bogey-free 67. The Hall-of-Fame lefty was making his 549th career start but only his second appearance in the Safeway, first since a missed cut in the 2007 inaugural at Grayhawk GC (Raptor) in Scottsdale, his home club.
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: Scott Piercy (62) *course record
R2: Chris Kirk (65)
R3: Michael Kim (65)
R4: Brendan Steele; Harold Varner III; Vaughn Taylor; JT Poston (65)
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.
Also last season: NO defending champs successfully defended their respective titles.
Emiliano Grillo: The defending champ finished T26 on 9-under 279 (69-70-71-69) in his first title defense, nine shots back. One positive, he was No. 1 in scrambling at 88.24 percent (15/17).
Only EIGHT of the OWGR Top 50 were in the field:
Paul Casey: At No. 12 in OWGR, the 39-year-old was the top-ranked player in Napa and was also the pre-tourney fave at 12/1 outright. He entered the week off three straight top-5 finishes to conclude the Playoffs (2-2-T4), and remained red hot with a T3 on 16-under 272 (64-68-71-69).
This was the Englishman’s second appearance, though his T7 in 2011 was at Corde Valle GC. He remained at OWGR No. 12.
Inclusive of this week, the Arizona State product is a cumulative 58-under-par in his last four starts but is still looking to add a second TOUR title. In 197 career events, his lone win remains the 2009 Shell Houston Open, which he won in a playoff after being a 54-hole co-leader.
Casey came close last month with back-to-back runner-up finishes at the Deutsche Bank and the BMW Championship in last season’s Playoffs, but relinquished a 3-shot 54-hole lead at TPC Boston, losing by two to the hard-charging Rory McIlroy.
This week, he began the finale in a two-way T4, two back, but could only muster a 3-under 69 out of the penultimate threesome. To his credit, Casey came home in bogey-free 32 after turning in 1-over 37, but unlike Steele who birdied his final three holes, including birdie-4s at 16 and 18, Casey didn’t birdie either of them, even though they played as the second and fourth easiest holes, respectively.
Michael Kim: Playing out of the penultimate threesome, the second-year man finished off his second appearance (T61/2016) with a bogey-free 5-under 67 and a 72-hole tally of 16-under 272 (73-67-65-67), up three places into a four-way T3.
This was his first top-10 finish in his 34th career start (32 as a pro), with a previous best of T11 at last season’s opposite-field Barbasol.
The UC-Berkeley product finished 118th in the FEC standings during last season’s rookie campaign, posting four top 25s in 29 events. For the week, he totaled 22 birdies versus six bogeys, with four of the latter coming in the first round. The 23-year-old entered the week No. 370 in OWGR and leaps 111 spots to career-high No. 259.
Scott Piercy: Playing out of the final threesome, the 37-year-old went out in a birdie-less 2-over 38, before salvaging a T3 with a back-nine 32, including a 12-footer for birdie-4 at the 18th.
He was the first-round leader (by two) with a course-record 62, and led outright at the midpoint (by three) with a chasing 67, but finished off his fourth appearance in 73-70.
This was the San Diego State alum’s second 36-hole lead/co-lead in his 216th career start, and drops to 1-for-2 in that regard. His second (of three) TOUR wins came at the 2012 RBC Canadian Open, where he co-led at the halfway point.
For the week, Piercy tallied one eagle and 21 birdies against seven bogeys, three of the latter coming in the final frame. This was his first top-10 finish on TOUR since consecutive runner-up finishes last season at the U.S. Open and WGC-Bridgestone. Piercy bumps one spot to OWGR No. 34.
Johnson Wagner: Playing out of the final threesome, the 36-year-old was the last to join a four-way T3 on 16-under 272 with rounds of 65-67-70-70.
He entered the final frame in a two-way T2 with Casey, one back, but mustered just three birdies against one bogey, finishing his round with a disappointing eight straight pars.
For the week, the Texas native carded 22 birdies against four bogeys, T1 in the latter, but also ate a double. He jumps 29 spots to OWGR No. 137 and bagged his third top-5 finish in his last five starts.
Cody Gribble: Nineteen (19) of 25 in this season’s rookie class contested the season-opener, including the Dallas native and resident. He’s the only one however, to log a top-10 finish with a five-way T8 on 14-under 274. Mackenzie Hughes was next-best rookie with a T13 on 13-under 275 (69-69-69-68).
After opening his tourney debut in 67-69-70, the 26-year-old Gribble rallied for a 4-under 68 in the finale. He was 2-over thru seven holes, silencing a birdie-4 at the fifth with bogeys at Nos. 3, 4 and 7, before playing his final 11 holes in blemish-free 6-under, circling back-to-back birdies three times.
For the week, the University of Texas alum totaled one eagle and 19 birdies versus five bogeys and a double. This was his seventh career appearance on TOUR with a previous best of T21 at the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. Gribble jumps 75 spots to OWGR No. 444.
Up Next:
The TOUR heads to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for the 78-man no-cut CIMB Classic at the 7,005-yard par-72 (36-36) TPC Kuala Lumpur (name-changed from Kuala Lumpur G&CC).
Justin Thomas is the defending champion, winning last year’s edition in a tournament record (to par) 26-under 262 as the 36-hole leader outright and a 54-hole co-leader.
Stay tuned to this space for all the latest player news and analysis as the TOUR prepares for the second (of seven) tournaments this fall prior to taking a seven-week break for the holidays.
