Jim Herman made the biggest jump ever in the FedEx Points race Sunday with his down-to-the-wire victory at the Wyndham Championship.
Herman was the biggest winner in this final event of the PGA Tour’s shortened regular season and Herman came through over the weekend with rounds of 61 on Saturday and 63 on Sunday at Sedgefield Country Club. He went from way out of the playoffs at No. 192 to a comfy 52 with a chance to play his way to East Lake when the playoffs start next week.
Herman was tied with Billy Horschel at 20-under. He missed a four-footer for birdie at the par five 15th but made up for that when he holed one from inside five feet at the 17th to get to 21-under par. He had a chance to clinch but missed at the 18th from just inside 11-feet for birdie.
Herman, who notched his third PGA Tour win, then watched nervously as Horschel missed a birdie putt at the 17th from 12 feet then at the 18th, Horschel stared down another from inside nine feet to force a playoff. His putt broke hard left across the hole and Herman had the one-shot win.
“Oh my gosh,” said Herman after Horschel’s miss made it official. “I was pretty down after last week (PGA). In golf, anything’s possible. Get your attitude right and make some putts. It’s all mental for me. I’m mentally deficient. I came here with no expectations.”
Herman was on his way to a ticket out of town on Friday. He was two-under par with four holes to play and three-under was the cutline. He birdied three of his final four holes to make it and the rest is history.
Herman, who is friends with President Donald Trump, has found him to be somewhat of a good luck omen.
“I’m very fortunate, I’ve had him in my corner for a long time, one of my biggest fans,” Herman said. Herman played with the President at Trump Bedminister three weeks ago.
“Whenever I play with him, I usually have some good finishes. Last two wins I had played with him either the week or two weeks before. Yeah, he’s been very supportive of me. hopefully, you never know, I may get a phone call from him this afternoon.”
Other Winners From The Wyndham:
Billy Horschel: Sure, Billy missed that putt at the 72nd hole to force a playoff but his runnerup finish moved him from 50th to 25th on the FedEx points list with a spot East Lake there for the taking.
Zach Johnson: Zach’s T7 at 17-under got him into the playoffs. He came in on the outside at No. 129 but moved to No. 104 and will need a good week in Boston to advance to the BMW.
Si Woo Kim: Si Woo was the 54-hole leader and an even-par 70 saw the leaders blow by him on Sunday. Still he finished T3 and that moved him from 121 to 82nd.
Doc Redman: Doc finished in the tie for third at 17-under and that took him from 84 to 60th with a good chance to advance to the second event in the playoffs.
Harold Varner III: The first round leader faltered on day two but came through with a 65 on Sunday and had his best finish of the season. He was in that group tied for third and he moved from 89th to 73rd.
Shane Lowry: Shane’s tie for 23rd wasn’t much to write home about but getting to 12-under par moved him from outside the playoffs at 131 to a spot in the Northern Trust at No. 122.
Losers From The Wyndham:
Charl Schwartzel: Missing the cut moved him from the magical 125th spot to 130. No playoffs for Charl.
Bronson Burgoon: Came in at No. 126. Missed the cut. Sorry Bronson, 131st is on the outside.
Wyndham Clark: You’d think with his first name he’d play well in Greensboro. Came in at 119th, missed the cut and fell to 127th.
Chase Sieffert: Missed the cut badly and fell from 127th to 132.
Russell Knox: Made the cut but played poorly over the weekend. His T72 dropped him out of the playoffs — he went from 124 to 127. Sigh.
Jim Furyk: You wonder why he didn’t go to the Senior Players Championship as he can perform on difficult courses like Firestone. Instead, he missed the cut and didn’t have a prayer anyway as he was 179th coming in.
Justin Rose: Hard to imagine him missing the cut but he did and fell from 103 to 109 in the points standings meaning he’ll have to play well in Boston to make it to the BMW.
Brooks Koepka: His problems mounted again, physically. Had to be stretched out during his second round. Missed the cut by five shots and moved from 92 to 96 and like Rose, will have to play very well at TPC Boston to advance to the BMW.
So that’s it for the regular PGA Tour season.
As Bill Belichick might say: “It’s on to the playoffs.”
Wyndham Championship Scoreboard:
One Comment
baxter cepeda
One disagreement from the losers list:
When Charl made the cut on the number at the pga last week, his mission to regain his status after injury was complete. The former Masters winner came into this week relaxed, participated in the Wednesday challenge, got named safari Charl by Perez; it was a fun week. Sure he missed the cut but so what?
And one disagreement from the winners list:
After the si woo stripe show —to say the least— Saturday, Kim should have won. It’s rare the quality of one mans irons are noticeably a step above the competition. Unfortunately, it seems Kim was foolishly inspired by Morikawa when he tried to unnecessarily drive over that creek; not exactly as well thought out as Collins Gondor it drive from the pga. After that bad decision the real knock on Si woo transpired. In contrast to Saturday where kim looked so cool; You could see kim got frazzled Sunday as clearly as the quality of his irons the day prior.
He really needs to improve his ability to calm down. Because his iron play, short game, putting, all
Pretty special. But all that do players no good in the wins Column if they can’t handle the heat.
I continue to be amazed by Billy. He lost but fought to the end with such grace. After — As expected —he gave the winner a genuine congrats. Billy seems to be on another level of getting it. I’m a big fan.
Congrats to Herman.
Anytime someone makes 444 feet of putts; they deserve to win. I’m Not a big fan when guys can win sans making putts.