Abraham Ancer Emerges From The WGC Mayhem In Memphis

It was looking for all intents and purposes like a Sunday afternoon head-to-head duel between Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau after 63 holes at the WGC-St. Jude, but then golf intervened and it turned out to be total Mayhem In Memphis over the final nine and it would be Abraham Ancer emerging as the surprise winner.

Harris led each of the first three days and took a two-shot margin over DeChambeau into the final 18 at the TPC Southwind.  Both players were two-under on the front nine and it looked like a mano-a-mano between the two for the title but things turned ugly for both the contenders over the final nine holes.

Things started to spiral when the final twosome was warned that they needed to pick up the pace, they were falling behind.  English isn’t the fastest player by any means and DeChambeau’s reputation as a snail proceeds him.  DeChambeau hit his tee ball into the water at 10, made bogey to give English a three-shot lead with eight holes to play.  English hit his tee shot at the par three 11th and it came up short and in the water.  DeChambeau then hit his long, it bounded off a downslope and into the water behind the green.

By the time the two finished the par three, English took a double-bogey, DeChambeau a triple-bogey six that knocked him out of contention.

Things simply got worse for the pair after that and it opened the door for three contenders ahead of them.

Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama blazed home with a seven-under par 63 then Sam Burns got in the mix with a closing 64 that took him to 16-under.  Ancer managed just a single birdie over the final nine with eight pars and joined the 16-under gang with a round of 68.

The three then sat back and watched the English-DeChambeau meltdown.  Bryson was no threat as he took 41 shots over his final nine and fell all the way back to 12-under (74).

English added a second double at the par three 14th where he hit what amounted to a shank that didn’t come close to dry land.  He was still at 16-under with the par five 16th in front of him but he botched that one up as well and made bogey to fall back to 15-under.  English had a chance to save himself and gain a playoff spot on the 18th, where he planted his approach inside 13 feet with a look at birdie that would send him back out with Ancer, Burns and Matsuyama.  In keeping with the theme of his final nine, he missed and signed for 73 — 15-under.

The playoff lasted two trips down the 18th.  The three principals all made pars the first time then it got exciting the second.

Matsuyama hit his approach to 30-feet then watched Ancer hit a perfect shot that stopped just six feet from the cup.  “The shot came out exactly how I pictured it,” Ancer said.  Then Burns upstaged the Mexican star and stuck his to five-and-a-half feet.  Matsuyama missed his birdie attempt, tapped in for par.  It looked like a third playoff hole was a near-certain thing.  Ancer stepped up and holed his for birdie then watch as Burns’ putt caught a piece of the right side of the cup and lipped out.

Ancer was a winner for the first time and it was a big one at this WGC event.

“This was really crazy, to be honest,” Ancer said of the afternoon’s turn of events.  “I was so confused.  I had no idea what was going on.  Golf is crazy — this is how it goes — I’m happy I got lucky.”

WGC-St. Jude Scoreboard:

Si Woo Kim Makes 13 On Par Three 11th:

Si Woo Kim made it nearly two sleeves of balls in the water Sunday at the WGC-St. Jude.

Kim’s tee shot on the 155-yard island hole found the water. He moved up to the drop zone, a 96-yard shot.

His next shot splashed, too. And the one after that. And the one after that. And the one after that. Five balls total in the drink — one short of a sleeve of balls..

Finally, he knocked his wedge shot over the flag, onto the back collar. He chipped to a foot and tapped in for a 13.  It was the highest score recorded on a par-three hole on Tour (non-major) since at least 1983, when the Tour began tracking such statistics.

Memphis Crowd Was Taunting Bryson:

Seems one of the favorite past-times for spectators, when things aren’t going well for Bryson DeChambeau, is to break out the old “Brooksie” chant, a reference to Bryson’s ongoing broo-ha-ha with Brooks Koepka.

Things were going totally sideways for DeChambeau on the back nine at TPC Southwind Sunday.

A number of spectators cranked up the old “Brooksie” chant.  At one point, on the 12th green, a security guard told the group that he’d take a heightened interest in the hecklers, but it didn’t appear as though any fan was tossed.

DeChambeau was unavailable for comment after the round, but his playing partner, Harris English, said it was “unfortunate” that DeChambeau has to endure the jeers.

“It’s not real fair for them to call him ‘Brooksie’ a lot,” said English, who shot 73 and finished a shot out of the playoff. “It kind of sucks and obviously he hears it, and it affects him a little bit and he doesn’t like it, and I think that causes them to do it more. It just sucks that that’s out here right now, that they’re trying to irk people like that. It’s just unfortunate.”