These post FedEx St. Jude tournament musings:
Credit a blank mind for victory and the PGA Tour’s newest winner — Fabian Gomez.
The Argentine was simply too cool, too consistent for the rest of the contenders Sunday in Memphis. His final round 66 dusted runnerup Greg Owen by four shots and earned Gomez a check for $1.08 million, a spot in the 2016 Masters and the 2016 Tournament of Champions.
It took him to a different level of PGA Tour status — tournament winner. He’ll access the invitationals and doesn’t have to worry about keeping his playing card for the next two years.
“I tried to play the same way I played the first three days,” he explained. “I tried to keep my mind blank and enjoy the round.”
Pretty good game plan.
Phil Mickelson got his game going and his final-round 65 vaulted him into a tie for third with Seung-Yul Noh and Michael Taylor.
Biggest disappointment of the weekend was the performance of the world’s 21st ranked player — Brooks Koepka. Koepka’s weekend rounds of 71-70 dropped him into a tie for eighth. When you’re ranked that high, you’re supposed to beat those journeymen contenders surrounding you. Didn’t happen.
Coolest moment of the final round? How about Phil Mickelson speaking to the little girl at the 18th, one of the St. Jude patients. “Everyone’s pulling for you,” Mickelson told her as he signed his glove, gave it to her along with a golf ball he signed.
