The first event of the 2015-16 PGA Tour season is in the books and there were some majors lessons learned after four days at the Silverado County Club:
Emiliano Grillo’s life changed in a huge way. He made the clutch putt of the final round when he holed a 28-footer for birdie at the 72nd hole. It was Deja Vu all over again for the 23-year-old from Argentina. He made a 25-footer on the 72nd hole of the Web.com Tour Championship two weeks ago to win that event.
Grillo followed that clutch putt with a non-clutch miss on the first playoff hole. He blew a three-footer that would have ended the playoff with Kevin Na on the first go-round. He survived that miss and that’s something that doesn’t often happen at this level. He will now play a much better schedule, he’s in the Masters, PGA and will fly out to Hawaii for the Tournament of Champions in January.
Kevin Na showed why he has won only once on the PGA Tour. He made a mess of his second shot on the second playoff hole. His attempt at driver off the deck was a smother-hook that led to a bogey and virtually handed the title to Grillo.
Jason Bohn is living proof that you don’t have to win on the PGA Tour to make a great living. He banked $2.3 million last year without winning. On Sunday, victory was there on a platter, waiting for him to claim it. After a superb shot into the 14th hole that stopped within two feet for birdie to get him to 15-under, Bohn didn’t want the win. Staring another birdie opportunity on 16, he totally chunked his third shot and made bogey. He finished 14-under to tie for third. Failure on the PGA tour still plays pretty damn well. He collected $312,000.
Justin Rose is the man you would think had the upper hand going to the final nine last Sunday. With Rory McIlroy struggling with the putter, Rose was the class of the last-day contenders. He’s ranked seventh in the world and was 14-under par at the turn. You would expect a world-class player to find a way to win from that position. Instead, Rose floundered, shot two-over on the back and tied for sixth.
Speaking of Rory McIlroy, when his putter is off, he’s pretty much just another guy in the field who hits it pretty long. McIlroy finished nine-under, tied for 26th. We expected more from the third-ranked player in the world in this un-intimidating field.
Patrick Rodgers remains one of the true up-and-comers on the tour. He earned his card last year the old fashioned way — he made a lot of money with no status on the tour. He shot 12-under last week to tie for sixth with Rose.
Brooks Koepka was another underachiever last week. He finished tied for 41st, six-under par. Nothing to write home about for a player with his talent.
The “Guts and Determination” award for the week goes to Tyrone Van Aswegen. Early Sunday morning he summoned the physician assigned to the tournament. Van Aswegen was suffering from vertigo-like symptoms and was taken to the emergency room at the local hospital. He was treated for severe dehydration and released barely in time to make his tee time. He went on to finish at 14-under and tie for third.
Overall, the important lesson from last week is that a lot of players had a chance to win at the Frys. Only one did. The reason is simple.
Tournament golf is a very hard, unforgiving game.
