Seventy-two thrilling, crazy holes of golf weren’t enough to identify the champion on a sunny Sunday at Innisbrook Resort. No, it would take extra holes and a match between one unsurprising player — defending champion Sam Burns — and one very surprising player — 399th-ranked rookie Davis Riley.
For three days, birdies and eagles were abundant, almost easy on some of the holes. Unsung Matthew NeSmith, owner of only three career top 10s on the PGA Tour, set a 36-hole scoring record (14-under par) then Riley set the 54-hole mark at 18-under.
But on a pressure-packed Sunday, the scoring got tough for the contenders and birdies weren’t around when needed by most. Surely Justin Thomas would be in the hunt down the stretch. He should have been. With 14 careers wins, including a major, he was by far the most accomplished, skilled and credentialed player among the top six names. By day’s end, only one player in the final two pairings broke 70 and that was Burns. Burns was paired with Thomas as they went out ahead of Riley and NeSmith.
It was a see-saw leaderboard all afternoon. Riley was in good shape until he reached the par five fifth where he pulled his tee shot then sent his second even farther left where he ran into enough trouble to last a week. He chunked his third into a lie where he had no swing or stance. He took unplayable, sent his fifth over the green then his sixth onto the opposite fringe. Two putts from there and he walked off with a triple-bogey eight — opening the door for Burns, Thomas and NeSmith.
Thomas couldn’t find enough fairways, couldn’t make enough putts and a bogey on a birdie hole — the par five 11th, seemingly doomed J.T. Burns had it in full grind mode and back-to-back birdies got him to 18-under. After a great par save at the 16th, it looked like a par-par finish would deliver a second Valspar title.
The 17th created the playoff. It’s where Burns made bogey then Riley made birdie behind him. The two-shot lead Burns had after the 16th vanished.
Eighteen is no birdie hole, especially when its the 72nd hole. Burns narrowly missed from 25 feet then made his par for 69 — lowest score among the two pairings. He posted 17-under, a shot short of Vijay Singh’s tournament record 18-under. Thomas scrambled for four and at 16-under, came up a shot short. Note to J.T. — you can’t make bogeys on back nine par fives on Sunday. Riley’s closing par sent this one to overtime, NeSmith joined J.T. in the one-shot shy club. But considering NeSmith’s career to date, it had to feel like a win.
A second trip down 18 produced two pars in the playoff and the tough 16th was up.
Burns’ hybrid off the tee finished in the left rough while Riley zapped a perfect driver that made it advantage Riley for the approach shots. Burns somehow got his ball to stop 32 feet from the hole and the door was open for Riley. He has 175 in, chose eight-iron and was long on the first cut just off the fringe.
Then, suddenly, it was Sam. Burns, who made more than his share of great pars saves on this day, started his putt on the perfect line and it found the bottom of the cup. It was too much for Riley to overcome. Riley made an aggressive attempt to hole his chip but to no avail.
Burns won his third PGA Tour event, his first playoff and became the first guy to repeat at the Valspar since Paul Casey in 2018-19.
Talk about the perfect horse for the course.
“Man, it’s crazy,” Burns said. “Davis played well today, especially the way he finished. I tried to stay steady. I didn’t make a lot of mistakes. A lot of time on Sunday if you plot your way around, make a bunch of pars, throw in a few birdies, a lot of times it works well. I’m so happy!”
Yes, it was crazy. It was crazy that Riley even got to a playoff considering that triple at five.
“I got punched in the mouth pretty early,” Riley said afterward. “Unfortunately that hole cost me today.”
It might have cost him a win but after watching Burns’ determination and Riley’s comeback after that disaster — there’s no just one star on the rise.
Looks like two.
9 Comments
baxter cepeda
NeSmith looks solid but Riley’s putting stroke has my attention. Like Sam and Cam it’s always nice when a good young player shows up with a sweet putting stroke. That being said Rileys pressure putt on 18 for a potential win looked more like JT than Sam; if you know what I mean.
Jt is improving with the flat stick —he seems to be releasing well on longer putts —but imo still steering some of the shorter ones, as Riley did on 18.
Sam was not steering anything Sunday. Jt still seems to putt a ton of short right misses lacking release. It’s literally the final piece in the puzzle for JT imho.
Meanwhile burns is Top 10 now thanks in huge part to his ability to separate himself with the flat stick. Clutch putt to earn this win. Great celebration. I really think Sam Burns is Officially a star. He kinda was already but in ajga terms, not many guys left with more stars than Sam right now.
It’s worth noting in the playoff on the tee At 16 Sam had to wait for some clowns to cross the fairway. And once the hole finally cleared up, another clown ran across. That would have driven me and most tour players nuts. Sam was obviously annoyed but kept it together like a champ.
Can sam win the Masters? Sure. With a tee to green Game and a putting stroke like that, why not?
Tom Edrington
Davis Riley’s swing has my attention — that’s some nice action there…still trying to figure out what the heck he was thinking with the second at No.5.
baxter cepeda
Riley has a great swing as well, but those are a dime a dozen on the pga tour; Especially thanks to more and more distance and less and less big misses thanks to technology.
On 5 it wasn’t just the second shot that was questionable. After a bad drive left Riley wanted to give himself a 3rd shot from the other fairway but went too far left. After that long free drop procedure —one would think rules officials would speed up these process not slow them down— he seemed to rush the shot not regaining his focus in time.
After that I thought he could have back handed the stymied ball back onto some grass or cement. He chose a drop instead but never seemed to clear the pine straw for the penalty drop, which made that shot much tougher than it needed to be. I always remember when kaymer won at pinehurst, he had to take a drop Sunday and smartly made the drop area completely bare before dropping.
As Forrest Gump said, stuff happens. Not to be cliche but Riley will learn from 5. We all learned from Riley at 5 this week.
Tom Edrington
I’ve been where his drive was and that was an incredibly BAD decision as it turned out, if I was on his bag no way I would let him try that….
baxter cepeda
I totally agree. He could have chipped out and still reached the green in 3. And most likely won.
There was one w jt earlier in the week on 1 where he was complaining he couldn’t take down that temporary fence to hit some insane hook over the OB, trees, water. He could have easily clipped a branch and been hitting 4 from that same spot. Lucky for jt he had to chip out.
Tom Edrington
At a lot of Tour events where a practice facility borders a hole, the boundary fence is NOT an immovable obstruction. It helps define OB. There one to the left of the ninth fairway at Bay Hill. Those are the two I’m most familiar with.
baxter cepeda
Lol. Wouldn’t “NOT an immovable obstruction” mean it is a movable obstruction ?
I think you mean it is NOT a movable obstruction.
JT said it didn’t make sense. It totally made sense. The tour customized the boundary fence. Regardless players don’t get to move or drop away from boundary fences. It’s really that simple JT, professional tour golfer.
Then arguing nonsense instead of maybe focusing on learning a rule he shoulda known already.
Tom Edrington
Yes simply a boundary fence that helps in defining the OB; Remember the fence at Muirfield when Bryson wanted a free drop — same deal.
baxter cepeda
Exactly i remember what happened around at DLN here too. Jt pulled a Bryson.