Winner: Joaquin Niemann
Around the wider world of golf: Well, he did it again! Bernhard Langer went wire-to-wire to win the Chubb Classic for his 43rd win on the Champions Tour (now just two wins behind Hale Irwin); Byeong Hun An won the LECOM Suncoast Classic on the Korn Ferry Tour; JC Ritchie won the Bain's Whisky Cape Town Open on the Sunshine Tour; Hannah Green made history by winning the TPS Murray River, in honour of Jarrod Lyle (a mixed gender event) on the Australasian Tour; and Matt Ryan won the Estrella del Mar Open on the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica.
I'm convinced my Twofer Tuesday are deliberately losing on the weeks I pick them. Last week I picked Spieth and Hovland and they went T60 and MC; this week they went T26 and T4. This week's picks were Hideki Matsuyama (T39) and Dustin Johnson (MC), two players with great records at this event. Whatcha gonna do?
- Top10s: 9 for 34 (6 Top5, 3 Top10s)
- Winners: 0 for 17
But it's not like I was gonna pick the challengers this week. Joaquin Niemann, Cameron Young, Adam Scott, Maverick McNealy... these were not players I expected to play so well at Riviera, either because they were so young or hadn't played particularly well over their last events.
So all they did was put up great scores... and Joaquin made all kinds of history. At 23 he became the first winner here that young since Phil Rodgers in 1962 (the tournament where young Jack Nicklaus made his pro debut) and the first wire-to-wire winner since Charlie Sifford in 1969. It was simply an incredible exhibition of skill that hasn't been seen around Riviera in decades.
This was Joaquin's second PGA Tour win and, after that display this week, it has propelled him to a more prestigious position in the game. Could this be the start of his rise to stardom? I don't know... but I wouldn't bet against a guy with two Limerick Summaries!
Since Sifford’s win, Joaquin’s the first
To go wire-to-wire. And he’s burst
An age barrier too—
Since 1962
No one younger has proved so well-versed!
No comments:
Post a Comment