FORT WORTH, Texas — With big names like Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas all squeezed near the top of the leaderboard heading into the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge, most assumed experience would be the deciding factor at Colonial Country Club.
Instead, McIlroy went through a legendary meltdown on the front nine, Spieth spent the afternoon on a roller-coaster ride and others slowly slipped away or were too far back to make a move.
In the end, Daniel Berger outlasted Collin Morikawa in a playoff, earning his third title on Tour in golf’s first event since the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
Berger buried a huge putt on No. 18, but had to wait for others to falter before getting into a playoff.
He then watched as 23-year-old Collin Morikawa missed a 7-footer birdie on No. 18 and Xander Schauffele, who held the lead most of the day, went through a wild stretch on his final few holes and finished at 14-under.
In the playoff, Berger missed the green, as did Morikawa. Both had makeable putts, but after Berger sunk his, Morikawa’s lipped out, giving Berger the title.
Berger’s two previous wins had both come in Memphis at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. His 66 was a quiet one, he made the turn at 33 and just one birdie on the back nine before dropping his 10-foot putt on No. 18.
The general sports world might not know much about Morikawa, but those in the golf world have been whispering about how the former Cal star is quickly becoming the best iron striker on Tour.
Morikawa has started his professional PGA Tour career by making his first 21 cuts. The only player with a higher number in the last three decades is Tiger Woods, who made his first 25.
And although Morikawa already has a Tour win under his belt, he came to Fort Worth ranking just 44th in the Official World Golf Rankings (he was, however, No. 5 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings).
A 49-foot putt on the 14th hole put Morikawa gave him an edge coming down the stretch, but he missed a 7-footer on No. 18 that would have given him the victory.
Xander Schauffele led after 54 holes and was tied for the lead on the back nine, but hit an amazing up-and-down stretch to close the tournament. First, he hit a fairway bunker on No. 15, pulled his bunker shot into the water and took a bogey. He rebounded, however, with a 25-foot birdie putt to hop back into a tie for the lead.
Then, inexplicably, he lipped out a 3-footer, then missed on a long birdie putt on 18 to finish at 14-under.
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Meanwhile, Bryson DeChambeau stood out in the first event back, largely because of a 25-pound weight gain that had him routinely bombing drives past the rest of the field.
DeChambeau, who played collegiately nearby Southern Methodist, was tied for the lead on the back, but missed the green on No. 17 and then couldn’t manage an uphill chip and took par, before rolling a birdie putt just over the edge on 18. He finished at 14-under, tied with Justin Rose, Jason Kokrak, but proved that his bulking-up experiment could make him a force to contend with.
“I had a good run late coming in, and unfortunately got hosed on 17, caught a jumper out of the first cut and was not expecting that and flew it too far,” he said. “If I make the putts like I should have … I would have won by a lot this week.”
McIlroy’s final round was especially troubling — the World No. 1 got off to a rocky start and things just snowballed. After a good drive on the opening hole, he pushed his approach into the trees and was humbled by a bogey. Considering that he was three shots off the lead and needed a fast start,
McIlroy seemed to press after that first bogey and followed with three more bogeys on the front and a double-bogey on No. 7.
“I got off to a really bad start,” McIlroy said. “Hit a loose second shot on the first hole up to the right and then sort of messed around and took bogey there, so not the ideal start. And then the wind was up today. You didn’t have to be that much off for it to sort of show. … But (on the) front nine I just got into a rut and played a bad run of holes, and obviously, that put me out of the tournament.”
A number of big names from back in the pack made charges on Sunday, but it wasn’t enough. Bubba Watson, Patrick Rodgers and Rory Sabbatini all had rounds of 65, but they couldn’t make up enough ground. Watson finished at 13-under par with Rodgers and Sabbatini at 10-under.
Watson was happy with his performance, which included birdies on three of his final five holes, but he admitted the week was a unique experience with no fans on site.
“It makes it weird, I guess, because even when I made a couple putts, you just don’t even wave, you don’t even high-five,” Watson said. ”It’s just a weird feeling, which we all love trying to challenge ourselves under pressure in front of the fans, and not having that makes it a little weird.”
Of course, being the first live sporting event since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, player safety was at the top of everyone’s mind. No players or caddies tested positive for COVID-19, and Tour veteran Jim Furyk felt the experience was a positive one.
“I think for the first week, I think we did a pretty good job. I think the Tour went through a lot of painstaking conversations and a lot of hours spent on everyone’s safety, whether that’s us, that’s the press, that’s the volunteers, tournament staff, PGA Tour staff,” Furyk said. “I think they did a good job as far as trying to make sure we were as safe as possible.”
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan echoed Furyk’s sentiments, insisting that there’s still plenty of work to be done as the Tour moves to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, for next week’s RBC Heritage.
“I was asked what’s a successful week look like. It means us getting to the RBC Heritage and having another successful week next week,” Monahan said. “I was on the phone with our team earlier today up at the RBC Heritage, and I feel very good about the setup there, and we’re ready to go again.”
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