Aberg has finished T-10 and T-2 in his last two starts.
The PGA Tour is back in Las Vegas this week for the 2023 Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin.
The defending champion Tom Kim returns to Sin City hoping to go back-to-back. Since finishing tied for 20th at the Tour Championship, Kim has finished T-18 at the BMW PGA Championship and T-6 at the French Open on the DP World Tour.
He’s joined in the field by European Ryder Cupper Ludvig Aberg — T-2 at the Sanderson Farms Championship last week — Si Woo Kim, Cam Davis, J.T. Poston and Chicken Open winner Luke List.
This week’s winner will earn $1.512 million and 500 FedEx Cup points.
Golf course
TPC Summerlin | Par 71 | 7,255 yards
Patrick Cantlay putts on the 16th green during the final round of the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas. (Photo: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
Course history
Course history at TPC Summerlin for the #ShrinersOpen going back to 2014.
-Includes average finish position and Strokes Gained per round in each category. Players are sorted by SG: Total.
The win is Kim’s second on the PGA Tour and second in his last four starts.
At the conclusion of the Presidents Cup two weeks ago, International Team Captain Trevor Immelman sang the praises of South Korean golfer Tom Kim and proclaimed that a star was born.
Kim is more than living up to the hype after shooting a final-round 5-under 66 at TPC Summerlin on Sunday to win the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas.
At 20 years, 3 months and 18 days old, Kim became the second youngest player to win twice on the PGA Tour since Ralph Guldahl in 1932. He’s also the first player since Tiger Woods in 1996 to win twice before turning 21. If that wasn’t impressive enough, Kim became just the second winner on Tour since Lee Trevino in 1974 to play 72 holes without recording a bogey (J.T. Poston did so at the 2019 Wyndham Championship).
Kim, who won the Wyndham Championship in August, battled Patrick Cantlay to a standstill until the latter made a triple-bogey on the final hole to gift-wrap a three-stroke victory. It marked Kim’s second win in his last four PGA Tour starts, posting a 72-hole total of 24-under 260.
“I got very lucky on the 18th. I’m not going to lie, Patrick played awesome, and it was an honor to battle with him, and to come out on top, I feel very fortunate,” Kim said.
It’s all the more remarkable considering his rapid rise. A year ago, Kim was in Las Vegas the week of the Shriners tournament. “I remember I wanted to play,” he said. A week later, he made his Tour debut at the CJ Cup thanks to a sponsor exemption. He didn’t play again on Tour until May, but since then earned special temporary status, secured his card for the coming season, notched a win, qualified for the FedEx Cup, made his presence felt in the Presidents Cup and improved to No. 15 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
“I’m playing on the PGA Tour as a 20-year old. It’s hard to get tired from this,” he said. “I’m a five-year-old at Disneyland for sure.”
He and Cantlay shared the lead going into the final round after Cantlay matched his career low score on Saturday with a 60. Kim was none too shabby on Moving Day either, playing his last 11 holes in 8 under of the third round en route to shooting 62.
Validating his first win wouldn’t come easy. Since 2017, Cantlay being in contention at the Shriners Children’s Open has been one of the safest bets on the Vegas Strip. In the final round, Kim drained a 30-foot birdie putt at No. 8 to build a two-stroke lead. But Cantlay, who won in Vegas in 2017 and settled for his third runner-up finish in this event, wouldn’t go down without a fight.
“No lead is safe around here because you can go so low and make so many birdies,” said Cantlay, who was seeking his third win of the year and ninth Tour title.
Cantlay did just that rolling in birdies at Nos. 11 and 12 to tie Kim at 22 under. But Kim answered with birdies at 13 and 14, the latter of which he walked in from 13 feet. That just meant Cantlay needed to keep going low and he recorded back-to-back birdies at Nos. 15 and 16 to erase his deficit again. Both players made par at 17. Cantlay, who led the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee for the week, picked the worst possible time to hook a 3-wood off the 18th tee and into a desert bush. He tried to blast out sideways from a ravine back to the fairway but failed to advance his ball and elected to take a penalty from an unplayable lie.
“I thought if I could get it back in the fairway, I’d have a chance, and I figured it was worth the risk because I didn’t think I’d have too much of a chance of getting it up-and-down from the brush there,” Cantlay explained. “Obviously the last hole makes the whole week kind of sour.”
Cantlay’s next shot splashed into the pond fronting the green. He made triple bogey and closed in 69 to tie with Matthew NeSmith (66), who set a career-best in 88 Tour starts.
Kim made the requisite par he needed at 18 and continues to live up to high praise he’s received, including from his caddie. Joe Skovron knows a thing or two about working for a player with high expectations. He spent 13 years alongside Rickie Fowler until parting ways in August and joining Kim at the Presidents Cup two weeks ago.
“He has that ‘it’ factor that he wants the moment, he wants the big putt. He wants that, and he can respond to it,” Skovron said after Kim’s Presidents Cup performance. “I think the sky’s the limit for him.”
Burns defended his title with a birdie putt from distance on the second playoff hole.
Sam Burns got bit by the Snake Pit but that didn’t poison his 2022 Valspar Championship.
The 25-year-old defended his title at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course, claiming the Valspar Championship via a playoff with rookie Davis Riley after the pair each finished at 17 under. Following a pair of pars on No. 18, Burns claimed the title with a birdie from distance on the second playoff hole, the par-4 16th.
Burns is the fourth two-time winner at the Valspar, and the second to defend his title following Paul Casey in 2018 and 2019 (2020’s event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Last year’s Valspar win was the first of Burns’ PGA Tour career. The Shreveport, Louisiana native went on to win the Sanderson Farms Championship in October, his last victory on Tour prior to this week.
Davis Riley birdied half the holes at Innisbrook Resort en route to a bogey-free 62 and a two-stroke lead over Matthew NeSmith.
PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Davis Riley heard the cry of “Roll Tide” several times during the third round of the Valspar Championship and couldn’t help but smile. Some of them may have even been for the 25-year-old rookie out of Alabama.
The majority of them were for his older, better-known, and more successful playing competitor Justin Thomas, who once showed around young Riley on a recruiting visit. On this day, it was Riley who deserved the majority of the applause in this friendly third-round pairing as he birdied half the holes at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course. It included dunking a bunker shot at the ninth for birdie en route to a bogey-free 62 and a two-stroke lead over Matthew NeSmith.
“It was really impressive,” Thomas said. “It’s a big moment for a rookie and anybody, and he handled it like a rock star and made 9-under look very, very easy barring a crazy chip-in there on 9.”
On another warm, sun-soaked day, Riley improved to 18-under 195, setting the 54-hole scoring record and on pace to break the 72-hole scoring mark at the Valspar Championship set by Vijay Singh in 2004 (18-under 266).
Veteran caddie Lance Bennett joined Riley on the Korn Ferry Tour in July. The last time he’d caddied for that circuit? In 2006 with Matt Kuchar, which led to a decade together.
“I knew how good (Riley) was so I was like I’ll make the investment,” Bennett said. “There are a handful of guys on the range (at KFT events) that you know they won’t be there for long and he was one of those guys.”
Riley notched two wins and seven top-10 finishes during the 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour season to earn a promotion for finishing in the Top 25 of the regular season. He’s recorded just one top-10 finish in 13 events so far, entered the week ranked No. 121 in the FedEx Cup standings and No. 399 in the world, but he’s learned from playing with the likes of Jason Day, Adam Scott, and current World No. 1 Jon Rahm during the final round of the American Express.
Davis Riley plays his shot off the 15th tee during the third round of the Valspar Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Riley, who opened with rounds of 65-66, birdied his first two holes Saturday, wedged it tight at No. 6, and then stole another birdie after driving it left at the seventh. He punched a 7-iron below a tree that scooted inside 10 feet and canned the putt.
“That’s just one of those shots that you try to judge, and I judged it perfectly,” Riley said.
For his next trick, he drove it right, punched low into the front greenside bunker, and from 69 feet from the hole jarred it for birdie. Riley punched the sky with his right fist and high-fived Bennett.
“Those are the things that fairytales are made of for this young man,” PGA Tour Radio’s Mark McCumber said.
“It was on the up slope of the bunker so I knew I had to hit it pretty hard to get it back there to a back pin and I actually clipped it really good,” Riley said. “It was funny because I was walking up to get it out and Justin is just looking at me laughing, I’m like, yeah, that’s pretty lucky.”
Riley tacked on birdies at both par 5s – Nos. 11 and 14 – and two of the three par 3s on the back nine – Nos. 13 and 17. When Riley drilled his 17-foot birdie putt at 17 to reach 18 under for the tournament, Thomas gave him a thumbs-up as he walked off the green. Riley needed just 20 putts and gained nearly four strokes on the greens in shooting his career low on the PGA Tour. (He’s first in Strokes Gained: Putting this week as well as leading the field in SG: Off the Tee and SG: Around the Green.)
“They were all going in,” Thomas said. “They were going in with great speed right in the middle. Very, very effortless.”
Early on, NeSmith continued to play stress-free golf and looked as if he might run away with the tournament. He backed up his second-round 61 with four birdies on the front nine and was the first to get to 18 deep. But after going 45 consecutive holes without a bogey, NeSmith made four bogeys on his way to the clubhouse, including at Nos. 16 and 17 to finish with a third round 2-under 69. Both NeSmith and Riley are seeking their first Tour title.
Thomas, on the other hand, is chasing No. 15. He shot his third straight 66 and is tied for third at 15 under with defending champion Sam Burns. He’s long been impressed with Riley’s game and his work ethic and noted that Riley was the player he remained closest to at Alabama after he turned pro.
“We’re very, very similar in terms that we’ll work really hard and we expect a lot out of ourselves and have high expectations,” Thomas said.
They’ve shared texts back and forth this week, including Thomas saying on Friday evening, “About dang time we played together.” Thomas always has been an open book to Riley but a Thomas pep talk ahead of the final round may not be in the cards. “I hope he does (text me) tonight so I can ghost him so fast,” Thomas said. “I think the world of him, but respectfully, I hope I destroy him tomorrow.”
“It’s fairly new, it’s quite uncomfortable, to be honest with you, but I’m excited to go through this weekend.”
PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Bobby Jones famously said that golf is a game played on a five-inch course, the space between your ears.
Matthew NeSmith can relate. The 28-year-old former South Carolina Gamecock torched Innisbrook’s Copperhead course to the tune of 10-under 61, a career-low that tied the course record.
NeSmith’s bogey-free round included eight birdies and an eagle as he improved to 14-under 128 and a two-stroke lead at the Valspar Championship over former champion Adam Hadwin.
NeSmith, who missed the cut last week at the Players Championship and hasn’t recorded a top-10 finish in 14 starts this season, said he’s improved his driving, chipping, and putting, but hasn’t played any better.
“At some point in time that falls on me and that falls on how I act and how I think and how I want to feel,” NeSmith said.
Fed up with getting in his own way, NeSmith decided to “let the chips fall where they may,” this week. So far, he’s bogey-free for 36 holes. He followed up an opening-round 67 with an eagle at 14 and birdies on six of the holes on the way to the clubhouse. The only thing that slowed NeSmith down was someone pouring a bucket of water or ice in a luxury box behind the green as he lined up his 18-foot birdie putt on the last. He backed off the putt twice and missed right of the hole to break the course record. NeSmith’s new mental approach, which included not writing down his scores until he reached the scoring area, has been paying quick dividends.
“I’m done with the anxiety,” he said. “I’m done with trying so hard.”
Hadwin, who followed up an opening-round 64 with a 5-under 66 in the morning wave, also credited his mental sharpness for his strong play through two rounds.
“My mind has been pretty good this week, staying patient, not getting too worried about any sort of missed shots or anything,” he said.
But Hadwin couldn’t pinpoint whether he had done anything differently to get into a better state of mind.
“I’m really trying to figure out whether it was the chicken or the egg, whether the good golf put me in a better mental state or my mental state put me playing better golf,” he said. “I find myself much more relaxed on the golf course. Some of those missed shots just aren’t bothering me as much.”
Scott Stallings and defending champion Sam Burns are tied for third at 11 under. Burns used a 40-foot eagle at the par-5 14th to jump start his round after a sluggish start and signed for 67.
“The 4-iron I hit on 14 was exactly how I wanted,” Burns said.
Matthew NeSmith plays his shot off the tee box of the 8th hole during the second round of the Valspar Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Last year, Burns notched his first PGA Tour win at the Valspar. NeSmith would like to do the same and in doing so earn a berth to the Masters not far from where he grew up and lives in Aiken, South Carolina. To do so, he’ll likely have to keep going low and try to be comfortable with being uncomfortable with his mental approach.
“It’s fairly new, it’s quite uncomfortable, to be honest with you, but I’m excited to go through this weekend and try it and see what happens,” he said.
Will Thomas win for the first time since the 2021 Players?
Matthew NeSmith played like Tiger Woods in his prime on Friday. Almost every putt he looked at fell in, and at the end of the day he signed for a 10-under 61 which tied the Copperhead course record. He leads the Valspar Championship heading into the weekend at 14 under.
Past champion Adam Hadwin sits two shots back at 12 under, looking for his first win on the PGA Tour since conquering Valspar in 2017 (his lone victory). With him at 12 under is Scott Stallings and last year’s champion Sam Burns.
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Xander Schauffele’s name is once again on the first page of the leaderboard, this time at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale is infamous for its 16,000 rowdy fans making the fully-enclosed hole a Colosseum of sorts. But not this year. When Matthew NeSmith chipped an 8-iron to six inches at the par 3 hole, he heard all of six claps.
“I made the quietest almost hole-in-one ever at 16,” he said.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing requirements, only about 5,000 fans per day are being permitted to attend the Waste Management Phoenix Open, where crowds topping 250,000 for Saturday’s third round has become the norm. The tournament affectionately known as “the people’s open,” is missing its masses.
“When there’s a lot of people it almost becomes white noise,” said Xander Schauffele. “Out here I chunked my chip and some guys was like, ‘Dang, he duffed it.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, you’re right, I just duffed the crap out of that chip.’ You can kind of hear certain small comments more, which when you show up here you know exactly what you’re walking into, but it is weird the overall sort of quietness here. It is strange to me.”
What is becoming clockwork is seeing Schauffele’s name on the first page of the leaderboard. He carded seven birdies en route to a 5-under 66 and sits three strokes behind NeSmith, who fired a bogey-free 63, and Mark Hubbard, who matched him by making birdies on five fo his last six holes.
Schauffele’s become the Tour’s “Mr. Consistency,” recording 16 top-25 finishes in 18 starts last season and hasn’t finished worse than T-17 in six starts this season, with two seconds among them, including last week at the Farmers Insurance Open, which helped him improve to a career-best of No. 4 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
“I want to be like Xander,” said Tour pro Joel Dahmen. “Thursday to Sunday he’s the same guy. It’s very impressive. He has a plan and he sticks to it.”
All that’s missing for Schauffele, 27, is a trophy to hoist. He’s been stuck on four career victories since the Sentry Tournament of Champions more than two years ago. With each passing close call, Schauffele’s level of frustration grows.
“The ultimate goal is winning and it kind of just dangles right in front of you every tournament, and you just try your best,” he said. “I’ve knocked on the door a few times and kind of messed up and choked, I guess, if you want to call it that. But just try to learn from every moment.”
When asked if he thinks he’s choked, Schauffele didn’t mince words.
“I have at certain times,” he said. “I’m trying to just get to a level where when I know I’m playing really well, I can win. I don’t know if my game is quite there yet to where I can show up to a course and really feel like I’m 100 percent that I’m going to win this tournament. There’s a lot of variables that come into play.”
On a sun-splashed opening round, Schauffele’s putter was on fire. He canned five birdies in a six-hole stretch beginning at No. 17 and one-putted each hole in that span on his way to making over 100 feet of putts for the day. That included a beautiful 28-foot right-to-left birdie putt at No. 4 that broke back to the cup at the end and dropped.
NeSmith tied his career low with 63. He took a short-game lesson on Monday and it paid quick dividends. He holed a bunker shot on 13 for eagle and chipped in from over the sixth green for birdie.
“I don’t know what’s going on the last couple of days, but I’m very grateful for it,” he said.
NeSmith, 27, and Hubbard, 31, are both winless on Tour. They lead Nate Lashley, a 38-year-old University of Arizona product who calls Scottsdale home, and Sam Burns by one stroke.
Former champions Brooks Koepka made seven birdies in shooting 68, while Rickie Fowler carded four consecutive bogeys and will have his work cut out to make the 36-hole cut after 3-over 74. Rory McIlroy was 3-over par after his first two holes but rallied to shoot 1-under 70 in his Phoenix Open debut.
“It was a good battle back,” he said.
68 for Brooks Koepka today, his lowest opening round since last year's PGA Championship. He made 149 feet of putts today, his most in a single round since 2018.
The 26-year-old PGA Tour rookie already has won the Junior Heritage and popped the question to his now wife at Pete Dye’s Hilton Head layout
Of all the courses Matthew NeSmith has played in his life, Harbour Town Golf Links, site of this week’s RBC Heritage, is his favorite – and for good reason.
The South Carolina native won the Junior Heritage on the Pete Dye layout in Hilton Head, South Carolina, in 2011, the Players Amateur in nearby Bluffton in 2015 – which earned him an exemption into the Heritage – and the famed 18th green overlooking the Calibogue Sound is where he dropped to one knee and popped the question in 2018 to Abigail, his now wife.
It’s also where he carded seven birdies en route to a 5-under 66 on Thursday to join the trophy hunt for his first PGA Tour title.
“This course fits my game nicely, especially if I play well,” NeSmith said. “I’ve been around here a couple of times. So I’m pretty excited about it.”
After his round, NeSmith recounted the circumstances of his proposal to his wife on March 18, 2018. They began dating as students at University of South Carolina, and he was playing the course as part of a birthday weekend trip to Hilton Head for her.
“I started to have a little bit of a panic attack around 14 because I didn’t think we were going to finish in time because there was tons of people on the golf course,” said NeSmith, who had a friend hiding in the bushes to photograph the moment for posterity. “Once I got on the green, I kind of don’t remember a whole lot until we were eating dinner. It was a little nerve-racking, to say the least.”
Players on the PGA TOUR have enjoyed playing the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head, South Carolina, for a variety of reasons. https://t.co/W2f8SwRTjL
NeSmith made a par at 18 on Thursday, but he aced the engagement.
He and Abigail were married on Nov. 1, 2019, during a break from his fourth and fifth tournaments as a Tour member. The 26-year-old rookie earned his promotion from the Korn Ferry Tour thanks to a victory at the Albertsons Boise Open.
He’s off to a promising start, making the cut in nine of his last 10 starts and posting three top-15 finishes. He entered the week a very respectable 64th in the FedEx Cup standings.
This is NeSmith’s first RBC Heritage appearance. He earned an invitation for winning the 2015 Players Amateur when he shot 65 in the final round to catch Chase Koepka, who had entered the final round with a five-stroke lead. But NeSmith passed up the Heritage in order to compete in the SEC Championship that same week with his teammates at South Carolina.
NeSmith started on the back nine on Thursday and strung together four birdies in a row, beginning at No. 13. He trails early leader Ian Poulter by two strokes. Asked what it would mean to complete a trifecta of sorts by winning the RBC Heritage having already won the Junior Heritage and his wife’s hand in marriage at Harbour Town, he said, “It would be great. It’s later on in the week, and there’s a lot of golf to be played.”
Matthew NeSmith holed out at the par-3 fifth hole, playing 186 yards, at PGA National with his 5-iron.
Chalk up the first East Coast ace of the year on the PGA Tour. Matthew NeSmith, a 26-year-old South Carolina alum, earned that honor in the opening round of the Honda Classic. NeSmith holed out at the par-3 fifth hole, playing 186 yards, at PGA National with his 5-iron.
NeSmith’s hole-in-one came amid a colorful front-nine stretch. He had birdied the third hole before giving a shot back with a bogey at No. 4. He bookended the ace with another bogey then logged three more pars to close out the front nine at 1-under 34.
The Honda Classic represents NeSmith’s 13th start in the 2019-20 PGA Tour season. He missed the first three cuts of the season but logged his best finish, a T-6, at last week’s Puerto Rico Open. Last season, NeSmith won the Albertsons Boise Open on the Korn Ferry Tour and earned PGA Tour membership for this season by finishing No. 1 in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals 25.
