That’s what Chesson Hadley had to say about his final-round performance Sunday at the Palmetto Championship. Looking for his first PGA Tour win since the 2014 Puerto Rico Open, the 33-year-old began the day with a four-shot lead and ended his round at Congaree Golf Club in Ridgeland, South Carolina, with three consecutive bogeys to sign for a 4-over 75 and finish T-2 at 10 over, one shot behind winner Garrick Higgo.
How did he deal with the defeat? By going to Bojangles, of course.
On Monday morning the 2014 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year took to Twitter to react to his performance, have a little fun at his own putter’s expense and shoutout a sponsor.
Hadley has represented Bojangles, a fast-food restaurant that’s popular in the Southeastern United States, since 2014 and rocks its logo on his shirt collar. One could say he got a thigh of his own supply after the round.
“On a more serious note, this week was tremendous for me. It was great to get into the mix again and feel some things I haven’t felt in a while,” Hadley replied to the original tweet. “Thank you to everyone who encouraged and supported me. I am looking forward to getting after it the rest of the year.”
“Look, I’m trying to keep my job and trying to stay out here until I turn 50,” Van Pelt said at Congaree.
RIDGELAND, S.C. – With one great week at Congaree Golf Club, Bo Van Pelt might have transitioned from that inspirational 46-year-old still grinding away on tour to a regular contender.
“I hope so,” Van Pelt said Sunday after finishing in a six-way tie for second place, one stroke behind 22-year-old winner Garrick Higgo (11-under-par 273) at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree.
“That’s what I’m trying to be. If that inspires some people, great. Look, I’m trying to keep my job and trying to stay out here until I turn 50.”
Closer in years to the PGA Tour Champions qualifying age than to the ages of the majority of his competitors, Van Pelt is on the way to one of pro golf’s better comeback stories, if not yet one for the ages.
The Richmond, Indiana, native entered the week ranked 184th in the FedEx Cup points standings and 620th in the Official World Golf Ranking. Missing 14 cuts in 20 events this season weighs heavily on such measurements. Van Pelt, a resident of Tulsa, Oklahoma, has one top-25 finish and $176,356 in earnings this 2020-21 season.
“Not a ton of expectations,” Van Pelt said Sunday after a 3-under 68 to follow rounds of 69-71-66 for a 10-under finish. “I just had three weeks off, so it was good to kind of practice a little bit. My game felt pretty good. But it’s golf, you never know. My game had been trending in a decent direction, better than it had been a couple months ago.”
But the reason Van Pelt’s first top-10 finish since 2015 is remarkable is he missed about 3 ½ years from 2016-19 because of a series of medical issues so debilitating, he seriously considered retiring from the game. He has tour status now only because of a Top 50 career money exemption.
Bo Van Pelt hits out of a bunker on the 16th fairway during the final round of the Palmetto Championship in Ridgeland, South Carolina. Photo by Stephen B. Morton/Associated Press
The initial injury wasn’t exactly golf-related, though the wear and tear of the sport might have set the stage for what happened in late 2015. Van Pelt was lifting one of his children’s backpacks from the back seat to his driver’s seat when he felt the pain. He stayed on tour schedule until the diagnosis in 2016.
The labrum in his right shoulder was 85 percent torn, and further procedures revealed nine bone spurs in his AC joint. Later, when Van Pelt was experiencing pain including numbness in his hand, Dr. Greg Pearl diagnosed Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and removed Van Pelt’s first rib to relieve compressed nerves or blood vessels.
“I didn’t play 18 holes for over three years,” Van Pelt recalled. “I had three shoulder surgeries, so I thought I was done, to be honest. My hand kind of got numb. Got referred to a guy down in Dallas named Greg Pearl, who looked at me and said, ‘I’ve got to take out your first rib.’ As soon as he did, my shoulder didn’t hurt anymore. I said, well, let’s see if I can get my game back in shape.”
Of course, it’s not as simple as picking up where he left off before the injuries. Van Pelt returned in September 2019 for the Safeway Open, his first start in 1,321 days since the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February 2016. “I think I didn’t appreciate how hard it was going to be,” Van Pelt said.
“When you don’t do anything competitively for three years, like stuff that we just did naturally because I did it every day, I had to start over. I thought I would kind of take back up and be where I was, and it wasn’t going to be that way. It was just hard work.”
He called it tough yet fun.
“It’s kind of like starting over,” he said. “When you’re out of the game that long, all your old feels aren’t the same.”
Missing cut after cut didn’t keep help, but he saw enough in his game to keep going.
“My good was still good enough. It’s just my bad was horrible,” Van Pelt said. “It was like all of a sudden I’d miss one 40 yards and make double, and then I’d play four or five holes really well and look like a real golfer. Once I got rid of the bad, I knew the good was still in there. Got to be in there more consistently.”
This week, he putted well and credited a slight adjustment in his posture and setup to “just kind of cleaned up my stroke a little bit.” He also was encouraged by his ability to drive the ball as long as younger generations of players.
His finish earned him $411,233, and best of all, he played without pain.
Chesson Hadley outplayed world No. 1 Dustin Johnson on Saturday to keep a tight hold on his Palmetto Championship lead.
RIDGELAND, S.C. – The world’s 320th-ranked player didn’t stumble.
The world No. 1 did.
Chesson Hadley, who had missed the cut in 11 of his last 15 starts on the PGA Tour and fallen to his lowest rank since 2016, outplayed Dustin Johnson as the two walked side by side in the final group on Saturday and remained atop the leaderboard through three days of the Palmetto Championship at Congaree.
The only thing that stopped Hadley, whose lone PGA Tour title came in the 2014 Puerto Rico Open, was a suspension of play due to threatening weather as he stood on the 18th tee.
Play was stopped at 5:55 p.m. ET and then called for the day at 8 p.m. Only four players were still on the course – Hadley, Johnson, Harris English and Tain Lee. Hadley, who led by two after 36 holes, will take a 4-shot lead to the 18th hole when play resumes at 7:30 a.m. Sunday.
After opening with a bogey on the first, Hadley remained patient through a string of 10 consecutive pars and didn’t sweat losing his lead. Then he ripped off four birdies in five holes on the back nine to create separation from the field.
“I was really uncomfortable to start, absolutely. I was nervous, I was anxious and it has been a long time since I’ve been in a position like this,” Hadley said. “I have been in a position like that before, but you just kind of forget. I started to feel better on hole 4. And then I made a really, really nice putt on 6 for par and I was kind of, I kind of felt really good after that.
“So I started to string some nice holes together and was able to make a few birdies there towards the end.”
Hadley is at 14 under through 53 holes. Johnson, on the other hand, never really got going after pulling even with a birdie on the second. The two-time major winner with 24 PGA Tour titles made three bogeys in nine holes to fall back, rallied with consecutive birdies at 15 and 16 but then bogeyed 17 and was six shots back at 8 under through 53 holes.
Harris English, who has battled a bad back since the Players, moved into second place at 10 under with five birdies and one bogey. He has a 10-footer for birdie on the last hole when play resumes.
“Teeing off on 18 those clouds were mighty dark and we were trying to rush to get it in,” English said. “It was going to be close, but we didn’t get it in and then I thought, well, maybe we can finish tonight and can sleep in in the morning and wait for late tee time.
“But it is what it is. I’ll come out and practice putting a little bit and hopefully make the putt and then rest up, get ready for the final round. It’s kind of unfortunate waking up that early to hit one putt, but it is what it is. I’m lucky to be in one of the last groups and looking forward to the challenge tomorrow.”
Unless there is a major hiccup, Hadley will be paired with English in the final round.
“I’ve known Harris for, gosh, probably 15 years now. He’s just kind of a cool customer and he would be somebody really comfortable to play with,” Hadley said. “That was one of the reasons why I was really uncomfortable today playing with D.J.; I’ve only played with him once and he’s the best in the world and I never played with a world No. 1, so that was really cool getting to watch from him and learn from him. But I would love to play with Harris tomorrow.
“He’s a great egg, would love to get a chance to take a walk with him.”
The leader in the clubhouse is Garrick Higgo, whose 68 moved him to 8 under.
Bo Van Pelt (66) and Tyrrell Hatton (67) were at 7 under.
Tain Lee, who Monday qualified for the event, led for much of the day before making three bogeys and a double in five holes on the back nine. He fell to 6 under and has a 16-footer for birdie on the last hole. Despite his late-round stumble, Lee, who paid $450 to enter the Monday qualifier, is in position to earn a hefty check with a strong Sunday.
Look out Bryson, the 21-year-old South African sensation has turned heads this week in his PGA Tour debut with eye-shocking power.
RIDGELAND, S.C. – Well before thunder and lightning rolled through the Lowcountry and suspended play for a bit late in Friday’s second round of the Palmetto Championship at Congaree, Wilco Nienaber was delivering his own violent turbulence.
The 21-year-old South African sensation has turned plenty of heads this week in his PGA Tour debut with eye-shocking power. Bubba Long? He’s got that covered. And watch out, Bryson DeChambeau, the kid could supplant you as the longest in the game.
At 6-2 and just 175 pounds, Nienaber still cranks up bombs with an effortless swing. Through two rounds, he’s hit 25 tee shots longer than 300 yards, including a 379-yard missile on his last hole in the second round.
He leads the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, picking up nearly 2.5 shots per round on his peers. He leads in driving distance measured on all tee shots at 336.1 yards per pop, and that’s diluted some by the shortish 18th hole where nearly everyone is hitting iron off the tee.
His distance numbers are not a fluke this week; in the second round of the 2020 Joburg Open in South Africa, he hit a drive 439 yards, the longest blow on the European Tour that season.
21-year-old @WilcoNienaber is currently T16 in his TOUR debut. 🇿🇦
He ranks first in Driving Distance (All Drives) and SG: Off-the-Tee.
Nienaber, ranked 143rd in the world, has won on the Sunshine Tour and the European Tour’s Challenge Tour. He earned a spot in next week’s U.S. Open by leading the 2021 Sunshine Tour’s Order of Merit. You want Brooks and Bryson paired up? Nienaber and DeChambeau would be quite a show to watch at Torrey Pines, too.
With a pair of 3-under-par 68s in the Palmetto Championship, he is five shots behind leader Chesson Hadley and in position to become the first player to win in his PGA Tour debut since Jim Benepe did so in the 1988 Western Open.
“When I got here at registration, I had no idea what to do,” he said. “So that’s a little bit different because I’m not sure where to go and what to do.
“I’m really pleased with what I did the last two days. Growing up watching the PGA Tour is where I want to be, and it’s really nice to start off like I did.”
Everything you need to know for the third round at Congaree.
Despite a minor setback late in the day because of the weather, the second round of the Palmetto Championship at Congaree reached a conclusion late Friday evening. Chesson Hadley took the lead early in the day and no one – not even world No. 1 and South Carolina native Dustin Johnson – could overtake him.
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The 18th hole wasn’t pretty, but Dustin Johnson is still in position for his first PGA Tour title in his home state.
RIDGELAND, S.C. – Despite a mishap on the final hole, Dustin Johnson continued his march toward his first victory in South Carolina on Friday.
And he’s certainly headed in the right direction leading into next week’s U.S. Open in California.
The world No. 1 made a double-bogey 6 on the 18th hole when his club slipped in his hand during his tee shot, the ball winding up in the middle of a small bush in the waste area to the left of the fairway. He was forced to take a penalty shot but still signed for a 3-under-par 68 to stand two shots behind leader Chesson Hadley through 36 holes of the Palmetto Championship at Congaree.
“That’s a first for me. I obviously was not expecting that,” Johnson said of the club slip on the 18th tee using a 3-iron. “Actually my glove hand slipped on the tee shot and just ended up in the only spot you can’t hit it on that hole, which was a couple of bushes there on the left. It got wet. I don’t know if the end of my 3-iron was wet or what it was. When I took a couple of practice swings, I didn’t notice it.
“So, unfortunate finish, but I’m playing well, I’m swinging well, I’ve got a lot of confidence in everything I’m doing.
“Still in a really good spot going into the weekend.”
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Johnson stretched his bogey-free start to 30 holes on Friday – the third-best bogey-free start of his career – with some of his finest golf in quite some time. Johnson has but one top-10 on the PGA Tour in eight starts this year but is in prime position to win his 25th PGA Tour title and first in his native state.
“The first 14 holes played extremely difficult and I was playing really well. With the wind, the wind was blowing pretty hard, it was really gusty, so it was just really hard to get a good beat on it. I felt like I did a really good job, though, controlling the golf ball,” he said. “I’m still in a really good position leading into the weekend and still a lot of golf to play.
Chesson Hadley took some time off after five missed cuts. Now he’s back at it with a hot putter and the second-round Palmetto lead.
RIDGELAND, S.C. – As soon as he said it, Chesson Hadley knew the comment could sound odd in the wrong context.
The PGA Tour player had just finished his second round Friday morning at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree, and he was atop the early leaderboard. It was not a place he had visited recently, as Hadley had missed the cut in 10 of his last 12 tournaments.
Interviewed after a round of 5-under-66 put him at 11-under for two rounds, Hadley credited his putting.
“So it’s nice to hit some good shots, and the putter’s hot,” Hadley said. “So if I can just keep riding the putter, she’s a sweet girl. So I’ll just ride her until — you know.”
Before he could fully answer the next question about putting, he broke into laughter.
“I’m just kind of thinking about that last comment I made now,” he said. “Use that. Absolutely.”
And why not? Golfers love their putters when they’re this hot. On Friday, Hadley made seven birdie putts, including one of 35 feet, 8 inches on the par-4 No. 11, and two of 22-11 at Nos. 3 and 7.
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“It certainly makes golf a lot easier,” Hadley said. “Most of your strokes are done on the putting surface. So if you see the ball going in the hole a lot, it does something to you. I certainly made my fair share of putts today for par and for birdie. Don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I like the way everything feels, for sure.”
Hadley uses an Odyssey 2-Ball putter which he calls “Nana” after his grandmother, as he explained.
“So my grandmother – she actually passed away earlier this year – but she was just like the most lovely and sweet, kind woman. That’s how I want my putter to be, lovely and sweet and kind, right? She’s just good to you, right? So she’s Nana.”
Hadley called his old Odyssey putter Nana, so he updated the new putter with Nana Jr. Whatever the name, the game is working really well at Congaree Golf Club.
“Fortunately, that’s been the bright spot to my year has been my putter,” Hadley said. “Your feels and the way you just look at the ball changes the ball. Sometimes the ball just looks different. You haven’t done anything, and you just wake up one day, and it just looks different for some reason. That just changes everything. But I have a good baseline with the putting right now. I know what I’m doing, what I’m trying to do, and it’s working. So hopefully, it can keep moving forward with that.”
Hadley, who turns 34 next month, sounded relieved just to go to lunch Friday without worrying about the cut line. It’s understandable considering his streak of five missed cuts, followed by two made, then another five missed. He’s played 18 tournaments this season, and of the six made cuts, five resulted in top-25 finishes.
“No, I definitely didn’t see this coming,” said the 2010 Georgia Tech graduate. “… thank goodness I had three weeks off just to kind of hit the reset switch, get out on the boat, and just kind of forget about some things and spend some time with some family.”
Hadley, whose lone win on the PGA Tour was the 2014 Puerto Rico Open, said the stretch of missed cuts didn’t help his confidence. But he looked back on his career successes and started playing better.
“Obviously, we’re a long way from the winner’s circle, and that’s not what I’m saying,” he said. “I’m so thankful to just feel that again, like I belong out here type of thing.”
Brooks Koepka won’t play the weekend at Congaree, but doesn’t see any reason to panic with the U.S. Open on the horizon.
RIDGELAND, S.C. – With his mind wandering westward to San Diego and next week’s U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, world No. 8 Brooks Koepka lost a bit of his concentration for the task at hand in the Palmetto Championship at Congaree.
The four-time major winner will head to California early after firing rounds of 72-73 to miss the cut, his six birdies over two days wiped out by seven bogeys and one double bogey. It was Koepka’s sixth missed cut of the season, a career high.
But all was not lost.
“My game’s in good shape,” he said Friday. “I know my score doesn’t reflect it. I like where it’s at. I feel even better than where I was going into the PGA. I’m pretty pleased, pretty happy.
“I like the way I’m striking the ball. I like the way I’m putting the ball, too. I like where I’m at. I’ll take it to next week.”
This week, however, his attention span was short, which isn’t uncommon for Koepka. While he has no problem getting motivated for the majors, he lacks a bit of juice in other events. He has won four majors – including the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills and the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock – and has won four other PGA Tour events in his career.
“I don’t try to miss a cut. I just have a harder time focusing in regular PGA Tour events than I do majors,” he said. “Majors, I know I’m locked in from the moment I hit the first tee shot. Even walking from the first tee shot to the ball, my head is still going on what I need to do. Out here I kind of lose focus for a little bit.
“I’ve got to figure it out. That’s why I struggle, I think, in regular events. It’s the focus and the energy, the excitement level just isn’t there when it would be in a major. It’s different. I thrive off that bigger stage, that big moment where there’s a bunch of fans and a tough golf course. I love it.”
This year has been a bungee jump for Koepka – up, down, up, down. He missed the cut in the Farmers Insurance Open and then won the Waste Management Phoenix Open the following week.
Then he tied for 38th in the Genesis Invitational before tying for second the following week in the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship.
Then he missed two cuts before tying for second in the PGA Championship.
In addition to his focus, much of the inconsistency can be attributed to his surgically repaired right knee; he’s only played 26 competitive rounds in 2021.
He was glad to get two rounds of reps in at Congaree, glad to be able to hit different shots in competition. And his knee is doing just fine.
“It’s in a really good spot. I like where it’s at,” he said. “I’ve done enough rehab, strength’s coming around. I can almost squat down to read a putt like normal.
“Didn’t do it too much this week just because I don’t want to screw it up for next week. So I don’t see anything wrong going into next week.”
The journeyman has grabbed the lead after the conclusion of round on the PGA Tour for the first time in his career.
RIDGELAND, S.C. – Wes Roach went where he’d never gone before.
The journeyman who has bounced back and forth between the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour since 2012, who is ranked No. 433 in the world, grabbed the lead after the conclusion of round on the PGA Tour for the first time in his career.
With a 7-under-par 64 – just one shot off his career low on Tour – Roach was one shot clear of the field after Thursday’s first round of the Palmetto Championship at Congaree. It is the first time he grabbed the outright lead after any round in his 88 starts on the PGA Tour.
“It feels great,” Roach said of the first lead of his career. His best career finish on the PGA Tour is a tie for third in the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic. “Hard work paying off a little bit. It’s just 18 holes and there’s a long ways to go, but I’m just going to do my best to stay present out there and just continue to hit quality shots.
“I did everything pretty well. I drove it nice, I putted as good as I have in a while and I made it from 104 yards on the 4th hole, so that was a nice bonus as well.”
Those 104 holes on the fourth came from the fairway on his third shot as he made eagle on the 633-yard par-5. That put him at 4 under through four holes. He went on to post a front-nine 30 – the third of his career and first since 2014.
“I got off to a good start. I made a nice par, a nice up-and-down from the sand on 1. And then made a couple birdies and then I holed out there on 4. It was kind of on cruise control,” he said. “I hit a lot of good shots kind of right where I was looking up until I guess right around 12 and 13, got a little bit off, but relied on my short game a little bit and was able to make a few pars.
“And then made another birdie coming in on 16. So it was a good day.”
Roach, 32, had missed the cut in half of his eight starts on Tour this season and posted a season-best tie for 13th in the Puerto Rico Open. But he recently changed putters and is leading the field in putting through one round.
“I’ve been hitting the ball pretty well for the majority of the year and my putter has just, it wasn’t very good, to be honest,” he said. “So kind of mixed things up a little bit a few weeks ago back home and everything’s in a good spot right now.”
World No. 1 Dustin Johnson was a shot back at 65. Joining him there were Erik van Rooyen, Chesson Hadley and Doc Redman. At 66 was Jhonattan Vegas.
In a large group at 67 was Harris English. Among those at 68 were Tommy Fleetwood and Ian Poulter.
World No. 8 Brooks Koepka, playing for the first time since finishing in a tie for second in the PGA Championship, birdied the last to shoot 72. The last four times he failed to break par in the first round of a PGA Tour event he missed the cut.
Congaree Golf Club in Ridgeland, South Carolina, plays host to the 2021 Palmetto Championship, a tournament created to fill the RBC Canadian Open’s place on the Tour’s schedule. The RBC was canceled for the second straight year due to travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Congaree will play as a par-71 at 7,655-yards.
From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for the second round of the 2021 Palmetto Championship.
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