Many of the pertinent storylines leading up to the Charles Schwab Challenge were tossed out the window.
FORT WORTH, Texas — As is often the case, many of the storylines that seemed pertinent leading up to the opening round of the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge were kindly tossed out the window through the first 18 holes of action at Colonial Country Club.
Teaching pro and PGA Championship darling Michael Block brought plenty of buzz to the event but he fizzled while part of a featured group on ESPN.
And Collin Morikawa, who was one of the betting favorites, finished with a 73, his worst round in 13 at the storied club.
While those storylines didn’t hold up through the first day, that leads us to five things you should know after the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge.
“Playing in front of a home crowd as the week goes on is always really fun.”
Scottie Scheffler is back in his home state as the best golfer in the world.
Thanks to his runner-up finish to Brooks Koepka at the PGA Championship, the Texan reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking, pushing Jon Rahm to No. 2 (the Spaniard tied for 50th at Oak Hill).
The vibes should be high in Fort Worth, Texas, at the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge for Scheffler, who lost in a playoff to his best bud Sam Burns at Colonial Country Club last season and comes into the week in great form.
But is the hunger there a few days after a major championship?
“I’m typically pretty hungry to win whatever event it is,” he said Wednesday after his nine-hole pro-am. “I show up expecting to come here and play well and do my best. Yeah, I’m hoping for a good finish this week, but I try not to look too far ahead.”
Scheffler has loved playing in front of the Lone Star State crowd all year, finishing T-9 at the Houston Open in the fall, grabbing fourth at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in March and tying for fifth at the AT&T Byron Nelson a few weeks ago.
In fact, going back to last season, Scheffler’s worst finish in Texas during his 2021-22 campaign was a tie for 15th at the Nelson.
Just another reason why the vibes should be high for world No. 1.
“It’s nice being back here at home and being able to play an event. … to be able to sleep in my own bed this week and able to just be at home the last two days was definitely important in terms of rest. Then playing in front of a home crowd as the week goes on is always really fun,” Scheffler said.
His relationship with this event started way before he turned professional. Scheffler’s been coming here since he was a kid.
“I grew up coming to this tournament. Being able to come here and play the golf course and compete is definitely very special for me,” he said. “I’ve grown up dreaming of being out here, and now being on the other side where I’m inside the ropes and trying to do my best and compete is definitely very special.
“I remember showing up here with my dad and just coming out and watching. My dad loved to watch golf. When I grew up, any time I could get a chance to go to the PGA Tour, it was pretty cool. So come out here on practice round days and watch guys.
“I typically liked the practice round days more just because you could get closer to guys and I liked just watching. It wasn’t as much about the atmosphere. It was more just me watching and learning from those guys.”
As a young player growing up in Texas, there’s one name that stands out among the rest that Scheffler looked towards as inspiration.
Jordan Spieth.
“Jordan, he was another guy I looked up to growing up,” he said. “He was always a few years ahead of me and crushing it from a young age. So he was always a guy I looked up to and was able to bounce things off of when I was thinking about turning pro, when I turned pro. He’s always been a guy that’s given me great advice, and he’s such a talented player.”
Time will tell if Scheffler can turn in a performance good enough to earn the title come Sunday, just like Spieth did at Colonial in 2016.
It’s his second win. Grillo erased a four-stroke deficit entering the final round.
“It made everything worth it. The playing, all the hours practicing, the effort from my family. It makes you think when you started playing all the emotions come through your head,” Grillo said. “It’s been tough, but it’s worth every second.”
Here are some of the best photos from the week in Fort Worth for the Charles Schwab Challenge.
“He’s going to do some unbelievable things in this game of golf.”
As a PGA Tour rookie in 2019, Sam Burns started his season at the Fortinet Championship in Napa, California, and he and wife Caroline and fellow Tour pro Kramer Hickock and his better half were sipping wine at the tasting room of winery Silver Oak when they each decided to buy a double magnum of its iconic cabernet sauvignon. Burns and Hickok made a pact that they’d save it and crack it open as soon as they won for the first time in the big leagues.
“Every time I saw that bottle, I’d think ‘gosh, I really want to open that,’” Burns recalled.
It took 76 Tour starts – until April 2021 at the Valspar Championship near Tampa – but Burns finally claimed his maiden victory and as soon as he got home they celebrated with Silver Oak.
“A bunch of friends came over and helped us finish it off,” Burns said with a smile.
Burns has kept on winning, including the 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge, erasing a seven-stroke deficit with a Sunday 65 to force a playoff and poured in a 38-foot putt on the first extra hole to beat his best buddy, then World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
Sam Burns is congratulated by Scottie Scheffler after winning the 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo: Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
For those who have followed Burns, his rise in the game isn’t the least bit surprising. Perhaps the one person who didn’t recognize his raw promise was his dear, old dad, Todd, who had to be convinced by the father of a fellow local golfer that his son was good enough to compete on a larger stage outside of their hometown’s city limits.
“There was a local junior tournament in Shreveport (Louisiana) and we signed Sam up for it,” Todd Burns told the Shreveport Times. “The dad of Phillip Barbaree came over to me after the tournament and said, ‘You need to let Sam play in national competitions.’ I said, ‘Really? I don’t think he’s ready for that. He said, ‘Oh, he’s ready for that.’ ”
Ready enough that he would go on to be named the 2014 AJGA Rolex Player of the Year, an early indicator that he was destined to be a PGA Tour winner.
Brad Pullin, a PGA teaching professional and director of golf instruction at Squire Creek Country Club, is the longtime swing coach for Burns. The first time Pullin watched Burns swing, he had one thought: “Don’t screw it up.”
Collin Morikawa has competed against Burns since he was 12 or 13 years old and beat up on him regularly at the junior and amateur level. Burns proceeded to be a Hogan Award semifinalist in 2017 and was chosen as the winner of the Jack Nicklaus Award at LSU.
“He’s always been a stud,” said Morikawa, a three-time Ben Hogan Award finalist and 2020 Charles Schwab Challenge runner-up. “He’s always had a game that I knew was going to be out here on Tour and will be here for a long time.”
One of the earliest indications that Burns had the moxie of a winner was at the 2018 Honda Classic when Burns was paired with Tiger Woods in the final round. When asked if he had ever played with his childhood hero, Burns answered, “Only on the video game.”
“I don’t even remember feeling the club in my hands,” Burns said of his opening tee shot. “And then he became somebody I had to beat.”
Tiger Woods and Sam Burns walk off the tee on the fifth hole during the final round of the 2018 Honda Classic on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018, in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (Photo: Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press)
Burns settled quickly and even had the chutzpah to say to Woods as they walked down the first fairway, “Man, it’s crazy all these people who came out to watch me today, isn’t it?”
That wasn’t the only burn from Burns. He beat Woods straight up, shooting a bogey-free 68 to Tiger’s 70.
Count Billy Horschel, who has partnered with Burns at the Zurich Classic since 2021, as a believer that Burns is made for the biggest moments. Horschel and Burns finished T-4 in their first go-round as teammates in New Orleans, which nearly had Burns breaking open the double magnum of Silver Oak.
“If it was an individual tournament, he’d have won by five,” Horschel said. “I apologized. I said I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain. I said, ‘You’re playing so great right now. If you do what you did this week, you’re going to have a chance to win.’ In my head I was like, he’s going to win next week.”
Burns did just that and he’s been winning in bunches ever since. He tacked on his fifth career PGA Tour title in March at the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play Championship, besting Scheffler again in extra holes – this time in the semifinals – before dusting Cameron Young in the final by a score of 6 and 5. In doing so, Burns became one of only six players with five victories in the last three years on the Tour. It’s pretty good company to be mentioned in the same breath with Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy, Max Homa and Jon Rahm.
“I think you go from hoping that you can win or thinking that you can win to believing it when it actually happens,” Burns said.
For Burns, it doesn’t get much sweeter than winning at Colonial Country Club, a victory that held great significance since he had attended the tournament on multiple occasions as a kid. That included joining David Toms and his family on a trip to Fort Worth and witnessing the 13-time PGA Tour winner’s final victory in person at the 2011 Charles Schwab Challenge. Burns still hasn’t forgotten leaning against the rope line and craning his neck as Toms holed a wedge for eagle at the 11th hole.
“That was pretty cool to see,” Burns said. “As a 14-year-old kid watching any PGA Tour player, much less a guy that you knew, that was just a really special moment.”
On his way to victory last year, Burns looked up in player dining and smiled at the sight of the wedge Toms used for his hole-out eagle mounted on the wall. Their connection continues with Burns crediting Toms as a mentor he leans on for advice. And in a neat twist of fate, the same day in March that Burns claimed the Match Play in Austin, Toms won on PGA Tour Champions.
“Growing up, I can remember sitting on the back of the range and just watching him hit golf balls. It’s still one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen, just the way he could hit it. So straight and just like his tempo is amazing. Still is,” Burns said. “But, yeah, to be able to win on the same day is really cool.”
Burns broke into the top 10 in the world not long ago and winning major championships are next on his agenda, but as long as he plays it will be hard to top his Sunday surge at Colonial. His seven-stroke comeback matched Nick Price in 1994 for the biggest in a final round to win at Hogan’s Alley.
“I kind of joked with him at the end, he ruined all the fun making a 40-footer,” Scheffler said. “It was definitely good to see him win. He’s obviously a great player and he’s got a bright future ahead.”
Burns went on to qualify for a second straight Tour Championship and made his debut on the U.S. Presidents Cup team at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte. He and Scheffler should have a few more back-nine tussles and it wouldn’t surprise anyone for them to require extra holes once again to settle the score.
“He’s going to do some unbelievable things in this game of golf,” Horschel said. “I’ve been a cheerleader on the side with my pompons trying to tell everyone how great he is and to watch out for this guy.”
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Cut day brings both joy and misery to the field of 156 that began on Thursday with a chance of hoisting the Wanamaker Trophy.
Some such as Tyrrell Hatton, who bounced back from an opening-round 77 with a 68, and world No. 4 Patrick Cantlay (74-67) have renewed faith that they can continue to vault up the leaderboard and join the trophy hunt. Harold Varner III was on the cutline after a double bogey at No. 11 and responded brilliantly. He closed with five consecutive threes on the card, four of them birdies, and is back in the mix at 1 over. Defending champion Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, who is seeking to complete the career Grand Slam with a win, both needed to sink 8-foot putts to make the cut and they drained them. In all 76 golfers made it to the weekend at 5-over 145 or better.
But for the men on this list, the chase is over and they’re none too happy about it. A couple of them blew up, shooting 80, while another made bogey at the last to have the weekend off. Here’s the bad news for some of the best in the world who didn’t have their good stuff this week.
Close-up images of golf equipment spotted at the 2023 PGA Championship.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The best golfers in the world are back at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, this week as the 2023 PGA Championship is set to begin on Thursday.
It has been a decade since Jason Dufner won the last PGA Championship contested on this Donald Ross design, and in that time, numerous advancements in golf equipment have taken place. Golfweek’s David Dusek has been in the practice areas talking to players, caddies and equipment technicians, and below are some of the things that he has seen so far at Oak Hill. Follow him on Instagram to stay in the loop with all the equipment news taking place this week at the PGA Championship.
Even with Scottie Scheffler and Cameron Smith on the recent list of first-time major winners, there’s still ample opportunity for fans to debate who is the best player never to have won a major and deliberate over who will become the next player to win his first major.
The best player never to win a major has been a double-edged tag over the years: to some an annoying attachment next to their logoed wardrobe, to others a dose of praise despite not having a major triumph on the resume.
Curtis Strange heard about it before he won the U.S. Open in back-to-back years. Ben Crenshaw, Payne Stewart, Fred Couples, Tom Kite, Davis Love III and Adam Scott all got an earful before joining the major fraternity.
Phil Mickelson finally left the conversation when he leaped for joy in the 2004 Masters, snapping a frustrating 0-for-42 stretch as a pro. Sergio Garcia ended his 0-for-73 futility in majors at the 2017 Masters. Dustin Johnson’s name stopped coming up with his win in the 2016 U.S. Open, as did Henrik Stenson’s a month later at the Open Championship.
Without further ado, here’s our list (in alphabetical order), which was recently updated ahead of the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill.
Next up on the PGA Tour schedule is the lone team event in New Orleans at the Zurich Classic at TPC Louisiana.
The defending champions, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay, are teaming up once again — yes, they’re featured on this list — but they’re going to have to fight off a few loaded teams.
For example, world Nos. 7 and 13, Max Homa and Collin Morikawa, have their eyes set on a W. Both players graduated from Cal and were members of the winning 2022 U.S. Presidents Cup team at Quail Hollow.
Here are our five can’t-miss teams for the Zurich Classic in New Orleans (each player’s world ranking is featured in parenthesis).
We’ve already taken a look into Burns’ winning equipment, so let’s dive into the champion’s closet and see how Sam dressed for success in TravisMathew apparel at the 2023 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
“Man, that’s like a dream of mine as a kid,” Burns said.
AUSTIN, Texas — As a kid growing up in Louisiana, Sam Burns spent plenty of time running around in the house of David Toms, the dad of one of his best buddies. Burns was invited on family vacations and later played baseball and golf at LSU with Carter Toms.
And one of Burns’ highlights as a kid was driving to Fort Worth, Texas, to watch Toms win the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Country Club, the last of Toms’ 13 PGA Tour victories. Burns, too, went on to win at Colonial last year in the Charles Schwab Challenge.
“Man, that’s like a dream of mine as a kid,” Burns said of winning on the same day as Toms’ victory in the debut of the PGA Tour Champions Galleri Classic on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club.
“Growing up watching him play, I can remember sitting on the back of the range and just watching him hit golf balls,” Burns said. “It’s still one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen, just the way he could hit it. So straight and just like his tempo is amazing. Still is.”
Meanwhile, Burns was handling business on his end, using a barrage of birdies to defeat Cameron Young, 6 and 5, in the final event at Austin Country Club. The event is not on the PGA Tour schedule next year.
As the Galleri begins, the Dell Match Play ends its run. And the two Louisiana natives will be forever linked.
“Yeah, to be able to win on the same day is really cool,” Burns said.
