Tag: Wesley Bryan

The Bryan brothers, Wesley and George, battle in Wyndham Championship Monday qualifier

What a day for the Bryan family.

[anyclip pubname=”2122″ widgetname=”0016M00002U0B1kQAF_M8171″]

Monday was an interesting day for the Bryan family.

The youngest, Wesley, is a PGA Tour winner — 2017 RBC Heritage — and has made 14 starts this season. His brother, George, on the other hand, plays most of his golf on YouTube these days.

That isn’t to say he isn’t a stick, because he absolutely is. He carries a +6 handicap.

And after shooting a bogey-free 4-under 67 at a pre-qualifying event at Bermuda Run Country Club in Bermuda Run, North Carolina, on July 27th, George earned himself a spot in the Wyndham Championship Monday qualifier.

Both Bryan brothers shot 5 under at Bermuda Run Monday, putting themselves in a six-for-three playoff.

Unfortunately, Wesley made it out of the playoff and into the Wyndham field while George did not.

“Well, one of us had to win and one of us had to lose. Well, I guess theoretically, both could have won, both could have lost, six-for-three playoff. Unfortunately, George did not make it through, fortunately, I did make it through. Sorry, George, still love you, but I’m always going to try to beat you until the day I die. In everything,” Wesley said on his Instagram Monday.

Although this one didn’t fall George’s way, he recently announced he signed up for PGA Tour Q-School. Through the program, he has a chance to earn a Tour card.

In four previous appearances at the Wyndham, Wesley has missed three cuts.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1375]

Wesley Bryan had two 7 irons in his bag at Sanderson Farms Championship Monday qualifying, hit with four-stroke penalty

Wesley Bryan handled it well and was able to laugh at himself after the discovery.

Wesley Bryan, competing for one of four spots in the 2022 Sanderson Farms Championship via Monday qualifying, got hit with a four-shot penalty after it was discovered he had 15 clubs in his golf bag.

Specifically, he had two 7-irons, according to a video posted on Twitter by the PGA Tour.

Bryan handled it amazingly well. He laughed and said: “You can go ahead and add four to my score, boys.”

The video then shows him teeing off and, after not being terribly pleased with the result, saying “Maybe I should have teed off with the other 7-iron.”

Bryan was not among the five golfers who shot a 5-under 67 to advance to a 5-for-4 playoff. He was listed under the “did not finish” part of the leaderboard.

Bryan hasn’t played in a PGA Tour event since missing the cut at the Wyndham Championship seven weeks ago. He made his last cut the week before that at the Rocket Mortgage Classic where he tied for 57th but had had missed five straight cuts before that.

In March at the Valspar Championship, Bryan made the final of 21 starts on a medical extension after undergoing surgery on his left wrist in 2021. He finished T-62 in a week he needed to finish sixth or better to regain his exempt Tour status for the remainder of the 2021-22 season.

Adam Schupak contributed to this article.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Wesley Bryan fails to satisfy PGA Tour medical extension at Valspar Championship: ‘I’m just not good enough right now’

“It stings, but I’m not done trying.”

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – On a day when Wesley Bryan had to go low, he failed to make a single birdie.

Bryan, making his final of 21 starts on a medical extension after undergoing surgery on his left wrist last year, signed for 2-over 73 and a 72-hole total of 2-under 282 at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course. He sits T-62 at the Valspar Championship.

“I’m just not good enough right now,” an understandably dejected Bryan said after the round.

Bryan, 31, needed to finish sixth or better this week to satisfy his medical extension and regain his exempt Tour status for the remainder of the 2021-22 season. Bryan made the cut on the number after making birdie at his final hole on Friday. Beginning the final round T-49, Bryan likely would’ve needed to shoot one of the lowest rounds of the week to make up ground. (Matthew NeSmith shot 61 on Friday and Davis Riley 62 on Saturday to make the final group on Sunday.) But Bryan could’ve retained conditional status in the Nos. 126-150 category by finishing 51st or better. Asked if the windy conditions might help his chances of improving his position on the leaderboard, Bryan said, “No chance.”

Valspar: Leaderboard | Best photos | PGA Tour Live on ESPN+

When Bryan replays what went wrong in his mind, he’ll start with his driving. He ranked last in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (-3.829) of the 72 players who made the cut this week. Bryan was paired in the final round with Tour rookie Austin Smotherman, who noted, “You could feel the pressure mounting on every hole. At the end, he needed every putt to go.”

All is not lost for Bryan to keep playing at the PGA Tour level. As the winner of the 2017 RBC Heritage, he still has past champion status. Despite being lower in the pecking order behind the 126-150 category, Bryan should get a handful of starts, including at next week’s opposite field event at Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, before the FedEx Cup playoffs in August.

On Saturday, Bryan said he’s healthy enough and prepared to play as much as he can until the end of the season. He echoed that sentiment on Twitter on Sunday.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Wesley Bryan is living on the edge in quest to retain PGA Tour status in final start of his medical extension

Bryan needs a solo sixth to retain full status or a solo 51st to stay in the top 126-150 category.

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Down to his final start on his medical extension, Wesley Bryan said he was feeling the pressure as he straddled the cut line on Friday at the Valspar Championship.

“I usually don’t sweat out cut lines,” he said. “Yesterday felt a little different, for sure.”

Bryan, who missed five months last year with a wrist injury, made birdie at No. 7, his 16th hole of the day at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course, to improve to 3 under and right on the cut line, which came at 3-under 139, the lowest 36-hole cut in tournament history. But one hole later, he was in between clubs – deciding between 4-iron or hybrid – at the 224-yard par-3 8th and tried to cut a hybrid into the wind. He overcooked it long and left, 42 yards past the hole, across the cart path and under bushes.

“I was in a world of hurt over there in the left hedges,” he said.

But Bryan, who made a living performing trick shots with his brother, George, before making it on the PGA Tour, got on his knees and whacked it out and got up and down for bogey. Then all he did was rip a 3-wood to the left corner of the ninth fairway and wedged to 4 feet and made birdie.

“Bogey on the 17th hole was way better than the birdie on the last,” he said.

Bryan gathered himself and made the clutch birdie knowing full well he had to make the cut to have any chance of satisfying his medical and improving his status on Tour. In his final of 21 starts he was granted, Bryan needs a solo sixth to retain full status or a solo 51st to stay in the top 126-150 category. That Bryan, who had missed the cut in his last three starts, delivered with the proverbial gun to his head came as no surprise to his caddie, William Lanier.

“When he has to get something done, he gets it done,” Lanier said. “He’s got no quit. Even at his worst, he fights to the end. Rather than shooting 79, he’ll shoot 78.”

Where does that grit and determination with his back against the wall come from, Bryan was asked? “I guess I learned it from my dad,” he said. “He was always a real scrappy player. I mean, he had the talent of a squirrel and made something out of it.”

Bryan, 31, has had a promising career short-circuited practically since his breakthrough victory at the 2017 RBC Heritage, recording just one top-10 finish at the 2017 John Deere Classic since slipping on the tartan jacket at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. In January 2019, he underwent shoulder surgery for a torn labrum in his left shoulder. Last year, he injured his left wrist hitting a tee ball at his home course in South Carolina.

“It just exploded,” he said.

If there was a silver lining in being sidelined for extended periods of time, it is that the injuries have lined up with the birth of his first daughter when he had shoulder surgery and his second daughter being born as he recuperated from wrist surgery.

“Those are times I’d never be able to get back and I’d have missed a lot and I was able to see them grow up under our own roof being home for an extended period of time,” he said. “That was a blessing, for sure.”

Valspar: PGA Tour Live on ESPN+

Bryan explained that it wasn’t playing golf that he missed so much as the simple act of competing and the camaraderie with his fellow pros. He said his wrist is “95 percent” better and he’s prepared to play as much as he can until the end of the season. How many events he can get into may come down to the final round of the Valspar Championship. Bryan shot a 1-under-par 70 in the third round and currently sits T-52, living on the edge once again. He strung together three straight birdies to start the back nine but finished with a bogey meaning he’s got no room for error.

“I had an opportunity to make some birdies today, didn’t, made some bad bogeys and I guess it will take a special one tomorrow,” he said.

Whether he retains some status this week or not, Bryan will still have past champion status but it is lower in the pecking order behind the 126-150 category. Would a return to doing trick shots be his backup plan?

“I hung it up a while ago,” he said. “I think if the phone rang, I could still do it.”

[vertical-gallery id=778255303]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Joaquin Niemann a blur, plays final round of Tour Championship in record time

Joaquin Niemann finished before the last group teed off. Then a PGA Tour official was waiting with a practical joke.

ATLANTA – That was quick.

Joaquin Niemann, playing the final round of The Tour Championship alone due to Brooks Koepka’s withdrawal on Saturday that left the field with 29 players, toured East Lake Golf Club in 1 hour, 53 minutes on Sunday.

That was pedestrian compared to the 1 hour, 29 minutes it took Wesley Bryan to play the final round of the 2017 BMW Championship, but Niemann did break the East Lake record set by Kevin Na – yes, Kevin Na – who played the final round of the 2016 Tour Championship in 1 hour, 59 minutes.

Niemann began at 11:40 a.m. ET and finished before the last group teed off. In his 26th and last event of the season, he shot 72 to finish at 4 over and well back of the leaders. In 26 events this year, he carded five top-5s and 13 top-25s.

“I didn’t know how fast I could get 18 holes, but on the front nine, I decided to play quick but not like crazy quick, not like rushing and hurrying up,” Niemann said. “But then they told me I did like just over an hour, I was like, ah, I’m just going to rush it and try to break the record. It was pretty good, the back nine.

“I am tired. It has been a long week, a long three or four weeks that I’ve been playing, and I wasn’t playing my best golf this week. I was in last place and wasn’t going to win. I was pretty far behind from the guys in front of me, so I was like, let’s make it fun and have fun.

“It was a lot of fun.”

Niemann’s wingman was longtime caddie, Gary “Animal” Matthews, who said he needed to lighten the load of the golf bag to make the trip.

“I would say it was, I don’t know, 25 pounds maybe. But definitely lighter than usual,” said Matthews, who caddied in a one ball for the first time. “He had three golf balls. He didn’t have the usual nine. He didn’t have a rain cover. He didn’t have any little instruments that we had. He only had one glove, five tees. Not much shakes and stuff like that in the bag.

“Umbrella was gone.”

Niemann’s sprint almost hit his pocketbook. As he walked into scoring, he saw Andy Pazder, the PGA Tour’s chief tournaments and competitions officer. Pazder said he needed to talk to Niemann and Matthews and both were fearing something was amiss, like they had to review a shot for a ruling or something.

“He said, ‘Listen, Joaquin, as a professional, you’ve disrespected the game, you’ve disrespected The Tour Championship. This is not how professionals act, and Gary, you’ve been out here a long time and you should know that and here is a fine for $10,000,” Matthews said.

“I look at him like, I was burning inside,” Niemann said. “I was going to say something and he’s like, ‘All right, forgive me. Before you say something, I was just kidding,’ I was like, ‘Oh, I hate you.’ He gave me a really hard time.”

Tour Championship
Joaquin Niemann laughs with his caddie Gary Matthews after falling out of his shoe on the 8th hole during the final round of the Tour Championship in Atlanta. Photo by Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports

There were plenty of highlights. Niemann canned a 29-footer for birdie on the 15th.

Fans started to encourage the race to the finish. The ending, when Niemann said Matthews nearly collapsed to the ground.

“The crazy thing was he made double on 8, felt like it took us 20 minutes to play that hole and we were walking up to 10 and the guy that helps us out in the caddie area there said, ‘You’re at 1:03.’ So we were flying for nine holes,” Matthews said. “But the best thing of the whole thing was we got to No. 15 and the group that was behind us was (Stewart) Cink and (Hideki) Matsuyama and they were teeing off 8. That was pretty cool because we were trying to figure out how far we would be ahead of them. We were trying to beat them before they got to 10.”

[vertical-gallery id=778134467]

[lawrence-related id=778137717,778137197]

Wesley Bryan strips down to his boxers to hit a shot from the mud at Honda Classic

Wesley Bryan rolled his shirt up, took off his socks, shoes and pink pants to play a shot from the mud at the Honda Classic.

Anything to save a stroke, right?

Wesley Bryan proved as much on Friday during the second round of the Honda Classic.

Bryan rolled his shirt and tied it up, took off his socks and shoes, and perhaps most bravely, peeled off his pink pants to play a shot in his boxer briefs.

Staying just this side of public nudity, Bryan stood in mud well past his ankles and swiped at the ball on the sixth hole, his 15th of the day.

Well off the cutline to make the weekend at PGA National, Bryan must have figured, “Why the hell not?”

Here’s the video, if you must watch:

Honda Classic: Leaderboard

After making contact with his ball, and spraying some mud, Bryan managed to get cleaned up (how, we’re not quite sure), put his clothes back on, and finished the hole with a double-bogey 6, his fourth double of the day.

[vertical-gallery id=778094072]

2020 Wyndham Championship, PGA Tour Live Stream, Live Leaderboard, TV Channel, Start Time

The Wyndham Championship, First Round will be live streaming from Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., watch it here.

The 2020 Wyndham Championship is set and will be played at Sedgefield Country Club from Greensboro, North Carolina. We’ll have six of the top 20 golfers this weekend competing for the Wyndham Championship featuring Brooks Koepka, Webb Simpson, Patrick Reed, and Jordan Spieth.

Check out the featured groups below for tee times for Rounds 1 & 2, here is everything you need to know to follow the Wyndham Championship, action this weekend!

2020 Wyndham Championship, Round 1

  • When: Thursday, Aug 12
  • Live Coverage: 2:00 p.m. ET
  • TV Channel: Golf Channel
  • Live Stream: via fuboTV (watch for free)

[protected-iframe id=”18acea53d670e990c509661b93085850-58289342-150719707″ info=”https://fubo-preview.global.ssl.fastly.net/lp/preview/index-lite.html?params=irad%3D558728%26irmp%3D1205322%26pack%3Dfubotv-basic&page_slug=GLFC” class=”fuboWidget” width = “100%”]

Featured Groups, Round 1 & 2

Brooks Koepka (92), Jordan Spieth (94), Justin Rose (103)
Thursday: 7:50 a.m. ET (No. 10 tee); Friday: 1:05 p.m. ET (No. 1 tee)

Webb Simpson (3), Sungjae Im (5), Brendon Todd (9)
Thursday: 7:40 a.m. ET (No. 10 tee); Friday: 12:55 p.m. ET (No. 1 tee)

J.T. Poston (58), Brandt Snedeker (96), Sergio Garcia (134)
Thursday: 12:55 p.m. ET (No. 1 tee); Friday: 7:40 a.m. ET (No. 10 tee)

Patrick Reed (6), Paul Casey (54), Shane Lowry (131)
Thursday: 1:05 p.m. (No. 1 tee); Friday: 7:50 a.m. ET (No. 10 tee)

PGA Championship Odds and Betting Lines

Want some action on the PGA Championship? Place your legal sports bets on this game or others in CO, IN, NJ, and WV at BetMGM. 

We recommend interesting sports viewing/streaming and betting opportunities. If you sign up for a service by clicking one of the links, we may earn a referral fee.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

Rocket Mortgage Classic third round hits and misses

What we liked and didn’t like from the third round action at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit.

The wind kicked up just a touch, but the scores still kept falling on Saturday during the third round of the PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club.

No player put us on a 59 watch, but 21-year-old rising star Matthew Wolff gave everyone a lesson with his second straight round of 8-under 64, putting him at 19-under and atop the leaderboard entering Sunday’s final round. That gave the former Oklahoma State star a three-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau and Ryan Armour.

Wolff wasn’t the only player to make some noise on Saturday. Here are the hits and misses from the third round.

Leaderboard | Live blog | Photos

Hit: Wesley Bryan

He put himself into contention with an early 65 that got him to 13 under. If you don’t know who Bryan is, you should. The 2017 RBC Heritage winner is the kind of fun player golf needs. He’s capable of epic smack talk during a round and he and his brother, George, have an awesome YouTube channel, Bryan Bros, where they perform crazy trick shots. It’ll be hard not to root for him.

Hit: Bryson DeChambeau

Clearly he was hurt by me assigning him a fake “miss” after the second round in order to spur him on. DeChambeau birdied two of his first four holes then went cold until he birdied the 13th and 14th. He almost drove the 399-yard green on the 13th. His second straight 67 wasn’t bad. At 16 under, he’s easily within striking distance of Wolff. But he could be running away with this thing. How a guy with this kind of power and talent doesn’t go full Tiger Woods on the field every week completely puzzles me.

Miss: Webb Simpson

The world’s sixth-ranked player shot 64 in the second round and was in position to take control of the tournament with a solid round on Saturday. But he struggled to a 1 under 71 on a day when 34 players were 3 under or better, even if there was a little wind. Simpson dropped out of a tie for the lead and is six shots back at 13 under.

[vertical-gallery id=778052082]

Hit: Ryan Armour

Great shooting by the — ugh — Ohio State graduate, who posted a 67 to put himself in prime position, tied with DeChambeau. Nice job by the … the … Buck … eye. Ugh. Hard to get that out. Wonder if he’ll refer to Detroit Golf Club as “that course up north” if he wins.

Miss: Brian Stuard

Brutal. The former Oakland University golfer from Jackson, Michigan started the round in great position at 9 under, just three shots back. He shot 73 and eliminated any chance of winning. His driver betrayed him. He made three bogeys and a killer double bogey on the par-5 10th hole, when he hit out of one fairway bunker into another. Golf is just mean sometimes.

Hit: Hideki Matsuyama

The world No. 23 had the move of the day when he shot up 42 spots into a tie for 13th when he fired a 65 to reach 12 under. Like world No. 17 Tony Finau, who shot 66, Matsuyama played early and took advantage of the smoother greens.

[lawrence-related id=778052641,778052651,778052601]

No tricks here, Wesley Bryan is in the hunt at the Rocket Mortgage Classic

The South Carolina product finished with a 7-under par 65 at Detroit Golf Club, pushing him just a few shots off the lead.

DETROIT — There will always be a piece of Wesley Bryan that remains a showman, a trick-shot artist, a guy who can do something others simply can’t.

Prior to earning his Tour card and winning the 2017 RBC Heritage, Bryan was known as part of a sibling duo that compiled stunt videos — batting golf balls out of mid-air, chipping basketballs into hoops and banking shots off walls and into trash cans.

It’s not that Bryan can’t still do those things. Witness this chip from on the green earlier this week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic:

[protected-iframe id=”8fd0c143546b753ecacbb877a60e9b95-120918734-30999219″ info=”https://www.pgatour.com/bin/pgatour/video-player/iframe.html?ec=6168991849001″ width=”640″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=””]

But what Bryan needs now is consistency, not flash. He tore the labrum in his left shoulder back in 2018 and hadn’t played a Tour event for a year and a half until the June restart. He made his first cut at the site of his lone victory, finishing T-68 at Hilton Head Island. He followed with an even better showing at the Travelers, where he shot four consecutive rounds in the 60s en route to a T-24.

Leaderboard | Live blog | Photos | Tee times, TV info

And now this week, the University of South Carolina product is seeing his progress continue in a big way. On Saturday, he posted a 32 on the front and finished with a 7-under-par 65 at Detroit Golf Club, pushing him just a few shots off the lead heading into Sunday.

He’s happy with how well he’s playing, although not totally surprised.

“I mean, I played great for the couple months leading up to it while everyone was quarantined. Luckily, my home golf course back in Lexington didn’t shut down, so I was able to stay pretty sharp,” Bryan said. “I felt like I was in great form and, like I’ve said before, the last couple weeks felt a little bit disappointing given the form that I felt like I was in. I mean, I guess I’m performing to a level that I definitely thought was possible at this point.”

This week, aside from the chip shot, he’s stuck to a basic game plan, one that’s heavy on substance and light on style.

[vertical-gallery id=778052082]

“Overall, it was good. I made a couple dumb mistakes out there, but for the most part, I’m hitting it where I was looking. I drove it pretty good off the tee and was able to see some putts go in today, which was nice,” he said. “It got a little bit dicey out there for a second, the wind did a 180 switch out there and was swirling for about 45 minutes to an hour or so.

“I went from barely making the cut to throwing, I guess, myself back into contention going into tomorrow.”

Bryan opened the week with a little fun, taking advantage of an opportunity to play with Jason Day in a new nine-hole exhibition against Bubba Watson and Harold Varner III. The event raised over $1 million for charity and gave Bryan an extra chance to get those competitive juices flowing, something he couldn’t do for almost 18 months.

The Bryan-Day tandem lost in the exhibition, but Bryan still has an opportunity to cash in on the week’s biggest prize. And when asked what he needed to do to capture his second Tour win, Bryan said he’ll lean on a resource like his caddie, Willie Lanier.

“Willie is as calm and as cool as it gets on the bag, so just a lot of conversation with him,” Bryan said. “He has a good calming effect and just out there getting numbers and trying to hit shots. If the putter gets hot, I guess we’ll see what happens.”

[jwplayer 3aRbCEnH-vgFm21H3]

Bubba Watson, Harold Varner III win Rocket Mortgage Classic exhibition, raise nearly $1 million

Bubba Watson and Harold Varner III teamed up to beat Jason Day and Wesley Bryan, 3-up, in a nine-hole charity exhibition at Detroit Golf Club.

If you combine a good cause with good friends in good spirits playing some pretty good golf, you get exactly what you got Wednesday: A good time.

Almost too good a time.

Bubba Watson and Harold Varner III teamed up to beat Jason Day and Wesley Bryan, 3-up, in a nine-hole charity exhibition at Detroit Golf Club, which hosts the first round of the PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic on Thursday.

Watson helped organize the event, which raised nearly $1 million for the tournament’s initiative to help end the digital divide in Detroit and ensure every resident has access to the internet, technology and digital-literacy training.

Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert’s philanthropy in Detroit inspired Watson to put the match together.

“And then when the Tour, I took the idea to the Tour, they blessed me with the opportunity,” he said. “Obviously with the Rocket Mortgage team behind us, they let us do it and run wild with it. So it was a dream come true that they let me do it.”

With Tour commissioner Jay Monahan watching the group tee off on the 10th hole from a safe distance, the antics started right away when someone mentioned Watson would tee off first.

“I’m teeing off first!” Varner insisted like a jealous sibling, as he began to tee up his ball. “He always goes first.”

And go first he did again.

It was a casual match, with players walking and talking the whole time, much like a practice round. On the 12th green, Day stood near the hole when Watson missed a 20-footer for birdie. Watson shot him a glare and said, “You wished that out.”

Day took it a step further.

“I willed that out,” he said. “I didn’t wish that out.”

As they walked off the green, Varner had a question.

“Hey, Bubba,” he said. “How do you hit it so far when you’re so old?”

Varner is 29. Watson is 41.

“It’s God-given,” Watson said, before he blasted a towering fade over the trees on the 13th hole.

The teasing was incessant. When Varner dropped an iron on the 13th tee that knocked his ball off the tee, players yelled at him: “Penalty!”

The players walked the course. But Varner fell behind and hitched a ride in a cart to the 14th tee. As he approached, Day noticed Varner had suddenly put on a mask.

“Hey, man,” Day said. “Did you catch COVID on the way up?”

“No,” Varner said. “You can’t ride in a cart without a mask.”

On the 16th green, Watson got the revenge he was waiting for when he stood by the hole as Day missed a 20-foot putt.

“Hey,” Watson said to Day, “I wished it out.”

Varner clinched the match when he made a 30-foot Eagle putt from just off the 17th green. He and Watson celebrated with a socially distanced air fist bump.

“Oh, my God it feels good to be a champion again,” Watson crowed as he walked off the green.

After the match, Rocket Mortgage Classic tournament director Jason Langwell told the players how much money was raised and presented the winners with championship belts. Watson said he would kick in $25,000 and Varner thought about why he agreed to play in the match in the first place.

“I mean, the cool thing is, Bubba was riding in his car and he was like, ‘Would you play?’ ” Varner said. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’ll play.’

“But as it got closer to things we were doing, I just thought it was really cool (that’s) what it’s about. I just couldn’t remember not having internet growing up. Like some kids had internet and then we got it like a year later, but like I couldn’t imagine being in high school and not having internet.”

Carlos Monarrez is a reporter for the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA Today Network. Contact him at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.