Apologies for not getting to this in a while. Now that I am doing two articles a week with Oddschecker, my uni work has started up again (October) and we’ve had a few events without Strokes Gained data, I have decided to let this take a back seat for a while. Two events have just passed, the last of the European Tour season at the DP World Tour Championship and the last PGA Tour event of 2021, the RSM Classic, so now felt like the time to roll it back.

There’s no rest for the wicked though, as the relentless golf schedule continues, as the 2022 DP World Tour (yes it’s no longer the European Tour) starts this week in South Africa. We have three weeks there before a winter break, so keep your eyes on those and your ears open for the podcast, which will continue throughout.

Some admin as ever.

I want to thank those that have signed up to this newsletter. Your support is appreciated and I continue to rely on this. I would also love it if you could share this newsletter around. We had a huge influx of subs week one due to people sharing, so please continue to do so. Never think you sharing is insignificant.

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DP World Tour Championship

It was a lively week as ever at the DP World Tour in terms of the tournament, and while the Race to Dubai race was anti-climatic and somewhat ridiculous (I won’t bore people with that again..) it was at least a good tournament.

Rory McIlroy flew out of the blocks, going six-under through his first eight holes, before bogeying the 9th to finish the front-nine, and go out in 31. A slightly calmer back-nine, which saw two birdies and no bogeys meant an opening round 65 and a two-shot lead over three others (Christiaan Bezuidenhout, JB Hansen and Tapio Pulkannen).

Round two, and Rory relinquished his lead to John Catlin, Sam Horsfield and Shane Lowry who through 36-holes were 10-under and one clear of Rory and Alexander Bjork.

A busy moving day saw some interchanging leads, but McIlroy ended the day on top at 14-under, one clear of Sam Horsfield and two clear of Bjork and Robert MacIntyre. McIlroy and MacIntyre were two of the six players to shoot a Saturday 67 but the round of the day belonged to Tyrrell Hatton, who shot a 66, but could only climb to 17th due to a disappointing first two days.

Going into the final round, the top-10 read like this:

1 - Rory McIlroy (-14)

2 - Sam Horsfield (-13)

T3 Alexander Bjork (-12)

T3 Robert MacIntyre (-12)

T5 John Catlin (-11)

T5 JB Hansen (-11)

T5 Shane Lowry (-11)

T5 Collin Morikawa (-11)

T9 Martin Kaymer (-10)

T10 Marcus Armitage (-9)

T10 Dean Burmester (-9)

T10 Johannes Veerman (-9)

This meant major winners, Morikawa and Lowry were lurking but ultimately, on a course he’s won at twice before, it was Rory’s to lose.

Unfortunately, that was the case. Matthew Fitzpatrick was firing on all cylinders and was one point eight-under for his round, but two late bogeys on 16 and 17 meant a round of 66 after a birdie at 18, which left him in the clubhouse at -14.

At this stage Rory was -15 after birdies at #2 and #10 offset a bogey on the par-3 4th, and a birdie putt at the 13th just missed. It looked likely that -16 would be enough, and he just needed one birdie coming home, and then a few things happened. Rory’s missed chance at the par-5 14th from 10 feet, his approach that clattered the flag on 15 and Collin Morikawa.

The missed opportunity on 14 was frustrating enough, but clattering the flag with a wedge on 15 and bouncing back into the bunker where he was short-sided was worse. It did look as though Rory’s pitch was going to go long but he could have two-putted from 25-30ft or got a really lucky bounce to drop by the pin, but he instead he had a tough bunker shot, and his first bogey.

Morikawa had to wait until his 7th hole for his first birdie and the second didn’t come until the 12th, but after that it was a flurry. The American birdied five of his last seven holes to show why he’s arguably the best in the world, alongside Jon Rahm.

Rory, clearly ratted by the events at 15, finished bogey-bogey-par-bogey, to finish +2 for the day and five shy of Morikawa in T6. This summed up Rory’s season so far, that has had a few highs but many lows, and this felt another tough one to take.

Strokes Gained Leaders at the DP World Tour Championship

*Denotes players who were in the top-10 of more than one category

SG Approach:

1) Martin Kaymer (+4.907)

2) Laurie Canter (+4.870)

3) Min Woo Lee (+4.718)

4) Paul Casey (+4.513)

5) JB Hansen (+4.311)

6) Dean Burmester (+3.929)

7) Jeff Winther (+3.871)

8) Rory McIlroy (+3.734)

9) Shane Lowry (+3.446)

10) Collin Morikawa (+3.404)

SG Off-the-Tee:

1) Dean Burmester (+4.838)

2) Thomas Pieters (+4.208)

3) Min Woo Lee (+2.763)

4) Nicolai Hojgaard (+2.734)

5) Grant Forrest (+2.480)

6) Laurie Canter (+2.474)

7) Sam Horsfield (+2.333)

8) Collin Morikawa (+2.290)

9) Guido Migliozzi (+2.286)

10) Johannes Veerman (+1.928)

SG Around-the-Green:

1) Masahiro Kawamura (+3.385)

2) Marcus Armitage (+2.824)

3) Jeff Winther (+2.566)

4) Joakim Lagergren (+2.465)

5) Paul Casey (+1.921)

6) Collin Morikawa (+1.846)

7) Antoine Rozner (+1.786)

8) Shane Lowry (+1.782)

9) Dean Burmester (+1.721)

10) Sean Crocker (+1.568)

SG Tee-to-Green:

1) Dean Burmester (+10.488)

2) Min Woo Lee (+8.268)

3) Collin Morikawa (+7.540)

4) Paul Casey (+5.756)

5) Rory McIlroy (+5.685)

6) Thomas Pieters (+4.597)

7) Laurie Canter (+4.557)

8) Jeff Winther (+4.273)

9) Marcus Armitage (+4.089)

10) Abraham Ancer (+4.014)

SG Putting:

1) Alexander Bjork (+8.806)

2) Matthew Fitzpatrick (+8.715)

3) Robert MacIntyre (+8.446)

4) Tyrrell Hatton (+7.416)

5) Ian Poulter (+6.802)

6) Grant Forrest (+6.375)

7) Joakim Lagergren (+6.016)

8) Adri Arnuas (+4.855)

9) Garrick Higgo (+4.503)

10) Thomas Detry (+3.634)

Winners and Losers from the DP World Tour Championship

Winners

Alexander Bjork - Got into the field by the skin of his teeth, at 51st in the R2D ranking heading in. Ends the week in a tie for 2nd, his best finish outside of winning the China Open in 2018. That was his third top-6 finish of the season and his eight finish of T45 of better in his last ten starts. Clearly returning to form, he will look forward to a big 2022.

Robert MacIntyre - A big return to form for the Scotsman this week, after a pretty poor run of form, he’ll be delighted with a top-4 finish. Maybe some frustration as he legitimately could have won, having made a a double and two more bogeys between 12 and 17, but a positive week nonetheless. Should now use this as a platform for a really big season on the newly-branded DP World Tour, as the distraction of a PGA Tour card is in the rear-view for now.

Nicolai Hojgaard - T4 finishes seem to be routine for one half of the Hojgaard twins these days, but it was an impressive effort in a really good field. Save his best round until last, and shot four rounds in the 60’s, so he was steady all week. While the focus has been on Rasmus for a long time, Nicolai is slowly taking over, and I don’t think it will be long before he matches his brother’s tally of three wins.

Losers

Rory McIlroy - I am trying to take the approach of not being too down on Rory, as I have been guilty in the past, but this was certainly a throwaway. Bounced back poorly from the bad break at 15, and showed no signs of getting over it. His ripped shirt says all you needed to know, he was frustrated. 2022 looks like a big year for him, so he will look to put this behind him quickly.

Bernd Wiesberger - An nine-under 63 on Sunday saved face somewhat, but the best tee-to-green player in the field this past week, was also the worst player for most of it. A four-over 76 saw him start the week bottom of the leaderboard, and he followed it up with the same score on Friday to open up a five-shot gulf between him and Kawamura in 51st. Another 75 on Saturday meant there was now nine(!!) shots between him and James Morrison in 51st, and he was +11 thru three rounds. That 63 on Sunday ensured he finished four places away from last, but it was a poor week for someone that’s had such a good season. It was good to see him do that on Sunday though, so he has some sort of positive to take away. That 63 was the round of the week, but happened with no pressure on him.

Ones to Watch

With a trio of events in South Africa, I will flag up a couple of names that might play well in that spell, as opposed to looking any further ahead. Among my last three newsletters I have flagged JB Hansen and Thomas Pieters in this section and they both won before the season was out.

Daniel Gavins - Daniel Gavins had an impressive 2021, sealing his first European Tour title at the ISPS Handa, before playing very well at the Alfred Dunhill Links (6th) and Valderrama (T11). The last two times he’s ventured to South Africa he has finished T7 and T12 in the Cape Town Open and Dimension Data Pro-Am respectively, and that T7 in Cape Town came after shooting 73 in round one. A weaker field, and a part of the world he seems to enjoy, I am willing to chance Gavins can win in this three-week stretch given he ranks #1 over the past 8 weeks in SG Approach among those in this week’s Joburg Open field. He’s ranked 1st, 7th and 11th in three of his five recent starts in that category.

Jayden Trey Schaper - Expected to breakthrough sometime soon on the European Tour, Schaper will be looking to follow in the likes of Garrick Higgo’s footsteps, and his form since returning to the Sunshine Tour says he can. In eight starts since August, Schaper has a 2nd, a 5th, three T9 finishes, a T12 and two missed cuts. Should he make the weekend at the Joburg, I would expect a good run at winning his first title since turning pro. The following two weeks will give him chances also. I suspect he will play all three, so it’s worth backing the upside of one of South Africa’s brightest talents, in his home events.

Oliver Wilson - I flagged Wilson a while ago in this section, and he’s shown some form since. T11 and T12 in his two starts before missing the cut in Dubai, Wilson has got the juices flowing again. We know the upside of this talented Englishman and while the form he showed at the peak of his career may be unattainable now, we have seen with the likes of Richard Bland, that writing someone off is a silly thing to do. Wilson arguably a decent amount more talented than Bland in their respective heydays, there’s reason to believe a couple of wins on the European Tour are on the horizon yet. South Africa has been good to Wilson in the past, and should have been the site of his first win in 2007. He returns to Randpark this week, where he finished T3 in 2018 SA Open, behind an inspired Louis Oosthuizen. Given his current form, and the long run the rest of the field has been on, I think he can capitalise in this spell before Christmas.

RSM Classic

I will confess I didn’t see much of this tournament, but the bits I did see, mainly on Sunday I was really impressed with how well Talor Gooch played to get his first win. The way Mackenzie Hughes, a former winner of this event, was charging you would forgive Gooch for stumbling, but he was on fire all day.

Hughes’ 62 was brilliant, Tyler McCumber’s course record-tying 60 was better, but the 64 Gooch shot en-route to victory was the most impressive of the three.

Webb Simpson does what he does at the RSM, finishing in a tie for 8th, and players such as Sebastian Munoz (3rd), Tom Hoge (T4) and Taylor Moore (T8) will be especially pleased with their weeks.

Strokes Gained Leaders at the RSM Classic

Important to note that all SG Data is taken from the Seaside Course only, so what the players did on the Plantation Course in either Round 1 or 2 has not contributed to these numbers.

SG Approach:

1) Webb Simpson (+9.836)

2) Talor Gooch (+6.280)

3) Mackenzie Hughes (+6.247)

4) Aaron Rai (+5.645)

5) Sebastian Munoz (+5.143)

6) Tyler McCumber (+4.873)

7) Cameron Smith (+4.518)

8) Tom Hoge (+4.365)

9) Corey Conners (+4.194)

10) Andrew Novak (+3.824)

SG Off-the-Tee:

1) Luke List (+4.255)

2) Brendan Steele (+3.298)

3) Charles Howell III (+3.289)

4) Keith Mitchell (+3.234)

5) Troy Merritt (+3.028)

6) Vincent Whaley (+2.577)

7) Joel Dahmen (+2.575)

8) Justin Rose (+2.556)

9) Adam Scott (+2.365)

10) Lanto Griffin (+2.161)

SG Around-the-Green:

1) Seamus Power (+3.349)

2) Talor Gooch (+2.883)

3) David Skinns (+2.430)

4) Sung-Hoon Kang (+2.417)

5) Jonathan Byrd (+2.399)

6) Taylor Moore (+2.183)

7) J.J. Spaun (+2.010)

8) Kevin Streelman (+1.997)

9) Tom Hoge (+1.886)

10) Luke List (+1.711)

SG Tee-to-Green:

1) Webb Simpson (+11.978)

2) Mackenzie Hughes (+9.417)

3) Talor Gooch (+8.635)

4) Luke List (+8.573)

5) Sebastian Munoz (+8.508)

6) Troy Merritt (+7.393)

7) Tyler McCumber (+6.610)

8) Seamus Power (+6.508)

9) Tom Hoge (+6.334)

10) Aaron Rai (+5.636)

SG Putting:

1) Wyndham Clark (+8.283)

2) Adam Long (+7.226)

3) Denny McCarthy (+5.562)

4) Mito Pereira (+5.479)

5) Tyler McCumber (+5.055)

6) Talor Gooch (+5.030)

7) Taylor Pendrith (+5.020)

8) Joel Dahmen (+4.080)

9) Mac McGreevy (+3.507)

10) Keith Mitchell (+3.473)

Winners and Losers from the RSM Classic

Winners

Tyler McCumber - Flirted with the magic number, needing a birdie down 18 for the elusive 59, but he came up way short with his approach, as you might expect from someone who has the chance to do something like that. More importantly though, McCumber finished in a tie for 4th, his second top-5 on the PGA Tour. Far from the consistent type, McCumber will always take a top-5 finish anywhere he can get it, and his final-round 60 secured that.

Taylor Moore - A first career hole-in-one and first top-10 on the PGA Tour, that’s some week. Something of a late bloomer, Moore is starting to really settle in the professional ranks, and will look to add a PGA Tour win to the KFT title he secured last season. Going the right away about it so far.

Tom Hoge - Tom Hoge has been striking the ball really well for a while now, and while he’s been consistent, the top finishes has so far eluded him. Tied 4th this week, Hoge can use this a springboard for success in the coming months. Look to the Sony Open, where Hoge has looked likely to win before.

Losers

Kevin Kisner - A former winner and runner-up at the RSM, much is expected of Kisner in this event. He missed the cut by a distance, with only five players worse than him thru two rounds.

Rory Sabbatini - Rory Sabbatini finished his first day with five birdies in his last six holes and was -4 after round one. He then self-reported himself to the rules official as he had a tracking sticker left on his three-wood club face. He was disqualified for using a non-conforming club. Ouch.

Harris English - One of the favourites coming in, rightly or wrongly, English would have hoped for a big week. Instead it was another missed cut, and we are left wondering whether that grip change on his putter that was forced upon him has really played with his psyche. If it has, it could be a while before he’s contending again.

Ones to Watch

Maybe hard to tell when we are now going on a break until January, but I will name a couple of players to keep an eye on for the early part of the season.

Taylor Moore - Data Golf has Moore ranked 55th in their world rankings, against the 128th position he holds in the OWGR. 17th, 24th and 8th in three of his first five starts on the PGA Tour this season, Moore has made a hot start to his rookie season on the PGA Tour, and that can continue at the Sony Open, which has been friendly to rookies and maiden winners in the past.

Luke List - Despite disappointing slightly in the final round this past week, List has continued his fine form, and I do think that first win is coming. He’s had good finishes in the past at both the Sony and the Desert Classic where he’s likely to start his year, and his game should suit Torrey Pines more than his record suggests, so there’s three good events for him to start the year, while in hot form. A good week in one of those three should be expected.

Denny McCarthy - Denny McCarthy never starts his year in Hawaii, but he should this time. T15-T11-T10 in his last three appearances, McCarthy is slowly trending toward some career-best form, and he’ll want to capitalise. Normally his putter is the main focus and that was the case at the RSM, but he flashes great ball-striking weeks to and on a shorter track, where its about making enough putts, like Hawaii or the Desert Classic, McCarthy could break through.

That’s all from me folks. It may well be the last one of 2021 also, with just one event each week to look at, and probably no SG Data in South Africa. Please keep tuning in to the Lost Fore Words podcast and the DP World Tour Picks & Bets Show on the Mayo Media Network, as both will continue for the next three weeks at least, as we work our way into December. For those readers who I don’t get a chance to interact with, have a wonderful Christmas and New Year, for those that do reach out via Twitter - I’ll still be there!

Some admin as ever.

I want to thank those that have signed up to this newsletter. Your support is appreciated and I continue to rely on this. I would also love it if you could share this newsletter around. We had a huge influx of subs week one due to people sharing, so please continue to do so. Never think you sharing is insignificant.

You can continue to help me by subscribing to the Lost Fore Words on Apple Podcasts here, and leaving a 5-star review. Please do go and do that if you enjoy the podcast, as it has huge implications for any progress in the future.

Secondly Skylar Hoke and I are really enjoying our show on Mayo Media Network - European Tour Picks & Bets. Subscribe to the Mayo Media Network here, to ensure you do not miss those videos.

Also last but not least, the Lost Fore Words podcast is delighted to announce a new partnership. From next week onwards on the podcast, you are going to hear us talking about MANSCAPED™. MANSCAPED™ are the best in men’s below-the-waist grooming. MANSCAPED™ offers precision-engineered tools for your family jewels. MANSCAPED™ just launched their fourth generation trimmer, The Lawn Mower® 4.0 all across Europe! You heard that right….. The 4.0!  Join over 2 million men worldwide who trust MANSCAPED™ and with this exclusive offer for you, you can enjoy 20% off and free worldwide shipping with the code: LFW20 at manscaped.com.

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Open de Espana

Jon Rahm was the overwhelming favourite going into the weekend in Madrid, after starting the week off hot. He trailed Will Besseling by one stroke going into Saturday and many thought the hat-trick of wins at this event was nothing more than a procession, but it wasn’t to be.

Two Spaniards did contest the title though, with Adri Arnaus and Rafa Cabrera Bello needing an extra play-off hole to separate them, with the latter coming up trumps. It looked as though Arnaus was going to claim his maiden victory for most of the final round, and even on 18 with Cabrera Bello in tree trouble, it still looked like the youngster would win. Rafa put his second shot into the front bunker though, and splashed out to a few feet to make a par, leaving Arnuas a putt to win. Understandably riddled with nerves, Arnaus put an unconvincing stroke on the ball and had to settle for par as well.

Both went left with their tee shots on the first play off hole down 18, and from there it was who had the best touch to hit a 60 yard pitch. Bello put his within birdie range, while Arnuas didn’t catch his, and the rest as they say was history.

Julien Guerrier played fairly well in the final group as the two Spaniards competed for the title, but it was Cabrera Bello who secured his 4th Tour victory and first in over four years. A two-under par final round, despite not having his best iron game was decent for Guerrier, when in contention for his first victory, but he didn’t quite have it in the end.

The round of the day belonged to Wilco Nienaber with a 64, despite hitting the ball all over the complex, while four others (Grant Forrest, Fabrizio Zanotti, Connor Syme and Renato Paratore) posted Sunday 65’s.

Strokes Gained Leaders at the Open de Espana

*Denotes players who were in the top-10 of more than one category

SG Approach:

1) Edoardo Molinari (+9.700)

2) Shubhankar Sharma (+8.780)

3) Alvaro Quiros (+7.336)

4) Adrian Otaegui (+6.849)

5) Richard Bland (+6.547)

6) Rafa Cabrera Bello (+6.318)

7) Lorenzo Gagli (+5.692)

8) Jazz Janewattananond (+5.677)

9) Jordan Smith (+5.429)

10) Marcus Armitage (+5.308)

SG Off-the-Tee:

1) Jon Rahm (+5.173)

2) Will Besseling (+4.485)

3) Jordan Smith (+4.329)

4) Bernd Wiesberger (+3.972)

5) Adrian Meronk (+3.910)

6) Victor Dubuisson (+3.792)

6) Connor Syme (+3.792)

8) Alexander Levy (+3.552)

9) Steven Brown (+3.299)

10) Jack Senior (+3.229)

SG Around-the-Green:

1) Joachim B. Hansen (+5.306

2) Kalle Samooja (+4.406)

3) Santiago Ben Tarrio (+4.330)

4) Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (+4.197)

5) Min Woo Lee (+4.182)

6) Julien Guerrier (+3.892)

7) Luke Donald (+3.781)

8) Fabrizio Zanotti (+3.376)

9) Adri Arnaus (+3.153)

10) Andrew Johnston (+3.101)

SG Tee-to-Green:

1) Shubhankar Sharma (+10.285)

2) Jordan Smith (+10.177)

3) Rafa Cabrera Bello (+9.767)

4) Fabrizio Zanotti (+9.167)

5) Bernd Wiesberger (+8.271)

6) Richard Bland (+7.774)

7) Edoardo Molinari (+7.641)

8) Alexander Levy (+7.552)

9) Alvaro Quiros (+7.538)

10) Andrew Johnston (+7.399)

SG Putting:

1) Adri Arnaus (+7.938)

2) Wilco Nienaber (+7.387)

3) Marc Warren (+7.150)

4) Grant Forrest (+6.988)

5) David Puig (+6.715)

6) Renato Paratore (+6.643)

7) Will Besseling (+5.698)

8) Jorge Campillo (+5.447)

9) Jacobo Pastor (+5.382)

10) Ross McGowan (+5.363)

Winners and Losers from the Open de Espana

Winners

Julien Guerrier - I was relatively impressed with Guerrier over the weekend, as he took steps forward in each of the first three rounds (11-6-2) before dropping one spot to 3rd on Sunday. He still carded an under-par round though, when in contention which was impressive given his lack of experience in this arena. He also climbed to 103 in the Race to Dubai rankings, which will help in the quest to keep his card.

Marc Warren - Warren came into the week off the back of seven-straight missed cuts but managed to make the weekend and then some, finishing T9. Four sub-70 rounds will do him good heading into the business-end of the season.

David Puig - David Puig was a highly-rated amateur coming into the week and was within three of the lead at times during the weekend. A final round 70 saw him fall to a tie for 34th but it was impressive still, given this is his first appearance in an OWGR-record event.

Losers

Thorbjorn Olesen - Olesen’s court case will take place in December and the Dane would have hoped to get some good golf in before that arrived. Instead he’s missed six-straight cuts and seven of his last eight, and his second-round 76 meant he wasn’t close to making the weekend. Another enforced break could be upcoming and that might be playing on his mind.

Jon Rahm - Harsh of course, but the World No.1 was poor over the weekend and a T17 finish in this level of field is nowhere near good enough for a player of his calibre. Will try to put that right at the claustrophobic Valderrama this week.

Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez - An opening-round 62 was a huge return to form after nine-straight missed cuts, the trouble was subsequent rounds of 73-76-71 saw him finish T71. After a huge confidence boost on Thursday, he was immediately brought down a peg.

Ones to Watch

Alvaro Quiros - After a really tough spell, Quiros has made four of his last six cuts and now returns to Valderrama where he continues to improve. Another fortnight in Spain will be good for this former elite-level European Tour player.

John Murphy - Former Walker Cup player, John Murphy shone at the Alfred Dunhill Links where he finished T9. He backed that up with a T24 finish last week in Madrid and that makes it five top-24 finishes in thirteen starts across the European and Challenge Tours in 2021.

Shriners Open

Sungjae Im won this past weekend in Vegas and for much of the round looked like he could win with a final-round 59, after birdies in 9 and of his first 13 holes. In the end he parred in from there on but he still beat Matthew Wolff by four strokes.

Wolff went into the final round one-stroke shy of 54-hole leader, Adam Schenk who was chasing his first win on Tour and there wasn’t a lot of good golf between them on the last day. Wolff shot a 68 but had his putter to thank for that, as he drained putts from all over the green. It was hard to know how he was going to react being in contention again for the first time since his return to golf, and unfortunately it wasn’t his best. He rallied well at the end though to guarantee 2nd place and he can take the positives.

Strokes Gained Leaders at the Shriners Childrens Open

SG Approach:

1) Russell Henley (+7.286)

2) Seamus Power (+6.522)

3) Matthew NeSmith (+6.386)

4) Andrew Putnam (+6.324)

5) Talor Gooch (+5.646)

6) Sungjae Im (+5.427)

7) Viktor Hovland (+5.283)

8) Mito Pereira (+5.268)

9) Adam Hadwin (+5.171)

10) Adam Schenk (+4.909)

SG Off-the-Tee:

1) Viktor Hovland (+5.417)

2) Corey Conners (+4.497)

3) Mito Pereira (+4.378)

4) Kyoung-Hoon Lee (+3.884)

5) Sam Burns (+3.697)

6) Carlos Ortiz (+2.947)

7) Chad Ramey (+2.770)

8) Lucas Glover (+2.762)

9) Sungjae Im (+2.569)

10) Joel Dahmen (+2.535)

SG Around-the-Green:

1) Rory Sabbatini (+6.079)

2) Danny Willett (+5.107)

3) Talor Gooch (+4.398)

4) Jimmy Walker (+3.875)

5) Matt Jones (+3.348)

6) Jonas Blixt (+3.070)

7) Mark Hubbard (+3.038)

8) Martin Laird (+2.956)

9) Charles Howell (+2.886)

10) Michael Thompson (+2.844)

SG Tee-to-Green:

1) Sungjae Im (+10.488)

2) Rory Sabbatini (+10.465)

3) Louis Oosthuizen (+8.886)

4) Talor Gooch (+8.836)

5) Sam Burns (+8.161)

6) Russell Henley (+7.337)

7) Aaron Wise (+7.153)

8) Seamus Power (+7.043)

9) Joel Dahmen (+6.792)

10) Jimmy Walker (+6.755)

SG Putting:

1) Adam Schenk (+8.623)

2) Marc Leishman (+7.509)

3) Matthew Wolff (+6.881)

4) Taylor Moore (+6.640)

5) J.J. Spaun (+6.584)

6) Nate Lashley (+6.012)

7) Lanto Griffin (+5.637)

8) Robert Streb (+5.536)

9) Sungjae Im (+5.513)

10) Corey Conners (+5.393)

Winners and Losers from the Shriners Open

Winners

Adam Schenk - Adam Schenk has three top-5 finishes on the PGA Tour, and they have all come in his last nine starts. This continued experience will only serve him well the next time he’s in the hunt, and he can learn from the polar-opposite performances of his playing partner, Matthew Wolff and eventual winner, Sungjae Im. Still, the T3 is best finish on Tour and it came in a decent field. Has to be a positive.

Hayden Buckley - Hayden Buckley made it two top-10’s from two PGA Tour starts in his rookie season, and he will hope to carry that on after having to sit for two weeks due to the limited fields in the CJ Cup and ZOZO Champiosnhips. A final round 63 showed his potential for low rounds and he will look to keep this up while the fields are weaker in this fall season.

Harry Hall - There was a lot of excitement surrounding Harry Hall who had recently carded a round of 60 of TPC Summerlin, putting him on people’s radar at 500/1. A resident in Vegas following his UNLV education, Hall would have had his supporters this week, and he delivered with a T8 finish. This was his first top-10 finish on the PGA Tour, coming on just his third start and after breaking through with a win on the Korn Ferry Tour last year, he looks likely to continue his progression. No small feat performing when everyone expects something brilliant from you.

Losers

Sam Ryder - After opening with a 67 on Thursday it looked like business as usual for Ryder who plays good golf at the Shriners generally, but a second round 74 saw him miss the cut.

Garrick Higgo - It has been pretty rough for Garrick Higgo since winning the Palmetto on his first regular PGA Tour start. He’s missed 7 of 11 cuts, withdrawn from another event and his best finish in that span is a T41. Regression to the mean, or is there a problem?

Hideki Matsuyama - The Masters champion opened with a 65 but ended up finishing almost last of those that made the weekend. No long-term worries for a player who won his first major this year and opened the new season with a T6, but he would like to capitalise on fast starts when they come. May get the chance to put it right quickly at the CJ Cup.

Ones to Watch

Jimmy Walker - Continues to show signs that he is working his way back to being competitive at this level, and if that continues we could see him adding to his win tally again soon. After being diagnosed with Lyme disease, it looked a long road back for Walker, but he seems to be facing the challenge head on. T11-T45-T24 in his last three starts, consistency is starting to creep in, and his iron game is returning.

Hayden Buckley - Two top-8 finishes in his first two starts of the season, the next natural progression it to contend more fiercely in an event. Has done well on Sunday in both events and if he can put four rounds together we could see him win early, building on his win on the Korn Ferry last year. A win in Canada in 2019, the Korn Ferry in 2021, it would be another huge step to win at this level, but he certainly looks capable.

Some admin as ever.

I want to thank those that have signed up to this newsletter. Your support is appreciated and I continue to rely on this. I would also love it if you could share this newsletter around. We had a huge influx of subs week one due to people sharing, so please continue to do so. Never think you sharing is insignificant.

You can continue to help me by subscribing to the Lost Fore Words on Apple Podcasts here, and leaving a 5-star review. Please do go and do that if you enjoy the podcast, as it has huge implications for any progress in the future.

Secondly Skylar Hoke and I are really enjoying our show on Mayo Media Network - European Tour Picks & Bets. Subscribe to the Mayo Media Network here, to ensure you do not miss those videos.

Also last but not least, the Lost Fore Words podcast is delighted to announce a new partnership. From next week onwards on the podcast, you are going to hear us talking about MANSCAPED™. MANSCAPED™ are the best in men’s below-the-waist grooming. MANSCAPED™ offers precision-engineered tools for your family jewels. MANSCAPED™ just launched their fourth generation trimmer, The Lawn Mower® 4.0 all across Europe! You heard that right….. The 4.0!  Join over 2 million men worldwide who trust MANSCAPED™ and with this exclusive offer for you, you can enjoy 20% off and free worldwide shipping with the code: LFW20 at manscaped.com.

Guys, the podcast and newsletter are free and it will remain that way. Having a sponsor on the podcast and subsequently this newsletter is huge for us, so if you do visit the site and end up ordering anything with the code it would not only be massively appreciated, but if you let me know by screenshotting your order, we may well be able to get a prize draw going on the podcast.

Alfred Dunhill Links

Another fine win to add to his collection, for Danny Willett who previously had 2nd, 5th and 6th place finishes in this event. Advised at 100/1 on both Lost Fore Words and the European Tour Picks & Bets, it was nice to see this accomplished champion get over the line. His career since winning the Masters has gone through waves, and he acknowledged as much in his post-round interview, when he said (paraphrasing) “it seems to be the case this happens every two years”.

Willett started his week off with a five-under 67 at Carnoustie and trailed leaders, Adri Arnaus, Nicolas Colsaerts, Tyrrell Hatton and Haotong Li by three strokes. Hatton a former two-time winner of this event was looking to make amends after throwing away this event in 2018 when going for a hat-trick of victories here. He too started his week off at Carnoustie, while Arnaus and Colsaerts signed for their 64’s at the Old Course and Li made his hay at Kingsbarns.

Only 19 players shot in the 60’s on Friday, so any under-par round was pretty good going given the weather. Hatton led after 36 holes at -10, with fellow Englishman in 2nd at -9. Rounding out the top-5 were Haotong Li and Willett (-8), and Jeff Winther and Tommy Fleetwood (-7).

Willett continued his fine form on Saturday, with his 66 the second-best round of the day, bettered only by Richard Bland who carded an impressive 64 around the Old Course. Thru 54 holes Willett (-14) held a three-shot lead going into Sunday, with four (Bland, Hatton, Shane Lowry and John Murphy) all sitting in T2 at -11. This group of five all played the Old Course on Saturday so it appears that those that went Carnoustie-Kingsbarns-Old Course held a decent advantage.

It was pretty much plain sailing on the final day for Willett, who never really looked under pressure, despite Richard Bland tying the lead at one point and Joakim Lagergren threatening at several points during the round. It was Lagergren’s compatriot Kristoffer Broberg who alongside Dean Burmester shot the round’s of the day with 65’s, while Lagergren himself was next-best with a 66. There were a plethora of 67’s, including Hatton and Fleetwood who along with Lowry performed brilliantly given their Ryder Cup disappointment.

All in all, a superb front-running performance once again from former Masters champion, Willett who has had his fair share of health issues this year.

Strokes Gained Leaders at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

*Denotes players who were in the top-10 of more than one category

SG Approach:

1) Kristoffer Broberg (+12.831)

2) Haotong Li (+10.730)

3) Ewen Ferguson (+7.724)

4) Luke Donald (+6.816)

5) Danny Willett (+6.686)

6) Eddie Pepperell (+6.674)

7) Nicolas Colsaerts (+6.325)

8) Tommy Fleetwood (+6.265)

9) Grant Forrest (+6.214)

10) Tom Lewis (+5.996)

SG Off-the-Tee:

1) Matthieu Pavon (+5.824)

2) Tommy Fleetwood (+4.906)

3) Nicolai Hojgaard (+4.879)

4) Callum Shinkwin (+4.729)

5) Ryan Fox (+4.546)

6) Wilco Nienaber (+4.251)

7) Mathias Schmid (+3.333)

8) Jorge Campillo (+3.273)

9) Troy Merritt (+3.042)

10) Joakim Lagergren (+2.667)

SG Around-the-Green:

1) Julian Suri (+6.366)

2) Alex Noren (+4.576)

3) Ryan Fox (+3.968)

4) Marcus Armitage (+3.923)

5) Adrian Otaegui (+3.315)

6) Guido Migliozzi (+3.094)

7) Eddie Pepperell (+2.956)

8) Richie Ramsay (+2.778)

9) Haotong Li (+2.474)

10) Adri Arnuas (+2.386)

SG Tee-to-Green:

1) Kristoffer Broberg (+15.713)

2) Haotong Li (+13.256)

3) Tommy Fleetwood (+12.476)

4) Eddie Pepperell (+9.905)

5) Mathias Schmid (+9.753)

6) Shane Lowry (+9.255)

7) Danny Willett (+8.956)

8) Ewen Ferguson (+8.478)

9) Tom Lewis (+8.252)

10) Adrian Otaegui (+7.206)

SG Putting:

1) Joakim Lagergren (+10.040)

2) Daniel Gavins (+8.728)

3) Jeff Winther (+7.423)

4) Dean Burmester (+7.213)

5) Matthieu Pavon (+7.423)

6) Branden Grace (+6.688)

7) Richard Bland (+6.064)

8) Jorge Campillo (+6.008)

9) Danny Willett (+5.496)

10) Oliver Fisher (+5.192)

All stats c/o tour-tips.com - a sponsor of the Lost Fore Words podcast.

Winners and Losers from the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

Winners

Haotong Li - Easy one to start. Li had not made a cut in 2021 in 14 previous starts, yet he managed to finish T14 this week. Links golf is one of his favourite tests and that may be a significant factor in his performance, but it was nice to see all the same.

Richard Bland - A third top-5 finish in his past five starts, the fairytale season continues for 48-year old, Richard Bland. Sure there were some short putts missed on Sunday, and he should maybe have pushed Willett more, but a win, five more top-5’s and another T8 finish this season is a heck of a return.

Thomas Aiken - Aiken finished T24 this week, which is his first top-25 finish since October 2019. 5 starts and 4 missed cuts (T60 at Wentworth his only weekend performance) in 2020 and 8 starts in 2021 with 6 missed cuts and a withdraw, it must have been nice for the South African to play some golf on Sunday. A 68 on Sunday was his best round of the week, but he shot no worse than 72 all week which is impressive given his previous struggles.

Losers

Vincent Norrman - Harsh perhaps given he is just getting going in his professional career, but after finishing T12 in four of his first five European Tour starts, the bar has been set high for the Swede. It wasn’t as much the missed cut, but the fact he shot rounds of 77-76-76 that is quite worrying given its his third missed cut in a row. He now hasn’t broken 70 since the third round of the ISPS Handa in August.

Matthew Jordan - Well fancied before the off, given his former efforts here and his love for golf on the British Isles, missing Sunday will be a tough pill to swallow for the up-and-comer. Back-to-back missed cuts here and at Wentworth, after three top-15’s in four prior starts, Jordan will be looking to put things right quickly in Spain.

Romain Langasque - After opening his week with a 65 to sit T5, Langasque was looking for back-to-back made cuts for the first time since April, but he managed to miss the 54-hole cut after a fine start. A hugely talented golfer, the consistency has never quite been there for him in his European Tour career and that is something he needs to work on. A big part of being successful on Tour is grinding to make the weekend when you don’t have it, and that is something he’s struggled with.

Ones to Watch

Adri Arnaus - Home comforts over the next three weeks could lead to success for Arnaus, who is looking for that breakthrough victory. In 6 starts in Spain/Canary Islands, Arnuas has three top-4’s and an 8th place finish, including a 4th at this week’s venue. Expect him to find some of his best form of the season in October.

JB Hansen - Another player who will relish a return to Spain is Dane, Joachim B Hansen. He broke through with his first victory in South Africa last year, but he’s also finished 4-7-17-22 in his last four starts in Spain. He missed the cut on the links, but had back-to-back top-22 finishes at Wentworth and the Dutch Open so this three-week stretch could come at a great time.

Richie Ramsay - Five top-25 finishes, including a pair of top-10’s in his last eight starts, if this proven winner can get his irons firing on the same week his putter is behaving, he may well find the winners’ circle again before the year is out.

Sanderson Farms Championship

I will admit I did not catch an awful lot of this event this week, so it will be a short summary.

Sahith Theegala who became just the fifth person in history to win the Haskins, Hogan and Nicklaus awards all in the same year, made an impressive start to this championship. Theegala opened with a 64 to lead after day one, and followed this up with a pair of 67’s on Friday and Saturday to hold the lead going into Sunday, albeit sharing it with Nick Watney and Will Zalatoris. Zalatoris broke the course record on Friday, carding a 61 and Nick Watney was well on his way to a first top-10 since September 2019.

Sam Burns quietly went about his business all week, 17th after Rd 1, 7th after Rd 2, 2nd after Rd 3 and going into Sunday looked the most likely to win sitting just one back of the inexperienced Theegala.

Burns did in fact get the job done, leading the field off-the-tee while ranking 2nd in approaches and that will get it done an awful lot of the time.

Strokes Gained Leaders at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

*Denotes players who were in the top-10 of more than one category

SG Approach:

1) Henrik Norlander (+8.390)

2) Sam Burns (+8.278)

3) Kurt Kitayama (+5.686)

4) Mito Pereira (+5.572)

5) Si Woo Kim (+4.960)

6) Roger Sloan (+4.716)

7) Jimmy Walker (+3.877)

8) Joseph Bramlett (+3.746)

9) Peter Malnati (+3.492)

10) Andrew Landry (+3.482)

SG Off-the-Tee:

1) Sam Burns (+6.162)

2) Trey Mullinax (+5.757)

3) Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra (+5.090)

4) Seth Reeves (+4.742)

5) Luke List (+4.145)

6) Emiliano Grillo (+3.158)

7) Hayden Buckley (+3.138)

8) Cameron Young (+3.057)

9) Corey Conners (+3.065)

10) Kevin Streelman (+2.978)

SG Around-the-Green:

1) Aaron Wise (+5.758)

2) Sungjae Im (+5.575)

3) William McGirt (+4.488)

4) Stephan Jaeger (+4.299)

5) Alex Smalley (+4.272)

6) Denny McCarthy (+3.765)

7) Chesson Hadley (+3.250)

8) Sahith Theegala (+3.113)

9) Luke List (+2.786)

10) Henrik Norlander (+2.761)

SG Tee-to-Green:

1) Sam Burns (+14.824)

2) Luke List (+8.853)

3) Henrik Norlander (+8.761)

4) Mito Pereira (+8.545)

5) Sahith Theegala (+6.844)

6) Corey Conners (+6.794)

7) Si Woo Kim (+6.721)

8) Cameron Young (+6.487)

9) CT Pan (+6.223)

10) Aaron Wise (+6.100)

SG Putting:

1) Nick Watney (+11.658)

2) Nate Lashley (+8.358)

3) Harold Varner II (+6.127)

4) Mackenzie Hughes (+5.874)

5) Adam Long (+5.835)

6) Andrew Landry (+5.726)

7) Trey Mullinax (+5.502)

8) Cameron Young (+5.352)

9) Hayden Buckley (+5.078)

10) Grant Hirschman (+4.904)

All stats c/o tour-tips.com - a sponsor of the Lost Fore Words podcast.

Winners and Losers from the Sanderson Farms Championship

Winners

Sahith Theegala - He may well have fallen away on Sunday, with three bogeys between holes 10-13 but nothing can replace the experience gained this week. Leading a PGA Tour event for the first time, especially when doing it for three rounds is an important part of the learning curve, and he knows what it feels like to contend now. We will hear plenty more about Theegala in 2022 and beyond.

Nick Watney - Very easy selection. No top-10’s since September 2019, Watney just made his sixth cut in seven starts after previously missing 18 in a row. He bounced back in the best way, finishing T2 and contending once again. Impressive.

Cameron Young - A first of what could be many top-10’s on the PGA Tour, Young powered his way to a T2 finish, with a lone-bogey on the 14th yesterday scuppering his chances of making the playoff with Sam Burns. This did come on a par-5 which should be his bread and butter, but he will learn from that, just like Theegala and take advantage of such holes in the future. This was his first made cut on Tour and he turned it into a T2 finish, a great effort. His college teammate, Will Zalatoris has shown the pathway to quick success on the PGA Tour and he will hope to emulate his efforts.

Losers

Gary Woodland - It has been tough sledding for Woodland at times since becoming a major champion at the US Open in 2019, so it would have felt good starting the week off with a 67 to sit T7 after round one. A second-round 73 followed however and he missed the weekend. Perhaps a touch harsh to include him at the top of this list, but he’s the sort you’d expect to improve his position when making as good start.

Sam Saunders - Saunders is a player that must take advantage of any start he gets on the PGA Tour at the moment, and unfortunately he couldn't do that after Monday Qualifying for this event. Much has been expected of Saunders, being the Grandson of the late, Arnold Palmer but he’s not made a cut on the PGA Tour since March 2020, with his last top-10 coming at the John Deere in July 2019. It’s unfair to say time is running out at 34-years of age, but he will want to turn the tide soon.

Patton Kizzire - Sat in a tie for 7th with Woodland after Round 1, Kizzire took 11 more strokes (78) on Friday to miss the cut by a distance. He would have liked to play the weekend to prepare for this week’s Shriners Hospital for Children Open, where he has two top-4 finishes. Still, the missed cut will help his odds this week.

Ones to Watch

Kevin Na - Back-to-back Vegas weeks can only be a good thing for Na, who is former two-time winner and one-time runner-up of the Shriners. Two 2nd’s at the Wyndham and John Deere and tied for the lowest 72-hole score at the Tour Championship, Na will love the home events this coming fortnight.

Nick Watney - T2 finish last week, and six made cuts in his last seven as previously stated should give this multiple Tour winner some renewed confidence for the rest of the year. A Vegas resident, Watney will look to impress at the Shriners, where he has three top-10’s and a further two top-16 finishes.

Cameron Tringale - Currently on a run of seven-straight made cuts, which includes six top-26 finishes, it feels like it has got to happen soon for this veteran, if it is ever going to happen. Maybe it comes this week at the Shriners, where he recorded one of his three 2nd place finishes (2015) on the PGA Tour.

Some admin as ever.

I want to thank those that have signed up to this newsletter. Your support is appreciated and I continue to rely on this. I would also love it if you could share this newsletter around. We had a huge influx of subs week one due to people sharing, so please continue to do so. Never think you sharing is insignificant.

You can continue to help me by subscribing to the Lost Fore Words on Apple Podcasts here, and leaving a 5-star review. Please do go and do that if you enjoy the podcast, as it has huge implications for any progress in the future.

Secondly Skylar Hoke and I are really enjoying our show on Mayo Media Network - European Tour Picks & Bets. Subscribe to the Mayo Media Network here, to ensure you do not miss those videos.

Also last but not least, the Lost Fore Words podcast is delighted to announce a new partnership. From next week onwards on the podcast, you are going to hear us talking about MANSCAPED™. MANSCAPED™ are the best in men’s below-the-waist grooming. MANSCAPED™ offers precision-engineered tools for your family jewels. MANSCAPED™ just launched their fourth generation trimmer, The Lawn Mower® 4.0 all across Europe! You heard that right….. The 4.0!  Join over 2 million men worldwide who trust MANSCAPED™ and with this exclusive offer for you, you can enjoy 20% off and free worldwide shipping with the code: LFW20 at manscaped.com.

Guys, the podcast and newsletter are free and it will remain that way. Having a sponsor on the podcast and subsequently this newsletter is huge for us, so if you do visit the site and end up ordering anything with the code it would not only be massively appreciated, but if you let me know by screenshotting your order, we may well be able to get a prize draw going on the podcast.

Let’s talk some Ryder Cup

To be honest, everything I expected to happen (other than Casey failing to record a point!) happened. The European team was no match for USA’s strength in depth, and that was before considering the course setup.

Friday Morning foursomes rolled around and to be honest, the pairings filled me with dread. I wanted Rahm/Hovland & Rory/Lowry and we got is Rahm/Garcia, which Harrington suggested wouldn’t happen and Rory/Poulter (sigh). Now I will start off saying Garcia and Rahm worked out, so that cannot be criticised. You could argue that Rahm could have won with anyone, but he halved with Hatton Friday evening, so that’s not really the case. The dynamic worked.

The rest of the pairings were awful though. Hovland and Casey couldn’t buy a putt, Westwood and Fitzpatrick should never have been a pairing and Rory was once again left to pair with a player who in the buildup looked unsuited to the test. Rory himself played poorly all week, but I certainly think he could have lifted his game with Hovland or Lowry, he showed his game was in good enough shape on Sunday.

The afternoon pairings looked better suited, but Europe didn’t even manage the full point that Garcia and Rahm did in the morning, instead halving two matches to lose 3-1 again.

A third-straight 3-1 session on Saturday and the job was done for the US in my opinion. Europe couldn’t come back from that, and Harrington even took the desperate measure of dropping Rory for the afternoon to spark something, which never looked the right decision.

The Singles score went as expected (8-4) although I did think 9-3 was on the cards, but those that won their matches surprised me. Rory went out with a point to prove Sunday and did so, taking down Xander Schauffele pretty comfortably. It was 3&2 in the end, but could have been 4&3. Maybe Rory just wanted to see the 16th hole for the first time all week!

Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood secured historic points, but as they both will admit, they mean very little in such a loss. For Westwood it will hold significance, as it will almost certainly be his last as a player and he had son, Sam on the bag. He is also the most likely candidate to Captain in Italy, so it will be interesting to see how that pans out. For Poulter, he may well make one final push for Italy, especially if he plays more on the European Tour, but that remains to be seen.

Hovland halved his match with Morikawa after a ding-dong battle and Fleetwood tied Spieth to ensure Spieth is still win-less in 7 singles matches across the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. Fleetwood can probably feel hardest done by this week, as he was criminally underused. He didn’t make the putts needed to beat Spieth/Thomas on Friday afternoon, but the half was good, and he looks a player better suited to Foursomes which he was benched twice for.

All in all, it was a special USA performance. Dustin Johnson became just the fifth player in Ryder Cup history to go 5-0-0, Morikawa went unbeaten as a Rookie (3-0-1) as did Scheffler (2-0-1) who also managed to take down World No.1, Jon Rahm, who had an incredible Ryder Cup individually as well.

I will be back next week with Strokes-Gained recaps for the Dunhill Links & Sanderson Farms Championship.

Before we get into that, just a little admin as ever. I want to thank those that have signed up to this newsletter. Your support is appreciated and I continue to rely on this. I would also love it if you could share this newsletter around. We had a huge influx of subs week one due to people sharing, so please continue to do so. Never think you sharing is insignificant.

You can continue to help me by subscribing to the Lost Fore Words on Apple Podcasts here, and leaving a 5-star review. Please do go and do that if you enjoy the podcast, as it has huge implications for any progress in the future.

Secondly Skylar Hoke and I are really enjoying our show on Mayo Media Network - European Tour Picks & Bets. Subscribe to Mayo Media Network here, to ensure you do not miss those videos.

Also last but not least, the Lost Fore Words podcast is delighted to announce a new partnership. From next week onwards on the podcast, you are going to hear us talking about MANSCAPED™. MANSCAPED™ are the best in men’s below-the-waist grooming. MANSCAPED™ offers precision-engineered tools for your family jewels. MANSCAPED™ just launched their fourth generation trimmer, The Lawn Mower® 4.0 all across Europe! You heard that right….. The 4.0!  Join over 2 million men worldwide who trust MANSCAPED™ and with this exclusive offer for you, you can enjoy 20% off and free worldwide shipping with the code: LFW20 at manscaped.com.

Guys, the podcast and newsletter are free and it will remain that way. Having a sponsor on the podcast and subsequently this newsletter is huge for us, so if you do visit the site and end up ordering anything with the code it would not only be massively appreciated, but if you let me know by screenshotting your order, we may well be able to get a prize draw going on the podcast.

Onto Wentworth!

Without the Ryder Cup permutations, which we will come onto later, the event alone was exhilarating and Team Europe finally being decided on Sunday was just an extra layer.

After the opening day, two well-known players shared the lead. Kiradech Aphibarnrat emphatically confirmed his return to form with an opening 64, and was joined by South Africa’s, Christiaan Bezuidenhout. Lurking one shot further back was Adam Scott, so Friday was certainly going to be interesting.

On Ryder Cup watch was Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson, Shane Lowry, Bernd Wiesberger and Lee Westwood. On Thursday it was Rose who emerged with the best round, sitting T4 at -5, with Stenson on -3, Lowry and Westwood -2 and Wiesberger -1.

Wiesberger could theoretically get into the side with a top-50 finish, depending on other performances and before the cut, you wonder if this factored into his play.

Round 2 saw some changes behind Aphibarnrat who held onto his lead, with a second-round 68 leaving him on a -12 total. Four players shot the low-round of the day (65), putting themselves in favorable positions. Of those, Italy’s Francesco Laporta sat highest going into the weekend as he was in 2nd and one shot behind the lead, while Billy Horschel climbed to 5th place and three back, Sam Horsfield 14th place and five back and Antoine Rozner ensured some weekend play, beating his opening round 77 by 12 shots to make the cut on the number.

Ryder Cup watch continued into the weekend and Rose continued to impress sitting in T5 after another decent round (68), while Lowry made a move with a 66 to sit T8. Wiesberger loosened up with a second-round 67 to sit T19 and Stenson and Westwood shared 36th place with a host of others.

Round 3 saw some big moves once again, but one player who may not have had his best day Saturday but still sat 2nd going into Sunday was England’s, Laurie Canter. Such was his consistency this week, I would be remiss not to mention his efforts. T4 after Round 1, T2 after Round 2, and 2nd after Round 3, this is a highly impressive level of consistency from someone looking for their maiden victory, especially in an event of this magnitude. Canter is not your typical player looking for their first win, he first turned pro in 2011, is 31-years old and has not yet won as a professional at any level. He has however since 2019 and especially following lockdown, revitalized his game. A perennial success story at European Tour Q-school, Canter was clearly fed up of the pressures of that event, and after losing in a play-off on the Challenge Tour in September 2019, where Dale Whitnell had to shoot 64-63 over the weekend to even catch him, Canter was ready to kick on at the top level. 2020 saw him finish 10th at the Hero Open, T5 at the Wales Open, 2nd at the Portugal Masters where he threw all he could at a rampant George Coetzee, T2 at the Italian Open which he arguably should have won, and T5 at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship. Having now been in the final group of the Italian Open, DP World Tour and the BMW PGA Championship, its fair to say he’s building up some strong experience.

Other highlights from round 3, included a trio of 66’s from Sean Crocker, Joakim Lagergren and Justin Walters. Crocker sat in 7th and within three of Francesco Laporta’s -13 lead going into Sunday, while Lagergren and Walters sat a further shot back at -10.

Ryder Cup watch was in full swing going into the final round. Lowry and Wiesberger were sat in a tie for 7th going into Sunday, after Adam Scott birdied late which saw Lowry drop from T5 to T7 and put him on the outside looking in for a Ryder Cup spot.

The final day came and Lee Westwood hemorrhaged shots all over the course. A bogey-double bogey-double bogey finish to the front-9 and a triple-bogey on 11 were all part of a final-round 77. Despite this, Westwood (T71) and Wiesberger (T11) secured Ryder Cup spots, leaving Shane Lowry (also T11) at the mercy of Captain Harrington. With Ian Poulter (MC), Sergio Garcia (DNP) and Justin Rose (T6) all needing a pick, there may have been some concerns for the Irishman but it wasn’t an issue in the end. I personally believe Poulter and Garcia were in a long time ago, as Harrington has alluded to, and given Lowry’s calmness on the course yesterday I think he knew he was going regardless. Rose will feel aggrieved after a bogey-free 65 which ended birdie-eagle still wasn’t enough, but it was tough to see past the selected three. In the end, I think the right three are going, even if Rose is better suited to the course than Poulter.

Back to the event itself now, and it was the 36-hole leader, Aphibarnrat who made waves early. The man from Thailand birdied five of his seven holes, and after starting his back-nine par-birdie-eagle his lead after 12 holes was as big as three. Another birdie at 16 saw him atop the leaderboard at -19 but after finding the bushes on 17 and eventually making bogey, he shared the lead with Horschel and Canter as the former had just birdied 15.

With Aphibarnrat in the clubhouse at -18 after a bogey-par finish on the two closing par-5’s, it came down to Jamie Donaldson, Billy Horschel and Laurie Canter. Donaldson needed an eagle at the last to finish on -19 and from 15 feet never really threatened the hole. A tap-in for the Welshman saw him tie the clubhouse lead, leaving Horschel and Canter a clear path.

Canter was just short of the green in two on hole 17 leaving an up and down for birdie and the outright lead, but he thinned his wedge thru the back of the green and had to scramble for par. Meanwhile Horschel nearly found water with his tee shot on 18, but escaped and laid up to give himself a shot into the green to setup birdie. He stuffed the approach and duly converted! At -19 he was the new clubhouse leader.

Canter needed eagle for the win and birdie to tie, but started off the hole in the worst way, finding a bunker down the left. A forced layup meant he had to find birdie in similar fashion to Horschel which he couldn’t do, leaving the American the victor!

Horschel continues to grow his fandom over here in the UK, particularly wooing the West Ham fans among the golfing crowds. A classy operator who clearly enjoys testing his game across the globe, his visits certainly improve the field. He will return to the European Tour again at the Dunhill Links.

Strokes Gained at the BMW PGA Championship

*Bold denotes players who were in the top-10 of more than one category

SG Approach

1) Billy Horschel (+9.440)

2) Justin Rose (+8.616)

3) Laurie Canter (+8.412)

4) Tapio Pulkkanen (+7.459)

5) Justin Walters (+7.302)

6) Martin Kaymer (+6.976)

7) Shabhunkar Sharma (+6.807)

8) Francesco Laporta (+6.028)

9) Alexander Bjork (+6.017)

10) Christiaan Bezuidenhout (+5.829)

SG Off-the-Tee

1) Mathias Schwab (+6.340)

2) Billy Horschel (+5.118)

3) Bernd Wiesberger (+4.911)

4) Francesco Laporta (+4.907)

5) Andrew Johnston (+4.597)

6) Masahiro Kawamura (+4.435)

7) Fabrizio Zanotti (+3.961)

8) Aaron Rai (+3.751)

9) Viktor Hovland (+3.689)

10) Jamie Donaldson (+3.597)

SG Around-the-Green

1) George Coetzee (+4.578)

2) Thomas Pieters (+4.489)

3) Stephen Gallacher (+4.380)

4) Bernd Wiesberger (+3.648)

5) Richard Bland (+3.584)

6) Wade Ormsby (+3.355)

7) Jordan Smith (+3.310)

8) Ross Fisher (+3.271)

9) Nicolai Hojgaard (+3.163)

10) Daniel Gavins (+3.158)

SG Tee-to-Green

1) Billy Horschel (+14.612)

2) Bernd Wiesberger (+13.151)

3) Shabhunkar Sharma (+11.376)

4) Justin Rose (+11.629)

5) Laurie Canter (+11.441)

6) Andrew Johnston (+10.259)

7) Jamie Donaldson (+9.890)

8) Thomas Pieters (+9.869)

9) Francesco Laporta (+9.342)

10) Fabrizio Zanotti (+9.200)

SG Putting

1) Christiaan Bezuidenhout (+9.216)

2) Kiradech Aphibarnrat (+6.957)

3) Lucas Bjerregaard (+6.623)

4) Mathias Schwab (+5.802)

5) Joel Stalter (+5.484)

6) Stephen Gallacher (+4.675)

7) Adam Scott (+4.648)

8) George Coetzee (+4.568)

9) Adrian Otaegui (+4.543)

10) Matthew Fitzpatrick (+4.289)

All stats c/o of tour-tips.com - a sponsor of the Lost Fore Words podcast.

Winners and Losers from the BMW PGA Championship

Winners

Kiradech Aphibarnrat - One bad shot on 17 derailed his chances of victory on Sunday, and his below-average Saturday undid his great work in the other three rounds. With that said though, this was his first top-10 in almost two years (last was a T8 at the CJ Cup in October 2019) and for the most part he looked capable of winning, and maybe even the most likely. Wrapping up his PGA Tour card a fortnight ago and nearly winning this past week suggests Kiradech is ready to go again, after a difficult period during and after the pandemic-affected schedules.

Francesco Laporta - A third top-6 finish in his last seven starts, Laporta may well be finding a new level in his golf game. He was so impressive when finishing 2nd behind Rozner at the Golf in Dubai Championship at the end of 2020, and he now looks to be finding his groove again. 4th at the Irish Open, T4 in his home event and T6 at the flagship event suggests he’s a man for the big moments. The Italian has two Challenge Tour victories to his name, both in 2019, so the next natural progression is a win on the European Tour. He’s not playing in Holland, but look for him in Spain and Portugal.

Shane Lowry, Bernd Wiesberger, Lee Westwood - Despite Westwood ultimately playing pretty poorly he just held on to his Ryder Cup spot, while Lowry earned himself a Captain’s Pick (probably more due to his season as a whole) and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger also clinched a spot. I think it was massively important for the latter to get in automatically because had he not, I think Justin Rose was on the plane to Whistling Straits.

Losers

Justin Rose - If Lowry, Wiesberger and Westwood were winners due to their Ryder Cup spots, Rose naturally has to go down as a loser. A win could have got him in the event automatically, and it also could have shaken up the Captain’s picks significantly had he needed it still. Unfortunately his level-par round on Saturday cost him a chance of victory, but he can still be proud of his play this week. Harsh to put someone on the loser list for a T6 finish, but he misses out on a big goal of his, and his play this week just wasn’t enough to change that. A win may have done so.

Tyrrell Hatton - Being defending champion always comes with obligations and this can detract from your overall play, but Hatton was really looking for a good week, in order to head to Whistling Straits with some confidence. Instead it was a fourth missed cut in his last six appearances and he now heads to the Ryder Cup looking for form rather than being one of Europe’s go-to players. Not a good position to be in.

Thomas Detry - One of a number of players that could have got into the Ryder Cup with a win or T2 finish, Detry was obviously keen to impress. Instead, he signed for an incorrect scorecard in round two and found himself disqualified from the event. His three-under 69 was good enough to put him T11 after day one, and would have been around the top-25 heading into the weekend but for his mistake. A tough rule, but one that’s been in place forever, Detry will be more careful in the future.

Ones to Watch on the European Tour

Thomas Pieters - Pieters will be among the favorites this week in Hollands given his previous win at the KLM Open, but I am still not sure his return to form has been spoken about enough, due to other players emerging. 18th and 9th place finishes the past two weeks add to his T12 in Ireland and or someone that didn’t play at all in April and has suffered multiple injuries in recent seasons, Pieters will be hoping to end this season strongly. A good week in a country that’s been good to him this week should help him kick on and I would bet he will draw inspiration from not being at the Ryder Cup in two weeks time, nor ever being in line for the team. That in itself could well be motivation.

Gavin Green - Gavin Green came up on the podcast last week as an outside selection after his improved iron play in recent weeks. His opening-round 78 was among the worst, but he was right on track for a 66 in round two and a birdie on 18 would have seen him post a 65, but he instead carded a quadruple-bogey 9 to miss the cut handedly in the end. A birdie there would have seen him miss by one, but the seven birdies he made on Friday suggest there’s some life in his game again. If he can find something off the tee, and he did gain over half a stroke in that department Friday or head to a course where its a bit more generous off the tee or driver isn’t required, he could well be a factor again.

Ricardo Gouveia - Gouveia’s recent form reads 1-1-T4-MC-T3 and while this has all been on the Challenge Tour, evidence suggests he can have an impact at this level when in good shape. The man from Portugal has six top-10 finishes to his name from 2017-2019 on the European Tour and I would not be on him adding to that tally this week, nor any subsequent starts he gets at this level before officially graduating at the end of the year. Three of those top-10 finishes also came at the Nedbank (T3), the Qatar Masters (T6) and the British Masters (T9) all of which boasted strong fields at the time.

An eventful weekend in Golf with the Solheim Cup, Korn Ferry finals as well as our PGA and European Tour events. Team Europe take a 9-7 into the final round of the Solheim Cup and will hope to come out on top in the Singles to complete the victory.

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I am going to keep my debrief on the Tour Championship short. It is not an event I enjoy, I think there are a tonne of flaws, and ultimately it needs fixing. That said, there were some exceptional performances, notably by Kevin Na, who tied Jon Rahm atop the 72-hole score leaderboard, and he may well be wondering whether he is due a call from Captain Stricker.

Na defied poor course form to end the week unofficially the joint-winner (work that one out) with Jon Rahm, while Patrick Cantlay who finished 4th over the 72-holes, reaped the FedEx Cup rewards. It was Rahm who made the fastest start on the 72-hole leaderboard as he opened with a pair of 65’s to lead after both Thursday and Friday, and a pair of 68’s ensured he went “wire-to-wire” on that front. Na was one behind on Thursday and stayed within the top-4 all week, and Cantlay stayed inside the top-6, eventually finishing 4th to secure his $15m.

Matching weekend rounds of 67-64 from Xander Schauffele and Daniel Berger saw them climb to T5 and T11 respectively in the overall Tour Championship leaderboard, while 3rd and 8th in the 72-hole scoring - another fine East Lake showing from Xander.

At the other end of the scale, a fast start saw Harris English sit 3rd after Round 1 and 8th after Round 2 in the 72-hole scoring, but a poor weekend saw him fall to mid-table and he will be hoping that doesn’t factor into any Wildcard Selection decision from Stricker.

Strokes Gained Leaders at the Tour Championship

*Denotes players who were in the top-10 of more than one category

SG Approach:

1) Viktor Hovland (+8.070)

2) Kevin Na (+6.010)

3) Xander Schauffele (+4.701)

4) Justin Thomas (+3.433)

5) Patrick Cantlay (+3.022)

6) Daniel Berger (+2.795)

7) Abraham Ancer (+2.367)

8) Jason Kokrak (+1.884)

9) Tony Finau (+1.590)

10) Corey Conners (+1.502)

SG Off-the-Tee:

1) Bryson DeChambeau (+4.093) - colour me shocked.

2) Sergio Garcia (+3.599)

3) Patrick Cantlay (+3.324)

4) Jon Rahm (+2.978)

5) Corey Conners (+2.554)

6) Billy Horschel (+2.544)

7) Jordan Spieth (+1.266)

8) Scottie Scheffler (+1.217)

9) Daniel Berger (+1.047)

10) Jason Kokrak (+0.960)

SG Around-the-Green:

1) Jon Rahm (+4.804)

2) Hideki Matsuyama (+3.374)

3) Scottie Scheffler (+2.454)

4) Kevin Na (+2.368)

5) Louis Oosthuizen (+1.711)

6) Patrick Reed (+1.655)

7) Daniel Berger (+1.380)

8) Rory McIlroy (+0.895)

9) Viktor Hovland (+0.750)

10) Jordan Spieth (+0.436)

SG Tee-to-Green:

1) Viktor Hovland (+8.725)

2) Patrick Cantlay (+6.452)

3) Kevin Na (+6.333)

4) Jon Rahm (+6.253)

5) Daniel Berger (+5.223)

6) Justin Thomas (+3.732)

7) Xander Schauffele (+3.610)

8) Billy Horschel (+3.458)

9) Scottie Scheffler (+3.231)

10) Sergio Garcia (+2.367)

SG Putting:

1) Dustin Johnson (+9.478)

2) Sam Burns (+4.777)

3) Xander Schauffele (+3.616)

4) Jon Rahm (+2.973)

5) Kevin Na (+2.893)

6) Erik Van Rooyen (+2.537)

7) Justin Thomas (+2.494)

8) Patrick Reed (+2.196)

9) Billy Horschel (+1.768)

10) Rory McIlroy (+0.926)

All stats c/o tour-tips.com - a sponsor of the Lost Fore Words podcast.

Winners and Losers from the Tour Championship

Winners

Patrick Cantlay - $15m - that is all

Kevin Na - Kevin defied the odds as he so often does to finish T1 in the 72-hole scoring and 3rd overall in the FedEx Cup. This is a big achievement for a player who you would say has a disadvantage at many courses due to his lack of length off the tee. He’s also never had a great record at East Lake, so in a Ryder Cup year, this was a great time to turn that around. With the plethora of options available and perhaps more suited to Whistling Straits, it still looks unlikely but Na did all he could to make that team.

Losers

Brooks Koepka - Brooks had to withdraw mid-way thru Round 3 after injuring the same wrist he’s had problems with in the past, after hitting a tree root. Will he be fit in time for the Ryder Cup, and also his all-important showdown with Barstool owner, Dave Portnoy? Who knows.

Collin Morikawa - Whether it be injury (back), fatigue, a loss of form or a combination of the three, this spell could not have come at a worse time. In the playoffs, Morikawa missed the cut at the Northern Trust, finished 63rd out of 69 at The Barclays and 28th out of 29 at the Tour Championship. Expected to be one of the stars on his Ryder Cup debut, Morikawa will hope a fortnight off will be enough to recuperate in time.

Ones to Watch

I will do bring this section back next week for the PGA Tour when we look ahead to the new season with an event in Napa.

Italian Open

Anyone for a Danish?

The Italian Open was a decent event, and gave us a sneak-peek of what to expect for the 2023 Ryder Cup. While the Pro’s didn’t have too many positive things to say about the course, and it certainly didn’t stand out as a venue, it did at least provide a good test.

After day one, three players, Henrik Stenson, Kalle Samooja and Min Woo Lee shared the lead at -7. Among the chasing pack going into Friday were home bods, Edoardo Molinari (-6) and Francesco Laporta (-5), Englishman Tommy Fleetwood (-5) and twin brother of last week’s winner, Nicolai Hojgaard (-5).

Going into the weekend, there was a shake up but a few of these names remained. Min Woo Lee (-10) continued his good form and held a two-shot over four players, Adri Arnaus, Tommy Fleetwood, Mikko Korhonen and Czech Open winner, Johannes Veerman.

Moving day saw a lot of changes once again, as overnight leader Min Woo Lee carded a 71 to surrender his lead for the first time, as Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard shot the lowest round of the day (65) to take a slender one-stroke lead into Sunday at -13. Of the chasers, Tommy Fleetwood sitting one back was no doubt marked the danger man, and the one Nicolai would be looking over his shoulder at.

Sunday came around, and it was a slow start for those closest to Hojgaard - Fleetwood and Daniel Van Tonder. The former started his round with five-straight pars before making bogeys at 6 and 8 and it felt like the same story we have been used to in recent months for Fleetwood. Of all the people affected by the pandemic, he might be the most high-profile player to suffer. He has not been the same calibre of player since the break, and has failed to convert a couple of good chances, and this was no different. Hojgaard, despite getting off to a relatively slow start himself (bogeyed 2, birdied 4 & 9) took a two-shot lead into the back-nine and despite some distance chasers in Adrian Meronk and Masahiro Kawamura, he looked fairly safe. That was until the 14th hole where he made the first of back-to-back bogeys to slip into a tie for the lead going down the last at -12 with Meronk and Fleetwood. Meronk was in the clubhouse, Fleetwood had just made a good up-and-down on 18 to secure his birdie to ensure his -12 score, and Hojgaard was left with a chance to win. Birdie and you win, par you’re in a playoff and bogey and you are going home empty handed, it’s a good position to be in on a closing par-5. After missing the fairway, he laid up to 98 yards and stuffed his approach to a few feet for what looked an easy win in the end.

He front-ran fairly well all day, not doing anything special, but enough to secure the win against tough opposition. You could argue the chasing pack made it easier for him as Van Tonder disappeared into the abyss with 7 bogeys and a triple for a whopping 79, while the rest of the chasing pack, other than Fleetwood came from further afield and had too much to do. Meronk played very well and would have given a scare but it was ultimately not enough. Fleetwood had a great chance to put the pressure on, standing on 16th tee with a chance to take the lead at the short par-4 but he put his tee shot into the water, and just failed to make his par save to put a bogey on the card. Hojgaard nearly followed him in, but just managed to avoid it and give himself a safe run a victory.

Strokes Gained Leaders at the Italian Open

*Denotes players who were in the top-10 of more than one category

SG Approach:

1) Edoardo Molinari (+9.172)

2) Richard Bland (+8.995)

3) Guido Migliozzi (+7.915)

4) Sam Horsfield (+7.513)

5) Adrian Meronk (+7.136)

6) Johannes Veerman (+6.959)

7) Victor Perez (+6.520)

8) Fabrizio Zanotti (+6.092)

9) Darren Fichardt (+5.793)

10) Matthew Southgate (+5.603)

SG Off-the-Tee:

1) Nicolai Hojgaard (+6.932)

2) Sean Crocker (+6.018)

3) Paul Waring (+3.590)

4) Callum Shinkwin (+3.196)

5) Masahiro Kawamura (+2.846)

6) Thomas Pieters (+2.810)

7) Dean Burmester (+2.763)

8) Adrian Meronk (+2.719)

9) Min Woo Lee (+2.664)

10) Antoine Rozner (+2.621)

SG Around-the-Green:

1) Daniel Van Tonder (+6.886)

2) Min Woo Lee (+5.859)

3) Jonathan Caldwell (+5.476)

4) Dale Whitnell (+4.834)

5) Grant Forrest (+4.724)

6) Francesco Laporta (+3.637)

7) Dean Burmester (+3.414)

8) Pablo Larrazabal (+3.316)

9) Shubhankar Sharma (+3.011)

10) Steven Brown (+2.706)

SG Tee-to-Green:

1) Nicolai Hojgaard (+12.326)

2) Edoardo Molinari (+12.228)

3) Min Woo Lee (+10.862)

4) Adrian Meronk (+10.619)

5) Thomas Pieters (+8.462)

6) Francesco Laporta (+8.419)

7) Richard Bland (+8.086)

8) Masahiro Kawamura (+7.768)

9) Callum Shinkwin (+7.451)

10) John Catlin (+7.405)

SG Putting:

1) Tommy Fleetwood (+10.657)

2) Scott Jamieson (+9.456)

3) Adri Arnaus (+8.855)

4) George Coetzee (+7.801)

5) Mikko Korhonen (+7.602)

6) Tapio Pulkkanen (+6.612)

7) Sami Valimaki (+6.552)

8) Pablo Larrazabal (+5.826)

9) Joakim Lagergren (+5.369)

10) Dave Coupland (+5.307)

All stats c/o tour-tips.com - a sponsor of the Lost Fore Words podcast.

Winners and Losers from the Italian Open

Winners

Nicolai Hojgaard - A hugely talented player in his own right, the pressure only increases when your twin brother is piling up the wins. With Rasmus winning three times already on Tour, Nicolai would have been determined to get in on the action, and he did. The twins are the only two players born in the 2000’s to win on the European or PGA Tour.

Adrian Meronk - Another supremely talented golfer, looking for his maiden victory on the European Tour, Meronk took another huge step forward yesterday and on many other weeks probably would have got over the line. Starting the final round 6 shots back, Poland’s Meronk knew he had to go low, and go low he did. His 66 was bettered only by Pablo Larrazabal (65) and for the third round in a row, Meronk took a step forward. 37th, 26th, 12th and 2nd is a really good progression throughout the week, never shooting over-par and its another top finish to add to his European Tour collection. A third top-3 finish of the year, the breakthrough looks close.

Richard Bland - A fifth top-5 finish in his past nine events, which included his first European Tour title at the British Masters, the fairy tale season continues for the 48-year old.

Losers

Tommy Fleetwood - Perhaps harsh as he will see this as a step forward before the Ryder Cup, and it was considering it was his first strokeplay top-10 since Bay Hill in March, but is also felt like another opportunity missed. A chance to win on Sunday surrounded by inexperienced players, the chance for Tommy to get back in the winners’ circle was there. He will hope to back it up with another good week at Wentworth.

Daniel Van Tonder - Van Tonder went into Sunday one back, but a final round 79 saw him fall away dramatically and he was all over the show with every facet of his game on Sunday. Not what we expect from this emerging talent and hopefully an isolated incident.

Ones to Watch

Masahiro Kawamura - Nicolai Hojgaard, who has been flashing great figures tee-to-green an approach all season broke through last week and it could soon be Kawamura’s turn. He is 11th in this loaded field at Wentworth in SG-Tee-to-Green over the past 15 weeks, and given he has been 3-10-49-13-11 in his past five starts in approach, he looks to be in great shape. Three top-5’s in his past six starts and two more top-21’s in that span, it feels like a huge week is coming the Japanese golfer’s way. 20th at Wentworth last year, where he sat 10th after 54-holes, maybe this is the week.

Victor Perez - Has been a bit of form in recent months, but two top-18 finishes in his last three, a return to Wentworth where he finished 2nd on debut and a visit to the Dunhill Links, a tournament he won in 2019 and close to his base (based in Scotland), expect Perez’s form to improve over the next month. He will be hoping to go one better at this course and win to make the Ryder Cup side.

According to @VC606 on Twitter, these results can see the list of players below still make the team. A huge week ahead.

That is all.

Welcome to the first edition of the Lost Fore Words newsletter. Most week’s this will be for both the European and PGA Tour events, but with a Monday (or potentially Tuesday!) finish for The Northern Trust, I thought I would get out a Czech Masters piece.

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First of all, a big congratulations to American, Johannes Veerman who won his maiden European Tour title this week. This was his 59th European Tour start, and last season he made 15/19 cuts and posted four top-10’s, so it feels like it has been coming. His 3rd place finish at the 2021 Irish Open had been his previous best, and he was 2nd after 54-holes that week, one shot behind eventual winner, Lucas Herbert.

As it pretty standard for the European Tour there were a lot of changes at the top of the leaderboard over the weekend, particularly Sunday despite 54-hole leader, Tapio Pulkkanen opening up a four-shot lead early after two birdies in his first four holes. While Pulkkanen started the final round in fine form, Veerman seemingly struggled to get anything going thru three holes, starting par-bogey-par. Birdies at 4, 6 and 9 however saw him pull within one of Pulkkanen after 9, and he eventually leapfrogged him on 10 with a birdie as the Finn dropped his second shot in three holes. Veerman bogeyed the 11th hole to bring others back into the frame, with four sharing the lead at one point, including fellow American Sean Crocker who had made four birdies in a row at 9, 10, 11 and 12 to lead and major champion, Henrik Stenson who joined the party after a 63-feet birdie putt on 13. Pulkkanen fired back though, with birdies at 12, 15 and 16 handing him the outright lead once again heading into the final two holes, as the others surrendered their chances. Veerman had to follow Pulkkanen’s lead at 16 and birdie to stay within one and after the leader bogeyed 17, Veerman parred to make it feel like a match-play situation between the playing partners down 18. Pulkkanen found the rough on 18 and eventually the water, to make a costly double-bogey, leaving Veerman the chance to par in and claim a two-stroke victory.

So who were the winners and losers this week? Outside of the obvious in Veerman there were plenty of players who will look back on their week in Prague with fondness.

Winners

Tapio Pulkkanen - This is controversial as I could easily place him the losers section, finishing bogey-double-bogey over the final two to give away the chance at a first European Tour victory, but I think this could be a valuable experience. This was his first 54-hole lead on the European Tour, and he’s never been better than 4th going into the final-round, when he was 5 strokes back of Garrick Higgo in the Canary Islands earlier this year. In fact, he’s only ever been the 54-hole leader one other time as a Professional and that was on the Nordic Golf League in 2015, when he converted a three-shot overnight lead into victory. His sole Challenge Tour victory came when one off the pace going into Sunday and he’s never been closer than five strokes of the leader going into Sunday on the European Tour. For 16 holes he played some great stuff, and just fell at the final hurdles. More experienced players have done the same, if not worse and he could well push on from this experience.

Andrea Pavan - It is not often you celebrate a T70 finish, but this was Andrea Pavan’s first made cut for over a year, with his T34 finish at last year’s English Championship in early August his last weekend rounds on the European Tour. A former winner here, confidence in his surroundings would have been a factor, and after a year from hell the Italian sat 17th after 36, thanks to second-round 66. That was unfortunately his only sub-par round of the week (74, 77, 79) but just being in the event for four days has to be a plus at this stage. That 66 was just his fourth round in the 60’s since his previous made cut last year and his lowest round on Tour since a final-round 65 in Spain in October 2019.

Henrik Stenson - Talking of slumps, 2016 Open Championship winner, former FedEx Cup champion, 2 x Race to Dubai winner, and winner of 21 titles worldwide, Henrik Stenson had failed to post a top-10 anywhere since winning the 18-man Hero World Challenge in December 2019. Given that event is classed as unofficial, you have to go back to this time two years ago, when he finished T3 in his home event (the Scandinavian Invitational) for his last official top-10. Many will see this week as a failure, after he double-bogeyed the 16th hole to give away the chance of victory to less-experienced players, but after such a spell this could be just what he needs to get back to where he belongs - at the top of leaderboards.

The Danes - A Danish duo at two very different stages of their careers finished inside the top-10 this week. Wily veteran, Soren Kjeldsen finished in a share of 7th with his compatriot Benjamin Poke this week. This was Kjeldsen’s first top-10 since his first start of 2019 at the Abu Dhabi Championship, and in Poke’s case this was his first top-10 ever at this level.

David Coupland - This may be a bit of a stretch but the Englishman finished T23 this week and climbed 7 places to 128th in the Race to Dubai standings. He now sits just one spot outside of the cut-off point to keep his European Tour card for next year.

Elsewhere - Despite a double-bogey at the last to cost him a victory, England’s, Aaron Rai earned a PGA Tour card for next season thanks to his 2nd place finish at the first Korn Ferry Tour Finals event. Lucas Herbert and Mathias Schwab will also have PGA Tour cards for 2021/22 thanks to T4 finishes. Herbert has played some great stuff on both Tour’s this season, with a win at the Irish Open the highlight and Schwab will be a popular selection on betting cards due to his elite ball-striking, despite never getting over the line (yet!)

Losers

Sam Horsfield - Harsh? Maybe, but one thing is for sure, Sam Horsfield’s least-favourite restaurant must be TGI Friday’s. There is something mentally standing in Horsfield’s way when it comes to performing in the second round in recent starts, and until he sorts that out, it might be a while before he adds to his two victories last season. At the PGA Championship in May, Horsfield sat 2nd after round one, only to shoot 80 on Friday. An opening 64 in Sweden saw him lead on Thursday but he took 10 strokes more on Friday to sit 34th going into the weekend, and it was a familiar story at the Cazoo Open (67-72 moving from 5th to 9th) and this past week (68-72 moving from 3rd to 17th.) Last week was a real chance for him to put himself in contention for a wildcard selection on the European Ryder Cup team but a final-round 75 saw him fall from 6th to 23rd and given he was just four-strokes off the lead heading into Sunday, despite a poor Friday, that’s a huge concern. He now has just three potential starts to impress captain, Padraig Harrington.

Vincent Norrman - Regressing to the mean may be the story for the young Swede, as he has now missed back-to-back cuts after making five of his first six cuts on the European Tour (with his first two events coming when he was still an amateur). After finishing T12 as an amateur at his home event - the Scandinavian Mixed - Norrman has finished T5-T61-T10-T11 and the Czech Masters looked right up his alley, but it wasn’t to be this week. With the upcoming events (European Masters, Italian Open and the BMW PGA) all courses that potentially favour accuracy over length, it will be interesting to see how the big-hitter bounces back.

Adri Arnaus - With a T60 finish, this was Adri Arnaus’ eight-straight finish of T38 or worse, and that best finish of T38 came in a 60-man field at the Olympics. After starting the year with T12 and T9 finishes in the Desert Swing, it looked like Arnaus could continue his fine start to European Tour life and indeed pick up his first victory, but a run of two missed-cuts, a WD and a T62 followed in his next four starts and his only relief came when T8 and T4 in back-to-back weeks in Tenerife and Gran Canaria. This wasn’t the season he or anyone else expected and he will need to turn it around quickly, as he sits a disappointing 74th in the Race to Dubai.

Strokes-Gained leaders at the Czech Masters:

*Bold denotes top-10 in more than one category

SG Approach:

1) Sean Crocker + 10.818

2) Matthew Baldwin + 8.756

3) Paul Peterson + 8.645

4) Tapio Pulkkanen + 8.453

5) Nicolai Hojgaard + 7.704

6) Joost Luiten + 6.054

7) Damien Perrier + 4.999

8) Sam Horsfield + 4.962

9) Lee Slatterty + 4.813

10) Brandon Stone + 4.658

SG OTT:

1) Brandon Stone + 5.831

2) Dean Burmester + 5.300

3) Callum Shinkwin + 4.955

4) Sean Crocker + 4.861

5) Nicolai Hojgaard + 4.144

6) Johannes Veerman + 3.766

7) Berry Henson + 3.699

8) J.C. Ritchie + 3.428

9) Ryan Fox + 3.057

10) Jacques Kruyswijk + 3.015

SG Around-the-Green:

1) Sihwan Kim + 6.170

2) Filip Mruzek + 4.689

3) Ondrej Lieser + 3.426

4) Marcel Siem + 3.413

5) Henrik Stenson + 3.185

6) Jacques Kruyswijk + 3.154

7) Niklas Lemke + 3.116

8) Andrea Pavan + 3.068

9) Ross McGowan + 3.001

10) Dave Coupland + 2.968

SG T2G:

1) Sean Crocker + 16.429

2) Nicolai Hojgaard + 13.157

3) Johannes Veerman + 11.166

4) Paul Peterson + 10.796

5) Tapio Pulkkanen + 9.999

6) Jacques Kruyswijk + 9.498

7) Damien Perrier + 8.972

8) Richard Mansell + 8.637

9) Dave Coupland + 8.297

10) Dean Burmester + 8.072

SG Putting:

1) Soren Kjeldsen +8.661

2) Joakim Lagergren + 7.210

3) Henrik Stenson + 6.122

4) Aaron Cockerill + 5.944

5) Benjamin Poke + 5.834

6) Andrea Pavan + 5.552

7) Jazz Janewattanond + 5.476

8) Jake McLeod + 5.474

9) Liam Johnston + 5.052

10) Rory Sabbatini +4.824

Ones to Watch (European Tour)

In this section each week, I will highlight a couple of players who look to be rounding into some form, and may well be headed to a course they like in the coming weeks, or have seen a huge uptick in the iron game.

James Morrison - A solid European Tour pro for a number of years now, James Morrison although inconsistent is someone to keep an eye on when his game is in good shape. He has a decent record at Crans where they play this week, as he’s made his last five-straight cuts there, after missing the weekend on his first four attempts. His best finish there is 18th, but he’s been in and around the top-10 after multiple rounds, and he now comes into the event off the back of T13 and 2nd place finishes in his last two starts. He has four top-17 finishes in his last seven starts total including 2nd and 3rd place finishes, so a third victory on the European Tour may well be due. He’s also finished 4th at Valderrama in the past and has finished 1st and 2nd in the Open de Espana at other courses, so if he can keep up his form until they return there, he may well prosper. A top-10 at the BMW PGA in the past as well suggests the upcoming events may suit the Englishman. Morrison has ranked 11th and 7th in his last two starts in SG: Approach, so is clearly hitting his irons well.

Kalle Samooja - Samooja has ranked 23rd and 2nd in his last two starts in SG: Approach, finished 8th on his last start at the Cazoo Classic and returns to a course this week that he lost in a playoff at on his debut. An improving player with four top-10’s in 2021, his first European Tour victory may well come round soon.

Maverick Antcliff - Despite some pretty mediocre results of late, Maverick Antcliff is certainly someone to keep tabs on. If there is any uptick in his short game in the coming weeks, he is bound to flash. A three-time winner in China in 2019 he certainly knows how to win, and if he can tidy up that weakness, even to average his irons should also keep in the mix. In Crans this week he will be playing a course where you do need to putt lights-out to win, so this could be a good setup for him.

Finally a nod to the current The Northern Trust Leaderboard. Play was already postponed until today and they are now facing at least a three-hour delay to today’s play as well. As it stands:

1) Cameron Smith (-16)

1) Jon Rahm (-16)

3) Erik Van Rooyen (-15)

4) Tony Finau (-14)

4) Justin Thomas (-14)

6) Tom Hoge (-13)

6) Viktor Hovland (-13)

6) Shane Lowry (-13)

9) Corey Conners (-12)

9) Harold Varner III (-12)

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