Blog#170 Results of Tour Championship September 2, 2024

Blog#170 Results of Tour Championship September 2, 2024

The following players are making their first appearance at the tour Championship;

#5 Ludvig Aberg #16 Shane Lowry #19 Ben An #20 Robert MacIntyre

#23 Akshay Bhatia #26 Taylor Pendrith #27 Aaron Rai #30 Matthieu Pavon

ROUND 1 Scottie shoots lowest RD of the day.  Started with a 2 stroke lead over Schauffele,  Now it is 7.  I can’t see him losing this lead and the tournament could be over after RD2.  

At best it is now a 3 man race.  I don’t think any of the #4s can catch him.

1 Scheffler-16 63 Starts with bogie then 7 birdies including 5 of last 7. Finish W $25M

2 Morikawa-9 66 Plus one on front 9 then 6 birdies in a row 10 to 15. Finish 2 $12.5M

2 X Schauffele-9 70 Birdies 2 of 1st 6 holes then +1 the rest of the way. Finish 4 $5M

4 A Scott-8 66 Bogie free RD again, playing great golf almost won BMW. Finish 4 $5M

4 S Burns-8 67 Bad start with 2 bogies on 1st 5 holes but then 5 birdies. Finish 12 $1M

4 W Clark-8 67 DBs #4 then eagles #6 but bogies 2 of last 3 holes. Finish  8 $2.2

4 Bradley-8 69 Too many bogies 3. Finish 21 $700K

4 Matsuyama-8 70 Highest score among top 5, back may be an issue. Finish 9 $2M

9 Theegala-7 67 Best RD of the 3 tournaments, birdies 5 of last 6 holes. Finish 3 $8M

10 Pendrith-6 Rated #26 at start, may get him on Presidents Cup team. Finish14925K

10 Henley-6 67 Rated #18 but I picked him to crack the top 10. Finish 4 $6M

10 Cantlay-6 69 Did not get a birdie until #8 then-1 the rest of the way. Finish 17 $775K

10 McIlroy-6 Another rough start 2 bogies 1st 5 holes. Finish 9 $2M

14 Thomas-5 Rated #24 Finished with 2 birdies, playing better.              Finish 14 $905K

14 Aberg-5 Bogies kill him and he bogies the 1st 3 holes then 5 birdies. Finish 16  795K

30 B Horschel+2 73 Most disappointing, 4 bogies, was only player +par. Finish 23 630K

ROUND 2 Scheffler, Schauffele, Morikawa all get a good start with birdies on 1st 3 holes.

Burns, Theegala and Clark start with birdies for a 3 way tie for 3rd, now it could be a 6 man race.  Top 3 made 11 birdies 0 bogies on the front 9.  Back9 Scheffler makes 1st bogie on 13 and Schauffele birdies 14, lead drops to 4.  There was a brief interruption of play but everyone finished with Scheffler making birdies on 16&18.  Morikawa took 2nd place finishing with 4 birdies on the last 6 holes to cut the lead to 4 with the lowest RD of the day.

1 S Scheffler-21 66 Loses 2 strokes with his first bogie of the tournament.

2 C Morikawa-17 63 One bogie with 9 birdies but can he do it again?

3 X Schauffele-16 Bogie free RD with 7 birdies, but not good enough to hold on to 2nd.

4 S Theegala-12 66 His 4 bogies in the tournament which is typical of his erratic  play.

4 W Clark-12 67 He has 2 eagles in the tournament but 1 DB and 5 bogies hurt.

4 A Scott-12 68 His first bogie of the tournament on #17 but not enough birdies to compete.

ROUND 3 Scheffler bogies first hole, Morikawa-1 on front 9 to go 4 behind, Schauffele+1 to go 

7 behind.  Clark, Scott, Lowry, Burns, Theegala, McIlroy making a move but it seems to be between top 3.  On #16 Scheffler makes a 24’ birdie putt and  Morikawa misses the same putt. Then Scheffler birdies last 2 holes but Morik\awa keeps up and also birdies 17&18.

1 Scheffler-26 66 No way he loses this tournament.

2 Morikawa-21 67 Probably his best tournament of the year but no match for Scheffler.

3 Theegala—24 66 On hole #4 he calls a 2 stroke penalty on himself for moving sand in bunker.

FINAL ROUND Scheffler up 7 thru 1st 4 holes but 3 bogies from 5 to 8 and Morikawa cuts lead to 2.  Then Scheffler birdies next 3 holes and Morikawa pars, lead back to 5.  Seals victory with eagle on 14 and wins by 6 strokes.

1 Scheffler-30 66 Led wire to wire, had lowest RD of tournament in RD 1 and never lost lead. 

2 Morikawa Putting still his biggest problem he can’t make long clutch putts.

3 Schauffele Seemed like he was never in the tournament. 

Above average performances

Sahieth Theegalla In RD 3 he called a penalty on himself on #4 and I feel it was unfair but  I admire his integrity.  He then he birdies 7 of last 8 holes. 

Below average performances 

Chris Kirk

Billy Herschel I expected a lot more from him 73,69,71

CB I picked him to finish #30.  I don’t like this format and I would rather have seen an up and comer like Max Greyserman who fought off much adversity in the last month get a chance to win some big money.