Sahith Theegala saw his first chance at a PGA Tour wash away in the water on the 71st hole at the Waste Management Open in February. His second chance at his first win disappeared in a bunker on the 72nd hole at The Travelers Championship on Sunday. As a result, Xander Schauffele picked up his first solo win on the PGA Tour since 2019, cashing finishing the tournament at 19 under par. Schauffele was the fifth favorite entering the event at +2000 behind Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns so it was a nice cash for anyone holding a ticket.
The “Perfect Tee Ball” Sinks Theegala
Theegala was +10000 to win the tournament when the odds opened. He was playing one group ahead of Schauffele and took a one-shot lead to the tee on 18, but pulled his tee shot left right up against the edge of a bunker. Theegala was completely comfortable with the shot he hit off the tee, “Just a perfect tee ball for me. Just a high cut over the tree. I hit that a thousand times this year,” he said. “It’s my bread and butter. I put a great swing on it, hit it right in the center. Just didn’t cut. Maybe it was adrenaline, squared the face a little sooner than normal. Just didn’t cut.”
Theegala got aggressive on his bunker shot, but his shot traveled four inches according to ShotLink. It clearly wasn’t the shot he wanted, “Never in a million years did I think I would allow myself to blade it. All I had to do was chunk it. We even said, like, this is a 50/50 ball in terms of I got to try and just basically hit it just a hair behind it. Somehow my body just, I just straight bladed it. I had room there. I don’t know how it looked, but I had room there. Just didn’t think I would let myself blade it.”
A Win Is A Win For Schauffele
Theegala had a bogey putt on 18 to move him back into a tie with Schauffele, but it rolled around the edge meaning Schauffele just needed a par on 18 to win. He did one better hitting his approach to three feet and sinking a birdie putt for a two-shot win over Theegala and JT Poston.
“To sit there and watch sort of what happened was a bit of a shock obviously,” Schauffele admitted after the tournament. “I really had to try and focus on the task at hand. And sitting there waiting, sort of watching, not really knowing what’s going on, but kind of having an idea is a strange thing.”
For the second day in a row Schauffele wasn’t sharp, but did just enough for the win. It looked like it was going to be an easy win after a birdie on 11 gave him a three shot lead, but he found trouble off the tee on 12 and made a bogey. Theegala birdied 13 and suddenly the three shot lead was down to one. Theegala used a great lag putt on the short par-4 15th to set up a birdie and rolled in another birdie on 17 even though his drive found a divot in the fairway.
After back-to-back 63’s to start the tournament, Schauffele followed up a 67 on Saturday with a 68 on Sunday. After his bogey on 12 he parred the next five holes. He had the same exact lag putt as Theegala on 15 but put it nowhere close and settled for his par and didn’t put himself in good position to make birdies on any hole on the closing stretch until 18.
That, of course, will matter very little to Schauffele who hadn’t won a solo event on tour since the Sentry Tournament of Champions in 2019. Schauffele had the lowest four-round score at the 2020 Tour Championship, but couldn’t make up the advantage Dustin Johnson had entering the event. He won the gold medal at last year’s Olympics and won the team event in New Orleans, but his best finish this year was at the Waste Management Open where he tied for third place with Brooks Koepka and Theegala.
“I’ve been out here long enough, this is my sixth year on Tour, and you just know that no one’s going to give it to you, not out here on the PGA Tour. No one is going to hand you a win. I was very aware of that and ready to birdie the last and I thought that was going to be to get in a playoff. So just lucky it was to make me on top.”
Cantlay Implodes After The Low Round Of The Day Saturday
Schauffele won the team event in New Orleans with Patrick Cantlay and the friends were in the final pairing at The Travelers for the second day in a row. Cantlay shot the low round of the day on Saturday with a 63 to move into second place a shot back of Schauffele, but not much went right for him on Sunday as he carded a 76, the second worst score of the day. He finished the tournament at 10-under in a tie for 13th place.
It was a bizarre round in which Cantlay made just three pars. He made ten bogeys or worse, by far his most in a round in his professional career. He was already two over for his round when he came to the Par-3 7th hole and hit his tee shot 57 yards short on the 179 yard hole into the pond in front of the green. Cantlay also found himself in a world of hurt on 12 when he drove the ball way left out of bounds and ended up with a double-bogey. It was just a horrible beat for anyone holding a Cantlay t10 ticket which was around +300.
Thorbjornsen Has Them Dreaming of Phil…In a Good Way
Phil Mickelson isn’t the most popular guy in the world of golf right now, but one of his good feats was on people’s minds on Sunday. Mickelson was the last amateur to win a PGA Tour event when he won the Northern Telcom Open in 1991 and Michael Thorbjornsen had people dreaming that the drought could finally end on Sunday.
From nearby Wellesley, Mass, Thorbjornsen birdied 11 to get to 17-under which at the time was one shot behind Schauffele. He made back-to-back bogeys on 12 and 13 after finding the sand and the water on those holes respectively to end his hopes of winning, but he still finished in fourth place at 15-under.
Thorbjornsen plans to go back to Stanford for his Junior year, but looks forward to coming to play here again sometime in the future, even if the heat is as excessive as it was this weekend, “I love the course, love the way it fits my game. I guess the only thing is it might be a little too hot, but I will definitely come back here if I can.”
Hoffman Ends Week On High Note
Playing his final event on a medical exemption, Morgan Hoffmann ended the week one of the best shots of the day, sticking his approach on 18 inside two feet to set up a birdie putt. Hoffmann’s story is well chronicled. A star amateur golfer at Oklahoma State, a promising start to his pro career was derailed after being diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy. After a lengthy journey into holistic medicine that saw him relocate to Costa Rica, he was back on Tour for three events this season.
After missing the cut at the RBC Heritage and Wells Fargo, Hoffmann made the cut on the number here, the event where he made his pro debut in 2011. He isn’t entirely sure what’s next. He has the option to go play on the Korn Ferry Tour, but hopes to get some more PGA events in this year. Nevertheless, it was a special week for Hoffmann who chose this event for his last exemption because he likes the course and it’s close enough to his New Jersey roots for friends and family to cheer him on.
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I have family watching and have that energy around the ropes. It’s just fun,” he said Sunday. “There were so many positive things to take away from this week especially having my friends and family just screaming for one foot par putts to go in it was really nice.”
Uneventful End For Scheffler And McIlroy
The world’s top two players were the headliners this week, but it was a quiet weekend for Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. Scheffler had a solid week finishing tied for 13th, but he was never really in contention. He could build upon a good round of 65 on Saturday before finishing with an even par 70 on Sunday.
McIlroy admitted he was fatigued coming into the week playing for the fourth straight week, but didn’t look it firing a 62 on Thursday, but the 8 he made on 12 sunk his tournament and after a 72 on Saturday he finished with a 67 on Sunday in one of the earlier groups to go out.
Both Scheffler and McIlroy will take this week off and head to Scotland to start getting ready for The Open Championship. McIlroy is currently the favorite at +800 at FanDuel Sportsbook and Scheffler is co-second favorite with Jon Rahm at +1200.