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From The PGA Tour: Season in full gear after Genesis Open
The 2018-2019 PGA Season is well under way with 15 events completed
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The 2018-2019 PGA Season is well under way with 15 events completed.
The winner of the 15th and most recent PGA Tour event, the Genesis Open, is American JB Holmes. It was an incredible feat for Holmes, as the pundits certainly did not pick him to win going into the golf event as the 100th ranked player in the world.
Tiger Woods has only had two starts this year, finishing 20th in his first event, the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. He finished tied for 15th at the Genesis Open in Los Angeles.
Rickie Fowler found his winning ways after a two-year hiatus from the winner’s circle. He notched a victory at the Waste Management Phoenix Open a few weeks ago, an event he came close to winning in recent years.
The 30-year-old American birdied the last four holes to win his fifth PGA Tour title. A consistent player within golf’s elites over these past two years, Fowler was yearning for this victory, which he deserved.
He now has reached a rank of eighth in the world after his win in Phoenix with Justin Rose of England is currently ranked number one.
In 15 events played this season, there have been three first-time winners. The first of these is 31-year-old American Kevin Tway, who is the son of former PGA Tour player Bob Tway.
Kevin notched a victory at the very first event of the 2018-2019 season, the Safeway Classic in California.
Twenty-three-year-old Cameron Champ, who won the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi in October 2018, is garnering a lot of attention. He is a long hitter with a solid game whose father played professional baseball. The young American Champ also contended for the RSM Classic and finished in sixth place.
Last but not least, a maiden victory was also registered by 31-year-old American Adam Long at the Desert Classic in La Quinta, California, where he outlasted golf legend Phil Mickelson by a single stroke to snatch his first victory on tour.
The 48-year-old Mickelson was undaunted though as he went on to notch a victory three weeks later at the ATT Pebble Beach Pro Am, marking his 44th victory on tour.
There are already two players with multiple wins.
One of them is American Matt Kuchar, who has been on tour since 2002. The first win this season for the 40-year-old came at the Mayakoba Classic in Mexico in November 2018. He then followed that up with a win at the Sony Open in Hawaii last month.
Kuchar was asked about the significance of his second win, to which he responded: “Yeah, I’m tickled, thrilled to have won two events this early in the year. To have won two out of three starts on the PGA Tour is mind-boggling to me. Yeah, to set up the year, absolutely sets up the year to be in great position for the FedExCup. There is a lot of year left and a lot of great things that are out there to be done.”
The other stellar performer so far this year is the young American Xander Schauffele, who stunned everyone by winning the Tour Championship in 2017. The 25-year-old sent a clear signal to the golf world that he is the real deal by winning the prestigious World Golf Championship in Shanghai, China, in October 2018.
He followed this up with his second victory of the season at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, a marquee event only open to winners on the PGA Tour from the prior year.
Schauffele made a bogey on the first hole of the final round at the Sentry and then he posted 12 under for the remaining 17 holes. When asked about this he said: “Some great rounds have been started by a bogey so I figured why not do it.”
Schauffele was asked if he ever thought he would win four events in just 18 months. He responded candidly: “This is the stuff you sort of dream about. This is why everyone works hard and does the right stuff. B
ut to actually pull it off it feels awesome, but it’s hard to believe just sitting here and talking about it.”
A healthy Tiger Woods will add much needed luster to the 2018-2019 season.
Returning from injury, he played a limited schedule last year contending in the PGA Championship.
His comeback culminated in a sensational victory at the season ending Tour Championship in Atlanta. Woods realizes that at age 43, his window of opportunity to win Majors is shrinking.
With the year’s first Major and the Masters just under two months away, a healthy Woods is certain to give everything he has got to attempt to win his fifth green jacket.
The golf world awaits in full anticipation of this upcoming spectacle.
