Welcome to the Dew Sweeper, your one-stop shop to catch up on the weekend action from the golf world. From the professional tours, trending news, social media headlines and upcoming events, here’s every golf-related thing you need to know for the morning of March 9.
‘Butchery, massacre …’
One dictionary definition of “carnage” included, “butchery, massacre, the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.” Or should have, at any rate. Bay Hill was more difficult than a Bryson DeChambeau physics tutorial on reading a sloping green.
“Challenging is an understatement,” DeChambeau said not of a tutorial, but of playing Bay Hill on a brutal weekend of golf with hard, fast fairways and greens, thick rough and wind.
The last man standing on a volatile leader board was an equally volatile Brit, Tyrrell Hatton of England, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a score of four-under-par 284, the second highest winning score in tournament history. Hatton does not hide his emotional reaction to poorly played shots, and on this day, he had his share, including a couple when he made a double bogey on the par-4 11th hole.
But he defied all reason by parring in to win by one over Marc Leishman, Hatton’s first PGA Tour victory.
Only four players finished under par—Leishman (three under), Sungjae Im (two under) and DeChambeau (one under). The last time fewer than four players finished under par in a non-major was the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral in 2014, when winner Patrick Reed was one of three to post an under-par score.
“I’m exhausted. … I think maybe just lay on the couch after this one. It’s exhausting, and I’m happy I’m done,” said Joel Dahmen, who was one of only 10 golfers in a field of 69 to break par on Sunday.
What’s up with Tiger?
Once again, the Tiger Woods news was no news. He would not be playing in the Players Championship, a tournament he has won twice, and his agent Mark Steinberg said in a text his back was “just not ready.”
This came after he decided not to play the Honda Classic near his home and the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a tournament he has won eight times.
Steinberg also said it was “nothing concerning,” though with the Masters scheduled to start in a month (April 9), that is open to conjecture.
Stay tuned.
On Deck
The 2020 PGA Tour season begins in earnest this week with the Players Championship, the first showcase event in a monthly series of them over the next six months. As usual, it has the strongest field in golf, even without Tiger.
Then there’s this, featured groups that are intriguing, again even without Tiger:
https://twitter.com/THEPLAYERSChamp/status/1236760830022225920
The best part for golf junkies is that PGA Tour Live will show “every player, every hole, every shot—live … More than 32,000 shots over 72 holes from a starting field of 144—live,” as the PGA Tour Live website notes.
A frustrating journey for a journeyman
David Drysdale of Scotland is now 44 and has played the European Tour full time since 2005, yet in 498 starts, he has never won.
He had a great chance in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters on Sunday, when a faltering Jorge Campillo of Spain played the last three holes in three over par, resulting in a playoff between the two players.
They matched birdies in each of the first two extra holes, then matched pars on the next two holes, before Campillo’s birdie on the fifth extra hole gave him a victory.
The win was the second in the last two years for Campillo. For Drysdale, it was an encouraging step in a discouraging run of mediocrity.
Lucy Li’s professional debut
At 17, Lucy Li can still be considered a child prodigy, but on Friday she joined the adult world of professional golf, making her debut on the Symetra Tour’s Florida’s Natural Charity Classic.
The reviews were mixed. Li shot a three-over-par 75 in the opening round, followed with a 73 to make the cut by three shots and stumbled on Sunday, playing the last four holes in five over par and shooting a 77. She tied for 43rd at nine-over-par 225.
Li, who formally introduced herself to the golf world by qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open when she was 11, went to LPGA qualifying last fall, but did not get past the second stage. However, she has Symetra Tour status in an attempt to play her way onto the LPGA.