Rory McIlroy on Saturday at TPC Sawgrass. The look says all of it.
Getty Photographs
Three days of storms at this Gamers Championship did greater than affect scorecards.
It affected checkbooks.
Outdoors of Cameron Smith’s win, the largest story on the PGA Tour’s showcase occasion was rain, wind and the golf that was performed in it. At TPC Sawgrass, Thursday’s play was delayed twice, Friday noticed only some hours of motion, and Saturday began late. The setting meant that scores — and ultimately prize cash — had been decided by tee time.
“We acquired actually fortunate with the draw,” Anirban Lahiri stated Sunday.
“I acquired the fortunate aspect of the draw,” Paul Casey stated.
The Gamers Championship by no means discovered its rhythm … till it did
“Tremendous lucky to be within the wave that I used to be in,” Will Zalatoris stated.
How so? When the gamers within the morning wave of tee occasions ultimately put golf balls within the air on Thursday afternoon, they skilled among the greatest scoring circumstances Sawgrass has ever seen — little wind and tender greens, to not point out the flexibility to make use of raise, clear and place on golf balls to account for the mud buildup. And, for probably the most half, these professionals ducked Friday’s rain and Saturday’s 40 mph-plus winds.
However that was simply half the sector. The opposite 72 golfers didn’t keep away from the unhealthy stuff.
“I hope it blows like this within the morning they usually freeze their butts off since they’ve been sitting at dwelling all day watching us within the carnage,” Kevin Kisner stated. He performed within the Friday rain and the Saturday winds and was referring to the opposite half of the draw, who performed a few of their second spherical on Saturday however completed up on Sunday, when it was colder however much less windy.
Which brings us to the scoreboard.
Seventy-one gamers made the lower — 44 got here from the unique Thursday morning wave, and 27 survived from the unique Thursday afternoon group. Hanging, sure, however that is maybe extra so: Just one participant from the Thursday afternooners — Doug Ghim — was within the high 15 when the third spherical started.
Which brings us to the payouts.
In response to PGA Tour Shot Hyperlink payout knowledge, gamers on the “fortunate” aspect remodeled $7 million greater than their counterparts: The unique Thursday morning-ers gained $13,765,676, helped by Smith’s profitable payout of $3.6 million; the unique Thursday afternoon-ers earned $6,483,921, with their excessive man being Kisner, who completed fourth and gained $980,000.
After all, “luck of the draw” will not be new to golf; it occurs continuously on the Open Championship, for instance. And there’s the straightforward indisputable fact that gamers among the many unique Thursday morning crew had been probably simply higher — we’ll merely by no means understand how they might have fared within the wind.
Nonetheless, with the PGA Tour’s largest-ever purse up for grabs, and among the wildest climate you’ll ever see, when you performed was maybe simply as important as how.
Rory McIlroy was within the unique Thursday afternoon draw and completed tied for thirty third. “You get your good ones, and also you get your unhealthy ones,” he stated. “It’s important to imagine that all of them even out over the course of a yr or a profession, I suppose. I’ve actually been on the nice aspect of a draw many occasions, and I’ve been on the unhealthy aspect so much, too. However on the finish of the day, I really feel prefer it all simply type of evens out.
“It sucks that the unhealthy finish of the draw is that this event, however it’s what it’s.”
An entire cash breakdown:
