Mickelson surprises with another missed cut on PGA Tour in 2019
Each week, Golfweek takes a look at four players on each of the major tours in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings.
PGA Tour
Max Homa, the 417th-ranked player in the world, shot a final-round 4-under-par 67 Sunday to win the Wells Fargo Championship, outlasting a stellar group at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina, for his first PGA Tour victory. With rounds of 69-63-70-67, Homa finished at 15 under and three shots clear of the field. Joel Dahmen closed with a 70 to finish in solo second. Justin Rose shot 68 to finish third at 11 under. Sergio Garcia (68), Rickie Fowler (68), Paul Casey (69) and Jascon Dufner (73) tied for fourth at 9 under.
TWO UP
7. Justin Rose: After hitting a bit of a post-Torrey lull, Rose bounced back from a woeful week at Augusta with a strong T-3 showing in the Wells Fargo Championship. He shot under par in all four rounds for the first time since winning the Farmers Insurance Open and should be well on the radar at this time next week ahead of the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black.
66. Joel Dahmen: Didn’t have the weekend he wanted with back-to-back 70s but still scored a solo second in Charlotte and endeared himself to the masses with highly entertaining media sessions. It turns out he recently shaved his facial hair into a mustache while drunk after winning “a quarter million dollars at the Players, because I was the richest man alive after that day.” He’s an even richer one now and quietly building a strong season, finishing T-30 or better in six of his last seven starts.
TWO DOWN
17. Gary Woodland: Withdrew from the Wells Fargo after the third round due to a stomach virus and lately just hasn’t been the same player he was earlier in the year. No top-10 finishes since the Phoenix Open and not in the best form
ahead of the PGA Championship, where last August he seriously contended in a major for the first time.
47. Phil Mickelson: Pretty shocking to see Phil miss the cut in Charlotte, North Carolina, after a second-round
76. It was his first missed cut in 15 Wells Fargo starts, a span that includes 10 top-10 finishes. Mickelson started 2019 with so much promise after the win at Pebble Beach, but he’s missed the cut in three of his last four starts. We don’t expect him to contend every week at 48, but the U.S. Open and career Grand Slam bid at Pebble Beach is just five weeks away. — Dan Kilbridge
LPGA
Sei Young Kim has won tournaments in spectacular, sometimes recordbreaking fashion. Sunday in the LPGA Mediheal Championship at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City, California, she clinched her eighth career LPGA title in a three-way, one-hole playoff with a birdie. She opened her final round with a double-bogey/bogey to shoot 75 yet came out on top, improving her playoff record to 4-0. Bronte Law’s game caught fire in the middle of her round,
playing a stretch of nine holes in 7 under to shoot 65, to make the playoff along with Jeongeun Lee, a South Korean rookie who closed with a 67.
TWO UP
21. Lexi Thompson: Gosh she needed this. On the heels of a missed cut and social media brouhaha, Thompson gave herself a chance in the Mediheal Championship. She finished two shots out of a playoff, something she can build on.
Kristen Gillman: Now done with her Alabama degree, the two-time U.S. Women’s Amateur champ has a chance to concentrate fully on golf for a change. She’s in the Solheim Cup conversation.
TWO DOWN
3. Ariya Jutanugarn: Closed with a 78 at Mediheal to finish T-71. Has yet to contend this season on Sunday, a disappointment any way you look at it.
11. Lydia Ko: Lake Merced is usually money for Ko. She’s an honorary member there, after all. Instead Ko’s list of humdrum finishes stretches to three consecutive weeks as she searches for a new instructor.