Englishman makes splash in first major
England’s Jordan L. Smith made the most of his first major, finishing at 1 under and giving him a chance at a top-10 finish in the PGA Championship.
Smith, 24, who grew up idolizing Justin Rose, shot a finalround 68 to cap his first professional tournament on U.S. soil. He tied for ninth.
He said his performance far exceeded any expectations he might have had coming into the event.
Smith earned his way into the last major of the year by winning the Porsche European Open last month. He earned an automatic berth in next year’s PGA Championship by finishing in the top 15.
Smith finished three shots ahead of another well-known golfer with the same first name — Jordan Spieth.
SPIETH SHOOTS 70
Tiger Woods will remain the youngest player to win golf ’s career Grand Slam.
Spieth closed out his run at Woods’ record with a 70 in the final round, leaving him 2 over for the tournament and tied for 28th place. Spieth had conceded as early as Friday when he fell 11 shots behind then-leader Kevin Kisner that his chance of winning the PGA Championship was over.
He played well for the most part Sunday.
He had one blemish — a double bogey on the seventh hole — in an otherwise bogey-free round that included three birdies.
When Spieth competes in the PGA Championship next year in St. Louis, he will be older than Woods was when he earned the career Grand Slam at 24 years, 6 months old.
RAHM’S BACKWARD CHIP
Jon Rahm struck one of the more memorable shots of the week.
Rahm hit a backward chip on the par-4 18th hole and somehow landed it on the green.
He was in a tough spot Sunday when his second shot stopped in the primary rough near a stream, across the red line marking the water hazard.
Right-handed Rahm stood with his back to the green and swung the club backward with only his right arm.
The ball bounced four times before rolling 45 feet from the pin, drawing a loud cheer from the gallery.
He missed that putt, settled for bogey and finished at 7 over for the tournament.
MONEY MATTERS
Golf ’s money-making structure is unapologetically draconian. But there’s beauty in that brutality, the kind you rarely see in modern professional sports.
Whereas payouts in other sports depend on a variety of factors, ranging from how good your agent is to how desperate teams are at a given moment, golf is a pure meritocracy. It doesn’t matter where you are from or how old you are; if you make the cut, you get paid.
Which brings us to our question: How much does the lastplaced golfer take home?
David Muttitt finished in last place and walked home with just $3,000 — barely enough to cover his expenses for the week.
Anirban Lahiri, the lowest finisher among those making the cut, won about $19,000, while winner Justin Thomas takes home a cool $1.89 million.
NAME GAME
CBS Sports’ golf analyst Ian Baker-Finch shared an interesting fact during Saturday’s thirdround broadcast: The names of the three players who won the first three majors of 2017 (Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth) all had six letters in their first and last names.
And the trend continued Sunday with Justin Thomas’ victory.