The theme in the past seven days of professional golf has been one of redemption, with a trio of victories from veterans who each ended lengthy win droughts. Lee Westwood and Matt Kuchar kicked off the proceedings last Sunday, each ending an identical dry spell (to the day) with their wins at the Nedbank Golf Challenge and Mayakoba Golf Classic. Danny Willett followed suit overnight in Dubai, pulling out an emotional win at the DP World Tour Championship.
The stage was set for Charles Howell III to throw himself in that group this morning at the RSM Classic, where he entered the final round with a one-stroke lead, looking for his first victory on the US PGA Tour in more than a decade. A bogey, double-bogey start at Sea Island Reosrt’s Seaside course quickly seemed to squash the latest comeback tale.
But Howell rallied, playing his last 16 holes in six-under, including making birdies on three of his last four holes, to get into a playoff with Patrick Rodgers, who had earlier finished off an eight-under 62 to follow up a third-round 61. The duo matched pars on the first sudden-death hole (Seaside’s 18th), then both hit the green in regulation on the second playoff hole. After Rodgers’ missed his birdie try, Howell buried his birdie putt, sealing his third career PGA Tour victory and his first since 2007 at Riviera. The 39-year-old was understandably emotional afterwards.
“I just haven’t been able to pull it off for so long,” Howell said as tears welled up in his eyes. “But to hang in there, to turn it around the way the guys were playing around me, I needed some good fortune on my side. Fortunately I had it.”
This was the sixth sudden-death playoff of Howell’s career, the most recent coming last season at the Quicken Loans National, which he lost to Kyle Stanley. The win earns Howell a spot at the Masters – in his hometown of Augusta, Georgia – where he hasn’t teed it up since 2012.
“My kids are now to the age where they are in to it, they are into sports and golf and all of that. So they get what’s going on and they get that I have failed a lot of times, so, fortunately it was different today.”
For Rodgers, a 26-year-old former college standout, his first victory will have to wait a little longer, but he showed he’s getting closer. An incredible final 36 holes of 17-under par broke the PGA Tour record for the lowest final 36 holes, and might have even been enough of a consolation.
“It’s been such a strong building process over the past year-and-a-half,” said Rodgers, who now his three career runner-up finishes on tour. “I can’t thank my coach Jeff Smith enough, we’ve put in some serious hours. It’s been a long way back to swinging the way that I’ comfortable swinging it.
“The way that I played this weekend was a testament to how hard I’ve been working. I put myself in position, gutted to not get it done, but congrats to Charles because he played awesome and definitely deserves it.”
The Aussie contingent failed to make an impression in what is the PGA Tour’s final full-field event of 2018 before it resumes in January. Only four Australians teed it up at Sea Island Resort, Stuart Appleby finishing in a tie for 46th, Aaron Baddeley tied for 59th while Curtis Luck and Matt Jones both missed the cut.
