Champ’s putting provided much of the impetus for the win as he ranked first for the week in strokes gained/putting with his Ping PLD Anser 4 blade putter.
The win, which counts as an official tour victory, is Leishman’s sixth, his first since the 2020 Farmers Insurance Open. Smith now has three, two at the Zurich and one at the 2020 Sony Open.
According to the tour’s driving distance metric, both Finau and Champ are lagging behind Bryson DeChambeau, but what most players will tell you is that both Finau and Champ are not hitting it as long as they actually could.
Collin Morikawa slammed the door shut in a manner that would suggest he’d been on the PGA Tour for a decade-plus, already with multiple Majors to his name.
As if the leaderboard through 36 holes wasn’t good enough, Dustin Johnson decided he wanted to take control of the tournament, setting up what could be DJ vs Brooks Koepka duel.
Battling a ligament injury in his right hand, Herbert played hesitantly as he missed the cut at the Australian Open a fortnight ago, but was troubled on only a couple of occasions in his round of 67 today.
The US PGA Tour’s newly crowned long drive king and the 2018 European Tour’s biggest hitter have been drawn alongside two-time defending champion Cameron Smith in a power-packed group for the opening two rounds of the Australian PGA Championship at RACV Royal Pines Resort.
Spectators will come to Royal Pines to see and hear how differently Champ hits a golf ball but he hopes that they leave with a far broader understanding of what he believes in.
Champ, the longest hitter in professional golf, will compete in his first tournament down under at the #AusPGA at RACV Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast on 19-22 December.