Phoenix Open Recap: Simpson Wins Playoff

A LOT happened in the world of golf this past weekend, so much so that it's tough to know where to start. But here goes.

Closest to home, Tony Finau was AGAIN denied a first big career win, and this time in agonizing fashion. Webb Simpson caught Finau on the 72nd hole and then won the Phoenix Open on the first playoff hole. Earlier on Sunday, Graeme McDowell won the Saudi International for his first European Tour title since 2014, opening a plethora of opportunities for the 40-year-old Northern Irishman. Maybe even more importantly from the Middle East, Phil Mickelson tied for third for his best showing in a year, and Brooks Koepka tied for 17th, meaning he will lose his No. 1 ranking to Rory McIlroy not this week but next.

Wow, that's a lot to pack into one paragraph. And yeah, the most important part may have been buried at the end. Now, the details.

Some top players don't win majors, but they at least win tournaments. Finau has been stuck on one measly opposite-field win for four years now. It really looked like Sunday was his time, but instead it turned into his sixth career runner-up.

Finau led Simpson by two strokes with three to play, and he went to the 18th with a one-stroke lead. Simpson needed to sink a 17-footer for birdie and then hope that Finau missed his birdie try from nine feet. Both happened. Then Simpson birdied 18 again in the playoff, and he ended his own victory drought of almost two years. He is now ranked seventh in the world, two positions off his career best. Simpson moved ahead of Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Justin Rose, among others, and is now right on the heels of Tiger Woods. That is some serious climbing. In an era of big hitters, Simpson continues to thrive with a world-class short game. Remember, he used to be a terrible putter -- how's that for a segue to Finau?

Finau moved up to No. 12, but that is of no solace after yet another bitter disappointment. The story had always been the same: maybe the best player on Tour tee to green, horrible putter. But this time, Finau putted great. He was fifth in the field in strokes gained: putting, to go along with fourth in SG tee to green, and it's a little hard to fathom how that combination doesn't win. Simpson was only 12th in SG putting, but he delivered at the bigger moments.

Most years, Finau has finished outside the top-100 on Tour in putting. Currently, he's ranked 62nd. Unless something wacky is going on inside his head, and Sunday at TPC Scottsdale doesn't help with one's mental well-being, Finau's time is coming very soon.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Brooks Koepka
Koepka fell down the Saudi leaderboard on Sunday into a tie for 17th, and it will cost him his No. 1 ranking. Not this week, but next week, when Rory McIlroy will overtake him. Koepka, McIlroy and Jon Rahm are so close that we can and should expect to see some musical chairs in the near term. Koepka has played twice since bowing out of the Presidents Cup with his balky knee. He tied for 34th in Abu Dhabi three weeks ago and, combined with this result, at least appears to be healthy. It will be interesting to see how the brash Koepka responds to losing his No. 1 ranking.

Phil Mickelson
Maybe hitting bombs halfway around the world is different from doing it in the United States. Mickelson turned in his best week since the Masters last April with a tie for third at the controversial European Tour event. He finally has stemmed the bleeding in his world-ranking free-fall, and he will move up to 72nd when it sure seemed as if he were headed toward triple digits. Mickelson now returns this week to Pebble Beach, site of his most recent win a year ago. That had been his last top-10 before Saudi Arabia. He'll have to do a lot more this week to qualify for the WGC-Mexico.

Graeme McDowell
McDowell won his first European Tour event in more than five years by capturing the second edition of the Saudi International. It comes less than a year after the now-40-year-old won a PGA Tour event in the Dominican (opposite field). This is a huge win for McDowell for a number of reasons. 1) Any win is huge. 2) It moves him back into the top-50 in the world for the first time since 2015, so he will qualify for the WGC-Mexico later this month (on a short course where he can make some noise). 3) He moves to No. 7 in the World Points list for the European Tour Ryder Cup team in this, a Ryder Cup year.

Dustin Johnson
Johnson finished second in Saudi Arabia and appears to have fully recovered from offseason knee surgery. He now heads to Pebble Beach, where he has won twice before and will be the big betting favorite. At No. 5 in the world, of course there's a chance Johnson can regain the No. 1 ranking, but that does seem like a big hurdle right now.

Sergio Garcia
Last year, Garcia drew worldwide golf scorn for damaging greens and beating up a sand trap in Saudi Arabia. This year, on his best behavior, he tied for sixth. Garcia completed a very impressive Middle East Swing with two top-10s and another top-25 (after another top-10 at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in November). Garcia has won at least once worldwide the past nine years, and suddenly it would not be a surprise to see him make it an even 10. He is back inside the top-40 in the world and is now secure into the WGC-Mexico field and, probably, every big tournament this year.

Patrick Reed
Reed missed the cut in Saudi Arabia, and it's most notable because it was his second trunk-slam in three weeks. This guy very rarely misses a cut. Before the MC at the Sony a few weeks back, Reed had missed only two cuts in 18 months.

Akshay Bhatia
Unable to make a cut on the PGA Tour (0-for-5), the 17-year-old took a sponsor invite in Saudi Arabia, and promptly missed the cut there. Bhatia already missed out in Korn Ferry Q school. Where were will turn to next? Will he ever make a cut?

PHOENIX OPEN

Bubba Watson
Watson followed up a tie for sixth at Torrey Pines with a tie for third at TPC Scottsdale. Most significantly, it moved him to No. 44 in the world, and thus into the WGC-Mexico later this month. Watson always has had as much talent as anyone on Tour; you just always wondered what was going on in his head. In his post-round interview on CBS, he sounded as if his head is in a good, very un-Bubba-like place. We'll see Watson next in two weeks at Riviera, where he is a two-time champion.

Daniel Berger
Berger tied for ninth and, excluding an opposite-field event, it's just his second top-10 in the past three seasons. Berger's career got derailed by a wrist injury. He used to be a top-20 player. Now he's ranked 144th. It will be interesting to see what happens next for him.

Jordan Spieth
What can we say? The longer we get from his glory years, the less likely they will ever return. Spieth actually played pretty well tee to green at TPC Scottsdale, but he couldn't putt a lick. If his putting goes, and this season he's ranked 211th on Tour – that's TWO HUNDRED AND ELEVENTH -- things are gonna get sad and ugly for Spieth very soon. He's now down to 55th in the world heading to Pebble Beach. Since we keep pointing this out week after week, we want to stress that we are not rooting against him, just reporting a major golf story.

Viktor Hovland
It's a very small sample size going back to the fall, but the young sensation has missed three of his last four worldwide cuts, including Phoenix. In his last six starts, Hovland has three missed cuts and has only one top-25. We very often see young guys burst on the golf scene, but when the newness wears off and they have to settle into a week-to-week grind, sometimes with long travel, they take a step back and have to adjust to golf becoming their job. We're not ready to say that that's happening here, just that it happens.

Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler was the best player on the Korn Ferry Tour last season, and his success continued into the fall season and January, with four top-10s and no missed cuts in eight starts. But since the unofficial start of the golf season, Torrey Pines, when the fields get tougher, Scheffler has missed two cuts in two starts. We see it happen all the time, guys who break through in the fall recede once the big boys come back with regularity. It's too soon to make that determination on Scheffler, but it's something to monitor.

Cameron Smith
After his breakthrough win at the Sony, Smith has finished T64 at the Farmers and then missed a cut at Phoenix. It's probably the latest example of a young golfer dealing with a life-altering moment and having to adjust after it, and it's not unexpected or concerning that it takes a little while to return to Earth.

Emiliano Grillo
Grillo's situation is more troubling. The Argentine was ranked 50th in the world last year after Phoenix; now, he's outside the top-120. Grillo missed his fourth cut already this season at Phoenix. In three of his four full seasons on Tour, he missed only three cuts. His high is five, which he seems a good bet to surpass, likely soon the way things are going. Grillo's last top-20 not in an opposite-field event was the Memorial eight months ago. He has been putting terribly, but that's been the case most of his career. He's never come close to recreating his rookie season of 2015-16, when he won his lone title and made the Tour Championship.

Rory Sabbatini
Sabbatini had a remarkable turnaround season in 2018-19 and started nicely again this season. From the Honda last February to the Amex last month, he missed only two cuts in 27 starts. But with the Farmers and now Phoenix, he's missed two in a row. Any time a 43-year-old athlete shows any hint of leaking oil, take notice.

Lucas Bjerregaard
The Dane has been trying to make a go of it on the PGA Tour this season, without much success so far. Bjerregaard is now close to dropping out of the top-100 OWGR after missing another cut at Phoenix. In eight starts this season, he's missed five cuts with only one top-50. Ouch.

Kevin Chappell
After missing a good chunk of last season with a back injury, Chappell is again playing regularly. But he's missed 4-of-7 cuts this season, including Phoenix, with no finish better than 40th. There's no sign of injury, but regardless, the results are not there.

Charl Schwartzel
Schwartzel shut it down last spring with a wrist injury. He returned last fall with an impressive tie for third in the Alfred Dunhill Championship, albeit in a very weak field. He's since missed cuts in South Africa, Abu Dhabi and now Phoenix. We'll see him next week at Pebble Beach.