Weekly PGA Recap: A Rai of Sunshine

This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.

You didn't have to be a golf expert to see that the way Aaron Rai was playing over the past few months, his first PGA Tour victory was close.

You also didn't have to be a golf expert to see that on Sunday at the Wyndham Championship, Max Greyserman was nearing his first Tour win, carrying a four-stroke lead into the final five holes.

No golf expert -- or anybody else, for that matter -- could've envisioned what would happen next.

Greyserman, playing the best golf in his rookie season on Tour as evidenced by a runner-up in his previous start, imploded in a spectacular fashion, leading to a six-stroke swing down the stretch and Rai emerging with his maiden Tour win. 

The hurricane that had delayed the start of the Wyndham by a day was long gone, but the Tour's final tournament of the regular season ended figuratively thunder and lightning.

When Greyserman dunked a lob wedge from 91 yards for an eagle-2 on No. 13, his lead doubled to four strokes. But on his very next shot, his tee ball on 14 went way right and took a ginormous bad-luck bounce off the cart path, soaring way out of bounds. He wound up with a quadruple-bogey 8, then for good measure doubled the par-3 16th two holes later (with a birdie in between).

Meanwhile, Rai birdied 18 to put the finishing touches on a 6-under 64 that got him to 18-under, two strokes better than Greyserman.

After Thursday was a complete washout thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Debby moving through the Carolinas, the Tour and tournament officials did yeoman's work in repairing the course completing the tournament on Sunday. (Well, it wasn't technically completed on Sunday night. More on that in the Matt Kuchar section.)

Rai, a 29-year-old Englishman known for wearing two gloves, laser-like accuracy and, um, his deliberate play, had finished in the top-5 three times since May, including a runner-up at the Rocket Mortgage. Even before his win, he was ranked fourth on Tour in the all-encompassing Strokes Gained: Total stat. The trio ahead of him? The law firm of Scheffler, Schauffele and McIlroy.

" … For the last four months, since the end of April, it's been a really good stretch of golf," Rai said in an understatement. "Very proud and happy with the consistency more than anything else. It's amazing to be here and to win this week, but I'm almost just as proud of how consistent the last couple of months have been."

At the heart of Rai's improved play was putting. Last year he ranked 152nd on Tour in SG: Putting. This season, he's ranked 54th.

With the win, Rai moved from 53rd in the FedEx Cup point standings to No. 25, which is inside the threshold to reach the Tour Championship in three weeks. There are two other playoff events before then, so Rai surely could slip into the 30s, but there traditionally has been very little movement in the Wyndham and in the playoffs.

In fact, no player outside the top-70 in the point standings – the playoff cutoff point – moved inside at the Wyndham. Technically, No. 71 Victor Perez moved to 70th, but that's because the Tour removed the late Grayson Murray from the standings. Murray was ranked 57th.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Max Greyserman
The 29-year-old Greyserman was coming off a runner-up at the 3M Open. He also had top-25s at the U.S. and Scottish Opens. He was coming on as a player. At least until No. 14 on Sunday. It's not all bad news for Greyserman. He moved from 64th in points – yes, he already was in playoff position – to 47th, meaning there's a good chance he gets into the BMW Championship in two weeks. That would mean entry into every signature event next season. Despite the disappointment, his head is in the right place.

"I'm just going to walk away that I played really, really good golf, executed really well, had probably a four, four- or five-shot lead, I don't know, four-shot lead. I had a four-shot lead with five holes to go? If you're doing that in a PGA Tour event, you're doing something exceptionally well so that's what I'm going to walk away with."

J.J. Spaun
Spaun has been playing his best golf of the season and tied for third. That was his sixth straight made cut, three of which have been top-10s. It wasn't enough to get him into the playoffs, but he did move from 129th in points to 97th, meaning he should have his card locked up for next season.

Ryo Hisatsune
The Tour rookie via the DP World Tour tied for third, his first top-10 of the season. He moved from 107th in points to 83rd, meaning he'll be back on the PGA Tour next season.

Luke Clanton
The Florida State junior has reached rarified air. He shot an 8-under 62 in the third round en route to a solo fifth. This was his third top-10 of the season, the first amateur to do that since Jack Nicklaus in 1961. But Clanton's work is not done. He incredibly will be at Hazeltine in Minnesota starting Monday for the U.S. Amateur. 

Austin Eckroat
It was one year ago at the Wyndham that Eckroat was the lone golfer bounced from playoff position, replaced by Lucas Glover, who won the tournament. This time, Eckroat was safe after entering the week at No. 49. At the Wyndham, he finished sixth, moving him up to 41st, meaning he will be in the BMW Championship as well.

Billy Horschel
Horschel tied for seventh to move from 27th in points to 23rd, giving him a good chance to reach the Tour Championship. It already has been a fantastic bounce-back season for Horschel. East Lake would be the icing on the cake.

Ben Griffin
Griffin tied for seventh, moving from 61st to 56th in points. He chipped away almost half of the 11 spots he needs to move up. The next six will be far harder.

Eric Cole
Cole tied for seventh, but he did not move up from 54th position. He's still 54th heading into the FedEx St. Jude.

Matt Kuchar
Kuchar needed to win to reach the playoffs for the 18th straight year. He was the only player to qualify in each of the first 17 years. While he was leading for a part of the tournament, he fell back on a marathon Sunday and sat T12 after he hit his tee ball on 18. At that point, Kuchar said he was done. Since the tournament was continuing after sundown, it was his right to say he didn't want to finish. So, he came out at 8 on Monday morning, hit three shots for par and was done in six minutes. He finished tied for 12th.  The decision confused CBS analyst Trevor Immelman and just about everyone else and, naturally, Kuchar drew the wrath of Twitter.

"I was trying to set an example for Max," Kuchar told Golf Channel's Todd Lewis. Kuchar was playing in the same group as Greyserman. "We were so far past when we should've stopped playing. We saw what Max did on hole 16; they should've blown the hole there. I feel bad, the poor kid should've won this tournament. By me not playing, it may show Max he has an important shot to hit." 

That final par left Kuchar at 103rd in the standings, not good enough for the playoffs but likely good enough to keep his card for next season.

MISSED CUTS

Jordan Spieth, Shane Lowry, Justin Rose, Robert MacIntyre, Nick Dunlap, Akshay Bhatia, Min Woo Lee, Cam Davis, Lucas Glover, Nick Taylor, J.T. Poston, Nicolai Hojgaard and Will Zalatoris. That's a lot of names. And the weather disruption may have a had a lot to do with it. The big name is Spieth. He began the week 63rd in points and is still there, meaning he will need a top-10 or even a top-5 at the FedEx St. Jude to continue his playoff run.