Photo: Taya Gray/The Desert Sun
Davis vs. Goliath became the popular trope leading into the final round of The American Express. It didn’t quite play out the same for Davis as it did for David, but it was close! In light of this result, it was still the official coming out party for Davis Thompson, and as we look at the start of his PGA Tour career, it seems as if he is going to be a quality tour player for a long time. In the 2023 PGA season he has made seven starts and made six cuts, finishing T12 at Shriners and T9 at The Fortinet and now runner up finish at The AMEX. If we zoom out, he has 19 non major PGA Tour starts to his name and he has made the cut in 13 of them, which is an incredibly promising level of consistency to start a PGA Tour career. Davis comes with some winning pedigree to has background as well when you look at his time in college at UGA and on the KFT. He bagged one win on The KFT and 4 wins during his time at UGA. He was also a member of the U.S Walker cup team. And if not for an errant tee shot on the par five 5th that landed in the water, or a true rub of the green situation on 17 when his put hit the flagstick not to fall, he could have had his first career win on Tour. After his performance this week, there is little doubt in my mind that Davis Thompson is here to stay on The PGA Tour. His amazing performance this week was due in large part to his utter domination of the par 5s. Through the first three rounds of play he had recorded 5 eagles, 4 birdies, and 3 pars. That made up for 14 under of his 23 under score heading into the final round. He regressed in that area of the game in the final round playing the par 5s at even.
Rahm’s Dominance Continues
Rahm was vintage Rahm through the first three rounds. Aggressive and quality tee balls, world class iron play, and then it all came down to the putter. He was rolling it great, especially on his first nine of round three. We may have gotten a little ahead of ourselves when we flippantly tweeted as he was 8 under through 12 in round three alone that he might have his sights set on the PGA Tour 72 hole scoring record. With our jinx inadvertently put on him the putter proceeded to cool off and he played the last six holes in round three one over. However, Rahm was on a mission. With his impressive come from behind victory at Kapalua still fresh on everyone’s mind, Rahm wanted to cement the fact that he believes, and thinks everyone else should as well, that he is the number one player in the world. At the start of the fourth round, it looked as if he might just run away from the field and hide. He hit his approach on one to just outside of two feet and followed up that heroic shot by sticking his approach on two to 21 inches. Simple tap in birdies on back to back holes to start the day. He wouldn’t birdie another hole until the tenth and it was real tight coming down the back nine. One of the key turning points in what felt like a match play situation between Davis and Jon on the day came on the 14th green. Davis had a 10 footer for birdie that would have given him the outright lead and Rahm had a 7 footer for par. Davis barely missed his birdie effort while Rahm drained his 7 footer, keeping it tied up. On the 18th, which is an entertaining and challenging closing hole, Rahm found a fairway bunker with his tee shot. He is 150 yards out with OB left. He steps up to the ball and truly with a machine like, routine confidence, he steps up and drills his approach to 14 feet, putting the final nail in the coffin. Rahm is on an absolute heater right now. He got the win this week and there were times that it didn’t feel like he had his A game. But that is just what part of being a truly elite player is. When you don’t have 100% of your best stuff for four straight days and you still manage to win an event that includes some of the other best players in the world, you just cement your status even further as one of the elite players in the world. There is no doubt that is where Rahm finds himself right now.
J.T Poston is Finding His Footing
Coming out of this event we also want to highlight J.T Poston. He is playing the best and most consistent golf of his career right now. Since his runner up finish in the Travelers last year he has only missed three cuts, has a PGA Tour win, finished T15 at The Tour Championship, finished T6 this week. While he has flashed the higher ceiling weeks, the bigger deal for him is the increased consistency in making cuts. If you look back at his career finishes, this new level of consistency is a true uptick from where he used to be, especially from 2021 where he missed 14 cuts. He has been just about tour average off the tee in distance and accuracy in SG this year. However, he has been slightly above average in approach, around the greens, and putting. When that is your statistical profile and with the way he approaches his rounds, not trying to do too much and staying within himself, it is a recipe for increased success and we are thrilled to see it for J.T Poston.
