There was a brief moment in the final round of the 2022 Hero World Challenge when Viktor Hovland was joined atop the leaderboard. When playing competitor Scottie Scheffler holed out for eagle on the par-5 6th, the event’s defending champion was forced to answer, and answer he did.

Converting an opportunity of his own from roughly 15 feet, Hovland carded his second birdie in his opening six holes to remain out in front by a single stroke. Tacking on another birdie on the following hole and rounding out his inner nine with a pair of pars, Hovland saw his lead balloon to as many as five.

While his closest pursuer would change throughout the second nine among Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Cameron Young, who were making runs ahead of the final pair, Hovland stood pat. A few nervy moments — namely on the 72nd hole — ultimately resulted in a back-nine 36, but was enough for the 25-year-old to finish the week at 16 under and successfully defend his Hero World Challenge crown from a year ago.

“It’s frickin nerve-wracking,” Hovland said on trying to close out a tournament. “I was leading by five after the turn and you’re just never that comfortable. I didn’t play all that great on the back nine but it was good enough.”

Joining only Tiger Woods in winning the Hero World Challenge in back-to-back years, it may now be time to remove Hovland from the best young player of this generation conversation and insert him into the best player in the world debate. Having previously reached as high as world No. 3, he is now seven times a winner worldwide — more than Scheffler, Will Zalatoris, Collin Morikawa and Sam Burns. While his triumphs lack the lore of some of his counterparts, the quantity is nevertheless impressive.

Twice a winner in The Bahamas, twice at Mayakoba, two more in Europe and once in Puerto Rico, it is a kid from Norway who has staked his claim as the king of the tropics. As strong a ball striker you’ll find, consistent improvements around the green combined with the implementation of aim point on the greens make the now world No. 9’s future prospects all the more intriguing.

“I guess we’ll find out,” Hovland said on what this win will do for his 2023 season. “The short career that I’ve had, I’ve tend to play very well later in the year and earlier in the year. The next goal is to try keep playing like this throughout the year. It’s fun to end the year with a win and kind of sit on the couch for a couple weeks with a smile on your face.”

While his demeanor on the golf course and ever-present wide smile may not match the ferociousness of his music selection, perhaps soon it will. An emphatic fist pump following his winning putt gave us a glimmer of this and showed the meaningfulness of finishing atop a 20-man field in The Bahamas. While not a PGA Tour event nor DP World Tour event, it was a tournament filled with the best players in the world and served as a strong reminder that Hovland is firmly among them. Grade: A+

Here are the grades for the rest of the leaderboard at the 2022 Hero World Challenge

2. Scottie Scheffler (-14): What a good ending to what was truly one of the great years in modern PGA Tour history. Though this doesn’t count toward his PGA Tour total of 13 top 10s in 2022, it’s still emblematic of the 12 months Scheffler has put together. Though he’s not technically the best player in the world at this moment, you could (and I probably would) argue that if you look at the last year of golf, nobody on the planet has been better. Grade: A

6. Collin Morikawa (-9): Morikawa didn’t really need a nice week, but a year after he kicked away a chance to take the No. 1 ranking in the world, it was good to see him thrive even if he came up a bit short of his first title of 2022. A confidence-boosting event after an up-and-down year will be useful to Morikawa, who goes into 2023 a bit on the undervalued side. Not much has changed with him, though. He hasn’t fallen off a cliff statistically, nor is he in a bad spot. If anything, public opinion went too far after he won two of his first eight majors and now it has swung too far the other way. This is a good opportunity to buy low on somebody I believe is one of the eight best players in the world. Grade: A-

T8. Jon Rahm (-5): It wasn’t the tournament I expected from Rahm given that he came into the week having been beaten by four players in his last four starts worldwide. Was it a bad week? I don’t know about that. Rahm still tied or beat 12 of the 20 best players in the world this week and goes into 2023 with probably the highest ceiling of anyone not named “McIlroy.” Grade: B-

15. Jordan Spieth (+1): Should we draw some broader conclusion as it relates to Spieth’s 15th place finish this week in the Bahamas? History says no, but also Spieth’s history says no. He finished last at this tournament this time a year ago and went on to have a solid 2022 that included a victory and six top 10s. A bad week for him at the Hero, but it doesn’t change my (always?) bullish outlook for him over the next few months. Grade: D

Tiger Woods (N/A): Big Cat unfortunately did not play in a week in which he was slated to, but it was still awesome to see him cruising around the course, jumping in the booth with Dan Hicks and Paul Azinger to offer commentary and staring down players trying as they tried to somehow hit good shots in front of the best to ever do it. If that’s all we get from Tiger going forward, I’m still going to be a big fan of that dynamic (and perhaps even more so than if he was playing). Grade: A

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After 70 starts and a trip back to the Korn Ferry Tour, Adam Svensson is officially a winner on the PGA Tour. Emerging from a crowded leaderboard at the 2022 RSM Classic, the Canadian staked his claim on the final event of the calendar year with a flawless final round of 6-under 64 to get the better of Sahith Theegala, Brian Harman and Callum Tarren by two strokes.

“It’s not even real right now. I’m just so happy. I’ve just put so much work in and to win on the PGA Tour means everything to me,” Svensson said while attempting to hold back tears. “It’s been an up-and-down journey. I’ve had lows, I’ve had highs, but I just kept believing in myself and here I am.”

Svensson was one of many players to hold a share of the lead Sunday at Sea Island as a total of 16 players entered the final day within three strokes of the lead. Making just one birdie in his opening seven holes, it wasn’t until the middle of his round when the 28-year-old began to heat up in the chilly Georgia weather.

Adding three birdies in a four-hole stretch from holes Nos. 8-11, Svensson reached 17 under and matched the clubhouse lead set by Tarren. Unable to take advantage of the gettable par-5 15th, Svensson quickly made amends with back-to-back birdies on 16 and 17 to separate himself from Theegala and Harman who were surging in the group ahead.

“I just tried to make no bogeys today. I didn’t even look at the scoreboard until 16. I just said if I make no bogeys, I am putting well, so that’s kind of what I did,” said Svensson. “I was actually feeling pretty good over them [the birdie putts on Nos. 16 and 17]. The one on 17 I didn’t think was going to go in and somehow the golf gods let in.”

Finishing the tournament at 19 under, Svensson utilized a red hot weekend performance to claim his first title on the PGA Tour. Carding 13 birdies and an eagle against just one bogey over his final 36 holes, the 28-year-old will now reap the benefits that come with a trip to the winner’s circle.

Ascending to sixth in the FedEx Cup standings, Svensson will also receive invitations into the Tournament of Champions, Players Championship, Masters and PGA Championship. For a player yet to compete in a major championship, simply put, this triumph is career changing.

“Two years ago I made a decision to give it 100%,” Svensson said. “There was no going back, I was quitting because I was going the wrong way. I’d say it was a good choice.” Grade: A+

Here is a breakdown of the rest of the leaderboard at the 2022 RSM Classic

T2. Sahith Theegala (-17): It was all setting up for Theegala’s breakthrough as he was a member of the penultimate group and thus avoided the final round pressure of bringing up the rear. Getting off to a solid start, the 24-year-old will look back to a double bogey on the par-5 seventh as his eventual downfall. Fighting back with four birdies on his back nine, Theegala shared the lead at one point before ultimately falling two strokes short of Svensson. Grade: A

T5. Cole Hammer (-15): The former standout at Texas had a rough start to his professional career. Narrowly missing out on conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour, Hammer was playing with house money this week as he gained entry into the tournament through a sponsor’s exemption. He took full advantage of the opportunity and collected the first of what should be many top-10 finishes. For his efforts, Hammer will have a place to play to begin next year as he is now firmly in the field for the Sony Open. 

“Pretty darn content with what happened out there,” Hammer said. “Yesterday I had a tough start, but fought back. Missed a few putts coming down the stretch, but gave myself a chance. Was only four back going into today, the leaderboard was jam packed and knew a good round would go a long way in some tough conditions. I’m just so proud of the way that I fought and battled out there. It gives me a lot of confidence moving forward and leaves a great taste in my mouth going to the offseason.” Grade: A

T5. Joel Dahmen (-15): The 2022-23 season marks the final campaign Dahmen will be fully exempt on the PGA Tour for his victory at the 2021 Corales Championship. With added motivation and pressure to play well, Dahmen did just that throughout the entirety of the swing season. With his T5 result at the RSM Classic, he ended his fall with three straight top-10 finishes and inside the top 20 of the FedEx Cup standings.

“I was already in a pretty good position, I was way ahead of the game, I guess, but to gather more points today was huge,” Dahmen said. “You never want to take weeks off because you always feel like you’re falling behind, but with the good finish today it will be easier to take time off.” Grade: A

T5. Seamus Power (-15): It is not Rory McIlroy, but rather Power who will enter 2023 atop the FedEx Cup standings. Winning the Bermuda Championship and adding close calls at Mayakoba and now Sea Island, the Irishman put himself squarely on the radar of captain Luke Donald for the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome while rising to the top of the PGA Tour season-long race. Impressive as it may be, moving forward it will be interesting to see if Power can begin to contend in elevated events where the competition is much steeper. Grade: A-

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“Winning breeds confidence,” said Tony Finau throughout the week of the 2022 Houston Open. Claiming his fifth PGA Tour title — and third in his last seven tournaments — with a dominating performance at Memorial Park Golf Course, Finau’s confidence is just now beginning to shine through. As quiet as it may have been, or may be, it is most certainly present. If Houston is any indication of what Finau is truly capable of, the rest of the PGA Tour should take notice.

Finishing the tournament at 16 under, Finau appeared to play a different golf course en route to besting the field by four strokes. Beginning his week with a benign opening nine, the 33-year-old found a different gear during his inward half on Thursday, playing it in 5 under and ascending to the top of the leaderboard.

Finau didn’t look back from there as rounds of 62, 68 and 69 followed his first round of 5-under 65. Occupying the pole position for the entirety of the week, Finau slowly sucked the air out of the golf tournament thanks to a consistent long game and a new-found confidence with the putter in hand.

“I’m putting it better than I’ve ever putted it, more consistently and I know that’s the part of my game I’ve always needed to be better at, so that on the technical side, for sure,” said Finau at the onset of the weekend. “But the belief’s there because of some of the success I’ve had over the last 16 months of my career, and I put myself in another nice situation this week.”

Not only has Finau’s belief transformed over the last 16 months, but so has the perception of him as a player. Long known as someone unable to seal the deal on Sundays, the American experienced his fair share of agonizing moments during a winless drought that lasted more than four years.

“I’ve always had belief, but the confidence when you win is contagious,” said Finau. “I’ve always been a very hopeful person. I work extremely hard, and now I’m starting to bear the fruits of that labor, of all that work.”

This drought has since turned into a deluge of victories as he now boasts four wins over the span of his last 32 tournaments. With so much success in such little time, and this subtle confidence of his now matching the obvious talent, what could be next for Finau?

While the PGA Tour, and golf as a whole, has turned into a young man’s game with new stars like Tom Kim popping up on every corner, Finau is a stark contrast. He is now 33, five times a winner, a member of the last four United States teams between the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup, and has consistently factored in at least one major championship per season since 2018.

Are 10 career victories and a major championship in the cards? Sixteen months ago, any response other than “no” would be complete lunacy, but here we are. A confident, persistent Finau has the potential to attain such accolades. In an era that features so much parity, Houston could be another building block towards just that. Grade: A+

Here are the grades for the rest of the leaderboard at the 2022 Houston Open.

T9. Scottie Scheffler (-6): The No. 2 player in the world holed out to end his tournament and his year on the PGA Tour. That’s fitting considering only one player in the world got the ball in the cup with more efficiency than Scheffler throughout 2022. His T9 ends a nice little three-tournament fall after posting two top 10s and a T45 over the last month. This actually looks pretty similar to how last fall went, and we all know about the spring that followed. Scheffler finished second this week in strokes gained tee to green, which is notable because it’s a reminder that if the putter bounces back starting in January, we could be in for another run from somebody who I think is still pretty underrated in the golf world. Grade: B

T22. Sahith Theegala (-4): Theegala will be in the field next week at the RSM Classic, and he goes into the last event of the fall with a little bit of momentum. He finished T22 in Houston after a T6 at the Fortinet and a T5 at the Zozo Championship earlier in the fall. Most importantly for him, he’s hitting the ball as well as he is all fall. His approach numbers in Houston were fabulous, and his last season shows that his best iron play comes in batches. It’s not difficult to envision Theegala notching his first victory on the PGA Tour at the last event of the year and making a bit of a leap heading into the brief offseason. Grade: B+

T22. Aaron Wise (-4): I’ll take any opening I can to write about Wise. This is his third consecutive top 25 this fall, though it feels a bit like a wasted opportunity. He was lights out on and around the greens this week, but could not get his normally reliable irons going and finished 63 in approach and 54th off the tee. That’s not a massive concern regarding Wise because his recent history doesn’t suggest he’s in a tee-to-green slump; rather, it’s one that he’ll likely look back on and wish that he had his usual stuff because he likely could have made at least a bit of a run at Finau on the weekend. Grade: B

T39. Harris English (E): After missing February through May with an injury, English did not play well to close out the 2021-22 PGA Tour season. His fall has been a bit better. He’s made five of six cuts and had his second-best driving week of the last six events in Houston. After thriving on the Ryder Cup team last fall, English got a bit lost in the shuffle with everything that was going on in the golf world and because he wasn’t playing well (or at all) for most of the year. It would be great to see him get back in the mix at the RSM and beyond as he works his way back toward being a top 30 player in the world. Grade: B-

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The 2022-23 PGA Tour season may be trending towards becoming the year of redemption after Russell Henley successfully captured his fourth career victory at the 2022 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. Following in the footsteps of Keegan Bradley and Mackenzie Hughes, Henley’s triumph at El Camaleon Golf Course broke a five-year drought from the winner’s circle and marked his first trophy raise since the 2017 Houston Open.

Finishing the week at 23 under, Henley not only shattered his winless streak but also plenty of scoring records along the way. Both the 36-hole and 54-hole records fell at Mayakoba earlier in the week, and ultimately gave way for Henley to possess the tournament scoring record as well — matching Viktor Hovland’s 23-under total in 2021.

For Henley, this week in Mexico, where his putting finally matched his exquisite iron play and accurate driving, was more than overdue. Ranking second, sixth and third in strokes gained approach the last three seasons on the PGA Tour, Henley has experienced his fair share of gut-wrenching and heartbreaking moments in the final stages of tournaments.

Earlier this year, Henley went into the weekend at the 2022 Sony Open in full control of his game. Playing the final 36 holes in 8 under, the Georgia alum was tracked down by Hideki Matsuyama through a herculean effort that featured consecutive rounds of 7-under 63. 

Falling in a playoff at Waialae Country Club just months earlier, Henley missed out on extra holes entirely at the 2021 Wyndham Championship. Commanding a three-stroke lead entering the final round, the 33-year-old carded four back-nine bogeys including one on his 72nd hole which resulted from a three putt from 25 feet away.

“I just tried to learn from my past and my screw ups,” said Henley. “That’s kind of what I took from the last two events that I played from the start of this season and just tried to learn what I am doing wrong and how can I get better with it. All those events that I didn’t close out, they hurt. You don’t know if you’ll ever get to win another one. It’s so hard out here. To come down 18 with a four-shot lead, it was just really cool. It’s still just … I don’t even know what to say.”

These moments of pain only make this moment of joy at Mayakoba that much deeper and that much more meaningful as Henley came into the event having failed to convert his last five 54-hole leads into victories.

The consistency in which Henley has been able to put himself in this position should be applauded, yet consistency is hardly rewarded in the game of golf without the accompaniment of hardware, especially on the PGA Tour. With such a strong tee-to-green, presence — similar to Bradley almost — it does make the mind wander and imagine what this win will do for Henley’s confidence and if this consistency of his can translate into even more titles.

From 2013-18, Henley was one of the best putters on the PGA Tour before completely falling off with the putter in hand. While Henley has experienced his troubles the last handful of seasons with the flat stick, his victory at the 2022 World Wide Technology Championship illustrates exactly what he is capable of when that club cooperates. 

A non-major champion — although a 54-hole leader at the 2021 U.S. Open — and a non-participant in Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups for the United States, conventional wisdom and the sheer depth of the PGA Tour suggests that will not change in 2023. But don’t be surprised if come major championship season or come the time for Zach Johnson to make his captain’s selections for Rome if there isn’t a moment when Henley’s name isn’t at least brought up in conversation. Grade: A+

Here are the grades for the rest of the leaderboard at the 2022 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. 

T3. Scottie Scheffler (-18): After a quiet fall, Scheffler lit up the course at Mayakoba on Sunday with a 9-under 62 and the round of the week at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. It was what we grew accustomed to from him early in the year, and though he didn’t win, his finale made it easy to envision him bridging 2022 to 2023. Grade: A-

“I feel good, game feels good,” he said. “I hit it nicely this week outside of the few, you know, bad breaks. And a few things go my way, a few more putts go in, I could have been right in the tournament, but obviously Russell’s playing great golf right now and hopefully he just continues to cruise.”

T15. Collin Morikawa (-15): Morikawa had his best finish of the fall this week at Mayakoba, and it coincided with his work with a new putting coach. More interestingly, he popped back at analyst Trevor Immelman after Immelman suggested that Morikawa has been struggling a bit because of how difficult it is to live up to the ridiculously high standard he set for himself early in his career by winning so often (including two of his first eight majors). Morikawa’s response was … kind of odd.

“Wow, that’s hard to hear from him,” Morikawa told Golf Channel. “I couldn’t care less what he says there because I don’t think that’s my bar. I think I’ve got so much more to improve. I’ve been near last on putting. I don’t think I’ve even finished close to being average on putting. If I can just get my putting to be average, I think there’s so much more to improve. I don’t know where that came from, but that kind of stings there. I don’t like to hear that.

“I don’t know if it that was a compliment, I’ll be honest. If he did, maybe it came off wrong from what I heard. For me, I’ve never seen a ceiling. I just want to keep improving. Obviously we took a couple steps back this year. It’s just trying to get better every day and trying to improve on little things. I expect myself to play well. I set really high goals for myself. It just sucks when they don’t come through.”

This has to be a misunderstanding here because Immelman in no way was trying to offend Morikawa. He was simply saying that high bars early in one’s career are difficult to return to, which is true. Morikawa’s response was not commensurate with what Immelman’s posture toward him. Grade: B+

T10. VIktor Hovland (-16): It wasn’t the three-peat Hovland envisioned, but Hovland has now shot scores of 67-69-63-65-67-65-62-67-65-69-66-68 over the last three years at Mayakoba and lost to nine of 393 competitors in that timespan. That is, of course, preposterous. Grade: B-

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A long winning drought was broken on Sunday at the Zozo Championship in Japan, but perhaps not the one everyone was expecting. Rickie Fowler came into the final round leading and looking for his first victory since the 2019 Phoenix Open, but he was clipped in the end by a single stroke by Keegan Bradley, who had experienced an even longer time between wins with his last victory coming at the 2018 BMW Championship.

Bradley shot a 2-under 68, which was two better than Fowler and good enough to finish at 15 under, one ahead of Rickie, the man with home he was playing. It was a bit of a ride for both players as they sought to break streaks they never wished to start. Fowler shot his worst round of the week — a 70 — and never could get rolling at Narashino Country Club after shining for the first two days. Bradley nursed a lead coming down the back stretch but kicked it away with bogeys at Nos. 14 and 16, the latter on account of a shank coming out of a bunker.

He buried a birdie on No. 17 to retake the lead, however, and maintained it with a par at the final hole. The result?

“I’ve been crying since I finished,” said Bradley after winning for the fifth time on the PGA Tour. “I can’t remember the last time I cried. I talked to my wife on the phone a second ago, FaceTime. I can’t keep it together, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

There’s nothing wrong with Bradley, age 36, of course. It’s just that as you get older and actually understand how difficult it is to win on the toughest tour in the world, the victories start to mean more. Bradley won a lot early on, but he has just two wins since 2012. This victory moves him into the top 25 in the Official World Golf Rankings and ostensibly into some conversations of which he wants to be a part.

“It means a lot,” said Bradley. “There’s a lot of hard work that goes into it. Even if you play perfectly, doesn’t mean you’re going to win. But for me, I feel like I should be contending for tournaments, I want to be contending to play on Ryder Cup, Presidents Cups teams, majors. You know, this is going to go a long way. I haven’t really … of my five, I haven’t really won that many leading the entire day like I did today, and I really learned a lot and I think I can take a lot of that going forward the rest of the year.”

I don’t know if Bradley is going to be in the mix for next year’s U.S. Ryder Cup team in Rome. What I do know is that he’s an overlooked and probably underrated player on the PGA Tour. His ball-striking is world class, and if he can figure out how to return to being an above-average putter like he was a the beginning of his career, he will legitimately be in the conversation for the Ryder Cup and probably go fewer than eight years between major top 10s like he did from 2014 to 2022.

Regardless, this is one to celebrate. Bradley said he’s going out in Japan tonight and planning on catching the New England Patriots game at 2 a.m. local time. Who can blame him after breaking a four-year drought? The older you get the more precious those victories become. Grade: A+

Here are the rest of our grades for the 2022 Zozo Championship.

T2. Rickie Fowler (-14): I’m not sure the average fan knows just how in the desert Fowler has been over the last three years. Here’s a quick and non-exhaustive sampling:

• Three top 10s in the last 30 months
• Ranked behind Marcus Helligkilde and Kaito Onishi in the OWGR
• Missed three majors in 2022
• 0 SG player (basically PGA Tour average) for two years

All that to say it was awesome to see him back in the mix in Japen after such a difficult run for such a long time. There’s a catch, though. We saw this last fall when he nearly won the CJ Cup. Nothing materialized from that this year (he didn’t have a single top 20 in 2022 anywhere until September), so hopefully this resurgence will play out differently. Grade: A

“It’s just finally in a position where we’re building momentum and building more confidence,” said Fowler. “I feel like in the last few years there would be times where kind of take a step forward and just was never really able to build more momentum than for one week at a time. In a great spot and finally in a position where things are starting to kind of snowball and head in the right direction all together.”

T9. Xander Schauffele (-10): It wasn’t enough, but Schauffele nearly shot the round of the day on Sunday with a 5-under 65. That 65 was a reminder of this completely absurd stat.

Schauffele low-key rode a heater into the end of the 2021-22 season, and he’s picking up where he left off. In his last 11 tournaments last season, he finished in the top 20 a whopping 10 times, finished in the top five six times and won three of them (including a team championship with Patrick Cantlay). He’s on another level. Grade: A-

T45. Collin Morikawa (-2) and T53. Cameron Young (-1): Two Presidents Cup players went to Japan and couldn’t crack the top 40, which is disappointing. Both of these guys are on a bit of “wait, are we sure they’re going to be on next year’s Ryder Cup team?” watch. While both are terrific players — and Morikawa an accomplished winner — both can also be streaky, which can certainly be a good thing but often can also lead to some pretty sub-par results like these. Grade: D

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Tom Kim may officially be him after outdueling Patrick Cantlay in the final round Sunday of the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open for his second victory on the PGA Tour. Triumphant for the second time in two months, the 20-year-old superstar who burst onto the scene at the 2022 Presidents Cup may only be getting started.

Beginning the day at 19 under and in a share of the lead, Kim quickly fell behind when Cantlay opened with a birdie of his own. In lockstep with veteran caddie Joe Skovron, Kim was unphased. The South Korean connected on his first birdie of the day on the par-4 fourth and added two more on Nos. 8-9 to turn in 3-under 32 and in possession of a two-stroke lead.

This comfortable margin would be short-lived as Cantlay found his stroke early on the inward nine. With consecutive birdies on 11 and 12, the pair went into the final third of TPC Summerlin all squared. 

Back-and-forth Kim and Cantlay continued to go before arriving at the 17th tied at 24 under. Trading pars on the difficult par 3, Cantlay’s tee shot on the 72nd hole ultimately sealed his fate. Finding the native area, the world No. 4 attempted to play from the brush and left his golf ball at his feet before taking an unplayable and hitting his fourth shot into the water. Leading to a triple bogey, all Kim needed was a routine par for his second win in his last four starts.

Known to be automatic in clutch situations, it was not Cantlay, but rather Kim who held the steady hand. Getting around TPC Summerlin in a bogey-free fashion on the week, he became the first player on the PGA Tour to do so since Joaquin Niemann at the 2021 Rocket Mortgage Classic and the first to do so in victory since J.T. Poston at the 2019 Wyndham Championship.

Consistently applying pressure on his playing competitor, this victory showcases the ways in which Kim may win in the future. Lapping the field on Sunday at the Wyndham Championship for his first win on the PGA Tour, this trip to the winner’s circle was considerably different given not only the competition, but the manner in which it was achieved.

Kim never flustered when Cantlay struck back and if he was, his poker face was strong enough to warrant a seat at a big-money table on the strip. Leaning on his short-game at opportune times, the combination of steadiness, touch and a dash of fieriness makes the 20-year-old not only fun to watch, but fun to root for.

With the victory Kim became the first player since Tiger Woods in 1996 to win twice on the PGA TOUR before turning 21.

While comparisons to Tiger Woods are far-fetched, it did almost feel Tiger-esque. Slowly draining the life out of the rest of the field, Kim never blinked in the face of adversity. When punched, he punched back. When faced with sticky situations, he played conservatively aggressive. And when given a chance to step on the neck, he took one giant step in more ways than one. Grade: A+

Here are the rest of our grades for the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open.

T2. Patrick Cantlay (-21): We may never see a 72nd hole from Cantlay like that ever again as the 2017 Shriners Children’s Open winner carded a triple bogey on the final hole to hand Kim the trophy. While some will suggest it was another quality outing for Cantlay — his third runner-up at TPC Summerlin in addition to his win — he needs to start putting these tournaments away. On the heels of a season where he lost in two playoffs and was a runner-up once more, the Californian has admitted to being tired of falling short. Yes, he has eight wins in his PGA Tour career, but given his talent, consistency and mental fortitude, it sure does feel light. Grade: A

7. Sungjae Im (-19): It was a nice defense for Im, who was nearly perfect except for a 70 in Round 2 that mostly took him out of the tournament. Across the last two Shriners Children’s Opens, Im has lost to just six total golfers. The question now is how close to No. 1 he can get. In the last five years, Im’s Data Golf ranking has looked like this: 230-80-30-25-15. Right now he’s No. 11. Can he get all the way into the top five or, gulp, even close to No. 1 over the next few years? Grade: A-

T8. Jason Day (-18): The former major winner closed with 63 to jump into the top 10, and it made me wonder what in the world Day has been up to over the last few years. So I dove into his statistics and his finishes. Day hasn’t won since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship, but he has finished in the top 20 in over 20% of his events in each of the last four year. The biggest problems for Day have been with his iron play, where he went to a top 25 type player to barely tour average. He’s also gone from being the best putter in the world to being just a solid player. Hopefully the Shriners, which is his only individual top 10 since January, will be a nice kick start to him for 2023. Grade: A

T12. Davis Thompson (-16): Remember the name. Or should I say, remember the name? Thompson led after the first round of the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot when he was still an amateur at Georgia. After a nice year in 2022 on the Korn Ferry Tour—Thompson had four top 10s, including a win—he’s off to a good PGA Tour start this fall with three made cuts, including a T9 at the Fortinet Championship and this week’s T12. The even better news? He flushed it all week and was the worst putter of anybody inside the top 19 on this leaderboard. He’s somebody to keep an eye on over the next month. Grade: A-

T28. Patrick Welch (-13): You might be asking, “Wait, who in the world is Patrick Welch?” which is a totally reasonable question. The answer: He’s an amateur who plays collegiately for Oklahoma, is ranked No. 44 in the world, plays cross-handed and beat over 100 pros this week doing so. Here’s a look at his wild swing, which must be working considering he finished top 25 in the field in both strokes gained on approach and from tee to green. Grade: A+

The First Cut podcast crew is back to bring you their recap for the Shriners Children’s Open and the LIV Bangkok event. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.  

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Mackenzie Hughes rose above his own consistency to win the 2022 Sanderson Farms Championship in a two-hole playoff with a walk-off birdie against Sepp Straka. Hughes gutted out a 69 in regulation that concluded with a nasty up and down at the 72nd hole to get into the playoff, which he punctuated with an early fist pump that proved to be accurate. The victory, Hughes’ second on the Tour, ends a drought of 155 professional starts between wins. 

When I say Hughes rose above his own consistency, here is what I mean: The Canadian is your prototypically average PGA Tour player. He makes a lot of cuts, notches a lot of top 30s and top 40s, but he rarely wins because he rarely has those standard deviation weeks needed to win on the PGA Tour. Interestingly, he had one of those last year when he gained 12 strokes (a borderline winning number at a lot of events) at the RSM Classic but failed to capitalize.

That wasn’t the case this time around. Hughes took advantage of some terrific tee-to-green play (he finished first in the field this week in strokes gained from tee to green) and closed out a victory that had been so elusive. 

“I kept telling myself the whole week that I was going to do it,” Hughes said. “That was the only thing I saw in my mind. Those par saves down the stretch, just trying to will the ball in the hole. I’d say that describes my game a bit is that grit and perseverance. The second one felt harder than the first one, that’s for sure.”

The par saves were pretty incredible. The one on the 72nd hole was difficult, but he had an up and down from a greenside bunker on the first hole of the playoff that was just as delectable.

Hughes almost never finishes outside the top 75 in the FedEx Cup, but just as infrequently finishes in the top 25. He’s just a solid player who rarely tastes victory. There are a lot of those guys on the PGA Tour, but Hughes seems more bent on winning than most. It’s not as taxing to simply exist as an average PGA Tour player, but Hughes should be applauded for doing what so few seem to want to do: putting himself in contention to win and hitting the shots (and putts) to actually pull it off.

The man he defeated, Straka, has now lost two playoffs in his last four PGA Tour starts. He was terrific all week — he shot all four rounds in the 60s — and could be poised for a breakout year. The oily-swinging Austrian looks exactly like somebody who is going to have a career year that culminates in a 3-0-1 record at next year’s Ryder Cup in Rome right before Luke Donald pours his beloved Diet Coke from the Ryder Cup straight into the back of Straka’s throat.

We’re getting ahead of ourselves, though. This was event No. 2 of 47 for the PGA Tour season, and while it lacked the chaotic ending of the first one — when Danny Willett kicked away a winning opportunity to Max Homa — it still provided some good context for the rest of the season. Straka, as a breakout European, and Hughes as somebody who, as some would say given that football season is fully underway, might have that dog in him. Grade (for both): A+

Here are the rest of our grades for the 2022 Sanderson Farms Championship.

Mark Hubbard (T5): It was not a Sunday to remember for Hubbard, who was the 54-hole leader. He shot 2-over par in the final round — the only player in the top 12 to shoot over par at all — and couldn’t cash in the healthy lead he built up over the first three days. Hubbard is an especially easy player to root for, and it’s always fun to have him in contention. Unfortunately, he just didn’t have his best stuff when having it would have resulted in his first-ever PGA Tour victory. Grade: A-

Davis Riley (T19): After the first day, I thought we might get a Sam Burns redux, with Riley kick-starting his season with an early win and some whispers about whether he could make next year’s United States Ryder Cup team. Instead, he faded over the last three days with rounds of 71-70-71. Riley struggled immensely off the tee. not normally a weakness of his — and the result was that he let a group of players who were looking up at him after 18 holes overtake him over the final 54. Grade: B

Sam Burns (T30): Burns was the highest-ranked player in the field this week, so his T30 has to be a disappointment — especially coming off a strong Presidents Cup week and at a golf course where he won just a year ago. Burns was awesome off the tee, but he struggled elsewhere and couldn’t find his iron game (he finished second in approach shots a year ago and 49th this week). This says nothing about his long-term ability or what I expect from him this season, but it’s likely not the start to the season he envisioned. Grade: B-

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