Family Man Lucas Glover Is A Winner Again, Why Justin Thomas Doesn't Deserve Any Slack, Bryson DeChambeau's Ryder Cup Chances, And A Playoff Prediction
That's a wrap, the 2023 PGA Tour regular season is over and the FedEx Cup Playoffs get underway this week in Memphis. Lucas Glover was able to find the winner's circle for the first time since July 2021 on Sunday at the Wyndham Championship and gifted us with one of the more wholesome celebrations we've seen in quite a while.
While it was a banner day for Team Glover, Sunday wasn't as friendly to Justin Thomas, who will miss out on the playoffs for the first time in his career. This now begs the question: does he deserve a bit of slack for his inconsistent season?
Bryson DeChambeau earned his first LIV Golf win at The Greenbrier in the most-electrifying fashion one could ever imagine with a final round 58. He seems to be peaking while JT's season is over, so why not DeChambeau for the U.S. Ryder Cup squad?
Let's dive into it in a fresh edition of Par Talk.
Lucas Glover Delivers The Waterworks With Wyndham Championship Victory
Lucas Glover has had quite the career journey. After winning the U.S. Open in 2009 and then the Wells Fargo Championship in 2011, his game took quite a dive as he had to re-gain his Tour card through Web.com Finals not once, but twice between 2015 and 2018.
His comeback moment came when he won the 2021 John Deere Classic, but then the putting yips reared their ugly head and another rough patch ensued. This season he put the broomstick-style putter Adam Scott uses in the bag and has become a changed man, as evidenced by his two-shot win at the Wyndham on Sunday.
While the golf itself infused with his story was inspiring, the best moment of the day came when the tournament was already over. After making par on the last hole, the camera panned to Glover's two kids, with his daughter overcome with emotion.
We're talking crocodile tears coming out of the young lady's face watching her dad win. Then, there was the embrace, with his son screaming 'daddy, you won.'
How can you not be romantic about golf?
Glover went from being a U.S. Open champ on top of the sport for a moment to now being more well-known as a PGA Tour journeyman. That journey has meant weeks, not just days, away from his family, but with his latest win, he'll hopefully manage to take a few extra days off.
I imagine too many dads out there, myself included, were able to watch that clip without getting something in their eye.
No, You Shouldn't Feel Bad For Justin Thomas
Justin Thomas finished 71st in the FedEx Cup standings, one spot short of punching his ticket into the playoffs. While it's easy to get wrapped up in the 'he only missed it by one' or the 'well, he would have made it if they didn't shrink the field from Top 125 to Top 70' narratives, that doesn't mean JT deserves any slack.
Thomas had a bad season, plain and simple, and him getting the last spot into the postseason wouldn't have changed that.
We're talking about a guy who won the PGA Championship last year and picked up another nine Top 10 finishes a season ago. Him missing the cut in three of this year's four major championships and earning just two Top 10 finishes in 2023 is well below his own standard and certainly the standard he's earned among golf fans.
One of the many reasons JT has such a loyal following is his realness. He's just a normal dude that understands competition and certainly understands it doesn't always play out the way you want it to.
Thomas is going to be just fine. While he wasn't looking for an extended offseason, it could be exactly what he needed. A break from the game to reset could be good, and the potential that he could still re-find that confidence if given a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team has the potential for being one of the cooler stories of the year.
Bryson DeChambeau Has To Be On Zach Johnson's Radar
Speaking of the U.S. Ryder Cup team, Bryson DeChambeau wouldn't mind earning a spot on the trip to Rome and his performance this past weekend certainly caught the attention of U.S. captain Zach Johnson.
DeChambeau shot a bogey-free 61 on Saturday to rocket up the leaderboard and decided to follow that round up by shooting 58 with a bogey (!!!) on Sunday to win LIV Greenbrier by six shots.
The man made 13 birdies in 18 holes, including his last of the day to cap off the historic day by also showing off his vertical.
Say what you want about course setup this week or any other anti-LIV excuse you want to make, but going 61-58 on the weekend is beyond impressive no matter what tour it happens on.
As for DeChambeau's actual case to earn a captain's pick for the Ryder Cup, it's a light one, but it does exist.
On top of his win at Greenbrier, he finished T-4 at the PGA Championship and T-20 at the U.S. Open to go along with two other Top 7 finishes on LIV this season. Given the four majors were his only four opportunities to earn Ryder Cup points, he currently sits 48th in the standings.
What DeChambeau does have going for him is that he has another opportunity this upcoming week at LIV Bedminster to make even more noise.
While it may sound a bit ridiculous, I think the only way Johnson truly thinks about even entertaining a Ryder Cup spot for DeChambeau is if he wins again this week.
DeChambeau is 2-3-1 over the course of his two Ryder Cup appearances. Justin Thomas is 6-2-1 over that same stretch, for what it's worth.
Why It Feels Like Scottie Scheffler, Then Everyone Else, Heading Into The Playoffs
Before getting into what's to come in the FedEx Cup Playoffs in the next three weeks, we all need to agree and admit that the regular season finale finally delivered the goods.
Things just so happened to fall into place where you had the likes of Justin Thomas, Adam Scott, Billy Horschel, and Glover battling for the final spot which is certainly a strong collection of names. Now if the PGA Tour can just replicate that sort of finish year after year, we'd all be a little more invested at the start of the playoffs.
As for what to expect over the next three weeks, I think we may get sick of hearing Scottie Scheffler's name by the end of the Tour Championship.
Something simply has to give where Scheffler finds the winner's circle at least once over the next three weeks. He had a 19-start stretch where he finished no worse than 12th place, which included a win at both the Phoenix Open and The Players earlier this season.
He's now gone 11 weeks without a victory, which in reality is not a long stretch at all, but given the fact he's having one of the best ball-striking years in the game's history it feels like he should win once a month.
Jon Rahm will kick off the playoffs in the No. 1 spot over Scheffler, but if Scottie reels off a blowout victory this week or next before the modified Tour Championship, nobody act the least bit surprised.
Follow Mark Harris on Twitter @ItIsMarkHarris