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2021 RSM Classic scores, grades: Talor Gooch wins by three at Sea Island for first PGA Tour victory of career

Published

2 years ago

November 21, 2021

Talor Gooch capped both a PGA Tour year as well as a run of unbelievable play for him with a victory Sunday at the RSM Classic over Mackenzie Hughes and Sebastian Munoz.

Gooch shot a 64 on Sunday to finish at 22 under for the week and take home the last trophy of 2021 by three over Hughes and four over Munoz. It bookended the 64 he shot on Thursday and concluded a four-day event in which Gooch ranked in the top 10 in tee-to-green play as well as strokes gained around the green and with the putter.

This is not unusual for him, either. He had four top-15 finishes in his first five events of a season that started back in September and was playing the best golf of his life coming into the week at Sea Island. He was among the top-six players in the world in strokes gained since the beginning of the 2021-22 season (min. 10 rounds played).

The most impressive part about the first win of his career is that, even though he led at the 54-hole mark, he had to take it deep on Sunday in the final to stave off Hughes and Munoz — who combined to shoot 13 under — as well as Tyler McCumber, who shot 60, and a top 10 on the final leaderboard that shot a combined 42 under in Round 4.

“Man, it was a great week,” Gooch said. “I played well all week obviously, and today being a crucial day, I had a couple opportunities where things could have taken a turn for the worse and I was able to make some clutch putts.”

The fall portion of the PGA Tour season was built for players like Gooch. Good talents in their 20s (Gooch turned 30 last Sunday) who have yet to break through with a victory. That had been the case at times this fall, but also superstar talents Rory McIlroy and Hideki Matsuyama had also won tournaments.

Gooch’s victory was emblematic of so many other breakout victory stories we’ve seen over the years and perhaps foreshadowing of what’s to come the rest of this season for him as well as potentially for the rest of his career. At the very least, it’s an exclamation point for somebody who can legitimately lay claim to being the PGA Tour’s best player this fall with the last official event in the books and the Tournament of Champions just around the corner. Grade: A+

Here are the rest of our grades for the RSM Classic.

Mackenzie Hughes (2nd): Hughes and the next person on our grades, Webb Simpson, are the only players in this field who were better from tee to green than Gooch. Hughes is a past champion at this event and took it as deep as possible Sunday with that 62, but Gooch just kept putting distance between himself and Hughes down the stretch as he made birdie at four of the first six on the back nine.

“I knew it was going to require a low one today and if you told me I would have shot 62 I thought I might be pretty close, but Talor obviously played great this week and deserved to win,” Hughes said. “Looking at my own game, I feel like I’ve been getting better with each week and just trying to get better each week and feel like my game is trending in the right direction and hopefully sooner rather than later we’ll get one of those wins.” Grade: A

Webb Simpson (T8): Simpson led the field in strokes gained from tee to green, which is incredibly encouraging going into 2022. He also led the field in strokes gained on approach shots and, if he had not been one of the worst putters in the field on Saturday and Sunday, would have truly contended for this trophy. This is just Simpson’s second top 10 since the RBC Heritage in April, and the statistical structure of it has to give him a ton of confidence going into a new calendar year. Grade: A

Scottie Scheffler (T57): After two straight top-five finishes, Scheffler came into this week as the favorite and responded with a 63 on Thursday. He faded pretty hard, though, with a 73-75 middle of his event before shooting 68 on Sunday. He played some solid golf at times, especially on Thursday with the 63, but he’ll go into 2022 the way he came into this tournament, as possibly the best player on the planet without a win on the PGA Tour. Grade: B-

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Nets HC Gives An Update On Ben Simmons

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2 mins ago

September 26, 2023

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(Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)

The Brooklyn Nets traded away Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving last season.

It left the organization with Ben Simmons as one of the cornerstone players alongside Mikal Bridges.

Simmons played in just 42 games during the 2022-23 season due to a knee injury.

The 27-year-old was scrutinized for missing so many games last season, but according to Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn, Simmons is 100% healthy heading into training camp, via Ian Begley on Twitter.

Nets’ Jacque Vaughn says Ben Simmons is 100 percent healthy and going 5 on 5 entering training camp.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) September 26, 2023

Simmons’ health has always been a huge concern for him since being drafted into the NBA.

Seven years down the line, it remains an issue for him in his career.

So much so that many believe the Nets made a huge mistake by trading James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers for the former top pick.

But ahead of the 2023-24 season, Simmons has looked sharp in training clips.

Moreover, with the Nets head coach giving a positive update about Simmons’ health, he may finally get back to being an NBA All-Star level player in the league.

Simmons averaged just 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 6.1 assists per game last season, a career-low for him in every aspect.

Apart from dealing with constant injuries, Simmons was reportedly going through some mental health struggles due to his strained relationship with the 76ers.

Now, with both issues resolved, there’s nothing that should stop him from becoming one of the best point guards in the league.

However, the true test to Simmons’ skills will be when the new season starts.

Can he lead the Nets to a playoff berth?

The post Nets HC Gives An Update On Ben Simmons appeared first on The Cold Wire.

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Joe Burrow Sends Confident Message After First Win Of The Season

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8 mins ago

September 26, 2023

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(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

The Cincinnati Bengals had their backs against the wall on Monday night.

They couldn’t afford to fall to 0-3, especially after losing back-to-back divisional games to start the season.

That’s why star QB Joe Burrow wanted to give it a go and take the field, regardless of his condition and despite having re-aggravated his calf injury in Week 2’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

Following the win, Burrow admitted that there was a risk of further injury, but the risk of falling to 0-3 was even bigger, so he wanted to be out there and do whatever his team needed him to do to get the job done, per Ian Rapoport.

#Bengals QB Joe Burrow: “There is risk to go out there and potentially re-injure it, but there's also a risk to go out there and be 0-3…”
No setbacks for Burrow. More from last night: https://t.co/OPnNo7nomp
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 26, 2023

“There is risk to go out there and potentially re-injure it, but there’s also a risk to go out there and be 0-3,” Burrow said, via NFL.com. “So I wanted to be out there for my guys, and I was confident I was going to be able to do what I needed to do to get the win.”

That says a lot about the kind of leader and competitor he is, and fortunately, there were no setbacks.

Nonetheless, he’s still far from 100%, and people are concerned that it could be just a matter of time before he suffers a way more serious injury if he doesn’t take some time off to heal and restore his body.

The Bengals caught a break, with the Ravens losing to the Indianapolis Colts.

They’re now 1-2, while the rest of their division is 2-1.

They now have a date with the Tennessee Titans on deck, and they should end up on top of that matchup, even with Burrow at less than 100%.

The Bengals also started last season 0-2 before winning 12 of their last 14 matchups, so they obviously have plenty of confidence in their ability to do it again this season.

For that, however, they’ll need their quarterback to be healthy.

The post Joe Burrow Sends Confident Message After First Win Of The Season appeared first on The Cold Wire.

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Micah Parsons Has Perfect Reaction To Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift

Published

12 mins ago

September 26, 2023

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(Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images)

Week 3 was a ho-hum victory for the Kansas City Chiefs as they blew out the Chicago Bears to move to 2-1 during the 2023 NFL season.

The Chiefs were in firm control of the game from the start as they bottled up Justin Fields and the offense did its thing with Patrick Mahomes finding soft spots in the Bears defense.

One player who had a big day was Travis Kelce, as the tight end looked much more like himself since injuring his knee prior to Week 1.

Kelce was a thorn in Chicago’s side all afternoon as he routinely got open and gave Mahomes an easy target to throw to.

However, the All-Pro tight end was also highly motivated as he had Taylor Swift up in a box suite watching the game with his family.

The highly-publicized couple made waves on social media and players like Micah Parsons couldn’t help but poke fun at the situation via his Twitter account.

My brothers!! One women can change your life!!! Start shooting!! https://t.co/U5BT794BN7
— Micah Parsons (@MicahhParsons11) September 25, 2023
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Parsons’ reaction is hilarious as it seems that Kelce inherited a lot of Swift’s fans over the weekend.

Kelce has previously talked about how he went to go see Swift in concert, but was unable to meet her in person.

However, he apparently was undeterred and the two eventually linked up at some point given her presence at the Chiefs game.

While the Kelce-Swift rumors have all but been confirmed, Kansas City has more important things to worry about over the course of the season.

For example, they’ll be busy preparing for another game this weekend against the New York Jets.

The post Micah Parsons Has Perfect Reaction To Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift appeared first on The Cold Wire.

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