Honda Classic Wrap-up: Justin Thomas, Tiger Woods, and Sam Burns made waves
The Honda Classic gave us something of a glimpse at golf’s past, present and future. Justin Thomas thrilled the galleries in his playoff win, but Tiger Woods and Sam Burns left lasting impressions as well.
It was a surprise a minute at the Honda Classic, with so many golfers in contention and Tiger Woods in the mix. Looking at three who competed, Woods, winner Justin Thomas and newcomer Sam Burns, who played with Woods, is like viewing different parallel universes.
Woods was trying to nudge his game into major championship shape and raise his world ranking enough to get into a WGC event, and just maybe get win No. 80.
Justin Thomas was fighting off five guys and the ghosts of Tiger Woods past and Tiger Woods present, all of whom were trying to snag a victory.
Newcomer Sam Burns was living a dream.
Amazingly enough, everybody got a little something out of it.
Woods was most concerned with trying to manage his game better than he had at the Genesis Open where he missed the cut. He kept talking about how he was focused on April. (Translation: The Masters.)
"“I feel very happy the way I played the entire week,” he said to media after the finale. “I really controlled my ball flight. This wind, you can get exposed pretty easily, and I felt like I had control.”"
He added that an important aspect was that his misses were in the right spots. That wasn’t all.
“I’ve been away from tournament golf for so long, that I’m starting to feel the rounds,” he explained. “I’m starting to get into it quicker, feel the pace, feel the shots and get a better sense of it. The more I play tournament golf, the better I’ll get at it.”
Uh-oh, says the rest of the PGA Tour.
He knew his chances on Sunday were not great, but he still believed he had a shot because he knew how hard the course was playing in the wind. Also he’s Tiger Woods, and in the past, making up five or six shots on a field would not have been a problem.
"“I thought if I could post 6, anything could happen,” Woods said. “It was a little bit of a logjam at 6 and 7 but I thought if I could somehow post and get in early enough where the wind is still a problem, 15, 16, 17 are not easy holes but 18 is playing pretty easy.”"
The reason behind his logic is that if Tiger Woods posts 6-under par or 7-under par and finishes early, the guys not named Tiger Woods have to look at the leaderboard with Woods’ name and score for the whole back nine. It’s psychological warfare. They are more likely to make mistakes trying to beat him. He knows that and they know that, and, as the saying goes, he knows that they know.
Based on how Woods has played the tournament in the past, he did have a chance for victory.
According to the PGA Media Officials on site, in prior Honda Classics, with 11 rounds at the course, Woods was 2-over in total on the Bear Trap holes and had just one ball in the water. Last week he played the Bear Trap holes 8-over par with two water balls. Both of the water shots came at the 15th. Had he been able to play the those holes closer to way he played the previous 11 rounds, he might have been in the playoff.
“I’m disappointed I didn’t shoot 3-under coming in like I thought I might be able to, sneak into a playoff, but gave myself a chance,” Woods added. “I had a lot of looks yesterday on that front nine. I had a lot of looks today. I make a few more of those putts, clean up my finishes, I would have been right there in the mix.”
Woods moved up from 544 to 389 in the world rankings.
Now he will lift weights and regroup and decide where to play next.
Justin Thomas: Better to be lucky and good
Justin Thomas looked very determined during the Sunday round. He definitely did not have it easy. At one time or another he was tied with Alex Noren, Luke List, Tommy Fleetwood, Webb Simpson and/ or Jamie Lovemark and for the first half of his round, there was the specter of Tiger Woods’ potential hanging over the field. At the end, all but List fell away.
“This was a hard win,” he said to media after the playoff. “There was a lot of great players that were up around the lead or even tied for the lead at one point, and you know, it’s a place where you can be seven, eight back, and you have a chance to win because you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Thomas also got lucky one time during the final round. Sometimes that’s all it takes. A fortuitous carom off some rocks at the par 3, 5th hole seemed to be a good omen if you believe in those things. When it happened Thomas and his caddie had no idea where the ball went.
"“As sad as it is to say, we didn’t see any sand come up, like it does on some of the greens (when the ball hits),” Thomas explained. “We kind of heard a click, and Jimmy looked at that. I had no idea and he had no idea. And then all of a sudden, I saw it almost went in, and the crowd was kind of going in. He was like, ‘What happened?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know, but I have like 12 feet, so give me my putter.’”"
However, he went on to his eighth victory, winning in a playoff and compared it the final round to the PGA Championship.
“I guess you could argue, you know, PGA, there was definitely some difficult holes, but at that time, I had a three-shot lead versus being tied and one swing equals a double on those holes. It just was a big confidence booster, really,” Thomas added.
Who is Sam Burns, the PGA TOUR newcomer who stepped up next to Tiger?
Then there was Sam Burns, the nearly unknown Web.com guy who played his final round in this tournament with Woods. It was a day he’ll never forget, including seeing Woods in person on the first tee.
“It’s almost like I’m speechless,” Burns said to media after his round. “You see the guy on TV, you see him all over the place and you’re standing there next to him on the tee box and you’re like, that’s Tiger Woods.”
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Then of course, he had to hit his first tee shot.
“I don’t even remember feeling the club in my hands. It was like everything was numb,” he said. But he was able to hit the fairway and it was the first time all week he had done that.
Burns is a former LSU player who left school early to turn pro, after being overlooked for Walker Cup. While he was very happy to have gained entry into the Honda Classic, the Woods pairing was beyond his expectations.
“I was super excited. I knew it was going to be chaotic with all the people,” he admitted like a youngster who just got a Woods autograph. “It’s something I always wanted to do since I was a kid. Anybody my age or any age wants to play golf with Tiger Woods, much less Sunday at the Honda Classic. We had a blast and it was really fun.”
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In addition to the thrill of playing golf with Woods, Burns played his way to a top 10 finish, and that guarantees him a place in the Valspar. He also had 448 texts to return, because after his round with Woods, all his friends wanted the scoop.
Safe to say he’s going to have his hands full getting back to all those messages this week.