The PGA Tour Top 10 Most Dominant Performances of 2019
By Bill Felber
10. Adam Long, Desert Classic
Long was an unknown 31-year-old Tour rookie on the PGA Tour facing a final hole showdown against two veterans, one of them tour legend. Fat chance. Yet he delivered.
Long came to that final hole of the Desert Classic at La Quinta in a tie with his playing partners, Phil Mickelson and Adam Hadwin. All three stood at 25-under par coming to the tee at the 444-yard par 4.
While Hadwin found the center of the fairway on that final hole, Mickelson and Long both got awkward lies in the right rough. After Hadwin pulled his approach into a greenside bunker, his escape barely missed rolling into the cup. When Mickelson barely missed a long birdie opportunity, Long suddenly had his chance.
He rolled his birdie putt dead into the center of the cup for the victory.
Long began the final round trailing Mickelson by three shots and Hadwin by two. He made up three shots on Hadwin over the final six holes to get into a position to win, including back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th. Mickelson made it a three-way tie with his birdie at the 16th.
The victory moved the previously unknown player from near the bottom of the tour ranks to just outside the top 10.
Long’s rounds of 63-71-63-65-262 translated to 2.85 standard deviations better than the four-round field average of 273.56.