PGA Tour: Jim Herman a Cinderella story at Wyndham Championship
By Tim Letcher
Jim Herman put together his own Cinderella story this week at the Wyndham Championship, claiming his third PGA Tour victory.
In everyone’s favorite golf movie, Caddyshack, greenskeeper Carl Spackler, at one point, calls himself a Cinderella story as he fantasizes about winning the Masters. On Sunday, Jim Herman had his own Cinderella story, coming from absolutely nowhere to win the Wyndham Championship.
Herman had not finished higher than 27th in any event this season prior to this week. He was so far out of contention for the FedEx Cup playoffs that the only way he could make the postseason this year was to win in Greensboro.
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After shooting 66 on Thursday and 69 on Friday, winning didn’t seem to be something that would happen for the Cincinnati native this week. With the way his season had gone, Herman was just happy to have made the cut and to be collecting a check this week.
Then, something happened. On Saturday, Herman’s putter got red hot and he started holing putts from all over the greens. That led him to shoot a career-best 61 and left him just two shots behind 54-hole leader Si Woo Kim.
Kim appeared to have things going his way on Sunday, but when he slipped, Herman was right there to pounce on the opportunity given to him. And pounce he did.
After shooting a 29 on his back nine on Saturday, Herman stayed hot with his first nine on Sunday. He birdied the first hole, followed by two pars. He then birdied the fourth hole and eagled the fifth to move to 4-under on his round.
A bogey, his only of the day, came on the sixth hole, dropping Herman back to 3-under par. He would par the seventh, birdie the eighth and par the ninth to shoot a 4-under par 31.
On the back nine, Herman started with three straight pars before a birdie on the 13th hole moved him to 5-under on the day. He would par the 14th before another birdie on the 15th moved Herman to 6-under on his round.
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Herman would par the 16th before his final birdie of the day came on the 17th hole. He parred 18 to finish with a 7-under par 63 on the day and a 21-under total for the tournament.
When Billy Horschel missed his short birdie putt on the 18th hole, it gave Herman his third career PGA Tour victory. And, in the tour’s regular season finale, it gave golf another Cinderella story.