Emotional Champ wins second PGA Tour title
Safeway Open report: What happened Silverado Resort?
Cameron Champ won his second PGA Tour title finishing one shot ahead of nearest challenger, Adam Hadwin, on 17-under-par.
There were emotional scenes after the victory was confirmed as Champ’s grandfather was watching from home as he continues to battle cancer.
All the emotions. ❤️
The winning moment for @Cameron__Champ and his family @SafewayOpen. pic.twitter.com/FzM6nqokVK
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 30, 2019
His grandfather is the man responsible for getting Champ into the game, and the winner said: “I think it was just kind of meant to be.”
A special win for @Cameron__Champ. 👏 pic.twitter.com/fC52xiusmE
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 30, 2019
The American held the 54-hole lead and successfully converted that into a win thanks to a final round of 3-under par.
He recorded four birdies and a bogey on the front-nine to make the turn on the eventual winning score but after a series of pars, a bogey at 17 put the pressure on.
On the 18th, he hit his longest drive of the day at 369 yards and this set him up for a four-foot birdie to win.
SG: Off the Tee (6.696): 1st
SG: Tee to Green (11.516): 1st
Average driving distance (306.3): 3rdJumping from 49th ↗️ 2nd in the #WyndhamRewardsTop10 started on the tee this week for @Cameron__Champ. pic.twitter.com/43Ty5ypfiU
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 30, 2019
Nerves of steel.@Cameron__Champ launches a 369-yard drive on 18. 😮 pic.twitter.com/DYtijQuUjf
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 30, 2019
Hadwin’s card was packed with colour as he shot an impressive 5-under-par on Sunday. He had two bogeys but made up for these dropped shots by making eight birdies, including on each of the last three holes.
Three-straight birdies to tie the lead.@ahadwingolf finishes with birdie, and is now a co-leader @SafewayOpen. pic.twitter.com/jDA7O5GY8z
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 30, 2019
Marc Leishman also came close to challening the leaders on the final day but left himself just too much to do. A round of 7-under saw him rocket up the leaderboard and take solo 2nd.
The Australian carded just the one bogey and birdied four of his final nine holes including the par-5 18th.
Justin Thomas made his 2019-20 PGA Tour debut and put in a good performance to take a share of 4th place. JT only had one victory in the previous campaign and will be keen to improve on that this time around.
Safeway Open report: What the winner said
🎙️ @Cameron__Champ talks about the emotions following his second-career TOUR victory @SafewayOpen. https://t.co/MhrWie5HNY
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 30, 2019
Safeway Open report: Talking point
The Bryson DeChambeau slow play story rumbled on again this week.
After several instances throughout the 2019 season saw DeChambeau criticised for being one of the slowest players on tour, he doesn’t believe that is the case.
He has spoken out to suggest that he is in fact not among the slowest on tour and has the data to prove it. He claims that he has seen data held by the PGA Tour which states he is not one of the slow ones but we’ll let Mark Townsend get you up to speed on the full story.
Join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Joe Hughes
Tour editor covering men's golf, women's golf and anything else that involves the word golf, really. The talk is far better than the game, but the work has begun to change that.
