McGladrey Classic 2014: Daily Leaderboard Analysis, Highlights and More
The 2014 PGA Fall Series continued its tour in Sea Island, Georgia, at the McGladrey Classic. Coming off a run of exciting tournaments already this season, Robert Streb put his stamp on the season with an early victory.
Two surprising winners took previous events with Sang-Moon Bae and Ben Martin taking the Frys.com Open and Shriners Open, respectively. Streb was able to add his name to the list thanks to consistent play and a strong finish on Sunday.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Here's a look at the leaderboard and full recap for each day in the McGladrey Classic.
Day 4
Starting the day 11 spots out of the lead, Robert Streb seemed like an unlikely name to watch. But with his start on Sunday, the Oklahoma native made a strong case for the win.
The main reason for his move up the board was a phenomenal finish. Of his nine birdies on the day, Streb had eight of them on the last five holes of the front and back nine. His performance led to a career low, as PGA Tour notes:
When the great round came to a close, Mark Lamport-Stokes of Reuters passed along comments from Streb:
Thanks to his seven-under 63, Streb put himself atop the board before heading to the clubhouse. But with MacKenzie and Brendon de Jonge still on the course, both made their run in the final round.
All three made it to a playoff on Sunday as MacKenzie strung together yet another consistent round. Here's a look at one of the birdies that kept him at the top of the leaderboard:
Despite another strong showing, MacKenzie was the first player eliminated on the opening playoff hole. Both Streb and de Jonge would par the 18th to force yet another hole to decide a winner.
Ultimately, it would be Streb clinching the tournament with yet another huge shot under immense pressure. Stephanie Wei of Sports Illustrated passed along how the final shots went down:
Streb joins Bae as players to win their first PGA Tour event already this season. With an entire season ahead of the 27-year-old, he has a chance to continue his success if he can continue his strong play.
Day 3
Andrew Svoboda and Will MacKenzie surged to the top of the leaderboard on Saturday, Stewart Cink played out of his mind and Mark Wilson shot one under and still dropped four places on the leaderboard, into a tie for ninth place.
Suffice to say, it was a wild day of golf at the McGladrey Classic.
Svoboda shot his third straight 66 of the tournament (slow and steady wins the race, kids), while MacKenzie shot his second 65, as the two players pulled even at 12 under to share the lead. MacKenzie also provided one of the highlights of the day with this doozy on No. 6:
Ace is the place with the helpful golfing score.
Russell Henley couldn't replicate his epic 63 from Friday, but his 68 on the day was enough to keep him within a stroke of the leaders. Speaking of players shooting a 63, Cink picked up where Henley left off, shooting nine under for the day and picking up birdies on eight of 10 holes between Nos. 5 and 15.
It was the long putts he made to save par that he felt were most key, however, as he told the PGA Tour on Twitter:
With 19 players within five strokes of the leader, however, one guesses anything could happen on Sunday. Fabian Gonzalez is one of those players at nine under, in part because of shots like this:
Lovely stuff.
If Saturday was any indication, Sunday's final round should be bonkers, with plenty of lead changes, a congested fight for the leaderboard and, who knows, maybe a hole-in-one. Or two. Buckle up, folks.
Day 2
The top of the leaderboard in Georgia underwent drastic changes on Friday. Russell Henley and Brendon de Jonge moved all the way up to the top two spots after being tied for 29th after the first round.
Henley, in particular, was on fire all day. He started on the back nine with a birdie but finished the day with eight birdies to finish the round at seven-under par 63. According to Doug Ferguson of The Associated Press, via The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the 25-year-old only needed one putt on 10 holes.
Henley is quoted in Ferguson's recap about what he was thinking after the first bogey and how it impacted the rest of his round:
"After the first hole, I was just thinking, 'All right, you've got to hang in there and just be patient and hopefully get something going.' And I did.
...
I try to just believe in my putting and enjoy putting, and people always tells me I'm a great putter, so it's pretty easy to keep the confidence going when you're doing that. I just wish they would say that about the rest of my game.
"
The PGA Tour tweeted out more in-depth numbers on Henley's proficiency on the green that make his round look more impressive:
If you want to know the secret to Henley's success, Jason Sobel of The Golf Channel has one possible explanation:
You see, whenever your golf game needs a boost, just party with Hootie to cure what ails you. It seems fool proof. Henley does have two PGA Tour wins under his belt, including at the Honda Classic in March.
Here's some video of Henley's performance early in the second round, via PGA Tour:
De Jonge went six-under today and actually one-upped Henley by not having a bogey in his round. He had three straight birdies from No. 15-17 to creep up the leaderboard heading into Saturday's third round.
Thursday's co-leaders, Brian Harman and Will MacKenzie, are still in the hunt before moving day. Harman needed a strong finish to maintain his spot after starting the round. He alternated birdies and bogeys from holes five through eight.
Harman's best shot came on the 16th hole, as he found the hole with an excellent uphill chip shot that pulled him within one shot of Henley, via PGA Tour:
With little separation at the top of the leaderboard, Saturday's third round figures to be critical for the contenders. They may not be able to move well ahead of the pack, but the low scores today suggest that it will be easy to fall out of contention with one bad hole.
The door is also open for a contender outside the logjam at the top who had an excellent Friday—Robert Streb made a nice move thanks to a four-under 66—so don't be shocked if a victor emerges from outside the main pack
Day 1
In the early going, it appeared Brian Harman might be the man to beat in Sea Island.
Starting his fourth year on the PGA Tour, Harman shot a low round to kick off the tournament. The 27-year-old set the pace with a five-under 65 to start the day.
Prior to the tournament, Harman spoke about his expectations for the week, via Nathan Dominitz of The Savannah Morning News:
"I don’t know how this week is going to go. I've been hitting it pretty well here. That doesn’t necessarily translate to hitting it well during the tournament — obviously, weather and all that kind of stuff. There are so many factors going in. If I play as well as I think I can, I should be OK. ...
I’m just getting older, realizing what it takes to play out here. It’s all part of a maturation process. Some guys get it quicker than others.
"
It wasn't clear early that Harman would be a contender, as he bogeyed on the 14th after starting on the back nine. But he would bounce back with two straight birdies on the 15th and 16th and four more to close out the front nine.
Along with Harman, Erik Compton, Will MacKenzie and Michael Thompson tied him at the top of the leaderboard. All three had just one bogey on the day along with six birdies to finish at five under par on Thursday.
For Compton, it was all about continuing the momentum he built last season, as Golf Channel notes:
Despite never winning a PGA Tour event during his career, Compton's most notable performance came during the 2014 U.S. Open. That success for Compton comes after having a second heart transplant back in 2008.
Following his great start, Compton spoke about excelling on the tour, per PGA Tour:
Just behind the top group sits Chesson Hadley, who bogeyed the final hole to fall to four-under. The 2014 Rookie of the Year shot his way into the lead but simply couldn't hold on at the end.
Another familiar name also had an up-and-down round to enter his name into the top scores of the day. Kuchar, who won a tournament last season, made a statement late on the course with a three-under 67 in hopes of securing an early victory.
Here's a look at one of the best shots on the afternoon for the Sea Island native:
Three rounds remain in Georgia, so no player is running away heading into Friday. Nearly every golfer is looking for his first win of the season, so the action is sure to heat up with some of the top golfers in the world battling for the title.
Whether it's Harman, Compton or any other contender near the top, the McGladrey Classic promises to be another entertaining one to watch.
Follow @RCorySmith on Twitter.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
