Top Stories from the PGA Tour's Hawaiian Swing

The PGA Tour’s Hawaiian swing is typically a time when tour professional dust off their clubs after a long holiday layoff and start to get back in the swing of things during a casual working vacation in paradise.

Aside from a few dramatic moments here and there, the Hawaiian swing has been mostly uneventful through the years.

The PGA Tour’s 2015 Hawaiian swing, however, was anything but uneventful.

During the past two weeks we have seen a player completely collapse down the stretch one week only to come back just six days later and demolish the field.

We have seen one of the strongest proponents of the belly putter make the move to a standard-length putter.

We have seen a bold young 24-year-old join the likes of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia as the only players in the past 25 years to win four or more PGA Tour events before the age of 25.

And, of course, any story about the PGA Tour’s Hawaiian swing would not be complete without a gripping "who done it" robbery mystery.

Here are the top stories from the PGA Tour’s very interesting two-week trip to the Hawaiian Islands.

Webb Simpson Switches to a Standard-Length Putter

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Prior to heading to Japan for the Dunlop Phoenix Open back in November, Webb Simpson cracked his belly putter over his knee in front of his wife to ensure that he would have no choice but to make the move to a standard-length putter during the 2015 PGA Tour season.

Simpson’s first attempt at putting a standard-length putter into play during a competitive event didn’t produce the results he would have hoped for as Simpson tied for 55th at the Dunlop Phoenix Open.

But fast forward six weeks and Simpson appeared to be getting a lot more comfortable with his new putting stroke.

Simpson was tied for the lead through 36 holes at the Sony Open in Hawaii and had gained 4.69 strokes on the greens over the field during Round 1 and an additional 1.81 strokes during Round 2.

However, as the pressure began to mount over the weekend, Simpson’s new putter began to desert him. Simpson lost 2.93 strokes to the field on the greens during the third round and another 2.76 strokes to the field on Sunday en-route to a T13 finish.

Based on his performance on the greens during the first two rounds of the Sony Open, Simpson appears to be well on his way to a successful transition to a standard-length putter.

The next step in that transition will be getting to the point where his new putting stroke holds up under weekend pressure.

Patrick Reed Has Earned Some Respect

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Patrick Reed made headlines following his win at the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral when he declared himself one of the top five golfers in the world.

Before even walking off the 18th green at Trump National Doral, Reed made the following statement to NBC’s Golf Channel reporter Steve Sands:

"

I’ve worked so hard, I’ve won a lot in my junior career, did great things in (my) amateur career, was 6-0 in match play in NCAAs, won NCAAs two years in a row, got third individually one year, and now I have three wins out here on the PGA Tour. 

I just don’t see a lot of guys that have done that, besides Tiger Woods, of course, and, you know, the other legends of the game. It’s just one of those things, I believe in myself and – especially with how hard I’ve worked – I’m one of the top five players in the world.

"

Yikes.

Reed, who at the time had just two other wins at very weak-fielded events and had yet to even attend a major let alone win one, drew a firestorm of criticism over his exceedingly bold statement at Doral.

But one must give credit where credit is due.

Reed may not be one of the top five players in the world, at least according to the Official World Golf Rankings, but he has backed up his audacious statement with some excellent play.

Reed did go through something of a slump for most of last summer, but he was also going through some personal life changes with the birth of his first child.

Following his victory at the Tournament of Champions, Reed told the media:

"

I mean right after Doral I really wasn't thinking much about golf. I was making sure Justine was okay and we were about to have our first baby. My mind was more on making sure she was okay and making sure the baby was okay, and then I went through the transition on both of us trying to figure out fatherhood and golf at the same time, have that good balance.

"

But Reed rebounded late in the season and was the only American player that did not lose a single match (Reed posted a 3-0-1 record) during what could only be described as a disastrous 2014 Ryder Cup for the United States.

In his last two events, Reed has a T3 at the Hero World Challenge and a win at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Reed’s win in Maui was his fourth PGA Tour win in the past year-and-a-half, and he now joins Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia as the only players in the past 25 years to win four of more PGA Tour events before the age of 25.

Reed’s name may not appear within the top five of the Official World Golf Rankings, but with four wins before the age of 25, Reed’s game and ability to close certainly deserve a great deal of respect.

Jimmy Walker Shows Incredible Resiliency

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

After squandering a four-streak lead to Patrick Reed with just four holes to play at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, Jimmy Walker came back and buried the field at the Sony Open in Hawaii last week.

Walker Opened up a two-shot lead with a third-round score of 62 at Waialae Country Club.

But the big question heading into Sunday was whether Walker had fully recovered from his collapse just six days earlier in Maui.

Things had begun to head south for Walker after a bogey on the par-four 14th hole during the final round of the the Tournament of Champions.

Following his bogey at 14, Walker failed to birdie the par-five 15th and 18th and wound up losing to Reed on the first playoff hole.

The questions about Walker’s inability to close continued to loom over his head as he opened the final round of the Sony Open with seven consecutive pars. However, by the eighth hole Walker had switched his game into different gear and never looked back.

There would be no final-round collapse for Walker at Waialae.

Walker played his last 11 holes in seven under par, including a three-under-par stretch during his final four holes, en-route to a final-round 63 and an incredible nine-stroke victory over second-place finisher Scott Piercy.

The week began with the talking heads analyzing Walker’s collapse at Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

The week concluded with Walker completely demolishing the field at Waialae.

My how things can change in just six days.

Robert Allenby Is Beaten and Robbed in Hawaii

Scott Barbour/Getty Images

The details of Robert Allenby’s abduction and robbery are still quite murky at this time but this is what we do know: Allenby was beaten and robbed somewhere outside of the Amuse Wine Bar in Honolulu on Friday night.

Allenby, who was at the wine bar with his caddie and another associate, became separated from his friends sometime after signing his check.

According to Nick Menta of golfchannel.com, Allenby was told that his friends were downstairs and was then attacked as he exited the bar.

Allenby, who said that he was not sure if he was drugged or not, then claimed that he was dropped off in a park six miles away from Amuse Wine Bar and was eventually helped by a retired Navy veteran and a homeless woman.

However, a story contradictory to Allenby’s version of events also emerged on Monday.

A report by an Australian television station stated the following:

"

A homeless woman who has spoken to police about the robbery of Australian golfer Robert Allenby has said he was just one block from a wine bar as he tried to pay off two men to get his belongings back.

The Hawaiian woman told 9NEWS Allenby offered $500 to get his belongings back, but the men became aggressive and Allenby was put into a taxi by a passerby.

It conflicts with the account given by Allenby earlier in the day, when he said he was stuffed in a car boot and dumped in a park 10km away.

"

Once again the exact details of what transpired on Friday night outside of the Amuse Wine Bar are still coming together. But what we do know is that Allenby was certainly the victim of some sort of foul play in Honolulu.

While Jimmy Walker was running away with the Sony Open in Hawaii, the Allenby incident was quickly becoming the biggest story of the PGA Tour’s Hawaiian swing.

After all, a fascinating "who done it" mystery will trump a nine-stroke runaway victory any day.

All we need now is for Keith Morrison to unravel this web of mystery surrounding the Allenby’s abduction and robbery.

We’ll be looking forward to that, Keith.