The West Coast Swing’s 10 ‘wow’ moments

Jason Day shot his arms in the air as the crowd erupted.

He had just sent a thunderbolt across sprawling Torrey Pines South, holing out for eagle from 118 yards at the par-4 14th hole to tie for the lead in the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open.

“Yeah!” he said. “Come on!”

Day, the former world No. 1 who had fallen out of the top 100, looked like Day again, his embrace of the big moment and love of the game popping on TV screens around the world. One of the best shots of the first seven tournaments of 2022, it was part of a larger theme on the West Coast, when players’ animating passion took center stage.

Jordan Spieth nearly chasing his ball off a cliff at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Sahith Theegala melting in the arms of his parents after falling just short at the WM Phoenix Open.

Jon Rahm explaining his priorities at The Genesis Invitational: “I don’t do this for the money.”

He’s not the only one. The top 10 ‘wow’ moments from the West Coast Swing shined a light on players’ love of competition and reverence for the game’s long history at the highest level.

1. Jordan Spieth’s cliff-hanger

His tee shot trundled longer than expected, leaving Jordan Spieth with 162 yards to the green from a precarious lie on the par-4 eighth hole at Pebble Beach.

Precarious? OK, that’s a woeful understatement. If he were to shift his weight too severely to his left side after impact, and perhaps even take a step toward the green, Spieth faced, as the Associated Press later put it, “a 60-foot drop off onto the ocean rocks.”

Still, instead of taking a drop, as caddie Michael Greller repeatedly suggested, Spieth decided if he could see the ball, he should hit it. He took a quick swing, stayed on his right side, and ran back away from danger. The ball missed left of the green, but Spieth saved par, chipping on and making an 18-footer.

In the end, he said, it looked worse than it was – although it wasn’t great.

“I certainly couldn’t put a normal swing on it,” he said after his 9-under 63.

The score was his best at Pebble and got him into contention, but he wound up losing to …

2. North Dakota’s Tom Hoge

Tom Hoge, 32, birdied three of the last five holes to win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, his first PGA TOUR title in his 203rd TOUR start. He became the third TOUR winner from North Dakota and won for the first time since capturing the Bobcat North Dakota Open.

“I’ve worked through so many hard times,” said Hoge, the current FedExCup No. 2. “I’m almost a little in shock. It’s been so long since I won anything that I forgot how to celebrate.”

Considering he contended at the WM Phoenix Open the very next week – he fell back with a final-round 71 to finish T14 – it seems like he might get the hang of it.

3. The arrival of Sahith Theegala

At the WM Phoenix Open, Sahith Theegala bogeyed the short 17th hole – his laser-like tee shot kicked left and got wet – and finished a shot out of the Scottie Scheffler-Patrick Cantlay playoff. Theegala broke down in tears in the embrace of his parents, a reminder of the passion that fuels the game’s best even if it’s often hidden behind all those game faces and logoed caps.

In the end, his show of emotion and clutch play in the cauldron of TPC Scottsdale delivered a different sort of victory, Theegala enveloped by an enormous throng of family and friends and serenaded by fans. They’d not only learned his name but were chanting it; the consensus college Player of the Year in 2020 and extravagantly-talented TOUR rookie had arrived.

4. Hideki Matsuyama’s blinding excellence

Hitting a fairway metal into the glare of the setting sun at Waialae Country Club, Hideki Matsuyama’s 277-yard second shot came to rest within 2 feet of the pin at the par-5 18th hole to beat Russell Henley in a sudden-death playoff at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

The shot was both relatable (who hasn’t chased the sun?) and not (good luck replicating it).

“To be honest,” said Matsuyama, the FedExCup No. 1, “I didn’t even see it.”

That’s OK. We did, and it looked great on TV.

5. The patience of Luke List

It was a long wait for Luke List, who shored up his putting and birdied the 72nd hole for a 66 at the Farmers Insurance Open, then hung around for two hours to see if it would be enough.

It was, and he beat Will Zalatoris on the first hole of a playoff. List’s wedge shot in the gloaming set up a kick-in birdie on Torrey Pines’ 18th to secure the W in his 207th TOUR start. List, 37, will head back to the Masters Tournament for the first time since 2005, when he played as the ’04 U.S. Amateur runner-up. And the Farmers trophy rewarded his 3-year-old daughter, Ryann.

“She’s been telling me for a long time, ‘Daddy, I want a trophy,’” he said. “I finally got one.”

6. Patrick Cantlay’s remarkable run

By the time Patrick Cantlay teed it up at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January it had been 100 days since he beat Shane Lowry, 4 and 2, at the Ryder Cup. What had Cantlay, the reigning FedExCup champion, been up to? Watching golf, among other things, he said. When he dusted off the clubs and finally got back at it, he found he’d genuinely missed the game.

“When I got back to practicing and getting ready for this tournament, I noticed I was more excited even than usual,” he said. It showed up in his scores: 66, 67, 66, 67, solo 4th. He followed it with three more top-10s, including a T4 at Pebble Beach and runner-up in Phoenix.

No player has ever successfully defended his FedExCup title, but Cantlay is 13th in the current standings (and third in the world ranking).

7. Jason Day’s return to joy

He grew a beard, gained weight, and missed cuts. Jason Day had been on top of the world in 2015, but recently the world had fallen out beneath him, he admitted at the Farmers Insurance Open. Asked to describe his last three years, he said, “A big ball of stress.”

But it was a new Day, 34, who contended at Torrey Pines before late mistakes left him with a final-round 72 and a T3 finish. Having worked on his body, he could swing freely without re-injuring his back. Having made dietary changes, he had reduced inflammation and slimmed down. Somewhere in there the 12-time TOUR winner returned to himself; the joy on his face when he made eagle from 118 yards at the 14th hole, tying for the lead, was unmistakable.

8. Scoring records at Sentry TOC

Pushed all the way to the finish by world No. 1 Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith shot a final-round 65 for a record 34-under 258 to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions for his fourth TOUR title.

“Unreal round,” Smith said. “Something I’ll never forget.”

As the Associated Press pointed out, the only three players to shot 30 under par or lower – Ernie Els, Kapalua, ’03; Jordan Spieth, Kapalua, ’16; Dustin Johnson, TPC Boston, ’20 – all won by at least eight shots. Smith won the Sentry TOC by just a shot over Jon Rahm, and by two over Matt Jones, who in the final round shot the week’s third record-tying, 12-under 61.

Rahm tied a TOUR record with 32 birdies for the week.

9. Scottie Scheffler’s new partnership

He’d shot 59, posted runner-up finishes, and bested world No. 1 Jon Rahm in Ryder Cup singles, but Scottie Scheffler had never hoisted a trophy on TOUR.

He wasn’t going to this time, either, or so it looked after he missed a short birdie try on 18 at the WM Phoenix Open. But caddie Ted Scott, who had racked up double digit victories with Paul Azinger and Bubba Watson before starting with Scheffler at The RSM Classic last November, reminded the boss that one stroke didn’t have to define him.

Sure enough, it didn’t. Scheffler regrouped and birdied from 25 feet, 7 inches on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff to beat Patrick Cantlay and pick up his first TOUR title.

10. Joaquin Niemann’s dream 54 holes

Lanny Wadkins had the best winning score at The Genesis Invitational, 20 under par, in 1985.

Joaquin Niemann, 23, reached 19 under through just three rounds (63-63-68) at The Riviera Country Club, setting a new 54-hole tournament record, then came back to earth, sort of, with an even-par 71 to win by two over Collin Morikawa (65) and Cameron Young (70).

“I’m having the best time of my life right now,” Niemann said.

And that was the day before he received the trophy from tournament host Tiger Woods and celebrated with Latin American fans and the Chilean flag.