This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.
The PGA Tour returned to the mainland last week for the Humana Challenge at PGA West -- golf's Ellis Island, providing untold opportunity and hope for the 156 golfers arriving on U.S. shores. There's no better place to feel good about your game than Palmer Private, Nicklaus Private and La Quinta, annually the three easiest courses on the tour.
The Humana -- officially the Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation (and take a deep breath after that one) -- is commonly called a birdie-fest. Bill Haas won the event for the second time on Sunday with a 22-under total to nip five others by a stroke. But that subterranean score isn't even that low for PGA West standards, and doesn't even begin to tell the story in the Southern California desert.
This is where David Duval famously shot 59 at the Palmer course on Sunday in 1999, when Bob Hope's name was still attached to the tournament (and when they played five rounds). This is where shooting even one round in the 70s on the three par-72 layouts can foil your title chances.
Heck, Lucas Glover and Martin Laird shot four rounds in the 60s and tied for 15th. Come again? OK. Mark Hubbard shot four rounds in the 60s and tied for 20th. Come again? OK, one more time. Brian Davis shot four rounds in the 60s and barely escaped with a top-25, sharing 24th place.
But back to Haas. He won his first PGA Tournament at the Hope in 2010, lost in a playoff the next year and Sunday racked up his eighth top-25 there. This was Haas' sixth career victory -- three shy of his father Jay's PGA Tour total, which included the '98 Hope -- and got him back in the win column after an 0-fer in 2014, his first winless season since 2009.
Rekindling memories of his remarkable splash shot to win the 2011 Tour Championship and secure the FedEx Cup title, Haas needed another great escape on Sunday, when he went to the par-5 18 at Palmer Private with a one-stroke margin. Wanting to avoid water to the left, his tee ball went way right, landing on the side lip of a deep bunker. Haas considered a left-handed shot, considered a one-handed, backward swing. Finally, he settled on standing in the sand, meaning the ball was nearly at his waist. He choked way up and advanced the ball about 80 yards down the fairway. From 170 yards, he hit the green and easily two-putted for victory.
"Using the little toe of the club left-handed, the water was in play, out of bounds might have been in play, I just didn't feel comfortable doing that," Haas told reporters. "I have done the thing before backwards where you do it one-handed and poke it down the fairway. I almost did that."
And, what Haas had going through his mind was something all of us duffers can relate to: "I easily could have whiffed it, could have chunked it and moved it five yards," he said.
But Haas got what he needed -- par -- on a hole featuring many birdies and an occasional eagle, leaving him at 22-under 266. That's a whopping six strokes worse than Patrick Reed's winning total last year and the worst winning score since the Humana was reduced to four rounds four years ago. And when they played five rounds in 2009, Steve Stricker stood at 255 through 72 holes -- 11 shots clear of Haas.
Approaching any of those numbers in the future seems unlikely. PGA West previously said that the Palmer and Nicklaus courses will not be used for the tournament after 2015; what replaces them has not yet been announced. Sponsor Humana is also bowing out, though President Clinton and his foundation will remain part of the tournament.
MONDAY TAKEAWAY
Charley Hoffman
Hoffman was bidding to become the first two-time winner on tour in 2014-15, having captured the OHL Classic in November. Instead, he shared second place with four others, moving into third in the point standings. With a 63 and a 64 on his ledger, Hoffman almost overcame failing to break 70 on Thursday, opening with a 1-under 71.
Matt Kuchar
Kuchar, part of the five-way runner-up, was the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 11. This tournament traditionally does not generate big names, though with seven of the top 25 on hand, it was a better-than-usual representation. This was Kuchar's fifth top-25 in five starts so far, but as is often the case, he plays just well enough to not win. Kuchar finished 41st in the field with -0.146 strokes gained-putting, likely the deciding factor in not winning. If Kuchar is on your team, top-5s in his last two starts is great, but you expect victories from such a costly acquisition. Kuchar, 36, is sitting on seven career wins -- only three more than the 24-year-old Reed.
Webb Simpson
Another week, another good showing with a conventional putter. That's T13 at the Sony and now T7 at the Humana for Simpson. If you drafted him, you did so likely figuring he'd play out 2015 with his anchored putter. But this may work out for you regardless.
Erik Compton
Golf reporters hoping for a wonderful story to write should be excused for wanting Compton to emerge with his first career victory. A two-time heart transplant recipient, Compton shared the 54-hole lead, but closed with a 1-under 70 to finish three back of Haas in a tie for 10th. It appears the writers may not have to wait all too long for Compton, who also finished T2 -- albeit a distant second -- to Martin Kaymer in last year's U.S. Open.
John Peterson
The second-year PGA Tour player out of Louisiana State made it 7-for-7 in cuts in 2013-14 with his third top-25. Peterson tied for 20th, leaving him 39th in the point standings and a likely spot in the playoffs -- which he missed last year as a rookie.
Phil Mickelson
Five months shy of turning 45, Mickelson followed an opening 71 with 66-68-68 to tie for 24th, a decent start to his 2014-15 season. After going winless last year, all eyes were on Mickelson as the top name in the field of a tournament he has won twice. Yes, he made the cut, but it's too soon to glean what this means in the long run for Mickelson. He'll tee it up the next two weeks in Phoenix and at Torrey Pines, two other tour stops where he has multiple victories.
Patrick Reed
Reed was the odds-on favorite, being the defending champion and coming off a win in his last start at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Reed's T24 -- after shooting 65-70-67-71, seven shots behind Haas -- shows how hard it is to contend every week, what with so many good players on tour. Reed is in the field for the upcoming Phoenix Open, chest-thumping alongside Mickelson and Tiger Woods.
Tony Finau
Finau was the darling of the fall season and drafts nationwide, a rookie via the Web.com Tour with two top-10s and four top-15s. But 2015 has not been so kind to the big-hitting Utahan. He missed the cut at the Sony last week before coming home T59 at the Humana, thanks to a closing 74 -- that's like 80 on many Tour courses. There are many Finau owners out there suddenly thinking: Uh-oh.
Luke Donald
Playing for the first time at the Humana, Donald continues in search of his game. Armed with his old coach, Pat Goss, since the end of last season, the Englishman is hoping to return to relevance. Donald turned in a top-5 at a tournament in South Africa in December, but in three starts on the PGA Tour, his best showing is T41 at the WGC event in China in November. The last two weeks, Donald has gone T51 at the Sony and MC at the Humana, leaving the red flag on his professional renaissance still waving.
Charlie Beljan
Beljan gets a mention solely because of his exponentially increasing scores: 67-73-82. Now that's a full-fledged missed cut. Eighty-two? Sheesh, that's like 90 on many Tour courses. In five events so far, Beljan has made only two cuts. In his last eight rounds, he's broken 75 only thrice.
Chip shots: Brendan Steele, Sung Joon Park and Steve Wheatcroft all shared second with Hoffman and Kuchar. Normally, a runner-up position is enough to let a player keep his card all by itself, but with the five-way tie, second paid "only" $342,000. ... Jarrod Lyle, the Aussie coming back a second time from leukemia, missed the cut in his first 2015 start, after making two cuts in the fall. ... Heath Slocum and Nicholas Thompson both teed it up for the eighth time already this season, each tying for 69th. Slocum has no top-20s with only three made cuts, but Thompson has fared much better, playing six tournaments to completion with a top-10 at the OHL Classic. He's 45th in the point standings, a definite fantasy option.
