Weekly Recap: There's Your Ancer

There is no greater connection between golf and water than at the 17th hole of TPC Sawgrass with the famed island green. But when talking about an entire course, nothing compares to TPC Southwind. And that was on full display on Sunday during the final round of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

Harris English was cruising to a wire-to-wire victory -- and in all likelihood a Ryder Cup berth -- when he found the water not once, but twice on the back nine, bringing a half-dozen golfers back into the mix, eventually resulting in a three-man playoff -- one that did not include English.

Abraham Ancer, Sam Burns and Hideki Matsuyama were the biggest beneficiaries, after beginning the day four, eight and nine shots back of English, respectively.

Ancer was the biggest winner of all, making his first PGA Tour title a big one by claiming the WGC with a birdie on the second playoff hole. It was heartbreak for Matsuyama, who lipped out from 20 feet for the win on the first playoff hole, and Burns, who lipped out from about five feet to extend the playoff.

Bryson DeChambeau, paired with English in the final group, also contributed two water balls on the back nine on Sunday for what's becoming a regular implosion for him. But no one outdid Si Woo Kim, who hit five straight in the water on No. 11 en route to 10-over 13 (ouch, that'll hurt your handicap).

"Walking off 16 I couldn't believe I was tied for the lead," Ancer told reporters in Memphis. "I felt like I was maybe four strokes behind. You just don't know what can happen out here, man. It's crazy."

TPC Southwind has seen more water balls going back to 2003 than any other course on Tour – by far. (For some reason, the tracking goes back to only to 2003.)

There was no immediate post-tournament data available, but here are a couple of tweets, one from right before the tournament started another from a few years back that shows the wide disparity between Southwind and all other PGA Tour tracks:

Ancer did not find the water all week and had only four bogeys, which shouldn't be much of a surprise for one of the straightest golfers, tee to green, on Tour. He also was ranked 19th on Tour in scrambling and 43rd in Strokes Gained: Putting entering the week, meaning there is no real weakness in his game. He's now up to a career-best 11th in the world rankings.

So why hadn't he won? Well now, it's hard. And he had come close often, finishing runner-up four times over the past three seasons, including early this year to Rory McIlroy at the Wells Fargo. He has had four other top-fives this season alone. So he's had his chances, and he's been a fantasy near-stud. And now this big win makes the "near" go away.
 
"I didn't want to think of like, 'Oh, my God, I'm so due,'" Ancer said of his Sunday mind-set. "I didn't want to put extra pressure. I've done enough in other events to win, and it just didn't go my way, so I just stayed patient, I didn't change anything."

But thanks to the water at TPC Southwind, everything else around him did change.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Sam Burns
You come from eight shots back with a 6-under 64 and you pretty much lock up a berth in your first Tour Championship, yet you leave the tournament feeling you gave it away. There's not much that can make Burns feel better after missing a five-footer to keep the playoff going. But it was another great effort by an emerging star, one who is up to a career-best 25th in the world rankings. He originally was in this week's Wyndham Championship field but bowed out late Sunday.

Hideki Matsuyama
It was a cruel two weeks for Matsuyama. He was crestfallen after coming up short in the seven-man playoff for the bronze medal at the Olympics in his native Japan. And then on the first playoff hole on Sunday, his putt for victory lipped out. Regardless, it was an impressive performance to regroup so quickly. He's also in the field for the Wyndham Championship, which seems a curious call.

Harris English
As English made the turn, he was looking at a third win this season, almost assuredly a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team and maybe even Player of the Year honors. It all fell apart with double bogeys on the par-3 11th and par-3 14th, finding water both times. English shot 40 on the back to miss the playoff by a shot. On the leaderboard years from now it will look like a commendable solo fourth. English is not in the Wyndham field, so it will be interesting to see how the normally unflappable player responds in the playoffs. He moved back into the top 10 in the world. And, quite frankly, he still deserves to be a Ryder Cupper. But his back-nine implosion gives captain Steve Stricker and out.

Bryson DeChambeau
Every week we all just sit and wait for the wheels to come off. It's almost a guarantee. After a brilliant 63 on Saturday put DeChambeau in the final group, he treaded water on the front nine … until finding water on No. 10 for bogey and then No. 11 for triple. He had two more late bogeys for good measure. Somehow, DeChambeau managed to hang onto a top-10 (T8).

Will Zalatoris
Zalatoris made a spirited run and had a great week in this tough field, tying for eighth. But he still needs a win to qualify for the upcoming FedEx Cup playoffs, and now he has just next week at the Wyndham to get it. Zalatoris is still considered a non-member of the PGA Tour, and it's remarkable that he, in all likelihood, will not be in the playoffs. He's ranked 29th in the world.

Dustin Johnson
Johnson didn't contend for the umpteenth straight week. But he did tie for 10th, his fifth top-25 in his past six starts, including top-10s at the Open Championship and now this WGC. Johnson's next start will be the playoff opener at the Northern Trust, a tournament he won by 11 strokes last year -- albeit at TPC Boston, while this year it's at Liberty National)

Rory McIlroy
McIlroy opened with a 2-over 72, then shot a trio of 66s to just miss a top-10. He tied for 12th. That may sound all too familiar with McIlroy shooting himself out of big tournaments on Thursday before eventually moving up the leaderboard through the backdoor. Maybe that's the case in the big events, but overall McIlroy entered the week ranked a terrible 140th on Tour in final-round scoring average.

Phil Mickelson
Mickelson tied for 17th, just his second top-20 all year after his PGA Championship win. He still has time to make a last-ditch run at a Ryder Cup captain's pick -- those six selections won't be made until after the Tour Championship -- but this may have been his best chance to succeed and impress, at a course where he's had great success through the years. It didn't happen.

Jason Kokrak
After three rounds in the 60s, Kokrak found himself tied for 17th. He wasn't positioned to win, but certainly could've climbed into the top-10 with a good round on Sunday. Instead, he went the other way, shooting 4-over 74 to tumble to a tie for 34th place. As good as Kokrak's season has been, he entered the week ranked 161st in the final-round scoring average. That's quite the warning sign.

Patrick Reed
Reed tied for 31st, but when you consider his travel itinerary the past four weeks -- England-Minneapolis-Tokyo-Memphis -- that's not all that bad. We know Reed loves to play, and he plays a lot. But he is now heading to North Carolina to play for a fifth straight week at the Wyndham Championship, and then comes the three-week playoffs. We'll see how this works out for Reed.

Xander Schauffele
Schauffele can be excused for a mediocre performance on the heels of winning Olympic gold. He tied for 46th, but actually made a bit of a move up the leaderboard on Sunday, climbing 15 spots with a 2-under 68. Schauffele should be refreshed and ready to go for the playoffs in two weeks.

Tommy Fleetwood
The Englishman tied for 46th, continuing a terrible in which he's fallen down the world rankings. Of more immediate concern are the playoffs. Fleetwood sits 136th in the point standings with just this week's Wyndham to climb into the top 125. 

Brooks Koepka
There were reports at the beginning of the week that Koepka tweaked his knee. He withdrew from Wednesday's pro-am but played all four rounds. He was so-so for three of them before collapsing with a 6-over 76 on Sunday to fall to a tie for 54th. Koepka tied for second in this tournament last year and won it in 2019, so this showing was completely out of the norm. He's got two weeks to improve on any knee injury before the playoffs start.

Erik van Rooyen
The South African won the opposite-field Barracuda Championship for his first PGA Tour win. It had been a terrible year for van Rooyen, who was ranked 51st in the work in January but 113th before the Barracuda. He also began the week outside the top-125 at 139th, but this win got him to 78th, not far from the cut-off point to get into the second playoff event. Most importantly, van Rooyen gets a PGA Tour card for the next two seasons.