An Interesting Trend in the PGA: Will it continue?

The PGA Tour is now seven tournaments in, and this year, an odd trend is occurring. Every tournament has seen the leader in the third round choke in the fourth round and then end up losing the event. However, there are two exceptions.

First is the Farmers Insurance Open. Justin Rose was the leader after Saturday’s round, and he proceeded to stay that way to win the tournament. He is the only leader this entire PGA season to have the lead after round three and stay on top to win.

Second is The Genesis Invitational. Jacob Bridgeman was the leader after day three and stayed on top of the leaderboard on day four to win the event. However, the final day for Bridgeman was not the same, as he shot a +1, 72.

Even though Bridgeman won his tournament, he still struggled to hold his lead. The other five tournaments saw the third-round leader struggling on the final day and losing. So will this trend continue? Let’s first take a look at the other strugglers from these five events.

Sony Open in Hawaii- Davis Riley

This was the first tournament of the season after the Sentry was cancelled. After three bogeys, two on the first three holes, Davis Riley would bounce back and have six birdies on the day. His birdie on the 18th would push him ahead of Chris Gotterup to take the lead going into Sunday.

Riley would start Sunday strong with two birdies on the first five holes. However, hole six was where his downfall would begin.

To conclude the front nine, Riley would +4 on the last four holes. He would not be able to make up for this and would end up shooting +1, 72. He would go on to finish T-6, and Gotterup would win after shooting -6, 64.

The American Express- Si Woo Kim

After shooting a -9, 63, in his opening round, Si Woo Kim would slowly shoot worse and worse. However, after the third round, he held sole possession of first at -22.

The script would change in the final round as Kim would go on to shoot +3, 39 on the front nine and then finish with an E, 72. This would give him a T-6 finish, and Scheffler would take advantage and win the event after having nine birdies and shooting -6, 66.

Waste Management Phoenix Open- Hideki Matsuyama

Hideki Matsuyama was a dominant force throughout this entire tournament. He would finish round three with a one-stroke lead for first. However, Sunday had other plans.

Once Gotterup finished, Matsuyama had his own fate in his hands since he had sole possession of first and was in the final group. However, on the final hole, Matsuyama would hit the lip of the bunker on his second shot, which then caused him to bogey the hole and force a playoff.

In the playoff, Matsuyama would hit his tee shot out of play after hitting the grass and bouncing backwards into the water. Gotterup would lock this one up with a birdie and win after one playoff hole with Matsuyama finishing second.

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am- Akshay Bhatia

After round three, this tournament looked to be secured by Akshay Bhatia as he held a two-stroke lead over Colin Morikawa after Saturday. However, that would not be true.

Bhatia would then have two bogeys on his opening nine on Sunday and shoot +1, 37. He would then stay quiet on the back and finish with an even 72 to finish his weekend.

Morikawa would seize the opportunity and shoot -5, 67 to win his first tournament in 28 months. Bhatia, on the other hand, finished T6 at -19.

Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches- Shane Lowry

The most recent comes from this past weekend. Shane Lowry would shoot -8, 63 on Saturday to have first place to himself by one stroke going into the final day.

Lowry started strong with four birdies and one eagle going into the 16th hole. He was three strokes ahead of second place, and it was looking as though he was going to win. However, this proved false.

The Irishman would then go on to double bogey back-to-back holes and only shoot -2, 69 and finish T2 at -15. Nico Echavarria would take the win instead after shooting -5, 66.

Overall, it is something to see that these players who lead after the third round are continuing to choke in the final round. While it would be rare for this to continue happening since the PGA has so many amazing players and rising stars, it may continue.

With some big events coming up, such as The Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship, fans will be expecting to see some competitive and good golf compared to the bad rounds that some of these players have been producing in the final rounds.

Julia Nawalany is a first-year student studying broadcast journalism. To contact her, please email jrn5527@psu.edu