Welcome back to Monday’s Finish, where we hope you’re ready to feign excitement as you open the weirdest, most useless golf gift you’ve ever imagined from your well-meaning but golf-illiterate aunt and uncle. For the news!
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I LIKE GOLF
Charlie’s ace – and the other ace, too.
If you’ve landed on this website, you’ve probably already seen it Charlie Woods‘ hole in one from Sunday at the PNC Championship, but even the day after seems surreal. The most famous kid in golf plays two rounds (that’s eight par-3s) on TV a year and hits an ace in one of them?! The Woods father-son tandem, plus Sam cadie can you celebrate charlie’s first hole all dressed in family colors while you’re scrimmaging on sunday? Amazing.
They finished losing in a playoff THE Bernhard AND Jasonmembers of Team Langer, who matched Woods’ 57 Sunday (both days are a two-man battle) but still left the course blazing. Asked to rank the day in his all-time golfing memories, Charlie didn’t hesitate. “No. 1. It’s not even close,” he said. tiger called it “the thrill of a lifetime.” It was the family vacation golf moment.
But I would like to direct some shine towards Paddy Harrington. No, no Padraigwhose parenting advice we parrot in this column just last week. But Paddy, his son, who made his second ace of the day just minutes after Charlie.
Even in this case, the father may have been even more excited than the son.
“I was very excited. You couldn’t have talked to me. I was gone,” he said. “This is a great event, and everything is great, and we try to play well – but this was great joy.”
Will joy and family lead into the holiday season? That’s golf stuff I like.
wINNERS
Who won the week?
Bernhard AND Jason Langer won the PNC Championship; the win was Bernhard’s sixth and Jason’s record-setting fourth. Jason is a 25-year-old investment banker who plays golf sparingly, which means some of you, my dear readers, are just one legendary father away from a PNC Championship.
John Parry won the Afrasia Bank Mauritius Open, a self-described “most beautiful week” in golf, thanks to four birdies and an eagle in his final seven holes. The Englishman won on the DP World Tour in his rookie season in 2010 – but he hasn’t won since. He is up to No. 102 in the world and starts 2025 at No. 1 in the tournament’s order of merit.
Rory McIlroy AND Scottie Scheffler threw down a commanding victory over Bryson DeChambeau AND Brooks Koepka in the dark, cold, but still intriguing Showdown, winning a whole bunch of bitcoins in the process.
And (digs deeper) Veer Ahlawat won the Tata Steel Tour Championship on the Professional Golf Tour of India, closing with a 64 to win the tournament final and move back into the world’s top 500 in the process.
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Non-winners
Some golfers who didn’t win, but still somehow won.
At PNC, tiger AND Charlie posted a 59-57 record, which was somehow not good enough. I know it’s a short course, a scramble and a relatively mild setup. But I’m still amazed by these results.
After the Langer-Woods tie at 27 under was a three-way tie for third at 23 under. Team Duval, Team Harrington AND Team Singh. Filled in the bronze medal spot!
In Africa, the amateur warned Christo Lamprecht finished T2, the best result of his young professional career. He’s up to number 476 in the world and I think it’s a safe bet that this number will be even lower by the end of 2025.
And a longtime fan favorite Eddie Pepperellwho lost his card at the end of the 2024 DP World Tour season, led through 54 holes in Mauritius before stumbling on Sunday’s 74. His T9 finish was still his best in more than a year.
SHORT HITS
Five taken by Fred Couples.
A fun, wide range Couples Fred pre-tournament press conference included the following:
In his first PNC appearance with his stepfather Hunter: “I’ve seen enough that every pro walking off the 18th green says it was the best week of their life. And if I don’t say that, somebody better come and shoot me.”
In pre-PNC Tiger texting: “He said, dude, I’m so excited for you. It’s just the hang you’ll love. And I already know all this, but then he said, “You want to play?” I said: No, we’re not playing with you and Charlie. That’s not going to happen.”
Watching The Showdown.: “I got a message from someone: ‘Are you watching this?’ Actually by Joe LaCava. I don’t even need to say what the text was about. But then when I turned it on, they were on, I think, the 5th hole. It was dark and freezing. Now, I don’t know why they would do that, to play such a big game … you know, it was just weird.”
If the PGA Tour needs better entertainers: “When you play well, you have to give people more than they expect. And when you play poorly, then you don’t want to do anything stupid… we have to make people love golf again.”
Changes on the PGA Tour: “I like to watch it. I have no problem with smaller fields, more money. I don’t think there is a problem with that at all.
“I think the tournament is being played by the best players. And if you’re not one of the best players right now, you might be. But it doesn’t just have to be easy. They want everything to be easy if you are 75 to 130 on the money list. And every time you go on a tour, all the signs when you drive in are six, eight or 10 guys. And I think they run the tournament.”
AN IMPORTANT THOUGHT
Will McGee get philosophical.
This is not a wavering thought so much as a life thought Annika Sorenstamson of Will McGeewho loves the PNC Championship as much as anyone. The 13-year-old left-hander was asked before the tournament how excited he was for the weekend and, well…
“I look forward to this week every year. It’s like, I’m happy that it’s right here, but it’s also sad because in a few days it’s already gone.”
Sigh.
A BIG QUESTION
What did we learn about Tiger?
This time every year for a decade plus we try to read the tea leaves and project ahead Tiger WoodsHis body, his health, his possible future program. When he overcame World Challenge of Heroes a few weeks ago it seemed like a bad omen. But what did we learn this week?
Mostly it was encouraging. Woods walked 18 holes three days in a row. His fastball numbers were promising. He hit a bunch of good shots and made a bunch of clutch shots, and while it’s hard to compare that to the pressure of a major championship, there’s a whole different kind of pressure that comes from not wanting to let your teenager down. the boy.
But Woods was also very deliberate about managing expectations. He said he was rusty. He said the cold weather bothered him. He said he was nowhere near ready to tour. He dismissed his good shots saying “I’m a good sparring partner.” Clearly Woods doesn’t want anyone to think he’ll be in the mix at, say, Augusta.
However, he cannot let go of this idea. And it’s clear how hard he’s still working towards that goal.
“It’s training, every day, doing the little things and continuing to progress, and I’ll continue to progress forward into the next year,” he said. So what did we learn? That everything is still on the table.
ONE THING TO PRESENT
Xander.
Our latest guest on Warming Up: The World No. 2 and the youngest two-time major champion in the world, Xander Schauffele. Want to know what it’s like to hang out with Xander? Here’s an hour on the string talking hooks, fades, mentality, process, winning, Augusta National, Tiger, his father Stefan and much, much more. Look here — or bookmark it for later!
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NEWS FROM SEATTLE
Monday Finish headquarters.
Our Monday Finish staff (that’s me) is off to southern California for the week, where we’ve got a few days filled with food, family, football, festivities – even a proper 18 holes planned for 12/26. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and lots of late Monday love to you all. It’s a real gift to have you here. Especially if you made it to the end.
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Dylan Dethier is a senior writer for GOLF Magazine/GOLF.com. Resident of Williamstown, Mass. joined GOLF in 2017 after two years of struggling on the mini-tours. Dethier is a graduate of Williams College, where he majored in English, and he is the author of 18 in Americawhich details the year he spent as an 18-year-old living out of his car and golfing in every state.
