Weekly PGA Recap: Viva Las Vegas

This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.

It was an eclectic mix of four golfers in contention late on Sunday at the 3M Open. There were two younger players who had never won on the PGA Tour, and two older guys who hadn't won in forever.

Seven years since his last win and a month before turning 40, Jhonattan Vegas birdied the 18th hole after the best lag putt of his life, and he defeated a gallant Max Greyserman by one stroke to capture the title at TPC Twin Cities. Matt Kuchar and Maverick McNealy, both desperately seeking wins for very different reasons, tied for third two strokes back.

Vegas needed a birdie on the par-5 finishing hole to avoid a playoff with the rookie Greyserman, who was in the clubhouse at 16-under. The Venezuelan got to the green in two, but he was nearly 100 feet away from the hole, making two putts no sure thing and three a very real possibility. Especially for someone ranked outside the top 150 on Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting.

But Vegas beautifully nudged it up to three feet -- still not a gimme -- and was able to knock that down for his fourth career PGA Tour victory. 

"You know what, I didn't really think much about the length of it, it was just another putt, right?" Vegas said, responding to a reporter's question. "At the end of the day you have to try to figure out. I know we putted really well, those long putts I've been hitting them pretty solid. I just really wanted to give myself a really good comeback putt within, I don't know, five, six feet to have a chance to win. Obviously hit a great putt to about three feet, which made it a little bit easier, but it still wasn't easy."

Vegas is right. He did putt well for the week, ranking eighth in the field and gaining nearly five strokes. That's what he needs to do to win, because he's always been a very good ball striker. (As for the future, it's hard to count on Vegas to put that well in any given week.)

Vegas dealt with injuries the past few years. He hadn't finished top-10 in a PGA Tour event in more than two years. He was sidelined for more than half of 2023 with an elbow injury. He didn't get to play in last year's 3M, where he shared runner-up back in 2021.

His other PGA Tour wins were the Canadian Open in 2016 and '17 and the old Bob Hope, now the Amex, back in 2011.

Vegas moved all the way from 149th in the FedExCup Standings to 66th. But as he noted, he's hardly secure to finish in the top 70, which would get him into the playoffs after the regular-season finale at the Wyndham Championship in two weeks (after a one-week break for the Olympics). So he will be at the Wyndham.

Vegas' daughter had seen him win before but his 5-year-old son never had. They were there to celebrate with him on 18.

"Well, I mean, that was the cherry on top of the cake," Vegas said. "In my house we've had a lot of talks, my boy's 5, hadn't had a win since he was born. Lots of pictures of my daughter with trophies around the house, so my boy was asking me when am I going to have a picture with a trophy.

"Like I said earlier, there was a big cloud on top of my head because I need to have a win for him. It's even more special that they were here because a lot of times they're not. It just means the world. This is a big win for them and they're going to enjoy it more than I am, for sure." 

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Max Greyserman
The 29-year-old Duke alum played four seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour -- without winning -- before earning his PGA Tour card this season. This runner-up was Greyserman's best finish of the year and it will be enough to boost him into the playoffs -- a huge accomplishment for the rookie. He entered the week at 88th in the point standings and now is 63rd, a big enough cushion to survive whatever happens at the Wyndham.

Matt Kuchar
This may have been the 46-year-old Kuchar's best chance ever again -- not only to win for the first time in five years but to qualify for the playoffs. He entered the week outside the top 150 in points at No. 155 and his tie for third allowed him to climb to 111th. This was his first top-15 of the year. This result means Kuchar should be able to keep his card, but that's no certainty. He'd have to be in the top-125 after the seven-event FedExCup Fall. Even if Kuchar succeeds and keeps his card another year, it's a long four years till the Champions Tour beckons.

Maverick McNealy
This was PGA Tour event No. 133 for the 28-year-old McNealy, and he's still looking for win No. 1. It sure seems like it will happen eventually, but this was as good an opportunity he could get – in contention in a weak field going against three guys all ranked worse than him. The good news for McNealy is he moved from 68th to 57th in points, ensuring he will make the playoffs.

Sahith Theegala
Theegala was the highest-ranked guy in the field and tied for sixth, continuing a very good season. Theegala had an outside chance to perhaps get into a playoff with an eagle on 18, but his approach found the water, and that was that. It turned out to not matter, since Vegas birdied 18.

Kurt Kitayama
Kitayama needed a great week, and he got one. But to illustrate just how hard it is to move up the point standings, he tied for sixth and all it got him was a move from 78th to 73rd. That means at the Wyndham in two weeks., Kitayama will have work to do.

Patrick Fishburn
The Tour rookie tied for sixth to likely secure his card for next season as he moved to 99th in the point standings. This was Fishburn's second straight top-10 after a solo third at the Barracuda. And he tied for 15th at the ISCO before that and for 25th at the Rocket Mortgage last month. Which means Fishburn might be turning a corner and is someone wee need to keep an eye on.

Andrew Putnam
Putnam shot a final-round 66 to zoom up the leaderboard into a tie for 19th. And he inched up in the point standings from 74th to 72nd. Putnam will have to climb at least two more spots at the Wyndham to get to the playoffs.

Emiliano Grillo
Grillo began the week inside the playoff cut line at No. 67 in the point standings. And that's where he ended the week thanks to a tie for 24th. He'll need to play the Wyndham because it would be too risky to think he could stay inside the top 70.

Seamus Power
Power tied for 37th and that left him in a precarious position: He slipped from 66th to 68th in the point standings so we surely will see him at the Wyndham.

Davis Riley
Riley began the week on the bubble at 70th in the standings. But a tie for 46th dropped him to 71st in points.

Keith Mitchell
Many of us would not think Mitchell is a guy who would struggle to make the playoffs. But struggling, he is. Mitchell slipped from 76th to 78th in points after tying for 46th at the 3M.

MISSED CUTS

Luke List, Michael Thorbjornsen, Luke Clanton, Nick Dunlap, Thriston Lawrence, Santiago de la Fuente and Scott Gutschewski. List dropped from 71st to 74th in the point standings. … Clanton missed his first cut in his fifth start this season. … Lawrence traveled from the Open Championship, where he nearly won, to the 3M Open, where he nearly finished last.  … de la Fuente made his pro debut after going through major season as the Latin America Amateur champion. … Gutschewski missing the cut allowed him to get to the U.S. Junior Amateur, where his 17-year-old son, Trevor Gutschewski, ranked 3,570th in the amateur rankings, won the tournament. Trevor will get into the U.S. Open next year. His dad, ranked about 500th in the world, will probably be watching him again.