Charles Schwab Challenge Recap: Na Cruises to Victory

Kevin Na has been on the PGA Tour for about 15 years and has enjoyed a career just about every professional golfer could only dream of: nearly 400 PGA Tour starts, multiple victories, about $30 million in tournament earnings.

But if asked for the first thing that came to mind when thinking of Na, chances are pretty good that you would say … um … er … you know … that thing … oh well, we'll just say it: HE PLAYED ONE OF THE WORST HOLES IN PGA TOUR HISTORY. Yes, Na delivered a 16 on the par-4 ninth hole in the first round of the 2011 Valero Texas Open.

We're not saying that will always will be No. 1, but there now is a definitive No. 2, and it also took place in the Lone Star State: The 35-year-old Na captured the biggest victory of his career by cruising to a four-stroke win at Colonial on Sunday afternoon.

In taking the newly named Charles Schwab Challenge, Na now has three victories, adding to the 2011 Shriners and the 2018 Greenbrier. After being stuck on that one win for so many years, Na has now won in back-to-back seasons and has climbed to No. 31 in the world, his highest standing in three years but still far from his career best of No. 19.

Na acknowledges that he is at a huge disadvantage on all the longer courses permeating the Tour, but on the shorter ones, he can and does compete. Colonial is on the shorter side, and Na has enjoyed great success there, with a top-five last year and other top-10s and top-25s through the years. (Take that, course-history naysayers.) Harbour Town is sub-7,000 yards and Na tied for 10th there just last month.

Another short track, albeit one that will be tough in so many other ways, is Pebble Beach, site of the U.S. Open in three weeks. Na has also delivered there, with a pair of top-fives earlier this decade and a T20 in 2018. He missed the tournament earlier this year with a finger injury. (On the other hand, Na flamed out of the 2010 Open at Pebble with a horrendous 80-77 trunk-slam.)

But Na does have something in common with the biggest hitter of them all. He shot 4-under 66 on Sunday to beat Tony Finau by a whopping four strokes. Only Dustin Johnson at the WGC-Mexico has had a larger victory this season.

Besides being in the company of Johnson, Na also joins a boatload of Hall of Famers who have won at Colonial: Hogan, Snead, Palmer, Casper, Trevino, Crenshaw, Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Price, Mickelson.

But, alas, he's still gonna be remembered more for, um, something else.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Tiger Woods
Woods was not in action, but we wanted to point out that he has moved up to No. 5 in the world, overtaking Justin Thomas. It's the first time Woods has been in the top-five since 2014. We'll see him this week at the Memorial.

Jordan Spieth
There's no denying Spieth is playing better. He followed up a tie for third at the PGA with a tie for eighth at Colonial. But when you begin the day tied for second, T8 all of a sudden doesn't sound so good. Spieth led the field in strokes gained: putting; Na was second. But Na was also second in SG tee to green, to Spieth's 41st. He's going to need help from his other clubs. When Spieth won at Colonial three years ago, he ranked seventh in SG tee to green. On Sunday, Spieth's putter wasn't working – he lost more than a one and a half strokes to the field – and he didn't have anything else to fall back on. With a 2-over 72 on Sunday, Spieth remains ranked outside the top-200 on Tour in final-round scoring average.

Tony Finau
Finau wound up second for the sixth time in his career, leaving him still stuck on one win. And that victory at the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open in 2016 is nothing to shout about; five of those six runners-up were worth more OWGR points than the win. Still, Finau is coming around after substandard-for-him season. He tied for fifth at the Masters and now he has a second top-10 in 2019. It was only a matter of time for the usual top-10 machine to get in gear, but his winless drought remains the most perplexing in golf.

Andrew Putnam
Putnam tied for third to notch his third top-10 of the season but first in more than four months.  To put it bluntly, he had been awful. In his 10 events preceding Colonial, Putnam had five missed cuts and no finish inside the top-30. In an interview on CBS after Sunday's round, they chalked it up, at least in part, to his new baby born in March (the Putnams are registered online, if you must know). Putnam is normally a very good putter who was ranked 176th in strokes gained: tee to green on the season. At Colonial, he was eighth in the field. That's a good sign. Putnam also moved into the top-50 in the world at No. 49, punching his ticket for the Open Championship (the top-50 in the latest rankings get in).

C.T. Pan
Pan tied for third with Putnam and will join him at Royal Portrush in July, having moved to 47th in the OWGR. It was just his third start after his maiden win at the RBC Heritage, and what we may now be seeing is the emergence of the 27-year-old from Taiwan. Here's a little note to put in your back pocket: Those two top-fives came at Harbour Town and Colonial, two shorter tracks.

Rory Sabbatini
The golf community, snarky as it can be, suggested that Sabbatini recently becoming a Slovakian citizen was only so he could make the Olympics. Well, if he keeps up his fine play, he may also gather consideration for the Ryder Cup team. The 43-year-old born in South Africa (Presidents Cup, anyone?) tied for sixth in Forth Worth, giving him four straight top-20s, three of which were top-10s. Sabbatini has gone from the 400s in the world rankings in 2016 to the 300s in 2017 to the 200s in 2018 to the 100s now, and is close to cracking the top-100 at No. 118. That's not supposed to happen in your 40s.

Jim Furyk
Compared to Sabbatini, Furyk is old. But Furyk is doing even better. The soon-to-be 50-year-old is back inside the top-50 in the world rankings to qualify for the Open Championship. He tied for 13th at Colonial, and that was with a brutal closing 4-over 39. Continuing with a theme throughout this recap, Furyk is showing that on shorter tracks he can still perform at high level.
  
Tyrrell Hatton
Hatton tied for eighth, and it was his first worldwide top-10 in a stroke-play event in seven months. Yes, the Englishman has been struggling while falling from inside the top-25 in the OWGR at the start of 2019 to 40th now. He hadn't even had a top-25 in four months. Hatton's putting has been awful this season, but he was 23rd in the field at Colonial. Baby steps.

David Toms
Remember him? The 52-year-old who has been thriving on the Champions Tour played his first PGA Tour even in almost two and a half years. He not only made the cut, he tied for 31st, and that was with a 39 on the back on Sunday. Toms will play another PGA Tour event very soon. He won the 2018 U.S. Senior Open to get a spot in the upcoming U.S. Open.

Josh Teater
Remember him? The man who looks like Sergio Garcia (Google it) tied for 17th, his best finish in six years. The 40-year-old ranked outside the top-400 in the world has been languishing on the Web.com Tour for years. But he regained his card for 2018-19 and got into this limited field on a sponsor exemption. Teater has made only five-of-15 cuts this season, so this had to feel good. Good for him.

Fort Worthless
What the heck happened? A fantasy bloodbath, that's what. The Colonial had a really good field but Rickie Fowler, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau and Kevin Kisner all missed the cut, while Justin Rose, Francesco Molinari and Ian Poulter couldn't crack the top-50. Thank goodness for Jonas Blixt.