Weekly PGA Recap: Cam Aces the Exam

This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.

Stardom was predicted for Cam Davis after he won the 2017 Australian Open as a 22-year-old, overcoming a six-shot deficit to a shell-shocked Jason Day in the final round. Defending champion Jordan Spieth and Cameron Smith were in the field.

Davis was supposed to follow in the footsteps of Greg Norman and his idol, Adam Scott, and also Day.

But stardom never came for the strapping 6-foot-4, 180-pound Aussie.

Oh, Davis is a pretty fair golfer, making a nice living with his position on the PGA Tour firmly secure.

Certainly more so now after winning for the second time in nearly 150 starts on Tour, taking the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Sunday at Detroit Golf Club.

Davis also won the Rocket Mortgage in 2021 for his first PGA Tour title, though in that one he wrested it away in a three-man playoff that included Joaquin Niemann. 

On Sunday, Davis emerged only after Akshay Bhatia -- 22 years old now himself -- missed a four-footer for par on 18. After leading most of the week, it was Bhatia's first three-putt of the tournament.

While Davis has been a decent enough player, he had taken a step back this year, and that's not a good thing when your next birthday will be your 30th.

Even though Davis had won in Detroit before, it was hard to see this win coming. ("The first couple years I played here I missed the cut and felt like this place just wasn't for me.") This win was just his fifth top-25 in 17 starts in 2024 and first since April. Granted, that one in April came at the Masters (T12).

"I'm working with a hypnotherapist that I only just started working with," Davis told reporters, "just trying to take a different approach to try and get my head back in the right place.

"Yeah, I honestly haven't been a very good place mentally at all for the last six months or so. I felt like all the opportunities have been slipping out of my hands as the year progresses without playing very good golf. I had a great week at the Masters and it feels like since then it all had just left me.

"I felt like a change of direction was definitely needed."

Davis didn't make the Australian Olympic team for next month in Paris, which was a bitter disappointment. Day is going and so is Min Woo Lee, one of four runners-up in Detroit and someone who has overtaken Davis on the Aussie pecking order.

Davis is still shooting to make the International Presidents Cup and of course the FedExCup Playoffs. That last one is now certain, after he jumped from 77th in the standings to 40th. Davis was 18th in the International Presidents Cup standings before the week and making the team will be quite hard, especially with the three Aussies in Day, Lee and Scott ahead of him and Canadian captain Mike Weir likely favoring his countrymen for the matches in Montreal.

When Wyndham Clark turned to a sports psychologist, his career did a 180 pretty fast. Of course, lots of golfers talk to a lot of people to help with the mental side of golf, and life, and not everyone starts winning.

But Davis did, and very soon after beginning sessions, there were impressive results. We shall see.

(Regardless, this will probably work out great for Grace the hypnotherapist.)

When Davis won in 2021, "I wanted it to be the start of something special," hes said. "I'm a few years down the track and really haven't had another opportunity, like a real opportunity to do it again. So it's been a very frustrating few years because I see a lot of young guys coming out and winning multiple times and making it happen. To not be one of those guys, especially now I'm almost 30, there are guys out here 21, 22 that are doing things that I wish I was doing and had done at their age. …

"I want to be out here, I want to be winning tournaments. All these things that come with winning are so much fun because you know you've done something great. To do it again, yeah, it feels pretty special now."

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Akshay Bhatia
Bhatia led for most of the tournament, and this was a crushing disappointment for the 22-year-old bidding for his third career win. The 18th hole was his only three-putt of the week. "It sucks," he said in an understatement. Once the immediate despair wears off, Bhatia will realize it was another great week for one of the best young players on Tour. This was his eighth straight week of playing, and who knows if that contributed to him three-putting from 32 feet. Bhatia will be taking this coming week off and returning the following week for the Scottish Open.

Aaron Rai
Rai was right there with Bhatia most of the week shooting for his first PGA Tour title. He had to settle for a four-way share of runner-up, which is still his best finish on Tour. Always straight-as-an-arrow, Rai ranked 10th in the field in SG: Putting, and that's been his weak spot. He ranked third in SG: Approach. Rai is now firmly inside the top-70 in the point standings, the cutoff point for the playoffs. He's now No. 57.

Min Woo Lee
It had been a good-but-not-great season for the Aussie, one that had to be viewed as a step back. He had only one top-10 all year before this shared runner-up, another second-place finish at the Cognizant. Even this week is not all good, as Lee bogeyed 18 to end up one shot back. He continues to play great in the majors, with two top-25s and a T26 at the PGA. When you play that well in the big events, eventually good things will happen. They almost did on Sunday.

Davis Thompson
A decent season has gotten a whole lot better the past couple of months. Thompson finished second at Myrtle Beach, top-10 at the U.S. Open and now this four-way runner-up means he's finished top-25 in more than half his starts this season. He's now No. 51 in the point standings, just outside the cutoff for the second playoff tournament.

Cameron Young
After coming close to his first Tour win last week in a signature event, Young was in the mix again. And has been the case most of the time, his putter let him down. He ranked 66th in SG: Putting in the final round, a number that won't get it done no matter the quality of the field. Young lost his cool late in the round and the casualty was his driver. Trevor Immelman noted on CBS that Young's on-course demeanor is terrible, and that does not help when trying to win a golf tournament. 

Rico Hoey
The 28-year-old Filipino was not exactly a household name coming in (and still isn't). Hoey had missed 10 of 15 cuts in his rookie season on Tour, including five straight entering this week. Naturally, he notched his best finish on Tour in tying for sixth. It was a great week, but likely an outlier.

Eric Cole
Cole has not been able to follow up last year's breakthrough season. He hadn't had so much as top-25 since March before tying for sixth this week. We'll have to see more before believing this will turn things around for him.

Erik van Rooyen
The South African got off to a fast start in 2024 but cooled significantly before tying for sixth this week. Like with Cole, it's too soon to think this portends a rebound.

Nick Dunlap
Dunlap has played in all the toughest tournaments and not fared very well. He was much more comfortable this week in tying for sixth. Despite winning the Amex and playing in most of the signature events and all the majors, Dunlap would not be in the playoffs if they started today. He's 85th in points.

Luke Clanton
The Florida State junior-to-be had himself quite a week in tying for 10th. His only other PGA Tour start was earlier in June when he made the cut at the U.S. Open. Clanton now heads to the John Deere, surely brimming with confidence.

Troy Merritt
Merritt is Mr. Rocket Mortgage. He tied for 17th. He simply loves this golf course. Play him next year.  

Neal Shipley
The low amateur at both the Masters and U.S. Open played his first PGA Tour event as a pro and tied for 20th. He was top-5 earlier in the week. Shipley will be at the John Deere this week and probably be far pricier than the $6,300 he was on DraftKings for the Rocket Mortgage.

Rickie Fowler
The defending champion and Rocket Mortgage pitchman thankfully made the cut to keep the sponsors, and the fans, happy. But Fowler could muster only a tie for 31st, and his poor season continues. He would not be in the playoffs if they started today, sitting 91st in the point standings.

Ben James.
Another amateur in on a sponsor invite, the Vanderbilt product tied for 44th.

Mark Hubbard
Hubbard is now 19-for-19 in cuts this season. He doesn't have many high finishes -- he tied for 52nd this week -- but when he's in your lineup he helps make the Friday cut sweats a little less sweaty.

MISSED CUTS

Tom Kim, Keith Mitchell, Michael Thorbjornsen, Jackson Koivun, Miles Russell, Will Zalatoris. It wasn't a complete surprise, or a concern, that Kim missed by a shot. He was coming off a pressure-filled week at the Travelers and was playing for the NINTH straight week. He'll be sitting out the John Deere. … Mitchell had a perfect opportunity to climb the point standings against a weak field and obviously didn't. … Thorbjornsen reminded us that he's 22, just turned pro and he will not be there every week. … The Auburn freshman Koivun had made the cut at the Memorial. … Russell, the 15-year-old high school freshman, missed in his first start on the PGA Tour. … Zalatoris withdrew citing a back injury and that's the problem with back injuries – most of them never fully go away.