Shriners Hospitals for Children Open Recap: Birdies for Days

When we think of birdie-fests on the PGA Tour, the Hawaii tournaments come to mind, The American Express, the John Deere Classic, the 3M Open, among others. The Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas is right there, and an argument can be made that it's the biggest birdie-fest of them all.

Four golfers shot at least 20-under-par at TPC Summerlin last week. Three of them -- Martin Laird, Matthew Wolff and Austin Cook -- hit 23-under, and they ended up in a playoff won by the Scotsman Laird. If you didn't shoot at least 16-under, you didn't crack the top 20.

Year after year, Summerlin has produced among the most total birdies and eagles on Tour. And when you consider there are only 144 golfers in the field, and used to be only 132, and that there are only three par-5s on the par-71, 7,255-yard track, that makes the case even stronger. That's not a long course to begin with by today's standards, but also factor in that it is situated at an altitude of 2,700 feet.

Nine times in the past 11 years, the winning score has been at least 20-under. Patrick Cantlay won at a mere 9-under in 2017 – and that goes to show what a howling wind can do to a golf ball, even on the easiest of tracks.

Laird totaled 21 birdies and three eagles. Co-runner-up Austin Cook had 22 and two. The other runner-up, Matthew Wolff, had only 18 birdies, but four eagles, including an incredible three as part of a back-nine 28 on Saturday.

Only twice in the past seven seasons have 2,000 birdies been registered in one tournament -- the 2019 Shriners (2,010) and the 2019 Canadian Open (2,021). Summerlin also led the Tour with 63 eagles in 2019. This year, it fell just short of 2,000 birdies -- 1,979 -- but bumped to an incredible 73 eagles. In 2018, with only 132 golfers, it ranked seventh in birdies and sixth in eagles. In 2016 -- we'll skip the 2017 anomaly -- it was third in birdies and second in eagles. Again, that was with only three par-5s and without a 156-max field.

Almost every year, the tournament is won by a shorter hitter -- the premium is so high on making putts. Even Wolff ranked only 17th in driving distance this past week. When Bryson DeChambeau won at 21-under in 2018 he ranked only 30th in the field in driving distance. For what it's worth, he was first in driving distance this year while tying for eighth.

This final fact doesn't really add to the birdie-fest argument, but it is worth nothing when telling the story of TPC Summerlin: The only time in PGA Tour history that a playoff ended with a hole-in-one was the 2010 version of this event, when Jonathan Byrd accomplished the feat at No. 17, the very hole on which Laird won his three-man playoff Sunday.

Just to close the circle, Laird was one of the two golfers, along with Cameron Percy, on the losing end of that playoff with Byrd.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Martin Laird
Coming off knee surgery in June, the 37-year-old Laird won the Shriners tournament for the second time. He zoomed from 351st in the world rankings all the way up to No. 88, but it's hard to consider Laird a good fantasy option. All too often we see guys come out of nowhere to win a tournament, then quickly return to where they came. Besides, this clearly is Laird's favorite track -- he's now a two two-time winner and a former runner-up.

Austin Cook
Cook had played 18 times from last year's Shriners to this year's Shriners. He had missed eight cuts and only once finished higher than a tie for 39th. So, treat his runner-up as an aberration (much like Laird's win). Cook won the RSM Classic in 2017 and now this is his second-best finish ever on Tour. He moved from 407th OWGR to 187th but more importantly, it all but guarantees he will retain his card next season.

Matthew Wolff
Wolff has now played twice in the new season and finished second both times. And going back to last season, three times in his past 10 starts. There's not much to say other than he's one of the hottest players in the world and is now up to No. 12 in the world rankings.

Tyrrell Hatton
Hatton won the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth to reach the top-10 in the world for the first time -- in the process knocking Brooks Koepka outside the top-10 for the first time since early 2018. This was not a cupcake field that Hatton beat -- Patrick Reed tied for third. The Englishman now heads back to the States for this week's CJ Cup.

Peter Malnati
Even though Malnati is a former winner on Tour, you could argue that the past two weeks have been the best of his PGA tour career. He followed up a solo second at last week's Sanderson with a tie for fifth at TPC Summerlin. They were both birdie-fests, and that's where the short-hitting, great-putting Malnati always has a chance to shine. His hot streak will be put on hold, however, as he won't be in the 78-man fields either of the next two weeks at the CJ Cup or ZOZO Championship. We should see him next in three weeks in Bermuda.

Will Zalatoris
Zalatoris needed a two-way tie for fifth or better to lock up special temporary membership on Tour. He got "only" a three-way tie for fifth, so he is on the cusp of STM. In his past four starts on the PGA Tour, the Korn Ferry standout has finished in the top-8 three times, including at the U.S. Open. Just like that, he's staring down the top-50 in the world rankings, now 57th.

Justin Suh
Suh was one of four all-Americans to turn pro in the summer of 2019. But only three -- Wolff, Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland -- had made professional names for themselves. The former Southern Cal star may be on his way. He tied for eighth, his best PGA tour finish, coming on the heels of a tie for 14th at Puntacana. He's now 436th OWGR, which may not sound like much. But he was in the 800s a month ago.

Patrick Cantlay
Cantlay's 2-over 73 on Sunday has to go down as one of the most shocking rounds of 2020. He entered the final group tied for the lead with Laird -- that after the past three years at the Shriners in which he won and finished runner-up twice. After shooting 4-over on the front, he used a couple of back-nine birdies to tie for eighth -- kind of a weird back-door top-10.

Luke Donald
Sadly, anytime Donald makes a cut these days, it pretty much constitutes as news. He tied for 66th -- last among those who made the weekend. He had missed his past five Tour cuts, all in weaker-field events. The former world No. 1 is playing this year on a one-time career money exemption. Donald still has eight long years to the Champions Tour (not that he needs the money).

Collin Morikawa
We won't call it a slump, but it's worth noting that Morikawa has missed three of his past five cuts since winning the PGA Championship. It's not unexpected, even for seemingly-mature-beyond-his-years Morikawa. One of the MCs was his next start after the PGA and another was the U.S. Open, so you could sort of give him a pass for those two. But the Shriners?

Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler returned from a positive test to finish tied for 37th at the Sanderson Farms before missing the cut at the Shriners. He said he was asymptomatic, and it's been very soon afterward, but it's fair to wonder if it was enough to mess with his fantastic play late last season. Scheffler will be in the field for the CJ Cup this week. 

Harris English
English missed the cut, the first time that's happened since Colonial at the beginning of the restart. He also missed at the RSM Classic last fall. Hey, it happens.

Rickie Fowler
Unlike with English, poor finishes are becoming all to regular for Fowler. He missed the cut at the Shriners. It's not that he's been missing that many cuts -- in fact, he's had three top-25s since the restart. But contending has become a thing of the past. Fowler has not had a top-10 since tying for 10th at the American Express in January. He's now down to 43rd OWGR.

Francesco Molinari
Molinari returned to golf for the first time since February and predictably missed the cut. He wasn't playing well last winter before the shutdown so there's no reason to expect good play from him until we see it. The new Californian is down to 77th in the world rankings.

Max Homa
Homa missed the Shriners cut, his fourth MC in his past five starts. He did tie for third at the 3M Open, his lone result inside the top-40 since the restart at Colonial. He's missed seven cuts in that stretch.

Hudson Swafford
Presented without comment: Swafford has missed two cuts since his out-of-nowhere win in the Dominican Republic.