Weekly Recap: Kokrak Racks up Another

Imagine if Tony Finau could putt. Or Sergio Garcia, or Tommy Fleetwood, or Keegan Bradley. They are all elite ball-strikers whose careers could've been -- and still could be -- so much more.

This time last year, Jason Kokrak would've fit seamlessly into that previous paragraph. But there's been a miraculous change in his putting -- really, nothing even close comes to mind -- and after a decade on the PGA Tour he is having a breakthrough season.

Kokrak outputted and outplayed fan favorite Jordan Spieth at Colonial on Sunday to win the Charles Schwab Challenge for his second tournament title of the 2020-21 campaign. He had played in 229 Tour events before this season and had never won. Now, he has two, just in his last 20 starts alone.

The burly 36-year-old Ohioan is ranked sixth on Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting. SIXTH. Last season, he ranked 151st, and before that: 103rd, 110th, 175th, 154th, 110th. This isn't just a slight improvement. This is scrub-dom to stardom in a heartbeat.

Kokrak has always delivered with driver in his hands. He ranks 21st in SG: Off-the-Tee this season, and going backward five years he was 9th, 11th, 36th, 12th, 11th.

Kokrak has said that every year he tries to get better by focusing on one part of his game at. He credits this year's putting improvement to his caddie, former Korn Ferry Tour golfer David Robinson, who suggested a longer putter. Kokrak ranked seventh in the Colonial field in putting.

"Well, I've got to hand it to the Admiral, David Robinson reading the greens," Kokrak told reporters after his win. "Ever since we got together four years ago, I called him up and said, listen, this is going to be a good ride. I'm a pretty good ball-striker and you're a great green reader and we'll make a good duo. I went to a different putter, more loft and I stuck with the left-hand low for the better part of 2.5 years probably."

The old adage "Drive for show, putt for dough" has been disproved by the strokes-gained stats. But, c'mon, it's not like putting doesn't matter. Just ask Bernhard Langer at the Ocean Course. Or Dustin Johnson at Chambers Bay. Or, sadly, Scott Hoch at Augusta.

Finau is a top-10 machine with a whopping 44 of them dating back to the start of 2017. Ten of those finishes have been runners-up. Imagine what Finau's career would look like now if he could putt not even great, but just a little bit better. For reference, Finau has been ranked outside the top 100 in putting in five of his seven seasons on Tour and currently is ranked 106th.

Kokrak had not been nearly as proficient as Finau in collecting high finishes. His tee-to-green game was not quite as good, and his putting was probably even worse.

Now, Kokrak is the No. 22 ranked golfer in the world. Before he won the CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek last October, he had never been top-50. There was still some doubt about Kokrak after that win, considering it took place at a course never played on the PGA Tour before and one he was eminently familiar with being an MGM Resorts guy in Vegas.

But after beating the mighty Spieth at one of the Texan's top tracks, it's difficult to still doubt Kokrak. 

He has a game seemingly well-suited for the U.S. Open, which happens to be coming up in three weeks. He has never had much success in the majors, but his best finish was a tie for 17th at last year's U.S. Open, which happened to have been played just two weeks before Shadow Creek.

This year's edition will be held at Torrey Pines, where Kokrak played five of the past six years and picked up three top-25s. He tied for 29th there in January, when he ranked 10th in SG: Tee-to-Green but only 45th in putting.

A top-10 showing in the Tee-to-Green department at a U.S. Open would likely bring him into the conversation on Sunday. Now imagine if he sinks a few more putts than he did in January.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Jordan Spieth
It was a momentous week for Spieth even though he didn't win – he is back inside the top-25 in the world rankings for the first time in more than two years. At No. 23, he is just behind Kokrak. Colonial is one of Spieth's favorite tracks, and he continued to play well there the past few years even while his game went south everywhere else. Despite not playing especially well in the final round, he added a runner-up to his brilliant 2021, which also includes a win, two thirds and four other top-10s. He's missed only one cut – at Torrey Pines.

Charley Hoffman
In this season of over-40 guys winning tournaments (Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Brian Gay, Matt Jones, Stewart Cink twice), the 44-year-old Hoffman has done everything but win. He tied for third, giving him top-20s in five straight tournaments, one of which was runner-up at the Valero, and seven of his past eight. He's now 60th OWGR after beginning the year at 144th.

Sebastian Munoz
Munoz had been having a really bad 2021. But he tied for third after leading the Colonial field in putting for the week. He had been ranked 115th in SG: Putting. So it's fair to wonder if this was just one very good week on the greens.

Patton Kizzire
Kizzire is a native Alabaman now living in Georgia, but Texas has been treating him better than it does Jordan Spieth. He tied for ninth at the Valero and for third at both the Byron Nelson and now Charles Schwab. Always a great putter, he was fourth in the field in SG: Tee-to-Green and only 35th in putting. That's a very good sign for his game, that he could finish top-5 without his "A"  game on the greens. Ranked almost 400th in the world last year at Colonial, he's now 106th.

Ian Poulter
Poulter was the fourth golfer to tie for third, his first podium finish on the PGA Tour since the 2019 WGC-Mexico. He is now 45, but it's a Ryder Cup year, so you never know with Poulter.

Emiliano Grillo
Another guy whose putter is not his best friend, Grillo ranked 19th in putting on the week. He tied for eighth, which follows up a recent runner-up at another shorter track, Harbour Town. But Grillo also tied for 14th at the uber-long Quail Hollow. Which means he's got a good thing going now.

Gary Woodland
After going eight months without a top-15, Woodland now has three in the past eight weeks after tying for 14th.

Erik Compton
The two-time recipient of a heart transplant, Compton was in a sponsor invite and tied for 20th. It was only his fourth PGA Tour event in five years and his best finish in more than six. The 41-year-old now resides on the Korn Ferry Tour, but this was nice to see and could result in more sponsors reaching out.
 
John Augenstein
The 2019 U.S. Amateur runner-up turned pro after last November's Masters and just made his first cut as a pro. After seven misses, one on the Korn Ferry Tour, he tied for 20th at Colonial. But this was Augenstein's seventh sponsor invite, so he might be exclusive to the Korn Ferry Tour for now.

Patrick Reed
Reed was top-25 at THE PLAYERS, top-10 at the Masters and top-20 at the PGA, but he just missed his fourth cut of 2021, which matches his total from all of 2020 and doubles his total from 2019. On the other hand, he won just fur months ago at Torrey Pines, where he'll be returning in three weeks for the U.S. Open.

Phil Mickelson
Mickelson admirably gave it a go just days after winning the PGA Championship. He didn't play great, but he was in line to make the cut until bogeying 18 on Friday to trunk-slam on the number. He is sitting out this week's Memorial, so we likely won't see him until the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, where he'll go for two majors in a row and the Career Grand Slam.