This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.
Kevin Kisner played great all week in winning the WGC-Dell Mach Play Championship on Sunday. He took down star golfer after star golfer: Tony Finau, Ian Poulter, Louis Oosthuizen, Francesco Molinari and then Matt Kuchar in the final.
Kisner played with such determination and stoicism that on TV they were calling him a "bulldog."
It was by far the biggest victory of Kisner's career, though after he made a long birdie putt on 16 to close out Kuchar, 3&2, he curiously gave a simple hand wave, much like he would when making a birdie on, say, a Friday at the Greenbrier.
Maybe they were calling him a bulldog because he never smiles. And also spits a lot.
In all seriousness, we get why Kisner was being called a bulldog. It was his demeanor and five days of superb golf. And if you want to throw in last year's Match Play, in which Kisner made it to the final match before being steamrolled by Bubba Watson, 10 days. Match play is mano-a-mano, and you seem tougher you win at match play more than stroke play.
But 10 days does not make a bulldog in sports.
This type of grittiness is a badge of honor in sports and, because of that, Kisner has a better reputation than his accomplishments merit.
Kisner, in fact, could be considered a bit of an underachiever, especially if you think the bulldog label is apt. He's 35. It took him a long time
Kevin Kisner played great all week in winning the WGC-Dell Mach Play Championship on Sunday. He took down star golfer after star golfer: Tony Finau, Ian Poulter, Louis Oosthuizen, Francesco Molinari and then Matt Kuchar in the final.
Kisner played with such determination and stoicism that on TV they were calling him a "bulldog."
It was by far the biggest victory of Kisner's career, though after he made a long birdie putt on 16 to close out Kuchar, 3&2, he curiously gave a simple hand wave, much like he would when making a birdie on, say, a Friday at the Greenbrier.
Maybe they were calling him a bulldog because he never smiles. And also spits a lot.
In all seriousness, we get why Kisner was being called a bulldog. It was his demeanor and five days of superb golf. And if you want to throw in last year's Match Play, in which Kisner made it to the final match before being steamrolled by Bubba Watson, 10 days. Match play is mano-a-mano, and you seem tougher you win at match play more than stroke play.
But 10 days does not make a bulldog in sports.
This type of grittiness is a badge of honor in sports and, because of that, Kisner has a better reputation than his accomplishments merit.
Kisner, in fact, could be considered a bit of an underachiever, especially if you think the bulldog label is apt. He's 35. It took him a long time just to get to the PGA Tour. He had won only twice previously on Tour, at the RSM Classic in 2015 and at Colonial in 2017. Otherwise, he's had a bunch of near misses. He is 0-3 in playoffs (0-4 including the two-man Zurich Classic). He's made only one team competition, the 2017 Presidents Cup. He went 2-0-1 paired with Phil Mickelson, but in his singles match, he uninspiringly halved with the uninspiring Anirban Lahiri.
Until Sunday's win, Kisner had had a so-so 2019 to date, at least so-so- for a supposed star. The year had seen him come dangerously close to falling out of the top 50 in the world. In fact, he was 50th coming in, having fallen from 38th at the end of 2018. Here were his six latest results before the Match Play: T26-T28-T27-T23-T22-T24. Good, and what a lot of golfers would kill for, but not exactly a star. Kisner is not top-35 in any of the strokes-gained stats.
The victory moved him to No. 25 in the OWGR. He's never been higher than No. 14. Again, a lot of guys would cut off their right arm for that, but to have never been in the top-10 …
So now Kisner – a former Georgia Bulldog, though that's not why they call him a bulldog – heads to the Masters. He's never won a major, but did come semi-close for the first and only time last summer when he finished two strokes behind Molinari in a four-way tie for second at the Open Championship. He's never gotten a sniff at Augusta, with a tie for 28th last year being his best finish in three visits. That's right, just three visits at age 35.
Kisner will always be a decent mid-level fantasy option. He has 30 top-10s in 196 career starts, 56 top-25s.
Far from a poodle, but not really a bulldog either.
MONDAY BACKSPIN
Kuchar is the opposite of Kisner in demeanor. He's always smiling. But underneath those grins, he also is a bulldog – and one with a far better career. And even a better year, with two wins, a tie for fourth and now a runner-up. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have much left in the tank for the finals, none of the sharpness he displayed over his first six matches. Kuchar is an interesting consideration for the Masters. He's had three top-5s there. He was even T28 last year amid one of the worst seasons of his career. Kuchar is back up to No. 16 in the world, his highest standing in more than a year. He'll never get back to top ranking, No. 4, not even if he wins at Augusta. Which is not such an outlandish thought.
There was a lot of chatter after Woods lost his quarterfinal match to Lucas Bjerregaard on Saturday that it probably was for the best. The thinking was that with the Masters less than two weeks away, playing 36 holes on Sunday, after playing 36 on Saturday, would have been more detrimental than beneficial, even if he somehow could've won the tournament. Augusta is the primary goal, of course, and we have to agree with the logic. It was a good week for Woods, but his game didn't shine in any one area at Austin Country Club, so he has a lot to work on before heading down Magnolia Lane.
Last year at this time, Molinari had never done much at the Match Play. But then again, a year ago, there were a lot of things he hadn't done. He hadn't won on the PGA Tour, he hadn't won a major, he hadn't been the star of the Ryder Cup. Molinari followed up his Bay Hill win with a third-place showing at the Match Play, another guy done in by Kisner. The last few weeks have put him in prime position to contend next week at the Masters. He tied for 20th a year ago, but hadn't even started his stretch of exceptional play last April. Molinari would surprise no one by winning his second major.
A year ago, the 27-year-old Dane was a virtual unknown to PGA Tour followers, playing in Europe and ranked outside the top 200 in the world. And that was even with a win at the 2017 Portugal Masters. Now, he's known as the guy who slayed Tiger Woods in the Match Play quarterfinals. He ended up fourth after losing the consolation match to Molinari. A switch flipped for Bjerregaard last April with a T6 at the Volvo China Open, the first of 10 worldwide top-10s since. He won the prestigious Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in October, fending off Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton by a stroke (and Brooks Koepka by six). Bjerregaard first announced himself to U.S. golf observers with a tie for 12th last month at the Honda, and now we'll see him at Augusta. It's hard for any Masters rookie, but the big-hitting Bjerregaard has the game to make a little noise there.
We really liked Oosthuizen's chances at the Match Play, and we still like them for the Masters. He was humming along until running into Kisner in the quarterfinals. The 36-year-old South African – and it does seem like he's been around a lot longer than a 36-year-old, right? – seems completely free of his longstanding back problems. As anyone who's had back trouble knows, it could always return at a moment's notice, but Oosthuizen has been playing great since the fall and has a great track record at Augusta.
Casey had a very good follow-up week to his win at the Valspar. He won his round-robin group before being eliminated by Molinari in the round of 16. The Englishman had top-6 finishes three years running at the Masters before falling to T15 last year. He's playing better now than maybe at any point in his career.
Haotong Li
Li is still only 23. He will continue to get better from his position inside the top 40 in the world rankings. The best player ever from China showed some really moxie in downing Brooks Koepka and Alex Noren in the round-robin phase, then dispatching Noren in a playoff to get to the knockout round. Then, like a lot of good players, he ran into Kisner. We don't expect him to contend at the Masters, but he surely could improve upon his T32 from last year in his Augusta debut. But first – and this is interesting – Li will play the Texas Open this week. We're not sure that will help him at the Masters, but he could very well win the tournament amid a very weak field.
Well, there is really nothing to like about DeChambeau's form heading into the Masters. He finished T56-T46-T20 before getting waxed by Marc Leishman in the Match Play, keeping him from advancing to the knockout round. As we always say, you better find your game before you get to Augusta, because it's nearly impossible to find it there.
Furyk just missed getting out of the "Group of Death" with Jason Day, Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson. He won his first two matches but then fell to Stenson in a win-or-go-home match. Furyk went home, and it cost him. He needed one more win to move into the top-50 in the world and get a spot in the Masters. He's 52nd. Furyk has one more chance, needing to win this week's Valero Texas Open to qualify for Augusta. It has to be bitterly disappointing to Furyk, but at 48, this has been quite an early season run for him.
McDowell won the opposite-field event in the Dominican Republic, Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, for his first win since 2015. He said in an interview right after winning that it's "been a rough few years." The Northern Irishman won at Mayakoba in the fall 2015, finished third at the RSM Classic the very next week and then didn't have a podium finish again until now. At 39, you had to wonder whether those "rough few years" would continue, but this turns the tide a little bit. McDowell remains somewhat of a fantasy option in weaker fields on shorter courses – and there are a good number of those events every year. He had finished top-20 at the RSM and at Pebble Beach earlier this season. He's back up to No. 133 in the world.
