Taylor Pendrith had it won and then it looked like he'd lost, but eventually snatched back his first PGA Tour victory at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on Sunday afternoon at TPC Craig Ranch.
Pendrith, who went into the final round with a lead, played well throughout the front nine but started to fade a bit on the back nine as Ben Kohles made a hard charge toward the top of the leaderboard with birdies on Nos. 16 and 17. Pendrith barely saved par on both holes and trailed by one going to the final hole when, just three holes earlier, he had a one-shot lead.
At No. 18, his persistence paid dividends. Kohles made an astounding bogey after a yippy chip that was the only score worse than par by anyone in the field on Sunday, and Pendrith poured in a two-putt birdie for the first PGA Tour win of his career.
It has not been Pendrith's best year, which he alluded to in an interview after his round with CBS Sports. However, it was an awesome week at the right time. Pendrith finished third in this field from tee to green, which is usually a good formula for winning. And winning this event is a good formula for a few other checkpoints for Pendrith this year.
The first is that he gets into next week's Wells Fargo Championship. The second, and perhaps more important for Pendrith, is that he's now officially on the radar for a Presidents Cup bid later this year when the biennial event heads to Pendrith's home country of Canada where fellow Canadian Mike Weir will be captain.
Both of those are momentous turning points for Pendrith -- to date he had missed six cuts and made just four of them. But like his round on Sunday, he continued to endure and reaped the rewards of that endurance. Even if he had to wait until the very end for it to happen. Grade: A+
Here are the grades for the rest of the notables on the leaderboard at the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
T11. Si Woo Kim (-17): My guy Si Woo stays hot with another solid performance. He has not missed a cut this year, and if you look at the three non-putting strokes gained categories, he's been positive in each category for every event he's played starting with the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March except for his approach play at the Masters. That's the only time he was worse than average in any single category at any individual event. That's crazy! Grade: B+
T30. Nick Dunlap (-14): The American Express winner has struggled mightily since winning nearly four. months ago. He has played just one tournament in which he was positive both off the tee and with his iron play. Coming into this week, he has only one (one!) top 40 finish since winning in Palm Springs in January and turning pro. It has been an eye-opening experience for somebody who I'm still extremely excited about in the long term. Dunlap is barely 20 years old and simply struggling with the ebbs and flows of pro golf. This week must be an encouragement for him as its his second decent finish in his last four starts (he also finished T11 in Houston before the Masters). Grade: C+
MC. Jordan Spieth (-4): I will hit the panic button if you will. After a nice start to the year, here's what Spieth's last eight tournaments look like.
- Genesis Invitational: DQ
- Arnold Palmer Invitational: T30
- Players Championship: MC
- Valspar Championship: MC
- Texas Open: T10
- Masters: MC
- RBC Heritage: T39
- CJ Cup Byron Nelson: MC
Whew, that's bad. And while players like Spieth can almost always find something faster than it seems like they should be able to, there are so many different holes to plug. Here's an example: On Thursday in the first round at TPC Craig Ranch, Spieth hit it well, but finished 113th in putting. On Friday in the second round, he led the field in driving (what?) but finished 154th in approach play (out of 155 golfers). It's not just one thing with him. It's so many different things all the time and all at once. Winning the PGA Championship to complete the grand slam has never looked further away. Grade: F