Eckroat cards 1st Tour victory, Green wins in Singapore | The Sunday Swing

The Sunday Swing
March 3rd, 2024

Welcome back to another edition of the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week in the professional golfing world, the PGA Tour was in the Palm Beaches for the playing of the Cognizant Classic at PGA NAtional, while the LPGA Tour remained in Thailand for the HSBC Women’s Champions at Sentosa Golf Club.

Cognizant Classic - Tournament History 

For the past 42 years, fans have come to know this event as the Honda Classic, but after Honda did not renew their sponsorship, Cognizant stepped in as the newest Title Sponsor on the PGA Tour. PGA National (The Champion) was designed by Tom and George Fazio and was later redesigned by Jack Nicklaus. Measuring just over 7,000 yards, it is one of the shorter courses played on the PGA Tour. Where it lacks in length it makes up for with water hazards seemingly everywhere you look. In the past twenty years of the event, there have been 4,730 water balls at PGA National. The course is also known for the infamous stretch of holes 15-17, otherwise known as “The Bear Trap”. Players will face two very difficult par-3’s and a difficult par-4, with water hazards of course being the focal point of each hole. Throughout the years we’ve seen some devastating collapses thanks to these holes specifically. Typically whoever can handle their nerves the best as they make their way through the Bear Trap on Sunday will have a good chance to hoist the trophy. The 18th hole is a reachable, high-risk high-reward par-5 that always delivers drama in what is usually a tightly contested leaderboard. With water all along the right side and surrounding the green, precision is key especially when going for the green in two, which most players opt to do if they find the fairways off the tee. Four of the last five editions of this event have been decided by just one stroke, and the previous five champions are as follows: 

2024 - Austin Eckroat (-17)
2023 - Chris Kirk (-14)
2022 - Sepp Straka (-10)
2021 - Matt Jones (-12)
2020 - Sungjae Im (-6) 

The Big Swing 

The big swing this week goes to the former Oklahoma State Cowboy Austin Eckroat. During his rookie tour season in 2022-23, Eckroat made a name for himself contending on several occasions, including a runner-up finish at the AT&T Byron Nelson. He also notched a top 10 finish at the 2023 US Open, showing he could compete with the best in the world on the biggest of stages. Now, he’s a PGA Tour winner.

Eckroat opened the week with a six-under-par 65, positioning himself just one back after Thursday. However, at PGA National, one round alone is not enough to put you in contention. The plethora of penalty areas can quickly ruin a good week of golf. Eckroat managed to keep his ball out of trouble with exceptional ball striking. Through three rounds, Eckroat shared the lead with 2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry and Englishman David Skinns at 13-under-par. A host of others trailed by three at -10. 

Rory McIlroy, the biggest name in the field, momentarily got to 10-under before the Bear Trap got him as well. A triple bogey on the par-3 16th hole during his third round took him out of contention.

The final round brought all sorts of challenges for the leaders. The first of them was Erik Van Rooyen. The South African and former Minnesota Golden Gopher began the final round seven shots back at six-under-par, but went on a tear during his front nine. He made birdie on eight of his first 10 holes to grab the solo lead at 14-under-par. That’s when a thunderstorm rolled into the area and postponed play for several hours on Sunday, forcing the leaders to wait until much later in the day to tee off and finish their rounds on Monday.

Van Rooyen was able to finish his round late on Sunday and post 14-under-par as the clubhouse lead, setting the mark for the leaders to chase. Eckroat got off to the best start of the co-leaders, making birdies on Nos. 4 and 5 to gain the solo lead at 15-under-par before darkness suspended play until Monday.

Lowry and Skinns, meanwhile, struggled. They each made two bogeys on the front nine to shoot two-over-par 37s to fall four shots back. They couldn’t muster any momentum while in pursuit of Eckroat. 

At this point, the tournament was Eckroat’s to lose – and he played near flawless golf down the stretch. His only mistake came on the par-4 14th hole, where his approach flew long into a greenside bunker, resulting in a bogey. The dagger came on the par-4 16th hole, one of the toughest on the course. A mid-iron from the fairway set up a 12-foot birdie putt to get back to 17-under-par and establish a three-shot cushion with two holes to play. The putt fell, all but sealing the victory. Pars on the final two holes gave Eckroat his first career PGA Tour win.

Winner’s Bag - Austin Eckroat

Austin Eckroat struck the ball phenomenally on a difficult golf course at PGA National to win the Cognizant Classic, his first career PGA Tour win. He finished the week top five in the field in both strokes gained off the tee and strokes gained on approach shots. Eckroat’s bag features exclusively PING clubs from the driver to the putter, including a PING G430 LST driver (9 degrees at 9.25), PING G430 Max 3-wood (15 degrees at 14.25), PING Blueprint S 3-iron, PING Blueprint T irons (4-PW), PING Glide Forged Pro wedges (50, 54, and 60 degrees), and a PING Redwood D66 putter.

In the World of Women’s Golf

This week on the LPGA Tour, the ladies best competed at Sentosa Golf Club in Thailand at the HSBC Women’s Champions. Last week's winner and Thailand native Patty Tavatanakit was looking to go 2 for 2 in her home countries, while others like Brooke Henderson, Nasa Hataoka, Allisen Corpuz, Jin Young Ko, and more looked to breakthrough for the first time this season. Australia’s Hannah Green was the player who was able to get it done this week, but not without fighting adversity. On Thursday, Green shot a 2-over par round of 74 and was going to have to fight to make the cut on Friday. On Friday she teed off with a sense of urgency, and was able to rally for a five-under round of 67 and was sitting at -3 heading into the weekend. Green continued her momentum on Saturday, carding yet another round of 67 to vault herself into contention. Also playing well was Ayaka Furue, Celine Boutier, Andrea Lee, and Patty Tavatanakit, although a Saturday 73 may have cost her a chance at going back to back. On Sunday it became a two horse race down the stretch as Furue stumbled and dropped four shots on the final four holes. Celine Boutier had a two shot cushion over Hannah Green heading into the final three holes, but then Green caught fire at the perfect time. After making birdies on 16 and 17, Green had an opportunity to win if she could make another birdie on the 18th. After her approach shot settled about 30 feet from the hole, Green rolled in her third consecutive birdie from range to win by one in dramatic fashion over Boutier. Four players finished in a tie for third including Brooke Henderson, Nasa Hataoka, Mi Hyang Lee, and Yuna Nishimura.