Bradley Wins Hometown Tour Event, Yin Captures First Major | Sunday Swing

Welcome back to the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week was a busy one in the world of professional golf. The PGA Tour hosted the Travelers Championship, the final designated event of the season at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, CT, while the LPGA Tour hosted the highly anticipated  KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield Township, New Jersey.  

Travelers Championship - Tournament History 

The Travelers Championship was originally founded a little over 70 years ago in 1952 as the Insurance City Open. It wasn’t until 2007 that Travelers took over as the title sponsor. In 1984, the tournament moved to TPC of Connecticut in Cromwell. Then in 1991, the course underwent a massive redesign and the course was renamed to TPC River Highlands. The course itself is the second shortest course on tour measuring only 6,844 yards which, after the U.S. Open, is a welcomed friendly setup. The par 70 is the site of the Tour’s lowest round in history when Jim Furyk shot a 58 in the final round of the 2016 edition. 

The Big Swing 

This week the Big Swing fittingly goes to the New England native, Keegan Bradley. Bradley kicked off the season with a win in Japan at the Zozo Championship, and has been playing solid all year with 13/17 cuts made, along with seven top-25’s and four top-10’s. A missed cut the week before at the U.S. Open may have hurt the confidence of many players. But for Bradley, the missed cut allowed him to spend some more time with his family and travel to the event sooner. As a native of New England, Bradley felt right at home from the moment he stepped foot on the grounds – and it showed in his play.

The story at the start of the week was the short hitting Denny McCarthy, who has been playing really good golf this season. McCarthy lost fell just short in a playoff at the Memorial Tournament a few short weeks ago, and then followed that up with a T20 at the U.S. Open last week. McCarthy started the week with an electric 10-under 60 – nearly holing out at the 18th for 59. Bradley opened with a 62 (-8), while other big names such as Adam Scott (62) and Scottie Scheffler (63) made their presence known right away. 

Bradley backed up his opening round 62 by keeping his foot on the gas and carding a second-round 63. One surprise was the 32-year-old Zac Blair, who has only made six cuts all season, opened with a pair of 65’s and was in the mix heading into the weekend. Several noteables failed to make the weekend, including Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, and Si Woo Kim. 

On the weekend, the Keegan Bradley show continued. In front of his home crowd, Bradley carded a third round 64 that included six birdies and no bogeys to hold control of the tournament with 18 holes remaining. Rickie Fowler shot a career low round of 60 to surge up the leaderboard, one week after playing in the final group of the U.S. Open. However, the only real threat to Bradley’s lead was the past champion Chez Reavie who logged a 63 and was in second place heading into Sunday. 

Unfortunately, Reavie was a little off on Sunday and couldn’t get the momentum going. He dropped shots early at Nos. 5 and 9, seemingly shooting himself in the foot as Bradley’s birdie train kept rolling. With birdies at 3, 4, and 6, Bradley opened up a commanding lead that would take something remarkable to catch. He even reached 25-under for the tournament after a couple more birdies to start the back nine. Keegan eventually would make bogeys at 13, 14, and 16 but it was too late for anyone else to catch him. Bradley tapped in for par on the 18th for a final round 68, his sixth career victory, second of the season, and first in front of his home fans. In a tie for second was Blair and Brian Harman at 20-under par, three shots back. 

Winner’s Bag - Keegan Bradley

Keegan Bradley has been one of the most consistent ball-strikers on tour for over a decade now. And when that putter starts rolling, he’s almost always in the mix. The six-time PGA Tour winner carries three different brands in his bag.  Off the tee, Keegan plays the TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus Driver (@ 10.5 degrees). He combos that with a TaylorMade SIM2 Max HL 3-wood (@ 16 degrees). Like many players on Tour these days, Bradley also carries a Callaway Apex Utility Wood (@ 19 degrees). Powering his impressive iron game is a unique combo set of Srixon irons: a Srixon MK2 3-iron, Srixon ZX5 irons (4-5), and Srixon ZX7 irons (6-PW). He only carries two wedges – Cleveland RTX ZipCores at 52 and 58 degrees. The most notable club has to be the putter. He led the field in putting with his Odyssey Versa Jailbird, the same model used by Wyndham Clark and Rickie Fowler in the final pairing of the U.S. Open last week.

In the World of Women’s Golf 

This week was a big one for the LPGA as the best ladies in the world gathered out east once again for the playing of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Hosted at Baltusrol Golf Club, the site of the 2016 PGA Championship, the world’s best would have to conquer a stern test if they want to become a major champion. One of the biggest stories in the women’s game is the 20-year-old phenom Rose Zhang, who recently won in her professional debut at Liberty National in a playoff over major champion Jennifer Kupcho. Now Zhang was making her major championship debut, and all eyes were on her. While Zhang shot an opening round 70, it was recent winner Leona Maguire and a pair of impressive Chinese roommates (Ruoning Yin and Xiyu Lin) who came out firing. Maguire carded an opening round 69, whilst Yin and Lin carded a pair of 67’s. Another big name who opened with 67 was two-time major winner Brooke Henderson, who was looking to get her first win since January. 

Heading into the weekend there was a jam-packed leaderboard and seemingly anyone in the top-15 had a chance to take the title. Maguire held the 54-hole lead at 7-under par, while players like Yin, Lin, Furue, Saso, and Nordqvist lurked close behind. Thanks to an eagle at the 18th hole on Saturday, Zhang was able to stay within striking distance at six shots off the pace. 

On Sunday, players were greeted by unpleasant weather and were forced off the course for two hours after play had begun. The bigger story was indeed Zhang, who was making a Sunday charge in her first ever major. Zhang opened with back-to-back birdies before making two more birdies at Nos. 7 and 8 to make the turn at four-under 31. 

She clawed to within one shot of the lead held by Yin, Lin, and Saso, but an uncharacteristic iron shot at the par-3 16th put her in a tough position and ultimately led to a bogey. When she was unable to convert a good birdie chance on the 17th, Zhang would need to match her eagle from Saturday on the 18th to have a chance. Unfortunately, the dream was dashed rather quickly when her tee shot trickled into the water. 

As play began to wrap, it was Yin needing birdie at the par-5 18th to post 8-under and take the lead by herself. After hitting an exceptional wedge shot to about 10 feet, Yin was able to cash in for birdie and pretty much slam the door on the final contenders who were two shots back with one to play. While Zhang has garnered much of the attention in the golf world as the next superstar, Yin is also just 20 years of age and now has two victories – one of which being her first major title. Yin won previously this year at the DIO Implant LA Open, beating Georgia Hall by one stroke. Yin has quickly made a name for herself and proven she can beat the best in the biggest championships. She also is just the second Chinese player to ever win on the LPGA Tour.

Winner's Bag - Ruoning Yin

Ruoning Yin has made quite the name for herself on the LPGA circuit at just 20 years old. After winning earlier this season at the LA Open, Yin earned the title of major champion over the weekend at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. Yin sank a 10-foot putt for birdie on the 72nd hole to slam the door shut on those chasing in close pursuit at the difficult Baltursol Golf Club. Yin's bag is made up of entirely Callaway clubs, including a Paradym Triple Diamond driver, Paradym fairway wood (15 degrees) and Paradym hybrid (18 degrees), X-Forged CB irons, Jaws Raw Black Plasma wedges, and an Odyssey White Hot OG No. 7 putter.