Rai secures 1st PGA Tour win, Ko earns Gold Medal | The Sunday Swing

The Sunday Swing 
August 11th, 2024

Welcome back to another edition of the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week in the professional golf world, the PGA Tour was in Greensboro, NC for the season finale- the Wyndham Championship. In Paris, the ladies best gathered to compete for an Olympic Gold medal.

Wyndham Championship - Tournament History 

Wyndham Championship - Tournament History 

The Wyndham Championship dates back all the way to 1938, debuting as the Greater Greensboro Open. Riddled with history, the Wyndham Championship has been a staple on tour for 86 years. In 1965, Sam Snead set two records in one week – eight wins at the same event, and was the oldest player to win on the PGA Tour at age 52. In 1961, Charlie Sifford made history becoming the first African American player to make a start on the PGA Tour. Sifford led after day one, and ended up finishing in a tie for fourth.

The host course, Sedgefield Country Club, originally opened 98 years ago in 1926. The Donald Ross, 7,127 yard par-70 has been a player and fan favorite since it first hosted the event in 1938. Even though the course features just two par-5’s, its shorter length has allowed tour pros to shoot impressively low scores at Sedgefield throughout the years. The tournament scoring record was set in 2017 by Henrik Stenson, when he won at 22-under par. Two years later, J.T. Poston matched his record of 22-under, but it has not yet been eclipsed. 

One of the most intriguing aspects of the Wyndham Championship is the fact that it sits as the final stop on the regular season PGA Tour schedule. Only the top-70 players in the season-long FedEx Cup standings will have an opportunity to play in the playoffs. Those who are near the bottom, or just outside the top-70, will be battling for their chance at large bonuses if they can reach the playoffs. Through the years we’ve seen it come down to the very last hole, including last season when Justin Thomas’ season came to an end after failing to chip in for a birdie on the 72nd hole. Had it gone in, the birdie would have been just enough to get him into the 70th position. This year, defending champion Lucas Glover enters the week in the 76th position, and will have to rekindle his last season magic this week if he wants to extend his season. The previous five champions of the Wyndham are as follows: 

2024 - Aaron Rai (-18)
2023 - Lucas Glover (-20)
2022 - Tom Kim (-20)
2021 - Kevin Kisner (-15)
2020 - Jim Herman (-21) 

The Big Swing 

This week the big swing belongs to Englishman Aaron Rai. The 29-year-old from Wolverhampton has been playing great golf all season long and has put himself in contention many times. Already with five top-10’s on the season (including 3 top-7’s in his last 4 starts), Rai has been one of the most underrated players on tour this season and he was hoping to claim his first title before the playoffs begin. 

With tropical storm Debby rolling across the eastern coast of the United States, play at the Wyndham Championship was suspended entirely on Thursday as the course was unplayable due to high winds and large amounts of rain. With a busy weekend of golf ahead, players began round one on Friday morning, then began round two in the afternoon, playing until daylight would allow. With the course receptive from the rainfall, players took advantage and made birdies in bunches. A couple of veterans continued their strong late season form. Billy Horschel set the pace with an opening 62, followed up by a 68. Matt Kuchar was close behind him after a pair of 64s. Rai continued to play well as he opened with a pair of 65s. 

Arguably the biggest story of the opening rounds was Max Greyserman. The 29-year-old American out of Duke University is still seeking his first PGA Tour victory. Greyserman opened with a 1-under 69, but caught fire for the 2nd round carding a 10-under 60 to surge up the leaderboard. Sitting at 64th in the FedEx Cup before the week, a solid finish will secure his spot at the St. Jude next week. 

As the third round was underway, another big story emerged. 20-year-old amateur Luke Clanton was making a big move. After starting with rounds of 68 and 69, Clanton carded a third-round 62 and moved all the way into a tie for second place at 13-under par. But it was Greyserman who held the lead after three rounds play, thanks to a third-round 66 that got him to 15-under and two clear of the pack. 

As the final round began, the chase was on. Birdies were falling in from everywhere as the playoffs hung in the balance. Rai got off to a hot start making four birdies in a row on Nos. 3-6. Despite the great play, he was still three shots behind the lead. Greyserman made three birdies of his own and an eagle to also turn in 4-under. 

The lead was trimmed to two as Greyserman stood on the 13th hole – and this is where the tournament got crazy for both contenders. Greyserman holed out for eagle from the fairway to increase his lead to four shots. Then, on the very next hole, Greyserman’s tee shot went out of bounds, and his recovery from that point on was also a debacle. A quadruple-bogey 8 wiped out the lead completely, leaving he and Rai tied once again at the top. 

The roller coaster continued on the par-5 15th, where Greyserman had seemingly regained control of the round with a birdie to jump back on top while Rai made par. However, disaster struck Greyserman again on the par-3 16th. A four-putt from 41 foot, including three putts from three feet, resulted in a double bogey for Greyserman. Meanwhile, Rai continued to make par after par and now held the solo lead at 17-under-par. Rai put an exclamation point on the victory with a birdie on the final hole to finish at 18-under-par. 

For Rai, it was a bogey-free round of 64. This is technically Rai’s 7th professional victory, though it is his first ever on the PGA Tour. The win also moves him inside the top-30 at the No. 25 spot, which would get him into the tour championship in a couple weeks. It’s worth noting that the last man into the FedEx Cup playoffs will be Frenchmen Victor Perez, who entered the week on the bubble to begin with. Missing it by one was Davis Riley, who won at Colonial earlier this year.

Winner’s Bag - Aaron Rai 

Aaron Rai's bag features a mix of TaylorMade and Titleist clubs. He starts off his bag with a five-year-old driver, playing the TaylorMade M6. For his 3-Wood and 5-Wood, he stays with TaylorMade, but opts for the current generation Qi10 for both woods. He then pairs those fairway woods with a Titleist TSR2 24 degree hybrid to round out the long game portion of his bag. For his irons, Rai goes back to TaylorMade, playing the TaylorMade P7TW's for his 5 through 9 irons. Rather than playing the P7TW pitching wedge, Rai matches the rest of his wedges by playing an SM9 for his pitching wedge, his gap wedge, sand wedge and lob wedge. He finishes the bag off with a TaylorMape TP Dupage mallet putter.

Women’s Olympics 

This week in Paris it was the ladies’ turn to play for a gold medal. Nelly Korda emerged as the gold medalist at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, while Japan’s own Mone Inami claimed silver and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko won bronze. This week, Korda came in as the favorite as expected, ranked No. 1 in the world along with a pile of wins this season. Plenty of other players threaten her chances however, including Rose Zhang, Lydia Ko, Brooke Henderson, Lilia Vu, and more. Rose Zhang was making her Olympic debut for the United States after becoming the fastest rising star in the women’s game over the past couple of years. The 21-year-old phenom out of Stanford has already won twice on the LPGA Tour after turning pro in 2023. Zhang is no stranger to winning big events despite her young age- she’s won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, PAC-12 Individual Championship, and NCAA Championship all just in 2023. 

After starting out just a couple under through two rounds in Paris, Zhang fired a 67 in round three and jumped up to 7-under and into a spot on the podium if she could hang on. Leading the way was two-time Olympic medalist Lydia Ko, who was looking to medal in her third straight Olympics. Ko also opened with 72, but followed it up with 67 and 68, giving her the solo lead heading into the final round. Korda got herself to within five shots after the third round, but a disappointing final round spoiled her chances at stealing a medal this time around. 

As the leaders teed off, there was a push being made by the chasers who were already on the course. Germany’s Esther Henseleit started the final round at 2-under par (seven shots off the lead) but quickly moved into contention on Sunday. Henseleit continued making birdies while Zhang struggled to get anything going. Meanwhile, Ko was handling the pressure well and was playing a steady round. China’s Xiyu Lin also played well on Sunday, posting a 3-under 69 to get into the bronze medal position. Luckily for Lin, Zhang was unable to recover from her early struggles and ultimately carded a 2-over 74 and finished in a tie for eighth. 

Henseleit stormed all the way back and posted 8-under in the clubhouse, which wound up good enough for silver. Ko had stayed calm throughout the back nine, and closed out her round in 1-under 71 to post 10-under. With a 2-shot cushion, Lydia Ko earned her first gold medal, and earned a medal for three consecutive Olympic Games. Not only has Ko now won all three Olympic medals, she has now become eligible to be inducted into the hall of fame.