Glover Wins To Qualify for Playoffs, Boutier Prevails Again

Welcome back to another edition of the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week was a big one for the PGA Tour as the players had their last chance to get inside the top-70 on the FedEx Cup points list ahead of the playoffs next week. The LPGA Tour remained overseas after the Evian Championship as they played the 7th edition of the Women’s Scottish Open. 

Wyndham Championship - Tournament History

Believe it or not, the Wyndham Championship is actually one of the older events on the PGA Tour. Established in 1938 originally as the Greater Greensboro Open, the Wyndham is now featured at the very end of the PGA Tour’s annual schedule. Hosted at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, players who are not inside the Tour’s season long top 70 will have one last chance to punch their ticket into the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Sedgefield took over as the host course in 2008 and is typically a birdie fest for the game's best players. Players routinely reach 20-under par, and have to show strong consistency throughout the week if they want to claim the title. This year, the event delivered as it usually does, with many players’ seasons on the line. Most notable this year was 2-time major champion Justin Thomas, who entered the week just outside the top-70, and was hoping to earn his spot in the playoffs.

The Big Swing

This week the Big Swing belongs to the 43-year-old veteran Lucas Glover. Glover, who last won in 2021 at the John Deere Classic, entered the week ranked 112th in the FedEx Cup standings. Being that only the top-70 qualify, Glover essentially needed a perfect week to get in. With the odds stacked against him, Glover came out firing on Thursday just a handful of days from an early exit at the 3M Open in Minneapolis. Glover fired an opening round 66, but it was fellow veteran Russell Henley who took the early lead after an impressive 62. On Friday, Glover backed up his opening round with an even better round of 64 and was firmly in the mix heading into the weekend. Another veteran who has found his form recently is Billy Horschel, who was also well outside the top 70. Horschel opened with rounds of 67-62, and also found himself in contention. 

On Saturday, Glover kept the trend going by beating his previous round by two more shots, carding 62. However, Henley had also kept making birdies and was just one shot shy of the top of the leaderboard after three rounds thanks to rounds of 66 and 65 on Friday and Saturday. Sunday brought more birdies, as the chasers went out early and tried to make a charge. Players like Adam Scott, Webb Simpson, and Taylor Moore made big pushes up the leaderboard as all three players fired 63s on Sunday.

Ultimately it wouldn’t be enough as the leaders teed off and continued their dive into red numbers. The final pairing of Horschel and Glover found themselves in trouble after each of them made bogey at the opening hole, quickly making it a three-way tie at the top with Henley. Horschel was never able to get it going in the final round, and didn’t make a single birdie until his final hole to finish fourth. Ben An was the only other player posing a threat to Glover and Henley, and he started out strong shooting 2-under on the front nine. When he could only manage a 1-under par back-nine, it became a two-horse race between Henley and Glover.

Henley seemed to have the advantage with just a few holes remaining, but after a lengthy weather delay, his momentum had expired. A couple of bad swings turned into a couple of bad breaks, and Henley found himself making bogey on 16, 17, and 18 to erase his lead entirely. Glover suddenly stood on the 18th tee with a 2-shot lead, just needing bogey to win for the first time in two years and punch his ticket to the playoffs. After laying up on the par-4 18th, Glover made an impressive up and down for par to win by two. With his kids (and himself) in tears, Glover celebrated his fifth career win and now gets the opportunity to make some serious money in the playoffs to make up for what he would consider a below average year. 

Winner's Bag - Lucas Glover 

Lucas Glover came up huge when it was needed most, lifting himself into the Top 70 of the FedEx Cup standings and into the playoffs with his last chance. His bag is largely composed of Srixon equipment that helped him get the job done. Off the tee, Glover plays a driver that’s actually a couple of generations old now, the Srixon Z785 (9.5 degrees), which powered an elite driving performance where he finished sixth in strokes gained: off the tee. He plays a pair of PING G430 Max fairway woods (15 and 18 degrees). Glover's approach play is what really carried him to victory. Glover led the field in strokes gained: approach using the Srixon ZX7 MK II irons (5-PW). He also has a Srixon ZX5 MK II 4-iron which provides a bit more forgiveness for tee shots and longer shots. Powering the wedge game was a trio of Cleveland RTX 6 Tour Rack Wedges (52, 56, and 60 degrees). After struggling with this putting in recent years, he made a drastic change and now rolls a L.A.B. Mezz.1 Max putter.

In the World of Women’s Golf

This week on the LPGA Tour, the ladies best gathered in Scotland on the heels of the Evian Championship in France a week prior for the Freed Group Women’s Scottish Open. Last week, French native Celine Boutier broke through for her first major title with a dominant performance to win by six over Brooke Henderson. She headed to Scotland this week to try to go back to back and pick up her third title of the 2023 season. Also in the field this week was a brigade of major champions including Minjee Lee, Jennifer Kupcho, Hyo Joo Kim, and Ruoning Yin. Dundonald Links was the host for the third consecutive season. The course typically yields a lot of birdies assuming the weather stays mild, and this week was no exception. Boutier opened with a strong round of 69, picking up right where she left off last week. She kept her foot on the gas the next couple of days with rounds of 68 and 66 to take the lead.

She would have her hands full on Sunday however, with the likes of Kim, Yin, and Maja Stark trying to chase her down. The task was too tall for the rest of the field in the end, as the surging Boutier was seemingly untouchable on Sunday. She played her first 13 holes bogey free along with three birdies to extend her lead late on Sunday. She’d go on to make bogeys at 14 and 16, but a bounce back birdie on 17 all but sealed it. After a par on the 72nd hole, Boutier would card a final round 70 which was enough to win by two over Kim, who played a flawless round of 7-under 65 to take solo 2nd. With her third win of the year, Boutier continues her ascent in the world rankings, climbing inside the top 5.