U.S. Wins Solheim Cup, Kizzire Captures Procore Championship | The Sunday Swing

The Sunday Swing 
September 15th, 2024 

Welcome back to another edition of the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week in the world of professional golf, the PGA Tour kicked off its fall series at the Procore Championship in Napa, and the ladies played the Solheim Cup from Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, VA. 

Procore Championship - Tournament History 

Originally established in 2007 as the Fry’s Electronics Open, the Procore Championship has held many titles throughout its 17-year history. The fall series event has also been hosted at many courses including Grayhawk in Scottsdale and CordeValle in San Martin. Now hosted at Silverado Country Club in Napa, the Procore Championship kicks off 8 weeks of golf ahead of the 2024-2025 PGA Tour regular season. The FedEx Cup Fall Series provides an opportunity for the players who finished outside the top-50 in the regular season to compete for points and earn their spot in the top-125 (which gives them tour status) for the coming season. Additionally, the players who finish in the top-10 after the fall events conclude will have the opportunity to compete in two signature events in the coming season. For those that rank outside the top 125 when the fall series concludes, they will have conditional status for the coming year and can improve their status via the Korn Ferry Tour. Additionally, winners of the fall events will reap the same benefits of winning any regular season event including 500 FedEx Cup points, world ranking points, and a 2-year exemption on the PGA Tour. This includes the Sentry, the Players, and majors that invite PGA Tour winners. The previous five winners of this event are as follows: 

2024 - Patton Kizzire
2023 - Sahith Theegala (-21)
2022 - Max Homa (-16)
2021 - Max Homa (-19)
2020 - Stewart Cink (-21) 

The Big Swing 

The first winner and Big Swing feature of FedEx Cup Fall belongs to Patton Kizzire. After a season in which Kizzire made just 8/18 cuts, his status for the 2024-2025 season was up in the air. Kizzire finished outside the top 125 in the regular season and missed the FedEx Cup playoffs. Needing a good fall to secure his status for next season, Kizzire opened the Procore with rounds of 66 and 65. With players like Sahith Theegala, Max Homa, Wyndham Clark, and Tom Hoge on the field, winning would be all the more difficult for someone who hasn’t won in the PGA Tour since the 2018 Sony Open. After both Wyndham Clark and Max Homa both failed to make the cut, it turned out to be an unexpected battle between players who needed the points and the victory for their job security.

On Saturday, Kizzire kept his foot on the gas. He made six birdies on the round, with just one bogey on the back nine, resulting in a Saturday 67. His biggest contender was David Lipsky, who had a chance to cut the lead through three rounds but a couple of bogeys on his back nine resulted in just a 2-under 70. Kizzire would hold a four shot lead heading into the final round as he hoped to claim his third tour title and more importantly, secure his card for the next two years. With a four shot lead as the final round began, Patton Kizzire knew it would take something special for the chasers to catch him. Kizzire opened his Sunday with four consecutive pars before making an eagle on the par-5 5th hole when he holed out from the green side rough. He would go on to shoot 1-under on the opening side, keeping his lead in tact as David Lipsky turned in 1-under as well. In the back nine, Kizzire would make 3 more birdies along with 2 bogeys to shoot another nine of 1-under par. Lipsky went the wrong direction, shooting 1-over par on his closing nine. Nobody else was able to get anything going on Sunday, leaving Kizzire to win by five shots. His third PGA Tour victory was arguably his biggest, securing his status for the next two seasons and getting him off to a fast start in the fall series.

Winner’s Bag - Patton Kizzire 

Titleist staffer Patton Kizzire picked up his third PGA Tour title on Sunday at the Procore Championship. Off the tee, Kizzire games the all new Titleist GT3 driver (9 degrees). He only carries one fairway wood, the Taylormade Qi10 (15 degrees). His irons consist of arguably the most unique makeup on the PGA Tour. He carries a Titleist T200 3&4 iron, T100 5-iron, 620 CB 6-iron, and 620 MB 7-9 iron. Kizzire also carries four wedges, all of which are Vokey SM10’s 48, 52, 56, and 60 degrees). On the greens, Kizzire rolls a Ping Vault Bergen Stealth. 

Key stats: 
Strokes gained: Off the Tee- 34th 
Strokes gained: Approach to Green- 15th
Strokes gained: Around the Green- 6th
Strokes gained: Putting- 1st 
Strokes gained: Total- 1st 

The Solheim Cup 

Established in 1990, the Solheim Cup is a team event featuring the 12 best players from Europe and the United States. Similar to the Ryder Cup, the event is played every two years, rotating host courses and countries. Played Friday through Sunday, the Solheim Cup includes best ball, alternate shot, and singles matches on Sunday to close out the event and declare a winner. This year, the event was hosted at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, VA as the United States looked to end a losing streak that dates back to 2017. As expected, the two teams this year were absolutely stacked. Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson, and rookie Rose Zhang led the way for team USA, while Charley Hull, Georgia Hall, and Celine Boutier anchored the European side. On Friday morning, the Americans made a statement as they won the session 3-1.  Friday afternoon consisted of more of the same, as the Americans routed the Europeans again 3-1, taking a 6-2 lead heading into Saturday's matches. 

On Saturday, the Europeans needed to make a push in order to have any chance at claiming their 4th consecutive Solheim Cup. While they jumped out to early leads in their matches in the morning foursomes session, the Americans were able to withstand the early momentum and earn a 2-2 split for the session, keeping their lead at 4 points heading into the final team session. In the afternoon fourball session on Saturday, the Americans came out swinging with Alison Lee and Meghan Khang leading the way. Lee holed her approach on the 2nd hole for an eagle to give the Americans the lead and they never looked back, cruising to a 4&3 victory. The second match went even better for the U.S., with Rose Zhang and Andrea Lee steamrolling Linn Grant and Celine Boutier 6 & 4 to give the U.S. a 10-4 lead with two matches to go. But the Europeans were able to give themselves a chance on Sunday by winning each of the last two fourball matches on Saturday, entering Sunday trailing the Americans 10-6. 

The Europeans needed a fast start on Sunday to have a chance, and took 2 of the first 3 matches, with Charley Hall taking down World No. 1 Nelly Korda 6&4, while Georgia Hall defeated Alison Lee 4&3. Meghan Kang earned the Americans’ first point on Sunday with a convincing 6&5 victory over Emily Pedersen. At that time, it looked like the Americans were going to cruise to victory, with leads in 5 other matches, and needing just 3.5 more points. But the Europeans didn’t make it easy. They would eventually crawl to within 3 points of the Americans (14-11) with just a few matches left on the course, and all of them up for grabs. After Lexi Thompson failed to close out Celine Boutier after leading 3-up through 11, the Americans would need to turn elsewhere to get the last half point. Lilia Vu, despite trailing Albane Valenzuela most of the day, got to the 18th tee 1 down. Vu stuffed a wedge to inside two feet, setting up an almost inevitable birdie. As Valenzuela failed to make her long birdie effort, Vu essentially had a tap in to claim the Solheim Cup for the Americans. As the putt fell, the American team had claimed their first victory since 2017, and had done so on their home turf. Vu was the one to put the Americans over the edge, but the team was ultimately carried by Rose Zhang (4-0), Lauren Coughlin (3-0-1), and Megan Khang (3-0). Nelly Korda and Allisen Corpuz also had impressive showings, both posting 3-1 records for team USA.