First came a 4-putt. Next? A miraculous comeback

Welcome back to the Monday Finish, where we’re calling out “leaf rule!” and dropping one at the edge of the fairway. To the golf news…

GOLF STUFF I LIKE

Getting up off the mat.

On a scale of soul-crushing things you could do as a professional golfer, four-putting the final green to lose a tournament by one is tougher than most. Tough enough to leave some scar tissue. Tough enough that it would take a while to get over. Even if you’re No. 1 in the world.

Enter Jeeno Thitikul.

“Definitely cried a lot. Not going lie, cried quite a lot,” she said, describing the days that followed her 72nd-hole implosion at the Kroger Queen City Championship, where she’d gifted a victory to Charley Hull. But with time came perspective. She spent a week away from golf and, as she took a break, gave herself a break.

“Whatever happened, it’s in the past. And then I’m human, which means I’ll make a mistake for sure, everyone does,” Thitikul said. She added this:

“Is negative going to help? I don’t think so. I mean, definitely negative things are going to be in our head, for sure, but I think to be able to live our life and get one percent better each day, that definitely comes from positive.”

It’s hard to know what combination of mindset and generational golf talent spurred on her Sunday charge, but Thitikul rallied from four shots back with five holes to play with a birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle charge on 14-15-16-17 to tie the lead. Then, facing a par putt on No. 18, negativity and doubt crept in again.

“Having the last putt to be able to make par to force the playoff just reminded me like, about the last event and that is what’s happening,” Thitikul said.

This time, though, she drained it. She earned extra holes against Minami Katsu, despite Katsu’s sparkling bogey-free 65. And then on the fifth playoff hole Thitikul stuck her approach to three feet, setting up the winning birdie putt.

“Feels so unreal, for sure,” she said. “I mean, like so happy, so unreal.”

Her win had a fascinating subplot: In the 27th event of the year she became the LPGA’s first repeat winner. Only fitting that she had to go through the fire to get there. And only fitting that the best in the world is the first to repeat.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Xander Schauffele, undefeated father

This week’s Baycurrent was Xander Schauffele‘s first stroke-play golf tournament since the BMW Championship in August. It was his first time truly in contention all season. And it was his first tournament as a father since he and his wife Maya became parents to their son Victor last month.

“I’m a young dad I guess, he’s only just over six weeks old, but yeah it’s weird, I’d do anything for him,” Schauffele said post-tournament.

It was particularly remarkable, then, that he closed 63-67-64 for his first victory since the 2024 Open Championship. And it was clear from his post-round grin just how much he enjoyed doing so. So how’d he find his game? One admission I found particularly revealing was what he said about the pressure of playing in September’s Ryder Cup and how it forced him into good habits.

“It’s very high-stakes, high-pressure golf and I started to hit some shots that I wasn’t really hitting throughout the year,” he said. “I think the whole tournament, even though we lost, for me personally I was able to hit a few shots in high-stakes moments that gave me a little bit of confidence for sure.”

In other words, if you’re good enough, the Ryder Cup can snap you out of unhelpful swing thoughts and back to a version of your best self. Or something like that. Schauffele’s up to No. 3 in the world and he’s undefeated as a father. Thus far “Victor” seems like a pretty fitting name for both father and son.

Jeeno Thitikul — again

From the LPGA’s perspective, it has to be a relief that this damn streak is over; streaks are fun and interesting, and parity is impressive, but in sports what’s far more fun and interesting are stars and players chasing dominance. In golf, 26 different winners in 26 different events starts to feel random. Thitikul finishing second-second-first and opening up her lead at World No. 1? That’s much more compelling.

Masters Marco

He’ll be coming to a PGA Tour event near you — and to a major championship with which you’re likely familiar. Marco Penge won the Spanish Open for his third DP World Tour title this year and guaranteed himself a Tour card for 2026.

Penge has been to the edge of status a couple times in his career — which has included an odd suspension and a crucial five-foot putt — but seems well positioned for success on the PGA Tour, given his immense ball speed and strong iron play. A good golf swing tends to travel well.

Chandler Blanchet — and the man he saved

The Korn Ferry Tour’s finale came to a dramatic close on Sunday — even though nobody actually moved in or out of the all-important top 20. But they sure came close. Chandler Blanchet knew he was already assured of a PGA Tour card when he teed it up on Thursday, but shooting 68-66 on the weekend to add a victory didn’t hurt, either. And it changed the fortunes of bubble boy Pontus Nyholm, who began and ended the week at No. 20 but would have gotten bumped to No. 21 had No. 54 Barend Botha — who began the final round in the lead — gone on to win. Instead Botha finished second, Blanchet improved to No. 2 on the Order of Merit and Nyholm held onto No. 20.

“I am a huge Chandler Blanchet fan,” he told a tour writer post-round.

NOT-WINNERS

But still…

Max Greyserman was pretty darn close. Again. Greyserman held a share of the Baycurrent’s 54-hole lead and was outplayed by Schauffele on the final day but came to his approach shot on the par-4 18th needing to hole it from 190something yards. He very nearly did.

The second-place result was the fifth of his PGA Tour career and his second consecutive runner-up at this event. Here’s what Greyserman had to say post-round:

“Yeah, I could take this a few different ways. ‘Another second’ would be one thought, ‘disappointed’ would be another thought, but also on the flip side I could say I played really well. I shot 65 on Sunday when I was tied for the lead and in the last group, so a lot of good. It’s like, I don’t really know how to feel because I’m obviously very disappointed, but it’s the PGA Tour, you need to play exceptional on a Sunday to win a golf tournament. I played great, but I just didn’t play good enough.”

That’s better said than I could, Max. Feels like he’ll be back in the mix soon.

And when Rico Hoey also gets in the mix again soon, remember we told you he was coming. Hoey has been a top-tier ball-striker for a long time but a long putter only for a short time. So far, so good: a T9 at the Procore and a T4 at the Baycurrent in three starts with the big flat stick.

There was also Collin Morikawa, who finished off his competitive season with a final-round 63 but admitted mixed emotions as he heads to an extended offseason.

“Look, this is my last tournament for the season and got a lot of work to do. It’s not really the way I wanted the year to end. I can look at the positives, but for right now I know what I need to fix and kind of tune up if I want to be the player that I know I can be.

“I mean, two things, I think we talked about it in the presser at the beginning of the week. One’s the putting, to really just kind of stick with one putter and just feel confident. Today I felt great. I felt like if I put myself on the greens I felt like I could make any putt. I need to get that feeling a little more often during the season. And two’s just kind of getting the body right to where I know I can hit my cuts. I know I played well today, but I think we’re good enough to where we can in a way fake it around golf courses. But I don’t want to do that, I want to have full control. When I watch some of these top guys and how they’re playing right now, it’s motivating for me to put in the work. It’s going to be a fun couple months heading into next year.”

SHORT HITTERS

5 golf stories, in brief.

1. TGL released its complete schedule for 2025. One curiosity I have: what’s the deal with the match on Jan. 6? Are players from The Bay and Atlanta Drive going to start their season with a Tuesday late-night flight to the Sentry, wherever it’ll be? And what was the plan if they’d played it in Hawaii?

2. Full Swing is coming back for a fourth season. That’s good news for fans of Team Europe — and for at least one of its commentators.

3. Tiger Woods announced a seventh back surgery, a lumbar disc replacement. We tracked down a particularly optimistic sports injury analyst, though, who said this procedure doesn’t actually have a very long recovery and that if he wanted to play, say, the PNC with his son Charlie, that’s not out of the question.

4. The PGA Tour Champions has officially canceled its Q-School. I’d like to unload a bunch more thoughts on this later this week, but here’s a deep dive on the decision courtesy of Adam Schupak at Golfweek.

5. There will be 20 new PGA Tour players coming in by way of the Korn Ferry Tour, and it’s worth getting to know ’em — from No. 1 (Johnny Keefer) to the tallest Tour pro yet (Christo Lamprecht, 6-foot-8) to the more modestly-sized Davis Chatfield (5-foot-5) and everyone in between. Full breakdown of those 20 here.

ONE SWING THOUGHT

Three, actually. From three pros contemplating the ends (or not-yet-ends) of their PGA Tour Champions careers.

Scott Dunlap, eyeing retirement: “You know, it’s always fun to compete but it hasn’t been fun to not play well. That’s why I’ll leave with a big smile on my face because it hasn’t really been what I would call ‘fun’ for a while. You know, more like a job. It always is a job, it’s what we do, but it’s fun to compete when you think you have a chance. But you’re a little broken and not really competitive and you’re just taking up a spot, you know it’s time to move on.”

Mark Walker, unsure on retirement: “[I’ll] just miss the competition, miss the guys out here. Competition mainly. That’s what gets you up in the morning, waking up and knowing you have a place to compete and test your game.”

Kirk Triplett, resisting retirement: “I’ve talked to a few guys that I always try and learn from, the people that come before, and to a man they say do not stop playing until your eligibility is up because you will miss it.”

ONE BIG QUESTION

What’s next for Jon Rahm?

It’s tough to categorize Jon Rahm’s season, which included LIV’s individual title but, for the first time in his professional career, didn’t include an individual victory. Still, we can agree on a few things: he played well and ridiculously consistently, with 13 top-11 finishes in 13 LIV starts. He also had a strong year at the majors, with three top-15 finishes. But given his lofty standards, it was a bittersweet year, with no victories and no major finish better than T7. It did have a happy ending, with a winning record at a victorious Ryder Cup and a final-round 65 to post a top 10 in his home Spanish Open. But now his season’s over — and his non-LIV future’s uncertain.

“I’m lucky to be able to go home now, have a preseason, be a father, be with my family, and well, if I see that it’s too much, then maybe I won’t do it next year, but I’m looking forward to it,” he told Ten Golf of his planned three-month offseason. That means no India, no Abu Dhabi, no Dubai. He expects his next tournament start to come the first week of February 2026 at LIV Riyadh.

The question, then, surrounds his future as a member of the DP World Tour. He and Legion XXIII teammate Tyrrell Hatton were suspended and fined, but their appeals were held until after the Ryder Cup. In the meantime, LIV has said they’ll stop paying its players’ DP World Tour fines. That means his future on the Euro circuit is uncertain, which means his future on Team Europe is uncertain, all while LIV’s future with world ranking points is uncertain. What’s going to happen with Jon Rahm, with LIV, with the DP World Tour, with the Ryder Cup, with golf’s establishment?

ONE THING TO WATCH

Rory goes to India.

This week marks the first-ever DP World Tour India Championship. It marks Rory McIlroy’s first-ever trip to India. He’ll be joined by several other Ryder Cup stars, too — Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland, Luke Donald and even American Ben Griffin.

This is a big deal for golf in India; most of these guys have never played here. It’s the biggest golf tournament in the history of the most populous country in the world. Bryson DeChambeau visited earlier this year and that was a big deal, but this tournament promises to be even bigger. Raj Khosla, president of Delhi Golf Club, said that calling this a watershed moment for golf in India is “the understatement of the year.” Outside of cricket it’s one of the country’s biggest sporting events ever. That’s very cool

Within the golf world it’s also a fascinating signal about the way McIlroy’s priorities have shifted and how he’s scheduling his seasons going forward.

Just three years ago when LIV was new on the scene, McIlroy stepped into the unofficial role of PGA Tour spokesman. He was the guy talking about mandatory appearances, about building up Signature Events, about getting guys to stay, about reshaping the Tour’s future.

But when the Framework Agreement came to pass and the golf world went into limbo and McIlroy got hung out to dry, something changed. He left the Tour board and in the years since his priorities and loyalties have changed, too. He’s skipped plenty of Siggies. He skipped a playoff event this season to help balance a worldwide schedule. And his appearance in India will be just the latest in a more global mindset.

He teased the idea of an Indian championship as early as January 2024. He’s talked more and more intently about national opens. He’s lauded the idea of a unified world tour. But he also seems to recognize that there’s no one tour that’s going to wrangle the world’s best players and its most meaningful events in the immediate future — so McIlroy’s doing it himself. He’s playing where he wants, when he wants. It would be naive to say he’s doing any of this for free; he’s a businessman. But it would also be cynical to say that he’s only doing it for the money. He cited another global superstar last month, citing the example he’d set going to different events later in his career:

“I had a chat with Roger Federer, I don’t know, a few years ago, sort of at the end of his career, and he was saying he wanted to go and play a lot of the places he could never play in his career. So some of the smaller 250-[level] events just because not a lot of people had never seen him play tennis before.”

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

The good people of Seattle love their Seahawks. But as a transplant I have to say that I find their Mariners fandom much more endearing; the baseball side of this fanbase doesn’t know what it means to win it all. Now, after a 15-inning epic and a hot start to the ALCS, they’re getting closer…

We’ll see you next week!

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.