No tricks, just treats. Spooky season is behind us, but professional golf marches on. The DP World Tour took a fortnight off, so we replaced it with the Dev Series from PGA Tour Latinoamérica. The LPGA concluded its Asian Swing in Japan, while the Tour Champions played the season’s penultimate event in Boca Raton, Florida. As for the PGA Tour, it journeyed to Mexico’s pacific coast for a debut run over El Cardonal, the first Tiger Woods course to host a professional event. For what some might call an off week, this one was on, on, on! Join us for a four-course Tour Rundown from the first weekend in November.

PGA Tour @ World Wide Technology: Mr. Joggers claims first title

Erik van Rooyen is a guitar-playing, jogger-wearing, club-swinging man of the world. The South African wears a mustache that would make Gary McCord proud. On Sunday, he accomplished something that McCord never could: win on the PGA Tour. That’s not to disparage the former telecaster but to celebrate EVR’s achievement. The way he did it was special.

The final round came down to a lead-holding Matt Kuchar, who hasn’t always had a good go of it, south of the border. Kuchar had a big lead on Saturday when he made an ocho on one of the world’s widest fairways. To his credit, he came back on Sunday and took the lead, deep into the back nine. Unfortunately for the elder statesman, he finished with four pars, and that doesn’t get it done at El Cardonal. Kuchar finished at -25, tied with Camilo Villegas for second place.

Back to South Africa’s EVR. He began the day with a bogey at the par-five opener and turned in one-under par 35. He was not on anyone’s radar as a contender, until he tore the back nine apart in 28 strokes. This is a par 36 stretch, folks. Van Rooyen began with three birdies, cooled off with par at 13, added a birdie at 14, and another par at 15. At this juncture, he was three shots behind Kuchar and needed a birdie-birdie-eagle finish to win outright.

Yup, that’s what he did. Finishing 2-3-3, Van Rooyen came from another estado to steal the win from pretty much everyone else. That’s something to sing about.

An emotional winning moment.
@FredVR_ takes the victory with a walk-off eagle @WWTChampionship. pic.twitter.com/qy0EEcCbaT

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 5, 2023

LPGA @ Toto Classic: Inami makes a name in Omitama

The final day at Toto featured an entire top five of Japanese players. Leading the way was Nasa Hataoka, the most decorated of her countrywomen. It came as a shock when Nasa failed to launch, posting 74 to fall to an eight-place tie with six other golfers. Storming back on day four were Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh (65), China’s Xiyu Lin (67), and Korea’s Jiyai Shin (65) and Seon Woo Bae (67). After such hope, would the Japanese quintet falter entirely at its home event?

Not to worry. Mone Inami had everyone’s back. The 24-year-old found a birdie at the par-five 17th hole to reach 22-under par and ease past Bae and countrywoman Shiho Kuwaki by one. The win was the first on the LPGA for Inami, but it wasn’t her first moment on the international stage. In 2021, Inami claimed the silver medal at the Summer Olympic Games, in a playoff with Lydia Ko. The LPGA returns this week to the USA and Florida’s Gulf Coast for its final two events of the 2023 season.

Catch the best shots from Mone Inami in the final round of the TOTO Japan Classic ? pic.twitter.com/vSwKGFI4qy

— LPGA (@LPGA) November 5, 2023

PGA Tour Champions @ TimberTech: It’s Paddy by a mile

We know that no one will ever catch Bernhard Langer for the all-time win total on PGA Tour Champions, but the great German had a four-hour, front-row seat to the guy who might throw a scare into him. Padraig Harrington is a guy with a couple of major titles, who never seemed to win as often as we expected on the junior tour. His second chance sees him just as intense, just as fit, and just as frightening. The 52-year-old Irishman won his sixth senior title in just over two years of play this week, and he did it in astonishing fashion.

Harrington had something akin to Van Rooyen’s closing nine on his Sunday outward half. Paddy made birdie on six of his first seven holes and stumbled to the week’s only bogey (he had a double on Friday) at the ninth. Langer was stuck in neutral, and Charlie Wi (64) began play too far back to make enough noise. On the inward half, Harrington made birdies at 14 and 16 to reach 16-under par, then closed bogey-birdie to win by seven. Scary good, he is. If he decides to eschew the regular tour for a full senior schedule (he won’t) watch out.

The winning moment for @Padraig_H @TimberTechChamp ? pic.twitter.com/O1qjFeBONM

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) November 5, 2023

PGA Tour Latinoamérica @ Dev Series Finale: Thelen thends a thignal

If this were Spain, the theta would be more appropriate, but it’s Mazatlán, not far from where the big boys played at El Cardonal, so no thetas. The nerves were raw at Estrella del Mar resort, where the final week of the PGA Tour Latinoamérica developmental series would give way to the new, PGA Tour Americas Tour of 2024. The combination of the LA and CA (Canada) tours would usher in a new era for tier three of the PGA Tour.

Joel Thelen of the USA melted the golf course with a 62 on Friday, and he held a lead deep into the final round. Things got interesting when he made double-bogey five at the 16th hole. With his lead reduced to one, Thelen posted pars at the two closing holes to escape with a one-shot win over fellow Yank Samuel Anderson and Costa Rica’s Paul Chaplet. All three earned full status for the 2024 Latin American portion of PGA Tour Americas.