Today is Memorial Day across the United States of America. Nearly 25 places across the country lay claim to the day’s origina, but one thing is clear: it is a day to honor those lost in the defense of country. It is a somber holiday, especially given recent events across the nation. For that reason, unlike Labor Day, no tournament finishes on Monday. This week, tournaments were played in Texas, Illinois, Nevada, and Michigan, along with a splendid event in Holland. It is our pleasure to run down the five champions, in this week’s installment of Tour Rundown.

PGA Tour’s Schwab to Burns for number four

Sam Burns isn’t the guy yet, but he’s edging closer. He’s edging closer to one of two things: a major title or the unwanted moniker of best golfer to not win a major. Burns won his second tournament of the 2022 season, and for the second time, had to go to extra holes to settle matters.

In March, Burns won his second-consecutive Valspar Championship in overtime, against non-winner Davis Riley. This time around, the scenario had altered just a bit. Instead of a young, unproven opponent, Burns would face the world number one, the current Masters champion, and a home-state hero, all wrapped up in Scottie Scheffler. We’ll get to how the dust settled … when the dust settles.

There was a lot of nervous play on Sunday. Harold Varner III dropped 23 spots with a 78. Previous to that, he had looked like a winner. Beau Hossler, in search of his first, tour title, went belly-up with a 73-74 weekend and dropped 12 spots on his own. Chris Kirk descended a 10-spot with a 74. And then there was Burns.

The Shreveport native opened with 71, then got better each day. He had 68, followed by 67, but needed a heck of a finish and some help, to have a shot. Despite two bogeys on the day, Burns posted seven birdies around Hogan’s Alley and came home with 65. It wasn’t the low round of the week, but to do it on Sunday was pure magic.

Scheffler could not find a single birdie on day four. He played well enough to shoot plus-two, but needed plus-one to win outright. Brendon Todd, Scheffler’s final-round partner, had two bogeys coming home to the post-prom celebration by one. Burns and Scheffler returned to the 18th tee. Each had a putt at birdie, with Burns going first. Some forty feet past the hole, in the fringe, Burns’ effort never wavered and found the bottom of the hole. When Scheffler missed from closer in, the Schwab had a champion.

Unbelievably clutch.@SamBurns66 drained the 38-footer from off the green to win @CSChallengeFW. pic.twitter.com/DaQmWt5MRe

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 29, 2022

LPGA Match Play to Ji over Furue

Match play isn’t the predominant, USA high-school format that it once might have been, at least in the northeast. Golf fans see it once each two years in the Solheim Cup, but its visibility on the LPGA circuit has been missing until now. Bank of Hope, the sponsor of the Las Vegas event, signed all-in on the head-to-head format. Where better to have high-stakes, one-versus-one matches than the casino capital?

Sixty-four players began play in round-robin format, in sixteen brackets. Each of those sub-divisions featured three matches per player, then yielded one golfer to the knockout state of events. Players like Tiffany Chan, Andrea Park, Paula Reto, Allisen Corpuz, Emma Talley, Hye-Jin Choi, Caroline Masson, and the biggest name ~ Moriya Jutanugarn, advanced to the group stage, but said farewell in the round of sixteen.

The round of eight saw Eun-Hee Ji, Lilia Vu, Ayaka Furue, and Andrea Lee, advance to the semifinals. None of the four golfers had lost a match, but only Vu had emerged with an unblemished, five-and-oh record. Makes sense, after all. If you snooze and lose, you get the boo-hoos (and go home.) The penultimate round saw Ji take down Lee by 4 & 3, while Furue toppled the unvarnished Vu by 2 & 1. A talented Korean golfer would take on a skilled Japanese athlete in the final.

In the final match, each player came out nervous or tired, or perhaps a bit of both. Holes were won with pars, until the eighth. Finding herself one-down, Ji snagged three consecutive holes with birdie-eagle-par, to jump ahead by two. Furue came right back with birdie at the 11th to halve the margin, but made bogey at the 12th to give it back. From that point one, the golfing malaise returned. Ji played par golf and won the 16th with yet another one, to claim the match by 3 and 2.

Thank you, @LPGAMatchPlay ?

See you next year! ? pic.twitter.com/jccWiiYqa6

— LPGA (@LPGA) May 30, 2022

Korn Ferry Tour’s NV5 sees a 3H finish

Harry Hall and Nick Hardy were not separated by much this week. When Hardy opened with 64, Hall was at his heels with 65. When Hardy followed with 68, Hall edged him by one with 67. On the weekend, the Englishman and the American posted four rounds of 65, to finish atop the leaderboard with 22-under par. Jimmy Stange and Christopher Petefish had played some fine golf of their own, to reach 19-deep. Those scores earned each a tie for third spot, but the attention was on H and HH.

Hardy had jumped ahead by two on Sunday’s front nine, but Hall reeled him in with a five-under effort coming home. Each had made birdie in regulation at the par-five closer, so it wasn’t a surprise when they twice traded birdies in daylight-savings time. Needing a change, the playoff moved to the par-three 17th hole, and it was there that Hall ended matters with a 12-feet putt for a deuce. The victory was Hall’s second on the Korn Ferry in less than twelve months. Perhaps this one will bring a years-end promotion to the PGA Tour.

Winning putt + winning pup ?? pic.twitter.com/ALEKU941Pi

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) May 29, 2022

Champions Tour crowns first major titleist of 2022

Steven Alker didn’t appear from nowhere, but try telling that to the Hollywood agents. Well, there may not be many, as senior tour professional golf doesn’t play that well on the big screen. If there were any, they’d be swarming the New Zealand pro like bees ’round the hive. Alker banged around the world’s tours for nearly three decades. He won on the Korn Ferry Tour, the Australasian Tour, and the Canadian Tour. What he never did, was win in Europe or America on the top tour. Guess good things come to those who wait (and persevere and grind.)

Alker has won four times since last November, capping his run with a nine-birdie effort on Sunday at the Senior PGA. The move shot him past the Canadian duo of Steven Ames and Mike Weir, three shots clear of the runner-up. Weir fell back with 72, into a fourth-place tie, four shots behind the leader. Ames held steady with 70, but he needed the magic of the first three rounds to keep pace with Alker. Bogey at the 17th ended Ames’ dream for this week, but he did secure second position with a closing par.

In third alone was the ageless wunder, Bernhard Langer. In first alone was a fellow who few knew a year ago. The victory catapulted the champion $800K ahead of Langer on the money list, into first place for the Schwab Cup, year-long chase. What’s left to do for the amazing Kiwi? Win everything else, pretty much sums it up. Steven Alker shows no signs of slowing down. It never got this rough for the champion, but we suspect he would have flinched not a bit.

An incredible recovery from Tracy Phillips, PGA on No. 7. ?@SCSPGA | #SrPGA pic.twitter.com/T3FJ1tdb3T

— PGA of America (@PGA) May 28, 2022

DP World Tour sees Víctor Pérez win a second tour title

Víctor Pérez (the Frenchman with the Spanish name who lives in Scotland) entered the final round of the 2022 Dutch Open in a first-place tie with Englishman Matt Wallace. Neither golfer had made a career of closing the deal, so the potential for an upstart chaser to steal the show was potential, if not probable. Fortunately for the duo, the chaser contingent consisted of a slew of non-winners. The day was an arduous one for Wallace, who could not resurrect the birdie bunches that dotted his card over the first two days. Wallace posted six birdies on each of Thursday and Friday, but could only reach that number again by combining totals from Saturday and Sunday. Wallace posted even-par on day four and tied for fifth with Sebastian Soderberg.

Víctor Pérez fared quite a bit better than his English counterpart. The Frenchman posted a fine 69 on day four and reached the clubhouse at 13-under par. At that juncture, he should have been content with a second-place finish. Up ahead, New Zealand’s Ryan Fox had scorched the Bernardus Golf layout for 17 holes, setting four birdies and one eagle against zero bogeys. All that stood between Fox and a third DP World Tour title was a relatively-benign par five hole. Fox proceeded to unplay it, and made a double bogey to give Pérez life.

Fox’s drive went right, into a water hazard that should not have been on his radar screen. Why not? Fox was 15-under at that point, three shots clear of anyone else. His third shot reached pin high right, but he chunked a pitch into a bunker. It rained and it poured all at once for Fox, and he was fortunate to reach extra time with Pérez. The two golfers went at it on the 18th hole three times, with each finding two birdies and one par. They moved to the par-three 17th, where Pérez had made deuce two hours prior.

The magic was still in the air for the Frenchman, and he made another two to clip Fox’s wings.

Turn up the volume ?@v_perez2's final round ball striking ?#DutchOpen2022 pic.twitter.com/0TTvxuuTR2

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 30, 2022