Happy Memorial Day, ladies and gents! Whether you are reading this on your day off or are commuting to work on Tuesday, we hope your summer is off to a great start. More importantly, a sincere thank you to all of our veteran readers. We all owe you a debt of gratitude for your service, and we hope you celebrated with friends and family this weekend. Now let’s talk golf.

Na, Na, What’s My Name

Kevin Na walked away with his third career PGA Tour win at the Charles Schwab Challenge on Sunday. Starting the day with a two-shot lead, Na made six birdies and cruised to a four-shot victory at Colonial Country Club. After waiting seven years to capture his second PGA Tour victory, Na had to wait just 10 months between #2 and #3. Leaderboard

Na is one of the most self-aware players out there. He has said he believes there are only seven or eight courses on the PGA Tour where he can win, Colonial being one of them. While lightning could strike at any time for Na, he is right in his evaluation. He is not long enough to compete consistently on most courses, but his iron game and putting stroke keep him afloat. Although Na is in the midst of a down year in both of those categories, he found something this weekend, as he finished first in Strokes Gained: Approach and second in SG: Putting. Kevin Na is a genuinely great guy, making it easy to root for him to find the winner’s circle again.

Leaderboard Notes

  • Tony Finau had another excellent weekend, finishing runner-up at Colonial. A Saturday 71, combined with Na’s strong play, took him out of real contention, but he is due for a breakthrough.

  • Andrew Putnam had his best weekend of 2019 on his way to a tie for third with C. T. Pan. Putnam and Pan have both won on the PGA Tour in the last year, but they were unable to keep up with Na’s consistent play this weekend.

  • Jordan Spieth’s putter finally cooled off, dropping him to a T-12. Spieth had the best putting round of his life on Thursday and still finished the event first in SG: Putting, but shaky ball striking held him back in Texas.

  • Local star Ryan Palmer shot four rounds in the 60s on his way to a T-6 finish. He now has five top 10 finishes, including his team victory with with Jon Rahm at the Zurich Classic.

  • Jonas Blixt, Nick Watney, Mackenzie Hughes, Russell Knox, Rory Sabbatini, and Tyrrell Hatton all notched top 10s at Colonial.

  • The two “Colonial Champion’s Choices” finished DFL and next-to-DFL.

Another Longhorn

Scottie Scheffler won for the first time on the Web.com Tour at the Evans Scholars Invitational. Scheffler made six birdies over his closing nine holes to force a playoff, and he went on to defeat Marcelo Rozo on the second playoff hole. This is Scottie’s seventh top 10 of the season and his fifth in a row. Needless to say, he’ll be on the PGA Tour next season. Rozo, Nicolas Echavarria, Luke Guthrie, and Vince Covello all finished in the top five. Leaderboard

May Musings

Andy hopped on the keyboard over the weekend to expand on his takeaways from Brooks’ win at Bethpage Black. He also riffed on some courses he has visited, the idea of an architect’s “best” course, and a couple of new stops on the PGA Tour. Read his full piece HERE

Quick Hooks

Feel the Bernd! Bernd Weisberger shot a final-round 66 to win in Denmark over the weekend. The big Austrian shot four rounds under 70 to beat Robert MacIntyre by one shot. Leaderboard

Bronte Law won her first LPGA Tour event at the Pure Silk Championship. She shot four rounds of 68 or better to best a trio of players. Leaderboard.

Ken Tanigawa outlasted Paul Broadhurst and Scott McCarron to win the Senior PGA Championship at Oak Hill. Leaderboard

The final round of the NCAA Men’s stroke play will take place on Monday. The top eight teams will move on to match play and have a chance at winning the NCAA title. Leaderboard

Tee it up with Andy at the newly restored Inverness Golf Club in Toledo, Ohio. Andy is playing in the Outpost Club’s event on June 24th which is open to all. The original Donald Ross design has played host to multiple U.S. Open and PGA Championships and will host this year’s U.S. Junior. To get in on the action send events@outpostclub.com an email.

The Latest Podcasts

PGA Recap with Blake Conant
Andy is joined by up and coming architect Blake Conant to discuss the 2019 PGA Championship. Blake and Andy talk about the week at Bethpage and the PGA’s setup of the course and how it effected the championship. They also discuss it compared to Erin Hills and Blake talks about what he would like to see more of in the professional game.. Listen to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcheror Spotify.

Shotgun Start: Will be released later today