Professional displays on gorgeous collapse

Nobody can clarify Max Greyserman’s final-round implosion on the Wyndham Championship higher than he can, however the odds add some perspective.

After Greyserman, a PGA Tour rookie who was searching for his first profession win, holed his second shot from the golf green on the par-4 thirteenth to take a four-shot lead, his odds to win had been -3000, in keeping with GolfBet’s Will Grey. That meant bookies believed Greyserman had a 96.8 % probability to win the Wyndham with 5 holes nonetheless to play.

You don’t see that usually on the PGA Tour.

However after he wiped his tee shot on 14, hit his fourth shot right into a bunker and took 4 extra to get in for a quadruple-bogey 8, dropping him again right into a tie with Aaron Rai, his odds plummeted to +115.

In accordance with the PGA Tour, he’s the primary to comply with an eagle with a quad in 15 years in any spherical on Tour.

What made his collapse all of the extra gorgeous was that he rebounded, following the quad with a birdie. Within the three holes, he had solely dropped one shot.

However then he shot himself within the foot once more by four-putting the sixteenth inexperienced by lacking two putts inside three-and-a-half ft.

Rai ended up making birdie on 18 after a dart of a 4-iron at midnight to beat Greyserman by two.

Afterward, he took questions from the media and mentioned he would nonetheless take away the positives from the week.

“Performed adequate to sort of run away with it. Clearly stuff occurs in golf that generally it’s not meant to be generally,” Greyserman, who two weeks in the past completed solo second as nicely on the 3M Open, mentioned. “I’m simply going to stroll away that I performed actually, actually good golf, executed very well, had in all probability a four- or five-shot lead, I don’t know, four-shot lead. I had a four-shot lead with 5 holes to go? Should you’re doing that in a PGA Tour occasion, you’re doing one thing exceptionally nicely in order that’s what I’m going to stroll away with.”

However why wasn’t it meant to be? What occurred?

Greyserman broke that down with Amanda Balionis on CBS after he completed on 18.

He started recalling his dramatic eagle on 13 and the way felt on the subsequent tee. He waited for practically 10 minutes on the 14th tee between photographs as he waited for Matt Kuchar and Chad Ramey to complete.

“I used to be clearly happy to make an eagle. I haven’t holed out with a wedge shortly. Acquired to the subsequent tee, all the pieces felt prefer it did for the primary 13 or so holes,” Greyserman mentioned. “I hit a nasty drive. It didn’t should be within the fairway. Nevertheless it landed on the cart path and subsequent factor I do know it’s OB. I want it didn’t land on the cart path, but in addition it’s my fault for not executing and making a poor resolution after that, after hitting the subsequent drive.

“I simply wanted to put up and take my drugs in need of the bunker and I used to be sort of caught in between and made an enormous psychological blunder there as a result of I might have walked away with a six, fairly simply, or perhaps a seven, fairly simply.”

Greyserman wasn’t out of the event but. He even regained the lead with a clutch birdie on the par-5 fifteenth. What sunk him was the four-putt on the sixteenth gap. He powered his 41-footer birdie putt by the opening after which power-lipped consecutive three-and-a-half-footers. In 4 holes, he went eagle-quad-birdie-double.

Nonetheless, after he thought concerning the hack out on 14, he paused for a second. When he began speaking once more, he was chuckling.

“I don’t know,” he began, making an attempt to battle the grin on his face. “It kinda looks like my very own 2006 Phil Mickelson second. So hopefully that equals good issues to come back [for me] prefer it did for him.”

In 2006, Mickelson, having gained each the 2005 PGA Championship and 2006 Masters, got here to the 72nd gap of the U.S. Open at Winged Foot main by one. The left-hander blocked his tee shot into the left bushes after which hit one other tree together with his second shot earlier than his third shot plugged in a bunker as he finally made double bogey to lose by one. It’s typically considered one of the crucial brutal 72nd-hole collapses in main championship historical past.

Greyserman’s collapse didn’t include fairly the identical stakes, because the solo second nonetheless helped him transfer into the coveted high 50 of the FedEx Cup standings.

Later in his session with the media, he additionally thought again on the cart path bounce. He mentioned the one unhealthy bounce wasn’t the explanation he didn’t win, however it additionally wasn’t the primary time one thing like that had occurred to him.

“That’s golf. It’s actually not the primary time that I’ve hit the cart path on the correct and it went OB,” Greyserman mentioned. “In Savannah on the Korn Ferry Tour, I used to be in rivalry down the stretch and the identical factor occurred.

“I’ve obtained to ask the individuals to not put cart paths on the correct facet.”

At the very least in defeat, his humorousness was nonetheless on level.

Jack Hirsh

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State College, incomes levels in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his highschool golf group and lately returned to this system to function head coach. Jack additionally nonetheless *tries* to stay aggressive in native amateurs. Earlier than becoming a member of GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but in addition producing, anchoring and even presenting the climate. He may be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.