The App is Back! Don’t forget to download the NBC Sports EDGE app to receive real-time player news, mobile alerts and track your favorite players. Plus, now you can check out articles and player cards. Get it here!
Just one week after a dramatic finale at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, which featured not only Abraham Ancer’s breakthrough victory in a two-hole, three-way playoff, but also saw Harris English’s efforts at a wire-to-wire victory go up in flames, Sunday at Sedgefield Country Club unfolded in similar fashion as Russell Henley, the 18-, 36- and 54-hole leader, made bogey at the 72nd hole to let his bid for a wire-to-wire win slip through his fingers.
The 37-year-old South Carolina native, listed at +5000 to win ahead of the week via PointsBet Sportsbook, birdied two of his last three holes en route to a final-round, 4-under 66. After starting the day four strokes behind Henley, Kisner finished regulation tied at 15-under 265 with Australia’s Adam Scott (65), Kevin Na (66), South Africa’s Branden Grace (66), South Korea’s Si Woo Kim (64) and Canadian Roger Sloan (66).
World No. 43 Scott, +4000 coming into the week, had a shot at his first win since the 2020 Genesis Invitational on the first extra hole, but missed a 4-footer for birdie to send all six competitors back to the 18th tee. Kisner stuck his approach 3 feet from the pin on 18 the second time around, sinking the putt for his first playoff victory in six attempts and his first title since the 2019 WGC-Match Play. It also marked the third six-man playoff in PGA Tour history and first since Robert Allenby won at Riviera in 2001.
“To be honest, coming down with three or four holes to go, I really didn’t think I had a chance to win,” said Kisner, who’s never missed a cut in seven starts at the Wyndham and has three top 10s including a T-3 in 2020.
“I wasn’t watching the boards all day. When I birdied 16, I looked up and saw that I was only one back and I knew that 17 was a birdie hole and if you could hit a good drive on 18 you could have a chance. It’s a crazy way to break the no-wins-in-playoff streak, but it was a fun week, awesome week.”
For most of Sunday, there likely was little consideration of a playoff as Henley – who started the day with a three-shot lead – reached 17 under with a birdie on the 10th hole, but bogeys at 11, 12 and 14 opened the door to the field. He notched one more birdie at the 15th but missed his 6-footer for par at 18 to put his record at 0-3 on the season when leading through 54 holes. Henley was in front after three rounds at The CJ Cup last October and the U.S. Open in June.
“Yeah, two three-putts on the back nine got me,” said Henley, who finished 44th in the FedExCup standings and will qualify for the playoffs for the ninth year in a row. “I really felt like I hit both those putts on 18 how I wanted to. I feel like I hit the second putt right where I was looking and it broke.
“Just some mistakes. I knew I had to shoot under par today, so just disappointed. It stings pretty bad.”
The win vaulted Kisner 40 places in the standings to 29th, and he qualifies for the playoffs for the eighth year in a row. He’s also projected to move from No. 52 to 34 in the world rankings, but perhaps most exciting for Kisner is possible consideration by U.S. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker as one of his six picks for Whistling Straights.
“Here we go,” said Kisner, who moved up to No. 18 in U.S. Ryder Cup points following his win. “I said, ‘How many Ryder Cup questions are we going to have?’ Who knows, man. I’ve never been picked before, so I’m not going to go out there and jump on a limb and say that I’m going to get picked this year.
“I love Stricker, he’s a great friend and great guy. He’ll do what’s best for the team and the country. I would love more than anything to represent our country and be a part of that team. I need to play well in these playoffs and continue to show great form.”
The rest of the final-round drama in Greensboro extended beyond the playoff to the FEC Playoffs, as players jockeyed for top-125 positioning right to the very end. It came down to a 6-footer for 2018 FedExCup champion Justin Rose, who three-putted his 72nd hole to make bogey and miss out in his first playoffs since its inception in 2007. He dropped to 126th on the standings and outside looking in.
“I wasn’t really playing for top 125 for most of the day, I was playing to try to win the golf tournament,” said Rose (+6000), who finished T-10 at 13 under and described missing out on the playoffs as “gut wrenching.”
“That’s kind of what the playoffs is all about, right? It’s a knife-edged moment. I’ve been on the winning side at East Lake, where a bogey was costly and a birdie got me back into the projected No. 1 spot. So, I’ve been on the right side of it and maybe on the wrong side today. Yeah, it’s not nice when it’s not in your hands, but obviously it was in my hands up 18. I didn’t do a very good job of that.”
Also falling on the wrong side of that knife edge were three players who started the week inside the top 125, but all missed the cut and left Sedgefield facing a trip to Korn Ferry Tour Finals: Ryan Armour, dropping from 122 to 127; Patrick Rodgers, falling from 123 to 128; and Bo Hoag, from 125 to 129.
Earning their spot next week at The Northern Trust were Sloan, whose T-2 finish propelled him from 131 to 92 in the standings; Scott Piercy, who broke through with a T-15 finish to move from 126 to 116; and Chesson Hadley, who made an ace from 160 yards out on the 16th and carded an 8-under 62 to move from 132nd into the 125th position with Rose’s missed putt on the final green.
Editor’s Note: Get an edge with our premium DFS and Betting Golf Tools that are packed with a DFS Optimizer, DFS Projections, Salary Tracker, Edge Driver, Prop Projections, Futures and much more. Gain access to both tools in our EDGE+Max tier and don’t forget to use promo code SAVE10 to get 10% off. Click here to learn more!
Odds and ends: Fowler misses Playoffs, Simpson notches ninth Wyndham top 10
Rickie Fowler’s season ended at the Wyndham with a missed cut (71-72) and without a spot in the playoffs (134th) after making it for the past 11 straight seasons. He called it a “little kick in the butt,” but also said it served as “added motivation.” However, he didn’t hide the fact that he’ll circle the wagons, looking to his team for support over the next few weeks.
“I mean, really start playing some better golf,” he said regarding his specific plans. “No, probably hop on a call here with everyone that’s part of the team and figure out, ‘Hey, like, let’s figure out a way to make the most of the next few weeks, what exactly needs to be done, what do I want to do?’
“I feel like I operate best when I’m kind of told what to do. … So that’s the big thing is just kind of lay out a plan that we all want to accomplish and take advantage of the time that we have and get after it.”
Fowler, like Rose, is still fully exempt on Tour for the 2021-22 season thanks to multiple prior wins.
Other notables missing the playoffs are Tommy Fleetwood, who finished T-65 and ranked 137, Francesco Molinari (MC, 142) and Olympic silver medalist Rory Sabbatini (T-10, 133). Two other players — Charles Howell III (DNP, 139) and Ryan Moore (MC, 144) — will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
On the flipside, six players have now qualified for the playoffs in each season since ’07: Charley Hoffman (DNP, 32nd), Phil Mickelson (DNP, 58th), Bubba Watson (T-46, 71st), Adam Scott (T-2, 82nd), Brandt Snedeker (MC, 100th) and Matt Kuchar (T-29, 120th).
Former champ Webb Simpson, the betting favorite coming into the week at +1100, made his 12th Wyndham cut in 13 starts and notched his ninth top 10 with a T-7 finish. … Hideki Matsuyama’s (+1400) personal “iron-man” run ended at Sedgefield, where he shot 69-69 to miss the cut by a shot. … Will Zalatoris (+2800), whose stellar season included eight top 10s and highlighted by a solo second at the Masters and T-8 at the PGA, needed a win to qualify for the playoffs but finished T-29.
Next up: The Northern Trust
The first leg of the FedExCup Playoffs kicks off at The Northern Trust, where world No. 2 Dustin Johnson looks to defend his 2020 title. Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, N.J., will host this year’s event after also hosting in 2019, won by Patrick Reed. Only the top 70 players will be eligible to continue to the BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club in Maryland, leaving 55 facing elimination after this week. Last year at TPC Boston, Johnson fired a final-round, 8-under 63 to finish at 30 under and win by 11 strokes over Harris English. Louis Oosthuizen (No. 8 in points) is the only player opting to skip next week’s event, knocking the field down to 124 players.
PointsBet is our Official Sports Betting Partner, and we may receive compensation if you place a bet on PointsBet for the first time after clicking our links.