2024 PGA Tour: Patton Kizzire Ends Long Title Drought at Procore Championship

If we are to take Patton Kizzire’s 2024 PGA Tour season as a template, missing cut figures prominently in his overview the past few seasons. In 18 starts this year prior to the Procore Championship, the 38-year-old did not make the weekend 10 times, and included a patch when he missed cut six times in a row between January and March.

With a record as dismal, the FedExCup Playoffs were a mere speck on the horizon, and Kizzire teed off at the Silverado Resort in Napa on the back of consecutive setbacks at the 3M Open and Wyndham Championship. His victory on Sunday, September 15, with a resounding five-shot margin is not just about his return to the winners’ circle after six-plus years; the result is a celebration of sport, one that thrusts underdogs into the limelight from the depths of anonymity.

Patton Kizzire fitted the bill to the hilt. The last of his two wins on Tour came in early 2018, which meant he was left searching for 176 tournaments, and the stretch of underachievement translated into 2436 days.

In triumph too, Kizzire displayed signs of the uncertain past. His tee shots, particularly over the weekend, werefar from precise, but Patton Kizzire was brilliant in recovery as he built on Saturday’s four-shot lead to finish with a five-shot cushion of 20-under 268 (66, 65, 67, 70) over David Lipsky, who scripted a tale of his own.

PGA Tour 2024: Patton Kizzire wins Procore Championship

Staying disciplined

On a stage where no inch is yielded, the four-shot lead ahead of the final day was reason enough for Kizzire to let the mind race on the immense opportunities that lay ahead. Had that happened, he couldn’t have been blamed.Ranked 132nd in the FedExCup Fall Standings, Patton Kizzire was fighting to save his card for 2025, but he stayed disciplined, and remained in the zone even while Lipsky mounted a serious challenge with those three birdies at the start of Sunday.

Kizzire admitted staying focused was tough, but it was here that the recent work with the mind doctor helped. Among the things he has been picking up are small but powerful lines, and the slogan for Sunday was, “I am here, I am now.”

The key lay in reemphasizing it through the day, and there couldn’t have been a better place to note it down than the yardage book. Not just while chalking out strategy at each tee box, Patton Kizzire went through that line many more times to play like he knows he can by putting the foot on the pedal and pulling away from the field.

Ignoring the negatives

 

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After joining the PGA Tour in 2016, Kizzire didn’t have to wait long, the 2017 OHL Classic at Mayakobapreceding the win in Hawaii at the 2018 Sony Open.

But thereafter, it was a test of patience as Patton Kizzire was left searching for that Midas touch of yore. The champion was in acceptance. “There’s always doubt in anything. If you listen to the doubt in life in general it’s never beneficial. You look at the positives in all things. There’re going to be obstacles, you’ve got to plan to attack those obstacles,” said Kizzire.

With this frame of mind, Kizzire placed himself in contention, something he hadn’t done in a long while, and that allowed his putting skills to take over.

“Putting has always been a strength. I’ve underperformed on the greens for way too long and all the while knowing that that is my ticket to trophies. But the mental Game helped me perform on the greens. I was extremely disciplined with my routine and just did the same thing over and over. That was huge for me.”

As one eager to improve all the time, Kizzire started workwith the new mental coach after missing out on the Playoffs. Her methods of walking barefoot on the Golf course and hugging trees before rounds aren’t conventional but are working for the student.

Kizzire termed them his way of getting organised and be uNFLappable in comPetition. “There is something to that calm that you get being outside barefoot and stuff like that. Before my rounds I did everything from help the guys pick the range barefooted to chipping contests with kids on the back chipping green. Doing fun stuff when I was getting ready to play definitely played a role in my success this week.”

Feeding on memories

 

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Patton Kizzire remembers Silverado as the venue of his first start as a member of the Tour, but at that point a call had to be taken between teeing off that week and skipping it to get married.

The choice was obvious, and on Sunday, Patton Kizzire was on record to mention the role of wife Kari in his long and testing journey.

But missing out then triggered a fondness that has only got stronger with time. From there to almost winning in 2016, Kizzire has seen his life flash before his eyes at Silverado, and it was only appropriate that his comeback happened here, and in a way that the record will stand for a while to come.

Kizzire’s five-shot win is the biggest winning margin in the tournament’s history, bettering the two strokes on five occasions in the past.

“A lot of interesting memories here. I love the Golfcourse; I love the people. There’s great food, great wine, and a great Golf course. What’s not to like,” was the sum-up.

Up to 70th in the standings, Patton Kizzire has a ticket to the 2025 Masters, PGA Championship and the Sentry, and will not have to ask for sponsor invites to keep his hope alive for the New Year.

For a pro golfer, there isn’t a greater joy than to progress on merit, and for Kizzire the feeling is sweet as well, and he’s excited to compete with renewed vigour.

“There’re ups and downs, you’ve just got to stay positive and that’s what led me here,” he said.

Grind paying off

 

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David Lipsky could have had his PGA Tour breakthroughon Sunday, but that will have to wait. But, Lipsky, a proven performer on the Asian Tour and DP World Tourbefore the leap of faith, ticked a major box by sealing his playing rights for next year.

Since he joined the Tour in 2022, the starts hadn’t yielded much on the scoresheets, 59 cuts made in 104 starts, and 2 top-5s to go with the 8 top-10s.

Coming on the back of three missed cuts, the maiden runner-up result is the perfect balm to despair. “I was pretty depressed through the middle of the season,”revealed Lipsky, and Silverado has freed him up to an extent that the golfing freak in him is yearning for more.

“I wanted to win this week, but coming in second doing that, I’ll take it. That’s a small victory and that was sort of what my goal was going into the fall, play solid and sort of lock up my card for the next year. I did it in the first event, so now I can play a little more freely.”

His card all but secure, Lipsky has the liberty of choosing his events till the yearend, but he will not relent. “I’m a golf sicko, I’m probably going to play everything.”

Pressure a factor

 

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Sahith Theegala came into the week seeking to becomethe third player to win the Procore Championship in back-to-back seasons since the event moved to Silverado in 2014, but it wasn’t to be.

The Indian American, in pursuit of his first title defence, finished in a tie for seventh for his ninth top-10 finish of the season, a career best.

A disappointed Theegala said despite being off the lead, he felt a little more pressure than he would have liked, and let it get the better of him.

Going into Sunday trailing by six shots, Theegala needed an effort better than the even-par show, but despite falling short he is confident that his game is in a space which will be an asset for the US Team as they prepare to take on Europe in the Ryder Cup end of the month.

“I’m going to be extremely nervous, but also so excited and pumped. I’m just going to try to enjoy every minute of it (at Royal Montreal). My game’s feeling really good and I really feel like I can put up some points for our team and at the end of the day that’s our goal,” said Theegala.