🌬️ Wyndham wins

Hey there! Severe weather shortened the AT&T at Pebble Beach and LIV’s playoff in Mexico finished in the dark. A memorable weekend of golf, indeed.

Let’s get into it.

Top stories:

1) Play suspended. Wyndham wins.

2) Niemann outlasts Rahm, Garcia.

1. Wyndham Clark’s historic 3rd round ends up clinching the weather-shortened AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am.

Perhaps it was meant to end this way.

Reigning US Open champ Wyndham Clark shot a Pebble Beach course record 60 on Saturday to move one-shot ahead of Swedish phenom Ludvig Åberg.

• And, after severe weather cancelled play Sunday, tournament officials made the call late last night that a Monday finish wasn’t happening either.

• The decision meant that Clark — the 54-hole leader — won the AT&T outright and took home its $3.6 million top prize.

Notably, in a press conference Sunday, Clark confirmed that he met with LIV Golf during the offseason, but said: “I felt like I still have a lot of things left in the tank on the PGA Tour and I wanted to chase records, I wanted to chase world ranking … Ultimately, I chose my legacy over LIV.”

My take: No one wants to see a shortened tournament, especially in one of the PGA Tour’s elevated events. BUT, this might be the rare occasion where I’m totally satisfied by the outcome.

• Clark’s 60 on Saturday was — for lack of better wording here — so sick.

• Eagling both Par 5’s on the front nine is one thing. But birdieing 8, 9, and 10 — all incredibly tough Par 4’s along the Pacific Ocean — that just shouldn’t happen.

• Clark shot a 28 on the front at Pebble — a score many of us would gladly take for nine holes at our local Par 3 courses.

• And, although he barely missed out on 59, holding the course record at Pebble Beach has to be one of the coolest accomplishments in all of golf.

2. Joaquin Niemann outlasts Rahm, Garcia to capture his first LIV Golf victory.

Jon Rahm was poised to win his anticipated LIV Golf debut this weekend in Mexico. But, a bogey-bogey finish derailed those dreams — at least on the individual side.

Instead, it was Joaquin Niemann and Sergio Garcia who tied atop the leaderboard in regulation.

• Then, on the fourth playoff hole, in the darkness, Niemann sunk a 10-foot clinching putt made visible thanks to the illumination from a greenside scoreboard.

• His payout for winning LIV’s first event of the season: $4 million.

• In a post round interview, Niemann — who isn’t currently exempt for all of this year’s majors — was asked about his goals for 2024.

• “I want to win majors,” said Niemann, who shot an opening round 59 this week. “But I gotta get in first.” 

On the team side, Rahm’s Legion XIII finished first, thanks in part to impressive play from 19-year-old Caleb Surratt (T13).

• Surratt, who left the University of Tennessee recently to join LIV, took home over $1 million in his professional debut between his team and individual earnings.

3. Good posts ⌨️

Technically, the AT&T was the PGA Tour’s second Signature Event of the year. But still, very ironic.

A draw would have been an interesting finish, but pretty cool that Niemann and Garcia decided to play it out in the dark.

I can’t stop watching this man’s swing. Hbu?

And, this was wild. Do we think this person was using the PGA Tour’s new Apple Vision app?

4. More news 🗞️

• Dylan Frittelli won the DP World Tour’s Bahrain Championship on Sunday.

• TaylorMade is suing Costco over its new Kirkland Signature Irons claiming patent infringement.

•  LIV Golf, in partnership with Google, will launch a feature this summer that allows fans to watch any shot from any player.

• 8-handicapper Tom Brady cold topped his opening tee shot at Pebble Beach Friday, proving he is human.

• Patrick Koenig broke the world record for most rounds played in a year (580). On Sunday, Koenig said his favorite course out of all of them was Sand Hills in Nebraska.

• And, sadly, actor Carl Weathers — who played Chubbs Peterson in “Happy Gilmore” — passed away last week. He was 76.

5. What’s next 🚮 

It’s Super Bowl week, which means the PGA Tour’s biggest party of the year is upon us at the WM Phoenix Open.

• Some 18,000 people are expected to pack the “coliseum” grandstands surrounding TPC Scottsdale’s 16th hole.

• Meanwhile, world number one Scottie Scheffler is looking to win the WM for the third year in-a-row.

LIV is also hoping to catch some of that big game buzz.

• Their tournament this weekend is in Las Vegas — the site of Super Bowl LVIII.

That’s all for today! Thanks so much for reading y’all, and I’ll see you here again later this week. Talk soon! - Nick B. 🏌️‍♂️

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