LA QUINTA — It is the risk taken by anyone putting opinions or predictions on social media for all to see. There are times when, well, you just misjudge the distance.
This Space put such a misjudgment on Twitter on Sunday afternoon, right after Andrew Landry had knocked in another birdie putt and appeared to have The American Express firmly under control.
“Another birdie for Landry on 12, his sixth of the day,” I wrote. “He’s now at -27, six shots ahead, and I think it’s safe to say @theamexgolf is now a boat race.”
Another birdie for Landry on 12, his sixth of the day. He's now at -27, six shots ahead, and I think it's safe to say @theamexgolf is now a boat race.
— Jim Alexander (@Jim_Alexander) January 19, 2020
The boat sprung a leak, obviously.
An hour and a half after that tweet, Landry did in fact win this tournament, holing a 3-foot birdie putt on 18 to complete a final round of 67 and finish four days in the desert 26-under-par. But it wasn’t without stress, because Abraham Ancer strung together nine birdies and put himself in position to capitalize if Landry were to hit a rough patch.
Which he did. Landry missed a 10-footer for par on the par-13 13th, a 13-footer for par on the par-4 14th, and a 15-footer for par on the par-4 15th. After that grisly stretch, and following Ancer’s 25-foot birdie putt on the renowned and fearsome 17, with its island green, the two were tied at 24-under.
“At the beginning of the round, I just said I just need to make as many birdies as I can and try and see what happens, so I wasn’t paying much attention to the leaderboard,” said Ancer, saying he first noticed on the 17th tee that there were possibilities here. “I was like, ‘Well, we got to make two other birdies.’ I made the putt there on 17, which was big, and then just couldn’t make it happen on 18 (a 30-footer for a birdie slid wide left). But I played good, man. I’m proud of how I played.”
Landry, meanwhile, recovered after reminding himself of his capabilities. That pep talk and a slight swing correction helped him par 16, and he birdied 17 (a 7-foot putt) to re-take the lead and 18 (a 6-footer) to finish the job.
And part of the experience helping him recover was the memory of this tournament in 2018, and a loss to Jon Rahm on the fourth playoff hole.
“Losing in a playoff after missing a 6-footer downhill is not something you want to do,” he said. “That helped me to where I could go win Valero (his first tour victory that April in San Antonio). All those experiences helped. I learned to control my emotions. I learned to control my pace. All those things helped me become successful.”
There have been a number of hard moments along the way that Landry has used as fuel, or motivation, or education. There was the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont, his first major, when he was in the final group on the last day but shot himself out of contention with a 78. There was the dejection here in 2018, and the elation three months later in San Antonio, and the frustration at the start of this season when he missed seven cuts in eight events, the most recent a week ago in Honolulu.
The Tournament Formerly Known As The Bob Hope was his ninth this season. But the more you play and the more situations you find yourself in, the more you learn. Eventually, if you’re good enough, you win.
“You look at the top players in the world, and they’ve got a lot of experience being up there and a lot of experience being in the final group and a lot of experience winning,” Landry said. “So every single time, you take this day and you just build from it. You go think back on what you did and what you should have done differently, and that all goes into an arsenal in the back of your mind, how to win.
“I struggled really, really bad in college golf with winning. I broke a school record at Arkansas for most top-10 finishes, and that’s not a good stat to have. I wanted to win. And so I think going to the Korn Ferry (developmental) tour really helped me to learn how to win … It’s been done, but if you can’t win out there, it’s going to be tough to win out here.”
He applied some of those things he’d learned Sunday. Meanwhile, the process continues for Ancer, 28, in his third PGA Tour season and looking for his first victory, and for Scottie Scheffler, 23, a tour rookie also looking for his first triumph. Scheffler entered the day tied for the lead, had three bogeys on the front nine to slip back into the pack, then eagled 16 and was one putt away from forcing a three-way tie on 17, and finally finished 2 shots back.
“You got to stay patient,” Scheffler said. “It’s not that easy to win out here, and there’s a reason that the winning percentage isn’t very high.”
Many other players out here would nod their heads in agreement.