Signature Scroll: The golden opportunity amid chaotic TOUR Championship

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Gerard’s opportunity

ATLANTA – Ryan Gerard always thought he was a great putter. He hung his hat on it in his junior and collegiate days. It helped him advance off the Korn Ferry Tour in his first full season there.

Then, Gerard reached the PGA TOUR, and he stopped making anything.

He ranked 177th in Strokes Gained: Putting in a brief stint in 2023 while chasing status with Special Temporary Membership. With a full card in hand last year, he improved… to 154th.

Gerard’s talent meant he succeeded anyway. He won the Barbasol Championship and finished in the top 50 in the FedExCup. But he wasn’t a complete player. He wasn’t the version of himself that he believed he should be.

The learning curve on the PGA TOUR is steep. The number of young players we’ve seen run into a couple of hot months and post top results, only to fall back into anonymity, is striking. It’s not for lack of skill. Gerard has loads, as do many others. But when you step on TOUR, so much else comes with it. You’re a golfer, but you’re a business. You have endless resources at your disposal. Only some of them will help you, but you don’t know which. Your time can be spent in a myriad of ways, and what works for someone else isn’t guaranteed to work for you.

Gerard got lost in it all.

“I felt like I was a really good putter growing up, and I felt like when I got maybe to the PGA TOUR initially, maybe had access to too many toys to tinker with, both equipment, technology, coaches, all that stuff,” Gerard said.

“(I) tried to get maybe a little bit too technical, a little bit too perfect,” he continued. “I've been a feel player my entire life, and I feel like I've been someone that just kind of trusts their eyes and goes out and relies on instinct a lot, and I was getting away from that.”

When he returned to his foundation, so did the putting. The result is the best year of his career and a level of golf that has put Gerard in the conversation for a Presidents Cup, and perhaps on Sunday, a FedExCup trophy.

It’s weird to think that the next logical step in Gerard’s career is winning the TOUR Championship, one of the top events of the year, when his only other win is an opposite-field event. Yet I think it is. Gerard nearly won the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday. It took a heroic finish and playoff performance from J.T. Poston to usurp him. He finished in the top 10 in a major for the second time in his career at The Open. His world ranking hovers just below 30, and by Data Golf’s metrics, he’s a top-20 player. That’s the profile of a TOUR Championship winner.

Those moments of feel were pivotal on Saturday as he shot 66 to stay within one of Viktor Hovland. He didn’t have his best ball-striking day, but he got up-and-down for three crucial pars at Nos. 14, 15, and 17. On the 14th, he hit a trap-draw half wedge from 65 yards for the ball to bounce and roll out on an upslope. He went long and right on the par-3 15th and nipped a spinny wedge that curled up next to the hole. And at the 17th, with Hovland applying pressure, Gerard got up-and-down again, fist pumping as his 7-footer for par dropped.

Gerard may look out of place on a leaderboard stacked with major winners, FedExCup champions and generational talents. He’s not. Sunday is his opportunity to prove it.

Playing through

• 📺 Catch up on Round 3 highlights ...
• ▶️ What’s it like trying to protect a big lead? We got an inside look with Wyndham Clark last week. Watch "Chasing Sunday" here ...
• 😮 Rory McIlroy made this drastic improvement to jump into contention ...

Bunched bonanza

The TOUR Championship format will change again in 2028, part of a wide-sweeping shift in the PGA TOUR’s competitive structure. The hope is that it brings added excitement and more consequence.

That doesn’t mean the current format can’t produce it, too. Sunday is set up to deliver exactly what was intended. Having done away with Starting Strokes, which often limited the number of players who could win before a shot was even struck, the dream outcome of changing to a winner-take-all event is that all the best players already deserving of being the FedExCup champion were in the hunt for the final 18 holes.

We have that.

Scottie Scheffler, the most consistent overall golfer this year, is in the mix. As are fellow Player of the Year candidates Chris Gotterup, Cameron Young and Matt Fitzpatrick. Rory McIlroy lurks, chasing a record fourth FedExCup. Ryan Gerard and Adam Scott have put together two of the most complete years without a victory. Either one emerging with the TOUR Championship would feel justified. Viktor Hovland’s best rivals anyone, and we don’t need to think hard to recall his win here in 2023.

“I think this tournament, no matter what format it has been, it seems like they do a good job of having the cream rise to the top,” McIlroy said.

The cream has risen. Who will separate at the very end?

Parting shots

• 📩 Rory McIlroy might be a subscriber. Yesterday, I gave the stat that McIlroy was second behind Gary Woodland when adding up SG: Off-the-Tee and Approach. McIlroy cited the stat unprompted in his interview post-round. Do I actually think he read it? Not at all. But the stat was predictive and important. McIlroy was bound for positive regression on the greens after hitting it fantastically and not getting much out of it. He shot 63 on Saturday and is now in the mix to win, five back of Hovland.
• 📚 It’s a fun dynamic watching Adam Scott in contention during a CBS broadcast. Trevor Immelman is Scott’s swing adviser, and you can hear Immelman drop little hints about what they work on. As Scott attempted to cut a wood into the par-5 18th, Immelman said that’s exactly what Scott was working on earlier this week. After the round, Immelman stepped in to do the interview. We will get some cool insight if Scott is in the mix down the stretch.
• 🏆 Scheffler’s floor remains staggeringly high. He looked uncomfortable and frustrated throughout the third round. He still shot 66 and sits tied for third. It would be fitting that he be crowned the season-long champion while not at his peak. That’s been the story of the year.
• 🇳🇴 Viktor Hovland leads the field in putting, and it is a surprise to him. “It's so opposite to what I've grown up playing in back home in Norway,” he said. “But for some reason, I do feel comfortable.” Hovland has gained nearly seven strokes on the greens.
• 🧍 The run of solo golf continues. The best tee time to have this week is the one by yourself. With an odd number in the field after J.J. Spaun withdrew, the three players who have played by themselves have shot 62, 62 and 63. C’mon, Robert MacIntyre, do better.