Kevin Kesner’s playoff record made less sense than anyone on the PGA Tour. Until Kisner emerged victorious in a PGA Tour record-equaling six playoff on Sunday at Wyndham at Sedgefield Country Club, Kisner lost all five levels he was in. This is amazing on a number of levels, not least because it was sprinkled in the middle of all those playoff losses that was a win at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, the biggest and best singles event in the world.

Kesner was great on Sunday, making a birdie in two of the last three regulation holes to get to the 15-under and join a crowd at the top made up of Adam Scott, Si-Woo Kim, Roger Sloan, Kevin Na and Branden Grace, but not Russell Henley. Henley led after the first three rounds but missed two positions under 4 feet in the last nine holes to finish T7. It was a brutal end to what was a great performance from him.

Halfway through the first match, Kessner looked cooked. Scott hit his approach 4 feet (more on that below), and Kissner had to go up and down from the front of the green. He almost holed up for 3 from there, and Scott ended up missing. All six players are equal.

Rick Gehmann, Greg Ducharme and Kyle Porter break down and react to Kevin Kesner’s victory at Wyndham 2021. Go ahead and listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcast And spotify.

In the second playoff round, Kessner hit the championship shot, kicking legs, and rotating clubs to 3 feet for the win. He buried it, and spent the next few minutes shaking hands with every player and caddy on the green like the end of a National Hockey League playoff. It was a funny (and surprising) ending to the regular PGA Tour season.

It was also a great end to the regular season for Kesner, who has now finished in the top 10 in three of his last five PGA Tour runs and is playing the best golf he played in 2021 at the perfect time. He competed in the FedEx Cup playoffs in the 29th place (his top 30 made it to the Tour Championship) and is now officially on the radar for the US Ryder Cup team, where he will undoubtedly be a popular pick.

No one knows how either of these paths will end (or converge), but Kevin Kessner – a bulldog – literally and figuratively – has now done the thing you’ve been expecting all along. He won a playoff, the biggest proper event since 2001 and tied for the biggest event in PGA Tour history. What that means for the future is anyone’s guess. What he means nowadays is that the three-time PGA Tour winner is now a four-time PGA Tour winner, and Kisner has consistently won at the highest level for the past six years (wins in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2021), which is as impressive as it is difficult. doing it. Grade: A +

Here are the rest of our Wyndham Championship scores.

Adam Scott (T2): Scott probably should have won that championship on his first playoff hole. He was a great 65 on Sunday, and he knocked it out completely all day, but a 4-foot lead in his first playoff cost him the win. However, this is his first number one and two position since the start of 2020 as he has been trying to re-orientate himself to life as one of the best professionals on the planet since the COVID-19 pandemic began. It’s always fun to see Scott play well, and a little bit of momentum could mean he’s playing an important role in the FedEx Cup playoffs, which begin next week. Grade: A

Most players on the PGA Tour

Russell Henley (T7): Sunday was a tough day for Henley, who somehow advanced after each round but then failed in a record seven-game playoff. Henley missed a few painfully short hits, including one on the final bonus hole, which erases how well he’s played all week. It’s a reminder of how thin the margin between win and loss is and must be befuddled by Henley, who must be thinking to himself “I’ve played this well for four straight rounds and still can’t get my first win in four years.” Henley is a great pick to make a little noise in the FedEx Cup Qualifiers, but this impending bug will likely be painful for a while. Grade: A

Justin Rose (T10): Unbelievably, a three-stroke on the final hole of the championship appears to have bumped Rose to No. 126 in the FedEx Cup standings and knocked out the playoffs and helped Chesson Hadley finish 125 after shooting a 62 on Sunday. Rose hasn’t lost his PGA Tour card, but for someone who won the FedEx Cup just three years ago, that’s a tough way to get out in the last regular season event of the year, especially after the way he’s played all week and the real chance he had to win the championship late in the day. The last round. B-grade

David Lingmirth (T37): Lingmerth, who started the week outside the top 200 in the FedEx Cup standings, faced relegation not to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals but only to Q-School to regain his Korn Ferry Tour ticket. Everyone in the 126-200 final FedEx standings gets at least a chance to get their PGA Tour cards back by finishing 25th in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, but Lingmerth was out of that. He had to qualify on Monday for this tournament before firing 68-67 to reach the weekend. He finished with 67 on Sunday to finish 199 in the FedEx standings, which is just below the magic number, and he will leave for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals over the next month, no doubt reclaiming his youth given the fact that he was also outside the world’s top 1000 just a month ago. . This T37 finish was his third in four games on the PGA Tour, and he needed them all just to walk in the water for another month. Grade: A +

Hideki Matsuyama (MC): Despite being charged late on Friday, Matsuyama was the biggest disappointment this week. He got into a real warmer and nearly won last week at WGC-FedEx St. He’ll run into next week’s FedEx Cup qualifiers with some real momentum, but any time a tournament favorite fails to play at the weekend, the result is a disappointment. Grade: D