One thing is the sensations and another quite different is the objective data. Sometimes they coincide and sometimes they don’t. In this case, the match is absolute. The third round of the The Sentry has left us with an exciting panorama and a very tight classification. Many golfers squeezed into a few strokes on a course where very low rounds can be made. Well, that’s it, a clean fight. Up to here, the sensation. And now, the objective data. We have reviewed all the editions of this tournament since its birth and, indeed, it turns out that we have never had a tighter Sunday in the history of this tournament. And it’s not a short history…
It was born in 1953 and has been held every year without interruption, which means that in this 2024 the 72nd edition is being contested. It’s been a while. We have never found a scenario like this year’s, with nine players separated by three strokes and sixteen in five. Never is never. To know: in three strokes are Kirk, Bhatia, Schauffele, Spieth, An, English, Day, Theegala and Scheffler. And in five are added: Poston, Cantlay, Morikawa, Fitzpatrick, Harman, Straka and Hatton.
The year that was closest in emotion to this Sunday was 2014, when the final stretch of the tournament was reached with eight players separated by three strokes and fifteen in five. In that edition, a decade ago, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Webb Simpson led the tournament tied with one round to go. Zach Johnson ended up winning, who started two strokes behind the leaders. If we bet on a repetition of that story, the winner should come from the three names that will come out today two from the leader: Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele or Byeong Hun An. We are therefore facing (literally) the mother of all battles of the Sentry.
Beyond that 2014 edition, the tightest years of this tournament have been 1974, with eight players in three strokes, 1977 and 1994, with a total of seven. Interestingly, on those three occasions one of the leading players did end up winning on Sunday. Watch out for the payroll: Jonnhy Miller, Jack Nicklaus and Phil Mickelson.
On the opposite side of history, editions in which there was more difference between the leader and the rest of the players with 18 holes to go, we find four times in which the second classified was more than five strokes away: 1954, 1955, 2009 and 2023. In the first three the highlighted leader ended up winning (Art Wall, who came out with an eleven stroke lead; Gene Littler, who had twelve (absolute record) and Geoff Ogilvy, with seven), while last year was the great comeback of Jon Rahm. The Biscayan came out seven strokes behind Collin Morikawa and took the victory with a final round of 63 strokes, ten under, for the 72 that the American signed.
Sixteen golfers in five strokes. Something never seen in 72 years of history at the Sentry. Get the popcorn out.
