Weekly Recap: The English Patient

In watching the when-would-it-ever-end playoff on Sunday at the Travelers Championship, you could tell it meant a lot to Harris English to win, obviously, but that it meant everything to Kramer Hickok.

Such were their standings in the PGA Tour hierarchy. Even though they are less than three years apart in age.

English has quietly established himself during this second act of his career as one of the top players in the game. Hickok was probably not even known by 50 percent of the people at TPC River Highlands. Which is why he was the gallery favorite for the astounding eight-hole, two-hour playoff.

In the end, the better player won. That's not to say that English won because he's the better player, because the longer it went it was basically a coin flip.

The eight-hole playoff tied for the second longest in PGA Tour history and made English the only two-time winner in calendar 2021 (both in playoffs). Wrap your head around that one. The year is six months old.

English now has four career wins. He is up to No. 12 in the world – which, at age 31, is the best of his career. He's ranked higher than Louis Oosthuizen, Webb Simpson, Hideki Matsuyama, Paul Casey, Jordan Spieth and on and on. English was just top-5 at the U.S. Open two weeks ago, and also at the 2020 U.S. Open. And he was runner-up in the Northern Trust playoff event last year.

Interestingly, he doesn't do any one thing great statistically – unless if you want to consider his placement on leaderboards a statistic.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Kramer Hickok
This is Hickok's third full season on Tour. Which, at 29, is pretty late to be in only your third year. English is in his second decade on Tour. Hickok had never come anywhere near a win. Who knows whether he will again.

But if nothing else, for two glorious hours on Sunday, he went toe-to-toe with the No. 12 player in the world. He putted out his mind (he entered the week ranked 171st in Stroke Gained: Putting). 

Hickok certainly looked like a good golfer over the past four days. But he was 331st in the world an 139th in the FedEx Cup standings and had missed more than half the cuts in his career for a reason. He had finished outside the top-150 in the FedEx standings his first two seasons. He has his card only by being among the top-50 Korn Ferry players in 2019. Who knows where he'd have been playing this season if the pandemic didn't lock things into place in golf.

But Hickok is now up to 69th in the standings, securing up his card for next season. Which is everything for a player of Hickok's standing. He's now up to 138th in the OWGR, which, incidentally, is not his best. He was in the 120s in 2018 after winning a Korn Ferry event.

Really, there was little to indicate Hickok could have had this type of week. And there's, as of now, little to indicate it can happen again.

That's harsh. But that's professional golf.

Viktor Hovland
Hovland first and foremost has recovered from his U.S. Open withdrawal due to sand in his eye. We know that because he won the BMW International Open on Sunday in Munich by two strokes over Martin Kaymer. Hovland thus moved up from 14th in the world rankings to 14th. That's not a typo. That's a taking a shot at the strength of the BMW field and European Tour fields in general. It was John Deere-like.

Bubba Watson
The Full Bubba, A to Z, was on display across the four days in Connecticut. The three-time Travelers champ was on target for a fourth, taking the lead into the back nine on Sunday. And then he bogeyed the final five holes (doubling 17 for good measure) to plummet into a tie for 19th. That's Exhibit A why it's so hard to pull the trigger on Watson in DFS or anywhere else at any time, even at TPC River Highlands. As a bettor, you need to be prepared not only to lose with Watson, you also need to be prepared to feel duped for picking him.

Marc Leishman
Leishman came out of virtually nowhere with the second- best round of the day on Sunday to almost steal the tournament. His 6-under 64 left him in solo third, a shot out of the playoff. It really was only his second good result in six months – the other being a top-5 at the Masters, not too shabby – so it's hard to get too excited for when his next good result will be.

Abraham Ancer
Ancer was on just about everyone's radar for this tournament, if not in their lineups, and he didn't disappoint, finishing solo fourth. It continues a great season and moves his back inside the top-20 in the world.

Kevin Kisner
It had been a terrible year for Kisner, one that had seen him miss seven of his past nine stroke-play cuts and fall out of the top-50 in the world for the first time in years. But he had a great week, closing with a 7-under 63 to soar into a tie for fifth, his best result since a runner-up at the RSM in late November. He ranked third in the field in putting. That's what he needs to do. He nudged back inside the top-50.

Brooks Koepka
He tied for fifth. He tried. It wasn't a major. It's really an overstatement to say that he doesn't try in regular tournaments – it's just that he tries SO hard in majors.

Brian Harman
Harman tied for fifth – and that was with a double on 17 – continuing a great season. It was his fourth top-10 and eighth top-20 in his past nine starts. He's been lineup-worthy virtually every week of late.

Jason Day
The former world No. 1 blistered River Highlands with a 62 on Friday, showing what he's still capable of doing. At least for one day. But he limped home 70-70 to tie for 10th. Doing it for one day, or even two or three, is not doing it for four. Until seeing otherwise, it's difficult to envision Day contending for titles.

Guido Migliozzi
After a surprising U.S. Open, the Italian surprised again with a tie for 13th, just missing another top-10. It would've been interesting to see whether he'd have stuck around for another week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. We'll see Migliozzi at the Open Championship in three weeks and perhaps the WGC-FedEx soon after.

Dustin Johnson
Johnson could've gotten into contention by going super low on Sunday, a day when a lot of guys went super low. Instead, he shot 1-over and tied for 25th. Jon Rahm gets to hang on to the No. 1 ranking for at least another week, probably longer.

Austin Eckroat and John Pak
They are two college stars who recently turned pro so we'll put them together. Eckroat tied for 47th in his first pro start on the PGA Tour, following two Korn Ferry top-15s. Pak missed the cut for his second straight PGA Tour event after making it at the U.S. Open. Both will be in Detroit this week for the Rocket Mortgage.

Garrick Higgo
Since winning the Palmetto, the young South African has missed the cut at the U.S. Open and now the Travelers. But he is sticking around and will play in the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Tony Finau
He stunningly missed the cut at the U.S. Open and now the Travelers, the first time he's missed back-to-back cuts since 2019, when he missed at the U.S. Open and Travelers. So maybe there's nothing to worry about, Finau fans.

Rickie Fowler
After two great tournaments in a row, Fowler took a step back with a missed cut. We think Fowler's arrow is still pointing up, just not straight up.

Matthew Wolff
This was a shocker. And in retrospect, maybe it shouldn't have been. One week after his remarkable return to golf at the U.S. Open, Wolff missed the cut – by a lot. We thought an invigorated Wolff would be rarin' to go this week. But maybe the highs of the Open were so high that there was bound to be a bit of letdown the week after. Honestly, it's hard to figure what to expect from Wolff this week in Detroit, where he was runner-up last year.