After 242 PGA Tour starts in his career, five feet stood between Adam Schenk and the victory he had dreamed of all his life. Inside the scoring tent, Chandler Phillips sat with his hat backwards, waiting for his fate to happen.
As the Bermuda wind whipped through the Port Royal Golf Course, Schenk inspected the line that could change everything – five feet to wipe away a season in which he missed 15 cuts and finished 131 in Strokes Gained: Total.
Schenk grabbed his putter, exhaled and rolled it into the center of the cup. As the ball disappeared, Schenk gave a fist pump and a celebratory roar.
The win gives Schenk a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour, as well as a spot in the Players Championship and PGA Championship.
As Schenk’s emotions began to spill out on the 18th green, back in the scoring tent, Phillips lightly pounded his fist on the table and smiled slightly. He didn’t win, but a career-best performance has given him new life.
He started the week in Bermuda just wanting his season to be over. He was 139th in the FedEx Fall standings and was almost certain to return to the Korn Ferry Tour after a season of frustration. Like Schenk, who entered the week at 134, the path to retaining his PGA Tour card was narrow: either win or finish high enough to move to the other side of the top-100 bubble with one event left to play.
“I only have one option and that is to go out there and try to win because if I don’t I won’t keep my card,” Phillips said in Bermuda on Friday. “There aren’t many answers to it. There’s only one answer: Just go out there and try to get out of it. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, try to fix what’s wrong this year. To tell you the truth, I’m pretty over this year. Like it’s been a struggle, but I’m waiting for the finish line.”
But after three good rounds in Bermuda, the finish line Phillips was looking for began to change shape. A life-changing, career-altering victory was within his reach. The only thing standing in his way was Schenk and the stormy conditions in Bermuda.
On Sunday, Phillips, whose best result of the season was a T10 at the Zurich Classic team event, battled to catch Schenk. He made the turn at one under, but made three bogeys on the back nine and fell two shots back with two to play. He made a clutch birdie on the par-5 17th to get within one and put pressure on Schenk, but could only watch from the scoring tent as his best chance to win a PGA Tour event fell just short.
But Phillips’ disappointment quickly dissipated as his path to retaining his PGA Tour became a little less steep. With second place, Phillips moved up to 92nd in the rankings with one tournament remaining.
“It’s hard to get really angry about something,” Phillips said Sunday. “Adam obviously played great, congratulations to him. I’m just happy with my finish. If we had gone to the play-offs that would have been better, but it’s hard to really get angry about anything.”
“I’m happy to be in the top 100 now. I know I still have a week to go, but at least I’m not going into next week in the same position as this week. If I look at it like God, I have to win to have a job here. Hopefully I’ll play pretty solid next week and see you next year.”
Back on the green, Schenk hugged his caddy after a victory eight years in the making. A win that erases a year in which he endured two separate bouts with six consecutive missed cuts. One that has lifted a weight off Adam Schenk’s shoulders, given him a new lease on life on the PGA Tour and shown that perseverance has an unquantifiable value.
And it can pay off if few see it coming.
“It’s a little bit embarrassing, but at the end of the day, I don’t want to say I don’t care what anyone thinks, but I believe in what I do and how I do things and that was probably bigger than anything this week, just seeing that belief permeate and how I do things,” Schenk said. “There’s a method to the madness. It’s not always right, but that’s fine. I’d rather go down swinging, do it my way, and learn along the way and ask advice from a small circle.”
“It’s just incredible that it has finally become a reality.”
Adam Schenk saves par and wins the Bermuda Championship
#Bermuda #Championship #emotional #Sunday #scenes #told #FedEx #fall #story