McCumber on the number

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This article was published 18/08/2018 (2074 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tyler McCumber continues to make it look like he’s playing pro golf on easy mode, capturing The Players Cup Sunday in what amounted to a day-long coronation that left his fellow competitors simply shaking their heads in disbelief.

McCumber, 27, fired a final-round 67 to finish at 22-under. It’s his third victory of the Mackenzie Tour — PGA Tour Canada season, with all of them coming in the past month. He also has a third-place finish during that span, and is now a ridiculous 122-under par over his last 24 tournament rounds.

“This must have been how those guys felt in 2000 when Tiger was playing or something,” said runner-up Michael Gellerman, who finished at 20-under par after a 66 Sunday. “The guy is obviously playing well and he’s a super good guy. I’m happy for him. But I want to beat him. I’m sick of losing to him.”

McCumber added another $36,000 to his earnings, which now sit at more than $135,000. With just two events left in the season and a $60,000 money lead on the No. 2 golfer, McCumber appears to be a lock to finish the year on top and automatically earn a Web.com Tour card for next year. That puts him just one step below full-time employment on the PGA Tour.

“I’m definitely on a streak, but I’m playing really well, too. Obviously to win, things have to go your way and a ton of things have to fall in your favour. Winning being irrelevant, I’m playing really good, whether I finished second, third, fifth, first, the last six weeks,” said McCumber, a Florida native who turned pro in 2013 and is the son of PGA regular Mark McCumber.

“I do think I saw it trending. I know I did, coming into the season. Been playing really well, shooting some good numbers, being comfortable under par. Kind of just really seeing the parts of my game that really bothered me before really tightening up. It’s good, confidence -wise, going into the rest of the year. And my career. I’ll draw back on this forever,” he said.

McCumber made just one bogey all week, on his 17th hole of his first round Thursday. He shot 69 that day and was six shots off the lead. But the deficit proved to no problem as he fired back-to-back 65s on Friday and Saturday to take a one-shot lead into the final round. He kept his foot on the gas pedal Sunday and birdied four of his first six holes to pull away from the pack, at one point building a five-shot lead.

Gellerman moved from 10th to fourth on the money list by making $21,600 with his second-place finish. The 26-year-old Arizona native made a charge on the back nine with birdies on three of his last five holes. It’s a big development for him considering golfers who finish second through fifth on the money list get conditional status on the Web.com Tour next year.

“I’m just trying to make progress, trying to get better. And hopefully that win is going to come soon. If Tyler McCumber keeps playing, maybe. I don’t know,” said Gellerman.

Drew Weaver, 31, finished alone in third at 18-under and won $13,600 after shooting 70 while playing in the final pairing with McCumber. Ontario’s Michael Gligic finished fourth at 17-under following a final-round 68. As top Canadian he also earned an additional $2,500 bonus in addition to his $9,600 in winnings.

“I don’t really know what you gotta do to beat him,” Gligic, 28, said of McCumber. “I was pretty happy with my four-under today. For him to do that (actually 5-under) in the final group with the lead, that’s pretty good golf. Win, win, third and a win here. That’s pretty damn good golf.”

New Caledonia’s Paul Barjon tied Gellerman for low round of thee day with 66, vaulting him into a tie for fifth. He said McCumber’s run reminds him of what Dan McCarthy did on tour back in 2016 when he had four wins, including the Players Cup.

“I’ve never played with Tyler so I don’t know how he plays, but obviously good right now. He’s obviously playing his best golf right now,” said Barjon.

Gligic had a similar sense of deja vu Sunday, especially since he also won top Canadian at that 2016 Players Cup.

“Pretty much. You just look at the leaderboard and you see either McCarthy (in 2016) or McCumber on the leaderboard every week. It’s crazy. The competition on this tour is so good, and for someone to go out and win three of four and the one he doesn’t win is a third, that’s pretty good golf. He’s been a good player for a long time, so it was just a matter of putting it all together, and he’s been doing that,” said Gligic, who now sits 13th on the tour’s money list after his third top-10 finish of the year.

McCumber remembers McCarthy’s magical season well — he was paired with him in the final group of what turned out to be McCarthy’s first win that year in British Columbia.

“I was the one who gave him his first win in that first event,” joked McCumber. “No, no. I didn’t give it to him. He took it, that’s for sure. In the first event in Vancouver, we were down to the last hole and he had one of the best long putts I’ve ever seen from the front edge of the green at Point Grey to the back pin. I couldn’t get it there, no way,” said McCumber.

McCarthy is now a regular on the Web.com Tour, as is 2017 Players Cup champion Kramer Hickok who made enough money this year to grab his 2019 PGA Tour Card. He’ll join 2015 Players Cup champion C.T. Pan, who went from the Web to the top tour last year and nearly won his first PGA Tour event Sunday only to double-bogey the final hole and finish in a tie for second.

In other words, recent Players Cup champions are making quite a name for themselves. And McCumber is poised to join that group.

“I guess the best way to put it, is I feel more professional in my process of what I’m doing. And I think that carries into more confidence on the course and off the course,” said McCumber.

“When you get to these levels, Mackenzie, Web.com and (PGA) Tour, the good play at the top of the leaderboard is similar. It carries over, that type of play. It’s the depth of the field and more cutlines and stuff that changes throughout the levels. Obviously, they’re all good players but at the top, when you’re playing and shooting certain numbers, the numbers don’t really lie. When these guys are advancing to the next stage, it’s not surprising that they’re doing well.”

Other notable finishes include first-round leader Cody Blick (-11, T-20), second-round leader Alex Chiarella (-11, T-20), No. 2 player Zach Wright (-10, T-30), No. 3 player George Cunningham (-14, T-11) and 2014 Players Cup champion Timothy Madigan (-6, T-52).

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg