At the Bermuda Championship, 2 emotional scenes said it all
After the PGA Tour of the PGA of the PGA, five feet stood between Adam Schenk and the Win he spent the rest of his life dreaming of capturing. In the scoring tent, Chandler Phillips sat with his hat back, waiting for his fate to be delivered.
With the Bermuda wind blowing at the Port Royal Golf Course, Schenk tested a line that could change everything – five meters to clear the season that saw him miss the cut and 131 positions in the ban.
Schenk broke his fist, and ended up folding it into the center of the cup. As the ball disappeared, Schenk gave the castle a pump and a famous roar.
“Just a relief that it was that hard, so a little bit of a relief to finally get through it, and finally get it done so soon,” Schenkk said after winning the Burruda Championship. “In the end you either do it or you don’t, and I’ll have so many more of those chances, especially if I’m lost in Q-School and I’m already in.”
The win gives Schenk a two-year exemption from the PGA Tour, as well as a spot in the Players Championship and the PGA Championship.
As Schenk’s emotions began to come out of the 18-year-old green, back in the scoring tent, Phillips pounded the table with his fist and gave a small smile. He didn’t make it, but a great finish gave him a new lease of life.
He entered this week in Bermuda just wanting his season to be over. He was 139 at the FedEx Fall emings and was almost back on the Korn Ferry Tour after a season of frustration. Like Schenck, who entered the week at 134, the path to keeping his PGA card was narrow: either win or finish high enough to move into another 100 with one event to play.
“I only have one option and that’s to get out there and try to win because if I don’t, I don’t keep my card,” Phillips said Friday in Bermuda. “There aren’t many answers to it. Just one answer, just get out there and try to do the Truth, you know, you try, but I’ve had a struggle, but I’ve had a hard time that year.”
But after three good rounds in Bermuda, those finishing millips were searching for form. A life-changing win, a life-changing career was his understanding. All that stood in his way was Schenk and the conditions of Blustery Bermuda.
On Sunday, Phillips, whose best finish at the time was a T10 at the club’s Zurich Classic, struggled to catch Schenkk. He made some chances at the under but made three bogeys on the back nine to fall two shots back and two to play. He made a clutch birdie on the par-5 17th to get within one and put the pressure on Schenk, but he can only look at a bad tent as his best chance to win a PGA Tour event is coming up.
But Phillips’ disappointment was quickly dissipated as his road to his final PGA Tour became a little less impressive. By completing the runner-up, Phillips moved to 92nd in the fight with one championship remaining.
“It’s hard to get really upset about anything,” Phillips said Sunday. “Adam played well, congratulations to him. I’m just happy with my finish. If we didn’t go to the meet, that would have been really good, but it’s really hard to be upset about anything.
“I’m just happy to be inside the Top-100 now. I know I’ve had one week, but at least I’m not going into next week in the same place I was this week.
Back on the green, Schenk gave his Caddy a win after eight years in the making. The win that ended the year saw him go through two separate divisions with six fine cuts. One that lifted the weight off Adam Schenk’s shoulders, gave him a new lease on life at the PGA and showed that there is an incomparable amount of perseverance.
And it can pay off when few see it coming.
“It’s a little embarrassing, but at the end of the day, since I don’t want to say who thinks who or who thinks what they see and what they see, how this belief passes and how I do things,” said Schenkk. “There’s a method to the madness. He’s not always right, but that’s okay. I’d like to go down, learn my way, learn when I get advice from a small circle.
“It’s just unbelievable that it’s finally happening.”
