Halve Ouimet Breaks Through After 11 Month Drought

The Travelers Championship did not disappoint last week as it had one of the more exciting finishes we've seen this season. The New England crowd was treated to a rousing finish as Daniel Berger and Jordan Spieth went head to head in a sudden death playoff that could not have ended more suddenly. After Berger birdied the 17th in regulation to tied Spieth, neither one of them could birdie 18 to win it outright. They marched back down the 18th to play it again, this time with everything on the line. Both hit poor drives. Both missed the green on their approach. Berger sat on the collar while Spieth was bunkered. And then, with a touch of Spieth magic, he ended the Travelers with one swoop of his sand wedge as the crowd erupted in pandemonium.  

Things were tight in fantasy land as well. Entering Sunday there were 6 teams with a viable shot at the title and all had a unique path to victory. Among them were some heavy hitters and occasional contenders but all were ready to pounce. In the hunt were 4 winners so far this season. The rookie Driving Miss Daisy was hungry for win #2 in her maiden season, Kings Deer was also looking for career #3 and second of 2017, Jose Maria Oblazabong was looking to add career #6 to his trophy case and second of 2017 and DaHoffa was looking for his second win in 3 weeks. Looking for their first win of 2017 were Marlowe Dubuisson, Papa Pilgrim and Halve Ouimet. Only 2 of these teams had Spieth (Marlowe, DaHoff) while 3 of them had Berger (Jose, Halve, Kings). As birdies continued to fall during Sunday's final round it was too close to call. Miss Daisy, Papa and Jose all fell back with bad rounds that put them out of it. Marlowe hung in there but a +6 round from her C player ultimately cost her the title. It was down to two: Halve Ouimet and Kings Deer. Kings was charging. But Halve was holding. Despite Kings making up 4 points on Ouimet's lead it was not enough. Halve Ouimet rallied his troops to hold the line, each starter scoring more than 10 points each on Sunday. It's his first victory in 11 months and a big one as he wasn't sure if he'd be making back into the winner's circle before the year's end. But he's cast off the fantasy demons and can once again be called a fantasy champ. Congrats Halve Ouimet. 

Notables:

Kings Deer's charge fell just short on Sunday but as a consolation he'll take home his 5th Top 3 and 11th Top 10 of the season. He's moved his way inside the overall top 10 for the season, currently sitting in 9th place. Kings is looking at a vastly improved season performance over last year when he finished 28th. All of sudden he's turned on the jets and is cranking away. Perhaps a Segment Championship could be in Kings' future.

Coming in 3rd place last week as the anomaly Marlowe Dubuisson. The second to last place Marlowe rarely makes an appearance in the upper echelons of tournament standings but on occasion she'll make a run at it. This finish is her 3rd Top 10 of the season and, remarkably, of those 3 two of them are Top 10s. Marlowe only hunts when the time is right and the Travelers apparently fit her eye. Perhaps she's planning for bigger game in next month's Open Championship. 

DaHoffa's push for title #2 of 2017 ended with a 4th place finish. Not a bad way to start the Summer Segment and it marks Top 10 #8 for his stat line. He's been mired in mediocrity so far this season in terms of overall rank. He's currently in 18th place and is struggling to get another paycheck so his year-to-year earnings doesn't take too much of a hit ($73 in 2016, $20 in 2017). He's 5th overall in total bonus points (230) which is a great line to have but his regulation points have suffered due to mistimed subs and draft picks. Maybe things will turn around over the summer. 

Kikakee Tees keeps pouring it on as he stacks up his 12th Top 10 overall with this 5th place finish at the Travelers. He leads the league in Top 3s with 6 but ironically wasn't able to convert any of them into wins. He's got one more segment to sneak in a tournament win but at least he has a segment title. 

Jose Maria Oblazabong slipped out of the running on Sunday for the championship but managed another Top 10 - his 13th overall (2nd in the league). Oblazabong has been giving strong indications that he plans to make a run at the Jackson Cup as he's steadily climbed the ranks. He's in 3rd place overall at roughly 80 points back. He'll need to repeat his performance in the Winter Segment which he won if he wants to have a legitimate shot at it. 

Driving Miss Daisy snagged her 9th Top 10 of the season and is currently in 8th place overall. The rookie continues to make strides in the right direction and has been performing very well as of late. She's got a real shot to end the season in the money and perhaps another win is in the cards for her as well. 

Shorts Strokes. This guy just won't go away. He's one of the league's most consistent players and leads everyone with 15 Top 10s. He's 3rd overall in bonus points (245) and has an impressive 35.37 points per average. Strokes is looking to retain the Jackson Cup which would be the first back-to-back winner in league history. Time will tell. 

Freeside Links makes an appearance inside the Top 10 in consecutive weeks. But the past two Top 10s are his only in the last 2 months. Hi season has fallen by the wayside with him in 20th place but the Summer holds the most promise for cash with the highest payouts coming up. 

Talkeetna98 stays in the running for the Jackson Cup with his 10th Top 10 via his 10th place finish at the Travelers. Talkeetna is in 6th place at the moment and needs to turn on the afterburners if he's going to make up the roughly 230 points that separates him and first place. 

THIS WEEK is the Quicken Loans National at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. The course is long and the talent is deep. Defending his title this week is DaHoffa who's fresh off a hot start and is primed for a successful defense. Everyone else is chomping at the bit to start out the Summer on the right foot so there's sure to be stiff competition this week. And with starts being budgeted for the all-star players the mix should be somewhat in question.