As American football steams through its fifth weekend. professional golf continues to capture our attention. Thanks to a well-balanced equation for tour championships, the brass ring for the world’s tours spreads across a rainbow of weeks. This first weekend in October saw the arrival of the Korn Ferry tour championship, along with the awarding of a spate of PGA Tour cards for 2025. The DP World Tour returned to St. Andrews for the Dunhill Links. The annual pilgrimage to the home of golf presents the auld toon’s various courses in unique lights. The PGA Tour Champions visited Jacksonville, Florida, for the Furyk & Friends event, while the PGA Tour itself passed through the 20th state for the yearly “I’m going to” Jackson, Mississippi tourney at the city’s eponymous country club.

? ALBATROSS ?@NicoColsaerts makes an albatross at the 16th at Kingsbarns! #dunhilllinks pic.twitter.com/augYNri4kF

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) October 5, 2024

PGA Tour @ Sanderson Farms: Yu keeps Hossler from winner’s stand

Beau Hossler has done so much during his years on the PGA Tour, that you would think that a victory would have fallen to him at some point. The Californian-born, UTexas-educated golfer has lost twice in playoffs. In 2018, he fell to Ian Poulter in Houston. Now Wiki can add a loss to Kevin Yu, in Mississippi.

For a time, it seemed that neither golfer would figure in the outcome. Keith Mitchell was motoring along through 12 holes, until he forgot how to make a birdie. Five consecutive pars were followed by an excruciating bogey at the last. That miscue kept him out of the playoff, restricting him to a T3 finish with Lucas Glover.

Away did Yu and Hossler fly, to the 18th tee for another go-round. Yu found fairway, while Hossler diverted to the left exit, compelling a lay-up for his second. He pitched to three feet, but never had a chance to make that putt. Yu played his approach to inside six feet, then drained the birdie putt for a walk-off win.

A dart when he needed it most ?@KevinGolfYu has a good look at birdie on the first playoff hole. pic.twitter.com/0glyWvNhDb

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 6, 2024

DP World Tour @ Dunhill Links: Hatton at home of golf

Nicolas Colsaerts hasn’t won in quite some time, and it shows. The Belgian Bomber last hoisted a tour trophy in 2019. Stretches without a sound verdict will play with one’s psyche. Case in point: Colsaerts poured in an approach to the 16th for an Albatross two on the par-five hole, followed it with a birdie, then closed with a double bogey, in round three. Welcome back to the chase, everyone.

The six at the last dropped the tall man a shot behind Tyrrell Hatton. The duo would match 70s in round four, and Hatton would make a delicate up-and-down for birdie at Home, to clinch victory. Hatton did everything in his power to give the tournament away. His double bogey-bogey run at holes 13 and 14 returned three shots to the field. On a long day, when lost holes from previous days were made up, Hatton had enough gas in the tank to make a trio of pars coming home, prior to etching that delightful birdie into the graveyard of greens.

Up and down for victory ?@TyrrellHatton is the Alfred Dunhill Links Champion for a record third time! #dunhilllinks pic.twitter.com/RHNfnuvj4y

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) October 6, 2024

Korn Fery Tour @ Tour Championship: 

In case you weren’t aware of just how busy a week it was at the French Lick Resort, check Twitter/X. You won’t find a bit of footage of Braden Thornberry, the fellow who won the title and a tour card. Thornberry was an afterthought until he wasn’t. He entered the week 51st on the money list, and was the only competitor to move inside the top 30 and earn a PGA Tour card.

It’s a shame, really, as no other tour offers promotion cards at its Tour Championship. Thornberry had the temerity to record a 72nd-hole birdie, to seal a perfect, six-under 66. He reached nine-under par, relegating Alistair Docherty, Doc Redman, and Brian Campbell to a tie for runner-up linen. In January of 2025, Thornberry will join his fellow graduates for a year of grad school, on the PGA Tour.

Kaito on a mission ?

Back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15 and he is rolling! pic.twitter.com/x5o9xZ2qbR

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) October 4, 2024

PGA Tour Champions @ Furyk & Friends: It’s Rocco, baby!

Why is it that some players find a way to un-win a tournament? Bob Estes has done this since his PGA Tour days. Estes contends with regularity, yet the loving cups of victory somehow find their way into another’s embrace. Guess what? It happened again in North Florida.

Rocco Mediate is owed a bit by the gods of golf. There is no way that Tiger Woods, on one leg, beats him at Torrey Pines in the 2008 US Open, yet it happened. This week at Timuquana, Mediate was his grinning, impish self. He matched Estes shot for shot through 54 holes of regulation, despite doing his best Hatton impression. Bogeys at 15 and 18 were offset by a birdie at 17.

In the playoff hole, Mediate found the fairway, while Estes landed on sand. His bunker recovery failed to reach the green, and his pitch was not close enough to matter. Mediate reached the putting surface in regulation, took two putts, and recorded par. Estes was adrift with his par putt, and a first Tour Champions title since 2019 (and fifth overall) reached Mediate’s embrace.

The art behind the craft.@RoccoMediate played this beautifully @FurykAndFriends.

He leads by three with four to play! pic.twitter.com/GsfGtXgkC0

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) October 6, 2024