The ides of August passed by on Friday the 13th, but the middle of the eighth month was fortunate for six champions. A second U.S. Amateur champion was crowned for 2021, and five professional winners secured titles across marvelous venues. The Scottish Open visited the newish Dumbarnie Links for the first time on the LPGA/European Tours, while venerable, vicious Oakmont hosted the premier amateur event for the fellows. Other sites included Sedgefield, Canyon Meadows, Indian Creek, and London. If you’re not an architecture maven, we’ve got facts and numbers to crunch for you. Have a read of this week’s Tour Rundown, as we round up six separate events.

PGA Tour: August is the cruelest month at Wyndham

1:35 – Si Woo Kim in house at -15. Five golfers on course at -15.
1:45 – Kim and Adam Scott in house at -15. Four golfers on course at -15
2:05 – Branden Grace birdies 18 to join Kim, Scott, Kevin Kisner, Kevin Na, and Roger Sloan at -15
2:06 – Russell Henley misses a four-feet putt and makes bogey at 18 to fall out of first place for the FIRST TIME ALL WEEK!
2:10 – Six-way playoff for trophy commences.

1st Playoff Hole – Everyone makes par. Scott misses Henley-esque putt for the win. Playoff continues.
2nd Playoff Hole – Kevin Kisner makes Henley-esque putt for the win.

When six golfers play off for the title, the preceding 72 holes seem unimportant. What was most odd about the conclusion to the Wyndham was:

• Henley putted brilliantly all week … until he didn’t, when it mattered most.
• Scott had made 53 consecutive putts inside five feet … until he missed the most important one.
• Kisner is a strong, match-play golfer. Hopefully he will build on this win and catch Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker’s eye during the upcoming playoff season. Kisner will need at least one FedEx Cup playoff win to move into the top ten.

Here’s hoping Henley rebounds with a victory soon. This one stung, stung, stung.

His first playoff win in dramatic fashion. @K_Kisner comes out on top in extra holes.

(Presented by @SuperStrokeGolf) pic.twitter.com/EHsEUaShux

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 15, 2021

LPGA: Scottish Open sees maiden win for seasoned American

From 2009 to 2011, Ryann O’Toole went from Futures Tour to Big Break to LPGA to USA Solheim Cup side. Without a doubt, she was an odd and unexpected selection in 2011, although she performed well with a 2-0-2 record. For the next decade, O’Toole ground out a living on tour, never winning and never being fitted for another Team USA kit. That will probably change soon, as O’Toole put on the performance of her career this week in Fife.

The Dumbarnie Links aren’t all that far from St. Andrews, but they are much newer than all but one course in the auld toon. O’Toole, Ariya Jutanugarn, and Charley Hull began day four of the Scottish Open in a tie for first, with pursuers galore in the kingdom of golf. O’Toole jumped up early with birdies at 1, 3, and 4, to take the lead. She didn’t look back, and she didn’t ever see Old Lady Bogey on the day. Sure, there were a few, nervy putts for par, but she made them all. On the day, the California native posted eight birdies for 64, and held a determined Atthaya Thitikul at arm’s length. Thitikul made a pair of bogeys on the inward half, and fell back into a tie for second with Lydia Ko, whose 17th-hole eagle two brought her to 14-under par. O’Toole’s three-shot victory stamps her as a favorite for this week’s Open Championship at Carnoustie.

To the victor, comes the shower!

#CheersToTheChampion ?

With her first career Tour win, @RyannOToole punched in her ticket to the 2022/2023 @diamondresorts Tournament of Champions! ?#DiamondLPGA pic.twitter.com/urFR9qWKTF

— LPGA (@LPGA) August 15, 2021

Korn Ferry: Pinnacle Bank Championship by the Skinns of his teeth

If you shot 65 or 66 on Thursday, you were at the top of the leaderboard, but you weren’t in a long-term relationship. The best that group did was a tie for 15th on the week. 67 was the magic number for Thursday. Those who shot 67, finished 1st, 4th, and 9th. Interesting, no?

David Skinns of England has banged his head against golf’s doors and walls since he graduated from the University of Tennessee in 2003. Last month, Skinns nearly broke them down at the Colorado Open, where he lost in a playoff for the title. This week, Skinns opened with one of those 67s, then posted 67-69 to enter day four with a shot at the title. Germany’s Stephan Jaeger, who had been there before, suffered an uncharacteristic malaise on Sunday and dropped to 4th position. As the leaders descended, Skinns made his move. He had six birdies on the day for yet another 67, and avoided a full-on Jared Wolfe comeback. Wolfe signed for the second-low round of the day (65) and moved up 17 places, into a tie for second with Zecheng Dou.

Skinns entered the week 46 on the race for a PGA Tour card. Today’s win will sneak him onto the PGA Tour for the first time. Quite the week, no?

Skinns wins! ? ?

With an up-and-down at the 72nd hole, David Skinns (@SkinnsyGolf) wins @PinnBankGolf and secures his first @PGATOUR card! pic.twitter.com/p1yXw4LqjQ

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) August 16, 2021

European Tour: Cazoo Classic to Scotland’s Hill

Imagine that someone told you that your eight-under par effort on Sunday, which followed on the heels of your Saturday six-under, simply wouldn’t be good enough. That you would make five consecutive birdies over the final nine holes, yet you would come up short. Welcome to the world of France’s Alexander Levy. Despite playing the weekend in 130 shots, Levy’s 15-under total was one shy of the 16-deep tally posted by Scotland’s Callum Hill.

Everyone began day four in hot pursuit of Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard. The Great Dane regressed to OK Dane, as Sunday brought an even-par 72, dropping him into a tie for third. England’s Richard Bland started strong, fizzled through the turn, then bravely rebounded, to equal Højgaard and two others. Hill had the benefit of a final-group pairing, and knew precisely what Levy had done earlier. Hill’s three-under effort on the inward half was just enough to secure an initial European Tour title at the age of 26.

Hill's Highlights in under 2 minutes ?#CazooClassic pic.twitter.com/BddIaEnBgq

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) August 15, 2021

PGA Tour Champions: Shaw Classic

Sometimes, the unheralded ones win. The Shaw Classic of 2021 was always going to be that way. You had the Billys, Mayfair and Andrade, attempting to snare a victory and return to the glory days of their youth. You had Steve Flesch, a solid but underrated lefty, running the show down the stretch. And then came Doug Barron, he of the one Tour Champions victory in 2019, with his eagle at the 11th. Nice they said, something that will ensure a top-five finish for the journeyman. For four consecutive Barron pars, that seemed to be his destiny.

With three holes to play, Barron caught lightning in a bottle. He birdied 16, then 17, and ripped his long approach onto the par-five 18th in two. Two putts later, Barron had reached 18-under par. Behind him, Flesch lost his momentum, playing the same stretch in plus-one. He would finish solo second, tied for his best result of the campaign. The victory moved Barron from 23rd to 16th on the season race for the Schwab Cup, ensuring that he will be exempt once more when the tour returns for 2022.

AN EPIC CELEBRATION! ?

Doug Barron secures his second career win in style @ShawClassic. pic.twitter.com/oV60UPTk4j

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) August 15, 2021

USGA: U.S. Men’s Amateur flies away with a winning Piot

Crunch these numbers: 34 holes were played in Sunday’s final match, and 2o of those were won outright by one of the two finalists. Oakmont Country Club’s stern, championship layout does that to a golfer. One minute, you’ve won three out of four holes to take a two-up lead, as Ohio’s Austin Greaser did to open the afternoon round. The next, you’ve lost four consecutive holes and find yourself no longer three-up, but one-down, as happened to the very same Greaser, later in the afternoon.

It’s somewhat inappropriate that both James Piot and Greaser were in the finals of the premier men’s amateur event in the USA. Neither was highly recruited out of high school, and both have played with chips on their shoulders ever since. Piot has thrived at Michigan State, while Greaser has come into his own at the University of North Carolina. As the twosome turned to their fourth and final nine holes on the day, Greaser held a three-up advantage.

At that point, Piot found an untested gear. He rattled off three birdies in four holes, and his par-five at the 12th (their 30th) was good enough for a win. After the 32nd hole was halved, Piot made a killer par at the mammoth 15th hole (their 33rd) for a fifth win in six holes. Pars at 16 and 17 brought the match to a close. Greaser’s putt for birdie hit the edge and spun away, leaving Piot as a 2 & 1 winner of the Havermeyer trophy.

That'll do it at Oakmont! @msumensgolf’s @jamespiot1 is the 121st #USAmateur champion! pic.twitter.com/8FwePI1d7f

— USGA (@USGA) August 15, 2021