English pays tribute to coach Justin Parsons after playoff win in Hawaii
KAPALUA, HAWAII - JANUARY 10: Harris English of the United States plays his shot from the second tee during the final round of the Sentry Tournament Of Champions at the Kapalua Plantation Course on January 10, 2021 in Kapalua, Hawaii. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Harris English paid tribute to his Irish coach Justin Parsons after the clinched his third PGA Tour win with a playoff victory over Chile’s Joaquin Niemann in the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
English (31) closed with a four-under 67 to tie with Niemann, who shot 64, on 25-under par before winning with a birdie four on their first trip down the par-five 18th in sudden-death
“Justin Parsons has been an unbelievable help at home getting me back on track,” English said of Co Down-born Parsons (44), who went from Knock Golf Club to Dubai to become Director of Golf at the Butch Harmon School of Golf at The Els Club before moving to Sea Island in Georgia in 2018.
“Even the gym work with Tom Hemmings. It's kind of a whole package that I've gotten a lot better about consistency-wise of when I go back home, I'm practicing a good bit, I'm working on my stuff, I'm working out, trying to do stuff in the gym that helps me, helps my faults in my swing.
“My coach and my trainer are talking a lot and they're friends and everybody's helping me out and everybody's keeping me on track and it's been an incredible journey thus far. I mean, I've kind of had the whole team in place for probably a year and a half or two years and the results started really coming, and you just got to let it go.
“I mean, my coach is kind of a little bit of a sports psychologist, as well, of keeping me on track and we kind of break down the days just like a football game. Four quarters, play your quarter really well, do all I can do that day and move on to the next. And I feel like I've done a great job of that this week. In the past few months I've had some struggles on Saturday, but I overcame that this week and I knew I had to come out and play really well and I did that. It's been an awesome ride.”
Parsons, who has worked with Seamus Power in the past, has a high profile roster of PGA Tour players including Gary Woodland, Louis Oosthuizen and Will Gordon, as well as Sea Island residents English, Michael Thompson and Brian Harman.
“It’s about making them a little bit better and not detracting anything from them,” Parsons told PGATour.com last year:
English, who won twice on TOUR before turning 25, fell to 149th in the FedExCup last year. He rose to 12th in 2020 and started this new season with a fourth-place finish in the U.S. Open. He’s skyrocketed in the world ranking, rising more than 300 spots since last September. He’s now ranked 36th in the world, just two spots off his career high. Parsons gave English a clear path out of the doldrums.
“He just kind of brought me back from getting lost in this whirlwind of different swings and different mechanics and swing positions,” English said. “He simplified it so much that I can know what I’m doing. (Golf) is actually a game now. I’m not worried about how my swing looks.”
Thompson won his first PGA TOUR title at the 2013 Honda Classic, but spent the next five years outside the top 100 in the FedExCup. That includes four straight seasons, from 2015-18, outside the top 140. Parsons also helped Thompson – who was once the No. 1 amateur in the world – get back on track by going back to what made him successful.
“He’s helped me to kind of rediscover the old feels that I had back in college, where the shot shape that I always liked to play was a low fade,” Thompson said. “He’s given me just so much confidence to believe that the unique move that I do through the ball is good enough to be world-class,” Thompson said.
2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions
(13th of 50 events in the 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season)
Kapalua, Maui, HI January 7-10, 2021 Purse: $6,700,000 ($1,340,000) The Plantation Course Par/Yards: 36-37—73/7,596 FedExCup Points: 500 (winner)
Final-Round Notes – Sunday, January 10, 2021
Weather: Partly cloudy. High of 81. Wind ENE 12-17 mph, gusting to 22 mph.
Final-Round Leaderboard
Harris English 65-67-66-69—267 (-25)*
Joaquin Niemann 69-67-67-64—267 (-25)
Justin Thomas 65-69-68-66—268 (-24)
Ryan Palmer 67-67-64-71—269 (-23)
*defeated Niemann with a birdie-4 on the first extra hole (No. 18)
Harris English birdies the first playoff hole (par-5 18th) to defeat Joaquin Niemann to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions; win comes in his 193rd start since his last PGA TOUR win
English picks up his third PGA TOUR title in his 250th start at the age of 31 years, 5 months, 18 days
Niemann, winner of the 2019 A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, picks up his first runner-up finish on TOUR
Playoff records: English (1-1), Niemann (0-1)
Both English and Niemann failed to win in 2020, but qualified for the Sentry Tournament of Champions via the 2020 TOUR Championship – a result of changes to the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Justin Thomas finishes third in his bid to become the first repeat winner of the event since Geoff Ogilvy in 2010
Ryan Palmer, who shared the 54-hole lead with Harris English, finishes fourth
The cumulative scoring average (69.315) is the second lowest at The Plantation Course since 1999 (69.159/2003)
Dustin Johnson finishes T11 and maintains his lead in the FedExCup standings
About Harris English (following the week)
Harris English (-25/1st)
Age 31 (July 23, 1989)
FedExCup 2
OWGR Top 20 (projected)
Starts at Sentry TOC 2
Top-10s at Sentry TOC 1
Wins at Sentry TOC 1
Career PGA TOUR starts 250
Career PGA TOUR wins 3
Career PGA TOUR top-10s 35
PGA TOUR starts in 2020-21 7
PGA TOUR top-10s in 2020-21 5
Wins in 2020-21 1
Things to Know
Harris English
Birdied the first playoff hole (par-5 18th) to defeat Joaquin Niemann for his third PGA TOUR title in his 250th start at the age of 31 years, 5 months, 18 days
Has three TOUR wins (2013 FedEx St. Jude Classic, 2013 Mayakoba Golf Classic, 2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions)
Win comes in his 193rd start since his last win at the 2013 Mayakoba Golf Classic
Improves to 1-1 in playoffs (2015 Farmers Insurance Open/P2)
Collects 500 points and moves to No. 2 in the FedExCup; finished a career-best 12th in the FedExCup last season
Wins in his second attempt with the 54-hole lead/co-lead (2015 Farmers Insurance Open/P2)
Cumulative stats: 51/61 fairways, 62/72 greens, 113 putts
Qualified for the field with 12th place finish in the 2020 TOUR Championship
Miscellaneous Notes
In his first playoff appearance, Joaquin Niemann carded a final-round 64 and finished runner-up to Harris English
in his second start at the Sentry Tournament of Champions (T5/2020); became the first player from Chile to win on the PGA TOUR with his victory at the 2019 A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier
Justin Thomas finished third in his bid to become the first repeat winner of the Sentry Tournament of Champions since Geoff Ogilvy (2010); has four top-3 finishes in six starts at The Plantation Course
Following a fourth-place finish, Ryan Palmer has won once in five attempts with the 54-hole lead/co-lead (2010 Sony Open in Hawaii)
2019 champion Xander Schauffele collected two eagles (Nos. 5 & 18) and three birdies for a 7-under 66; has three top-5 finishes in four starts at the event (T22/2018, 1/2019, T2/2020), T5/2021)
Sungjae Im posted four rounds in the 60s to finish T5 in his debut appearance at the tournament
Bryson DeChambeau notched his second straight top-10 finish at the event (26th/2018, 7th/2019, T7/2021)
Jon Rahm has finished in the top 10 in each of his four appearances (2nd/2018, T8/2019, 10th/2020, T7/2021)
Dustin Johnson maintained his lead in the FedExCup standings with a T11 finish
Bogey-free rounds:
R1 (9): Justin Thomas (65), Robert Streb (67), Nick Taylor (67), Patrick Reed (67), Adam Scott (68), Viktor Hovland (69), Martin Laird (69), Marc Leishman (69), Richy Werenski (69)
R2 (9): Dustin Johnson (65), Daniel Berger (65), Harris English (67), Sebastián Muñoz (66), Billy Horschel (66), Brendon Todd (67), Bryson DeChambeau (67), Cameron Champ (68), Martin Laird (69)
R3 (8): Ryan Palmer (64), Collin Morikawa (65), Harris English (66), Billy Horschel (66), Daniel Berger (67), Stewart Cink (67), Adam Scott (68), Viktor Hovland (68)
R4 (8): Joaquin Niemann (64), Abraham Ancer (66), Bryson DeChambeau (66), Xander Schauffele (66), Lanto Griffin (67), Hudson Swafford (68), Sebastian Munoz (68), Marc Leishman (69)
