Jonathan Ferrey
Cameron Champ chips on the 18th green during the final round of the 2019 Safeway Open.
By Alex Myers
Cameron Champ’s emotional victory celebration with his father and terminally ill grandfather via phone was one of the most moving sports scenes in recent memory. But how the 24-year-old moved his golf ball around Silverado Resort and Spa to earn his second PGA Tour title was pretty special as well.
Champ led the Safeway Open field in both driving distance (337.1 yards) and scrambling (84.21 percent), quite the effective combination of power and finesse. It’s also a rare statistical feat as pointed out by PGATour.com’s Sean Martin:
In the last 20 years, eight players have won while leading the field in driving distance and scrambling:
Cameron Champ
Justin Thomas
Rory McIlroy
Jason Day
Dustin Johnson
Bubba Watson
Harrison Frazar
Tiger Woods— Sean Martin (@PGATOURSMartin) September 30, 2019
Martin also noted there have now been 12 such instances of a player pulling this off in the past 20 years. Tiger Woods has done it four times, Rory McIlroy twice, and six players, including Champ, once. Pretty good company.
Both of these parts of Champ’s game were on full display on the 72nd hole. Needing a birdie to beat Adam Hadwin, Champ bombed this 369(!)-yard drive down the fairway:
Nerves of steel.@Cameron__Champ launches a 369-yard drive on 18. ? pic.twitter.com/DYtijQuUjf
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 30, 2019
Then after an 8-iron missed the green on his approach to the par 5, Champ hit a beautiful chip to set up his winning putt from four feet.
All the emotions.
The winning moment for @Cameron__Champ and his family @SafewayOpen. pic.twitter.com/FzM6nqokVK
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 30, 2019
He also chipped in for par on No. 11:
What. A. Recovery.
Cameron Champ saves par to maintain a three-shot lead.pic.twitter.com/DMSo28CxD8
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) September 29, 2019
Champ called the win, “the greatest moment in my golfing career.” But while his touching tribute to PaPa Champ will be tough to top, that kind of touch around the greens to go with the fastest swing on tour all but guarantee more future titles.