KAPALUA, Hawaii — Harris English once was considered a part of the future of American golf.
He won a Nationwide Tour event while he was still at Georgia. He had two PGA Tour titles when he was 24. His demeanor was ideal for golf, never too bothered my much and steady with his emotions.
That now seems like a long time, and it was. English had gone 192 starts on the PGA Tour over seven years since he last won, a drought that ended with a series of clutch shots that carried him to a playoff victory Sunday in the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
“It’s awesome to get some validation,” English said.
In some respects, it represents a restart to a career that could take him places he hasn’t been. The victory took him to a career-best No. 17 in the world, and he doesn’t want to stop there.
“I’m still not satisfied with where I’m at in the game. There’s still a lot more that I want to accomplish,” English said. “Hopefully, this is just the tip of the iceberg of me getting better and better, and hopefully having a chance to win a lot more tournaments.”
This was not a victory out of nowhere at Kapalua.
English began his turnaround after his lowest point in a two-year slump that cost him full status on the PGA Tour. His coach, Justin Parsons, told him he was on the right path and English proved it. Knowing he would have limited events, he did well enough in the fall of 2019 to build some momentum.
During the three months the PGA Tour was shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he worked just as hard and played money games at Sea Island to keep sharp.
“I felt like you could use the quarantine period where we didn’t play golf, you could either hang out and relax or you could use that time to get better,” he said. “I love trying to get better because I know there’s guys out here that work just as hard or harder than I do at this game. And those are the guys that I want to compete with, those are the guys that I want to beat out here on tour.
The confidence began to return. He kept getting into contention. And when the opportunity showed itself on Kapalua, he delivered.
English hit 8-iron into a strong wind to 2 feet for birdie on the 13th, part of a stretch in which he made four birdies in five holes to catch up to Joaquin Niemann. Trailing by one shot on the par-5 18th, he drilled a 3-iron from 268 yards off a downhill lie to 10 feet. He missed the eagle putt for the win, and then made birdie on the 18th in a playoff to win.
“It took a little while to kind of get rid of that scar tissue a little bit,” English said. “But I feel like I’ve been there for a while and I’ve been really close. Sunday is a day I look forward to, and I had a good feeling about today.”
English piled up 10 finishes in the top 10 after losing his full card, including fourth place in the U.S. Open. Now he is at No. 2 in the FedEx Cup as the year is starting.
English was playing at Bay Hill in 2014, fresh off his two-win year, when Graeme McDowell watched him from behind the 17th green. “This is a good one here,” McDowell said. “We’re going to be seeing him in the Ryder Cup.”
English didn’t quite finish the year strongly and ended 16th in the standing. No praise is greater than from peers, especially in a Ryder Cup year. Now, he has a chance to think about it again.
“My goal really this year is to play on the Ryder Cup team,” he said. “Obviously, winning was a goal, but I didn’t want to force it. I know how hard it is to win out here on the PGA Tour and I knew that if I kept giving myself opportunities to pull it off that I could do it.
“I love being in that situation coming down the last nine holes and knowing what you have to do,” English said. “And it was a lot of fun today. The shot I hit into 18 was awesome. I can really feed off that for years to come, and being able to do stuff like that when you’re under the gun is so much fun to do.”
The key to his turnaround was to stop searching for perfect, and trying to be a player he wasn’t. Instead of getting caught up in the skill set of Dustin Johnson or Rory McIlroy, he realized what he had was good enough.
The next stop is a short flight to Oahu for the Sony Open, where English can join Ernie Els (2003) and Justin Thomas (2017) as the only players to sweep the Hawaii Swing.
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PGA Tour Sentry Tournament of Champions Scores
By The Associated Press
Sunday
At Kapalua Plantation Course
Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii
Purse: $6.7 million
Yardage: 7,596; Par: 73
Final Round
Harris English (500), $1,340,000 65-67-66-69_267
Joaquin Niemann (300), $782,000 69-67-67-64_267
Justin Thomas (190), $490,000 65-69-68-66_268
Ryan Palmer (135), $378,000 67-67-64-71_269
Sungjae Im (105), $280,500 67-68-67-69_271
Xander Schauffele (105), $280,500 69-66-70-66_271
Bryson DeChambeau (85), $199,333 69-67-70-66_272
Collin Morikawa (85), $199,333 69-65-65-73_272
Jon Rahm (85), $199,333 70-66-69-67_272
Daniel Berger (75), $172,000 69-65-67-72_273
Sergio Garcia (68), $155,500 67-71-67-69_274
Dustin Johnson (68), $155,500 71-65-69-69_274
Patrick Cantlay (56), $125,250 68-68-67-72_275
Lanto Griffin (56), $125,250 71-68-69-67_275
Scottie Scheffler (56), $125,250 70-66-70-69_275
Brendon Todd (56), $125,250 68-67-70-70_275
Abraham Ancer (48), $92,000 70-71-69-66_276
Martin Laird (48), $92,000 69-69-68-70_276
Sebastián Muñoz (48), $92,000 75-66-67-68_276
Webb Simpson (48), $92,000 70-67-69-70_276
Patrick Reed (41), $75,000 67-68-72-70_277
Adam Scott (41), $75,000 68-71-68-70_277
Michael Thompson (41), $75,000 73-68-67-69_277
Billy Horschel (34), $63,200 71-66-66-75_278
Kevin Kisner (34), $63,200 70-71-69-68_278
Marc Leishman (34), $63,200 69-69-71-69_278
Cameron Smith (34), $63,200 70-70-66-72_278
Richy Werenski (34), $63,200 69-69-70-70_278
Brian Gay (29), $55,000 70-67-71-71_279
Nick Taylor (29), $55,000 67-71-69-72_279
Cameron Champ (24), $49,000 71-68-70-72_281
Stewart Cink (24), $49,000 71-69-67-74_281
Tony Finau (24), $49,000 74-68-68-71_281
Viktor Hovland (24), $49,000 69-68-68-76_281
Jason Kokrak (21), $43,000 71-66-70-76_283
Hudson Swafford (21), $43,000 73-70-72-68_283
Carlos Ortiz (19), $41,000 69-67-75-74_285
Andrew Landry (17), $39,000 70-71-76-70_287
Kevin Na (17), $39,000 71-68-69-79_287
Robert Streb (17), $39,000 67-72-72-76_287
Mackenzie Hughes (15), $36,500 73-71-72-72_288
Hideki Matsuyama (15), $36,500 73-75-72-68_288