Emiliano

Grillo

The Argentine had arrived off a missed cut at the PGA Championship but did have a pair of top 10s in his last four events played. Iron play has been the strength for him recently and he stayed hot with the irons at Colonial Country Club, ranking 6th in strokes gained approach this week. More importantly, he caught fire with the flat stick this week, ranking 2nd in putting for the week. Going toe to toe with Adam Schenk in a playoff, Grillo had a few bounces go his way and he capitalized with a birdie on the second playoff hole. Playing his 206th career event, this will be his second career win and first since 2015. “Obviously it’s great. It made everything worth it. The playing, all the hours practicing, the effort from my family. It makes you think when you started playing all the emotions come through your head.”

The Argentine snapped out of a slump at last year’s Mexico Open to land a T33 finish. He didn’t need to snap a slump this time as he arrived fresh off a T7 at Harbour Town and kept his foot on the gas in Mexico. He was steady off the tee, striping 36-of-52 fairways (T15) but really did his damage from there, ranking first for the week in strokes gained approach (+9.5). Grillo jumps from 74th to 57th in the FedExCup race and his game is back on track after a slow start to the 2023 calendar year.

The Argentine caught fire with the flat stick last summer but went ice cold late in the fall and that carried over into 2023. The result was 11 straight finishes of T39 or worse but he flipped the script on Hilton Head Island. He gained strokes putting in three of the four rounds, ranking 19th in strokes gained putting at week’s end. Grillo carded four sub-69 rounds this week and gamers should watch to see if this result sparks another hot streak.

The Argentine has opened the season with three top 25s in six starts, two of those doubling as top-5 finishes. He’s found his form again but won’t keep the ball rolling this week in Houston. A hot putter has been the catalyst that sparked this run of good play that started with his runner-up finish at the John Deere Classic. Gamers should remove him from weekly lineups but certainly be willing to reinvest as soon as he returns to action.

The Argentine has been riding a hot putter since the summer when he posted a runner-up finish at the John Deere Classic. He’s posted four total top 5s in his last 10 starts, keeping the momentum rolling. Next up is a showdown with El Camaleon, a course where he has plenty of past success. Grillo missed the cut last year but had four top 15s in his previous five visits. “I had some really good results in the past and then it’s a golf course that suits my game. It’s nice that you can hit good shots and keep it in play and just keeping the ball in play this week, it’s probably the most important thing. It’s not a place where you can just grab a driver and just send it out there, it’s a place that you have to keep the ball in play.” Grillo is 16th in the early FedExCup race.

Grillo started the final round seven shots off the lead, but he got things going with four birdies over his first eight holes at Narashino CC. He tallied seven birdies on the day, and his 6-under 64 was one shot behind Lucas Herbert for low round of the day honors. The Argentine finished the week at 13 under, two shots behind Keegan Bradley and alone in fourth place. Despite the low round, he admitted that Narashino CC isn’t a course that specifically fits his eye, but “it’s a tournament you have to play.” It’s Grillo’s second top-5 finish in three starts to begin the new season, as he also finished T-5 at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Grillo circled five birdies in his first 11 holes played today to find his name right in the mix but a triple-bogey snowman erased much of the progress at the par-5 14th. His final score was 1.6 shots better than the field average but would have been +4.84 shots better had he just penciled a par at the par-5 14th. On the flip side, an obvious highlight of his round was a 43-foot birdie bomb at the 10th. Often known for having a shaky putter at times, Grillo has now gained strokes putting in seven straight events dating back to the John Deere Classic. He’s also posted three top fives over that stretch and he’ll likely continue to post big finishes at a high clip as long as he stays locked in on the greens.

The Argentine won the 2015-16 version of this event and it remains his lone PGA TOUR title. “Wish my record was a little bit better after that one. First tournament of the year, we usually get a couple weeks off. I live a couple hours away from here, so it’s one of those that I’m always going to play, I guess.” His week started with a strong driving performance as he walked off the course ranked first in strokes gained off-the-tee. He delivered the scoring punch with 2.4 strokes putting. Grillo arrived with runner-up finishes in two of his last five lead-in starts and he’s on pace for another big finish in Napa.

Grillo was having a rough year by his standards but something clicked at TPC Deere Run when he landed a runner-up finish and he posted another one just last week at the 3M Open. The Argentine gained a combined 19.3 strokes tee-to-green in those two events. He’s also climbed to 53rd in the FedExCup standings. He’s also put himself on the radar for a potential Presidents Cup captain’s selection. Gamers should be willing to reinvest as soon as he returns to action, considering this is just a change of schedule, not an injury-related WD.

Finau, who raced by Grillo et al with a 67 from one group ahead, is a worthy champion, but took advantage of final-round struggles from many, including Grillo, who was 2-under thru six before playing holes 7 (triple) and 8 (bogey) in 4-over. To his credit, and after being put on the clock to begin the home half, he battled back with three birdies at 10, 11 and 13, but ran out of gas with bogey-4 at 15 and a missed birdie at the last (from 6'11"), which would’ve netted him solo 2nd and more FedExCup points. As it is and after recording rounds of 67-65-67-71, the Argentine bags his second top 10 at the 3M in three visits, both top 3s (T3/2020), and his second top 10 of the season in 26 events, both co-runners-up, joining a T2 two starts ago at the John Deere. For the festivities, he tallied two eagles, T1 in that stat, and 18 birdies, against five bogeys and the aforementioned triple, and ranked 4th SG: Tee-to-Green (10.793) and 17th SG: Putting (3.685), losing strokes with the flat stick in both weekend rounds. See link below to post-tourney comments.