The 2016 Wells Fargo Championship continued the recent spate of reminders that golf is the most completely unpredictable sport in the world. James Hahn, who won at Riviera last year and has some talent, came to the week having missed eight straight cuts. His game was in garbage shape. Then he went out and won on one of the Tour’s toughest and most respected courses with a final round leaderboard that included Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose, and Phil Mickelson, among others.
Hahn did not make some big Sunday charge like Mickelson or McIlroy, who both went low with 6-under 66s to put the pressure on the late groups. Rather, he posted a steady 2-under 70, his fourth straight round in the red that was good enough to get him in a playoff with Roberto Castro, another unheralded afterthought on a loaded leaderboard. Hahn needed only a par on the first extra hole, which was a replay of Quail Hollow’s brutal 18th. Par is a good score there and Hahn had the benefit of watching Castro lead off and put his tee shot in the water. Aside from the water ball, Castro’s adventures in the playoff also included an approach shot that landed in a fan’s loafer.
Not ideal. pic.twitter.com/hLRfuJxUCQ
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 8, 2016
It’s a dangerous approach shot, with a hazard and little margin for error. We saw McIlroy completely airmail the green on Sunday and to extinguish his desperate run to make it interesting and Mickelson make a quadruple bogey 8 on Saturday. Hahn, however, put it in the center of the green, club-twirling his way to a two-putt par.
Club twirl.
Hahn likely needs par to win. #QuickHits https://t.co/PH9fXM3DhF
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 8, 2016
Hahn was probably not the ideal winner for the PGA Tour, which has hit a lull here since Jordan Spieth put those two balls in the water on the 12th hole on Sunday at Augusta. This is a premier event at a pure course and it was set up with a heavy-duty leaderboard. Hahn was just the latest reminder that, hype and narrative aside, we have almost no idea what we’re talking about or what to expect.
PGA Tour wins this year:
Fabian Gomez, Vaughn Taylor, Jim Herman, Brian Stuard, James Hahn: 1 apiece
Rory, Rickie, DJ, J-Rose, Phil: 0
— Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) May 8, 2016
The Tour now swings back to Florida for the season’s “fifth major” and the deepest field of the year at The Players Championship.
Here are your final results from Charlotte:
| Place | Player | Score | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Total |
| 1 | James Hahn | -9 | 70 | 71 | 68 | 70 | 279 |
| 2 | Roberto Castro | -9 | 71 | 66 | 71 | 71 | 279 |
| 3 | Justin Rose | -8 | 70 | 70 | 69 | 71 | 280 |
| T4 | Phil Mickelson | -7 | 69 | 70 | 76 | 66 | 281 |
| T4 | Rory McIlroy | -7 | 73 | 69 | 73 | 66 | 281 |
| T4 | Andrew Loupe | -7 | 65 | 71 | 74 | 71 | 281 |
| T4 | Rickie Fowler | -7 | 71 | 68 | 68 | 74 | 281 |
| 8 | Lucas Glover | -6 | 71 | 70 | 70 | 71 | 282 |
| T9 | Danny Lee | -5 | 72 | 71 | 73 | 67 | 283 |
| T9 | Fabian Gomez | -5 | 75 | 69 | 69 | 70 | 283 |
| T11 | Hideki Matsuyama | -4 | 74 | 71 | 70 | 69 | 284 |
| T11 | Chesson Hadley | -4 | 71 | 67 | 76 | 70 | 284 |
| T11 | Tim Wilkinson | -4 | 68 | 73 | 70 | 73 | 284 |
| T14 | Daniel Summerhays | -3 | 69 | 75 | 71 | 70 | 285 |
| T14 | Brendan Steele | -3 | 71 | 70 | 72 | 72 | 285 |
| T14 | Retief Goosen | -3 | 69 | 72 | 71 | 73 | 285 |
| T17 | David Lingmerth | -2 | 71 | 71 | 76 | 68 | 286 |
| T17 | William McGirt | -2 | 70 | 74 | 74 | 68 | 286 |
| T17 | Harris English | -2 | 71 | 71 | 74 | 70 | 286 |
| T17 | Francesco Molinari | -2 | 72 | 70 | 73 | 71 | 286 |
| T17 | Adam Scott | -2 | 73 | 70 | 72 | 71 | 286 |
| T17 | John Senden | -2 | 68 | 72 | 73 | 73 | 286 |
| T17 | Daniel Berger | -2 | 68 | 71 | 74 | 73 | 286 |
| T24 | Harold Varner, III | -1 | 72 | 69 | 74 | 72 | 287 |
| T24 | Patton Kizzire | -1 | 72 | 69 | 74 | 72 | 287 |
| T24 | Gary Woodland | -1 | 72 | 72 | 71 | 72 | 287 |
| T24 | Scott Langley | -1 | 70 | 69 | 71 | 77 | 287 |
| T28 | Robert Streb | E | 75 | 70 | 73 | 70 | 288 |
| T28 | Robert Garrigus | E | 71 | 72 | 74 | 71 | 288 |
| T28 | Tony Finau | E | 74 | 69 | 74 | 71 | 288 |
| T28 | Patrick Reed | E | 73 | 71 | 73 | 71 | 288 |
| T28 | Johnson Wagner | E | 72 | 72 | 71 | 73 | 288 |
| T28 | Camilo Villegas | E | 74 | 71 | 70 | 73 | 288 |
| T28 | Dawie Van Der Walt | E | 67 | 77 | 69 | 75 | 288 |
| T35 | Sean O’Hair | 1 | 71 | 71 | 76 | 71 | 289 |
| T35 | Vaughn Taylor | 1 | 72 | 73 | 73 | 71 | 289 |
| T35 | Brian Harman | 1 | 69 | 70 | 78 | 72 | 289 |
| T35 | Chris Stroud | 1 | 70 | 72 | 75 | 72 | 289 |
| T35 | Boo Weekley | 1 | 69 | 73 | 75 | 72 | 289 |
| T35 | Mark Hubbard | 1 | 70 | 68 | 76 | 75 | 289 |
| T41 | Jason Gore | 2 | 72 | 70 | 83 | 65 | 290 |
| T41 | Martin Kaymer | 2 | 71 | 73 | 77 | 69 | 290 |
| T41 | Derek Ernst | 2 | 71 | 73 | 75 | 71 | 290 |
| T41 | Colt Knost | 2 | 73 | 68 | 76 | 73 | 290 |
| T41 | Kyle Reifers | 2 | 72 | 72 | 73 | 73 | 290 |
| T41 | Kevin Chappell | 2 | 67 | 74 | 74 | 75 | 290 |
| T41 | Steve Wheatcroft | 2 | 65 | 74 | 76 | 75 | 290 |
| T41 | Cameron Tringale | 2 | 72 | 70 | 73 | 75 | 290 |
| T41 | Anirban Lahiri | 2 | 66 | 77 | 72 | 75 | 290 |
| T41 | Tom Hoge | 2 | 73 | 72 | 70 | 75 | 290 |
| T41 | Martin Piller | 2 | 69 | 72 | 72 | 77 | 290 |
| T41 | Paul Casey | 2 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 77 | 290 |
| T53 | Angel Cabrera | 3 | 73 | 72 | 74 | 72 | 291 |
| T53 | Alex Cejka | 3 | 70 | 74 | 75 | 72 | 291 |
| T53 | Scott Stallings | 3 | 71 | 74 | 74 | 72 | 291 |
| T53 | J.B. Holmes | 3 | 72 | 72 | 74 | 73 | 291 |
| T53 | Hunter Mahan | 3 | 75 | 70 | 73 | 73 | 291 |
| T53 | Jhonattan Vegas | 3 | 73 | 70 | 74 | 74 | 291 |
| T53 | Matt Dobyns | 3 | 72 | 71 | 73 | 75 | 291 |
| T53 | Jamie Lovemark | 3 | 74 | 70 | 71 | 76 | 291 |
| T61 | Ian Poulter | 4 | 70 | 74 | 77 | 71 | 292 |
| T61 | Scott Pinckney | 4 | 73 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 292 |
| T61 | Adam Hadwin | 4 | 71 | 74 | 73 | 74 | 292 |
| T61 | Emiliano Grillo | 4 | 74 | 71 | 71 | 76 | 292 |
| T65 | Martin Laird | 5 | 69 | 76 | 77 | 71 | 293 |
| T65 | Jeff Overton | 5 | 71 | 71 | 77 | 74 | 293 |
| T65 | Carlos Ortiz | 5 | 71 | 74 | 74 | 74 | 293 |
| T65 | Erik Compton | 5 | 70 | 74 | 73 | 76 | 293 |
| T69 | Ernie Els | 6 | 74 | 69 | 78 | 73 | 294 |
| T69 | Michael Kim | 6 | 73 | 70 | 77 | 74 | 294 |
| T71 | Rob Oppenheim | 7 | 71 | 73 | 79 | 72 | 295 |
| T71 | Henrik Norlander | 7 | 72 | 71 | 79 | 73 | 295 |
| T71 | Trevor Immelman | 7 | 72 | 73 | 77 | 73 | 295 |
| T71 | Luke Donald | 7 | 76 | 69 | 77 | 73 | 295 |
| T71 | David Toms | 7 | 72 | 73 | 75 | 75 | 295 |
| T71 | Brett Stegmaier | 7 | 72 | 72 | 73 | 78 | 295 |
| T77 | Vijay Singh | 8 | 73 | 72 | 77 | 74 | 296 |
| T77 | Graham DeLaet | 8 | 71 | 71 | 76 | 78 | 296 |
This article was written by Brendan Porath from SB Nation and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
