The Draw: Sterne and Clark's Comebacks, Huang's Historic Play and Blades Brown's Decision

In this episode of The Draw, hosts Nathan and Brian highlight Richard Sterne’s DP World Tour comeback win—his first in 13 years after battling injuries—sealed by an eagle on 17. 

On the Ladies European Tour, 17-year-old Anna Huang won her third title in eight months, rallying from six back as Kelsey Bennett’s putting cooled late. She became the youngest three-time winner on the LET.

On the PGA Tour, Wyndham Clark won the CJ Cup Byron Nelson with an 11-under 60 and led the field in putting. They also discuss teen pro Blades Brown earning special temporary membership and weighing PGA Tour starts versus Korn Ferry status. 

They then go on to preview this week's events: the Jabra Ladies Open, Austrian Alpine Open, ShopRite LPGA and the Charles Schwab Challenge.

The Draw is a Fairway to Green podcast. See all episodes at www.fairwaytogreen.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello and welcome back to the Draw Fairy Green podcast. This past week was another exciting week of golf. Not too many terms going on, but still some exciting

DP World Tour Comeback

SPEAKER_01 0:08

wins. And we'll start with the DP World Tour where we saw yet another comeback. Richard Stern comes back, hasn't won in 13 years, breaks through, gets that win. He's gone through back injuries and multiple other injuries. It's the year of the comeback, it seems like in the golf world this year, which I think is great. Creates some fun headlines other than the same winners all the time. And and good for Stern. He rallied back. When I looked, I think he was three back after nine. I go, oh, Xander Lombard has the lead. And then he just kind of choked it away, and Stern took it for the first win in a long time.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Yeah, it was another good story this week on the DP World Tour. Richard Stern was a very uh bunched up leaderboard there at the top. He makes an eagle on 17 and then you know comes away with the win to you know kind of separate himself from the rest of the group and Xander Lombard with I said uh two bogeys and a double his last six holes, so not gonna win many golf tournaments with that finish. So unfortunate for him. But another another South African winner on the DP World Tour. Seems to be seems to be the year of the South African golfers over there, Casey Jarvis, uh Crumble, who won in the Spain a couple weeks ago with his like record-breaking performance. Yeah. We've got you know Richard Stern, good for him. You know, he talked about winning with it in front of his kids in the press conference and battling through injuries. So just a just a great story there.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Yeah, and then this isn't really a

Anna Huang’s Historic Moment

SPEAKER_01 1:28

comeback. This is just maybe just one of the most impressive feats of the golf world so far. Anna Wong won for the third time on the Ladies European tour in eight months, which you're like, oh, that's pretty good. And then you realize she's 17 years old and she's won three times on a professional golf tour. It's just what I was doing at 17 and what she's doing at 17 are quite the opposite things, I'd say.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous. Anna Huang, she won. I talked about her in the preview, check that out. Favorite.com, check out our previews plug. But I wrote about her in our in the preview, mentioned her because she finished runner-up the weekend before in Germany. So I I mentioned her and she ends up coming away with the win. Um, kind of a choke. Your pick, actually. I think Kelsey Bennett, she she was she played very well and then came to Saturday, three-day tournament, and then just driver was off, putter was not as good as it was. She gained, I think, 10 and a half strokes putting the first two days, which is ridiculous. And then she just kind of was you know back to field average on Sunday, came away with a 73 and lost by Walton. So and a whole she stormed back from down six. So that's it's pretty remarkable and you know, good for her. She's 17 and more another ridiculous talent we see coming up on the European tour, and you know, hopefully we'll see her on the LPGA tour pretty soon.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

And it's Canadian golfer is and maybe I'm just not knowing all, but like as far as Brooke Henderson, like there's not many notable Canadians, so she can kind of take the up-and-coming Canadian player. Not that Brooke is going away anytime soon, she's still phenomenal. So Anna's gonna have a long way to overtake. Brooke is probably she's the most successful Canadian golfer, men or women's, I'd say, on either side of pro golf. But it good for the country of Canada. Again, three wins is nothing to sneeze at. She's gotta be close to getting on the LPJ tour with with all these wins, and it's just gonna give her a whole lot of confidence further in her career. So that was really cool. I just I read 17 and to come back from six, like you mentioned, it it takes some someone else to choke to come back from six, but still

Wyndham Clark Shoots 11-under to Win

SPEAKER_01 3:34

impressive feet. Speaking of impressive feats, Wyndham Clark. I know he's not your favorite, he's not my favorite. He gets his, I think, fourth career win on the PJ tour. He absolutely stormed the field in round four, shoots 11 under 60 to just steal. I didn't I don't even say steal a win from Siwoo Kim, but just blitzed it. And I don't know if there's a more hot putter in the world than Wyndham Clark when he gets it going, he gets it really going. He won the ATT Pebble Beach program two years ago now with the third round 60. They had to cut the tournament short because of the rain. So he won with a third round 60 there, wins with a third round 60 here. Again, good for Wyndham Clark. I'm not the biggest fan. We can talk about him a little here because he's was in the headlines a lot last year for wrong things, not winning, not being golf. But Wyndham Clark felt he was 75th in the world coming into this week, which is just a downfall from I think he was third at one point in the world after that ATT. Just he just it hasn't been very good, and this didn't see it coming, but just did not see him winning this tournament at all.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Yeah, we look at all the players coming in this week, not a very strong field. Look at Scotty, look at C Witch at Speeth, and uh Wyndham Clark pretty overlooked for a major winner and pretty recently overlooked. And I tune, I I was not a fan of this tournament. I'll say that right

Golf Course Setup Debate

SPEAKER_00 4:59

now. I think the CJ Cup Byron Nelson was one of the worst tournaments this season, not just because Wyndham Clark won, but you guys spent $25 million on renovations to Scotty Sheffield proof your course, and there are two 60s, including one on Sunday. So I don't know what kind of renovations they were doing. It must have been on the clubhouse because it certainly wasn't on the golf course. It was it was too easy for them out there. You know, you got a score of winning score of 30 under par, bunch of guys in the 20 under 20s, so pretty, pretty not a big fan of that. And then not to mention PGA Tour doing what they do on Thursdays and Fridays, they put preferred lies out. So I I think that's pretty, pretty, pretty dumb. You know, yeah, it's sometimes it can be that's good because you know, mud balls and all that stuff, but I don't know. I I see we see it way too often, and I think it's pretty soft for the PGA Tour. Guys gotta go out there and just play their ball and just play golf. So uh even more to add on to my CJ Cup Byron Elson slander. However, this is not as bad as the other two. This is this is kind of this is okay, but it was a weaker field. Not saying that the the the the group on Sunday, that was a good it was a good tournament on Sunday. You have Siwoo, you have Scotty, and Wyndham Clark. So it was a good tournament on Sunday. But that being said, there weren't that many guys to watch other than you know Jordan Speith having some fun on Saturday, going pretty low, and then and then yeah, Wyndham Clark. I can I can talk a long time about Wyndham Clark. I'm gonna keep it very nice. Uh he was he was phenomenal on Sunday. I was watching that that back nine on Sunday, and he was he was hitting it so close. That shot, those those few holes he had on uh 17 and 18 where he he hits it to you know 10 feet on the par three makes the putt. And then on 18, you know, he hits his patented eight eighteenth hole, 60 yard slice, but finds the fairway, and then and then then makes it and then hits it to a foot or two. So, you know, it was it was it was pretty impressive. I'm not gonna lie. He he did shoot 60, so it was a deserved win. I'm not gonna you know slander that it was deserved, but yeah, overall the tournament not my favorite this week.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

There's a lot to to unpack there. Now I'll start with Windham because when he gets the putter going, like I said, he he wins and he finishes well. He strokes gain led in strokes gained putting this week at a ridiculous 12.5. So it in the other two weeks he was up there in the putting was a T13 at the American Express, and that was his other best finish of the year. So, like when he putts well, he's good. Now, is he always putting well? No, but again, closing round 60, some of the birdies he made from long distance were just absolutely wild. The one chip shot he had, like off the side of the hill, it just it was some impressive shot making. I'll I'll give him that. And I'll agree with you, and I think I've heard other people and rather people like, what did they spend the 25 million on? And I understand Speath said, I think, and after his round three or four pest conference, that the wind wasn't there, usually there's an east wind, there was no wind, and that would make the golf course play more difficult. It got rain, so it made it soft. So if you give these players soft conditions where they can spin it back or just stick it, they're gonna light it up. So maybe if the wit weather is different, maybe we see 15 under, 16 under win. I don't know. We don't know. This year it didn't show. We'll see. We'll see if it shows in other years. But again, it's Dallas. How much I guess Dallas gets pretty windy, maybe, but again, I'm not a fan of these 30 underscores winning like you are. That's why the last week when people were complaining about the PJ Championship, like, oh, it's not a loan of score. No, it was like that's exactly what we want from a major. I'm content with 15-16 winning in some PJ tournaments, like the Memorial, it may only be an eight under, and I like that. Like, that's fun. Again, not what Clark didn't do was impressive. Again, very good for him. I know he talks about his mental health a lot, so I'm sure it's great he wins.

Debating Blades Brown’s Decision

SPEAKER_01 8:58

The other story we got to talk about is Blades Brown. I'm talking about another young player, he earns special temporary membership on the PJ tour, which pretty much just means he has unlimited sponsor exemptions for the rest of the year. He had only a certain amount before, and now he has unlimited, but he also has corn fairy tour status, so now his decision is does he chase the PJ tour starts or does he stay on the cornfairy, earn his card, which I think he's up in the top 20 down there anyways, and then play in the fall and get better membership. It's a lot for the 17 or 18-year-old to decide. I don't know what the right answer is. I know he said he's gonna go play at the corn fairy event this weekend, so it he has a lot to decide. But again, he finished T14, minus 18. For a 17-year-old, he's played well this year. It would be tough to say no to the G tour starts, assuming he gets sponsor exemptions. But also, if he plays the Corn Fair tour, I think he can better his PJ tour status from last year, from what I'm understanding. So good for him. Very tough decision going up, but his decision to skip college and turn pro seems to be proven right so far.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Yeah, Blades Brown, you know, he's not an amateur, he is a professional at however well, I think 18 years old, however old he is. So insanely impressive from him. And the decision is it's pretty massive here. You know, you can continue playing on the corn fairy tour, like you mentioned, have you know, maybe better status. And he's doing just fine on the corn ferry tour. He's in a position right now to get his card, so he could just finish up the season there and and you know still earn his car for next year. But that on the PGA tour, you know, the checks are it's a whole different there's a whole you know different ballgame of money and you know earnings and way and yeah, ways to make money on the PGA tour. The paychecks are significantly larger, no question at all. So if that is something that he you know wants to focus on, which I don't blame him, I would totally you know be going on the PGA tour route if I were him, but uh that's something that he's to you know he needs to discuss with his team. And you know, we'll I guess that's a decision we'll see in the next few weeks, whether he you know keeps playing on the cornfairy tour or you know plays on the PGA tour. And I personally am greedy. I want I want to watch him on the P to he's very fun to watch his swing. It's just so simple and just so it's very pretty. So I like watching Blades Brown play young talent. So we'll see what happens. And but yeah, well, I'm excited to see it.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

He could play both, like he could do the thing where maybe one week he plays a PJ tour event and the next week he plays a corn fairy. Now that's tough, but luckily, like you said, he's in good standings in the corn fairy, so it's not like if he takes a week off here or there to play a PJ tour event, he's not gonna drop too far down. I guess the worst one would be like if he plays all those PJ tour events and then he does lose his corn fairy tour card and he doesn't play well in the PJ tour events, then where he goes back to the corn fairy. So it's a difficult decision. Now, I was reading his agent is Akshay Batia's agent, and Akshay Batia did the same thing. So if there's any better agent out there for Blades Brown to have, I don't know who it is because this agent has gone through it with Batia, and Batia's won three or four times on the PJ tour now, and he's definitely made the right decision. So he can definitely lean on Batia and his agent. And like you said, I like yeah, it'd be great to see him there on the PJ Tour. I think we'll see him here. I think now that he has unlimited sponsor exemptions, I think you'll see him get some of these into some of the turns. Obviously, not the signature event ones, but you'll get you'll probably see him in like the John Deere and stuff like this. He probably could have got one in to this week, but he's already committed to the cornfair tour. But again, good for him. Just like Anna over on the Lazy European Tour, what he was doing at 17, playing being a professional golf or being a professional athlete, and performing well is just an insane thought to what I was doing as a 17-year-old or what some of my students that I taught were doing as 17-year-olds. They weren't playing on the PJ tour, they weren't in final groups with Scotty Scheffler and Si Wu Kim. Like, good for him. I again, it's I I think he'll probably have to just play both for the rest of the year. I I don't really know, I but it's tough.

Si Woo Kim’s Close Call

SPEAKER_01 13:06

But that was another cool story, and I I want to talk about Si Wu Kim a little here because we've talked about it. We he didn't choke, he shot six under in a final round and still lost by five in the final round. It he's finished runner up for I think another time this year. He has multiple top ten finishes, he hasn't won yet, he's been really good. And I don't know if it's because it's a presence cup year and siwoo loves the presence cup, he's gonna be on that team. And boy, is is that someone if I'm on the USA team, I I I don't want to play in match play during the presence cup. There's just siwoo at that event is unlike any other, and it's it's great for the international team that he's playing this well. But boy, if I'm an American, I I'm scared seeing him play this well heading into that.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Oh, 100%. I do not want to face Si Wu Kim. Si Wu Kim is one of these guys on tour who is it's so close to getting the first his first one of the season. There's a couple of guys that I put in that category. I think Kepka probably isn't as close as Si Wu. Justin Thomas could I think he's gonna have one later this season. It's only a matter of time. And I think Sung Jm is another one that I think could could pick it up here in the next few weeks. So he's part of that group that I decided is playing very good golf, but just isn't quite like coming away with the win. I'm not gonna put Scotty Sheffield in that group because he has a win this season, but Scotty is is he's also close to another win. You can only finish runner-up so many times or top five so many times, and then so Sung Sibu Kim may be a disappointing finish from this week. I don't know. He probably I think he made like a million dollars, so maybe not too disappointing on the money point. Okay, but like in terms of wins, you know, when these guys at a certain point, these guys they make enough money they want to win tournaments. So uh maybe a little disappointing from him there. But I know he's playing when he looks at the big picture of his game this season, he's been playing well since the beginning of the seasons, January, February, and now it's yeah it's late May, and he's still at the top of the leaderboard in these events. So, you know, it'd be really interesting to see what happens, how he plays later on in the season, and you know, the couple other guys I mentioned, those guys too.

Previews and Picks

SPEAKER_01 15:06

So yeah, and this week is another busy weekend golf. We have Ladies European Tour, DP World Tour, PJ Tour, LPJ Tour. We'll start with the the ladies' European tour, the Jabra ladies open to France over at Evian Resort Golf Club. Again, it's only 54 whole stroke play this tournament, so that's a little I don't know why they cut it down to only three rounds, but Evian Resort, it's a great golf course, it's host and major. It it there's not much to say about it other than if you have a chance to watch it or go and see the event, like go to that golf course. It's France, so it it's it's really cool. It's gonna be a good field. Last year's winner is Sarah Koskova. She's in the field again, she'll defend her title against a pretty strong field over on the Ladies European tour. Uh my pick, this is tough. I was going through a couple people. Do you have a pick?

SPEAKER_00 15:59

I do have a pick, yeah. So I I think I'm going with uh she's won twice on the ladies European tour. I got Lace. Okay. I apologize if I'm saying her name wrong, but uh, she's French and she's won twice on tour this season. So I'm going with her. And yeah, I apologize once again if I pronounce her name incorrectly.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

I'm gonna go with Shannon Tan. She won last year on the Ladies European tour. She hasn't won yet this year. She did finish runner-up here last year, so she's got some good mojo, good, good feelings towards this course and towards this event. So I'm gonna go with Shannon Tan to pick up her first win of the 2026 season. The DP World Tour heads of Austria for the Austrian Alpine Open presented by Kitzbull and another national open. So the the European swing on the DP World Tour. The DP World Tour schedule is broken up into five different global swings. They got Asia, they got Africa. This one's the European one. Each one is a national open. So this week is Austria. You have some Austrians in the field. You have Sepp Straka, Bernd Weisberger, who's won here. It's a pretty good field. There's Dylan Fratelli. Again, Sepp Straka is going over to play on a DP World Tour event now. It's in his home country, you know, four-time PJ tour winner, two-time European Ryder Cup winner, does not have a win on the DP World Tour, which I thought when I was read that, I was like, oh, that's shocking. I'm gonna pick Sep in his home country. He's gonna be the best player in the field. It's probably not gonna happen the way we pick these things, but I think Sepp, who's played well on the PJ Tour this year, gets the win in his home country for his first career DP World Tour win.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Yeah, I'm going with the same pick as you. I'm not gonna overthink it. I'm gonna go with Sep Straka. He's you know by far the best player in this field, you know, Ryder Cup winner. So I know a couple other times we don't overthink it with Thomas Dietrich last week, and then you know, we had Akshay, I had Akshay Bhatia in in India, and he missed a cut. So let's hope that Sebstraka will win and makes us look smart. But it's our pick this week.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Yeah, we'll see. It'll it'll be a good event. A good it's a new course, so that's always fun. They like redid six of the T-boxes, put a whole bunch of new bunkers in. I guess it's very tree-lined, and they're they're growing up the rough to kind of change the players because it's a short course, it's only like 6,800 yards, so it's not very long, it's a par 70. So we'll see what they do over there for the DP World Tour. On the LPJ tour, they returned to action at the shop right LPGA powered by Wake Fern out in New Jersey. Not the best field, not shocking with the the US Women's Open coming up next weekend. So a lot of players taking rest, driving out, getting out to California, probably do some some prep there at Riviera. So again, not the most star-stud field. Jennifer Cup show is the reigning champ here. Uh she won last year. Still, we have Charlie Hall in the field. High Jin Choi, she's in the field. Brooke Henderson, Lynn Grant. Again, still a good field. Just you're missing the Nellies and the Geno's and the Hayden Greens and all that. I I'm gonna go just because it feels like a lot of people are repeating as winners this year at courses they won last year or events they won last year. I'm gonna go with Jennifer Cup show to win win back to back here. It just seems to kind of be a trend on the LPGA tour. Geno's won a couple events she won last year. So we'll go with Jennifer Cupcho to get the win before the US Open here next week.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Yeah, LPGA tour back this week. They were they had a break last week, and then next week they have you know the US Open, as you mentioned. So not a really strong, not a very strong field this week. That being said, I am going to pick uh Chizzy Oya this week. She has three top tens this year. She was runner-up in was it? I think it might have been Thailand. So she was a runner-up, she's a runner-up this season, and then she won last year at the Mexico Riviera Maya Open at Maya Coba. So she has won on tour, has experience, and think that she could win this week in a kind of a not so strong field.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Yeah, again, I I think it will be a good test and see who's playing well heading into the second major of the year, and and we'll see who can come out on top. And over on the PJ tour, they just go down the street, so they don't leave Dallas, they just head down, and now they play the Charles Schwab challenge at Colonial Country Club. It's a great golf course. It is again short in terms of PJ tour. I think it's like 7,000 yards to par 70, but it's really tight, really narrow. If you don't hit accurate t-shots and precise irons, you're not gonna score it. It's not it's a pretty good field. Seven of the top 20 players in the world are in the field. Ben Griffin is looking to defend his title. You got Alex Smalley, Justin Thomas, JJ Spawn. You know, he's gotta be a favorite here again. Keegan Bradley, you know, it it's it's a good field for an event in Texas. Again, kind of coming down a major last week's event. Wasn't the best. This week, Colonial. I love watching this golf course. It's it's gonna play a lot different. You will not see 30 under win this golf course. I will almost guarantee that. I'm gonna go with Justin Thomas. He's played really well the last couple times. He's gone out, you know, recovering from back surgery. He finished T13 at the truest, T4 at the PGA championship. If his driver is going, which it had was at the PGA, if he's in the fair way, he's one of the best iron wedge players in the world. And he switched to a putter that Cameron Young has been using, and he putted really well in the final round of the PGA. So hopefully that continues. That's kind of been the weakest club in his bag. If he has a good week putting, he contends. So I'm gonna go with Justin Thomas, you know, pick up his 17th career win, return to the winner's circle since last year. Again, but you you could go a whole I I thought about picking your guy, JJ. It was he was he was my my second pick because he hits his iron so well, and this is course that he's gonna play well at, I think.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Yeah, I am not picking JJ Spawn this week. I feel like I picked him too many times this season, even though I like him very much, as all of you know. However, I'm going to pick. Sung J M this week. I mentioned him earlier as a guy who I think you know has been playing pretty well recently. He's been on the top leaderboard. He has two top five finishes this season. He cut another guy who came back, he came back from military service. Justin Thomas came back from back surgery. So two pretty pretty major things in a person's life to return to the golf course. But uh Sanjay M is kind of the opposite of JJ Spawn and Justin Thomas. It seems he is currently 135th in approach to green in a stroke golf.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

That's so bad for it.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

What the not what we know Sanjay M for is you know Sanjay M for striping his irons, and that's not what he's been doing recently. But you know, if he'll change Sanjay M, I know he'll come back to what we know Sanjay M is. But however, he's still putting in you know finishing very well. And but he is 39th in putting on tour, so you know when he gets the green, it's not really too much of a concern for him right now, just more so hitting good iron shots. So let's hope you know one of our you know, either Sonjay M or Justin Thomas win this week.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

And if if one of them win, they not only do they get the the prize money that's the next couple points of war learning points, they get a cool, cool jacket, their name engraved on a wall of champions by the first seat, and then they get a car. So since 2019, when Charles Schwab took over, the winner gets some type of classic one-of-a-kind car. Last year, Ben Griffin, I forgot, but this year it's a 1982 Jeep, I think Jeep Scrambler or something. So whoever wins gets to drive home in a pretty cool retro vintage car as well as all the other things. So they're playing for a little extra, it's just a little fun thing they do. I know I've I've seen people who just give the car to their caddy or something like that as well. So it's always a fun event. It's I just I can't imagine 30 under will win just the way the golf course is, but we'll see. Again, check us out on our website, fairitygreen.com, check us out on Instagram, Ferry to Green. You know, we post social media clips, other stuff on there. So go ahead, go follow us over there. You know, Brian and I both have Instagram accounts as well, so check us out over there. Again, keep reading our articles on the website and subscribe and watch our videos on YouTube as well. Enjoy the busy week of golf this week. We'll be back next week to preview to recap all this and then preview the events and kind of get into the women's second major, the women's U.S. Open at Revere Country Club. Enjoy the golf this week.