PACIFIC PALISADES – The PGA Tour’s new “designated tournament” format, with increased purses and an emphasis on gathering the marquee names in one place at the same time, would seem to be very good for the tour’s haves and not so great for it’s have-a-littles.
But so far this week at Riviera Keith Mitchell has been the equivalent of a gate-crasher. And that’s not a bad thing at all.
Rory McIlroy noted, as mentioned here earlier in the week, that while the format of herding the stars into specific high-profile tournaments might be seen as benefiting only certain players or certain events, the ultimate effect would be to lift all boats.
And on a tour where all it takes is the hot hand over one weekend to transform a season, and maybe even a career, grinders such as Mitchell can have their star turn.
The 31-year-old from Chattanooga, Tenn., by way of the University of Georgia, has one Tour victory in his five-plus seasons, the 2019 Honda Classic. He has career earnings of $10.6 million and is 62nd in the FedEx Cup standings, with two top-10 finishes and eight cuts made in his first 10 events this season.
The California segment of the circuit that concludes this weekend has been particularly good to him. He tied for 22nd at The American Express at La Quinta, skipped Torrey Pines, but tied for fourth at the AT&T Pebble Beach pro-am two weeks ago (while not only wearing CBS’ live mic for a hole but taking a shot at Aaron Rodgers’ handicap, which may or may not be inflated and, Mitchell felt, cost him and Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen the pro-am championship.)
This week he’s getting some more quality TV time because of his play. He spent Saturday hanging with Max Homa and Jon Rahm at the top of the leaderboard, the grinder matching shots with guys who have already hoisted trophies multiple times this season.
Mitchell’s was a steady round, the only real blemish a putt that lipped out on 18 for his only bogey of the day and left him at 11-under,…
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