Compiled by Multiple-Award-Winning PGA Professional Brendon R. Elliott, PrimePutt’s Director of Instruction and Lead Writer
Reitan, Snedeker And Thitikul Show Why Tournaments Still End On The Greens
This past weekend gave us three very different winners, on three very different stages, with one shared truth: golf tournaments are still decided by the moments when the ball is rolling.
At the Truist Championship, Kristoffer Reitan turned a first PGA TOUR win into reality with one of the most important par saves of his career. At the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, Brandt Snedeker reminded everyone that a proven putter never really disappears. On the LPGA Tour, Jeeno Thitikul once again showed the calm closing touch that has made her one of the game’s most reliable finishers.
That is the beauty of putting. It can be technical. It can be statistical. It can be brutally emotional. But late on Sunday, it is always personal.
Kristoffer Reitan’s Truist Breakthrough Was Built On One Huge Par Save
Reitan’s win at Quail Hollow was not a runaway. It was a survival test.
He closed with a 2-under 69 to finish 15 under, two shots clear of Rickie Fowler and Nicolai Højgaard. Alex Fitzpatrick, who had been right in the middle of the story, finished fourth at 12 under after a costly double bogey on the par-3 17th. Reitan became just the second Norwegian to win on the PGA TOUR, joining Viktor Hovland.
The putt that changed everything came at the 16th, the start of Quail Hollow’s Green Mile. Reitan faced a 15-foot par putt with the tournament still very much alive. Miss it, and the final two holes feel completely different. Make it, and he keeps control of the tournament.
He made it.
That is what Pressure Putts is all about. Not every career-changing putt is for birdie. Sometimes the biggest putt of the week is the one that keeps the door from cracking open.
The PrimePutt Read: Reitan Won The Moment Before He Won The Tournament
What stood out was not just that Reitan made the putt. It was where it came in the round.
The 16th at Quail Hollow does not give players much room to breathe. You are already inside the tournament’s hardest emotional stretch. You know 17 can bite. You know 18 can punish. You know the leaderboard is moving around you.
A 15-foot par putt there is not just a stroke. It is a nervous-system test.
For everyday golfers, the lesson is simple: pressure putting starts before the stroke. It starts with accepting the situation, choosing the right speed, committing to the read and letting the putter swing without adding a last-second correction. Reitan did not need a perfect putt. He needed a committed one.
That is the kind of putt that wins.
Brandt Snedeker Reminded Everyone Why Great Putters Age Differently
The ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic gave us a different kind of putting story.
Snedeker closed with a 5-under 66 at Dunes Golf & Beach Club to finish 18 under, one shot ahead of Mark Hubbard. It was his 10th PGA TOUR win and his first victory since 2018.
This one carried a lot of feeling because Snedeker has always been one of golf’s great rhythm putters. His stroke has never looked forced. It has always looked like a player rolling the ball to a picture in his mind.
Sunday at Myrtle Beach felt like that version of Snedeker again.
He birdied Nos. 12, 13, 15 and 17 on the back nine, then survived a bogey at the last while Hubbard finished one shot behind. The official leaderboard shows Snedeker’s 67-66-67-66 week, and that consistency is its own putting story.
The PrimePutt Read: Snedeker’s Win Was A Case Study In Trust
Snedeker’s putting has always had a distinctive quality. There is very little clutter in it. See it. Feel it. Roll it.
That matters under pressure because tension usually makes players either slow down too much or guide the putter through impact. Snedeker has made a career out of doing the opposite. His best putting has always looked like freedom.
For club golfers, this is a valuable reminder: your best pressure stroke is not usually the most careful one. It is the most athletic one. You still need routine. You still need read and speed. But once the decision is made, the stroke has to move.
Snedeker’s Sunday was proof that great putting is not only about mechanics. It is also about identity. He looked like a player who still knew exactly who he was with a putter in his hands.
Jeeno Thitikul Closed Like A Player Who Expected To Win
On the LPGA Tour, Thitikul successfully defended her Mizuho Americas Open title at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, New Jersey. She finished at 13-under 275, four shots ahead of Ruoning Yin, with Jenny Bae, Alison Lee, Gaby Lopez and Hye-Jin Choi sharing third at 8 under.
The official LPGA story framed it perfectly: Thitikul fought off one final challenge, then pulled away with late birdies for a closing 69. It was her second LPGA Tour win of the season and her second straight victory in the Mizuho Americas Open.
That matters because defending a title brings a different kind of pressure. You are not just trying to win. You are trying to protect something you already proved once before.
Thitikul did not protect it timidly. She closed it.
The PrimePutt Read: Thitikul’s Edge Is Emotional Pace Control
Thitikul’s putting story is not only about making late birdies. It is about the poise behind them.
The best putters in the world control more than distance. They control emotional pace. They do not get dragged into the speed of the moment. They let everyone else feel the urgency while they keep rolling the ball at the speed the putt requires.
That is what separates closers.
For golfers working on their own putting, this is where practice often misses the mark. We hit 10 putts from the same spot and think we are building a stroke. That helps, but pressure putting needs consequence. It needs one-ball reps. It needs a score. It needs a reason to care.
Thitikul looked comfortable because she has clearly trained the part of putting that does not show up on a launch monitor: calm decision-making when the tournament is leaning on every stroke.
The Pressure Putt Of The Week
Kristoffer Reitan’s 15-foot par save on No. 16 at Quail Hollow
Snedeker had the most emotional putting story. Thitikul had the cleanest closing performance. But Reitan’s putt on 16 gets the nod because of what it protected.
That putt did not win the tournament by itself, but it kept the win in his hands. It bought him control. It allowed him to play the last two holes from ahead rather than from fear.
That is the purest form of a pressure putt.
What Golfers Can Learn From This Weekend
The lesson from this week is not that you need to hole everything. Nobody does.
The lesson is that pressure putting shows up in different forms:
Reitan showed the value of the par putt.
The putt that saves a round can be just as important as the one that shoots a number.
Snedeker showed the value of trusting your natural rhythm.
When the heat is on, the answer is rarely to become more mechanical.
Thitikul showed the value of emotional control.
The best closers do not rush because the moment gets louder.
For everyday golfers, the takeaway is clear: practice putting in a way that creates decisions and consequences. Do not just work on stroke. Work on the routine. Work on start line. Work on speed. Work on the ability to roll one ball, one time, when it means something.
That is where real putting improvement lives.
PrimePutt Year-To-Date Putting Snapshot
PGA TOUR: Strokes Gained, Putting Leaders
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Jacob Bridgeman: +0.939
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Vince Whaley: +0.915
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Jake Knapp: +0.744
The PGA TOUR’s official SG: Putting leaderboard currently has Bridgeman, Whaley and Knapp at the top, with Bridgeman continuing to show why his name keeps appearing in putting conversations this season.
LPGA Tour: Putting Average Leaders
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Hyo Joo Kim: 27.96
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Mi Hyang Lee: 28.00
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Gemma Dryburgh: 28.11
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Minami Katsu: 28.19
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Ariya Jutanugarn: 28.31
The LPGA Tour’s official putting average leaderboard remains a reminder of how efficient the best women in the world are on the greens. Hyo Joo Kim leads that category at 27.96 putts per round.
Final Roll
This was one of those weekends where putting told three completely different stories.
A first-time PGA TOUR winner had to make the par putt that kept his hands on the trophy. A veteran had to trust a stroke that has defined much of his career. A defending LPGA champion had to close like the player she has already become.
Different tours. Different venues. Different pressure.
Same truth.
Sooner or later, every tournament finds the putter.
Pressure Putts drops every Monday with the week’s best putting stories, stats, and drills from the PGA TOUR, LPGA, and DP World Tour. Got a putting question or drill request? Drop us a line.
