Tiger Woods’ next move, Ryder Cup implications and POY race: 7 things to watch during the FedEx Cup Playoffs

There’s always a post-Wanamaker depression that sets in after the PGA Championship, the reality sinking in that the next major is some 250 days away in the spring. That is especially true this season, with Tiger Woods’ final-round surge instilling a rapture not felt in ages. But for those still coming down from that Bellerive bliss, fear not: The rest of the calendar has plenty still in store. From Tiger to the Ryder Cup to Jordan Spieth, here are seven storylines to follow during the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Tiger’s comeback continues

The comeback is real, and it is spectacular. Tiger demonstrated at Innisbrook, Bay Hill and Carnoustie that his game is in shape to compete with the game’s best; his runner-up at Bellerive, however, asserted Woods’ ceiling is higher than previously deemed. Better yet, as the season reaches the dog days of August, the 42-year-old has dispelled the idea he’s running on fumes.

Aside from Ridgewood, the venues on the postseason slate are tailored to Tiger’s game. Currently 20th on the FedEx Cup standings, Woods will have some latitude in the early rounds in pursuit of a spot in the Tour Championship at East Lake, but with hopes of solidifying his Ryder Cup candidacy (even though, come on, we all know Big Cat’s already on the roster), look for Woods to make a formidable run through the tour’s postseason.

Four tickets for Paris up for grabs

Well, two; you’ll see Augusta National dye Rae’s Creek pink before Woods and Phil Mickelson are left off the team. That leaves Bryson DeChambeau (who finished ninth in points), Tony Finau, Kevin Kisner, Xander Schauffele, Matt Kuchar and Zach Johnson among viable candidates. For what it’s worth, players and PGA of America officials at Bellerive maintained Kuchar is more in the running than fans believe.

There’s also the chance captain Jim Furyk rides the FedEx Cup Playoff’s hot hand, which is what facilitated Ryan Moore’s selection for the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 2016. It proved to be the right call: Moore won two matches, including the clinching point, for the Americans at Hazeltine.

No matter the selections, there will be a wave of Monday quarterbacking on Furyk’s decisions, particularly if he goes with a veteran that hasn’t performed as of late. Furyk will announce three of his picks after the Dell Technologies Championship over Labor Day weekend, with the final slot filled at the BMW Championship’s conclusion, meaning DeChambeau, Kisner, Finau and the like will have opportunities to prove their merit.

The Player of the Year race is over, right? Well …

Make no mistake, Brooks Koepka is the unequivocal favorite. That doesn’t mean he has this bad boy locked it up, even with his U.S. Open and PGA titles as well as runner-up finishes at the WGC-HSBC and Colonial.

If Dustin Johnson or Justin Thomas—both with three wins and ahead of Koepka in the FEC—win two of the four postseason events, it might be enough to raise an argument. Three out of four instigates a full-blown discussion. (Bubba Watson also has three wins, but the two-time Masters champ has missed the cut in the last three majors, torpedoing any realistic hopes.) Patrick Reed and Francesco Molinari, the year’s other major victors, could join this surge with multiple playoff wins as well.

These scenarios are far-fetched, and even if they transpire, Koepka likely still earns the nod. But a victory by Thomas or Johnson at Ridgewood will raise these questions—exactly the shot of late-season vitality the tour’s postseason aspired for when constructing the FEC a decade ago.

Can Spieth save a “lost” season?

In one breath, it’s hard to call a season “lost” when A) The guy comes this close to winning the Masters and B) Plays in the final pairing at the Open. Conversely, we measure our superstars by a different touchstone, and Spieth—who’s currently on the outside looking in at the Tour Championship—has fall shorten of his historical standards.

The short game has taken the brunt of the blame, and rightfully so: Spieth ranks 144th in strokes gained/putting on the season. It’s an astonishing figure for any top-flight player, but even more so considering Spieth ranked second in the category just two seasons ago. Just as concerning, however, has been a drop in iron performance, ranking 40th in approach this summer, a far cry from his work last year (ranking first) and during his two-major summer of 2015 (11th). For the putts to start dropping, Spieth will need to give himself better chances on the greens.

The good news is Ridgewood and Aronimink (site of the BMW Championship) set up well to Spieth’s strengths, and he logged a runner-up in Boston last September. By his standards, it won’t be a season to remember for Spieth. With a strong finish, he won’t have to make it one to forget.

A Rookie of the Year chase, without one of the favorites

Unless he wins the Wyndham Championship, Joaquin Niemann, despite owning enough points to comfortably advance to the Northern Trust, cannot compete in the FedEx Cup Playoffs due to his special temporary membership status. Significant because, if he does reach the postseason, Niemann would arguably be the frontrunner for rookie-of-the-year honors. (Update: He did not win in Greensboro. Niemann, however, has locked up his card for next season.)

Instead, this award likely comes down to Austin Cook and Aaron Wise. Since winning in the fall, Cook has been relatively quiet, although did have top-10s in Memphis and the Greenbrier. Wise had stellar back-to-back showings at Quail Hollow (T-2) and the Bryon Nelson (win); the ensuing schedule, unfortunately, has been tough sledding, with six missed cuts in seven appearances. Still, both have loads of talent, with the reserve not to be intimidated by their playoff debuts. Neither is a household entity yet; an energetic finish in the FEC can go ways in fixing that.

Architecture aficionados, rejoice!

For connoisseurs of course design, the past month has not been Christmas morning. That changes during the FEC thanks to:

• Ridgewood Country Club, a 27-hole A.W. Tillinghast design with its history including a Ryder Cup, U.S. Amateur and a handful of Barclays’ events. Gil Hanse’s team has done restoration work over the past couple of years, making Ridgewood as good as ever. Ridgewood features a mix of Tillinghast-eque bunker-guarded greens with the option to run it up on many holes. The rough is expected to be thicker than the last time the FEC visited, possibly leading to U.S. Open-like scoring.

• TPC Boston, while not beloved by players, produces plenty of red figures, and it’s various lines and contoured greens offer more set-up options and mind-sets than a rank-and-file tour course.

• Aronimink, another track that—we hope you’re sitting down—was restored by Hanse and his team. Set to host the 2027 PGA Championship, Aronimink has eliminated a ton of trees from the property, but its tight fairways and challenging par 4s—and Donald Ross greens—make it one of the Northeast’s toughest tests.

If you can’t get behind that lineup, you don’t have a pulse.

What’s up with Rory?

Similar to Spieth, this warrants a provision. After all, the four-time major winner just finished T-2 at Carnoustie last month, and, unlike Spieth, he’s won on the PGA Tour this season with his triumph at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

On the other hand, McIlroy’s game was such a mess at Bellerive that he hinted he was going to skip the first leg of the postseason to figure out what’s going on.

“I need to assess where I’m at, and I think the best thing for me to do right now is take a couple of days off and reflect on what I need to do going forward,” he said at the PGA Championship. “I’ll do some practice this week and see if I feel ready to go there and play five out of six weeks leading up to the Ryder Cup.” (Update: McIlroy appears to have made good on skipping the Northern Trust as his name is not included on the PGA Tour’s field list as of Monday.)

McIlroy won the FedEx Cup just two seasons ago, and does rank 11th in strokes gained this season. Nevertheless, his wedge game, or lack thereof, has rendered his prolific distance moot, and the putter, again, hasn’t bailed him out. McIlroy’s nearing a bit of a career crossroads. Tis postseason won’t define his legacy, but it can get him back on track.

SOURCE:  GolfDigest

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PGA Championship 2018: Tiger Woods hasn’t felt this good after a tournament ‘for awhile’

Tiger Woods nearly earned his 15th major championship victory Sunday at the PGA Championship.
After a rough start Thursday at Bellerive Country Club, Woods dominated the course to finish second at 14 under, two shots behind eventual winner Brooks Koepka.

Woods, who has undergone four back surgeries since 2014, dealt with personal issues, and admitted himself he didn’t know if he’d ever compete again, has now finished in the top 6 in back-to-back major championships.

“Not for awhile, no. I was pretty ticked at the British Open” Woods said after his round when asked if he’s ever felt this good after a tournament he didn’t win. “I had the lead there. This one I never quite got to the lead. I was always trailing. It was a golf course in which I couldn’t sit still and make pars and be okay with it. I had to keep making birdies.

“The golf course was soft, it was gettable, and there were a bunch of guys, when I went to the range to start warming up, there were a bunch of guys at 3-under par through 6, 3-under par through 7. And so, yeah, that was, you could see guys shooting 5-, 6-under par today and with a bunch of guys around 8-under or better starting the day, I had to go get it and I tried.”

Woods, who entered the week ranked 51st in the world, has an incredible seven top-12 finishes this year. Back in January, he didn’t even know how many events he’d be able to play.

“I didn’t know what my schedule would be,” Woods said. “I didn’t know how many tournaments I would play this year or if I would even play. So each tournament brought about its own challenges. I didn’t know what the number was going to be this year.

“I didn’t know how I was going to play. And so at the beginning of the year, if you would say, yeah, I would have a legit chance to win the last two major championships, I, with what swing? I didn’t have a swing at the time. I had no speed. I didn’t have a golf swing. I didn’t have — my short game wasn’t quite there yet. My putting was okay. But God, I hadn’t played in two years. So it’s been a hell of a process for sure.”

Almost everyone lauded the St. Louis crowd for their positive energy this week, and Woods was pleased he was able to give them a reason to cheer.

“Oh, you could hear them. They were engaged since our practice round on Wednesday,” Woods said. “They were loud and they stayed around and it’s been, as I said, it’s been incredible with the positiveness that everyone was saying and they wanted to see some good golf and we produced some good golf I think as a whole.

“The people here were so positive, the energy was incredible, but the positiveness of it all. Everyone was willing every shot that everyone hit. There was no negative comments, no one was jeering, no one was making snide remarks, everyone was just very positive. They’re excited, yeah. They sometimes pick sides, yes. But they were respectful. And that’s, I wish we could play in front of crowds like this every single week because this is a true pleasure.”

As far as goals moving forward, Woods is still just glad to be back competing and contending.

“As I said, this has been a process on building,” Woods said. “I didn’t know when I was going to start this year and how many tournaments I was going to play, how well I was going to play. I didn’t know what swing I was going to use either.

“I’m in uncharted territory. Because no one’s ever had a fused spine hitting it like I’m hitting it. So I had to kind of figure this out on my own and it’s been really hard, it’s a lot harder than people think. And I’m just very pleased at what I’ve done so far and now to be part of the Ryder Cup conversation, going from where I’ve come from to now in the last year, it’s been pretty cool.”

SOURCE:  SportingNews

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PGA Championship 2018: More than a major at stake. Who will be the player of the year?

ST. LOUIS — The PGA Championship is the year’s final major. But there’s still plenty to be decided in golf. Justin Thomas, who won Sunday at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and is the defending PGA champion this week at Bellerive, has three wins. So do Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson. Justin Rose and Jason Day, meanwhile, have two victories this season. The year’s first three major winners were Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka and Francesco Molinari.

So, who will be the player of the year?

The Wanamaker Trophy is far more significant a prize, of course, but any of the aforementioned players hoisting it would be a defining mark on a tremendous season, and give said player a leg up on the honor.

Here’s a breakdown of the candidates so far.

Justin Thomas: Though his win Sunday was his first since February it came on a difficult Firestone course, much the way his previous victory took place on a tough PGA National course at the Honda Classic, which he won in a playoff over Luke List. Thomas’ other victory came last fall at the inaugural CJ Cup in Korea—also in a playoff, over Marc Leishman.

Dustin Johnson: His three wins came in Maui, Memphis and Canada. They also were the most impressive among the group in terms of margin of victory. Johnson won at Kapalua by eight, TPC Southwind by six and Glen Abbey by three. The top-ranked played in the world, he also has missed just one cut in 15 starts, has two runner-up finishes and two third-place finishes, and has finished in the top 10 a staggering 10 times in 15 starts. By comparison, Thomas has seven top-10s in three more starts.

Bubba Watson: Like Johnson, Watson’s victories came on a differing tracks with wins at Riviera and TPC River Highlands, bookended around his title at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club. Watson however has just two other top-10s.

Justin Rose: The WGC-HSBC Champions and Fort Worth Invitational were Rose’s two victories on the PGA Tour this season, but he also won in Turkey and Indonesia and rose to as high as No. 2 in the world before Thomas supplanted this past weekend. In 13 total starts in 2018, Rose has five top-10s.

Jason Day: If it seems like Day has barely played this year it’s because he has. The Aussie has made just a dozen starts but has won two of them, at Torrey Pines and Quail Hollow. He has just three other top-10 finishes, though.

In terms of major performance, Johnson and Rose have the better resumes. Johnson tied for 10th at the Masters and third at the U.S. Open, while Rose finished in the top 10 in both Opens, including a runner-up at Carnoustie.

But there’s still one more major to go.

SOURCE:  Golfworld

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The 13 numbers you need to know from the final round of the British Open

Still looking to make sense of the madness that took place Sunday afternoon at Carnoustie? Here are a few significant digits (metric system, this week) that you’re welcome to borrow the rest of the week.

0 — Number of bogeys Francesco Molinari made in his final 37 holes, nearly unthinkable given the pitfalls that await during every trip ’round Carnoustie, among the hardest links courses in the world.

1 — Number of Italian major champions as of 6:53 p.m. in Carnoustie, the moment Molinari officially became the British Open champion.

2 — Finishing position of Rory McIlroy, who put on a late charge after a rough Sunday start. It was the first major championship runner-up finish of McIlroy’s career

2.5 — Number of years Molinari plans to play until retirement, according to a hilarious list compiled by fellow Tour pro Wesley Bryan.

5 — Number of top-five finishes in Molinari’s last six starts; wins at the BMW Championship and Quicken Loans National plus runner-up finishes at the John Deere and the Italian Open had him red-hot entering this week.

https://twitter.com/TheOpen/status/1021091883462922241

 

6 — Players tied for the lead at one point during a rollicking back nine

7 — Number of different players that held a share of the lead on Sunday.

15 — Number of birdies made by Sam Locke, the 19-year-old Scottish amateur golfer (and professional barista). Only nine players made more birdies than Locke, who earned low am honors but was undone with a back-nine 42 on Sunday and slipped to a share of 75th.

27 — Number of players who finished under par for the week, up from 2007 at Carnoustie (19) and way up from 1999 (0).

30 — Spots that Eddie Pepperell jumped on Sunday after a final-round 67 left him as the early clubhouse leader despite being, as he said, “a little hungover.”

35 — Molinari’s age; he’s the youngest major winner since Sergio Garcia at the 2017 Masters and continues a trend of older British Open winners. Only three Open winners have been 32 or younger since 2007.

50 — Tiger Woods’s projected World Ranking after finishing T6; good enough to qualify for the WGC-Bridgestone in two weeks.

82 — The highest score of Sunday’s final round belonged to Zander Lombard, a relatively unknown South African who fell from the edge of contention to a share of 67th after a 40-42 effort on Sunday. His was the only final-round score in the 80s.

SOURCE: GOLF

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Featured Groups for The Open Championship

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — Jordan Spieth returned the Claret Jug on Monday. His bid to regain golf’s oldest title will begin at 4:58 a.m. ET on Thursday. Spieth will play alongside Justin Rose and Kiradech Aphibarnrat in one of the star-studded groups at Carnoustie.

The northern-most course in The Open’s rota also is the most difficult. “Car-Nasty” rewards the game’s best players, though. Five of the seven winners here on the coast of the North Sea are in the World Golf Hall of Fame, and another Carnoustie champion, Padraig Harrington, seems a sure-fire inductee.

Here’s a closer look at some of the other groups that will draw the lion’s share of the eyeballs here in Scotland. (Note: FedExCup ranking in parentheses; all times Eastern; all groups start on No. 1).

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1018903368239022080

Phil Mickelson (8), Satoshi Kodaira (70), Rafa Cabrera Bello (64): Mickelson won this season’s World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship, his first win since hoisting the Claret Jug in 2013. Kodaira earned his first PGA TOUR victory at this year’s RBC heritage, while Cabrera Bello has three top-10s this season.

Tee times: 3:03 a.m. on Thursday; 8:04 a.m. on Friday.

 

Si Woo Kim (41), Webb Simpson (11), Nicola Hojgaard (NR): The past two PLAYERS champions are paired for the first two rounds at Carnoustie. Simpson won this year’s PLAYERS by four shots. It was his first victory since the 2013 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. They’re playing alongside Danish amateur Nicola Hojgaard.

Tee time: 3:25 a.m. on Thursday; 8:26 a.m. on Friday.

 

Justin Rose (4), Jordan Spieth (40), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (NR): Rose won earlier this season at another course dubbed Hogan’s Alley. He displayed impressive iron play in winning the Fort Worth Invitational at Colonial. He also won this season’s World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions. Spieth will try to solve his putting woes at the event of his most recent PGA TOUR victory. Aphibarnrat recently accepted Special Temporary Membership on the PGA TOUR after finishing T5 in two World Golf Championships (Mexico Championship, Dell Technologies Match Play).

Tee times: 4:58 a.m. on Thursday; 9:59 a.m. on Friday.

 

Jon Rahm (14), Rickie Fowler (16), Chris Wood (NR): This group features two of the top 20 players in the FedExCup, and two players hungry for their first major. Rahm won this season’s CareerBuilder Challenge. Fowler, the 2015 PLAYERS champion, has two runners-up this season (OHL Classic at Mayakoba, Masters). England’s Wood has two top-5 finishes at The Open.

Tee times: 5:09 a.m. on Thursday; 10:10 a.m. on Friday.

 

Louis Oosthuizen (75), Paul Casey (12), Patrick Reed (7): Reed rides a string of three consecutive top-four finishes in majors into The Open Championship. He finished second at last year’s PGA before winning the Masters and finishing fourth at the U.S. Open. Casey won this season’s Valspar Championship for his second PGA TOUR victory. Oosthuizen won the 2010 Open Championship at St. Andrews and lost in a playoff to Zach Johnson when The Open returned there in 2015.

Tee times: 5:20 a.m. on Thursday; 10:21 a.m. on Friday.

 

Henrik Stenson (43), Tommy Fleetwood (32), Jimmy Walker (53): In 2016, Stenson added The Open Championship to a sterling resume that already included THE PLAYERS Championship and FedExCup. Fleetwood is coming off a runner-up at Shinnecock Hills that included a final-round 63, while Walker was runner-up at this year’s THE PLAYERS.

Tee times: 7:31 a.m. on Thursday; 2:30 a.m. on Friday.

 

Rory McIlroy (39), Marc Leishman (20), Thorbjorn Olesen (NR): McIlroy returns to a course where he won the Silver Medal as the low amateur. He was in third place after shooting 68 in the first round of the 2007 Open before finishing 42nd. McIlroy won The Open in 2014 and added the FedExCup two years later. He and Leishman represent the past two champions of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, as well. Leishman was part of the three-man playoff won by Zach Johnson in the 2015 Open at St. Andrews. Olesen is coming off a recent victory at the Italian Open.

Tee time: 7:53 a.m. on Thursday; 2:52 a.m. on Friday.

 

Dustin Johnson (1), Alex Noren (31), Charley Hoffman (102): The FedExCup leader is playing with a Presidents Cup teammate and a potential Ryder Cup foe. Johnson has won twice this season, an eight-shot victory at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and six-shot win at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. He is coming off the disappointment of losing a four-shot lead at the halfway point of the U.S. Open, though. Noren is playing his first season as a PGA TOUR member. He was a runner-up in a playoff to Jason Day at the Farmers Insurance Open. He recently won the French Open.

Tee times: 8:04 a.m. on Thursday; 3:03 a.m. on Friday.

 

Justin Thomas (2), Francesco Molinari (27), Branden Grace (74): The reigning FedExCup champion is playing alongside one of the game’s hottest players and the man who shot a record-setting round last year at Royal Birkdale. Thomas is second in this season’s FedExCup standings thanks to wins at the CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES and The Honda Classic. Molinari has two wins and two runners-up in his past five starts, with a T25 at Shinnecock Hills sandwiched in between. He picked up his first PGA TOUR win at the Quicken Loans National before finishing second in last week’s John Deere Classic. Grace shot 62 in last year’s Open Championship, the lowest round in major championship history.

Tee times: 8:26 a.m. on Thursday; 3:25 a.m. on Friday.

 

Sergio Garcia (128), Bryson DeChambeau (6), Shubankar Sharma (NR): Garcia returns to the site of one of several heartbreaking finishes that preceded his win in last year’s Masters. He missed a 10-foot par putt on the final hole here in 2007 before losing a playoff to Harrington. Garcia needs some good results to avoid missing the FedExCup Playoffs for the first time. DeChambeau, who’s in the middle of a breakout season that includes a victory at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, withdrew from his title defense at last week’s John Deere Classic because of a shoulder injury. Sharma turned heads after holding the 54-hole lead at this year’s World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship.

Tee times: 10:10 a.m. on Thursday; 5:09 a.m. on Friday.

 

Ian Poulter (34), Cameron Smith (44), Brooks Koepka (13): Koepka, the first back-to-back U.S. Open champion in nearly three decades, will try to claim a different Open. He’s joined by England’s Poulter, who won this season’s Houston Open. Cameron Smith won last season’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Jonas Blixt.

Tee times: 9:59 a.m. on Thursday; 4:58 a.m. on Friday.

 

Tiger Woods (50), Hideki Matsuyama (81), Russell Knox (73): The local favorite will play alongside the 14-time major champion. Russell Knox, fresh off a victory at the Irish Open and runner-up at the French Open, is looking to become the first Scot to win The Open since Paul Lawrie won at Carnoustie in 1999. Knox’s Irish Open victory was his first since his dramatic win at the Travelers Championship in 2016. Carnoustie is the closest Open venue to his hometown of Inverness, which is three hours away. Woods, a three-time Open champion, has finished T7 and T12 in two Opens at Carnoustie, a course he has competed on since playing the Scottish Open as an amateur. Matsuyama, who has won five times over the previous four seasons, is in the midst of his first winless season since 2015. He won three times last season to finish eighth in the FedExCup.

Tee times: 10:21 a.m. on Thursday; 5:20 a.m. Eastern on Friday.

SOURCE:   PGA Tour

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PGA Tour shuffles schedule to finish Playoffs before football season

Movement — and plenty of it — highlights the PGA Tour’s upcoming 2018-19 wraparound season.

Start with The Players Championship, the Tour’s flagship event, which moves back to March from its May spot. The PGA Championship, for decades the last major of the year, moves to May. And the FedExCup Playoffs, shortened from four to three events, moves so it will finish by the end of August and before the beginning of the NFL and college football seasons.

And two events — the Houston Open and A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier — are moving to the fall and will be played next as part of the 2019-20 season.

The Tour released the schedule of 46 events on Tuesday.

“We are extremely pleased with the way the schedule has come together, particularly with the number of changes that were involved and the strength of the partnerships required to achieve this new look,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a news release.

“By concluding at the end of August, the FedExCup Playoffs no longer have the challenge of sharing the stage with college and professional football. This will enhance the visibility of the FedExCup Playoffs. We have created a schedule that will heighten interest in all tournaments while further elevating the FedExCup Playoffs.”

The Playoffs are now three events and will be played in consecutive weeks. The annual Boston stop, which played as the second postseason event the first 11 years of the Playoffs, is moving starting in 2020 into an every other year rotation with the New York area, which has annually hosted the first event.

Next season the Playoffs will start with the Northern Trust on Aug. 8-11 in New Jersey, move to Medinah Country Club in Chicago the following week and end in Atlanta at East Lake Golf Club Aug. 22-25.

Significant scheduling challenges await the game’s best players as they look to peak for the sport’s biggest events and arrange for proper rest.

With the revamped schedule, there is an eight-week stretch that includes the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship Feb. 21-24, The Players Championship March 14-17, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play March 27-31 and the Masters April 11-14. The other four events in this stretch are important to the players, too — the Honda Classic, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Valspar Championship and Valero Texas Open.

Two of the season’s most popular events precede the eight-week stretch — the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club. And the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links once again is the week after the Masters and has annually been a big hit with players looking to decompress after the first major of the year.

There’s also a six-week stretch that begins July 18-21 with the Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. The following week the last WGC event of the season, which is now moving from Akron to Memphis and will be called the FedEx St. Jude Invitational, will be played. The next week is the Wyndham Championship, the last spot for players to earn a spot in the FedExCup Playoffs. And then you have the playoffs.

 

Other significant changes include the addition of two new events. The Rocket Mortgage Classic will be the first PGA Tour event held in Detroit from June 27-30 and will be followed by the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities July 4-7.

The RBC Canadian Open moves from its traditional spot in late July to June 6-9, the week ahead of the U.S. Open.

The season begins the week after the 2018 Ryder Cup in France. The Safeway Open in Napa, California, is Oct. 4-7 and kicks off a seven-week, eight-tournament fall stretch before the Tour takes a break in late November.

The schedule resumes the first week of January in Hawaii with the Aloha State two-step — the Sentry Tournament of Champions Jan. 3-6 and the Sony Open in Hawaii Jan. 10-13.

SCHEDULE

Oct. 1-7: Safeway Open, Silverado Resort and Spa (North Course), Napa, Calif.

Oct. 8-14: CIMB Classic, TPC Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Oct. 15-21: The CJ Cup at Nine Bridges, Jeju Island, South Korea

Oct. 22-28: World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions, Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai

Oct. 22-28: Sanderson Farms Championship, Country Club of Jackson, Jackson, Miss.

Oct. 29-Nov. 4: Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas

Nov. 5-11: Mayakoba Golf Classic, El Camaleon Golf Club at the Mayakoba Resort, Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Nov. 12-18: The RSM Classic, Sea Island Resort (*Seaside Course, Plantation Course), St. Simons Island, Ga.

Dec. 31-Jan. 6: Sentry Tournament of Champions, Kapalua Resort (The Plantation Course), Hawaii

Jan. 7-13: Sony Open in Hawaii, Waialae Country Club, Honolulu

Jan. 14-20: CareerBuilder Challenge, PGA WEST (*Stadium Course, Nicklaus Tournament Course); La Quinta Country Club, La Quinta, Calif.

Jan. 21-27: Farmers Insurance Open, Torrey Pines Golf Course (*South Course, North Course), San Diego

Jan. 28-Feb. 3: Waste Management Phoenix Open, TPC Scottsdale (Stadium Course), Scottsdale, Ariz.

Feb. 4-10: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, *Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course, Monterey Peninsula Country Club (Shore Course), Pebble Beach, Calif.

Feb. 11-17: Genesis Open, The Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, Calif.

Feb. 18-24: World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship, Club de Golf Chapultepec, Mexico City

Feb. 18-24: Puerto Rico Open, Coco Beach Golf & Country Club

Feb. 25-March 3: The Honda Classic, PGA National Resort & Spa (The Champion Course), Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

March 4-10: Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Bay Hill Club and Lodge, Orlando

March 11-17: The Players Championship, TPC Sawgrass (THE PLAYERS Stadium Course), Ponte Vedra Beach, Calif.

March 18-24: Valspar Championship, Innisbrook, a Salamander Golf and Spa Resort (Copperhead Course), Palm Harbor, Fla.

March 25-31: World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, Austin Country Club, Texas

March 25-31: Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, Puntacana Resort & Club (Corales Golf Course), Dominican Republic

April 1-7: Valero Texas Open, TPC San Antonio (AT&T Oaks Course)

April 8-14: Masters, Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Ga.

April 15-21: RBC Heritage, Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head, SC

April 22-28: Zurich Classic of New Orleans, TPC Louisiana

April 29-May 5: Wells Fargo Championship, Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte

May 6-12: AT&T Byron Nelson, Trinity Forest Golf Club, Dallas

May 13-19: PGA Championship, Bethpage State Park (Black Course), Bethpage, NY

May 20-26: Charles Schwab Challenge, Colonial Country Club, Fort Worth

May 27-June 2: the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide,
Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, Ohio

June 3-9: RBC Canadian Open, Hamilton Golf & Country Club, Hamilton, Ontario

June 10-16: U.S. Open, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, Calif.

June 17-23: Travelers Championship, TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, CT

June 24-30: Rocket Mortgage Classic, Detroit Golf Club

July 1-7: 3M Open, TPC Twin Cities, Blaine, Minn.

July 8-14: John Deere Classic, TPC Deere Run, Silvis, Ill.

July 15-21: The Open Championship, Royal Portrush Golf Club, Portrush, Northern Ireland

July 15-21: Barbasol Championship, Keene Trace Golf Club (Champions Trace), Nicholasville, Ky.

July 22-28: World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational,
TPC Southwind, Memphis

July 22-28: Reno-Tahoe Tournament, Montrêux Golf and Country Club, Reno

July 29-Aug. 4: Wyndham Championship, Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro, NC

FedExCup Playoffs

Aug. 5-11: The Northern Trust, Liberty National Golf Club, Jersey City, NJ

Aug. 12-18: BMW Championship, Medinah Country Club (Course No. 3), Medinah, Ill.

Aug. 19-25: Tour Championship, East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta

SOURCE:  USAToday

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Brooks Koepka’s path to U.S. Open champion began with a lecture in his dad’s car

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Brooks Koepka made his high school golf team at Wellington Christian in South Florida at the precocious age of 12. On the drive home from his first match, after shooting a 41 for nine holes, young Brooks informed his parents of his life plan: he was going to drop out of school in about four years and turn pro.

Bob Koepka pulled the car to the side of the road and supplied an immediate reality check.

“You’re going to go to high school,” Bob told Brooks. “You’re going to college. And then if you’re good enough, you can turn pro.”

The car pullover lecture is a quintessential Dad Move, and Bob Koepka told the story of it Sunday evening while enjoying the best Father’s Day of his life. He told the story not far from the 18th green at Shinnecock Hills, where he hugged his son when he walked off with a second straight U.S. Open. His boy went to high school, went to college (Florida State), and now has become the first repeat Open champion since Curtis Strange in 1988-89.

Bob and Brooks’ stepmom, Sherry, missed last year’s victory at Erin Hills, watching it on TV at home when they couldn’t find lodging within 30 miles of the course. They weren’t going to miss this one.

“He’s the one who got me started in golf,” Brooks said. “It’s so cool to have him here this week.”

They were present to see “Back-to-Back Brooks” live out the lesson Bob delivered on the side of the road 16 years ago: One step at a time.

There was no shortcut to pro golf at age 16, and there are no shortcuts to winning a U.S. Open. Especially this U.S. Open, on a merciless course that refused to allow a single golfer to break par for the tournament. Grandiose visions of a birdie avalanche are a waste of time. Winning at Shinnecock required laser focus on finding fairways, hitting greens and rolling putts, one hole after another.

“Keep parring it to death,” Koepka said.

If pars lack flair, well, so does Koepka. He’s as emotional as a fish on the course.

“He has the perfect demeanor for what he does,” Sherry Koepka said.

Parring the course to death was a markedly different approach to last year’s Open, when Erin Hills rolled over and played dead. Koepka shot 16-under par there, a heretical number in a championship that traditionally mauls the golfers.

Winning a second straight Open is wildly impressive, something accomplished only by Koepka, Strange and Ben Hogan since the 1930s. Winning a second straight Open in a completely different manner than the first one is a stamp of greatness for the 28-year-old Koepka.

When he won in 2017, plenty of people downplayed the victory as the result of an overly compliant course. That was music to his ears.

“I always feel like I’m overlooked,” he said afterward. “I couldn’t care less. I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing.”

Said Bob: “He knows how to put that little chip on his shoulder. Anytime you put a challenge in front of him, he has a way of stepping up.”

There is no downplaying this Open title, no dismissing it as a product of a gimmicky course. Shinnecock dismissed Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth on Friday, provoked Phil Mickelson to break the rules on Saturday and then bowed down to Brooks Koepka on Sunday.

It sure didn’t look like this repeat would happen earlier this year. Wrist surgery put Koepka on the shelf for four months. Missing the Masters in April made him realize how much he missed playing.

Being ignored by many of his colleagues made it worse. Koepka said the only players who reached out to him while he was off the tour were Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson and Mickelson.

“Those are the only guys that texted me,” he said. “You make a lot of friends out here, and you feel like a lot of them, you just get forgotten.”

He was gone, forgotten – but hardly done. Remarkably, his swing was in tune from the first moment he was cleared to hit balls. There was scant rust to scrape off. Koepka missed the cut in his first tournament back, made the weekend in his second, then finished tied for 11th at The Players Championship in mid-May.

https://twitter.com/FSUGolf/status/1008685068519387136

At that point, he figured he was ready to win again. But in the early stages of the second round here, Koepka looked like one of the least likely candidates to win.

He opened with a 75, putting him six shots behind the leaders heading into Friday. Then Koepka bogeyed two of his first four holes, floated to seven-over par, and was flirting with missing the cut.

Then it turned. Koepka played the rest of that round in six-under par, soaring up the leaderboard and into contention. Still, he was five shots behind 2016 Open champion, world No. 1 golfer and close friend Johnson.

In the Shinnecock media tent, the coronation of Johnson was underway Friday. He led by four shots and made it look easy while everyone else was flailing. The only problem is that Johnson’s game skipped the weekend — he shot 77 Saturday to come back to the field, and 70 Sunday.

Koepka and Johnson played together Sunday — two strong, silent types who might be the most physically impressive players on the Tour. They hit the gym together Sunday morning for a workout — then barely spoke during their round together.

“We’re both competitive,” Koepka said.

While Johnson started with four straight pars, running in place, Koepka birdied three of the first five holes to take a lead he would never relinquish. He had his game face on.

“My wife always says, ‘He’s got that Koepka look,’ ” Bob Koepka said. “He carries himself with a ton of confidence.”

Through 10 holes Sunday, Koepka had the look of a winner. Then things got rocky, and he had to save himself. A bad tee shot on the par-3 11th hole wound up over the green, down the hill and in gnarly rough.

“I would have taken double from there,” he said. “That was jail.”

He got out with a light sentence. Koepka purposefully hit the comebacker hard to make sure the ball didn’t roll back down the hill, and it wound up in a bunker on the other side of the green. He blasted to 12½ feet, then rolled in the first of a succession of clutch putts.

A six-footer for par salvaged the 12th hole, and then he drained an eight-footer for another par on 14. By this time, Tommy Fleetwood had been in the clubhouse with a 63 and was lurking just a shot behind — but Koepka never let him get a tie for the lead.

After a birdie on 16, Koepka had the cushion he needed. All that remained was to navigate the last two holes, then walk off into the embrace of his dad.

It had been some week for Bob and Sherry Koepka, who arrived in New York on June 9 and went to Belmont Park to see Justify win the Triple Crown. Then they hunkered down on Long Island to see their son make some sporting history of his own.

After Bob held court with a few reporters near the Shinnecock clubhouse, he thanked them for their time. Before heading to the trophy presentation, he offered one last thought.

“I hope you guys have a happy Father’s Day,” Bob Koepka said. “I think I’m one-up on you.”

SOURCE:  Yahoo Sports

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·         Punch Card will be issued for each round.

·         Certificates expire 11/15/18

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·         Rain checks will not be issued for incomplete rounds.

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Monday thru Friday (excluding holidays) tee time required.

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