We look back on the best team radio transmissions in Mexico after Lewis Hamilton won the championship and Max Verstappen won the race.
Kevin Streelman … The veteran always gets off to a nice start, but he’s performed well throughout his career no matter where the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open has slotted on the schedule. Since his tournament debut in 2008, he’s 8-for-8 with a runner-up finish in 2014 among five top 25s and a scoring average of 68.53. Cracked the seal on this season with a T25 at the Safeway Open where he ranked second in fairways hit, T2 in green in regulation and second in proximity to the hole. J.J. Spaun … Seeking redemption after squandering the 36-hole lead and 54-hole co-lead here a year ago. He settled for a share of 10th place with a 3-over 74 in the finale when scoring was at its easiest in the tournament. Ironically, he’s also coming off a T10 at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, the eighth consecutive cut made of a streak that started at the other PGA TOUR event in Nevada with a T3 at the Barracuda Championship. His strength is tee to green with bursts of red-hot putting sprinkled in. Aggressive player. Harris English … He needed a T11 at the Wyndham Championship to secure his card for an eighth consecutive season and he won’t turn 30 until next July! With a pair of paydays to open 2018-19, he’s survived four of his last five cuts. It’s a modest pace but he achieved it just one other time over the last 12 months. Last year’s missed cut at TPC Summerlin occurred at the midpoint of an 0-for-5 autumn, but he placed T4 here two years ago with quad 67s. In 18 career rounds in competition, he’s averaged 68.94. Alex Prugh … The 34-year-old is in his sixth season with PGA TOUR status, this time as a Web.com Tour Finals grad. All six of his career top 10s in 115 starts as a professional have occurred either on or near the West Coast. While statistically improbable, it’s not surprising given his roots in Washington State. Simply put, he’s most comfortable on the left side of the country. As he readies for his sixth start at TPC Summerlin, he’s still chasing his first top 25 in the tournament despite a scoring average of 69.24. After ranking T8 on the 2018 Web.com Tour in greens hit en route to five top 10s, perhaps this is the year. Opened 2018-19 with top 40s at Silverado and the Country Club of Jackson. Martin Trainer … Assembled one of the strangest seasons on the Web.com Tour in 2018 in that he went just 9-for-21 with only four top 50s, but two were victories. He also ranked second in putting: birdies-or-better percentage and T12 in par-5 scoring. Given that all-or-nothing profile and no fear in going low — his 25-under 263 at the Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr. Pepper in late July equaled a seven-year low in the tournament — he’s set up to be a recurring Sleeper in shootouts in his rookie season on the PGA TOUR.
Doug Ghim is one of this year’s highly-touted prospects. George Cunningham found success in Canada after graduating from Arizona. Cole Nygren is making his TOUR debut, but he’s beaten the pros in another form of competition. All three made it through the Monday qualifier for this week’s Shriners for Hospitals Open, as did veteran pro Rob Oppenheim. Here’s a closer look at the players who earned their way into the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. GEORGE CUNNINGHAM (64) Age: 23 Hometown: Tucson, Arizona Alma mater: Arizona PGA TOUR starts: 1 Cuts made: 1 Best finish: T29, 2018 RBC Canadian Open Notes: Finished second on the 2018 Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada Order of Merit after turning pro earlier this year. … Was in the top 10 in half of his 12 starts. … Won in his third start, at the GolfBC Championship, and had a runner-up and two third-place finishes. … Was a second-team All-American at Arizona in 2018. … Birdied his final five holes Monday. ROB OPPENHEIM (64) Age: 38 Hometown: Andover, Mass. Alma mater: Rollins College PGA TOUR starts: 54 Cuts made: 27 Best finish: T8, 2017 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Notes: Has played two seasons on the PGA TOUR, finishing 158th in the 2016 FedExCup and 180th last season. … A T15 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where he holed a 261-yard shot for an albatross, was his best finish last season. … His lone Web.com Tour win came at the 2015 Air Capital Classic. … Earned his first PGA TOUR card at age 35 after Lucas Glover bogeyed the final hole of the Web.com Tour Championship, allowing Oppenheim to earn the final card by $101. … Had left the course and was pumping gas when he learned that he had qualified for the PGA TOUR. COLE NYGREN (65) Age: 23 Hometown: Longmont, Colo. Alma mater: Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo PGA TOUR starts: Debut Notes: Won last year’s Major Series of Putting in Las Vegas, beating PGA TOUR player Colt Knost in the final match. Brad Faxon also was in the field. … Nygren entered the competition one day after falling one stroke short in the Shriners’ Monday qualifier. … Was a first-team all-conference selection at Cal Poly in 2017. DOUG GHIM (66) Age: 22 Hometown: Arlington Heights, Ill. Alma mater: Texas PGA TOUR starts: 8 Cuts made: 5 Best finish: T20, 2018 Wyndham Championship Notes: Finished 71st while competing on a sponsor exemption in last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship. … Winner of this year’s Ben Hogan Award as the top player in college and amateur golf. … Was low amateur at the Masters (T50), co-medalist at the Big 12 Championship and winner of an NCAA regional. … Also was a member of the 2017 Walker Cup team that included Sanderson Farms winner Cameron Champ. … Was runner-up in two USGA championships, the 2017 U.S. Amateur and 2014 U.S. Amateur Public Links. … Best pro finish was a T8 at the European Masters in September. … Beat Walker Cup teammate Maverick McNealy, Sean Dale, Taylor Montgomery and amateur Harry Hall in a playoff for the final spot in the Shriners. THIS SEASON’S QUALIFIERS Qualifiers: 8 Made cut: 5 Best finish: T4, Aaron Baddeley (Safeway Open) Top-10s: 1 Top-25s: 2 SANDERSON FARMS QUALIFIERS T26. Chad Ramey, 67-70-70-73 T63. Dawson Armstrong, 69-73-71-74 72. Tim Wilkinson, 72-71-78-76 MC. Garrett Osborn, 79-71
This past season much was made about Tiger Woods being a changed person. The old Tiger didn’t walk down the range saying hello to rookies, like I saw him do at Tampa. The old Tiger didn’t wait around the last green to congratulate the guy who beat him, like he did for Brooks in St. Louis.
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Formula One’s motorsport director Ross Brawn has urged his old team Ferrari against a knee-jerk reaction in response to this year’s title loss.
We jumped right into it this week of NBA basketball on Monday with nine games on the docket. Unfortunately, a number of key injuries kept this from being one of the best nights of early-season action, but we had no shortage of excitement. Giannis Antetokounmpo (concussion protocol) and Kawhi Leonard
