Like the Hot Stove season, the exhibition season, the regular season and the postseason, awards season has become a season unto itself in Major League Baseball. The central focus of awards season began with Monday night’s MLB Network announcement of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America awards finalists.
Corey Conners may have challenged for a PGA TOUR title less than two weeks ago, but he had to earn his spot in this week’s Mayakoba Golf Classic the hard way. Conners shot 65 on Monday to qualify for the TOUR stop in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Eight days ago, Conners challenged Cameron Champ on the Sanderson Farms Championship’s final nine. Conners started Sunday four shots behind Champ, but caught him with a front-nine 33 and matched his birdie at the par-3 13th. He could only watch as Champ birdied four of the next five holes, as well. Conners, who got married the week before the Sanderson, has conditional status this season after finishing 130th in the FedExCup. His runner-up finish at the Sanderson was the best of his career. He is 23rd in this season’s standings. Conners has already had success when playing in a TOUR event after participating in the qualifier. He held the 54-hole lead at the Valspar Championship after participating in the Monday qualifier. Conners was in the middle of his qualifying round when he learned that he got in the Valspar as an alternate. He held the 54-hole lead at Innisbrook before fading to 16th after a final-round 77. COREY CONNERS (65) Age: 26 Hometown: Listowel, Ontario, Canada Alma mater: Kent State PGA TOUR starts: 41 Cuts made: 22 Best finish: 2nd, 2018 Sanderson Farms Championship Notes: Runner-up to Cameron Champ at the Sanderson Farms Championship was the second top-10 of his career. … 23rd in this season’s FedExCup standings. … Has conditional status after finishing 130th in last season’s FedExCup. … Runner-up in the 2014 U.S. Amateur after reaching the semifinals the previous year. BRAD ADAMONIS (66) Age: 45 Hometown: Cumberland, R.I. Alma mater: Miami (Ohio) PGA TOUR starts: 70 Cuts made: 28 Best finish: 2nd, 2008 John Deere Classic Notes: Earned his first TOUR card in 2008 at age 35. … Had an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole of the 2008 John Deere Classic, but missed to fall into a playoff with Kenny Perry and Jay Williamson. … Perry won with a par after Adamonis and Williamson hit their approach shots into the water on the first playoff hole. … Three of Adamonis’ four career top-10s came in his rookie season. … This will be his 10th TOUR start since losing his card after the 2009 season. … Has one Web.com Tour win, at the 2007 WNB Golf Classic. MATT HUTCHINS (66) Age: 21 Hometown: Sudbury, Mass. Alma mater: Chico State/UCLA PGA TOUR starts: Debut Notes: Won the Maine Match Play and Maine Amateur in 2016. … Advanced to Round of 16 in 2018 North & South Amateur. EAMONN McLOUGHLIN (66) Age: 34 Hometown: Naples, Fla. Alma mater: Virginia PGA TOUR starts: 1 Cuts made: 0 Best finish: MC, 2009 Puerto Rico Open THIS SEASON’S QUALIFIERS Qualifiers: 12 Made cut: 6 Best finish: T4, Aaron Baddeley (Safeway Open) Top-10s: 1 Top-25s: 2 SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN OPEN QUALIFIERS T36. George Cunningham, 70-67-71-66 MC. Doug Ghim, 72-68 MC. Rob Oppenheim, 73-70 MC. Cole Nygren, 76-68
Amari Cooper scored an early touchdonw in his Dallas debut, but Tennessee has taken control since then on Monday Night Football.
Dallas was criticized for giving up a first-round pick for receiver Amari Cooper, but will his addition open up the Cowboys offense? We’ll see, starting tonight.
The Miami Dolphins have taken a definitive step forward into politics by urging fans to vote a specific way on a gambling amendment.
A handful of news, notes and rumors less than 18 hours removed from the ninth Sunday of the 2018 NFL season. 1. Monday was a pretty terrible day at the Redskins’ facility in Ashburn, Va., as the team announced that Paul Richardson Jr., Brandon Scherff and Shawn Lauvao suffered season-ending injuries. Losing starting guards Scherff and Lauvao in particular rips the heart out of a team that’s been built along the lines of scrimmage.
The Wizards have sunk toward the bottom of the East. Here’s what it will take to bring them back into contention.
The Wizards have sunk toward the bottom of the East. Here’s what it will take to bring them back into contention.
The Redskins lost more than a game Sunday as three players — Brandon Scherff, Shawn Lauvao and Paul Richardson Jr. — for the rest of the season due to injuries.
Like countless musicians, Jimmy Buffett loves himself some golf. He even caddied in a pro-am at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open this past summer. So, if the Mayakoba Golf Classic would have debuted oh, say, 40 years ago (instead of in 2007), he may have been persuaded to write “Ball-strikers in Paradise” instead of his timeless hit about a cheeseburger. While the song conveys a message of wanting to eat healthier, there is no such concern of overindulging on fairways and greens at El Camaleón Golf Club this week. In fact, it’s the objective more than usual. Scroll past the ranking for an explanation, what has defined the champions and more. Former champions Charley Hoffman (2014), Pat Perez (2016) and Patton Kizzire (2017) will be covered in Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider along with Kevin Kisner, Zach Johnson and Billy Horschel among other notables. You may need to be of a certain age to appreciate Buffett’s music, but most of the winners of the Mayakoba Golf Classic qualify. Beginning with Fred Funk as a 50-year-old in the inaugural edition and extending through Patton Kizzire, 31, last year, the average age among the 11 winners is 34.45. Only John Huh (21) in 2012 and Harris English (24) in 2013 weren’t at least 30. Compare that against the first six winners of the 2018-19 season for whom the average age is 27.33. At 34 years of age at the time of his win at the CIMB Classic, Marc Leishman easily is the oldest. Indeed, El Camaleón is the closest thing to a governor on the youth movement in the fall. Two-inch primary rough guards fairways on a walk that is akin to a golf safari. It consists of jungle, mangroves and the seashore. The cenote in the middle of the fairway on the par-5 seventh hole is a bonus. The steady breeze off the Caribbean Sea on the Riviera Maya forces undulating greens to be capped at 11 feet on the Stimpmeter. The par-3 fourth and 15th holes are most exposed, but consistency is required throughout the course on which only paspalum is present. Yet, since the Mayakoba Golf Classic shifted to the fall when the wraparound season was launched in 2013-14, its par 3s have been the easiest on which to score four times. (They slotted second-easiest in 2014.) Managing one’s ball flight is secondary to dealing with adversity when an unpredictable gust of wind manipulates its direction. That’s one of the reasons why experience as a professional has carried elevated value at El Camaleón, a par 36-35–71 tipping at just 6,987 yards. Last year’s scoring average of 70.323 was a five-year high, so eagles and birdies are out there. En route to his title, Kizzire ranked T7 in greens in regulation and third in converting those chances into par breakers. He also finished fourth in putts per GIR and T3 in par-5 scoring. (ShotLink isn’t utilized for the tournament.) Inclement weather often cannot be ruled out in these climes. This is the reality again this week as rain and the threat of storms bookend the four-day competition. Otherwise, mostly dry, warm and humid conditions are expected. The wind should lay down, however. As it does, the expectation for red numbers rises. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Fantasy Insider WEDNESDAY: One & Done, Twitter live fantasy show * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO, which also publishes on Tuesdays.
