Day: November 20, 2019

Six burning questions after Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler switchSix burning questions after Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler switch

November 20, 2019November 20, 2019| 13:45

Rickie Fowler is in and the injured Brooks Koepka is out for the U.S. Team at next month’s Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in Australia.  The U.S. will still be favored, but by how much? Here are six burning questions spinning off Wednesday’s announcement by U.S. Captain Tiger Woods. 1. How will this impact the Americans? Hard to say, because while the team loses swagger, it gains something, too. Koepka, 29, is a feared competitor who lives for the big moment, racking up six PGA TOUR wins, among them four major titles, in the last three seasons alone. As even Fowler said in accepting his new role, replacing the No. 1 player in the world is, in a sense, impossible.  Fowler, though, is an experienced talent and the prototypical team player. He thrives on the rah-rah spirit and camaraderie of these occasions, whether Presidents Cup, Ryder Cup, Walker Cup or even Canon Cup, an East vs. West American Junior Golf Association event. He’s all-in, and as Woods alluded to in announcing the move, he is a popular teammate. All of which is to say that by adding Fowler, 30, the U.S. Team’s chemistry will change, but its potency may not. He went 3-0-1 at the 2017 Presidents Cup. 2. Will Rickie be rusty? If so, it would certainly be understandable. No doubt, Fowler is coming off a strong season. After a handful of heartbreaking near-misses he finally won the Waste Management Phoenix Open, collected six top-10 finishes in all, and reached the season-ending TOUR Championship for the fifth straight time. But he has not played this fall, so we haven’t seen him hit a shot in nearly three months. He got married, and was scheduled to open his 2020 PGA TOUR season at last week’s Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico but was forced to withdraw beforehand with an intestinal bug. He is set to play in the no-cut Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas the week before the Presidents Cup, which theoretically would give him time to knock the rust off. But enough time? We’ll see. 3. What’s Fowler’s history Down Under? In a word, solid.  He lost on the third hole of a playoff to fellow American Mark Anderson (also now on TOUR) at the 2009 Australian Master of the Amateurs, but not before the two matched birdies on each of the first two playoff holes. Anderson finally won with an eagle.  Fowler also finished T2 with partner Jimmy Walker at the 2016 World Cup. The Master of the Amateurs was played at Yarra Yarra Golf Course, the World Cup at Kingston Heath Golf Club. Both are Melbourne sandbelt courses, and plenty comparable to Royal Melbourne, whose architect, Dr. Alister MacKenzie, also designed Augusta National. For the record, Fowler does well at Augusta, too, with five top-12 finishes, including a runner-up in 2018, in his last six starts there. Add it all up and he’s a great fit for Royal Melbourne.   4. How will Tiger juggle the partnerships? Fowler will almost certainly partner with friend Justin Thomas, with whom he earned two wins (over Charl Schwartzel/Hideki Matsuyama and Branden Grace/Louis Oosthuizen) and a halve (against Grace/Oosthuizen) at the ’17 Presidents Cup at New Jersey’s Liberty National. And what about the guys who would have partnered Koepka? He has traditionally been paired with long hitters, specifically Dustin Johnson. They went 2-0-0 together at Liberty National. And Koepka and Tony Finau provided one of the few U.S. highlights at the 2018 Ryder Cup in France as they beat the formidable European team of Justin Rose and Jon Rahm.  The question now is whom Johnson and Finau will play with. The obvious answer is each other, but that might be too easy. Johnson could easily wind up with Woods, as they teamed up to go 1-1-0 at the 2011 Presidents Cup, or Matt Kuchar, with whom Johnson halved a match that week. Jordan Spieth, with whom Johnson went 2-1-0 at the 2015 Presidents Cup, didn’t make the team.   5. Should we be worried about Brooks’ health? Possibly, but it’s still too early to say how this will affect the career of one of the most potent American players to come along in decades. Koepka’s status had been in doubt for the last month, since he withdrew from THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, where he was the defending champion, after reinjuring the knee slipping on wet concrete while shooting a second-round 75. What’s troubling is he’d been playing only his second event since receiving stem cell treatment on the knee Aug. 25. He said the knee bothered him for the latter part of last season despite the fact that he won three times, including a successful title defense at the PGA Championship. As the example of Woods reminds, the left knee assumes an extraordinary burden during the swing. And as the example of Woods reminds, it can come back strong. 6. Who else might have replaced Koepka?  Kevin Na was an option, as was Brendon Todd, who has two wins in his last two starts and will go for a third straight at this week’s The RSM Classic. Woods is not one to leap to conclusions. Realistically, though, it had to be Fowler, the straight-chalk choice.  For starters, Fowler finished 11th in the final U.S. Presidents Cup standings, barely missing an automatic spot. (The top eight qualified.) And in going with himself, Finau, Patrick Reed and Gary Woodland for his captain’s picks, Woods had already selected four of the first five players outside the top eight. Fowler was the fifth. What’s more, in announcing his picks, Woods clearly had Fowler lined up, as Rickie was the only odd man out who was mentioned by name. “Rickie has played on a couple Presidents Cup teams,� Woods said in choosing Fowler on Wednesday. “He was someone seriously considered for a pick, and is well-respected and liked by his teammates.  “I know he’s going to do a great job for us,� Woods added.

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Quick look at The RSM ClassicQuick look at The RSM Classic

November 20, 2019November 20, 2019| 13:40

The bulked-up fall portion (11 events) of the 2019-20 PGA TOUR season ends this week at Sea Island Resort in Georgia. The RSM Classic features two courses, along with 156 players, each one determined to go into the holiday break on a high note. Several pros, including tournament host Davis Love III, live in the area, so maybe their local knowledge will pay off this week. RELATED: Tee times |  Power Rankings | Daily fantasy preview THE FLYOVER Instead of focusing on one hole as we usually do, here’s a look at the renovated Plantation course overseen by Davis Love III. “We feel like this is a historic resort and it needs a historic-looking course,â€� Love told our Sean Martin for this story. LANDING ZONE At 368 yards, the eighth hole is the shortest par 4 on the Seaside Course. Not surprising, it’s also the easiest, playing to a stroke average of 3.842 last year. It’s too long for most players to drive the green, although Sam Burns’ tee shot in the first round last year finished on the far side of the green, a 380-yard bomb. Players must decide whether to lay up short or carry the bunkers guarding both sides of the fairway. Here’s a look at where all tee shots landed last year. WEATHER CHECK From PGA TOUR meteorologist Stewart Williams: “High pressure will continue to dominate the Southeast’s weather over the next few days with a gradual warming trend. Temperatures will return to the low-70s by Friday and mid-70s on Saturday. A fast-moving cold front will likely bring showers towards midnight Saturday night that will linger into early Sunday morning before pushing off. Mostly sunny skies and cooler temperatures will return Sunday into Monday with highs in the low to mid 60s.â€� For the latest weather news from St. Simons Island, Georgia, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK It’s all on you, it’s all on the player. Golf is never about one competitor versus another and it never will be. It’s against the player versus himself and versus the golf course.â€� BY THE NUMBERS 769 – Number of PGA TOUR starts (including this week) by tournament host Davis Love III. That’s fourth most all-time, behind Mark Brooks (803), Jay Haas (799) and Dave Eichelberger (784). 9 – Starts by Love at his RSM Classic. His best finish is a T4 in 2012. 559 – Number of PGA TOUR starts (including this week) by defending champ Charles Howell III. He enters this week with 1,916 rounds played on TOUR. 63 –Number of players who have ranked No. 1 in points in the history of the FedExCup. Brandon Todd is the most recent after winning last week’s Mayakoba Golf Classic to move into No. 1 in points. Scattershots Sea Island connections: Besides Davis Love III, here are some of the other TOUR pros who live in the area: Patton Kizzire, Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Jonathan Byrd, Harris English, Brian Harman, J.T. Poston, Hudson Swafford, Josh Teater, Keith Mitchell and Michael Thompson. Perfect attendance: Six players have played in each of the first nine RSM Classics – Davis Love III, Charles Howell III, Chris Kirk, Chad Campbell, Zach Johnson and Brendon de Jonge. That number will drop to five after this week, as de Jonge is not in the field. Back-to-back: The last six players to win back-to-back starts on the PGA TOUR – Billy Horschel (2014), Adam Scott (2016), Jason Day (2017), Justin Thomas (2017), Bryson DeChambeau (2018) and now Brendon Todd. Of those six, Todd is the only one to do it in the fall portion of the TOUR’s schedule. Hot Harris: Harris English owns a TOUR-best four top-10s in 2019-20, most recently finishing fifth at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, and sits No. 13 in the FedExCup standings. Harris enters this week having posted all 20 of his rounds this season at par or better.

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