Astros outfielder Michael Brantley, who hasn’t played since June 26, has had season-ending arthroscopic labral repair on his right shoulder, the team announced.
GERMANTOWN, Tenn. – It took three balls in the water and the worst putting round of Scottie Scheffler’s professional career for the top spot in the FedExCup to finally be up for grabs. RELATED: Leaderboard | Projected FedExCup standings Scheffler had put the the number one spot out of reach with his incredible stretch in the first half of the year. He’s led the TOUR’s season-long points race since winning four times in six starts, including the Masters, and most of those weeks he’s had a margin so large that it would take his closest pursuer multiple events to chase him down. The elevated points in the Playoffs, however, mean that we could have a new FedExCup leader for the first time since March, though it’s far from a certainty because of Scheffler’s success earlier this season. He missed the cut in the Playoffs opener, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, by just a single shot despite his struggles on the greens and finding some of the penalty areas that make TPC Southwind the annual site of the most water balls on TOUR. “Anytime you lose five strokes on the greens and still give yourself a chance to make the cut is pretty good,” Scheffler said Friday after signing for a 68, “because five shots is a lot.” It was Scheffler’s fourth missed cut of the season, matching his number of wins. He is still projected to hold the top spot in the FedExCup, however, because he entered the Playoffs with a 1,221-point lead over Cameron Smith. “I was practicing really hard at home, was playing really well and just showed up and had my worst putting day ever,” Scheffler said. “Golf kind of smacks you in the face sometimes.” Scheffler started his week by hitting his approach on TPC Southwind’s 10th hole to 4 feet. He missed the birdie putt, however. It was the start of a trend. He missed a 9-footer for birdie on the next hole, as well. Then he played the next three holes in 4 over, hitting two approach shots into the water. He made three birdies and no bogeys the rest of the way to salvage a 71 despite losing 4.6 strokes on the greens. He missed six putts inside 10 feet in the opening round, including three within 5 feet. Friday started promisingly with birdies on two of his first three holes, and he was still 1 under when he hit his approach to No. 9 into the lake fronting the green. Birdies at 14 and 15 pulled him within one of the cut line, but he missed an 8-foot birdie putt on 16 and 20-footers on the final two holes. Only 15 players arrived at TPC Southwind within 2,000 FedExCup points of Scheffler, the number of points awarded for a win this week. Six players who could pass Scheffler are inside the top 20 on the leaderboard, and within five shots of J.J. Spaun’s lead entering the weekend. Smith and Tony Finau are both three back and in a tie for fifth place. Finau is looking for his third consecutive win, while Smith is looking to add the FedExCup to his wins at THE PLAYERS and The Open. Sam Burns, Justin Thomas, Will Zalatoris and Matt Fitzpatrick are all five back and in a tie for 17th. Zalatoris’ 63 matched Friday’s low round. Only two of the 15 players who could pass Scheffler, No. 6 Rory McIlroy and 15th-ranked Jordan Spieth, missed the cut (Hideki Matsuyama, who’s 11th in the FedExCup, withdrew before the tournament began with a neck injury). McIlroy bogeyed his 18th hole Friday to also miss the cut by one. Spieth shot 74 on Friday and finished six outside of the cut line. Five winners in the FedExCup’s 15-year history failed to earn a point in the Playoffs opener. Justin Rose (2018), Jordan Spieth (2015) and Billy Horschel (2014) missed the cut. Jim Furyk was disqualified from the first Playoffs event in 2010 for missing his pro-am tee time after his cell phone lost power overnight and his alarm didn’t go off. Tiger Woods won the inaugural FedExCup after choosing to not play the first Playoffs event. NOTES: Anirban Lahiri missed the cut by one but is clinging to the 70th spot in the projected standings after entering the week at No. 63 in the standings. TOUR rookie Alex Smalley is in a similar position, sitting two ahead of Lahiri in the standings after also missing the cut by one. … The seasons are over for players who entered the week outside the top 70 in the FedExCup and missed the cut. Those players include Matthew NeSmith, who entered the week at No. 72; Nick Watney (No. 111); Puerto Rico Open champion Ryan Brehm (No. 117); former PLAYERS champion Webb Simpson (No. 122); former FedExCup champion Justin Rose (No. 94) and Stewart Cink (No. 115), who won twice last year. BMW BUBBLE WATCH Here are the players projected to move inside the top 70 of the FedExCup after the second round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship and advance to next week’s BMW Championship at Wilmington (Del.) Country Club: PROJCTED IN Adam Scott (No. 77, projected to 53): He’s T9 at 7-under 133 after making birdie on his final two holes Friday. A good finish not only would get him in the BMW but would clinch his Presidents Cup spot and keep Captain Trevor Immelman from needing to use a Captain’s Pick on him. Scott currently holds the eighth and final spot in the International Team standings; the top eight after the BMW qualify for the team. Ryan Palmer (No. 110, projected to 56): The veteran is seeking his 11th BMW appearance in the last 14 years. He is just three off the lead after shooting 65-67. Wyndham Clark (No. 79, projected to 62): Birdied his final three holes Friday to shoot second straight 67. He sits at 6 under as he seeks his first BMW start in three years. Andrew Putnam (No. 87, projected to 67): Former runner-up at TPC Southwind (2018 FedEx St. Jude Classic) is seeking first BMW start since 2019. PROJECTED OUT Cam Davis (No. 66, projected to 71): Got up-and-down on his final hole of the day to make the cut on the number and keep his BMW hopes alive. Brendon Todd (No. 68, projected to 72): Made three bogeys in his first six holes Friday, but played his last 12 holes in 4 under to make the cut and keep his Playoffs hopes alive. John Huh (No. 67, projected to 74): The runner-up at last week’s Wyndham Championship withdrew with a lower-back injury after shooting 40 on his first nine holes Friday. Lanto Griffin (No. 69, projected to 78): He is not in the field after having back surgery earlier this year.
The National Invitation Tournament has selected Las Vegas to host the 2023 NIT semifinals and championship and Indianapolis to host the 2024 event. The two host cities were selected after a nation-wide bid process in the spring.
GERMANTOWN, Tenn. – Sahith Theegala was out to dinner the other night. It was a Thai place near TPC Southwind, home of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, where Theegala’s second-round 70 has him at 7 under and in contention yet again entering the weekend of a PGA TOUR event. They were a party of seven, including Theegala’s childhood coach, Rick Hunter; college coach, Michael Beard; Beard’s two sons; a Pepperdine University booster; and Theegala’s fitness guy, Josh Loyo. It was going to be 20-25 minutes to get a table. Then the restaurant owner, spotting a celebrity in his midst, got involved, which, ahem, expedited things. You could say life has changed for Theegala. A year ago, he was gearing up for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. Now he’s taking selfies with restaurant owners and is known as one of the fastest rising talents on the PGA TOUR. “It feels like he’s starting to own it a little bit,” Pepperdine’s Beard said Friday, when Theegala hit 11 of 14 fairways for the second straight day but putted poorly. “At first he was kind of feeling it out, but he’s getting more comfortable out here.” The proof is in the numbers. He’s 39th in the FedExCup and 64th in the world. Cameron Young leads the Rookie of the Year race after a T3 at the PGA Championship and solo 2nd at The Open, two of his seven top-3 finishes this year. He’s ninth in the FedExCup. Joohyung “Tom” Kim, 20, entered the picture with his Wyndham Championship win and is 34th. Mito Pereira (38th) led all the way to the last hole of the PGA and has had a nice year. Theegala, though, would also have to be considered a strong contender for top rookie. “He reminds me of Tony at that age,” said Boyd Summerhays, who coaches Tony Finau, the 32-year-old who’s won three of his four PGA TOUR titles in the last 12 months. “I love the guy. A little raw, but a massive talent, and he’s got the head for it, too.” To be sure, Theegala is learning fast, and from more than just narrow losses at the Travelers Championship (72nd-hole double bogey, T2), WM Phoenix Open (71st-hole bogey, T3), and Sanderson Farms Championship (final-round 71, T8). Theegala has had to learn how to travel, too, which meant realizing that living in L.A. wasn’t working. Although he is SoCal to his core, he moved to Houston four months ago. He plays out of The Woodlands, where TOUR pros have put down roots for years and where Theegala said childhood memories of visiting his aunt factored into his decision. “Just like a more central location,” he said. “I lived pretty far east in L.A. so getting to (Los Angeles International Airport) was a pain and I had like 10-hour travel days and connecting. I was like, I’m over this.” Of Houston, he added, “It’s a two-hour flight everywhere direct and it’s been so awesome for that.” What’s more, he has had an easier time simulating TOUR golf there than in L.A. For the last three months, Theegala said, he has been practicing and playing on Bermudagrass, a notoriously fickle surface that can give fits to players who hail from the West Coast. The move has steeled him nicely for the Bermuda at TPC Southwind. Not that he hasn’t had a few hiccups. Of his second round, he said the front nine was a string of missed opportunities and the back was scratchy but still featured “some good shots coming down the stretch.” Despite all that, he’s still poised to make a move in the FedExCup Playoffs. “He forgets quickly,” said his childhood coach Hunter, who teaches at the public El Prado G.C. in Chino, California. “It’s a huge quality. Like today, he could have shot 5 or 6 under. On the first seven holes he didn’t have a birdie putt over 10 feet.” The other night, Hunter was at the practice area with Theegala and his caddie, Carl Smith, when Theegala hooded his sand wedge and started hitting low hooks to a target only 20-25 yards away. That turned into a competition to see who could throw it closest to the pin. Sometimes his thirst for competition leads to darts, or Ping-Pong, or games made up on the spot. “When he was 7,” Hunter said, “playing on little par-3 courses, he came back from a tournament and said, ‘Mr. Hunter, there’s this one hole with a tree right in front of the green. I can’t get over it. Can you teach me how to go around it?’ And I went, here we go, now we’re going to learn how to hit shots at 7 years old, and that’s all he does now. Around, over, under. Back then he was never hitting a straight ball, and that’s what he does now.” Theegala is also never far from his dedicated fans. As on the West Coast Swing and elsewhere, his parents, father Muralidhar and mother Karuna, have followed him at TPC Southwind. They’ve rented a house, because Sahith also pulls in friends, cousins, aunts, uncles. Sometimes his little brother, Sahan, a student at Seton Hall, comes out. Theegala is like the Boston Red Sox: He can travel far and wide and still enjoy a modicum of hometown support. “And people who don’t even know him love him,” Hunter said. “I always say the kids love him and the drunks love him, and everybody in between. He’s a great personality, he really is. And fun to watch. He’s not afraid to take a risk, and sometimes he gets bit, but he lives with it. He’s had so many miracle shots over the years, it’s a normal happenstance.” Theegala figures he’ll go into the weekend with some ground to make up, but he’s not worried. At the Travelers he never really led until the end but double-bogeyed 18 to lose to Xander Schauffele by two. In Phoenix, as a sponsor exemption, he was the solo leader after the second and third rounds, but a bad bounce at the drivable 17th hole trundled into the water and led to a crushing bogey. Scottie Scheffler was the first-time winner that week. At Sanderson Farms, Theegala had at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds, but he never had his best stuff as he faded with a final-round 71. Sam Burns won. Asked what he’s learned, Theegala said it hasn’t been a conscious evolution but somehow he still seems to be getting better at handling those late tee times on the weekend. “I keep reminding myself this is a great feeling to feel pressure,” he said. He’s got the physical tools. He’s got the head for it. Sahith Theegala’s table is ready.
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