Mackay joins Golf Channel as on-course reporter

Compared to the other three courses being used in the FedExCup Playoffs this year – Ridgewood Country Club, Aronimink Golf Club and East Lake Golf Club – TPC Boston, which will host this week’s Dell Technologies Championship, is a veritable fresh-out-of-the-package entry.   Consider that when TPC Boston first opened in the summer of 2002, Ridgewood and Aronimink had already celebrated centennials and East Lake was prepping for its. But as a new kid on the block, TPC Boston has fit in nicely, having hosted a PGA TOUR tournament annually since 2003 and joining East Lake GC as the only club to be involved in the FedExCup Playoffs every summer since they were introduced in 2007.   There is a common thread, despite the age differences, because as with Ridgewood (host of last week’s NORTHERN TRUST) and Aronimink (next week’s BMW Championship), TPC Boston owes its cool, New England rustic look to the talents of Gil Hanse and his colleague Jim Wagner. They came along after the 2006 tournament to give TPC Boston a new persona, one that has been widely praised by competitors.   Here are five things to know about TPC Boston before the Dell Technologies Championship gets underway Friday: 1. About that name: Don’t think you’re going to walk away from TPC Boston and be able to roam through Faneuil Hall or meander into the famous North End. You’re not actually in Boston when you’re at TPC Boston; instead, you’re in the town of Norton, which is approximately 38.2 miles south of Fenway Park (or Pahk, as the locals call it). Heck, you’re closer to Providence (20 miles south).   At first, it was going to be called TPC Boston at Great Woods, a nod to the summer music venue – Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts – that is less than a mile up the street, just over the town line into Mansfield. But it was quickly amended to TPC Boston, for the better. (And the amphitheater is now the Xfinity Center.)   For such a small town of approximately 20,000 residents (Norton didn’t have a traffic light until 1997), it’s a happening place thanks to the Dell Technologies Championship and all those concerts next door. If there’s a lasting memory of the debut of the PGA TOUR tournament here in 2003, it might be the image of Jesper Parnevik running into the locker room to get out of his neon golf attire and into something way more colorful – his costume to attend the KISS concert next door. Fenway Park is 38 miles from TPC Boston, which is closer to Providence, Rhode Island. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) 2. Red is the color: And not because we’re in Red Sox country, either. No, we’ve had 15 consecutive years of a PGA TOUR stop at TPC Boston and by now, the lads know this: You’ve got to step on the gas and keep it there from start to finish.   The average winning score has been 266.5 – or 17.5 strokes under par. To get there, you best muster at least one really low round at the par-71 TPC Boston layout as only one of the previous 15 winners has failed to record a 65 or lower. That was Rickie Fowler in 2015, and he could afford it that year as he went 67-67-67-68. He is one of eight winners there to shoot all four days in the 60s, with Vijay Singh having done it twice.   The flip side of going low is not going high, so keep this in mind: Only three times at TPC Boston has a winner recorded an over-par round – 72s by Tiger Woods (2006) and Steve Stricker (2009) and 73 by Chris Kirk (2014). 3. The cream rises: The thing about consistently low numbers is that consistently great players seem to generate them. So, while it plays host to low scores, TPC Boston is also where marquee names visit the winner’s circle.   What’s not to like about a place where in 15 years a name from the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking has won 10 times and on the inaugural tournament at TPC Boston in 2003, the 18th-ranked player won; kid by the name of Adam Scott.   TPC Boston was where Singh won in 2004 to move up from No. 2, knocking Woods from the top spot. Impressive stuff, for it came at a time when Woods was Woods. In 2006, Woods solidified his No. 1 rank when he won at TPC Boston; ditto McIlroy in 2012, and on five other occasions, the winner here has been ranked second, third, fourth or fifth.   No surprise, then, that since 2007, the winner at TPC Boston has proceeded to win the FedExCup four times – Singh in 2008, Henrik Stenson in 2013, McIlroy in 2016 and Justin Thomas last year. On average, the par-5 second hole at TPC Boston is eagled 9.2 times per event. (Photo by TPC Boston) 4. Fireworks: In 2009, the threesome of John Senden, Angel Cabrera and Scott Verplank played the par-5 second in nine strokes. Total. They went albatross, eagle, birdie, respectively, and fans soaked in the roars of a rare 2-3-4 performance.   But it’s not like they haven’t had plenty of other dramatic stuff to cheer, because at TPC Boston, eagles are very much a part of the show. Two of the par 5s – the second and 18th – are easily reachable in two and have yielded lots of 3s. On average, the 18th is eagled 15.1 times per tournament, the second 9.2.   The seventh is a tougher par-5, with just 29 eagles in 15 years.   But you don’t need a seat at the par-5s to watch eagles land at TPC Boston; a quality view is at the fourth, where Hanse turned a mundane par-4 into an intriguing short hole that can be driven. Since the FedExCup Playoffs began in 2007, the hole has been eagled 75 times, or 6.8 times per tournament.   Thomas made eagle there as part of his final-round 66 to win last year’s Dell Technologies Championship. 5. Just down the road: One of the neat things about walking into TPC Boston during the FedExCup Playoffs, at least for a good cross-section of the players, is the chance to be reminded how far they’ve come in a short time.   Twenty miles in seven years?   You could crunch it that way, perhaps, since from TPC Boston it’s not much more than a 25- or 30-minute ride to Wannamoisett CC in Rumford, Rhode Island. Many in the golf community embrace Wannamoisett as a Donald Ross classic and its membership for the way it embraces the annual Northeast Amateur. Seven years ago, 54 young golfers made the cut at the Northeast Amateur and 13 of them now are PGA TOUR players. Further, nine of them – including the 2011 Northeast Amateur winner Peter Uihlein – will be teeing it up in the Dell Technologies Championship.   Other notables: Patrick Rodgers finished fourth that year, Emiliano Grillo was joint fifth, while Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth were well down the list.   Likely the pressures of the Playoffs will consume them this week and keep them focused on what might be. But on those rides on I-95 toward their hotel, they just might spy a sign for Rumford and be reminded of what once was.

Click here to read the full article…

DUBLIN, Ohio – Five-time Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide champion Tiger Woods was trending nicely towards contention on Friday at Muirfield Village. He sat in the fairway on the par-5 15th hole within reach of the green, having discreetly moved to 4-under for the week, knowing an eagle or birdie would set his weekend up nicely. Related: Leaderboard | Rose blooms on Friday | Scott surges into contention But Woods pulled his 5-wood dead left and missed the putting surface in deep rough, leaving him short-sided. Two poor chip shots followed, and when he finally chipped it close to 4-feet, the 81-time PGA TOUR winner missed the putt. Double bogey seven. It was the 260th par-5 Woods had played in his career at the Memorial Tournament, and just his sixth double bogey. Five of them have come at the 15th. “The second shot, by far (was the most disappointing),â€� Woods lamented after his even-par 72 left him 2-under and seven shots off the lead in a tie for 33rd. “I could hit that ball 50 yards right of the flag and be fine. Anything inbounds right of the flag, I have a chance to make birdie. I just can’t afford to miss it left where that flag is. And I did. “At 14 I had a look to go to 5 and make birdie at 15, go to 6 and all of a sudden I’m three back, and now here I am seven back. So a round that could have flipped and gone in a positive way didn’t do that because of what I did on 15.â€� Woods hasn’t given up hope of making it six titles at Muirfield Village, the venue where he was also part of a winning Presidents Cup team in 2013, and a record tying 82nd TOUR win. “I’m going to have to (go low),â€� he said of Saturday’s third round. “Seems like everyone is bunched together. I just need to get something going in the front nine where the pins are definitely gettable tomorrow.â€�

Click here to read the full article…

Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Alec Cabacungan won't be at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open to provide a little extra motivation for defending champion Kevin Na this week. But the charismatic 18-year-old who suffers from osteogenesis imperfecta, more commonly known as brittle bone disease, certainly made a lasting impression on Na when the two renewed acquaintances prior to last year's tournament at TPC Summerlin. RELATED: More on RSM Birdies Fore Love Cabacungan, who wants to be a sports broadcaster, interviewed Na that Wednesday and showed the PGA TOUR veteran some video of his breakthrough win at the tournament in 2011. Fast forward to Sunday and a hard-fought battle with Patrick Cantlay that Na won on the second playoff hole. The win was Na's second in Las Vegas, his adopted hometown, and the fourth of his TOUR career. And Na says talking with Cabacungan about his 2011 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open victory helped give him the kind of confidence he needed to win. "He motivated me that week that I could do it again," says Na, who fired a career-low 61 in the third round. In addition to the 500 FedExCup points and $1.26 million Na earned last year, he also led the week's RSM Birdies Fore Love competition. That means he got a bonus of $50,000 to give to the charity of his choice, and it certainly wasn't a hard decision. Na and his family, which includes wife Jullianne and their two children, decided to give the money to Shriners Hospitals for Children for OI research. The genetic disorder affects between 20,000 and 50,000 people in the United States. But meeting just one of those had a particular impact on Na. "One, it made sense because I won the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open," he says of the donation. "And meeting Alec and getting in to learn about that disease was the reason why." Jim Smith, Imperial Potentate of Shriners International, says Na's donation makes a big difference in the mission of the organization, which has a network of 22 non-profit hospitals nationwide. "Our donors, whom we depend on, have helped us treat more than 1.4 million children from over 170 countries," Smith says. "We are humbled by Kevin's generosity." Cabacungan is one of those children. He has been a patient at the Chicago Shriners Hospital since he was two months old, receiving therapy and treatments designed to build stronger bone mass. In his short 18 years on earth, Cabacungan has undergone 12 surgeries and broken more than 60 bones. Patients with OI can break bones by doing something as innocuous sneezing or coughing, as well as falling down. Despite the many obstacles he's faced, though, Cabacungan is known for his bubbly personality and his infectious smile. "He's a happy guy and has a lot of good energy," Na said. Cabacungan is essentially the face of Shriners Hospitals for Children, too. Since he was 14 years old, he has appeared in commercials broadcast nationwide to raise the profile of the facilities that work with children with neuromusculoskeletal conditions and burn injuries, as well as other healthcare issues. The sports-minded teenager, who loves to play wheelchair basketball, makes appearances around the country. Cabacungan has been profiled on CBS's "Sunday Morning" and joined one of his idols, Ernie Johnson, along with NBA greats Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal on TNT's "Inside the NBA" in 2017. And one year ago, Cabacungan was at TPC Summerlin, trying his interviewing skills out on Na, who responded by showing the teen his signature move of walking in the putt. "I know his dream is to become a sports announcer, and I hope his dream comes true," Na said. On Sunday, though, Na was living his own dream. "It’s always nice to play in your hometown, but to win on top of that, it was very special," Na says. "And to have my family there to celebrate together on 18 was a special moment. "And to be able to donate to Shriners made it even better."

Click here to read the full article…