DeChambeau wins John Deere with late charge

The first World Golf Championship of 2018 gets underway Thursday, and PGA TOUR LIVE will be there to provide extended coverage from Golf Club de Chapultepec. PGA TOUR LIVE’s broadcast from the WGC-Mexico Championship will include the threesome of the world’s top-ranked players – Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas – as well as names like Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose. RELATED LINKS: Tee times | Power Rankings | Field | Course You can watch them all hit the long ball from the course with the highest elevation in PGA TOUR history. Chapultepec sits more than 7,600 feet above sea level, giving players like Johnson, the defending champion, even more length off the tee. PGA TOUR LIVE will begin at 12:15 p.m. Eastern on Thursday and Friday. LIVE will shift to Featured Hole coverage of the par-3 15th and 17th holes at 2 p.m. The broadcast will conclude at 7 p.m. PGA TOUR LIVE also can be viewed on Twitter from 12:15 p.m. until approximately 1:30 p.m. (Note: All times Eastern; FedExCup ranking in parentheses) THURSDAY Justin Thomas (1), Jon Rahm (4), Dustin Johnson (3) This group features the top three players in the Official World Golf Ranking. They all sit in the top four of the FedExCup standings, as well, and were high on the leaderboard here last year. Thomas leads the way after his win last week at The Honda Classic. It was his second victory of the season. He’s trying to become the first player to win back-to-back FedExCups. He held the 54-hole lead at last year’s Mexico Championship before fading to fifth place. Johnson, the WGC-Mexico’s defending champion, is third in the FedExCup standings after a victory at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and runners-up at the WGC-HSBC Champions and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Rahm was runner-up at the Sentry and won the CareerBuilder Challenge in consecutive starts earlier this year. He finished third at last year’s Mexico Championship. Tee time: 12:51 p.m. off the 10th tee. Sergio Garcia (195), Alex Noren (19), Tommy Fleetwood (81) Fleetwood is one of the hottest players on the planet and should be a popular pick for fantasy players. He was runner-up to Johnson at last year’s Mexico Championship and is coming off a fourth-place finish at The Honda Classic. He’s finished in the top 6 in five of his past six worldwide starts, including a win in Abu Dhabi. Garcia, the reigning Masters champion, won earlier this year at the Singapore Open. Noren has posted four consecutive top-25s on the PGA TOUR, including a playoff loss to Jason Day at the Farmers Insurance Open and a third-place finish at The Honda Classic. These three players all could be teammates in Paris at this year’s Ryder Cup, as well. Tee time: 1:03 p.m. off the 10th tee. FRIDAY Justin Rose (14), Jordan Spieth (73), Rickie Fowler (25) Rose has finished in the top 10 in 11 of his past 12 worldwide starts, dating back to last year’s FedExCup Playoffs. He has three wins over that span, including the most recent World Golf Championship, the HSBC Champions. Rose is coming off an eighth-place finish in his most recent start, at the Farmers Insurance Open. Spieth struggled with the putter earlier this season but seemed headed in the right direction with a T9 at the Genesis Open. His 63 at last year’s Mexico Championship was the low round of the week. Fowler won the Hero World Challenge and finished fourth at Kapalua but has two missed cuts and a lost 54-hole lead in his past three starts. He sandwiched a T11 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open between MCs at the Farmers Insurance Open and Honda Classic. Tee time: 12:39 p.m. off the 10th tee. Marc Leishman (23), Paul Casey (55), Tyrrell Hatton (149) Leishman is coming off a two-win season that featured victories at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and BMW Championship. This season, he lost a playoff to Thomas at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES. The consistent Casey has finished in the top 25 in four of five starts this season. Hatton finished 10th at last year’s Mexico Championship. Tee time: 12:51 p.m. off the 10th tee.

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From custom kicks to hats and apparel adorned with Arnold Palmer’s iconic umbrella logo, Rickie Fowler has used his wardrobe to honor Palmer at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard the last few years. When Fowler tees it up this week at Bay Hill, he will once again slip-on limited-edition pieces inspired by Palmer’s life. Look for Fowler to wear special Arnold Palmer hats and a pair of IGNITE PROADAPT PALMER shoes from Puma Golf and his caddie will be toting a new API Cobra Stand Bag made by Vessel. The shoes Fowler will lace up were designed to pay homage to Palmer’s legendary golf career and love of aviation. The white, blue, and silver colorway was inspired by Palmer’s favorite plane, the first production Cessna 750 Citation X, and displays the tail number of his plane, N1AP, on the medial side. The 6 “windowsâ€� on the lateral side represent the six windows on the Cessna and the sockliner features Palmer’s unmistakable signature along with the Puma cat logo. Another shoe in the collection, the IGNITE NXT Arnie Camo, features a red, yellow, white, and green camo design on the outsole, heel, and collar lining to match the colors in Palmer’s umbrella logo. This same pattern is repeated on the API Puma x Vessel Stand Bag. Fowler will have plenty of hats to choose from at Bay Hill, too. His signature ‘P’ cap receives a twist with the addition of Palmer’s multi-colored umbrella logo in five bold camo colorways. A purple version was created in honor of International Women’s Day on Sunday, March 8th. The range of caps is completed with two retro styles. The N1AP Rope 11 Cap combines a contemporary all-over print consisting of the tail number of Palmer’s plane with an old school rope design in three colorways. Puma also created Bay Hill and Latrobe City caps. The vintage snapback styles honor two places synonymous with Palmer’s legacy and feature a script that was found on sports caps thirty years ago. Fans can follow in Fowler’s footsteps as Puma will sell a limited amount of his custom gear plus other distinctive items online and at select retailers. Puma has also partnered with Arnie’s Army to raise funds for the Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation with a sweepstakes for an Ultimate Golf Package open to anyone making a donation to the Foundation. The sweepstakes includes a trip for the winner and a guest to Bay Hill for a private tour and a round of golf. Puma API caps, shoes, and bags autographed by Fowler are include in the grand prize and as smaller prizes for donations. Puma will continue to honor Palmer beyond the 2020 API Collection. In June, it will launch the co-branded Puma x Arnold Palmer collection of apparel, footwear and accessories designed to be modern takes on the classic styles worn by Palmer during his career. In creating the collection, Puma product and design teams visited Latrobe and Bay Hill. There, they listened to stories from Palmer’s family, friends, and business associates to draw inspiration for the collection of elevated pieces. At this year’s Arnold Palmer, Puma will be hosting a trunk show to showcase the collection. Fans at the tournament will be able to get first dibs by pre-ordering the gear ahead of the official launch in June 2020.

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Tiger Woods paused just long enough to change into his signature red shirt between the third and fourth rounds of the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Chiba, Japan, on Sunday.  Now, after playing 29 holes and building a three-shot lead over Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, he has history squarely in his sights. When players go back out to finish the final round at 7:30 a.m. Monday local time (6:30 p.m. ET Sunday on Golf Channel), Woods will be going for his 82nd PGA TOUR victory, which would tie Sam Snead for most all time.   RELATED: How to watch Round 4 | Chasing 82 | Visual Stories: Tiger’s Top 10 shots “Yeah, I have,â€� Woods said, when asked if he’d played this much golf in one day since he had his left knee operated on for the fifth time two months ago. “But it’s in a cart.â€� Woods has won in all sorts of ways. This one, should he hang on, has been a test of endurance. Tournament officials have been playing catch-up since Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club received 10 inches of rain in a typhoon that wiped out the second round before it began. Still, the first official TOUR event in Japan is on the verge of ending like so many before it.   “I think it’s the mind,â€� said Woods (64-64-66), when asked what was most taxing about playing so many holes Sunday, when he completed his round at 1:12 p.m. local time, changed his blue shirt for a red one, and went back out for the final round at 2 p.m. “Being in it for 10 hours is a long period of time … the mind tends to wander a little bit and just got to grab it and make it come back and be 100% committed on the shot.â€� Woods is also coming back from knee surgery. He considered having his left knee operated on for the fifth time in late 2018, but wanted to play a full schedule last season and put it off. He won the Masters Tournament, fell off, and after failing to qualify for the season-ending TOUR Championship two months ago, had the arthroscopic procedure done Aug. 20. “It’s great to see him healthy, first and foremost,â€� said reigning FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy (72-65-63), who is in fifth place, seven off the lead, with just two holes of his final round remaining. “Yeah, as soon as I get done tomorrow, I’ll be a very interested viewer.â€� Players were not re-paired after the third round, so even though Woods’ closest pursuer is Matsuyama, he is still playing with U.S. Open Gary Woodland. Both players are competing not only for the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP title but to justify a captain’s pick for the Presidents Cup in December. Woods will name his captain’s picks Nov. 7.  Woodland was considered a good bet to make the team even before the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP began; Woods, the U.S. Captain, was more of an unknown in light of his recent health issues. Now, however, both look likely to be playing for the U.S. at Royal Melbourne, Dec. 12-15.  “(Woods) played unbelievable today,â€� Woodland said after Sunday’s marathon session, which he finished at 12 under, tied with Sungjae Im, six back. “Let a couple get away on a couple par 5s, but pretty impressive the way he’s hitting the golf ball.â€� Play was called for darkness at 4:40 p.m. local time with 46 of 76 players still on the course.   Woods played his first 11 holes of the final round in 2 under, with three birdies and a bogey.  The ending looked all but written in stone as he completed his third round with a three-shot lead over Matsuyama, as he is 24 for 24 at closing out tournaments with a lead of three or more going into the final round. The lead reached five until Matsuyama birdied the 11th and 12th holes to get it back to three before players were pulled off the course for the day. “I have a lot of ground to make up tomorrow,â€� Matsuyama said. “I need to play well to even have a chance, but I will give it a shot and do my best.â€� Woods, who won the 2004 and ’05 Dunlop Phoenix tournaments in Japan, has won 93.1% of the time with at least a share of the 54-hole lead, tops on TOUR. Still, the scarcity of scoreboards on the course has given him pause as he’s tried to keep an eye on his closest pursuers. “We had to ask a few times what’s going on up there, to get updates,â€� he said. “That’s probably been the only thing that’s different than normal.â€� Well, that and the significance of a potential 82nd victory. Snead was 52 when he won his 82nd; Woods, who returned from back fusion surgery to win the TOUR Championship two seasons ago and the Masters last April, is 43.  They are the only two players with 80 or more TOUR titles, and soon, it seems, they will be tied at the top. “Well, if I do what I’m supposed to do, and get the job done, then I get a W,â€� Woods said. “I guess that will add up to the 82 number, but my main focus is doing what I need to do to get the W first.â€�

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