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KAPALUA, Hawaii – Cameron Champ knows the lessons learned from failure bring more than those from success. But it took him some time to realize it. Fair enough, too – failure in golf had never really been part of the Champ narrative as he blazed his trail through junior and amateur golf and hit the professional scene with similar gusto. But it is the lessons learned the last 12 months – where Champ had his first real sense of on-course adversity – that have given the now 24-year-old extreme confidence heading into 2020. Related: Power Rankings | Tee times | Storylines, course preview for Kapalua A year ago, Champ came to the Plantation Course at Kapalua for his first Sentry Tournament of Champions as the next big thing in golf. In the 12 months prior, he had won in his debut Korn Ferry Tour season to help earn his way to the PGA TOUR and then took out the Sanderson Farms Championship in just his second TOUR start as a full member (his ninth overall) during the fall. Champ had added two further top-10s in his following three starts, so when he came to Maui, it was almost like it had all been too easy. The hype surrounding him had been fulfilled. This kid was not just a big bomber… he was the real deal who can use brute force to overpower and finesse to outthink the competition. A year ago, he would finish a respectable T11 in his Kapalua debut and show no signs of what was about to come. A crash. In his next 20 starts to round out his rookie year, Champ missed the cut 11 times, WD’d in another, and failed to finish inside the top 20 anywhere. And a lot of it happened in the spotlight, given his earlier achievements. There was a back injury for a period, but the problems stemmed from much more than that. Champ was bringing excess baggage to the course. With early success comes almost impossible expectations. Not just from external sources, but from within as well. “Last year was a really good learning lesson for me with the way I played and what I struggled with,â€� Champ admits. “I took things way too seriously – I added pressure and frustration – and I really wasn’t being myself. With winning early… you get expectations. I ended up in the featured groups… basically being thrown in with the wolves when you are a little pup. “But I am glad it happened that way – I was blessed now that I look back on it. It was a good experience that I can use going forward. Going from winning to rock bottom basically – I think it’s like gaining three or four years’ experience in a year.â€� Sometimes it takes something much bigger than golf to put things back in perspective. And this was certainly true for Champ. His grandfather Mack taught him the game and put him on this path. His lessons about dealing with adversity, having faced racial prejudice throughout his life, had also been littered throughout. But in taking the game so seriously and getting bogged down in negativity, Champ was forgetting some of Mack’s, and his father Jeff’s, wisdom. As Mack fell ill with cancer, Champ was letting his emotions get the better of him. But as things became more dire, he was jolted back into reality. “Rory (McIlroy) even said it after one of the better statistical years in the history of golf. He says golf is sperate from your personal life and you have to separate it – but I was dragging it into both,â€� Champ says. By the time the Safeway Open was coming up – which was to be Champ’s second start of this new season – Mack was moved to hospice care and the young star wasn’t even going to play. He toyed with just staying with Mack in Sacramento instead. At the last moment ,he decided to head over and play knowing it was what his grandfather wanted. He won. “Obviously that changed a lot of things for me,â€� Champ said of the emotional second win that booked his ticket back to Kapalua and sees him sitting ninth in the FedExCup. “It was literally a last minute thing Wednesday night. Hadn’t hit a ball in three days and I just showed up to the tee and played. I took a lot from that and the whole year and now I am building off what I learned.â€� Those lessons are what gives him the confidence to not expect a repeat slump this time around. Frustration, he hopes, will be very minimal. While his goals are still lofty, he has tempered his expectations and knows patience in this game is key. He is also finding ways to manage his game when it is not fully firing – evidenced, he says, by results at the Houston Open (T23) and the Mayakoba Golf Classic (T33) following his win. Off the course he is compartmentalizing better. The death of Mack a few months back still stings – and always will – but the pain isn’t infiltrating his golf. And there is happiness also as Champ got engaged over this holiday break. “I have a clearer understanding now. For me it has always been a mental thing. When I am mentally clear I play extremely well. So it is really just trying to figure out how to get there more often,â€� Champ says. “I felt all the emotions last year… I hope to stick to one this year.â€�

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Ready or not, here it comes! A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier launches the 2019-20 PGA TOUR season. The first of 49 tournaments sat out last season to accommodate the shift of the FedExCup Playoffs to August. This is the ninth edition of the tournament, all of which have been contested at The Old White TPC at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. There are only nine days between the conclusion of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals and the first round at Greenbrier. While some graduates may be weary after long seasons and the pressure of the series, all should be encouraged that numerous golfers just like them over the years have sustained form when the light turns green on the PGA TOUR. As of midday Monday, all 50 are committed to the tournament, including all 21 rookies. For what the entire field of 156 is getting in The Old White TPC and more, scroll past the projected contenders. Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider will include Jimmy Walker, Scott Piercy, Cameron Smith, Byeong Hun An and Doc Redman among other notables. No matter one’s position in the overall pecking order, The Old White TPC is a proper opener. It’s fair and fun. Checking in as a par 70 with both par 5s on the inward side (Nos. 12 and 17), the course is one of the longest of its kind at 7,292 yards. For the record, that reflects an increase of six yards from the 2018 edition, and 15 holes are listed at a different yardage this week, but none more than the reduction of nine yards at the 484-yard, par-4 11th. The Old White TPC also boasts the only par-3 finisher on the PGA TOUR. Defending champion Kevin Na parred the 179-yard 18th hole in all four rounds last time, but he could afford to, having prevailed by five strokes at 19-under 261. That’s the second-lowest aggregate since Stuart Appleby’s 22-under 258 in the inaugural edition of 2010 and before the course was fitted with some teeth. Na’s path to the title was unconventional, but it proved the worth of the equity of the track. Hitting greens and sinking putts is the standard objective on a scorable course with average-sized greens (6,500 square feet of bentgrass) rolling upwards of 11-and-a-half feet on the Stimpmeter. However, of the 10 golfers who finished inside the top 10 of the 2018 edition of A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, Na tied for hitting the fewest (53). His percentage (73.61) was nearly three clicks higher than the field average, but in a shootout, that puts pressure on the short game and putter. On cue, Na finished second in both Strokes Gained: Putting and scrambling, and he led the field converting GIR into par breakers with the flat stick. He also paced it in par-4 scoring, which is to say that he capitalized on an occasional weakness of the course. The set of 12 par 4s never plays harder than TOUR average, but the field scored just 3.97 on them in 2018, fourth-easiest of 51 courses all season. The absence of impactful wind will contribute to another good week of scoring, but looming rain and boomers figure to challenge the more inexperienced touring professionals who aren’t as familiar with stopping and starting on this stage. Warm, juicy air with daytime highs in the mid-to-high 80s will remind everyone that the autumnal equinox still is a couple of weeks out in the Northern Hemisphere. 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 THURSDAY: Champions One & Done * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesdays.

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