Winner’s Bag: Jhonattan Vegas, RBC Canadian Open

The PGA TOUR took a week off before its season finale, but the Monday Finish isn’t taking a break. Instead of looking back at last week, we will look ahead to the TOUR Championship and the race for the FedExCup. Here are some numbers you need to know before the action gets underway Thursday at East Lake. 1. THE YOUNG AND VICTORIOUS FedExCup leader Bryson DeChambeau celebrated his 25th birthday on Sunday. That could be a good omen. The average age of the past four FedExCup champions? Twenty-five years old. That’s a drastic difference from the first seven FedExCups, when the average champion was 35.1 years old. DeChambeau leads the FedExCup after winning the first two events of the Playoffs. He and Rory McIlroy are the only players to win multiple Playoffs events before the age of 25. Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas are the only other players to win a Playoffs event before the age of 25. DeChambeau’s wins were the ninth and 10th victories this season by a player 25 or younger. That’s tied for the second-most in TOUR history (since the PGA TOUR started keeping age records in 1970). Most wins by 25 and under 2016-17: 18 2017-18: 10 2000: 10 In 2000, Tiger Woods accounted for nine of the 10 wins by a player aged 25 or under. 2. DRIVE FOR DOUGH Here’s a quick look at how the TOUR Championship field ranks in the four Strokes Gained statistics. Though the saying “Drive for show and putt for dough� has been around for decades, the modern thinking on TOUR is that ball-striking is the true key to consistent success. It’s obviously important to putt well, and each player gets it in the hole in a different fashion, but the game’s top ranks are dominated by its best ball-strikers. Average ranking of TOUR Championship qualifiers Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 54.2 Strokes Gained: Approach: 42.2 Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green: 58.7 Strokes Gained: Putting: 69.4 TOUR Championship qualifiers in top 20 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 13 Strokes Gained: Approach: 11 Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green: 9 Strokes Gained: Putting: 5 Nearly half of the TOUR Championship field is in the top 20 of Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee. Eight of the top nine players in that statistic – Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Gary Woodland, Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Francesco Molinari, Patrick Cantlay and Rory McIlroy – qualified for East Lake. 3. DJ’s FEDEX CUP QUEST Dustin Johnson is fourth in this year’s FedExCup standings. He has already finished in the top five of the FedExCup four times, tied with Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk for most top-five finishes in FedExCup history. Woods (2007, ’09) and Furyk (2010) each have a FedExCup victory included among their handful of high finishes. Johnson is seeking his first. This is the 10th consecutive season that Johnson has qualified for East Lake, the longest streak on TOUR. He finished a career-best second in the 2016 FedExCup. He shared the 54-hole lead at that year’s TOUR Championship but shot 73 in the final round. Rory McIlroy beat Ryan Moore in a playoff to win the TOUR Championship and FedExCup (Johnson would have claimed the Cup if Moore had won the playoff). Johnson finished fourth in last year’s FedExCup. 4. WISE FOR HIS AGE Aaron Wise is the only rookie to qualify for East Lake, a feat that should make him a lock to win the Rookie of the Year award. Just two years ago, Wise was winning the NCAA Championship as a sophomore at Oregon. Wise, 22, is in a select group to make the TOUR Championship at such an early age. Only Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Sergio Garcia and Si Woo Kim have made the TOUR Championship at an earlier age. Wise arrives at East Lake ranked 21st in the FedExCup standings. He turned pro immediately after winning the national championship, then graduated from the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada that same year. He needed just one season on the Web.com Tour to graduate to the PGA TOUR. Wise has won in each of his first three pro seasons, claiming a title on each of the three tours he has played in his brief career. 5. XANDER RETURNS Xander Schauffele waited until the 11th hour to earn the opportunity to defend his TOUR Championship title. Schauffle jumped from 41st to 18th in the FedExCup with his third-place finish at the BMW Championship. The TOUR Championship may be the toughest title to defend in golf. There are no invitations for past champions. Every player, even the previous year’s champion, must finish in the top 30 of the FedExCup to make it to East Lake. Schauffele is just the fourth player in the FedExCup era to earn an opportunity to defend his TOUR Championship title. Phil Mickelson (won in 2009), Brandt Snedeker (2012) and Jordan Spieth (2015) are the others. Schauffele hasn’t won this season after his two-win rookie campaign, but he has had several impressive finishes in some of golf’s biggest events. In addition to his third-place finish at Aronimink, he was runner-up at both THE PLAYERS Championship and Open Championship and sixth at the U.S. Open. The pressure of increased expectations has had an impact on Schauffele. He finished third in last season’s FedExCup, the highest finish ever by a rookie. He had been a career-long underdog, an overlooked member of the sterling Class of 2011 who starred at a smaller school (San Diego State). Now he’s one of the game’s top prospects. “I felt like I was supposed to come out here (this year) and win and make it look easy. It’s been quite the contrast,� Schauffele, 24, said at the BMW. “We’re dealing with that and just trying to get better.�

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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – The skies opened and the rain came to delay the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, but amid the umbrellas and the puddles the headliner hung tough. First-time participant Rickie Fowler, the highest ranked player in the field (10), is contending in his first start in five weeks and his first start of the new season. Fowler had three holes remaining and was just one shot off the lead, tied with first-round leader Patton Kizzire (70). They were chasing Patrick Rodgers, who birdied four straight holes to take the lead at 11 under but still had three holes left to play on the front nine when darkness fell over El Camaleon Golf Club. Heavy rain suspended afternoon play for two hours and 15 minutes.  “Today was tough,â€� said Kizzire, who double-bogeyed the first hole, his 10th of the day. “I had a few hiccups out there, but with the wind and the rain and with the wind and rain together, it was tough. And the stop and start was tough. But I hung in there, made a few birdies there towards the end of my round, and then survived that really tough rain that we had there at the end.â€� Fowler was on the 15th tee when he asked how much longer players would be expected to stay on the course as darkness fell. He made par on the hole before play was stopped and players were driven away in vans. Four players have won the OHL Classic in their first start in the event: Johnson Wagner (2011), John Huh (2012), Harris English (2013) and Fred Funk (2007).  OBSERVATIONS HARKINS HANGS TOUGH. The last six holes played by Brandon Harkins, 31, went birdie, bogey, birdie, bogey, birdie, bogey. “Wasn’t quite the finish I was looking for, trading birdies and bogeys like that,â€� said Harkins, who shot 68 to get to 9 under. “But you know, I really can’t complain in the wind like this.â€� Harkins has already shown plenty of bounce-back. He twice missed 72nd-hole putts to force playoffs on the Web.com Tour last year, but finished 21st on the Regular Season Money List to get his TOUR card. Now he’s looking to improve on a T9 at the Safeway Open and a T20 at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. GAY MAKES LIKE 2008. Four-time TOUR winner Brian Gay will turn 46 next month and is making his 522nd career start. He sure didn’t seem to have lost his edge Friday. Gay was five-for-five in scrambling and shot a bogey-free 65 that included an eagle at the par-5 13th hole. He got his first win at Mayakoba in 2008, but hasn’t won since the 2013 CareerBuilder Challenge. After getting to 9-under overall Gay said, “I’ve always loved it since we started coming here.â€� He began last season on a Major Medical Extension, needing to earn 309 FedExCup points or $461,851 in 14 starts to remain exempt for the rest of the season. He accomplished that with back-to-back T6 finishes at the RBC Heritage and Valero Texas Open.   RODGERS SEEKS FIRST WIN. The only player in the field so far without a bogey, Rodgers is beginning his third season on TOUR after a stellar college career. He won 11 times in three years at Stanford, tying Tiger Woods’ win total, accomplished in two years, and compiled a 70.32 scoring average, breaking Woods’ all-time school mark of 70.96. One of the TOUR’s biggest fitness fanatics, Rodgers finished 78th in the FedExCup last season, his best result a runner-up finish at the John Deere Classic, where he led through 36 holes. He is coming off a missed cut at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in his fourth start of the new season. CEJKA LOOKS FOR REDEMPTION. Alex Cejka (67, 6 under) is in contention again after losing a three-man playoff at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open last week. The week before that, Cejka got caught up in an odd rules scenario. He was disqualified from the Sanderson Farms Championship for holing a tap-in putt on his final hole of the second round after the siren had sounded for a suspension of play due to a dangerous weather situation.   NOTABLES SI WOO KIM – Up and down year since becoming the youngest winner of THE PLAYERS Championship in May, but the two-time TOUR winner is lurking at 7 under after a 68. OSCAR FRAUSTRO – A wild start for the low Mexican so far as Fraustro went 5 under for his first four holes on the way to a 66. He’s 7 under at the halfway mark. Fraustro and Carlos Oritz tied for ninth here in 2014, the best-ever finish by a Mexican player in this tournament. RYAN ARMOUR – Just a few weeks removed from nabbing his first win at 41, Armour shot a second-round 69 to get to 5 under and is six back. ZAC BLAIR – Came to El Camaleon as an alternate and was last man in the field, but will play on the weekend after going 3 under for his last 11 holes to shoot 68 and make the cut at 2 under. ROBERTO DIAZ – The last player to graduate from the Web.com Tour, Diaz is making the most of it at Mayakoba. His second-round 65 left him at 6 under, five back. QUOTABLES “No comment.â€� – Cal State-Chico graduate Brandon Harkins (68, 9 under), when asked if his alma-mater lived up to its party-school reputation. SUPERLATIVES Shot of the day: Jonathan Byrd aced the 151-yard eighth hole, the fifth ace of his TOUR career. His most famous hole-in-one came in a playoff at the 2010 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. CALL OF THE DAY SHOT OF THE DAY BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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