Garcia, TaylorMade put end to sponsorship deal

Due to logistical challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship is now the WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession, a Jack Nicklaus/Tony Jacklin co-design in the Bradenton-Sarasota area in Southwest Florida. The tournament will kick off a four-week Florida Swing that also features the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, THE PLAYERS Championship and The Honda Classic. The World Golf Championships event will be staged without general admission ticketed spectators but will have a limited number of club members and invited guests on-site for competition days. It will also include a Wednesday pro-am, plus honorary observers. Here are five things about The Concession Golf Club: 1. It's named for an act of sportsmanship. Nicklaus conceded a 2-foot putt to Jacklin on the final hole of the 1969 Ryder Cup. The gesture, known as "the concession," guaranteed the first tie in Ryder Cup history. The United States still retained the Cup with the tie, but it would have won the Cup outright had Jacklin, winner of the 1969 Open Championship and 1970 U.S. Open, missed the short putt. "I don't believe you would have missed that, but I'd never give you the opportunity in these circumstances," Jacklin recalled Nicklaus telling him. Nicklaus has personally designed some 300 courses worldwide, Jacklin seven. The Concession, which features no houses lining the course and where "the natural setting is the star," was named "Best New Private Course" by Golf Digest when it opened in 2006. It is the only design collaboration between World Golf Hall of Famers Nicklaus and Jacklin. It also features a par-3 course, The Gimme, that golf.com called one of the world's 25 best. 2. Some of the top players know it well. Bryson DeChambeau won the 2015 NCAA Championship at The Concession, becoming the first SMU golfer to capture the NCAA individual title, by one stroke over C.T. Pan. DeChambeau also won the 2015 U.S. Amateur, becoming just the fifth player (Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Ryan Moore) to capture both titles in the same year. Among DeChambeau's seven PGA TOUR titles he has never won a WGC event. 3. The par-5s actually have teeth. The Tampa Bay Business Journal lists The Concession as having both the highest course rating (76.7) and slope (155) in the Tampa Bay area. The short, dogleg-right eighth is its signature hole and is recognized as one of the best par-4s in the state. It features water that comes in at the front of the green, which places a high emphasis on the approach shot. The course is known for its spectacular bunkering, exciting green contours and especially its stellar par 5s, which make up four of the five most difficult holes on the course. The most memorable of these is perhaps the risk/reward 13th. The tee shot is a forced carry over water and the green is guarded by the course's most expansive bunker complex. The par-5 seventh hole is 606 yards long and the No. 1 handicap. 4. Long Islanders may be reminded of another course. Nicklaus worked on this course while he and Tom Doak were doing Sebonack Golf Club, another highly regarded collaboration in Southampton, New York, and later said the small, heavily contoured greens at The Concession were inspired by those at Sebonack. 5. Hanging on won't be easy. Par is a good score on the 486-yard, par-4 finishing hole, which features a narrow tree-lined opening off the tee followed by an approach shot to an elevated green that is guarded by bunkers in the front and water to the right. Players will likely contend with a headwind on the 18th.

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2022 Charles Schwab Challenge, Round 2 Top 10 win probabilities: 1. Scottie Scheffler (T1, -9, 32.9%) 2. Scott Stallings (T1, -9, 9.4%) 3. Beau Hossler (T1, -9, 8.9%) 4. Chris Kirk (T5, -7, 8.2%) 5. Patrick Reed (4, -8, 7.5%) 6. Viktor Hovland (T7, -6, 5.1%) 7. Harold Varner III (T7, -6, 4.5%) 8. Jordan Spieth (T12, -5, 3.8%) 9. Pat Perez (T5, -7, 3.0%) 10. Davis Riley (T7, -6, 2.4%) Top Strokes-Gained Performers from Round 2: Putting: Pat Perez +4.0 Around the Green: Alex Smalley +2.3 Approach the Green: Daniel Berger +4.2 Off-the-tee: Will Zalatoris +2.6 Total: Scott Stallings +5.8 NOTE: These reports are based off of the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live “Make Cut”, “Top 20”, “Top 5”, and “Win” probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 20K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of the Charles Schwab Challenge, or to see how each golfer’s probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model’s home page.

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GUYANCOURT, France – Since winning the TOUR Championship on Sunday, Tiger Woods has been a little busy. The usual obligations that come with winning a PGA TOUR event were heightened by the hysteria following his first victory in five seasons. Then he met up with his American teammates before they jumped on a plane for Paris. Rest, training, more team camaraderie, then a Tuesday morning practice round to get acquainted with this week’s Ryder Cup venue. Oh, and there were also the congratulatory text messages. Lots of them. He’s trying to respond but more than 150 remain on his phone. So, no, he hasn’t had time to assess the fallout from his victory at East Lake, including the Sunday TV ratings. “Are they good?â€� Tiger asked Tuesday. Uh, yes, Tiger. They’re good. The NBC Sports Group reported that Sunday’s telecast was the highest-rated in the history of the FedExCup Playoffs and the highest-rated on TOUR in 2018 (majors excluded). “An unforgettable event in golf,â€� said Mike McCarley, the network’s president of golf. Tiger, though, simply hasn’t had time to process unforgettable. Less than 48 hours after completing a year-long comeback from career-threatening back surgeries, Woods has turned his attention to beating the Europeans on their home turf for the first time in 25 years. Not until next week will he have a chance to reflect on the improbable climb back into the winner’s circle. “I saw a couple of [videos] on some French news channel [of] the people rushing behind me, but I haven’t sat down and watched it yet,â€� Woods said. “I still have this event to do. “Post-Ryder Cup, it will be a different story. I will look back and soak it up and really reflect on what really transpired that entire week.â€� Tiger’s prep work began in earnest on Tuesday as part of a practice foursome with Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson and Patrick Reed. Woods and DeChambeau have publicly spoke about a partnership once play begins on Friday, but neither they, nor U.S. Captain Jim Furyk, would confirm any such plans. “It would be awesome to play with him,â€� said DeChambeau, playing in his first U.S. team event since the 2015 Walker Cup. “Is it going to happen? We’re still working on it. We’re still trying to figure out who is going to best fit with each other – not me personally but for everyone that’s going out that day.â€� Even Mickelson was asked how he would respond should Furyk lean toward putting together his two most decorated veterans. “I think we would both welcome it,â€� he said. And does he think it will happen? “I do have an idea of what Captain Furyk is thinking,â€� Mickelson said, ending his response there. While there could be competition to partner with Woods this week, his track record at the Ryder Cup is not exactly up to his standards. He has a career 13-17-3 mark in seven previous appearances, and is 4-8-1 in Foursomes, which will be played in the two afternoon sessions on Friday and Saturday. Plus, he’s only played on one winning U.S. team – 19 years ago when the Americans rallied to win at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. Woods did not play in 2008 due to reconstructive knee surgery that summer, and two years ago at Hazeltine, he was sidelined with the back issues but was part of the team as a vice-captain. “We haven’t done well,â€� Woods said. “… My overall Ryder Cup record, not having won as a player since 1999, is something that hopefully we can change.â€� Four years ago after the most recent U.S. road loss – at Gleneagles in Scotland – Woods and Mickelson were part of a Ryder Cup task force that set out to change the losing culture. Not only did their efforts pay off two years ago, it also helped bring the two together. Woods was also an assistant captain for the winning U.S. team that included Mickelson a year ago at the Presidents Cup. “Those team events where we’ve worked together, I think, we realized that we both have a lot more in common than we thought,â€� Mickelson said, “and I think that we both have really come to appreciate working together to achieve things. I’ve really enjoyed my time with him. Their friendship seemed to publicly accelerate this year with a practice round at the Masters, a pairing for the first two rounds of THE PLAYERS Championship, and then the recent announcement of a Thanksgiving weekend match-play showdown in Las Vegas. Whether that translates into a revived partnership this week is another matter. Fourteen years ago, U.S. captain Hal Sutton sent out the Woods-Mickelson duo in the first Four-ball match at Oakland Hills. They fell behind early and lost to Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington. They then lost the afternoon Foursomes to Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood, thus ending the experiment. Why would it be different this time, Mickelson was asked. “I’d say we would be more prepared, most likely, would be the general answer,â€� he responded. “But if I … try to share an insight as to why things went well or didn’t went well, it always come across as I’m taking a shot at somebody, and I don’t want to do that anymore.â€� Laughs ensued – although nobody was laughing four years ago when a frustrated Mickelson spoke his mind after the latest U.S. loss in Europe. Of course, a Woods-Mickelson pairing – while still unlikely at this point — might be pretty good for TV ratings this week. Even Tiger would know that.

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