Expert picks for the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions

Round 4 of the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession takes place Sunday from Bradenton, Florida. Collin Morikawa holds the 54-hole lead with Billy Horschel, Brooks Koepka, Webb Simpson, Rory McIlroy and more stars in contention. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action. Leaderboard Full tee times HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 12 p.m.-2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel). Saturday, 2:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, 12 p.m.-2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel). Sunday, 2:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC) PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups). Saturday-Sunday, 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m. (Featured Groups), 2:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio). TOURCast: Get shot-by-shot info in real time with shot tracks and video with TOURCast. TOUR Pulse: Get the PGA TOUR app to utilize TOUR Pulse, which provides users the ability to experience a mix of content, such as video highlights, written hole summaries and stat graphics on every player after every hole they complete. FEATURED GROUPS 9:40 a.m. ET: Xander Schauffele, Marc Leishman 9:50 a.m. ET: Adam Scott, Jon Rahm MUST READS Morikawa leads by two Fast learners figuring out The Concession Ancer in contention with familiar caddie Tiger Woods recovering from single-car accident Sports world sends best wishes to Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan discusses Tiger Woods’ accident Five things about The Concession TOUR Insider: Predictions for the Florida Swing CALL OF THE DAY

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CARNOUSTIE, Scotland – Ben Hogan had to wear two sweaters when he won at Carnoustie. This year, players have been able to get by in shirt sleeves. A week of sunshine and warm weather is putting the course’s well-earned reputation in danger. This is, after all, a place most famous for a triple-bogey. Carnoustie is supposed to be the hardest course in The Open’s rota but Great Britian’s record-setting summer has stripped the course of some of its largest defenses. No one has ever finished double-digits under par at Carnoustie, in large part because of the cold, wind and rain that are common on the coast of the North Sea. The heat has turned Carnoustie’s rough brown and brittle, allowing players to hit into it with impunity, and the rock-hard fairways are making the course play short. Ice cream sales may be up, but Carnoustie’s scoring records are in danger. Three players – Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele and Kevin Kisner – share the Saturday lead in this Open Champiosnhip at 9 under par. Carnoustie saves its toughest holes for last, though, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the course isn’t going down without a fight. Players know that 14 holes of hard work at Carnoustie can quickly be dashed in the hour before they sign their scorecard. Therefore, it’s appropriate that the toughest conditions have been saved for The Open’s final day. The sun is still expected to shine Sunday, but wind gusts are forecast to exceed 30 mph. “I think … tomorrow to expect the unexpected,â€� Spieth said. “It’s ideal for Carnoustie to have a bunched leaderboard and 25 mph winds on Sunday.â€� Sunday’s forecast has been a topic of discussion since the start of the week in the rental house shared by Kisner, Spieth and several of their friends. “It’s going to be a true test, and we’ll get to see really who’s hitting the ball the best and playing the best tomorrow,â€� Kisner said. That’s the way The Open is supposed to be. The Wee Ice Mon won over the fans at Carnoustie in 1953 by being a “stern man for a stern game,â€� one reporter wrote. Tom Watson started his mastery of the links with a win here in 1975, the first of his five Opens. And one of the grittiest players of this era, Padraig Harrington, won the first of his three majors at Carnoustie. Saturday was the second-easiest day in Carnoustie’s history. Spieth said that a majority of the holes played downwind as the wind blew from the southeast. The field averaged 72.4 strokes, and there were seven scores of 66 or lower. “It was the day to be aggressive today,â€� Francesco Molinari said after his 65. He’s in fifth place, three shots behind the leaders and one behind Kevin Chappell. Seven players are stacked four shots back. Sunday may be the day to grind out a score. Spieth said the winner could be someone who’s been sitting in the clubhouse for hours when the final group reaches 18. Carnoustie is the site of the largest comeback in major history. Paul Lawrie was 10 back when he shot a final-round 67 to win here in 1999. Of course, that win was accompanied by some unique circumstances. Anything is possible with high breezes and firm fairways, where off-line shots could go bounding toward Carnoustie’s deep pot bunkers, which are among the most difficult in The Open rota. Then there’s that pesky burn that winds through the final hole. The field has averaged nearly a stroke over par on the closing three holes. Those holes are difficult in any conditions. Carnoustie normally offers a warm welcome, but even its opening holes could be difficult with Sunday’s wind, Spieth said. “Tomorrow it’s going to be a grind just to get started, and those are kind of the easy holes on the golf course,â€� Spieth said. “(Today) we had probably the easiest wind this golf course can have, but when it goes off the left side, …, that’s when you start getting more into the wind. “It’s going to be a meaty start, not to mention, obviously, the last few holes to finish.â€� “I’m really excited to see how hard it can play,â€� Kisner said. “I think that’s the way major championships should be down the stretch, as hard as possible.â€� He just may get his wish.

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One of the PGA TOUR’s most famed and historic tracks, The Riviera Country Club has been providing Hollywood-caliber drama for almost a century. With an iconic bunker in the middle of a green, a natural amphitheater and one of the world’s most recognizable short par-4s, Riviera demands a variety of shots to conquer its terrain. Coming off Max Homa’s playoff win over Tony Finau in 2021, this year’s edition will have its hands full to live up to the hype. But with one of the strongest fields on the PGA TOUR so far this season, a new star can join Riviera’s Walk of Fame (and win at a course that has befuddled the two greatest players in the game’s history). 1. WHAT A START The first hole at Riviera is an early feast opportunity for PGA TOUR players. The par 5 plays roughly 495 yards from a tee box that sits 75 foot above the fairway. While there’s out-of-bounds on the left and trees on the right, a straight drive should offer an eagle opportunity all four days. Only four par-5s played to a lower scoring average (4.28) last season, and it was the easiest opening hole on TOUR in 2021. It traditionally plays as the easiest hole at Riviera, as well. The difficulty dramatically shifts right after. The second hole, the No. 1 handicap hole, presents a 488-yard par 4 that heads back uphill, again with out-of-bounds on the left and trees on the right. A long, narrow green is just 25 feet wide and protected by bunkers on the left and front. Despite having different pars, the scoring averages for the two holes are usually separated by just a fraction of a stroke. They played to an average of 4.28 and 4.15, respectively, in 2021. While Riviera’s greens are the same Poa annua that players face throughout the West Coast, the Kikuyu fairways and rough offer a unique challenge. The sticky Kikuyu grass grabs balls like Velcro and makes it hard to execute bump-and-run shots around Riviera. 2. IN THE MIDDLE You do this if you are creating a golf course in a video game, but not usually if you are an architect building a PGA TOUR-caliber track. Long before video games existed, George C. Thomas Jr. and William P. Bell had a unique vision for Riviera’s par-3 sixth hole, putting what is now one of the world’s most famous bunkers smack in the middle of the green. If having a sand trap in the middle of the green is not enough, the putting surface is also two-tiered with a lower level mostly in front of the bunker and an upper level mostly behind the bunker. An errant tee shot, even just a few feet off-line, could find a player scrambling to putt around or pitch over the trap, even needing to pull out a wedge from the putting surface. There is no true safe shot on the green, as all four quadrants bring the center bunker into play. And that is before mentioning there are other bunkers in the back, left and front portions of the green. Birdie is manageable when on the correct tier of the green, but the landing spot can determine the difference between a two or a four quickly. 3. MUST-SEE TV Drivable par 4s are en vogue these days and perhaps No. 10 at Riviera sets the standards for those holes. Measuring anywhere from 282 to 315 yards, most players can hit the green if the conditions are right. However, such a tee shot challenges even the best shot-shapers in the world, with bunkers protecting the green on its right, left and back. The combination of deep bunkers and a skinny putting surface make getting up-and-down difficult, especially from the sand. Right-handed players will try to launch a power-fade, while left-handed players need to sweep a draw to the front-left portion of the green. The lay-up shot isn’t forgiving. A bunker running across the left portion of the fairway forces players to lay up to a full wedge shot if not going for the green. A handful of trees also run along the fairway left of the green. Homa famously found his ball lying next to one of those trees during the first playoff hole against Finau last year, but Homa was able to skip a shot out and match Finau with a par. Unlike No. 17 at TPC Scottsdale, where a water hazard provides penalty trouble for those taking a shot at the green (as Sahith Theegala found out last week), trees and bunkers are the issue on this drivable par 4. A miscue left or right off the tee and a player can go from envisioning eagle to scrambling for par, even without a penalty stroke. 4. HOLLYWOOD DRAMA Riviera is truly one of the OG staples of the Los Angeles social scene. The Hollywood sign – then Hollywoodland – was erected in 1923. Riviera opened its doors in 1926. At the time, with a cost of $243,827, Riviera was labeled as one of the most expensive golf courses in the world. The club has long-attracted famous members, with such Hollywood names as Humphrey Bogart, Walt Disney and Dean Martin making the course their home (“Bogey’s Tree,” a trimmed Eucalyptus on the 12th hole is allegedly where Bogart used to sit to heckle pros). In the 1950s, golf films “Pat and Mike” – starring Katharine Hepburn and Babe Zaharias – and “The Caddy” – starring Martin and Jerry Lewis – were both filmed at Riviera. “Follow the Sun,” a 1951 biographical film about Ben Hogan, was also taped at Riviera. And in more modern times, Seinfeld co-creater and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David helped raise money for the club’s caddies during the pandemic. The Genesis Invitational has been held at Riviera dating all the way back to 1929, hosting the event all but two years since 1973. The exceptions were in 1983, when the club hosted the PGA Championship, and in 1998, when it hosted the U.S. Senior Open. Riviera also has been the venue for the 1948 U.S. Open, 1995 PGA Championship, and 2017 U.S. Amateur. It is scheduled to host the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open, as well. The club will add Olympic golf to its history at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, although this won’t be the Olympics’ first foray on the grounds. Dressage equestrian and modern pentathlon were held at Riviera in 1932. Living up to its Hollywood pedigree, the 18th hole green is surrounded by a natural amphitheater, creating golf’s version of the Hollywood Bowl. As players stare down the 18th green, with Riviera’s iconic clubhouse in the background, the gallery seated on the hillside is staring directly down at them. 5. HOGAN’S ALLEY, BUT NO TIGER OR JACK Ben Hogan was one of Riviera’s early heroes, winning the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in 1947 and 1948 and the U.S. Open there in 1948. His dominance during that two-year stretch gave the course the nickname, “Hogan’s Alley,” a moniker it shares with Colonial Country Club for a similar reason. Hogan also finished runner-up in 1950, losing a playoff to Sam Snead in his return to the TOUR after his near-fatal car accident. Snead, Tom Watson, Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson all also notched multiple wins at Riviera over the next few decades. Nick Faldo, Ernie Els, Mike Weir, Adam Scott, and Dustin Johnson are among other modern winners. But the two jarring names you will not find on the champions’ plaque: Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Nicklaus made his professional debut at Riviera in 1962, tying for 50th place as a 21-year-old, earning $33.33 in prize money. He notched his best finish in 1978, grabbing runner-up honors two strokes behind Gil Morgan. Woods made his PGA TOUR debut at Riviera in 1992, driving up from Orange County as a 16-year-old high school sophomore (and amateur). He missed the cut. Woods’ best finish at Riviera was second in 1999, behind Els by two strokes. Since 2016, Woods has been the host of the Genesis Invitational with his TGR Foundation being the benefiting charity. But despite his connection to the course, Riviera is a place Woods has still never been able to lift a PGA TOUR trophy.

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