Photos: WGC-HSBC Champions previews

• COURSE: Glen Oaks Club (Composite), 7,350 yards, par 70. Founded in 1924, Glen Oaks Club began on land carved out of the William K. Vanderbilt estate south of Long Island’s Lake Success. A need to expand in the late 1960s sent the club to a 250-acre site in Old Westbury, where Joe Finger was brought in to design three nine-hole loops. The layout remained largely unchanged until 2011, when members approved a major renovation and hired Craig Currier away from Bethpage State Park to oversee the project. The PGA TOUR came calling two years ago when seeking a site to step in for Liberty National, which was set as host until being awarded the Presidents Cup. The tournament course will draw from all three nines – Nos. 1-3 and 6-9 of the White course, Nos. 4 and 5 from the Red and the entire Blue layout. • FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 2,000 points. • CHARITY: The Tackle Kids Cancer program is the official charity of The Northern Trust, helping provide care for young patients and fund pediatric cancer research. Other donations are made to the American Red Cross, the YMCA of Long Island, The First Tee of Metropolitan New York and Birdies for the Brave. • FIELD WATCH: FedExCup points leader Hideki Matsuyama and new PGA Championship king Justin Thomas head a lineup currently set for 120 at the opening playoff stop. … Defending FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy is entered, after hinting of taking a long break after the PGA Championship to rest a rib flareup. … Masters champ Sergio Garcia will sit out the playoff opener for the third consecutive year, while Adam Scott is awaiting the birth of his second child. Brandt Snedeker (ribs), Scott Piercy and Dominic Bozzelli (both undisclosed) are the other absentees. … Summer winners Xander Schauffele (Greenbrier Classic) and Grayson Murray (Barbasol Championship) head up the list of dozen rookies expected to crack the 2017 playoff lineup. • 72-HOLE RECORD: 261, Bob Gilder (1982 at Westchester CC), Jason Day (2015 at Plainfield CC). • 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, Brandt Snedeker (3rd round, 2011 at Plainfield CC). • LAST YEAR: Patrick Reed picked up a playoffs victory and a Ryder Cup berth in one fell swoop, overcoming an early two-shot deficit to take control on the back nine and end a 55-start winless drought. An early bogey left Reed two shots behind Rickie Fowler at Bethpage Black, but he birdied three of his next four holes to pull even. He pushed in front with Fowler’s bogey at No.11 and never looked back, able to absorb a closing bogey for a one-stroke win over Sean O’Hair and Emiliano Grillo. The victory locked up a Ryder Cup return for Reed, who delivered a rousing performance in the U.S. win at Hazeltine. Fowler’s closing 74 dropped him to seventh and out of an automatic Ryder Cup spot, though Davis Love III later made him a captain’s pick. • STORYLINES: Matsuyama, Thomas and No.3 Jordan Spieth are separated by just 198 points atop the FedExCup points race, with a gap of 205 points down to Dustin Johnson in fourth. That quartet also stands as the only men to claim multiple victories during the regular season. … Thomas tees it up for the first time since becoming a major champion, which also happened to be his first top-25 finish since June. His first three wins of 2016-17 came in a 12-week span that bookended the Christmas break. … Though Johnson has cooled off since back-to-back-to-back wins just before the Masters, he’s been no worse than 17th since returning from the Open Championship. … At the back of the points list, entrants endeavor to crack the top 100 for a berth in the Dell Technologies Championship outside Boston. Typically, a half-dozen play their way into the second playoff stop from outside the top 100. • SHORT CHIPS: Jim Furyk, whose 34 FedExCup playoff starts are tied for No.7 all-time, won’t be around at all this year after failing to qualify for the postseason. He had just one top-10 finish in 18 starts. … Spieth last year became just the second defending FedExCup champion to make it all the way back to East Lake 12 months later, placing ninth in the final standings. Snedeker was the other, returning in 2013. • TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 1-2:30 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). Sunday, noon-1:30 p.m. (GC), 2-6 p.m. (CBS). • PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6 p.m. (featured holes). Saturday, 8:10 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured groups). Sunday, 8:20 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured groups). • RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-6 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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Overall results USA: 26-13-2 Europe: 10-8-1 Great Britain/Great Britain & Ireland: 3-18-1

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SANDWICH, England – Adam Scott walked off from a practice round late Tuesday evening at Royal St. George’s with a satisfied grin. “She’s way fairer than she used to be,” the Aussie beamed. She – in this case – was Royal St. George’s. The Open Championship course Scott battled away on in 2003 and 2011 brings a unique challenge. Call them mounds, moguls, humps or bumps – whatever you prefer. But they litter the fairways on this links course and can send a good shot into a not so good place. It is one of the reasons why Scott’s idol Greg Norman’s then-record final round 64 in 1993 was lauded as one of the greatest in major history. Norman was the first Open champion with four rounds in the 60s (four others have since joined him) and his 267 was the lowest winning total in Open history (Henrik Stenson’ 264 and final round 63 from 2016 are now records). Gene Sarazen, who was 91 when he witnessed Norman’s round, called it, “the greatest championship in all my 70 years in golf.” Sarazen is one of five men to complete the career Grand Slam. Trawl through old interviews and you can find a plethora of players referencing the luck needed at Royal St. George’s. It helps one better understand why long-shots Ben Curtis (2003) and Darren Clarke (2011) triumphed here. “This course certainly puts a demand on trying to get the right bounce, that’s for sure. These fairways are very difficult to try and hit, especially with all the mounding in them. And anytime the wind blows it makes it even more difficult,” Tiger Woods said pre-2003. While it has hosted the fourth-most Opens, and most in England, Royal St. George’s has rarely been called anyone’s favorite, most likely because – as Justin Rose put it in 2011 – it’s “almost like playing on the surface of the moon.” Scotland’s Sandy Lyle, winner of the 1985 Open, put Royal St. George’s in a class with Carnoustie and Royal Birkdale as “the beasts” of the Open rota. A combined seven players have finished under par in the past two Opens at St. George’s. “There are no adjoining fairways like a lot of links courses,” Lyle told ESPN. “You get deeper and deeper into the rubbish. You have to be very accurate in places and it’s not a very friendly course if it is breezy.” And Norman himself prior to his domination in 1993 said, “I’d swear the Royal Air Force used a couple of the fairways for bombing runs.” But in 2021, Scott is among many who believe the disproportionate bad luck of the past should be tempered this time around. One such fan is 2014 champion Rory McIlroy who was not a happy chap coming off with a T25 in 2011, but after early reconnaissance work this week he felt differently. “I walked away from the golf course on Saturday and Sunday thinking, this is a much better golf course than I remember it being, and I think that’s just because of the way it’s playing right now,” said McIlroy, a two-time FedExCup champion. “It’s certainly not as penal or unfair as it has been in previous years. 2011, it was a little bit like that, but looking back to ’03, for example, it looked really burnt and crispy then, and it looked like a bit of a pinball machine out there. But that’s not going to be the case this week. It’s a lot more lush. It’s a lot more green. “I think it’s perfect, and as the days go on with a little bit of wind and sunshine, by the weekend it should just be absolutely perfect. It should be playing the way it should play.” Home country hero Lee Westwood believes officials will look to keep the fairways in check to further avoid the bad luck bounce. The veteran faces his 88th major start and should he not win, he will own the longest streak without a victory. “The fairways are softer than they were last time. I spoke to Martin Slumbers on Monday evening, and he said they’re probably going to water some of the fairways to stop that happening, as well,” Westwood revealed. “You can’t have really bouncy fairways carrying it off into rough that’s this high that you’re hacking out of, undulating fairways. “This course was laid down with the fairways like that and undulating, designed to go into the rough where you’d have a shot but it would be a flying lie and you’d have to judge that. It wasn’t designed to land in the fairways and go into rough where you’re hacking out with lob wedge. I think they’re probably trying to get more into that.” Marc Leishman is facing his first Open Championship on the course. He has three top-6 finishes previously in this major and is regarded by some as a links golf specialist. The six-time TOUR winner says it’s not the bad bounces that will matter – it’s your response to them. “That’s the beauty of links golf sometimes,” Leishman said. “You know you’ll get the odd quirky bounce here and there and it might be frustrating but you have to be able to let it go and move on. “I try to see each shot I’m asked to play as an opportunity to use my creativity or golf brain so to speak. When you embrace the different questions links golf asks you and be prepared to accept there might be a few answers that would not normally be the case, then good things can happen.” Good things won’t happen to those players who spray the ball wide off the tee though. The thick luscious rough Westwood referenced awaits – the type where escaping can feel near impossible. Woods lost his first ball in pro golf on his first tee shot in 2003. Jerry Kelly made an 11 on the same hole without losing a ball. So while there may be less carnage, there will still be enough to satisfy those who enjoy watching that sort of thing.

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