Ryan Armour wins first PGA TOUR title in style at Sanderson Farms Championship

South Korea has the top two golfers in the world. Three of the top four. 11 of the top 20. 23 of the top 50 and 41 of the top 100. Not bad for a country of around 51 million people. Of course, I am referring to the women’s game. It is a dominance of extremely impressive proportions from a golf mad country. So why then are these numbers not mirrored on the men’s side of the game? Is it possible they ever will? “I think getting to the level of the women might be a bit of a stretch,â€� Australian Adam Scott says. “But I think that the potential growth of the Korean players on the PGA TOUR is very big. It wouldn’t surprise me to see double the number of the Korean players on the PGA TOUR in the next five to ten years.â€� Certainly, taking the PGA TOUR to the region is a step in the right direction. Amongst the impressive field at the inaugural CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES this week will be 17 Korean players flying the flag proudly in their country’s new PGA TOUR event. They’ll each harbor a dream of producing four epic rounds of golf and etching themselves into history. THE PLAYERS Champion Si Woo Kim leads the group as the best ranked Korean player at 41 in the world. He is one of just four Koreans in the world top 100, joined by Byeong Hun An (79), Sunghoon Kang (80) and Jeunghun Wang (87). But the spiritual leader of the pack is perhaps the godfather of Korean men’s golf in K.J. Choi. Like Kim, Choi has a PLAYERS Championship to his name, but it is one of eight PGA TOUR wins in a dazzling career spanning 442 starts. The pride he feels this week is clear to see. While his efforts have failed to spark things on the same levels as Se Ri Pak did in the women’s game, Choi has been a big factor in the growth of the sport in his home country. He believes a stronger presence on the world scene, and the PGA TOUR, is on the horizon. “Of course, the number of the Korean players on the PGA TOUR is fewer than the number of Korean LPGA players but, Korea has the most number of PGA players from the Asian countries,â€� he explains. “About 14 Koreans and Korean-Americans are playing on the TOUR and the number of players may differ from the LPGA but, I don’t think the level of performance is too different. “I think that this event will help in that many players will be given the chance to gauge what they need to do to join the TOUR. It will give them a chance to see it for themselves what they need to improve, what they lack, what preparations they need. This event, in that sense, will push Korean golf one step ahead.â€� Of course, one of the factors is the duty of Korean men to undertake two years of military service before they are 30. Sangmoon Bae had to step away from the game just as the two-time TOUR winner was really flourishing, going out as a member of the 2015 Presidents Cup team. Sung Kang, the runner-up earlier this year at the Houston Open had another interesting theory on why Korean women golfers are having more of an impact than their male counterparts. “The women don’t have a decided disadvantage physically,â€� Kang told PGA TOUR.com’s Mike McAllister. “I think we’re at a disadvantage to the Americans. We’re a little smaller, a little weaker. The Americans (men) are stronger, taller, bigger.â€� Haewon Kang, the senior producer of Korean content at the PGA TOUR, says Asian culture brings with it a fierce mentality in terms of working for success, particularly in women. Parents can be very strict on their kids to work harder in whatever their chosen field might be and Kang says young girls are traditionally a little more obedient than boys. But for things to really go to another level in the men’s game she believes a dominant star needs to emerge from the pack. Korea needs its own Jordan Spieth or Justin Thomas to light up the stage often. On the women’s side Pak provided this by winning five majors as part of 39 professional wins. It inspired countless others to strive for greatness. While Y.E. Yang broke the major barrier in 2009 at the PGA Championship he failed to remain a long-term factor. Choi’s career has been brilliant also but not quite dominant enough. “After Se Ri lead the success in golf, so many kids dreamed of being a golf players,â€� Haewon explains.  “In women’s golf, there has been one dominant player who has won multiple times in a season and people remember the name and have more interest. “However, we cannot find a good star player in men’s golf. We have some players who win once or twice but it is not enough to be remembered. People will remember a star player better. That is a big reason that men’s golf is falling behind the women.â€� Kim could yet be that star. Already with two PGA TOUR wins at just 22, including THE PLAYERS, Kim has shown a unique talent. But consistency has been a major problem. The recent Presidents Cup player made 30 starts on the PGA TOUR last season with 11 missed cuts and six WDs scattered amongst his big win. His International Team members at Liberty National privately spoke in glowing terms of his raw talent, calling it almost robotic. When he was told where to hit the ball from an outside source he would do so effortlessly time and time again. They were also mightily impressed with his fight and determination. His issues come when he’s thinking too much, something that will hopefully rectify itself with more experience. Maybe it could be Wang, a two-time winner on the European Tour in back-to-back weeks in 2016. Also, just 22 now, he was the youngest player, at 20 years and 263 days, to win consecutive events on the European Tour. Perhaps it will be a young player in the galleries this week who will be inspired by seeing his heroes up close. With a clear path and opportunity to get to the PGA TOUR now in front of his countrymen, Choi believes his career stats will be dwarfed by his countrymen in the future. “You will see my fellow Korean players show you performance and play that you have not seen from myself. I believe that they will exceed me,â€� Choi said. “This will be an invaluable experience for the younger players. Through this opportunity, I believe that many will be setting higher and more ambitious goals.â€� KOREANS IN THE FIELD Si Woo Kim – 22, has two PGA TOUR wins including the 2017 PLAYERS Championship. Member of the 2017 International Team at the Presidents Cup. K.J. Choi – 47, eight time PGA TOUR winner including the 2011 PLAYERS Championship. Young-han Song – 26, Won SMBC Singapore Open on Japan Tour where he beat Jordan Spieth by one stroke. Has six PGA TOUR starts and his TOUR debut at the 2016 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, where he finished T21, remains his best result along with a T21 at the 2016 CIMB Classic. Jinho Choi – 33, Four Korean Tour victories most recently at the 2016 Nefs Heritage. The 2017 Genesis Open, where he withdrew after a first-round 76, was his PGA TOUR debut. Jung-gon Hwang – 25, three-time winner on Japan Golf Tour, including his first title at the 2011 Mizuno Open. This win earned him entry into The Open Championship in 2011 where he finished 71st. Last June, he won the KPGA Championship. Hyungjoon Lee – 25, recently captured a two-shot victory at the KPGA Caido Series Jeonbuk Open. Seung Hyuk Kim – 31, Has four Korean Tour and one Japan Tour win. JungHwan Lee – Won the 2017 Caido Golden V1 Open in sudden death playoff over Seung Hyuk Kim a week after losing a playoff against the same opponent. Sangmoon Bae – 31, Two PGA TOUR wins and a member of the 2015 Presidents Cup International Team. Returning this season after two-year military stint. Gyu Min Lee – joined Yun-ji Jeong to represent South Korea at the APGC Junior Championship Mitsubishi Corporate Cup in Hong Kong last August. The pair won the event the previous two years. Whee Kim – 25, PGA TOUR member. 89th in FedExCup last season. K.T. Kim – 31, 13-time winner on Japan Tour. 2011 Presidents Cup team member. Seung-Yul Noh – 26, PGA TOUR winner at 2014 Zurich Classic. 110th in FedExCup last season. Kyoung-Hoon Lee – 26, Two-time Japan Tour winner and Web.com Tour player. Sung Kang – 30, PGA TOUR member. Eight career Top-10s. 59th in the FedExCup last season. Byeong Hun An – 26, PGA TOUR member. Former U.S. Amateur winner. 102nd in FedExCup last season. Jeunghun Wang – 22, two-time winner on the European Tour in back-to-back weeks in 2016. Olympian. 

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The Farmers Insurance Open is always circled on Jon Rahm's calendar. Torrey Pines was the site of his first PGA TOUR victory and he proposed to his wife, Kelley, near the scenic clifftop course that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. Any concerns that he is ailing as he prepares to play one of his favorite stops on the PGA TOUR are unfounded, Rahm said Wednesday. His decision to withdraw from last week's The American Express got "blown out of proportion like crazy." "It was a little bit of a tweak in the gym, nothing much," Rahm said. "I think it was more overdoing it in the winter, maybe not getting rest. And I could have played last week. I decided not to just because I didn’t want to force it. ... I just wanted to be 100% sure it was going to be fine for this week. It’s a long year. "I had no pain by Monday. It was just more about the fact that besides being cautious, I just wouldn’t have been able to really be hitting balls and practicing by maybe late Tuesday, Wednesday. Physically I’m feeling great, so nothing to worry about." He wanted to play last week in La Quinta to test his new Callaway equipment in different conditions. He finished T7 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in his debut as a Callaway staffer, but that was on the unique Plantation Course at Kapalua that forces players to deal with extreme, sidehill lies and strong crosswinds. Playing The American Express, which he won in 2018, would have allowed him to use his new equipment in more typical tournament conditions. The conditions in the Southern California desert are often called "dome golf" because of the lack of wind. "I actually wanted to play last week to get rounds in with the Callaway stuff. The only tournament I played was in Hawaii where you have crazy lies, crazy winds and a bit of an unusual golf course, right?" Rahm said Wednesday. "I was looking forward to playing a tournament where the greens are perfect, very similar conditions to what I practice on in Scottsdale." Rahm has three top-5s in four starts at Torrey Pines, which will also host this year's U.S. Open. He won the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open by three shots thanks to eagles on Nos. 13 and 18 on Sunday. He also finished runner-up last year - after taking a one-shot lead into Sunday — and T5 in 2019. Rahm is 23rd in this season's FedExCup standings in just five starts. He has finished no worse than T7 in his last three starts, including a runner-up finish at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD and T7 at the Masters. He is coming off the best FedExCup finish (4th) of his career after posting his first multi-win season on TOUR. He won both the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide and BMW Championship in 2020.

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You know you wanna, so go ahead. You learned your lesson. Make it count. One & Doners trapped between caution and conviction were second-guessing themselves when Tiger Woods emerged from the logjam at the Masters to secure his fifth green jacket. Now there’s no doubt that Woods gets the call at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course, site of the PGA Championship as well as his 2002 U.S. Open title. You saw – and felt – what transpired at Augusta National, and you’ve observed him exert careful ownership of his schedule. If there are tournaments that you know he won’t bypass, they are the majors. Despite what you’ll find below, those are the only Future Possibilities on which you should be focusing. RELATED: Tee times | Power Rankings | Expert Picks | Horses for Courses | Fantasy Insider Pebble Beach hosts the U.S. Open in a month, so pick your pleasure. Woods is a winner there, too – twice, in fact, if you include the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. It’s been 19 years since both, but it had been 14 years since his last victory at the Masters. As Woods has acknowledged, Father Time is undefeated, but GOATs make sure that he doesn’t prevail before receiving a powerful punch. If you’re also sitting on Phil Mickelson, then save him for Pebble Beach where’s he’s won five times in the annual PGA TOUR event contested every winter. That includes earlier this year. Lefty couldn’t have hand-picked a better site to convert on the career grand slam. Default to Woods at the PGA and you’re solid. Of course, it’s 2019 and not 2000 or 2002, so there are more than enough familiar faces in whom to invest at Bethpage. Defending champion Brooks Koepka will run away with the highest ownership percentage in PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done. And he should. His swagger is what every gamer wants. His form is tip-top and he has a chip on his shoulder since he probably still can’t believe how his birdie try on the 72nd hole of the Masters didn’t fall. Rory McIlroy has spent the majority of this year camped out atop leaderboards. He’s also proven that he’s human when the pressure mounts, but he’s going to thrive at Bethpage. Long and accurate off the tee plays everywhere, but it’s a cheat code on Long Island. Pause only to holster him for The Open Championship at Royal Portrush in his native Northern Ireland. Rickie Fowler continues to inch closer to his first victory in a major. You can’t rule it out anywhere, but Bethpage is the best fit of the remaining three this season. He’s ideal if you’re chasing. If you’ve burned Mickelson and have a plan other than Dustin Johnson this week, then save DJ for the U.S. Open. He’s another gem at Pebble Beach where his experience, success and comfort will supersede the setup. He’ll also be seeking revenge for a final-round meltdown the last time the course hosted in 2010. Of all of the other notables at Bethpage, only Jason Day and Francesco Molinari pique my interest. Pivot to either if you’re in need of a contingency. Like Fowler, Jon Rahm also presents strongly to cut into a deficit. He’s rapidly figuring out how to put four rounds together consistently by neutralizing emotion while saving strokes. It’s scary to consider his potential once he climbs over the hump of intangibles that have nothing to do with the swing. The Spaniard possesses every athletic requirement for golf. It’s where we can find Koepka now. All of the others in the first 20 of my Power Rankings deserve a peek in two-man games, but scan Future Possibilities to map out short- and long-term strategies. Choices such as Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele, Sergio Garcia, Matt Kuchar and Hideki Matsuyama project as smart saves given who’s expected to flex for the Wanamaker Trophy. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2018-19. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Byeong Hun An … Memorial (1) Daniel Berger … Travelers (1) Keegan Bradley … Memorial (5); Travelers (4) Rafa Cabrera Bello … Wyndham (4) Patrick Cantlay … Memorial (3) Paul Casey … Travelers (1); TOUR Championship (3) Jason Day … PGA Championship (3); U.S. Open (10); Open Championship (9) Bryson DeChambeau … Travelers (4); John Deere (7) Jason Dufner … Charles Schwab (6); Memorial (5); U.S. Open (2); Wyndham (8); TOUR Championship (10) Tony Finau … Memorial (2) Rickie Fowler … PGA Championship (9); Memorial (5); U.S. Open (10) Sergio Garcia … Open Championship (5); TOUR Championship (2) Branden Grace … U.S. Open (4) Emiliano Grillo … Charles Schwab (3) Adam Hadwin … John Deere (5) Brian Harman … Charles Schwab (1); Travelers (5); John Deere (4) Charley Hoffman … Charles Schwab (6); Travelers (1) Billy Horschel … Wyndham (6); TOUR Championship (1) Dustin Johnson … PGA Championship (11); Memorial (10); U.S. Open (1); WGC-St. Jude (6); TOUR Championship (7) Zach Johnson … Charles Schwab (5); John Deere (1); Open Championship (2); TOUR Championship (8) Kevin Kisner … Charles Schwab (2); Memorial (6) Brooks Koepka … PGA Championship (2; defending); Charles Schwab (6); U.S. Open (1; two-time defending); Open Championship (8) Matt Kuchar … Charles Schwab (7); Memorial (1); Open Championship (8) Marc Leishman … Memorial (4); Travelers (3); Open Championship (8) Hideki Matsuyama … PGA Championship (13); Memorial (8); U.S. Open (14); Wyndham (7); TOUR Championship (5) Rory McIlroy … Memorial (5); Travelers (8); Open Championship (1); TOUR Championship (6) Phil Mickelson … U.S. Open (6); Open Championship (9); WGC-St. Jude (3) Francesco Molinari … PGA Championship (4); Open Championship (1; defending) Ryan Moore … Memorial (11); Travelers (6); John Deere (8); Wyndham (2); TOUR Championship (9) Kevin Na … Charles Schwab (3); Wyndham (5) Louis Oosthuizen … PGA Championship (4) Ryan Palmer … Charles Schwab (4) Scott Piercy … Canadian (7; last winner at Hamilton in 2012) Jon Rahm … Charles Schwab (1); TOUR Championship (7) Patrick Reed … PGA Championship (4); U.S. Open (3); Travelers (7) Justin Rose … Charles Schwab (7; defending); Memorial (4); Open Championship (8); TOUR Championship (2) Xander Schauffele … Open Championship (4); TOUR Championship (1) Adam Scott … PGA Championship (8); U.S. Open (9); Open Championship (7); TOUR Championship (3) Webb Simpson … Charles Schwab (8); Travelers (9); Wyndham (1) Cameron Smith … Wyndham (3) Brandt Snedeker … Charles Schwab (7); U.S. Open (5); Travelers (9); Wyndham (1; defending) Jordan Spieth … PGA Championship (7); Charles Schwab (5); Memorial (13); U.S. Open (4); Travelers (9); Open Championship (6); TOUR Championship (8) Henrik Stenson … PGA Championship (4); Open Championship (6); Wyndham (8); TOUR Championship (7) Bubba Watson … Memorial (7); Travelers (2; defending); TOUR Championship (8) Gary Woodland … Memorial (4) Tiger Woods … PGA Championship (6); Memorial (4); THE NORTHERN TRUST (7); TOUR Championship (5; defending)

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