Kirk goes low at Sea Island, takes 1-shot lead

Round 1 of the Valero Texas Open takes place Thursday. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action. Live leaderboard Full tee times HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 1-3:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3:30-6 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, 1-2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2:30-6 p.m. (NBC). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 8:15 a.m.- 7 p.m. (Featured Groups). Saturday, 8:15 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). Sunday, 8:15 a.m.-2:30 p.m. (Featured Groups), 2:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 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 Gary Woodland, Rickie Fowler, Scottie Scheffler Jordan Spieth, Ryan Palmer, Corey Conners Tony Finau, Cameron Champ, Joel Dahmen Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Hideki Matsuyama For more, read the Featured Groups roundtable. MUST READS The First Look Expert Picks Power Rankings Horses for Courses How the Valero Texas Open changed Corey Conners’ career

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The Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is a season-long competition that offers a $10 million bonus for the 10 golfers who end the regular season at the Wyndham Championship inside the top 10 in FedExCup points. The player atop the standings will earn $2 million, with varying payoffs for the others through $500,000 for the 10th place finisher. THIS WEEK: It’s a two-event week with the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis, Tennessee, and the Barracuda Championship outside Reno, Nevada. Highest-rated FedExCup players in the WGC-FedEx St. Jude field 1. Justin Thomas 2. Webb Simpson 3. Sungjae Im 4. Bryson DeChambeau 5. Rory McIlroy Highest-ranked FedExCup players in the Barracuda Championship field 10. Lanto Griffin 41. Brendan Steele 60. Maverick McNealy 67. Vaughn Taylor 68. Brian Stuard No. 1 watch: Justin Thomas remains atop the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 standings for the third consecutive week and the 12th week (out of 27) this season. He’s also led the FedExCup standings for 38 weeks in his PGA TOUR career, fourth all-time of any player. Top 10 moves: For the first time this season, there were no changes in the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 standings after a completed tournament. Last week’s winner of the 3M Open, Michael Thompson, went from 151 to 39 in the FedExCup Standings Scenarios • The winner of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational receives 550 FedExCup points. The only players close enough to overtake Justin Thomas atop the standings with a win this week are Webb Simpson (229 points behind), Sungjae Im (347 points behind) and Bryson DeChambeau (375 points behind). • 27 players in the field at TPC Southwind currently not inside the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 standings could move inside the top 10 with a win this week. • The winner of the Barracuda Championship receives 300 FedExCup points. Lanto Griffin, the highest-ranked player in the field, could move from 10th to fifth in the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 standings with a win. No player in the field outside the top 10 can move inside it with a win. • Weeks left in Wyndham Rewards Top 10 competition after this week: 2 (2 tournaments – PGA Championship and Wyndham Championship). Notes • Last season, eight of the final top 10 in the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 were inside the top 10 of the standings with three weeks remaining in the regular season. • Webb Simpson (2nd), Rory McIlroy (5th) and Jon Rahm (8th) are the only players from last season’s final Wyndham Rewards Top 10 who are currently inside the top 10 with three weeks left in regular season. • Since 2009, just two players have been outside the top 25 of the FedExCup standings with three weeks to go and went onto finish the regular season inside the top 10 — Keegan Bradley (2012, 26 to 8) and Webb Simpson (2019, 26 to 9). • In the last 11 PGA TOUR seasons, Rory McIlroy is the only player to finish first in the final regular season standings after being outside the top-three of the FedExCup standings with three weeks to go (he was 12th). • Since 2009, with three weeks left, 18 different players (21 times) started outside the top-10 and played their way into the final top 10 of the regular season standings. Keegan Bradley (2011, 2012, 2013) & Webb Simpson (2017-18 & 2018-19) are the only players to player their way into the final top 10 in multiple seasons. QUOTE “I’m really happy to be where I am at this point in the season as No. 2 in the FedExCup and Wyndham Rewards. I’ve got a few events to try to take that top spot from Justin.” – Current No. 2 Webb Simpson

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