Live Leaderboard: Final round of Hero World Challenge

Polo Golf and RLX Golf are helping both players look their best through collections that pull inspiration from the lush greens of the eastern part of the country to the mountains and scenic cliffs of Southern California. A common thread throughout the collections is modern takes on vintage styles from the ‘50s and ‘60s. The throwback Ivy League inspiration can be seen in the track details, novelty prints, and white-grounded tartans. Argyle sweaters and vintage stripes serve as a tip-of-the-cap to the iconic designs from the Golden Era of the game. Prints have been one of the biggest trends of the season and Ralph Lauren’s Fall Collection provides a healthy dose of whimsical prints and florals in a variety of scales. As we turn the page on another PGA TOUR season and move to the cooler months, look for Thomas and Horschel to sport a West Coast outdoorsy aesthetic with colorful details, striped knits, and color-blocked designs. Athletic, yet sophisticated layering pieces take center stage in the form of luxurious cashmere hoodies, technical vests, and fleece jackets. New for the season is the insulated Tech Wool Hoodie. This hybrid pullover features a sporty, color-blocked design with a quilted poly-filled front panel. In response to more golfers hitting the gym and an increased number of country clubs adding workout facilities, RLX has launched a new fashionable and functional athleisure collection. The line of lightweight t-shirts, 4-way stretch shorts, sweatshirts, and joggers can move from the weight room to the yoga studio to the street without missing a beat. Plus, the neutral color palette of white, grey, and navy is easy to wear. The Fall 2019 Polo Ralph Lauren Golf and RLX Golf Collections are now in golf shops. For tips on how to wear the collections, look to Thomas, Horschel, Smylie Kaufman, Jonathan Byrd, Davis Love III, and Tom Watson for inspiration. As Justin Thomas looks to add a second FedExCup to his trophy case, he is doing so in new apparel from the Fall 2019 Polo Ralph Lauren Golf and RLX Golf Collections. Since arriving on TOUR, Thomas has sported the classic designs and natural fabrics from the Polo Golf Collection. On the flip side, fellow brand ambassador and 2014 FedExCup winner Billy Horschel has made strong statements with bright colors, bold prints, and high tech fabrics from the RLX Golf Collection. This year, however, Thomas and Horschel have been dressed in apparel from both collections. This has allowed them to expand their wardrobes and experiment with different looks. As a result, Thomas has added more athletic designs and fabrics to his repertoire, while Horschel has enhanced his outfits with classic-looking layering pieces.

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Just last month, as the shadows were creeping over the Manhattan skyline, Peter Malnati took his little boy Hatcher out on the empty putting green at Liberty National. The almost-2-year-old struggled to hold his dad’s putter, which is taller than he is. Together, the two managed to sink a few putts, but when they didn’t the toddler took matters into his own hands, literally, and dropped the little white sphere to the cup. “I put ball in hole, I put ball in hole,” an excited Hatcher told his daddy, and it was hard to tell who was having the most fun. Malnati knows how fortunate he and his wife Alicia are to have a healthy son. He has done numerous visits to children’s hospitals across the country that benefit from the proceeds of PGA TOUR events and gotten to know families whose kids are patients in those facilities. That’s why Malnati was quick to say yes when asked to become an Ambassador for Play Yellow, a campaign by the Children’s Miracle Network – supported by Jack and Barbara Nicklaus – that is trying to raise $100 million to help the 10 million kids treated in hospitals each year. “We’ve dealt with little viruses and a fever here and there, but never anything that’s been serious with our little guy,” Malnati says. “But the dreadful thought of having a child be sick and needed to be hospitalized, I would want to know that every research dollar, every resource possible, was available if that was my son in the hospital. “So, to be able to be a very, very small part of contributing to that body of work that’s going into helping to keep our little ones safe and healthy and give them the best treatment possible; yes, that has taken on a whole new meaning for me since seeing how much my world really does revolve around that little guy.” Children’s of Mississippi in Jackson, where the Sanderson Farms Championship is being played this week, is one of those hospitals in the Children’s Miracle Network. The tournament is hosting a Yellow Out on Sunday where the iconic ceramic chicken tee markers will be painted yellow, and all fans and volunteers are asked to wear the same color. Yellow is the color Nicklaus used to wear on Sundays to honor Craig Smith, the young son of the minister at Barbara’s church who died at 13 after battling Ewing’s sarcoma. The teenager once told Nicklaus that he won a tournament because Craig was wearing his lucky yellow shirt. Malnati, who picked up his first PGA TOUR victory at the Country Club on Jackson in 2016, already has his shirt picked out for Sunday’s final round. But he laughs when asked if he plans to go head-to-toe in yellow – “No, no Rickie Fowler for me,” he says with a laugh. The 34-year-old Malnati first became aware of Children’s of Mississippi, which is the only all-pediatric facility in the state, early in his career when his wife attended a PGA TOUR Wives Association event there and helped patients paint the colorful tee markers. Seeing the kids had an impact on her and the couple has visited several times since, including when he was defending champion, and Malnati says his association with Play Yellow will be a “family affair.” “It’s a no brainer to be involved with something that just kind of furthers that impact that golf is able to have in the communities where we play,” Malnati says. In truth, though, Malnati has been preparing for this role since 2013 when he played in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in Columbus, Ohio. Prior to the start of the tournament, he was asked to do a junior clinic for some patient ambassadors at the hospital. Malnati, of course, said yes. He had basically locked up his TOUR card in the previous two-and-a-half months, starting with no status to winning the News-Sentinel Open presented by Pilot and eventually making the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. As he pointed out, Malnati was now in a “really good place. “The game of golf to me, it’s given me so much,” Malnati explains. “It’s just something that I so enjoy. So doing the junior clinic with children from the children’s hospital — it’s not about teaching them skills of golf, it’s about just sharing my love of golf with them. “And so that’s what I did.” Malnati was particularly drawn that day to one little girl who had what he calls an “infectious smile. “You could just see she was genuinely happy and appreciated being there,” he says. “And I felt like her smile kind of reflected the way that the way that I feel about just the fact that I get to go play golf and call it a job to see her be so happy.” He found out later that her name was Madeline Richardson and that she had missed her last two years of school while battling neuroblastoma. Her dad Craig has become one of Malnati’s closest friends, and the pro stays with Craig, his wife Carol and Madeline and her younger sister Elena whenever he plays in the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday. Madeline is a teenager now and doing well, and Malnati says her parents give all credit to the care she received at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “So that’s a pretty powerful endorsement of the good that I’m hoping to be a part of,” Malnati says. Madeline was also selected to hit the opening tee shot at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in 2013. Malnati happened to be teeing off No. 10 at the same time and was able to run over and watch. The entire experience that week moved him. “So that’s where I first even got the idea that this organization that I was about to be a part of — the PGA TOUR — is actually doing real good and having a real impact in the communities where we played,” Malnati says. “And so that was cool. “It was something that interested me then, and now to kind of take that interest farther and join the Play Yellow initiative is something that I’m really excited about.”

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Brooks Koepka did not have many details to share regarding his upcoming post-Thanksgiving showdown with long-hitting Bryson DeChambeau – the newest addition to Capital One’s The Match series that will air Nov. 26 on TNT. Asked when conversations for such a mano-a-mano television event even began, Koepka smiled and answered, “You can ask Bryson.” But on the eve of competing in the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas, Koepka did convey considerable respect for DeChambeau’s significant transformations, and had praise for DeChambeau’s surprising performance at last week’s Professional Long Drivers Association’s World Championship. DeChambeau made it through to the quarterflnals at the Long Drive, falling just shy of the four-man finale. DeChambeau achieved a swing speed of 219 mph and his longest drive on the grid was 412 yards. Kyle Berkshire eventually would win his second title (his winning drive measured 422 yards). A few of DeChambeau’s peers on the PGA TOUR could not help but take notice of his spirited march through the competition. Koepka said Wednesday that adding length has become a huge theme on the PGA TOUR, and will continue to have a big impact as younger players make their way out to the game’s top level. “I think you kind of saw it maybe coming out of COVID,” Koepka said at TPC Summerlin after playing nine holes in a pro-am. “I think you saw even other guys (other than DeChambeau) trying to hit it further. Swing a little harder, trying to maximize their distance. I think it’s going to change the game of golf forever, personally. If you’re going to hit it that far and you find a couple fairways, it’s tough to beat. It does get very difficult when you got wedge into hole where guys got 6-iron. Your odds are going to be in your favor. “That’s what he (DeChambeau) has done. It’s impressive to be able to actually change a body, change the way you swing, and yet still compete out here. I think that’s probably the most impressive thing. It’s one thing to do it and then just kind of mess around with it at home but not bring it to an actual tournament. So the fact he’s able to do that, the fact he did at the Long Drive, I don’t think anybody really thought he was going to get that far. The fact he did was quite impressive.” This new PGA TOUR season is but a few events old, but the driving average on TOUR thus far is 304.7 yards. A year ago, the average distance TOUR players hit their drives was 296.2. DeChambeau led all players in distance last season, averaging a record 323.7 yards through 83 rounds. Koepka doesn’t exactly bunt it off the tee; he averaged 310.7 yards and ranked 12th. Scottie Scheffler partnered with DeChambeau in two Four-ball matches at the 43rd Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits two weeks ago, and knew DeChambeau was as excited about the Long Drive as he was about the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. “He was definitely pretty interested in it last week,” Scheffler said. ”We had a great time playing together. He’s a great (Four-ball) partner and he’s a great alternate-shot player as well because he’s such a talented player. We had a great time in the team room. “His performance in the Long Drive was pretty cool. I think he told us his goal for the Long Drive was to make it to the final 16, I think he said that would have been a really big accomplishment for him. … I’m sure he’s feeling really good about his performance. It was pretty fun to watch.” Koepka, 31, is playing for the sixth time at Shriners (he was a runner-up in 2017), and will play next week at THE CJ CUP @ Summit, a second event in Vegas. Koepka said his 2020-21 season, which was slowed by knee and wrist injuries, was a disappointment, and that this season he’d like to not only win multiple events, but stay healthy throughout. One aspect of his game that held him back last season: Green-reading. He said he has worked on integrating AimPoint into his routine to better read breaks on the greens, which hopefully will lead to better results with the putter. “I’ve fallen off, to be completely honest,” said Koepka, an eight-time TOUR winner and four-time major champion now ranked ninth in the Official World Golf Ranking. “I’ve fallen off going to World No. 1, injuries, all this stuff, and I haven’t been where I expected myself to be. I think that’s been the disappointing part, so I was kind of kicking myself and trying to figure out how to get better, and that (AimPoint) was just one of the ways. “… There’s some things where you’ve got to keep improving year after year. You look at it, traditionally, 30 or 35 is when guys have their prime out here, and I’m just kind of starting that prime at 31. So hopefully that holds true. But you got to find a way.” Koepka and DeChambeau, who bantered through social media through much of 2021, will partake in a 12-hole match on Nov. 26 at the Wynn Golf Course at Wynn Las Vegas. DeChambeau, ranked seventh in the world, was part of a previous version of The Match, joining NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers in taking down the tandem of Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady. Koepka and DeChambeau were teammates on the winning U.S. Ryder Cup team two weeks ago, and, at the behest of U.S. team member Justin Thomas, even embraced in a playful embrace following the team’s final media session. As for more details on The Match? We’ll have to wait for those. “I think we’re excited,” Koepka said. “It’s going to be good. You’ll see it.”

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