Key numbers for Sentry Tournament of Champions

Anna Davis, 16, knowing full well that she was “an underdog in the field,” won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Saturday in her first entry in the tournament.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – NBC Sports will air an hour-long special titled PGA TOUR 2017: Must-See Moments sponsored by Myrbetriq® (mirabegron) that will chronicle a 2016-17 PGA TOUR Season filled with moments you simply had to see to believe. The NBC Sports feature will air on Sunday, October 8 at 2 pm ET. PGA TOUR 2017: Must-See Moments sponsored by Myrbetriq® (mirabegron), which was produced by PGA TOUR Entertainment, will look back at the heated battles inside the ropes that are ushering in an era of emerging young stars. In all, this collection of shots, stories and champions filled the 2016-17 PGA TOUR Season with must-see moments. Below are some of the topics and moments that will be highlighted in the special: Young Stars While the success of the game’s youth has garnered headlines for several seasons, their accomplishments during the 2016-17 season were truly historic. The show will examine just how dominant these “20-something� players were in 2016-17, particularly Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Hideki Matsuyama, all of whom built their own case for this season’s PGA TOUR Player of the Year honors. Jon Rahm A massive hip-hop fan who learned English through listening to lyrics, Rahm had a chance to meet Grammy Award winner Ludacris in Atlanta prior to this season’s TOUR Championship. After busting onto the scene with his first career win at the Farmers Insurance Open, the Spaniard is yet another budding young star, whose game clearly matches the passion and artistry of his musical interests. Honoring Arnold Palmer At the start of 2017, PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan called for this season’s top priority to be to make Mr. Palmer proud. We look back on the multitude of events that honored golf’s greatest ambassador, as Arnold Palmer’s massive legacy continues to live on through golf. Chris Stroud Weeks after earning his first career victory in his 11th season on TOUR, Hurricane Harvey devastated Stroud’s hometown of Houston, Texas. The 35-year-old played a crucial role in the TOUR’s relief efforts, as he encouraged his fellow competitors to donate a portion of their winnings at the Dell Technologies Championship to relief efforts. The special follows Stroud home to Houston to see how those efforts have continued, and how he is helping his neighbors and hometown recover from the disaster. PGA TOUR Volunteer Challenge This friendly competition provides volunteers a chance to earn votes for their outstanding service and, in turn, raise money for local charities. The show will highlight Michele Chamberlin, a volunteer at Farmers Insurance Open, whose particular efforts earned praise from PGA TOUR player Billy Hurley III, as well as Bob Dow, THE NORTHERN TRUST Volunteer Challenge winner the last two years. The special will also showcase Justin Thomas capturing his first FedExCup title in Atlanta along with the top moments from the Presidents Cup. And to top it all off the show will preview what is expected to be another thrilling 2017-18 PGA TOUR Season as it kicks off with the Safeway Open in Napa, Calif., October 5-8, 2017. For a preview of the special, visit: PGATOUR.COM.

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Rahm on a Roll Incredibly, Tuesday marks seven full months since the last time Jon Rahm recorded an over-par round on TOUR. That came in the first round of the 2021 Open Championship, and he still tied for third place. Rahm’s run of 33 consecutive rounds of par or better is the longest active streak on TOUR, with Patrick Cantlay close behind at 31. With an opening 71 or lower on Thursday, Rahm will be the first player in nearly 20 years to have a streak of 34 or longer in this statistic, the last being Charles Howell III in 2002-03. It would also tie the mark for longest such streak by an international player, matching Vijay Singh’s streak of 34 straight from 2000 to 2001. Since 1983, the only player with a streak longer than 38 rounds is – who else – Tiger Woods, who rattled off 52 consecutive rounds at par or better from the 2000 AT&T Byron Nelson to the WM Phoenix Open in February of the following year. Woods had six TOUR wins, including three majors, in that unbelievable stretch. Days removed from hosting a thrilling Super Bowl, Los Angeles is the site of another star-studded competition this week at The Riviera Country Club. For the first time in the history of The Genesis Invitational, the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking will tee it up. It’s the first time since last year’s TOUR Championship that all 10 in the OWGR will compete in the same PGA TOUR event. One of the marquee events on the TOUR schedule, The Genesis Invitational has boasted some extremely strong fields in recent years: 9 of that week’s top 10 played in both 2017 and 2020. Still, it’s rare when all of the world’s best are in the mix at an event that isn’t a major championship, FedExCup Playoffs event, World Golf Championships event, or THE PLAYERS Championship. Historically Speaking To find another field like this on TOUR, you have to go back to the 2007 Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club, the last time 10 of the top 10 played in a tournament that wasn’t a major, Playoffs event, WGC, or THE PLAYERS. Tiger Woods would earn his 57th official TOUR title that week, which happened to be the week before THE PLAYERS. The Wells Fargo was the second victory in what would turn out to be a seven-win season for Woods. Another 10-of-10 field happened the week before THE PLAYERS in 1995, when every one of the top 23 players in the world played the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. That week at Bay Hill had an incredibly strong international contingent, including a rare stateside, non-major start for Japanese star Jumbo Ozaki, the 9th-ranked player in the world. Loren Roberts would go on to successfully defend his title that week at Arnie’s place. As for Riviera, it last hosted a major in 1995, when Steve Elkington won the PGA Championship. Not even that week could boast the entire top 10: Bernhard Langer, No. 4, missed the tournament with a back injury. Since 2010, about 12% of all events on TOUR (including the majors, PLAYERS, WGCs and FedExCup Playoffs) have had every member of the world top 10 in the field. But to see it at this particular spot on the schedule – at one of the best venues all year on TOUR – is a rare treat for golf fans. Short Game Significance Riviera has some of the most difficult greens to hit on TOUR. Last season, only Winged Foot (52.1%) and Kiawah Island (53.8%), both major championship venues, yielded a lower G.I.R. percentage than Riviera (54.2%). And while this statistic does highlight the need for precision approach play, it also hints that everyone in the field will, sooner or later, need to get up-and-down to make a key par save. Because of this, Strokes Gained: Around the Green is a more impactful statistic than usual in determining a winner at Riviera. Since 2010, TOUR winners have averaged 0.42 Strokes Gained: Around the Green per round. At Riviera, that number is significantly higher – 0.79 per round for players who take home the trophy. For winners of The Genesis Invitational, shots around the green have accounted for 22.1% of all Strokes Gained since 2010. That is nearly double the TOUR average for winners in that span, 11.6%. Nine of the previous 14 winners at Riviera ranked in the top 10 that week in Strokes Gained: Around the Green, including Max Homa in 2021.

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