Power Rankings: Sony Open in Hawaii

GREENSBORO, N.C. – When the first round of official tournament play in the 2019 Wyndham Championship begins three weeks from today, three of the most heralded rookies in recent PGA TOUR history, Matthew Wolff, Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland, will be in the field. The 80th Wyndham Championship, which will determine the $10 Million Wyndham Rewards Top 10, is set for July 30-Aug. 4, 2019 at Sedgefield Country Club. All three of these future superstars accepted a Wyndham Championship sponsor’s exemptions earlier this year. Wolff, however, won last week’s 3M Open in dramatic fashion eagling the last hole to take a one-stroke win over Morikawa and Bryson DeChambeau who eagled the same hole moments earlier to take the lead.  Wolff, 20, played two seasons at Oklahoma State University before turning professional earlier this summer. While at Oklahoma State, he won NCAA championships in team competition (2018) and individual competition (2019). He won six times during his sophomore season and claimed the Fred Haskins Award as the nation’s most outstanding player.  Prior to Wolff, only Ben Crenshaw (1973) and Tiger Woods (1996) won an NCAA individual title and a PGA TOUR event in the same year. The Agoura Hills, Calif., native is the ninth-youngest winner in PGA TOUR history. With his win in the 3M Open in his fourth TOUR start, Wolff joined the PGA TOUR as a member through the 2020-’21 season and no longer needs the sponsor’s exemption he accepted.  Wolff finished tied for 19th in the 2015 AJGA Wyndham Invitational presented by BB&T and is the 87th Wyndham Invitational alumnus to earn PGA TOUR membership. Morikawa, who finished tied for second with DeChambeau at the 3M Open, earned 245 FedExCup points last weekend, and when added to the 89 he earned previously, totals 334 points giving him more points than earned by No. 150 in last season’s FedExCup point standings. With that milestone, Morikawa, 22, earned PGA TOUR special temporary membership meaning he can accept unlimited sponsor’s exemptions for the rest of the season as he works to earn PGA TOUR membership for next season which he will accomplish by earning at least as many points as No. 125 in this year’s FedExCup point standings. That number is currently 286. Morikawa played four seasons at the University of California where he was a three-time, first-team All-American. He was the Golfweek Men’s National Player of the Year in 2018 and was named Pac-12 Player of the Year this past season. The Los Angeles native was formerly No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. He played the AJGA Wyndham Invitational in 2013 and ’14 finished tied for ninth and tied for 72nd.  Hovland, a native of Norway, also turned professional this summer after playing with Wolff at Oklahoma State University. He finished tied for 32nd at the Masters and was low amateur joining CBS Sports’ Jim Nantz and 2019 Masters champion Tiger Woods in Butler Cabin at Augusta National after the tournament. He finished tied for 12th as low amateur at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach before turning professional. In his three professional starts, he finished tied for 54th at the Travelers Championship and tied for 13th at both the Rocket Mortgage Classic and the 3M Open. The 2018 U.S. Amateur Champion won the 2019 Ben Hogan Award as the nation’s top college golfer.  “What an amazing 3M Open we saw with Matt Wolff and Colin Marikawa dueling it out with Bryson DeChambeau,� tournament director Mark Brazil said. “We’ve known about Collin and Matt for quite a while since they played in the AJGA Wyndham Invitational and Wyndham Cup over the years. For Matt to win with Collin tying for second, and basically securing their cards for next year, was a lot of fun to watch. I think everyone got a good look at some of golf’s future.  “We gave Collin and Matt sponsor’s exemptions early in the year along with Viktor who was U.S. Amateur champion, low amateur at the Masters and low amateur at the U.S. Open so he has quite a resume as well. To have those three ‘young guns’ coming to the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield, which two of them have played, is a great deal for the tournament and says a lot about what we’re trying to do with the young talent on the PGA TOUR.�

Click here to read the full article…

Click here to read the full article…

Tiger Woods will make his 2019 calendar debut at next week’s Farmers Insurance Open, an event he’s won seven times. The tournament made the official announcement Wednesday. Woods also committed to playing in the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles on February 14-17 where he doubles as the tournament host. Woods’ last PGA TOUR appearance was the memorable TOUR Championship in September when he walked up the 18th fairway en route to victory through a crowd of fans. That win was the 80th of his TOUR career, putting him just two shy of Sam Snead’s all-time record. The last time Woods played competitively was the week after Thanksgiving at his Hero World Challenge, a non-TOUR event in the Bahamas. Woods did not fare well that week, finishing 17th in the 18-man field. Still, the thought of a healthy Woods for a full season will be a huge storyline this season. A year ago when Woods played at Torrey Pines, he was still unsure how much he could play after enduring four back surgeries. After being limited to just two tournaments in the span of more than two full calendar years, Woods made his comeback in 2018, starting at Torrey Pines. He played 18 tournaments, securing 12 top-25 finishes and seven top-10s – including a pair of runner-up placings and his TOUR Championship win, his first victory in more than five years. He finished T6 or better in The Open Championship and the PGA Championship and earned more than $5 million for just the second time in nine seasons. Woods won the Farmers in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2013, and earned his most recent major championship victory in a 19-hole playoff at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in 2008. In addition to his seven victories, Woods has finished in the top 10 six other times in 16 appearances. He is the tournament’s all-time leading money winner, with $6,915,700. “We couldn’t be happier to have Tiger back in our field,â€� said Century Club of San Diego CEO Peter Ripa. “He really launched his fairytale comeback season right here last January, and he has enjoyed incredible success at Torrey Pines Golf Course and in our tournament over the years. It will be exciting to see him alongside many of the game’s other top players Jan. 24-27.â€� Until last year, Woods hadn’t played four complete rounds in the Farmers since his last victory here in 2013. After missing the cut during an abbreviated comeback in 2017, he advanced to the weekend last year by making birdie on his 18th hole Friday to make the cut on the number. Rounds of 70 and 72 Saturday and Sunday left him tied for 23rd. He would go on to secure top-10 finishes in the Valspar Championship, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Quicken Loans National, The Open Championship, the PGA Championship and the BMW Championship before his season-ending victory at East Lake. “This year as a whole was probably the most rewarding, because there was a point where I just didn’t know if I would ever do this again,â€� Woods said before the Hero World Challenge. “The expectations are much different this upcoming year. Now I know that I can do it, now it’s just about managing and making sure I’m fresh for events, because I know I can win tournaments again.â€� Twenty years ago, Woods captured his first title at the Farmers Insurance Open. It was his eighth victory on the PGA TOUR but carried extra significance because of the golf course on which he did it. Woods joins a strong list of early commitments that includes defending champion Jason Day; defending FedExCup champion Justin Rose; San Diego native Xander Schauffele; 2017 Farmers Insurance Open winner Jon Rahm; along with world top-30 players Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau, Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed, Marc Leishman, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Alex Noren, Gary Woodland and Hideki Matsuyama. Joining Fowler and Schauffele among San Diego products committed to the Farmers Insurance Open are Torrey Pines High School graduates Pat Perez and Jamie Lovemark, Poway product Charley Hoffman and San Diego State University alum J.J. Spaun. Joining Woods and Rahm as past tournament champions who have committed are Day (2018, 2015), Brandt Snedeker (2016, 2012), Scott Stallings (2014), Ben Crane (2010) and Nick Watney (2009). Young up-and-coming players to watch who have committed include PGA TOUR rookie and long-bomber Cameron Champ and 19-year-old Chilean sensation Joaquin Niemann. Woods will look to better last year’s performance at Riviera in February. In his first appearance at the event since 2006 Woods missed the cut, just one of two (U.S. Open) missed weekends all season. Prior to that he had eight top-20 finishes at Riviera, including runner up finishes in 1998 and 1999. The Riviera Country Club was the site of Woods’ first PGA TOUR event in 1992, competing on a sponsor’s exemption as an amateur. Woods’ TGR Live manages the Genesis Open and proceeds from the tournament benefit his TGR Foundation. “I’m looking forward to being back in Los Angeles for the Genesis Open,â€� Woods said. “It’s always great to be able to play at Riviera and I am very proud of the impact the Genesis Open has been able to make on education through my foundation.â€�

Click here to read the full article…