Tiger Woods’ dominance at Torrey Pines started at 1991 Junior World

Castren shot a 5-under 66 after a six-hour storm delay in the second round of the Volunteers of America Classic.

Click here to read the full article…

GUYANCOURT, France – Newly minted FedExCup champion Justin Rose has put his celebrations on hold to concentrate on continuing home dominance for Europe in the Ryder Cup. He’s hoping for a double celebration come Sunday. Rose was rewarded for an extremely consistent 2017-18 PGA TOUR season last weekend at East Lake when his T4 result was enough to claim the FedExCup trophy. His year included wins at the World Golf Championships – HSBC Champions and the Fort Worth Invitational and boasted 11 top-10s and 15 top-25s from his 18 starts. Rose stood tall in the final three FedExCup Playoff events, finishing 2-2-4 and culminated with a clutch birdie on the 72nd hole Sunday to claim the $10 million bonus. It’s a windfall his teammates have been reminding him of in jest. “Apparently all the drinks are on my tab this week and all that type of stuff. We’ve been having fun with it, so I guess there is that element,â€� Rose said. “The FedExCup for me, it finished on the plane. I enjoyed the plane ride over, but once I landed in Paris, I was one of 12 guys. I didn’t want it to carry over into this week. This week is about another job to do. “I can shelf the FedExCup for another week or so. I will certainly enjoy it. It’s kind of a season-long (achievement) that you really want to enjoy. But I’d like to maybe start that party on Sunday night.â€� While Rose obviously wanted to win the TOUR Championship claimed by Tiger Woods, the Englishman said the pressure of knowing what was needed to win the FedExCup – and actually executing it – puts him in a great frame of mind for his fifth Ryder Cup. “It does a lot for my confidence. I’ve been playing consistently well. Obviously, I think that’s ultimately the way I won the FedExCup was through my consistency season long, and that obviously does give you confidence coming into this week,â€� Rose said. “Specifically, if I boil it down to just having to play that last hole to win, the feelings that I faced there are going to be very similar to the feelings I’m going to face this week in order to try and close out a point and win a point. So there will be moments I can draw upon that this week when trying to deliver for Team Europe.â€�

Click here to read the full article…

HAIKOU, CHINA—Sweden’s Oskar Arvidsson carded a third-round, 2-over 74 to stay on course for a wire-to-wire win at the PGA TOUR Series-China International Qualifying Tournament No. 1, the first of two successive 72-hole qualifiers at Mission Hills Haikou. With difficult pin positions adding to the challenge on another cold day, Arvidsson finished 8-under, one ahead of playing partners Lucas Herbert (73) of Australia and American Jeffrey Kang (72), who will all play together again in Sunday’s final round. American Kurt Kitayama, a Web.com Tour player in 2016 and 2017, shot 69 to move to 5-under and tie for fourth with Australia’s Kevin Yuan (68) and Canada’s Richard Jung (71). Luke Toomey, formerly New Zealand’s top amateur, made a strong move as a 68 moved him into a tie for 15th, at even-par. The top-15 finishers will earn full cards and the next 25 will be conditionally exempt for this year’s PGA TOUR Series-China, which will reward the top-five money winners with places on the Web.com Tour, the path to the PGA TOUR. Arvidsson, 26, will start in pole position despite a difficult Saturday in which he dropped his first shots of the tournament after opening with two bogey-free 67s. The Bangkok-based Swede bogeyed No. 2 but bounced back with three straight birdies before dropping shots at Nos. 8, 9, 11 and 18. “It was quite tough out there today. The pins were a little difficult, it was windy, so I think we all played pretty good, but it was hard to get it going. I’m still aiming to win, and I’m looking forward to playing some great courses on this Tour,â€� said Arvidsson, who had even considered withdrawing after suffering stomach pains on Friday morning. Herbert, 22, cut a slightly frustrated figure after mixing four birdies with five bogeys, including on the par-5 18th but still heads a strong Australian contingent that also includes Yuan, DJ Loypur (4-under) and Andrew Schonewille (3-under) in the top-10. As high as third in the World Amateur Golf Ranking before turning pro in 2015, Herbert is on an impressive run of form that has steered him to eighth on the 2017 PGA TOUR of Australasia Order of Merit and a place at The 147th Open Championship at Carnoustie through a tie for eighth at last month’s SMBC Singapore Open, won by Sergio Garcia. “I try to win, anyway. I think it’s one of those events that if you keep the mentality, if you want to win, then you don’t settle for laying up. Your vision tends to broaden a bit more if you just aim for the top 15, so I’m going to try and win and just prove to myself that my game’s still got it,â€� said Herbert, who at World No. 228 is the highest-ranked of the final group. “Eventually, it would be great to play on the Web.com Tour. I have a card on (PGA Tour of) Australasia so I’m looking for Tours to play for the rest of the year, so I’ll also look to play (PGA TOUR) Canada Q-School. If I can get a card here, that would give me some security and I won’t be too stressed out going to Canada Q-School.â€� Kang, 26, also admitted that victory, not a top-15 finish, would be his focus Sunday. The Los Angeles resident, who graduated from the University of Southern California in 2014, recorded his fourth birdie of the day on the 18th to tie Herbert and offset two bogeys and the double bogey he posted on No. 13. “Any tournament you play, you want to win it. I think that’s the mentality you start the tournament with, and why change it going into the last day?â€� asked Kang, who played on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada in 2016 and around Asia last year. “I’ll try to do what I did today, although the back nine was really hard today. I’ll just try to minimize the mistakes and see how it goes.â€� This week’s 120-player entry list features players from 16 countries and territories across Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America, with the largest contingents from the U.S. (34) and South Korea (29). After a one-year hiatus, PGA TOUR Series-China resumes in March with a 14-tournament schedule, with each tournament offering RMB 1.5 million, a 25-percent increase over purse levels from 2016. The Mainland China Qualifying Tournament for China passport holders will be held at Wolong Lake Golf Club in Liuzhou City in Guangxi from February 27-March 2 (Tuesday-Friday). The PGA TOUR established PGA TOUR Series-China in 2014 as its third international developmental tour, following in the footsteps of PGA TOUR Latinoamerica and the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada. Since its inception, PGA TOUR Series-China players have received Official World Golf Ranking points for top finishes at official tournaments. Previous International Qualifying Tournament Winners

Click here to read the full article…