Nicklaus: Tiger Woods can still break my record

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The PGA TOUR announced Tuesday the 2020 Korn Ferry Tour schedule, which features 28 tournaments played in 20 states and four countries outside the United States, with the season culminating with the Korn Ferry Tour Finals in August. The 28 total events are the most since 2010 and will include $18,850,000 in official prize money, the largest figure on the Korn Ferry Tour in over a decade.  In addition to announcing the 2020 schedule, a new host was announced on Tuesday for The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic. Due to the devastating effects of Hurricane Dorian on Great Abaco, the event will now be contested in Nassau at Baha Mar’s Royal Blue Golf Club. All proceeds from the newly named Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at Baha Mar will go towards Hurricane Dorian relief efforts in The Bahamas. The tournament will be held the week of January 16-22, a week after The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay opens the 2020 season. The Royal Blue Golf Club at Baha Mar is a 2017 Jack Nicklaus Signature design, his first layout in The Bahamas. The Baha Mar resort is a 1,000-acre resort complex on the island of New Providence, northwest of The Bahamas’ capital, Nassau.  The Korn Ferry Tour will welcome four new events to the 2020 calendar. “The Korn Ferry Tour has a track record, second-to-none, in developing the next wave of stars, and we’re excited to see that momentum continue with the unveiling of the 2020 schedule,� said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “With an increased focus on growing our tournaments and purses, we remain confident in the Korn Ferry Tour’s ability to attract the game’s best young players.� The season-long chase for 50 available PGA TOUR cards encompasses a 25-event Regular Season that runs from The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay in January through the WinCo Foods Portland Open presented by KraftHeinz in August, before giving way to the eighth annual Korn Ferry Tour Finals, which will consist of the Albertsons Boise Open presented by Kraft Nabisco (Aug. 10-16), Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship (Aug. 17-23), and Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance (Aug. 24-30). Other 2020 season highlights include the return of the El Bosque Mexico Championship by INNOVA to the schedule in March and a new venue at the Visit Knoxville Open. The Visit Knoxville Open, one of the original four tournaments from the Korn Ferry Tour’s inaugural 1990 season, will move to Donald Ross-designed Holston Hills Country Club for the first time. “We are excited to launch our first full season with Korn Ferry as our umbrella partner,� said Korn Ferry Tour President Alex Baldwin. “Their dedication and investment in our players mirrors our efforts to continue growing the Korn Ferry Tour by offering a world-class tournament experience for our membership, partners and fans.� Seven events will air on GOLF Channel, including all three Korn Ferry Tour Finals events. Tournament programming is distributed in 80+ countries and territories via TV linear channels, with live broadcast available in 222 countries and territories via GOLFTV Powered by PGA TOUR. For more information on the 2020 Korn Ferry Tour season, please visit PGATOUR.com. Download the schedule here. 

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The Valspar Championship returns to the PGA TOUR schedule this season after the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Two-time defending champion Paul Casey returns to try to win for a record third time in Tampa. FIELD NOTES: Reigning FedExCup champion Dustin Johnson returns to action after a T13 at the RBC Heritage… Past FedExCup winner Justin Thomas is back on the PGA TOUR for the first time since playing the Masters. Thomas sits second in the 2021 FedExCup standings… Phil Mickelson will tee it up at the Valspar Championship for the first time since 2004… Casey is joined by Adam Hadwin (2017) and Charl Schwartzel (2016) as past winners in Tampa from the last five years… Sponsor Exemptions include college standout John Augenstein, European stars Rasmus Hojgaard and Sam Horsfield, plus Chase Koepka (brother to Brooks)… Ten of the top-30 golfers in the world are teeing it up at Innisbrook. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. STORYLINES: The Valspar Championship marks the final event of the PGA TOUR schedule to take place in Florida after its series of tournaments in March… Dustin Johnson’s Valspar Championship start in 2019 was his debut at the event and he had a chance to win until a 3-over 74 in the final round. He’s back and looking for another good result as the race to the FedExCup heats up… Attendance at the event will be approximately 20 percent of normal capacity… Only 10 golfers since World War II have three-peated at an event on the PGA TOUR (Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, Gene Littler, Stuart Appleby, Steve Stricker, and of course, Tiger Woods have all done it). Paul Casey looks to join that list this year at Innisbrook. COURSE: Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead), par 71, 7,340 yards. Long known as a TOUR-player favorite, the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook puts a premium on positioning off the tee and is as complete an examination as TOUR players will face all year. Larry Packard’s layout near Tampa is tree-lined and all culminates at the ‘Snake Pit’ with two difficult par-4s sandwiched between the 215-yard par-3 17th. The course opened in the early 1970s. 72-HOLE RECORD: 266, Vijay Singh (2004). 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, Padraig Harrington (1st round, 2012). LAST TIME: Paul Casey became the first golfer in the 41-year history of the Valspar Championship to defend his title. He won by one shot in 2018 over Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed, and won by the same margin – this time over Jason Kokrak and Louis Oosthuizen – in 2019. Casey, who hadn’t won the PGA TOUR in nine seasons before his 2018 win in Tampa, was steadier than anyone through a tough week in 2019 at the Copperhead Course. His 1-over 72 on Sunday was good enough, as he survived a hard exam at Innisbrook better than anyone, punctuated with a par from the fairway bunker on the 72nd hole. Bubba Watson and Sungjae Im, both at 6-under, rounded out the top five. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 2 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (NBC). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m. ET (Featured Groups). Saturday-Sunday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-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.

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CROMWELL, Conn. — Rory McIlroy doesn’t consider his performance in Thursday’s opening round of the Travelers Championship much different than the one on display a week ago. The contrast in results, though, were fairly extreme. “A 16-shot difference,â€� McIlroy noted. Indeed, his opening 6-under 64 at TPC River Highlands was a welcomed sight after his 10-over 80 in the opening round of the U.S. Open. World No. 7 McIlroy wasn’t the only top-10 player who wiped away a nightmare result at Shinnecock Hills with a much more fruitful score a week later. No. 5 Jordan Spieth opened the defense of his Travelers title with a 7-under 63 in the afternoon that vaulted him into a share of the lead with morning finisher Zach Johnson. A week ago, Spieth opened with a 78 and, like McIlroy, ultimately missed the cut. Meanwhile, No. 9 Jason Day bounced back from his opening 79 at Shinnecock Hills with a solid 66 that left him in a 14-way tie for ninth. The 63 for Spieth is nothing new for him at TPC River Highlands — it’s the same score he shot in last year’s opening round en route to winning in his first Travelers start. It’s also his lowest score since a year ago, and a much-needed boost in a season of sputtering starts. Spieth’s first-round scoring average this season is 71.79, which ranks him tied for 155th on the PGA TOUR. “The first rounds have been kind of detrimental to me,â€� Spieth said, “so it’s nice to be in the thick of things.â€� Like he did in the playoff against Daniel Berger last year, Spieth holed out from a greenside bunker. This time, it was at the par-5 sixth for eagle, to go along with his six birdies. But more than the fireworks, Thursday’s round saw Spieth play as solid as he’s done all year. He called it his “third-bestâ€� round of the year after his first (66) and fourth (64) rounds at the Masters. Even more to the point, he was pleased with his management of the round. He didn’t try to force the issue on a course than can be very tempting to attack. “This golf course, I played it really smart today. It was probably the smartest round I’ve played this year, really the last couple years,â€� Spieth said. “I just didn’t feel great coming off the range. I’ve been working on some things on the swing, just decided to play toward the center of the greens and let the putter do the work because it’s starting to come around.â€� Indeed, he feels good about his entire game, talking about the need to simply trust the process of getting back to the kind of performances golf fans are used to seeing from Spieth. “My game’s in a good place, scores aren’t reflecting it,â€� Spieth said. “As long as I don’t beat myself up over that and just stick to the process, then — it’s certainly a testing year for me, and it’s a building year. It’s one where I can actually come out stronger. I’ve kind of looked at it that way the last couple months.â€� As for McIlroy, he said missing the cut at Shinnecock Hills allowed him to put in some very productive weekend week, and he carried that over to his practice sessions this week at the Travelers. The result was a bogey-free round for the first 17 holes. The only reason he doesn’t have a share of the lead is a closing bogey in which he failed to find the green with his approach. “I feel like the work that I did over the weekend sort of started to pay off already,â€� said McIlroy, who has a win, two other top-10s and three missed cuts in a rollercoaster last few months. “It was nice to see the shots I was playing right there. Being able to work the ball both ways was something I wasn’t quite as comfortable doing last week. “Obviously, you never want to miss a cut in a major, but it might have been a blessing in disguise for the rest of the year.â€� The blessing in disguise, perhaps, would be simply coming to a course that allows players to flex their scoring muscles.

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