Win probabilities: THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, Round 1

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Alan Bratton liked the low numbers. Scores are usually the first data that coaches consult when seeking new recruits, but these were outliers that indicated Bratton was looking at special players. Rickie Fowler was 15 years old and still wearing braces when he shot 62 to win Southern California’s high school championship in 2004. He was the first freshman since Tiger Woods to win that title. RELATED: Fans at home will be able to contribute to TaylorMade Driving Relief’s COVID-19 relief efforts thanks to PGA TOUR Charities’ online and Text-To-Give donation platforms powered by GoFundMe Charity. Click here to donate. MORE: TaylorMade Driving Relief to benefit COVID-19 relief efforts | Live golf set to return | Seminole Golf Club ready for its close-up This was an earlier time, though, before the widespread adoption of smartphones and social media, so it was still possible for such a sensation to stay a secret. Fowler hadn’t competed much outside California, so Bratton, then the assistant golf coach at Oklahoma State, thought he was ahead of the curve when he watched Fowler at the Western Junior. He kept his distance to avoid tipping off other coaches. There was just one problem. Fowler won the tournament. With a final-round 64, including a birdie on 18, for a one-stroke win. The secret was out. A few years later, Bratton heard about another special player going low. The tip came from a recruit who casually mentioned about playing a tournament where the winner shot 61 and won by 13. Bratton, who had become Oklahoma State’s head coach in 2013, needed to know the name of the kid who dusted the field by more than a dozen strokes. It was Matthew Wolff. While their stints in Stillwater, Oklahoma, were separated by a decade, ties run deep between Cowboys. Fowler returns to his alma mater often, playing golf with each member of the team and giving the players his phone number. Wolff’s team had dinner at Fowler’s house when they were in town for a tournament. Fowler was on hand to congratulate Wolff when he won. So it made sense for Fowler and Wolff to be teammates when the TaylorMade Driving Relief match was in the works. They’ll need to tap into their penchant for shooting low scores if they want to succeed May 17 at Seminole Golf Club. Their opponents in this four-ball skins game – Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson — also have something in common. They’re the current and former World No. 1s. “I’ve seen some fan reaction saying how much of a favorite Rory and DJ are, so Matt and I are going in as underdogs,â€� Fowler says. “We’re ready to bring the upset.â€� Team chemistry could be an equalizer for the former Cowboys, though McIlroy revealed recently that he and Johnson had discussed teaming for this year’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Fowler and Wolff met when Fowler returned to campus for homecoming. “We clicked right off the bat,â€� Wolff says. For obvious reasons. Both developed unique swings while growing up on public golf courses in Southern California. For Fowler, it was on the Murrieta Valley Golf Range, which co-owners Bill Teasdall and Barry McDonnell ran out of a single-story portable building on land that used to be a horse stable. McDonnell became Fowler’s first teacher. Wolff spent his formative years taking lessons from George Gankas at Westlake Golf Course, a 5,000-yard layout with artificial-turf mats on its driving range. In junior golf, both players heard critics say they should change their unique swings. Neither heeded the advice. Bratton liked that each player developed his own swing and wasn’t afraid to stick to it, even in the face of criticism. He says he could recruit both players with his ears, not his eyes, because of the quality of the sound at impact. “I love to look for natural swings,â€� Bratton says. “It doesn’t mean it has to be different, but I certainly want a kid who understands how to make adjustments on their own. You see a lot of kids who are trying to do something that someone else told them to do. There’s incredible instruction out there, but sometimes kids don’t understand or try to do something that’s not natural to them.â€� Though Fowler can’t match Wolff’s swing speed, Bratton says there are similarities to their playing styles, as well. “Once they make up their mind, they wind up and go,â€� says their former coach. “They look like they’re having fun when they play.â€� For each fan donation that is made using a Mastercard, Mastercard has announced a donation match program through which they will match the first $250,000 of all fan donations made through the PGA TOUR Charities’ GoFundMe platform. Click here for more.

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Lanto Griffin took a long, hard road to becoming a PGA TOUR winner. He was 12 when his father, Michael, who bought him his first set of clubs, died of a brain tumor. But Steve Prater, Lanto’s coach, stepped in and got the boy an honorary membership to Blacksburg Country Club. Griffin struggled professionally and considered quitting as his bank account dwindled to nearly nothing, but sponsors and a sports psychologist intervened. At the Golf Club of Houston on Sunday, he made a 33-foot birdie putt on 16, scratched out pars on 17 and 18, and won by a shot to change his life. He earned a two-year exemption and secured a spot in THE PLAYERS Championship, Sentry Tournament of Champions, Masters Tournament, and other select events. “I get to go to Hawaii for two weeks now?� Griffin said. “It’s mind-boggling.� Welcome to the Monday Finish. THREE KEYS TO SUCCESS 1. Griffin is not easily discouraged. In addition to family tragedy, he quickly fell off the PGA TOUR the first time he got there, in 2017-18. But no matter; he played his way back through the Korn Ferry Tour. He also learned how to win so that when he was tested at the Golf Club of Houston, he had something to fall back on. He’d come through under pressure at the 2015 Robert de Vicenzo Punta del Este Open Copa on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica, and the 2017 Nashville Golf Open Benefitting the Snedeker Foundation and 2019 Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour. For more on Griffin’s wild ride, click here. 2. He was a birdie machine, but limited risk. Griffin, who now leads the FedExCup standings and is virtually guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs, was already leading the TOUR with 70 birdies when he got to Houston. (He had top-20 finishes in the first four events of the season.) It was no surprise, then, that he led the Houston Open field in birdies, with 24. Still, he was mindful not to be too aggressive, having aimed for every pin and played his way off the TOUR two seasons ago. Nursing a one-shot lead on 18, he aimed so far away from the water that he wound up in the right rough, which he called his fairway for the week at the difficult finishing hole. 3. He continued to putt well. Prior to this season, Griffin had never finished a TOUR event in the top 10 in Strokes Gained: Putting. Now it’s old hat. He was seventh in Strokes Gained: Putting in Houston, which marked the fourth time in five starts this season that he’s ranked in the top 10. He improved with practice, but also a putting tip from Vijay Singh last summer – the two each live in the Jacksonville area and practice at TPC Sawgrass – the week before Griffin’s Korn Ferry Tour victory. “I’m not going to give (Singh) all the credit,� he said, “but it helped.� For more on Griffin’s stats in Houston, click here. OBSERVATIONS It’s been an emotional start to the season: Lanto Griffin, 31, earned his tearful first victory in his 33rd start on TOUR. Scott Harrington pushed him with a 5-under 67 that gave him a T2 and greatly solidified his status on TOUR. Both have played through family tragedy, with Griffin just 12 years old when he lost his father to cancer and Harrington more recently stepping away from golf to help his wife with her own cancer battle. (She is one year into remission.) “I’m so happy for him,� Griffin said of Harrington’s T2. “Scotty’s story and journey is similar to mine.� Harrington, meanwhile, was happy for Griffin, whose win came just two weeks after Cameron Champ’s emotional victory at the Safeway Open. Add the deeply felt victories of Joaquin Niemann, Sebastian Muñoz and Kevin Na, and it’s doubtful any five-week stretch has better conveyed the difficulty and importance of winning on TOUR.     Korn Ferry grads had a big week: The top three finishers in Houston – Griffin, Harrington and Mark Hubbard (69) – all earned their TOUR cards via the Korn Ferry Tour last season. And all three took a huge step toward not just playing on TOUR this season, but staying there. They are just the latest examples of just how well the Korn Ferry prepares players to compete at the game’s highest level, as is Maverick McNealy. The Stanford graduate initially struggled as a pro, but earned his TOUR card this season via the Korn Ferry and now looks renewed. He spoke to his girlfriend, LPGA pro Danielle Kang, prior to the final round, and she told him not to look at scoreboards and to say two good things to himself after every shot. It seemed to work, as he made five straight birdies (Nos. 12-16) on the way to a career-low 65 on Sunday, which moved him up 29 spots and into a T17 finish. “I can build on this,� McNealy said. So can they all. QUOTEBOARD “The first one is win.� – Griffin on his 2019-20 goals, a list he keeps on his phone. “This is nothing. This is a game.� – Scott Harrington (67, T2) on the pressure he and his wife, Jennifer, felt as she fought cancer. (She’s a year in remission.) “My head is definitely a little bit elsewhere.� – Peter Malnati (73, T17), who led through 36 holes. His wife, Alicia, is due with their first child Oct. 26. SOCIAL SNAPSHOT

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