Follow live: Round 1 of the PGA Championship

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico - Justin Thomas considers it possible to win "eight, nine, 10, 11 times in a season." The 27-year-old is fresh off a three-win PGA TOUR campaign and has started this new season strongly by finishing in the top 12 in all four of his starts. Thomas also knows that to reach his full potential, all facets of his game must be maximized. To that end, he has pursued putting improvement with coach John Graham - the two connected this summer via a mutual friend, then formalized their relationship at the U.S. Open in September. The previous two seasons saw Thomas rank No. 144 and No. 112 in Strokes Gained: Putting - while finishing third and second in the FedExCup, respectively. Through the early portion of 2020-21, Thomas has seen an improvement to No. 37 in the TOUR's preeminent putting statistic. He’s gaining three-quarters of a stroke per round on the greens after losing strokes in each of the last two seasons. If the Thomas-Graham partnership continues to bear fruit, the sky could be the limit. "You can always make more putts, but I've been consistently better in making more putts," Thomas said in his pre-tournament press conference at this week's Mayakoba Golf Classic presented by UNIFIN. "And my bad putting days have been better. "What I like about John is, same as myself, he's never satisfied. We're still working on trying to get better, and figure out what we can do to get ready to start the year next year." To that end, Graham flew last weekend from his home in western New York to spend a day with Thomas at The Bear's Club in south Florida, before Thomas flew to Mexico. The duo also spent two days walking Winged Foot before the U.S. Open - "walking the course, visualizing, working through certain hole locations and putts from certain places," Graham said. Thomas posted the best U.S. Open finish of his career (T8) and is coming off a career-best T4 at the recent Masters Tournament. The essence of the Thomas-Graham partnership: identifying and preparing for on-course situations. "It's very situation-specific ... how do I address making this particular putt with this surface, and this ball position?" Graham said. "A lot of the stuff we have to do is on the course or the putting green; how do we tackle this particular problem? "Him getting different solutions to potential problems, is all he really needed. On the course is where the shot-making can really happen, both regular shots and, in my opinion, putts, so that's where we want to spend our time." With the help of longtime putting coach Matt Killen, Thomas saw marked improvements in setup, stroke and fundamentals. The mechanics were rock-solid. After finishing back-to-back seasons with negative Strokes Gained: Putting, though, Thomas wanted to explore new ideas in the ‘feel' area of his work around the greens. Thomas reached out to Graham, and they spent a day together prior to the Workday Charity Open in July. He proceeded to finish runner-up at Muirfield Village, averaging .78 strokes gained: putting, and the relationship built from there. "Everybody's great is great, and good is really good, but it's, ‘How good is your bad?' and that's something I struggled with," said Thomas of putting performance in recent years. "We couldn't figure out why or what it was. "I told Matt, ‘Hey, I'm going to go see John.' I wanted to see him in an off-week and hear something else and see if he could help us. Matt did such a good job of getting me in a good place to make a good, consistent stroke. My setup has gotten so much better, my stroke has gotten so much better, my fundamentals have gotten so much better. "But a lot of other aspects of it ... the green reading, the speed, understanding what makes putts do a certain thing ... I hadn't really incorporated into my putting. And that's what John has really helped me with." Graham describes the fundamental question of the duo's work together as, "How do we make more putts?" The veteran putting instructor believes the stroke is the least critical factor in mitigating a putting issue. Extraordinary putters separate themselves through other areas. Thomas and Graham haven't done much mechanical stroke work. They've focused on green-reading, controlling distance and being more specific with it. "I think one of his biggest hang-ups was that he felt like mechanics was the way to solve the problem of making more putts," said Graham, who describes Thomas as a natural feel player. "He would be very feel-oriented with his golf swing and shaping shots, and creating pictures and ideas, and then with his putting stroke, he would lean more on, ‘Well, I have to do it just right. I have to set up just right. I have to choose exactly the right speed.' It seemed like it was being a little bit confining. "There are multiple answers that can make a putt go in, whether it's firm speed with a lower line, or a softer speed with a higher line, and the player gets a say in this ... It's been freeing him up that way to visualize it more as shot-making, as opposed to just roll the ball down this line and hope it goes in." Combining strong mechanics and feel concepts, Thomas believes his best putting days - and golf days - are yet to come. "I feel like I am very close to reeling off a couple (wins) or having a great year," Thomas said. "But I also understand that this game doesn't just give you trophies because you're close. You have to earn it."

Click here to read the full article…

PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan met with select members of the media on Sunday at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, touching on a variety of topics. A few of the highlights: 2019 PRESIDENTS CUP QUALIFYING. The 2019 Presidents Cup in Australia is scheduled for the week of Dec. 9 – two months later in the year than when the 2017 event at Liberty National was played. Monahan expects adjustments in when teams will be formed; in 2017, qualification ended after the second FedExCup Playoffs event. “I think that there will probably be more flexibility in 2019 than there might be in a different year, just based on timing,� he said. “I think the captain selections would probably move themselves closer towards the competition than the end of the FedExCup season. The specifics of that, we’re kind of working on right now.� Monahan said the TOUR will assess, as it always does, the format of the Presidents Cup, but that there will not be an overreaction to the U.S. Team’s lopsided victory at Liberty National. “This is not about responding every year to what the score is,� Monahan said. “You go back and you got to look at the next 20, 40 years and make certain that you got a format that’s sustainable. … It’s hard to say where it will net out but at this point, the same rules are going to apply as we go forward, which is the team with more points is going to win.� 2019 PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP. Monahan said that when the PGA TOUR schedule is revised for the 2018-19 season, THE PLAYERS Championship will be played on the third weekend of March. THE PLAYERS will be moving to March starting that year, while the PGA Championship moves from August to May, allowing the FedExCup Playoffs to be moved up to an earlier completion. Monahan also said the 2019 portion of the schedule will once again be held in Hawaii, with the Sentry Tournament of Champions in the first week of January, followed by the Sony Open in Hawaii. In another schedule tidbit, Monahan expects to have a week off between the end of the 2018-19 season and the start of the 2019-20 season. “It’s likely that you would see a little bit of separation,� he said. He added that “good progress� has been made toward finalizing 2018-19 schedule and that it may be announced “in a couple months.� RICKIE’S UNTUCKED SHIRT. Consider Monahan a fan of Rickie Fowler’s Hawaiian shirt that he debuted in the first round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions. “I was at my house on Thursday night watching the opening broadcast and I thought it was fantastic,� Monahan said. “… Obviously, he’s someone that’s very thoughtful. And he was respecting Hawaiian culture and everything that makes this island and this area so great, and he did it in his own way and brought a lot of attention – not just to Rickie but to the tournament, to the area. … I think it’s representative of what makes our athletes so special. I don’t see any negative to it.� PGA TOUR/LPGA TOUR CO-EVENT. Monahan said he remains in discussion with LPGA and its commissioner, Mike Whan, about having an event that would include pros from both tours. He called the Sentry Tournament of Champions a “logical� option but not the only one. “That’s something that we’ll continue to talk about as we go down the road,� Monahan said. “And we’ll continue to talk to the LPGA about – if not here, how do we accomplish this at one of our tournaments. “That’s something that I’ve talked to Mike about at length and it’s something that we think is important, and I would like to think that we’ll get there at some point.� TIGER’S RETURN. Tiger Woods is scheduled to make his first start on TOUR in a year at the Farmers Insurance Open the week of Jan. 22. “We have been so fortunate that some of our young players and our players generally stepped up and carry the game forward,� Monahan said, “but to bring Tiger back into the mix and have the question that you’re asking out in front of everybody – I think it’s going to be fascinating to watch and we’re blessed that it’s happening.� CHARITY. The PGA TOUR and its tournaments across all tours announced Sunday that it generated more than $180 million for charitable causes in 2017, a record amount for a single year (click here for more details). That brings the all-time total to $2.65 billion. “It’s kind of weird – we talk about numbers, and numbers are numbers and it’s really hard to put your arms around it because they’re so big and they’re so significant,� Monahan said. “But it’s obviously the impact that our tournaments are having and our players are having by virtue of their participation in tournaments and support of the tournaments, which is the most powerful … “It’s a big part of who we are. We like to think that we do it better than anybody else – and we’re going to keep growing that number. That’s our scorecard.�

Click here to read the full article…

Round 3 of the THE CJ CUP in South Carolina takes place Saturday from Congaree Golf Club. Jon Rahm and Kurt Kitayama lead heading into Saturday with scores of 11-under par. Here’s everything you need to follow the action. Tee times Leaderboard HOW TO FOLLOW: Television: Saturday-Sunday, 3 p.m.-6 p.m. ET. Radio: Saturday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. ET. Sunday 12 p.m.-5:30 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio) MUST READS Jon Rahm, Kurt Kitayama share lead at THE CJ CUP Bad back and all, Max Homa rides his Presidents Cup momentum Shane Lowry and his unexpected putter spree For Rory McIlroy, chasing No. 1 again, it’s time to ‘go’ The backstory on Tom Kim’s ultra-custom putter Five Things to Know: Congaree Golf Club

Click here to read the full article…