Mayakoba Golf Classic, Round 4: Leaderboard, tee times, TV times

A new Starting Strokes system of scoring takes center stage at the TOUR Championship at East Lake, a 7,346-yard par 70. Top seed Justin Thomas will start two strokes lead ahead of No. 2 Patrick Cantlay, and more ahead of everyone else. There will be no more math, and viewers will know exactly where every player stands in the chase for the PGA TOUR’s Ultimate Prize. What’s more, that prize is bigger than ever: $15 million (of a $60 million FedExCup bonus pool) to the winner, plus a five-year exemption on TOUR. Tiger Woods recorded the biggest winning margin at the TOUR Championship, eight strokes in 2007. Phil Mickelson (2009), Billy Horschel (2014), Henrik Stenson (2013) and Brandt Snedeker (2012) all won it by three, but Thomas, who has three top-10 finishes in three starts at East Lake, is clearly in the driver’s seat.    RELATED: Tee times | How it works: TOUR Championship | No risk, lots of reward, for FedExCup pursuers The Flyover The 18th hole is a downhill par 5 that played second easiest last year as the field averaged exactly a half a stroke under par. (The easiest was the other of the course’s two par 5s, the sixth hole, which played to a 4.35 average.) Justin Rose made a clutch birdie on 18 to win the FedExCup last year, one of 62 birdies there on the week. Longer hitters will reach the lower level off the tee, from where they can easily go for the green in two. Water to the right of the bottleneck on the way to the green does not come into play, but front and right greenside bunkers are deep. Landing Zone The hardest hole at the 2018 TOUR Championship was the 455-yard, par-4 eighth, which played to a 4.217 stroke average. There were more bogeys (19) than birdies (18) there last year, but also 11 double-bogeys and one dreaded “other.� Why all the trouble? Because water runs all up the left side of the hole, and two fairway bunkers await right misses off the tee. The good news is that with the nines having been reversed, there’s now 10 holes to recover from whatever happens at the eighth. Weather check From meteorologist Joe Halvorson: “A few thunderstorms may develop after 2-3 pm Thursday afternoon, with chances increasing on Friday afternoon as a frontal boundary approaches northern Georgia. This boundary will stall over the area on Saturday and will likely enhance the coverage of showers and thunderstorms through the weekend. While the highest coverage of thunderstorms is expected from the late afternoon to early evening hours this weekend, high/tropical moisture values in place will allow for widely scattered areas of showers and storms to remain possible into the night before diminishing in coverage each morning. Locally heavy downpours will be possible within these thunderstorms. Heat indices will reach the mid 90s through Friday before cooling slightly this weekend.� For the latest weather news from East Lake, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. Sound Check It’s not like it’s handed to you; you have to go earn it, and play well when the time is right. By the numbers 5 – Players who have shot 61 in the Playoffs, as Justin Thomas did in round three at the BMW. The others: Mike Weir (2008 Dell Technologies Championship), Brandt Snedeker (2011 THE NORTHERN TRUST), Matt Kuchar (2013 BMW), and Jason Day (2015 BMW). There’s also been a 60 (Zach Johnson, 2007 TOUR Championship) and a 59 (Jim Furyk, 2013 BMW).  3 – Players have registered top-10 finishes in the first two events of the Playoffs this season: Jon Rahm (T3 THE NORTHERN TRUST, T5 BMW Championship), Adam Scott (5th, T9) and 2012 FedExCup champion Brandt Snedeker (T6, T5) 8/12 – Number of TOUR Championship winners who have also won the FedExCup since 2007. 1/1 – Correlation of TOUR Championship winners to FedExCup winners going forward.   Scattershots Schauffele used to playing from behind: Which player amongst the large chase pack has the best chance to chase down front-runner Thomas? Mathematically, it would be Cantlay, who is only two back with 72 holes to play – the smallest margin, and with a lot of time to make it up. But don’t forget about Xander Schauffele. At FedExCup No. 8, he will start the TOUR Championship 4 under par and six back of Thomas, but that shouldn’t phase him. When he won the tournament on the way to being named Rookie of the Year in 2017, Schauffele was five back after the first round.   Rahm’s consistency stands out: The FedExCup rewards consistency, as in Rory McIlroy’s 13 top-10s in 18 starts, including victories at THE PLAYERS Championship at RBC Canadian Open. But on that note, Jon Rahm isn’t far behind. He has 12 top-10 finishes in 19 starts, including a T5 at the BMW and T3 at THE NORTHERN TRUST to start the Playoffs. (He also won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with partner Ryan Palmer.) Although the FedExCup No. 6 Rahm will start out 4 under and six strokes behind Thomas, that’s not insurmountable. Rahm was seven back through 18 holes before going on to win the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open.

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HAIKOU, CHINA — American Joseph Winslow shot a 4-under 68 to take a three-stroke lead heading into the final day of the PGA TOUR Series-China International Qualifying Tournament No. 2 at Mission Hills Haikou’s Sandbelt Trails Course. Winslow, 25, moved to 9 under, three clear of 23-year-old compatriot Ryann Ree (68), while second-round co-leader William Harold (72) of England, Chinese Taipei’s Haosheng Hsu (68) and Americans Jesse Speirs (70) and Matthew Negri (68) shared third at 5 under. Malaysia’s Arie Irawan birdied his last three holes to shoot a 68 and move to 4 under, tying for seventh place with Argentine Martin Kim (70), Philippine amateur Lloyd Jefferson Go (70) and Americans Brett Munson (67) and Kevin Techakanokboon (71). Earlier in the day, Chinese Taipei’s Minhsuan “Max� Hsieh carded two eagles and a hole-in-one in his final seven holes for a 65, following opening rounds of 79 and 76. He moved from a tie for 92nd at the start of the day to a share of 39th at 4 over. The top-15 finishers will earn full cards and the next 25 and ties will be conditionally exempt for a Series that rewards the top-five money winners with places on the Web.com Tour, the path to the PGA TOUR. Standing 6-foot-5, the big-hitting Winslow showed his intentions from the first when he hit driver and his playing partners took an iron and a hybrid. The Kansas native birdied No. 2 and then eagled the par-4 third by holing out from the sand after pushing his drive into a greenside bunker. A bogey on No. 6 was followed by birdies on Nos. 8, 9, 11 and 14 as he moved to 11 under, but he gave the chasing pack hope when he double-bogeyed the par-3 16th. “Today was pretty solid again. I hit the ball pretty well, especially for the first 10, 11 holes, putted pretty solid, had some good short-game shots, but didn’t quite take advantage of some of the holes. I felt I had a few opportunities out there. Overall, solid, did what I needed to, but could have played better,� said Winslow. Although on track to earn a full card on the Tour, Winslow’s taking little for granted after last month’s PGA TOUR Latinoamerica qualifier in Bogota, Colombia, when a closing 80 dropped him from solo second to 17th, securing only conditional status on that Tour. “That was a really important day for me, probably one of my biggest lessons and something I needed to learn here for 2018. As soon as I got done that day, I’ve been thinking about this specific day for two weeks now, how I wanted to get ‘revenge’ at the PGA TOUR China qualifier and to get back into that position,� said Winslow, who played 12 events on last year’s PGA TOUR Latinoamerica. “I’m comfortable at the top of the leaderboard, I just had a bad day over there, but I learned the lessons that I needed to and adjusted my preparation. We started to do that today, and it worked pretty well. It’s now time to make a couple more adjustments on the nutrition side for tomorrow and be ready to rock and roll.� Irawan, 27, started the week with a 75 but rounds of 69 and 68 have put him position to become the first Malaysian to hold a full card on PGA TOUR Series-China. “I feel great. I really stayed patient out there. I didn’t hit as close as I did yesterday, didn’t make as many putts, but I’m quite happy because I finished with three birdies – better than yesterday’s double bogey – so that’s good. I just got to look at things positively,� said Irawan, a former Asian Tour player and two-time winner on the Asian Development Tour. “Now, I just have to play my game, just stay patient, hit fairways, hit greens and be as relaxed as I can be. I know the last day people get more nervous, and I know the pins will be tougher, but whatever happens, happens. That’s it.� Irawan is seeking a new career direction after recovering from a moped accident in early 2016 that left him with metal plates in his shoulder. Now, he’s aiming for a full season in China and an eventual place on the Web.com Tour. “I look at things positively in life, and after that accident I knew it was always going to be a good thing. There’s always a reason things happen, so it gave me time to re-think: Should I think about PGA TOUR China, should I stick to Asian Tour, what is my plan? It’s great that PGA TOUR China is back, and this is the road that I really want to take, for sure.�

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