J.L. Lewis passes away at age 59

In Gee Chun shot an 8-under 64 for a 5-stroke lead after the first round of the Women’s PGA Championship on Thursday, tying a record for the largest 18-hole lead at a women’s major.

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FedExCup titleholder Justin Thomas and Masters champion Patrick Reed headline an always power-packed field ready to converge on TPC Sawgrass, seeking to wrest one of the game’s most revered titles away from Si Woo Kim. World No.1 Dustin Johnson returns after a three-week break, with TPC Sawgrass set to welcome each of the top 50 players in the latest rankings. Tiger Woods, meantime, ends a two-year absence from the event, hoping to add a third victory to the ones he captured in 2001 and ’13. FIELD NOTES: Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira makes his first PGA TOUR start since taking up membership after his playoff win at the RBC Heritage. Kodaira was back on the Japanese circuit last week, finishing in a share of 32nd. … Phil Mickelson is set for his 25th start at TPC Sawgrass, moving into a tie for No. 9 on the all-time list. Jay Haas holds the record for most starts with 29. … The lineup features a pair of PGA TOUR Champions members – Steve Stricker and Constellation Senior Players Championship winner Scott McCarron. … One additional berth is available for the winner of this week’s Wells Fargo Championship, if he hasn’t already qualified. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 600 points. STORYLINES: Thomas, third behind Jason Day two years ago, seeks not only his first title at THE PLAYERS but a possible No. 1 ranking – if the takeover hasn’t already happened by then. A top-12 finish at the Wells Fargo Championship would vault Thomas past Johnson. … Reed could use a change of fortune at TPC Sawgrass, where last year’s tie for 22nd was his best finish. He’s broken 70 on the layout just once in 12 rounds. … Kim takes the torch seeking to become the first back-to-back winner at THE PLAYERS in its 45-year existence. … Just two of the past 11 winners have lifted the trophy after setting the 54-hole pace, though both have come in the past four editions – Martin Kaymer (2014) and Jason Day (2016). … A total of 69 balls found water last year at No. 17, the second-highest total since the PGA TOUR began keeping count 15 years ago. The record is 93, when the event first moved to May in 2007. … Paul Azinger (1987) is the only man to birdie No. 17 in all four regulation rounds. Rickie Fowler birdied it three times in a day, during the final round and playoff of his 2015 triumph. … This week marks THE PLAYERS’ farewell to May, returning to a March date in 2019. COURSE: TPC Sawgrass (Stadium), 7,189 yards, par 72. Carved out from 415 acres of wooded wetlands bought for $1 by then-commissioner Deane Beman, the Stadium Course has flourished into a thorough test that plays no favorites. Architect Pete Dye took pains to ensure no two consecutive holes play in the same direction, doglegs were created in both directions and both short and long holes are offered at every par. A recent tweak is a drivable par-4 at No.12, where both fairway and green slope toward a water hazard on the left. Nothing, though, is likely to ever match the drama at the iconic 17th – a nerve-wracking 137 yards over water to a green connected only by narrow rear pathway. 72-HOLE RECORD: 264, Greg Norman (1994). 18-HOLE RECORD: 63, Fred Couples (3rd round, 1992), Greg Norman (1st round, 1994), Roberto Castro (1st round, 2013), Martin Kaymer (1st round, 2014); Jason Day (1st round, 2016); Colt Knost (2nd round, 2016). LAST YEAR: Kim proved unflappable beyond his 21 years, becoming the youngest winner of THE PLAYERS with a bogey-free finale on the way to a three-shot triumph over Ian Poulter. Kim chased down faltering leaders Kyle Stanley and J.B. Holmes on the front nine, then staved off Poulter’s pursuit on the back nine. Though Kim hit only eight greens in regulation, he went six straight holes with no par putt longer than 2 feet on the way to a 3-under-par 69. Poulter closed with a 71, taking full advantage of regaining full TOUR status when a clerical oversight was discovered. Louis Oosthuizen shared runner-up honors after a 73, one shot ahead of Stanley (75) and Rafa Cabrera Bello (70). Holmes endured a nightmare, carding 84 to fall the way to 41st. It was the worst round by a 54-hole leader in tournament history – by five strokes. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 2-7 p.m. (NBC). (Golf Channel / NBC Sports LiveExtra simulcast stream) PGA TOUR LIVE: Wednesday, noon-2 p.m. (preview show). Thursday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-1 p.m. (featured groups), 9 a.m.-7 p.m. (17th hole), 1-7 p.m. (featured holes). Saturday-Sunday, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. (featured groups), noon-7 p.m. (17th hole), 2-7 p.m. (featured holes). RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-7 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-7 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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Stars from all over will descend on the Monterey Peninsula for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. It joins The American Express as the only tournaments this season to be played across multiple courses. Spyglass Hill Golf Course, Monterey Peninsula Country Club and Pebble Beach Golf Links will be used this week. Both Spyglass Hill and Pebble Beach will play as par-72s. Pebble Beach measures 6,816 yards and Spyglass Hill is 7,035 yards. Monterey Peninsula will play as a 6,958-yard, par-71. All three courses have poa annua greens. The field will consist of stars like Jason Day and Patrick Cantlay along with course horses Dustin Johnson and defending champion Phil Mickelson, who’ve combined for seven wins over the past 22 years. They’ll be joined by celebrities like Bill Murray, Chris O’Donnell and Alfonso Ribeiro, as well as former and current NFL players like Larry Fitzgerald, Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo and Peyton Manning. There will be 156 professional golfers and the same number of amateurs teeing it up in Northern California this week. Similar to The American Express, all golfers will play one round apiece at the three courses. After the 54-hole cut, the final round will be played on the historic Pebble Beach Golf Links. Of the 49 tournaments played last season, all courses here ranked in the top half of difficulty in scoring relative to par. Monterey Peninsula ranked the easiest, coming in at 22nd, with Pebble Beach playing the hardest, ranking 12th. Pebble Beach has played host to many tournaments in the past like the U.S. Open, PGA Championship, U.S. Amateur and Nabisco Championship, but Pebble Beach has been synonymous with this tournament since 1947. Although the three courses are similar in length and layout, the weather plays a huge factor in scoring if the winds decide to pick up. With nine holes set along the Carmel Bay, the tournament’s difficulty can shift year-to-year. Back in 2014, Pebble Beach played as the seventh-most difficult in scoring with extremely windy conditions. The following year it played as the eighth easiest with virtually no wind at all. Even though we only get ShotLink data from Pebble Beach, the priority metric to focus when building lineups is Strokes Gained: Approach into these greens, which are some of the smallest on TOUR. Proximity from 100-to-125 yards is another metric we should be focusing on at this tournament with a large number of iron shots being hit from this distance. Other key stats are Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green and par-4 efficiency between 350 to 400 yards. Dustin Johnson ($11,600) Coming off a second-place finish in the Middle East, Johnson comes back to Carmel Bay ready to get back in the winner’s circle. Length is not needed on any of the three courses, especially not his type of distance. What’s going to help and what has made him successful here is his wedge play. He’s gained in proximity from 100 to 125 yards in three of his past four tournaments here and ranks first in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green over his past 24 rounds at this event. Brandt Snedeker ($10,100) Another course-history play is Snedeker, who loves playing in California, especially on poa annua greens, ranking sixth in Strokes Gained: Putting over the past 50 rounds on the aforementioned surface. Don’t worry about his missed cut last season. Snedeker’s won four times between this tournament and the Farmers Insurance Open, along with a T8 at the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and T9 in the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. He’s hitting his irons well and doesn’t have to worry about his lack of length at Pebble Beach, which is why he ranks sixth in Strokes Gained: Total here since 2015. Kevin Kisner ($8,500) Kisner is another strong poa annua putter poised to have a solid week in Monterey. Kisner ranks 15th in Strokes Gained: Putting on poa annua greens over the past 50 rounds, but it’s not just his long-form poa putting that should make him successful. It’s also his ball-striking. He ranks 22nd in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green and just inside the top 20 in Par-4 Efficiency on holes 350 to 400 yards over his past three tournaments. Hopefully we get Kisner at low ownership with his missed cut at The American Express last month along with being so closely priced to Russell Knox ($8,600), who’s playing fantastic golf. Nick Watney ($7,300) Watney will need to work on his putting this week, but he’s been able to play relatively well by gaining through his ball-striking in three of his past four tournaments. Watney ranks top 10 in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green and just inside the top 20 in proximity from 100 to 125 yards over his past three tournaments. 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