Officialsportsbetting.com Golf Betting Now for the encore: After making history last year, the Drew Charter School golf team is ready for its title defense

Now for the encore: After making history last year, the Drew Charter School golf team is ready for its title defense

They’ve had a while to let it sink in. The historic significance. The bond they’ll always share. Charles R. Drew Charter School in Southeast Atlanta, which last May became the first all-black high school team and first public school in the city to win the Georgia (public-school) state boys’ golf championship, opens defense of its title as the season begins this month. Optimism abounds. “We’re looking strong,� says Nyre Williams, a Director at The First Tee of Metro Atlanta and an assistant coach at Drew. “We lost three seniors, but we’ve got a pipeline here.� He would know; Williams also coaches Drew Charter’s middle school golfers. After taking state last May, the Drew high boys basked in their accomplishment and filed off the bus and into the embrace of joyous and proud family members. They received rings they helped design themselves at a ceremony in November. “Seeing the kids just so happy,� fifth-year head coach Joe Weems says of his personal highlight. “Coming back to the school and seeing the families, seeing everybody so overjoyed and relieved that we had won. Putting on that championship ring was an amazing experience.� The whole world, it seemed, took notice. The Drew kids were recognized by the government of DeKalb County, and were practically celebrities at the TOUR Championship in August, meeting stars such as Tony Finau and Kevin Kisner. Attending the ceremony for 2019 Calvin Peete Award recipient Harold Varner III in October, their jaws dropped when Varner’s manager told them the HV3 Foundation would be donating $5,000 to the program. “This is just the beginning of my relationship with those kids and coaches,� Varner told Golfweek. “… I can’t wait to create a bond with them.� It’s heady stuff, but this week they open the new season, and everyone starts at zero. Anthony Ford, Drew’s No. 1 last year and one of 78 members of The First Tee to play in the PGA TOUR Champions PURE Insurance Championship in September – which, like this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, uses Pebble Beach Golf Links as the host course – returns for his senior year. He recently signed for a full scholarship to play golf at North Carolina A&T. Sophomore Miles Richardson returns, as do senior Connor Mason, who can play both lefthanded and righthanded, and others. Enough team members shoot in the 70s and 80s to fuel hopes of a repeat. “I really like our chances again this year,� Williams says. Weems doesn’t disagree. “That’s the attitude I definitely would want us to have,� he says. Starting from scratch Not long ago, the Drew Charter School couldn’t field a full team of players who could compete over 18 holes, and other schools sometimes balked at the idea of scheduling a match. Now look at them. “We are like pioneers,� Mason told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last summer. Indeed, the Drew Eagles beat the two-time defending state champions by an audacious 15 strokes. From there, they represented Georgia at the High School Golf National Invitational at Orlando’s Disney World in June, when they finished 20th. Solomon Dobbs, who now plays golf for Morehouse College, says being a member of the state-title-winning team last year has forever changed his life. “I think about the power of connections,� says Dobbs, who hit the ceremonial first tee shot at the TOUR Championship last summer and imagines returning to Drew one day to coach golf. “I’ll get calls from my teammates asking if I want to go play somewhere, and I still talk to Coach Nyre and Coach Joe. How’s it going? Do you need any help? The bond is so strong.� Weems marvels at all the things that fell into place to make it happen, starting with the photo of himself with his arms around his first bag of clubs when he was 8. His late father, Joe Sr., who drove 18-wheelers and owned his own trucking company, gave the clubs to him out of the blue. “I was so new to it I didn’t even know how to hold them,� Weems says with a laugh. He sometimes shows the photo to Drew parents in order to cultivate buy-in. Look what can happen when you put your child into golf. In 1980, Weems’ great uncle, Miles Craddick, then a caddie at Athens (Georgia) Country Club, taught the boy how to build a nine-hole backyard course using Styrofoam cups with the bottoms carved out. It was the year that gave us PAC-MAN, the Rubik’s Cube and Atlanta-born CNN. No one was shouting the praises of East Lake, then a go-at-your-own-risk type of area, but that began to change in the mid-1990s when the East Lake Foundation started revitalizing the neighborhood. Golf was central to the effort, and when Drew opened in 2000, it was conveniently located within walking distance of East Lake Golf Club – former home of Bobby Jones and host course for the TOUR Championship – and the nine-hole, par-30 Charlie Yates Golf Course. Drew began offering the sport in P.E. classes through The First Tee – there are now three certified instructors at the school – and Dobbs started taking golf in the second grade. Ford, who broke the back window of his family’s Jeep Cherokee with one of his first swings, started the same way. Kids continue to learn the fundamentals, plus etiquette and caddie protocol. (If you play East Lake, you just might get a Drew player on your bag.) Success didn’t happen overnight, but some kids took to it and pulled their peers up with them. “We try to mentor these kids, too,� Weems says. “It’s not just golf, it’s about having someone they can go to throughout the day just in general. I’m real big on culture and climate. The culture is having a winning attitude, but the climate is about family and taking care of one another.� The pipeline was born. Looking ahead Could this be a dynasty? Perhaps. Although African American representation in golf has been historically low, Drew continues to make the most of some unique advantages. “Having two golf courses in between our school has helped,� Weems says. “Charlie Yates being our home, kids can walk right to the course. And East Lake, these kids have access to see things that a lot of kids don’t, and that’s a real advantage.� Things like the annual TOUR Championship, with 30 of the best golfers on the planet. “Every kid in our program either volunteered or was out in the course with their parents,� Weems says. “We make sure the conversation about golf is happening year-round, with clinics and tournaments and workouts. I want them to be around it as much as they can.� How’s this for golf immersion? Williams once took four First Tee kids to Scotland, where they stayed on the University of St. Andrews campus and played some of the game’s most famous courses. The highlight: a surprise tee time at the Old Course. Not a bad field trip. What Drew has accomplished continues to resonate on TOUR and beyond, no place more loudly than the hallways of the school itself, where the state championship hardware lives in a trophy case. Not surprisingly, interest is up. “I expect more than 35 kids to try out this year,� Weems says. “We started out with 21 my first year, and we’ve been growing ever since.� For the boys’ team, the differences going into this season would seem to be small. Two local chapters of The First Tee merged to form The First Tee of Metro Atlanta last summer. There will be a dedicated junior varsity team this year. And one of Drew’s returning players, senior Mason, has decided to go back to lefthanded this season after one season as a righty.     “I kept telling him I thought his scores were better as a lefty when he was a sophomore, when he shot in the mid-80s,� Weems says. “Last year he was in the 90s as a righty.� Historic. Dynastic. Ambidextrous. There seems to be no limit to what Drew can do. Oh, there’s one other big difference now that Drew is the reigning state champ. Weems has no more trouble scheduling other teams to play his own. (Go figure.) “We try to play the programs who were always willing to play us, which we didn’t always have,� he says. “We want programs like Maynard Jackson (a nearby high school named after the city’s first black mayor) to keep growing because it’s better for all of us, so we invest into those other programs in the community and make sure they’re doing great, too.� Can Drew repeat? Maybe, but that’s not the point. Maybe it’s more about access and opportunity. Maybe it’s about that bond and getting into a game you can play for a lifetime. Weems, who began his coaching career in football – Drew has no football team – sometimes thinks about Joe Sr., who died about 10 years ago. What would he say? “He loved to watch Calvin Peete on TV, and Tiger, of course,� Weems says. “He said, ‘Son, there are a lot of things that happen out on the golf course. You’ve got to be able to interact with people.’ He would always say to me as a football coach, ‘One day you’re going to coach a champion.’ Little did I know that he could see that far ahead.�

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Final Round 3-Balls - P. Pineau / D. Ravetto / Z. Lombard
Type: Final Round 3-Balls - Status: OPEN
David Ravetto+120
Zander Lombard+185
Pierre Pineau+240
Final Round 3-Balls - G. De Leo / D. Frittelli / A. Pavan
Type: Final Round 3-Balls - Status: OPEN
Andrea Pavan+130
Dylan Frittelli+185
Gregorio de Leo+220
Final Round 3-Balls - J. Schaper / D. Huizing / R. Cabrera Bello
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Jayden Schaper+105
Rafa Cabrera Bello+220
Daan Huizing+240
Final Round 3-Balls - S. Soderberg / C. Hill / M. Schneider
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Marcel Schneider+150
Sebastian Soderberg+170
Calum Hill+210
Final Round 3-Balls - F. Zanotti / R. Gouveia / R. Ramsay
Type: Final Round 3-Balls - Status: OPEN
Fabrizio Zanotti+150
Ricardo Gouveia+185
Richie Ramsay+185
Final Round 3-Balls - O. Lindell / M. Kinhult / J. Moscatel
Type: Final Round 3-Balls - Status: OPEN
Oliver Lindell+125
Marcus Kinhult+150
Joel Moscatel+300
Final Round 3-Balls - F. Laporta / J. Lagergren / C. Syme
Type: Final Round 3-Balls - Status: OPEN
Francesco Laporta+125
Joakim Lagergren+200
Connor Syme+210
ShopRite LPGA Classic
Type: Winner - Status: OPEN
Ayaka Furue+250
Mao Saigo+250
Jennifer Kupcho+400
Elizabeth Szokol+900
Chisato Iwai+1000
Ilhee Lee+1200
Miyu Yamashita+1200
Rio Takeda+1800
Jeeno Thitikul+2500
Jin Hee Im+2500
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Ryan Fox
Type: Ryan Fox - Status: OPEN
Top 5 Finish-150
Top 10 Finish-400
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Matteo Manassero
Type: Matteo Manassero - Status: OPEN
Top 5 Finish+105
Top 10 Finish-275
Top 20 Finish-1100
Kevin Yu
Type: Kevin Yu - Status: OPEN
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Matt McCarty
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Lee Hodges
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Mackenzie Hughes
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Top 5 Finish+185
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Jake Knapp
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Top 5 Finish+220
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Andrew Putnam
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Top 5 Finish+280
Top 10 Finish-105
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Top 10 Finish+140
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Byeong Hun An
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American Family Insurance Championship
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Bjorn/Clarke-125
Stricker/Tiziani+450
Flesch/Goydos+1000
Els/Herron+1200
Alker/Langer+1800
Bransdon/Percy+2000
Green/Hensby+2500
Cabrera/Gonzalez+4000
Duval/Gogel+4000
Caron/Quigley+5000
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Major Specials 2025
Type: To Win A Major 2025 - Status: OPEN
Bryson DeChambeau+500
Jon Rahm+750
Collin Morikawa+900
Xander Schauffele+900
Ludvig Aberg+1000
Justin Thomas+1100
Joaquin Niemann+1400
Shane Lowry+1600
Tommy Fleetwood+1800
Tyrrell Hatton+1800
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US Open 2025
Type: Winner - Status: OPEN
Scottie Scheffler+275
Bryson DeChambeau+700
Rory McIlroy+1000
Jon Rahm+1200
Xander Schauffele+2000
Ludvig Aberg+2200
Collin Morikawa+2500
Justin Thomas+3000
Joaquin Niemann+3500
Shane Lowry+3500
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The Open 2025
Type: Winner - Status: OPEN
Scottie Scheffler+400
Rory McIlroy+500
Xander Schauffele+1200
Ludvig Aberg+1400
Collin Morikawa+1600
Jon Rahm+1600
Bryson DeChambeau+2000
Shane Lowry+2500
Tommy Fleetwood+2500
Tyrrell Hatton+2500
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Ryder Cup 2025
Type: Winner - Status: OPEN
USA-150
Europe+140
Tie+1200

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Expert Picks: WM Phoenix OpenExpert Picks: WM Phoenix Open

How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. Each lineup consists of four starters and two bench players that can be rotated after each round. Adding to the challenge is that every golfer can be used only three times per each of four Segments. Aside from the experts below, Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at this year’s WM Phoenix Open in this week’s edition of the Power Rankings. For more fantasy, check out Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers and Reshuffle. THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN OUR EXPERTS? The PGA TOUR Experts league is once again open to the public. You can play our free fantasy game and see how you measure up against our experts below. Joining the league is simple. Just click here to sign up or log in. Once you create a team, click the “LEAGUES” tab. Then click on “FEATURED,” and then on the PGA TOUR Experts league that populates. SEASON SEGMENT

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Tony Finau is doing just fineTony Finau is doing just fine

Tony Finau knows what you're thinking. He knows because he has had the same thought, or the same question: When is the size of his trophy cabinet going to match up to the size of his talent? As he prepares for this week's The American Express, where he shot a career-low 62 and finished T14 last year, all he can tell you is what anyone in his position would tell you: He's working on it. "I've got to get a little bit better to win, that's just the reality of it," Finau says, a nod to his 34 top-10 finishes but no victories since his first PGA TOUR win at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open. "I get a lot of credit for being on international teams, and I think I got a great future ahead of me, but at the end of the day, I've got to get a little bit better to win again. It's a challenge I have to relish." Finau's friends know what you're thinking. They know because Finau comes across as one of the nicest guys on TOUR, and it's a short leap from there to too nice, which is adjacent to Finau just doesn't want it bad enough. "What I love about Tony is just how kind he is to everybody," says Danny Ainge, Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations and a friend of Finau's since the latter was 14, when they met at Utah's Thanksgiving Point Golf Club. "He's so approachable and easy to be around whether you're an 18 handicapper or just in the group to keep score. He's one of the nicest guys I've met. "But what I think a lot of people don't understand is how deep-down competitive he is," Ainge continues. "He works so hard at his game. He's driven. He's motivated. He wants it." At 31, Finau's career earnings have recently surpassed $20 million, but good luck finding signs of complacency. He split with longtime caddie Greg Bodine last summer, and, inspired by Bryson DeChambeau, began experimenting with ball speed, reaching 206 mph. He has tinkered with putting and putters, studied the statistics. After finishing T38 at the Masters in November, he and his coach, Boyd Summerhays, took a hard look at why he'd felt unprepared. "You can't sugar-coat it," says Summerhays, Director of Instruction at McDowell Mountain Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. "The second one hasn't come as quick as he or we thought, that's just the truth, and it does build a bit, not winning for a few years. But he's doing the right things. He's determined. People would be surprised how much it means to him, how bad he wants it." Pull back a bit, and we should all have such problems as Tony Finau. The first-ever TOUR pro of Samoan and Tongan descent, he has gone from the fringes (Golf Channel's largely forgotten "Big Break Disney" in 2009) to a top-20 player in the world. He made his fourth straight TOUR Championship last season, and has a big, beautiful and growing family (four kids). He's also well-liked. Brooks Koepka, with whom Finau partnered to go 1-1 at the otherwise disastrous 2018 Ryder Cup in France, couldn't say enough nice things about him, and they had discussed getting the band back together again for the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne until Koepka pulled out with an injury. (Finau boosted the U.S. Team with three crucial ties and went 0-1-3.) Fans love him. He's a cut-up on Instagram. All of which made last season's Waste Management Phoenix Open so gut-wrenching. Finau, who had just moved his family to Scottsdale (they go back and forth between there and Utah), birdied 12 and 13, playing partner Webb Simpson bogeyed 15, and it felt like Finau's time. And then it all changed. He missed two birdie putts inside 10 feet. At the par-4 17th hole, where TOUR players can reach the green with a 3-wood, he fanned his tee shot into the brutal, no-go fairway bunker, and did well to make par. Meanwhile, Simpson birdied 17 and 18 to force a playoff, which he won with a birdie. He called the result "hard" and slightly bittersweet. "I hope he doesn't feel bad about today because he played great," he said of his Presidents Cup teammate. Jraice, Finau's oldest boy, sobbed just off the 18th green. "This one is going to hurt," Summerhays said. Ever the gentleman, Finau congratulated the winner and gathered his crew to go home and watch a quiet Super Bowl. He was T3 in the 3M Open in July, three shots behind winner Michael Thompson, after shooting 68 on a low-scoring day at TPC Twin Cities. And Finau finished fourth in the PGA Championship. He has seven top-10s in the last 11 majors. Most recently, he shot a front-nine 31 to charge into contention in the final round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic presented by UNIFIN. He shot 1 over on the final nine, including bogeys at 16 and 17, to finish five back of winner Viktor Hovland. To be sure, he is just one or two puzzle pieces from being a complete player. He was 129th in final-round scoring average (70.75) last season, and 102nd in 2019. There are positive signs. Last season, Finau improved from 125th to 69th in Strokes Gained: Putting. "He's rolling it really nicely," says Summerhays. "He's a great lag putter; last year he went 333 holes without a three-putt. He's got great hands, great touch. He's worked hard at it." Finau admits Phoenix hurt - he will play in the Saudi International and miss the Waste Management this year - and "a tough pill to swallow." His 2018 playoff loss to Xander Schauffele - who birdied his last three holes - at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in China also hurt. They all hurt. But he will be back, Finau adds quickly. He'll win that second one and then a third for Jraice and the rest of the family. For his friend Ainge, who jokingly laments having lost out of Finau's fan rights to new Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith, a mutual friend, despite some very nice lunches at Chipotle. For Summerhays, who says win No. 2 could very well open up the floodgates. Most of all, for himself. I just feel like he's on the verge. He's still a very young man. Says Summerhays: "You're talking about a guy who took seven years to get to the Korn Ferry Tour; that's a guy who has a lot of determination and will and competitiveness. And you've seen what he did at the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. The guy is a winner." Adds Steve Stricker, an assistant captain on Finau's Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup teams: "He's got so much talent. He's starting to putt the ball a lot better, I think. I think that was an issue for him for a while. When you have that much length like he does, and a good iron player and a good head on his shoulders - it's going to happen for him." Having honed his game in part by bashing balls into an old mattress in the garage, the cheapest club membership on earth, Finau knows not to take the journey for granted. At the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, he stayed with Jazz owner Smith at his house on the 18th hole, hanging with Ainge, NBA star Andre Iguodala and actor Michael Peña. And at the recent Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, Maui, he and new caddie Mark Urbanek made an Instagram post in which they jokingly teach the average golfer how to hit a drive 400 yards. It's a good life. "At times I think I've accomplished more than I ever thought I would," Finau says, "but in others I think I could do better. It's a lot of noise in the media, how many wins I should have or shouldn't have. I've been a top 20 player in the world for almost four years now, so I'm quite proud of the consistency. "My great golf's got to get a little bit better," he continues, "to where when I get hot, I jump out in front and nobody can catch me. I think most guys peak in their 30s, and kudos to the younger guys for reaching those heights so fast, but for me, I'm playing the long game. Hopefully I'll be out here another 15 or 20 years. I feel like I'm just getting started."

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Hilary Watson, wife of Tom Watson, passes away at age 63Hilary Watson, wife of Tom Watson, passes away at age 63

Hilary Watson, wife of World Golf Hall of Famer Tom Watson, passed away Wednesday night after a 2-1/2 year battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 63. “Hilary was a very special person – bright, principled, accomplished and she had a gift of uplifting those around her,â€� former PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem said. “And when Hilary set out to do something, she did it successfully. I’ll always remember the stories of her rodeo days, where she won all sorts of medals and ribbons, even after her illness. Most of all, Hilary was a wonderful mate for Tom, we could all see that. My heart goes out to Tom and his family at this difficult time.â€� The Watsons were married in 1999. Hilary was first diagnosed in October 2017 after experiencing pain in her abdomen. She eventually underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment, and then surgery in May 2018 to remove a tumor. Pancreatic cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States and has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers. According to pancreatic.org, for all stages combined, 91% of pancreatic cancer patients die within five years of diagnosis. Yet the illness did not keep Hilary from participating in cutting horse competitions. In 2018, she finished fourth in the National Cutting Horse Association amateur rider of the year finals and followed that with a fifth-place finish in 2019. “I keep popping up where people are thinking, ‘What are you doing? Why are you here?’â€� she told the Kansas City Star newspaper in 2018. “I think that’s what kept me going through all of that, having those shows and being enthusiastic and excited about doing something. “Whether I’m feeling good or not, I was going to still get on that horse. And have some fun doing it. That’s been a godsend for me.â€� This summer, after playing in his last Senior Open, Tom Watson said he was looking forward to spending more time with his wife. “Really happy now doing something a little bit different with my life,â€� said Watson, who won 39 times (including eight majors) in his PGA TOUR career, and an additional 14 times on PGA TOUR Champions. “Being with my wife, Hilary, who loves to ride the horses, and I love to ride the horses, and we’re going to do something different now.â€� Former PGA of America president Ted Bishop, who convinced Tom Watson to captain the U.S. team at the 2014 Ryder Cup, paid tribute to Hilary Watson. “Tom will tell you that Hilary was his hero. … and for many reasons. How these two people dealt with the devastation of the worst that cancer can 
muster up is truly an inspiration to us all,â€� Bishop wrote on Facebook. “Hilary was a beautiful woman who was also one of the fiercest competitors who ever lived. Tom is an eight-time major champion golfer, but more so a man who has always dealt with adversity in amazing ways. It’s a sad day, but Hilary’s fight is over and she leaves us with many beautiful memories.â€� Hilary Watson is survived by her husband Tom and her children, Kyle Charles, Kelly Paige and Ross Donald; her stepchildren, Meg Carr and Michael Watson; and two sisters, Alicia Korte and Christine Holton. According to golfchannel.com, the family will hold a memorial service Dec. 4 in Leawood, Kansas at United Methodist Church of the Resurrection. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to be given to the Children’s Bereavement Camp of Crossroads Hospice Kansas or to United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.

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