After big payday, Im’s caddie eyes return as player

Grit. Determination. And just a flat-out will to win. That is what Abraham Ancer has displayed for a few seasons on the PGA TOUR, but it was not until Sunday afternoon in Memphis that the diminutive, yet feisty, Ancer was able to find his way to a trophy. And what a trophy. Ancer became the first Latin American to win a World Golf Championships event and just the fourth Mexican player to win on the PGA TOUR when he outlasted Hideki Matsuyama and Sam Burns in a playoff. It was a wild and wacky afternoon at TPC Southwind where all three didn’t appeared to be destined for victory until some fade-outs elsewhere catapulted them into the mix. Meanwhile back in California, South African Erik van Rooyen was also claiming his first PGA TOUR win and a breakthrough weekend. Here are five stories you may have missed from the World Golf Championships–FedEx St. Jude Invitational and the Barracuda Championship. 1. Patience was the key for Ancer’s breakthrough When you’re known as one of the best, if not the best player on the PGA TOUR without a win, it can get frustrating as each near miss piles up. But rather than look at the four runner-ups and countless top-10s as any sort of negative, the now 30-year-old kept his head down and persevered with the positive self-talk. Ancer knew he was good enough to win – he’d proven it with a brilliant final round at the 2018 Australian Open. And then his performance at the 2019 Presidents Cup was downright impressive as his only loss came to a vintage display from Tiger Woods. So he kept his head down and forged ahead. On Sunday when he sat five shots back as he started the back nine, Ancer figured it might be another near miss, but he stayed focused and when he picked off a birdie on the 13th, he was suddenly just two back. Shortly after he was tied for the lead. “I didn’t want to think of like, oh, my God, I’m so due,” Ancer said. “I didn’t want to put extra pressure. I’ve done enough in other events to win, and it just didn’t go my way, so I just stayed patient, I didn’t change anything.” He calmly plotted his way into the clubhouse to join the lead of those finished and then when his opportunity came on the second playoff hole he took dead aim and stuck his approach close. Before he could think about finally winning, Sam Burns hit one even closer. But under the pressure, Ancer made his putt while Burns saw his ball cruelly lip out. It was finally Ancer’s time. Get a great rundown on the win here. 2. English collapse sees third win slip away Harris English appeared set to be the first three-time winner this season when he surged to 20-under at the turn on Sunday in Memphis. With eight holes to play, he was three shots clear of his nearest rival in playing partner Bryson DeChambeau and seemingly in control. But the group had been on the clock since early in the round and the quickened tempo started to find a few cracks in his game, particularly as the gusts picked up around TPC Southwind. DeChambeau’s game was also unravelling, making it tough for the group to get any sort of momentum down the home stretch. English doubled Nos. 11 and 14, the two par 3s on the back nine, to fall back into a logjam of contenders before a soft bogey on the par-5 16th had him behind. The Sea Island resident showed great poise to hit a close approach into the 18th to give himself a chance for a spot in the playoff but couldn’t get the putt to drop. Read more here. He wasn’t the only player to falter though. DeChambeau was 6 over on the back nine and Cameron Smith was 3 over in his last four holes including a double bogey on the last when par would’ve ensured a place in the playoff. The Australian’s drive found the trees and he decided to take the risky choice of going for the win rather than punching out to safety. His bold thinking backfired this time around when his second shot hit a branch and rebounded out of bounds. 3. Van Rooyen catapults himself into FedExCup Playoffs Erik van Rooyen was 139th in the FedExCup standings when he headed to Tahoe knowing it would take something special to prolong his PGA TOUR season. The South African delivered with victory in the Barracuda Championship, scoring an impressive 16 points in the final round of the modified stableford format. His five-point victory was finished with an exclamation point birdie on the last and sees him move to 78th in the season long standings with just a week of the regular season left before the top 125 do battle in the FedExCup Playoffs. “It’s massive. It’s massive,” van Rooyen said. “It’s been a difficult sort of 18 months for me golf-wise. I haven’t been playing well. There’s been glimpses of it the last six months. But I haven’t been able to put four good rounds together. So I was well aware of the position I was in going into the Playoffs, knowing that I’ve only got eight rounds left to make that cut. “And to win here this week, I mean, under the conditions, you know, the pressure that I was under, I’m going to take so much confidence from this.” 4. The 2021-22 PGA TOUR season schedule dropped – with a few surprises As we head into the closing stretch of this season, the upcoming 2021-22 season was released with a focus on the Strategic Alliance with the European Tour. The Genesis Scottish Open, Barbasol Championship and Barracuda Championship will now be included in both the FedExCup and Race to Dubai, while the Irish Open will see a significant increase in prize money. The PGA TOUR’s schedule of 48 events also includes the move of the first FedExCup Playoffs event to TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, sponsored by FedEx. “Since the inception of the FedExCup in 2007, we have made a number of changes to enhance the quality of the FedExCup Playoffs for our players, fans and partners,” said PGA TOUR commissioner Jay Monahan. “Thanks to the continued support from FedEx as the TOUR’s umbrella partner, we’re proud to bring the start of the FedExCup to Memphis and a course loved by our players. Not only will it be a great test worthy of Playoff golf, but we also anticipate tremendous enthusiasm from a community that has steadfastly supported the PGA TOUR for more than 60 years. And, of course, the important work of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital will continue to be front and center. “In totality, the 2021-22 PGA TOUR Schedule, combined with the momentum we have with our now-entrenched partnership with the European Tour, puts the PGA TOUR in a position of strength within professional golf like never before. We’re confident this schedule will give the world’s best players the opportunity to do what they do best – inspire and entertain our fans around the globe while helping our tournaments make a significant impact in their respective communities.” Read more and see the full schedule here. 5. Wolff on track to win Aon Risk Reward Challenge Matthew Wolff is almost a lock to win Aon Risk Reward Challenge, a season-long competition on the PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour that tests players on the most challenging holes. First place pays $1 million. “It’d be hard for me to lose, but not impossible,” he at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, where he shot a final-round 67 to finish 7 under in a tie for 17th. With two birdies at the par-5 16th at TPC Southwind – the competition takes a player’s best two scores of the week on a designated hole – Wolff protected his big lead over Louis Oosthuizen and Joaquin Niemann. Now he heads to this week’s Wyndham Championship, which he added to his schedule partly to meet the competition’s minimum number of starts. He also just likes the event and has since Wyndham tournament director Mark Brazil extended him a sponsor exemption in 2019. (Wolff didn’t end up needing it after winning the 3M Open.) “I feel like Mark Brazil and everyone has been really nice, and I haven’t played too many this year, so I felt like I wanted to play it and see everyone again,” Wolff said. Not only that, but by playing the Wyndham, which will use the par-5 15th as the Aon Risk Reward hole, he will ensure he is eligible for the seven-figure bonus. “The Aon is a nice little bonus reason to go because I need that minimum,” he said. “It’s really cool what Aon is doing; it’s a game inside of a game, which is pretty cool to me.” For Oosthuizen to unseat Wolff he will need two birdies on the designated hole at Wyndham and Wolff would have to bogey the same hole on two occasions. – PGATOUR.COM’s Cameron Morfit contributed COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10 The Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 highlights and rewards the extraordinary level of play required to earn a spot in the TOP 10 at the conclusion of the FedExCup regular season. The competition concludes this week at the Wyndham Championship and the top 10 FedExCup points leaders will be recognized and awarded as the most elite in golf. Week after week, shot after shot, each event matters more than ever before. Who will finish in the Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10?

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A quick look at how the FedExCup top 5 fared during the opening round of the TOUR Championship. 1 Jordan Spieth, 67, T6 (projected 1st in FedExCup) – After battling a wayward driver on the front nine, Spieth settled down with three straight birdies on holes 6-8, then went bogey-free on the back. Three behind leader Kyle Stanley. 2 Justin Thomas, 67, T6 (projected third) – A hot-and-cold round for the six-time TOUR winner. Playing with Spieth in the final pairing, Thomas hit 11 of 14 fairways, but only 12 greens in regulation. Six birdies, three bogeys. 3 Dustin Johnson, 68, T11 (projected fourth) – Appearances suggest he had a steady round with 16 pars and two birdies, but Johnson hit just five of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens. Shot one of day’s three bogey-free rounds (Brooks Koepka, Gary Woodland). 4 Marc Leishman, 71, T21 (projected sixth) – The only member of the Top 5 to shoot over par, Leishman, perhaps battling a hangover from winning the BMW Championship last week, hurt his cause with a double-bogey at the 13th hole. 5 Jon Rahm, 67, T6 (projected fifth) – An eagle at the par-5 sixth hole and birdies at 17 and 18 left a good taste in first-ever round at the TOUR Championship. So did a stellar birdie at the 220-yard, par-3 ninth hole. Not so his 32 putts.

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