The First Look: WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational

Golf is a game with a simple objective: get the ball in the hole in the fewest strokes possible. But several different skills must be mastered to accomplish that task. There's driving, iron play, short game and putting. Players must attain, and maintain, a certain level of proficiency in each aspect of the game to have success. That's why Stewart Cink compares golf to another game, one that's often found in an arcade or at a carnival. The six-time winner says it's like Whack-A-Mole because once a player fixes one fault in his game, another one is quick to pop up. "You correct one thing, and something else flares up, and it’s just constantly you’re searching for where you’re going to put the next fire out." he said. "We’re not robots. We’re human beings. "It’s just the way golf is, and it’s part of what makes it such a great game." Players can only practice for so long, though. Daylight presents a natural limit. Some players have parental commitments to schedule around. Then there's the law of diminishing returns, and the increased risk of injury that comes from excessive work. Swinging a golf club more than 100 mph can be hard on the body. That's why players turn to data and technology to make their practice time more efficient. Rory McIlroy, the reigning FedExCup champion, is among the players who relies on stats to show him what to work on. For example, a report he received after the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship showed him that his sand shots weren't up to his standards. "I got a stats report after the three weeks that I had at Torrey Pines, at Riviera, and Mexico, and that’s what I based my practice off going into the next few weeks," McIlroy said at this year's Arnold Palmer Invitational. "My bunker play wasn’t up to the same standards it needed to be. I needed to get better (with putts) from 6 to 12 feet. It’s stuff that you sort of know anyway, but it’s nice when you have that objective data in front of you." PGA TOUR players are finely-tuned athletes but they aren't always attuned to the true state of their game. They hit thousands of shots in a season but often remember the outliers the most vividly. This can make it difficult to produce a true assessment of their game. "What happens to athletes, because they're always in the thick of it, they start telling themselves stories,” instructor Sean Foley said at the 2014 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, an annual meeting of the best minds in sports statistics. These stories aren't always accurate. Foley tells the story of former pupil Justin Rose, who considered himself a poor wedge player. The statistics actually showed that he was No. 1 in strokes gained from 100 yards and in. "It’s nice to look at some numbers to back it up, because you can get a little blinded out there thinking I’m not putting well, when in actual fact you’re hitting a lot of great iron shots and you’re giving yourself a lot of 15-, 20-foot looks that you’re not going to make a lot of, and therefore you think you’re putting badly," said four-time PGA TOUR winner Graeme McDowell. Charles Howell III hired data analyst Richie Hunt to help him prioritize his practice. "I've always been a guy who really likes to practice, but there have been some times when I'm practicing really hard and not getting any better. Richie would come in and say that's because you're practicing the wrong things," Howell said. "Every part of the game matters, but certain things matter more to certain people." Technology like force plates and 3-D motion capture also help players get more out of their training, especially when they are struggling. This technology helps players more quickly find a solution to their swing problems. Some players use such high-tech training aids when they are playing well, in order to capture data on their swing when it is working its best. This data serves as a benchmark against which players can compare when things go awry. "If someone is playing really well, you collect that data and put it in a vault and save it for a rainy day," said instructor Chris Como, who works with Bryson DeChambeau, Emiliano Grillo, Jamie Lovemark and Trevor Immelman. "And if they get in a funk, you can compare their current swing to when they were playing well." Brooks Koepka credited force plates for his recent success at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. They showed him that he wasn't getting enough weight on his left side through impact. "Usually at impact, I'm at 70% (of my weight) on the left side. I had 70% on the right side," Koepka said. After struggling for most of the season, he finished second at TPC Southwind to lock up his spot in the FedExCup Playoffs. Injuries, travel and different weather and course conditions can all lead to small changes in a player's swing over the course of a season. Hard data can diagnose problems more quickly than the naked eye. As Bobby Jones once wrote, "Golf is a difficult game to play consistently well because the correct swing is not a thing the human body can accomplish entirely naturally." Technology and data can help players when they get off-kilter, however.

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The 64-player field is set, and the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play is ready to return to the TOUR schedule after being cancelled last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 16 groups will be filled out Monday and the draw can be watched live on the PGA TOUR's digital platforms beginning at 11 a.m. ET. Kevin Kisner returns to defend his title from 2019 after defeating Matt Kuchar 3 & 2 in the final. FIELD NOTES: Reigning FedExCup champion Dustin Johnson headlines the field. Johnson won the Match Play in 2017... Players who qualified but are not competing include Tiger Woods, Gary Woodland, Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose, and Adam Scott... Seventeen different countries are represented... Justin Thomas makes his first start since winning THE PLAYERS Championship... Jason Day hasn't won on the PGA TOUR since 2018, however, he is a two-time Match Play winner... Twenty-two golfers will be making their Match Play debuts including TOUR winners Sungjae Im, Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff alongside major champion Collin Morikawa and Korn Ferry Tour Points leader Will Zalatoris... All of the top-10 golfers in the Official World Golf Ranking are teeing it up in Austin. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 550 FedExCup points. COURSE: Austin Country Club, par 71, 7,108 yards (yardage subject to change). This marks the fifth Match Play event for the Pete Dye design. Believed to be the oldest club in Texas, the course has roots dating back to 1899 but was relocated twice before coming to its current location. The front nine is on higher ground while the back nine is on lowland alongside Lake Austin. STORYLINES: Can Kisner continue his match-play prowess? The last two times the Match Play has been contested Kisner has finished 1-2... Former Texas Longhorn Jordan Spieth is looking for some Lonestar Love this week as he looks to continue his fine play this season. Spieth struggled Sunday at THE PLAYERS but came into that week finishing T4-T3-T15-T4... Morikawa is looking to become the first golfer since Johnson in 2017 to win the first two World Golf Championships of the calendar year. Johnson won the WGC-Mexico/Match Play double that season, while Morikawa is looking to back up his WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession win... Tiger Woods is the leader in all-time matches played at the Match Play with 48. However, that record will be eclipsed by Sergio Garcia this year after the round robin play. Garcia sits at 46 matches played. Ian Poulter is at 45 matches played and could pass Garcia depending on who goes further. LARGEST MARGIN OF VICTORY: 9 & 8, Tiger Woods def. Stephen Ames (1st round, 2006 at La Costa Resort & Spa). LONGEST MATCH: 26 holes, Mike Weir def. Loren Roberts (1st round, 2003 at La Costa), Scott Verplank def. Lee Westwood (1st round, 2006 at La Costa) LAST TIME: Kevin Kisner birdied the first hole in the final match and never looked back, defeating Matt Kuchar 3 & 2. Kisner was 2-up through eight holes but lost the ninth to a Kuchar birdie. Kuchar made a double bogey on the par-3 11th and that sparked the beginning of the end, as Kisner won the par-4 15th. When Kuchar could only match Kisner's birdie on the par-5 16th, the victory was secured. Francesco Molinari defeated Lucas Bjerregaard (who had knocked off Tiger Woods 1-up in the semifinals) in the third-place match by a score of 4 & 2. The biggest upset came in the Round of 16 when the highest-ranked golfer left - No. 2 Justin Rose - was defeated 2-up by the lowest-ranked golfer left - No. 57 Kevin Na. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Wednesday-Friday, 2-8 p.m. (Golf Channel). Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2-6 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-7 p.m. (NBC). PGA TOUR LIVE: Wednesday-Friday, 10:15 a.m.-8 p.m. ET (featured groups). Saturday, 9:45 a.m.-2 p.m. (featured groups). Sunday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (Featured Groups) Radio: Wednesday-Friday, 2-8 p.m. ET. Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

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