Wyndham Rewards Challenge nine-hole match for $160,000 set for Wednesday

As Joshua Creel finished a five-week stretch on the road with a PGA TOUR card in hand for the first time, all he wanted to do this week was head back home, sleep in his own bed and see his wife and dog. Unfortunately, COVID-19 had other plans. His wife, Alex, was supposed to head to the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance to watch him play for the weekend but she found out someone in her office had contracted COVID, so she went to get tested before leaving. Positive. Plans spoiled. Not only could she not go to see her husband get a TOUR card, but he also couldn’t return home either when the tournament ended. “I’m in the city I live in, and I can’t even go to my house,” Creel said with a laugh. Initially instead of flying home, Creel flew to Fulton, Mississippi, this week and spent a couple days with his close buddy, Chad Ramey, who is also preparing for his first start as a PGA TOUR member at next week’s Fortinet Championship. After a couple days practicing and hanging out, Creel headed back to Edmond, Oklahoma, and is staying with a buddy this week and practicing at his home club while his wife, who is expecting their first child, a baby boy named Colt in January, quarantines at their home. “I went and talked to her through the front window, but that’s as close as we’ve gotten to each other, so that’s frustrating,” Creel said. “I haven’t slept in my own bed for six weeks, so I was looking forward to that. And it was a pretty big bummer that she wasn’t able to be out there Sunday and celebrate with my parents and myself. So, it’s been frustrating, but it is what it is, so I’ll go to work next week then come back and enjoy her and my dog.” Despite the inconveniences to his preparation this week and the disappointment that his wife can’t head with him to Napa, Creel, who turned pro in 2012, is fired up to have the opportunity to get back to work next week as a TOUR member. “Obviously a dream come true to be teeing it up on the PGA TOUR as a member. I’m excited,” Creel said. “Going to keep doing what we’ve been doing the last couple months and pick good targets, get good numbers and see what happens. But the game feels good. I’ve been playing well now for a while.” As far as momentum goes, Creel has about as much as any TOUR rookie will heading into the TOUR’s season-opener. In mid-June, he was outside the top 100 in the Korn Ferry Tour Points Standings and looking up fall Q-School information. Now, he’s a Korn Ferry Tour winner and heading to the big show after finishing the Korn Ferry Tour Finals with back-to-back top-10s. “I laugh with my friends because it’s been a wild ride, I’ll tell you what,” Creel said. “The emotions from looking into Q-School to locking up a Korn Ferry Tour card for next year to going on and winning and then ultimately getting my PGA TOUR card. It’s been something else, but I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.” It’s the journey to get here that has made it all the sweeter. After leaving Central Oklahoma as the 2012 NCAA Division II Player of the Year, Creel struggled to breakthrough. He finally made it to final stage of Q-School in 2016 for the first time but finished T131, which was only good conditional membership and four starts on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2017. He was playing mini tours mostly and never lost the faith in his game or that he could make it, but his bank account was starting to. “There was one time in 2017 where my dad said, ‘Hey dude, your bank account is running real thin,” Creel recalled. “Just point blank you’re either going to have to play better or find something else to do, and I ended up winning a mini-tour event the next week to give myself a little bit of a cushion. But, yeah, never wanted to quit because I was upset about how I was playing but there were a couple times where financially there it was getting tough.” That period proved critical. He not only improved his course management out on the mini tours, but he learned to win. In 2019, he got fully exempt status on the Korn Ferry Tour for the first time and now the Cheyenne, Wyoming, native will tee it up next week as only the second TOUR member ever from Wyoming. “I’m not one to ever get down about much and I was never really discouraged at all about where my game was or where I was going to have to play over the years,” Creel said. “So, yeah, just steadily improved and parlayed that into a PGA TOUR card.”

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Holding steady in gusty conditions and drawing on close calls earlier this season, Sam Burns cards a final-round 68 to hold off Keegan Bradley (71) by three at the Valspar Championship. With his first PGA TOUR win, Burns moves from 47th to 14th in the FedExCup – making him the biggest mover of the week – and becomes the second-youngest Valspar champ (24 years, 9 months, 9 days) after Jordan Spieth (21) in 2015. Here are five stories you may have missed from the Valspar Championship. 1. Burns back amongst talented peers After a distinguished amateur and collegiate (LSU) career, Burns turned pro but fell behind contemporaries Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa and Matthew Wolff, all of whom won straight away. It wasn’t a lack of talent; instead, Burns broke his ankle playing pickup basketball with neighborhood kids in his rookie season in 2019. Although he had played well enough to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs that year, he shut it down in July. Then he missed the cut in four of his first five starts last season. “I wasn’t ready to play yet, but I tried to play,” he said at the Valspar after converting a 54-hole lead to a victory for the first time in three tries this season. “I just played awful for a month straight and just finally was like, hey, this is not a good idea long-term, I’m only creating bad habits and my body doesn’t feel good, my ankle doesn’t feel good, so let’s just shut it down until we feel like we’re ready. And that was a big learning moment for me.” Strange stat of the week: Burns made two eagles and two birdies to play the par-5 first hole in 6 under for the week, the most under par on that hole for anyone in Valspar Championship history. For more on Burns, click here. 2. Thomas retakes FedExCup lead Justin Thomas had the second-worst putting week of his career in finishing T13. That was the bad news. The good news is that he was aces from tee to green, leading the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, SG: Approach-the-Green, and SG: Tee-to-Green. It was the first time in his career that Thomas has led the field in all three categories for the week. What’s more, he will head to this week’s Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, where he captured the 2017 PGA Championship, as the FedExCup leader again, by 30 points over Bryson DeChambeau. “I’m playing some really good golf and I’m really, really close to, I feel like, getting it going here pretty good,” Thomas said. “So, yeah, it’s a good kind of bonus for a so-so week.” Even better, he celebrated his 28th birthday last week. For more on Thomas, click here. 3. Bradley sees silver lining One day after the Kentucky Derby, the Valspar was a two-horse race. Then Keegan Bradley hit what he admitted was “a terrible shot” into the water at the par-3 13th hole. The ensuing double-bogey gave Sam Burns a lead he would never relinquish, but Bradley still saw the positives after signing for an even-par 71. Bradley’s seventh runner-up finish in 273 TOUR starts marked the third time he’s failed to close out a 54-lead/co-lead on TOUR, but his second-round 63 tied his career low on TOUR. He also climbed 30 spots to 36th in the FedExCup standings and is trending in the right direction. “My game is in great shape,” said Bradley, a four-time TOUR winner whose most recent victory came at the 2018 BMW Championship. “I’m playing (the Wells Fargo) in Charlotte, I got the PGA coming up in a couple weeks – this is the best I’ve played in a very long time, even before I had won even when I had won BMW, this is the best I’ve felt, so I’m excited.” 4. Great run continues for Hovland Viktor Hovland continues to enjoy a spectacular season. Making his Valspar debut, he shot a final-round 65 – low round of the day – for a T3 finish. In the process he moved from seventh to third in the FedExCup, and to 11th in the Official World Golf Ranking. Not bad for a guy who is only 23 and turned pro less than two years ago. “Obviously getting another win would be very fun,” Hovland said, “but just being consistent week in, week out is, yeah, I take a lot of satisfaction from that.” 5. Ancer heads to Quail Hollow in good form Abraham Ancer, the breakout star of the 2019 International Presidents Cup Team, shot a final-round 69 to finish solo fifth at the Valspar. It was his career-best 11th top-25 finish in 17 starts this season. He moved up to 33rd in the FedExCup and this week heads to the Wells Fargo at Quail Hollow Club, which will host the 2022 Presidents Cup. “Just try to figure it out, just try to play it,” he said of his plans. “I only played it I think once before. It’s a big golf course, so I know I have to be in the fairway almost every time to be able to have a chance for birdie, obviously, but, yeah, just to get more comfortable, get some rounds in, practice pretty much every day before the tournament starts and just get as many reps as I can.” As for any Presidents Cup prep with the team, Ancer said it was still too early. “Not really,” he said. “I think we just going to go do our thing. We might catch some dinner, whatever, hang out, but nothing crazy.” 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 will conclude prior to the FedExCup PLAYOFFS where 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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Round 1 of the Sentry Tournament of Champions takes place today from the Plantation Course at Kapalua. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action. Round 1 leaderboard Round 1 tee times HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 6 p.m.-10 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 4 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC), 6 p.m.-8 p.m. (Golf Channel). Sunday, 6 p.m.-10 p.m. (Golf Channel) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 4 p.m.-10 p.m. ET. Saturday, 3 p.m.-8 p.m. ET. Sunday, 5 p.m.- 10 p.m. ET (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio). NOTABLE TEE TIMES (ALL TIMES EASTERN) Dustin Johnson, J.T. Poston Thursday: 4:40 p.m. (No. 1 tee) Matt Kuchar, Rickie Fowler Thursday: 5 p.m. (No. 1 tee) Jon Rahm, Gary Woodland Thursday: 5:10 p.m. (No. 1 tee) Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas Thursday: 5:40 p.m. (No. 1 tee) MUST READS DJ adds TaylorMade SIM woods and rescue club to bag Thomas starts drive back to top Champ heading into 2020 with ‘extreme confidence’ Power Rankings Expert Picks The First Look: News and notes Sign-up and play Fantasy Golf

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