Rory to honor Tiger with classic Sunday red

Winner – PGA/U.S. Open Championship Jason Day Rory McIlroy Webb Simpson Jordan Spieth Winner – THE PLAYERS Championship Si Woo Kim Winner – The Masters Bubba Watson Winner – British Open Zach Johnson Winner – World Golf Championship Event Russell Knox Patrick Reed Winners of the Arnold Palmer Inv. & the Memorial (Last 3 Years) Matt Every Marc Leishman David Lingmerth William McGirt Winner – FedExCup – Last Five Seasons Brandt Snedeker Tournament Winner in Past Two Seasons Daniel Berger Jonas Blixt Keegan Bradley Wesley Bryan Alex Cejka Greg Chalmers Tony Finau Jim Furyk Fabian Gomez Cody Gribble Emiliano Grillo Adam Hadwin Brian Harman Padraig Harrington J.J. Henry Jim Herman Charley Hoffman Mackenzie Hughes Billy Hurley III Smylie Kaufman Danny Lee Hunter Mahan Peter Malnati Troy Merritt Rod Pampling Scott Piercy Brendan Steele Robert Streb Brian Stuard Hudson Swafford Vaughn Taylor Nick Taylor Justin Thomas Jhonattan Vegas Career Money Exemption Geoff Ogilvy Carl Pettersson Sponsors Exemptions – Members not otherwise exempt Stuart Appleby Mark Wilson Sponsors Exemptions – Unrestricted Wyndham Clark Brett Coletta Beau Hossler Ryan Ruffels PGA Section Champion\Player of the Year Billy Downes Past Champion of Respective Event Ken Duke Kevin Streelman Life Member Vijay Singh Top 125 on Prior Season’s FedExCup Points List Paul Casey Kevin Na Jason Kokrak Ryan Palmer Harris English Jamie Lovemark David Hearn Luke Donald Kyle Reifers Daniel Summerhays Ricky Barnes Chad Campbell Patrick Rodgers Harold Varner III Martin Laird Johnson Wagner Chez Reavie Patton Kizzire Bryce Molder K.J. Choi Spencer Levin John Huh Sung Kang Jason Bohn Tyrone Van Aswegen Derek Fathauer Lucas Glover Brett Stegmaier Robert Garrigus Zac Blair Andrew Loupe Boo Weekley Mark Hubbard Kyle Stanley Ben Crane Michael Kim Anirban Lahiri Graham DeLaet Shawn Stefani Seung-Yul Noh Top 125 on Prior Season’s Official Money List thru Wyndham Bud Cauley Retief Goosen Chad Collins Morgan Hoffmann Top 125 (Prior Season Nonmember) Byeong Hun An Major Medical Extension Nick Watney Brian Gay Bob Estes Troy Kelly Charlie Beljan John Peterson Leading Money Winner from Web.com Tour & Web.com Tour Finals Grayson Murray Top 10 and Ties from the Previous Event Whee Kim Steve Wheatcroft Dominic Bozzelli Top Finishers from Web.com Tour Prior Season (reordered) Kelly Kraft Kevin Tway Cheng Tsung Pan J.T. Poston Ryan Blaum Michael Thompson Scott Stallings Brandon Hagy Xander Schauffele Cameron Percy Seamus Power Trey Mullinax Bryson DeChambeau Martin Flores Julian Etulain Tim Wilkinson Richy Werenski Andres Gonzales Jonathan Randolph Ryan Brehm Joel Dahmen Tag Ridings Gonzalo Fdez-Castano Rory Sabbatini Steven Alker Nicholas Lindheim Will MacKenzie Mark Anderson Ryan Armour Brett Drewitt Brian Campbell Miguel Angel Carballo Sebastian Munoz Brad Fritsch Zack Sucher

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SHEBOYGAN, Wis. – Two-time major winner Collin Morikawa says the back injury he picked up at the Olympics in Japan that spoiled his FedExCup Playoffs tilt is behind him as he looks ahead to his Ryder Cup debut for the U.S. Team at Whistling Straits. Fresh off winning the 2021 Open Championship at Royal St. Georges in July, Morikawa pulled a muscle in his lower back during the first round of Olympic competition in Tokyo and figured he could battle his way through it. The injury occurred on the 14th hole after he tried hitting out of “sticky rough”. Had it not been a team event Morikawa said he may have withdrawn and despite the pain he battled all the way to a T4 finish. A Sunday 63 saw him enter a seven-way playoff for the bronze medal that was won by C.T. Pan. The Californian entered the FedExCup Playoffs as the No. 1 seed thanks to his two-win season but missed the cut at THE NORTHERN TRUST and was T63 in a 69-man field at the BMW Championship before his T26 finish at the TOUR Championship. “It was just bad timing. The biggest thing I learned from those three weeks was to never play injured. I’m never going to do that again, no matter what it is,” Morikawa said. “It built bad habits into my golf swing. By the time the Playoffs had started at Liberty I thought my back was feeling good, but I had just built in some really bad swing patterns, and that’s what happens when you play with an injury.” The 24-year-old says the few weeks rest between East Lake and the Ryder Cup have him back in the right physical condition. “I’m 100 percent healthy. Knock on wood right now, but I’m feeling great,” he said. “Those three weeks I was just trying to figure out how do I hit it better because that’s a big part of my game, trusting, knowing where the golf ball is going to go. “It feels good. I was talking with Xander yesterday, and he looked at me, and he’s like, You’re back, and I was like, Yeah, I’m back. The cuts are back, and it’s a good time to have that shot.” DJ and teams heed Whistling Straits Bunker Warning U.S. Team member Dustin Johnson may have taken closer note than most with a notice given to all players ahead of the Ryder Cup to do with the 1,012 bunkers on the course. Johnson famously was penalized on the final hole of the 2010 PGA Championship for grounding his club in one of the many sandy areas that proliferate the course both in and outside the ropes. The two-shot ding cost him the tournament won by Martin Kaymer in a playoff over Bubba Watson. “All areas of the course that were designed and built as bunkers (Rule 12) will be played as bunkers during the Ryder Cup,” read the notice. “Bunkers inside the gallery rope line will be raked each morning prior to play and touched up again between sessions. Rakes are provided for the caddies allowing bunkers to be smoothed as a courtesy to other players and for care of the course. “During play, footprints, indentations, vehicular damage or uneven surfaces may develop. However, whether inside or outside the gallery rope line, relief without penalty is NOT allowed for interference by any of these alterations to the surface of the ground, whether or not smoothed.” Johnson, at 37, is the eldest member of the U.S. Team by five years and is playing his fifth Ryder Cup. But the laconic former FedExCup champion wouldn’t elaborate on any role as a leader within the youngest U.S. Team in history. “It’s a little strange for me just that I’ve never been the oldest. I always felt like I was one of the younger guys on the team. Still feel that way, but obviously I’m, I guess, the veteran on the team really,” Johnson said. “It’s a role that I enjoy, but obviously with the guys on the team, all of them are very good player, so don’t really have to do much. My role is to win as many matches as I can or just worry about my match that I’m playing in, help the team in any way that I can or that they need. So that’s what I’m going to do.”

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OVERVIEW After a season that left him looking for answers, sleeping giant Jordan Spieth instead got more questions in his first two starts of the 2018-19 campaign. At the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas, he opened with a 66 but struggled with a new driver and 3-wood and finished T55. The next week, making his first visit to the Riviera Maya for the Mayakoba Golf Classic, he went back to the driver/3-wood he’d played for the last five years. And he felt encouraged — in the practice rounds. Alas, when it counted, he hit just six fairways in each of the first two rounds, shot 71-69, and missed the cut. Spieth’s dizzying freefall on the greens, where he languished at 136th in Strokes Gained: Putting last season, remains a concern. By comparison, in 2015, when he won the FedExCup, he was 9th in that stat, followed by 2nd and 39th in 2016 and ’17, respectively. Largely as a result of his putting woes, Spieth went winless 2017-18, finished 31st in the FedExCup and, surprising many, including himself, missed the TOUR Championship. Granted, he’s had a lot on his mind. In addition to his equipment travails — Spieth said he would do more testing — he was also wedding-planning (longtime girlfriend Annie Verret), which included giving the boot to his housemates in Dallas, including TOUR rookie Kramer Hickok, a former teammate at Texas. Jordan and Annie were married over the Thanksgiving holidays. The home life is solid. As for golf? There’s work to be done for one of the brightest talents in the game. — By Cameron Morfit Click here to see who else made the Top 30 list. BY THE NUMBERS FEDEXCUP UPDATE Current 2018-19 position: 190th Playoff appearances: 6 TOUR Championship appearances: 5 Best FedExCup result: Won the FedExCup in the 2014-15 season SHOTLINK FUN FACT Jordan Spieth made the longest putt of the 2017-18 PGA TOUR season, rolling in a putt from 90 feet, 8 inches at the Sony Open in Hawaii. INSIDER INSIGHTS PGATOUR.COM’s Insiders offer their expert views on what to expect from Jordan Spieth in 2019. TOUR INSIDER: Spieth, always precocious, at times looks like he’s having a mid-life crisis at age 25. After toiling on the range at THE NORTHERN TRUST last summer, he said he was working on the wrong thing and had been wasting his time. To his credit, he knows his woes aren’t limited to the greens. Last season he was 54th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, not bad but a far cry from 2015 (15th in that category). He was 26th in SG: Approach-the-Green after ranking 1st in that category in 2017. The stage is set for a comeback. — By Cameron Morfit FANTASY INSIDER: Maybe only once over the years have I referenced the jazz classic, “I Can’t Get Started,” but I think of it every time a headliner misfires time and again as he did throughout the 2017-18 season. The song was written and composed eight decades ago, but its message is as timeless as it is specific. The ballad settles on the incompleteness of a man who succeeds in everything but love, but it’s not so much a tale of falling short as it is of confusion. The irony, at least in the context of my placement, is that one of the lyrics acknowledges good scores on the golf course. Spieth still doesn’t have any trouble beating par, but he’s endured a falling-out with his putter. Perhaps now as a married man he’ll rekindle his other love starting soon. As much as gamers want to believe that he’ll regain a consistently healthy relationship with it, we really have no choice, particularly salary leaguers who are treated to bottom-dollar sticker price of $2.793 million. — By Rob Bolton EQUIPMENT INSIDER: After using a Titleist 915D2 driver (9.5 degrees) for years, Spieth has finally switched into a new TS2 driver (10.5 degrees), and a new TS2 3 wood. His Titleist Tour Rep says Spieth switched due to higher ball speeds and a higher launch. Both of his new metalwoods are equipped with Graphite Design Tour AD-IZ shafts. What’s less likely for Spieth to change out is his rusted Scotty Cameron 009 putter that he putts with cross-handed (and sometimes not even looking at the ball). Spieth briefly switched to a mallet-style Scotty Cameron in 2017, but he’s currently still gaming the rusted, blade-style Scotty. We’l keep you posted if he makes a switch in 2019. — By Andrew Tursky STYLE INSIDER: Spieth experimented with some new colors and looks in 2018. His pants are now slimmer, more tapered, and are hemmed at the tops of his shoes for a streamlined look. He even worked in a few black-on-black outfits, but he never seemed to find a comfort zone with them. In 2019, I’d like to see Jordan continue to stay up on the modern trends when it comes to fits while finding some other go-to colors besides blue. — By Greg Monteforte

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