Mickelson misses cut, worried about lack of focus

Martin Laird looks to continue his love-affair with TPC Summerlin as he defends his title at the Shriners Children’s Open. A handful of Ryder Cuppers from the victorious U.S. side will also make their return to the PGA TOUR for the first of two consecutive events in Las Vegas. THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT will be conducted the following week. FIELD NOTES: Eleven of the top 25 in the Official World Golf Ranking are scheduled to compete, led by No. 8 Louis Oosthuizen… Brooks Koepka and Ryder Cup teammates Harris English and Scottie Scheffler also will play at TPC Summerlin, while two former Ryder Cuppers, Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed, will make their return to action. Each will be making their first start of the season… Masters winners Danny Willet and Hideki Matsuyama are competing in Las Vegas… In all, nine major champions are set to play TPC Summerlin… A few members of Team Europe are returning to action on TOUR, as well, including Ian Poulter and Viktor Hovland and vice captain Graeme McDowell… Will Zalatoris, recently named the PGA TOUR’s Rookie of the Year, will look to build off his T5 in Las Vegas a year ago… Martin Laird returns to defend his Shriners victory from 2020 (captured after a dramatic playoff). Laird finished 75th in the FedExCup standings last season… Sponsor exemptions this year include Harry Hall, Kevin Yu, United States Air Force captain Kyle Westmoreland, and three-time European Tour winner Rasmus Hojgaard, who is just 20 years old. Yu finished fourth in this year’s PGA TOUR University rankings and parlayed that status into two top-10s in eight Korn Ferry Tour starts, including a runner-up. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: TPC Summerlin, par 71, 7,255 yards. For nearly 20 years TPC Summerlin has hosted the PGA TOUR’s Shriners Children Open. Bobby Weed designed the course – which is carved through rugged desert terrain – alongside Fuzzy Zoeller as the player consultant. It boasts raw landscape features, lush bentgrass greens, numerous water features, and meanders through canyons and arroyos. STORYLINES: Funny enough, the winning score the last two years has been 23 under, with both the 2019 and 2020 editions of the tournament going into playoffs… Twelve golfers with ties to the Las Vegas area, including two-time Shriners winner Kevin Na, will look to take advantage of the familiar setting… The first couple of events on the PGA TOUR schedule are perfect opportunities for rookies to test their mettle against some of the best in the world and also earn valuable FedExCup points… This year’s Shriners marks the 25th anniversary of Tiger Woods earning his first PGA TOUR win at TPC Summerlin. He defeated Davis Love III in a playoff to win in just his fifth start as a pro. 72-HOLE RECORD: 260, Ryan Moore (2012), Webb Simpson (2013). 18-HOLE RECORD: 59, Chip Beck (3rd round, 1991 at Sunrise GC). TPC Summerlin record: 60, J.J. Henry (1st round, 2013), Rod Pampling (1st round, 2016) LAST TIME: In the field on a sponsor’s exemption, Martin Laird broke a seven-year PGA TOUR victory drought at the Shriners Children’s Open. If you recall: Laird was on the tee box when Jonathan Byrd ended the 2010 tournament with a walk-off ace in a sudden-death playoff. This time around Laird, on the second playoff hole, drained a 23-foot birdie putt to defeat Austin Cook and Matthew Wolff. This was Laird’s fourth career TOUR title. His final round included a shot-of-the-year candidate eagle hole out on No. 9 (he popped one in from a plugged lie in the bunker). This was the Scotsman’s second win at TPC Summerlin. He also won here in 2009. Abraham Ancer finished fourth, while Peter Malnati, James Hahn, and Will Zalatoris rounded out the top five. Fifty-four-hole leader Patrick Cantlay finished T8 alongside Bryson DeChambeau, amongst others. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Sunday, 5 p.m.-8 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m. (Featured Groups). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 2 p.m.-8 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 3 p.m.-8 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

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LAS VEGAS – He’s baaaaaack. Well not really. Well maybe… Let’s just wait and see. There was no mistaking the murmurs on the range and the putting green at TPC Summerlin – Tiger Woods returning certainly got people on the PGA TOUR talking. Late Monday Woods announced he will make his long-awaited return to competition from back fusion surgery at his Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas on Nov. 30 – Dec. 3. Plenty of players were talking about said comeback and their excitement for it – but there was also an air of trepidation – let’s not call it a comeback just yet.  “It’s great to have him back but it’s not really a comeback at Hero – it will be when he gets in a full field PGA TOUR event and sees how he stacks up against the guys on TOUR now,â€� long term rival Ernie Els said in Las Vegas. “He needs to play a few tournaments. It will be interesting to see what the swing looks like, what the attitude looks like, and what the body looks like in the Bahamas.â€� You see, we’ve been here before. Woods won five times in 2013 on the PGA TOUR but since then he’s made just 19 starts. He has gone through four surgeries in the last three years and has not played in the USA since the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open in January. A year ago he made a comeback attempt at the Hero World Challenge where he finished 15th in the 18-man field despite leading the field in birdies. By the time he made it to Torrey Pines the hype was massive yet he shot 76-72 to miss the cut and after back issues in the middle east he opted for further surgery. “I don’t know if he came back early before but it was certainly clear there might have been some external pressure to come back. Everyone around the TOUR wants him back, fans want him back, players, sponsors. There was a lot of pressure on him to come back,â€� veteran Rod Pampling says. “But it seems he’s taken more time this time around. It still needs to be a handful of tournaments in a row, no WD’s, no funky walking out of bunkers, none of those sorts of things we saw and thought, wow it doesn’t look good.â€� Els urged the fans to be patient with this edition of Woods’ return.  The South African finished inside the top-6 in six of the 14 majors Woods won, including runner up two times and has been front and center throughout his career. He would like fans to put realistic hopes on the speed of whatever level the 79-time TOUR winner can get back to. “You get the sense he really wants to get back to old TOUR life, week in and week out, Els said. “But let’s be reasonable and hopefully he is also reasonable. I know he wants to come with an attitude of I want to win and compete but I think a top 30, making a cut, getting comfortable are all good early goals in this case. You can work yourself up from there. “The public should also look at it that way. It is certainly going to be great to see him back in the arena and just take it for that and worry about the rest down the road. Let it just start flowing. Let him get comfortable out there again. Things have changed out here and let’s see how he adapts his game to the new body.â€� Bubba Watson took things a step further when it comes to expectations saying we shouldn’t care at all how Woods plays – just embrace the fact he’s playing at all. “Forget score,â€� Watson implored. “If Jack Nicklaus said he’s returning this week – no one cares what score he shoots. I’m not comparing their situations but they are two legends. You don’t care what Jack shoots, you just want Jack here. “We should all be thrilled to see a great champion like Tiger show up and be able to play again. You always want your legends to keep playing. And if he can get back near his best golf over time then, let’s face it, it’s great for the game and I hope it happens.â€� Woods turns 42 in December and can still hope to catch Sam Snead’s record of 82 PGA TOUR wins. Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors might be a bridge too far – but you can never say never. Snead holds the record for oldest victory at 52. There are seven occasions of players winning post 50 including his good friend Davis Love III. Love III contended multiple times last season at 53! “We have seen it through the years. A lot of guys have won majors in their 40s. It’s proven. It’s there. It’s a fact,â€� Els, who won the Open Championship at 42 says. “And Tiger is one of the best. If myself, Phil (Mickelson), Vijay (Singh), Darren Clarke… if we can do it he can certainly do it.â€� After last season was dominated by 20-somethings Pampling says a Tiger Woods at his best would be sensational viewing for everyone. He won the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open last year as a 47-year-old and knows not to write off Woods. “I want to see him stare down a few of these young guys so they can experience what it’s like when the hairs stand up on the back of your neck or when he’s the guy you have to chase,â€� Pampling grinned. “They’ve seen his dominance as kids, but they’ve never felt it. “Realistically if he got to 75percent of where he used to be he’d still be able to win a couple of times a year. Of course it will be very hard to get it back to that level but if he does get that spark back the young guys at the top will need to look out.â€� Just where Woods plays after the Bahamas is still a mystery. In the past he would play in the middle east and usually pop up on TOUR at Torrey Pines where he’s won eight times. But Torrey is a tough test, especially on the back with its juicy rough. Maybe Woods could look at the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club in early January before the Farmers Insurance Open. It’s a flat course that yields plenty of birdies in a perfect setting to ease your way back to TOUR life. Wherever he turns up, we’ll all be watching.

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The top 100 players in the FedExCup standings will qualify for the Dell Technologies Championship — the second leg of the FedExCup Playoffs. Track the latest movement here: Projected FedExCup standings. • COURSE: TPC Boston, 7,342 yards, par 71. Carved into the New England countryside about midway between Boston and Rhode Island, the original 2002 layout carried Arnold Palmer’s stamp before a thorough remodel just five years later. Gil Hanse and consultant Brad Faxon introduced “chocolate-dropâ€� mounds and grass bunkers to give the course more of a regional feel. The Dell Technologies Championship has been engrained in the Labor Day calendar since 2003, using the holiday to offer up the PGA TOUR’s only scheduled Monday finish. • FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 2,000 points. • CHARITY: The Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester and MassGeneral Hospital for Children are the tournament’s new primary beneficiaries, selected with a mission of improved health, wellness, and academic achievement. Six other charity partners include The Red Sox Foundation and Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund. • FIELD WATCH: Rory McIlroy, the reigning FedExCup king, defends in Boston against a lineup currently at 97 entrants. Among them: PGA TOUR Season points leader Hideki Matsuyama and new PGA Championship titleholder Justin Thomas. … Masters champion Sergio Garcia jumps into the fray after sitting out the Playoffs opener for the third consecutive year. He began the postseason at No. 22 on the points list, still on track to make the finale at East Lake. … Adam Scott, now a father of two after welcoming a son this week, was a late addition after initial indications he’d sit out the first two events. He entered the Playoffs at No. 66, with little wiggle room to get into the BMW Championship. … Brandt Snedeker and Scott Piercy are qualified for Boston, but have shut down their seasons with injuries. • 72-HOLE RECORD: 262, Vijay Singh (2008), Charley Hoffman (2010), Henrik Stenson (2013). • 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, Vijay Singh (3rd round, 2006), Mike Weir (1st round, 2008). • LAST YEAR: McIlroy made up a six-shot deficit on the final day, firing a 6-under 65 to chase down a faltering Paul Casey for his 20th victory worldwide and first on U.S. soil in nearly 16 months. McIlroy played his first three holes of the week in 4 over, but followed his opening 71 with rounds of 67-66-65 that left him with a two-stroke triumph. He moved in front for good with a 20-foot birdie at TPC Boston’s 12th hole, then left no doubt with a 3-wood approach into the wind at No. 18 that set up a birdie from a bunker. Casey began the day with a three-shot lead, but closed with a 73 in his bid for a first PGA TOUR victory since 2009. Three weeks later, McIlroy won again at East Lake to take the FedExCup. • STORYLINES: While there’s always a shakeup atop the FedExCup standings after the first Playoffs event, Matsuyama’s missed cut at THE NORTHERN TRUST virtually assures a change at No. 1. Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Jhonattan Vegas all were tied for the lead after 36 holes at Glen Oaks Club. … Jon Rahm, down to No. 6 in points after once topping the chart, entered the Playoffs without a top-10 finish on U.S. soil since May. … The FedExCup bubble now moves to the top 70 in points for the BMW Championship. A year ago, Billy Hurley III and David Hearn were among six who extended their seasons after coming to Boston outside the cut line. • SHORT CHIPS: Two of the past four winners at TPC Boston have gone on to win the FedExCup, with McIlroy’s feat preceded by 2013 champion Henrik Stenson. … McIlroy’s triumph also made it seven consecutive winners at TPC Boston who have come from behind on the final day. Just one of the past 10 champions, in fact, have closed out a 54-hole lead. … Phil Mickelson is set to become the first man to make 40 starts in the FedExCup Playoffs. Bubba Watson will join him if he can move into the top 100 in points. … Scott, Patrick Reed, Ryan Moore and Jason Kokrak all posted top-10 finishes at each of last year’s first two Playoff events. That matched the total for the previous three postseasons. • TELEVISION: Friday, 2:30-6:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 3-6:30 p.m. (GC). Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (NBC). Monday, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (GC), 1:30-6 p.m. (NBC). • PGA TOUR LIVE: Friday-Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6:30 p.m. (featured holes). Sunday-Monday, 8:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. (featured holes). • RADIO: Friday-Saturday, noon-7 p.m.; Sunday-Monday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.COM).

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