The First Look: TOUR Championship

Golf is the ultimate game of experience. You fail much more than you win. And it was through the lessons learned from the past that South Korean Sung Kang was able to break through for his inaugural PGA TOUR win at the AT&T Byron Nelson. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where Kang overcame lengthy weather delays, a slew of challengers and a 27-hole Sunday to win by two at Trinity Forest. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Fool me once… Sung Kang had been in this position before in Texas. At the 2017 Houston Open, Kang started hot and looked set to cruise to a victory. His six-shot lead through 36 holes in Houston looked pretty good. But it put him in conservative mode over the weekend and saw him get passed by a hot Russell Henley. He vowed not to play the same way if it happened again. So when he equaled Trinity Forest’s course record 61 on Friday, he put that experience to good use. During the weather-interrupted third round, and on Sunday, those in the mix threw countless birdies at him, but Kang stayed focused and firm. He didn’t let the noise stop him from his own aggressive play. It was impressive to watch the evolution. Read much more about his breakthrough win here. 2. Not just a warm up… PGA TOUR Player of the Year Brooks Koepka dismissed the notion in the lead up to the tournament that he was just in Dallas to warm up for his defense of the PGA Championship. Koepka entered to win and he played like it. While there were a few moments of rust, Koepka’s 65-66-68-65 week to finish fourth was anything but the form of someone going through the motions. With Bethpage Black getting some rain early this week, length could become more important, and as such, you can expect the defending champion to be a force. 3. Not a surprise to ‘Every’body… Two-time Arnold Palmer Invitational winner Matt Every provided a serious challenge to the title at Trinity Forest, which led to talk about his struggles in the last few years. With just one top 10 between his 2015 victory at Bay Hill and his third-place finish with KH Lee at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where they were T3, it certainly had been a lean period. But if you isolate the few starts he has been able to garner this season as a past champion… you can see it wasn’t totally out of left field. In his first four starts, he finished inside the top 20. And while he missed two cuts after that, he then joined Lee in New Orleans before his T2 in Dallas. In all, it adds up to being 55th in the FedExCup standings and on target to join the FedExCup Playoffs for the first time since 2015. 4. International jostling… Kang’s win moved him up to 13th on the International Team standings for December’s Presidents Cup. One thing that is becoming apparent is the notion of having solidified a spot on the team early is not happening. For the first time, the team selection criteria is based on points within a 12-month window, not just world ranking position. It makes for much more movement and opens the door for many more players to potentially make the team. At Trinity Forest, Kang made the big move, from 38th up to 13th on the points list. The top eight through the TOUR Championship automatically make the team before four captains picks. International team hopefuls Justin Harding, Matt Jones, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Sebastian Munoz and Carlos Ortiz all had timely top-12 finishes in Dallas. We are in for a fascinating few months to see who can force their way in. 5. Slowly for Spieth… The good news: For the first time this season, Jordan Spieth had three rounds in the 60s. The bad news: He still could muster no better than a T29 at Trinity Forest, where he is a member, and remains outside the FedExCup Playoffs zone at 150th. “I don’t take the disappointment. I take more confidence than disappointment,â€� Spieth said. “The actual result doesn’t show really how well I played. We kind of had a tough draw the first two days and then still be — what was it 11 under for the week? — is solid playing on any golf course.â€� Spieth can claim the career Grand Slam if he was to to win the PGA Championship this coming week. Read more on that here. FIVE INSIGHTS 1. Sung Kang became the 10th Korean-born player to win on the PGA TOUR and the second Korean-born winner of the AT&T Byron Nelson (Sangmoon Bae/2013). He moved from 71st to 21st in the FedExCup standings and to 13th in the International Presidents Cup standings. 2. Kang broke the opening 36-hole record (16-under 126) at the AT&T Byron Nelson and equaled the opening 54-hole record of 194 (Loren Roberts, 1999; Brooks Koepka, 2016). He also equaled the Trinity Forest course record 61 (Marc Leishman, 2018). 3. Kang hit 48 of 56 fairways, 57 of 72 greens in regulation, and had 109 putts. (Strokes Gained: Putting – 10.300 ranked 2nd). 4. Scott Piercy became the first player to play all 72 holes without a bogey and not win since 2010. 5. Tyler Duncan snapped a streak of four-consecutive missed cuts on TOUR with a T5, posting his best finish in 53 PGA TOUR starts… This week marked the 87th start since Matt Jones (T5) had his last top-10 on TOUR (2015 Dell Technologies Championship)… After entering the week with four consecutive missed cuts, Peter Uihlein closed 63-64 to finish T5. WYNDHAM REWARDS The Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is in its first season and adds another layer of excitement to the FedExCup Regular Season. The top 10 players at the end of the FedExCup Regular Season will earn bonus payouts from the Wyndham Rewards Top 10. Brooks Koepka pushed his way further up the leaderboard with his fourth-place finish at Trinity Forest, moving up fifth place on the leaderboard heading into his title defense at the PGA Championship. Rank Rank last week Player What Top 10 gets (End of Regular Season) 1st 1st Matt Kuchar  $2 million 2nd 2nd Xander Schauffele  $1.5 million 3rd 3rd Rory McIlroy  $1.2 million 4th 4th Paul Casey  $1.1 million 5th 8th Brooks Koepka  $1 million 6th 5th Dustin Johnson $850,000 7th 6th Rickie Fowler  $700,000 8th 7th Jon Rahm $600,000 9th 9th Gary Woodland  $550,000 10th 10th Charles Howell III  $500,000

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Tiger Woods hit only 10 fairways during the second round of the Memorial Tournament, shooting a 4-over 76 that put him in danger of missing the cut.

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The 51-year-old veteran chased rankings on the PGA and Korn Ferry tours. A change in his focus has given Alker a different outlook and more success.

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