Sources: Tiger plays at PGA Championship site

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – The PGA TOUR released today the four featured groupings for Thursday and Friday at this week’s inaugural 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota. Full groupings and starting times for the first two rounds at the 3M Open will be released officially at approximately 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 2. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6:30 p.m. (featured groups). Saturday-Sunday, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6 p.m. (featured holes). International subscribers (via GOLF.tv): Thursday-Friday, 12:00 to 22:30 GMT. Saturday-Sunday, 13:30 to 22:00. RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-6 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com). FEATURED GROUPS Brooks Koepka, Kevin Na, Patrick Reed • Koepka is No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking and No. 2 in the FedExCup standings, having won twice during the 2018-19 season (THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, PGA Championship). • Na’s victory at the 2019 Charles Schwab Challenge was the 23rd all-time by a Korean-born player. • Reed finished T5 at last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic, his first top-10 since his first start of the 2018-19 season (T7/WGC-HSBC Champions). Bryson DeChambeau, Charles Howell III, Keegan Bradley • DeChambeau has four wins in the last two seasons, tied with Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka for the most during that span. • Howell earned his third career victory at The RSM Classic earlier this season and enters the week 14th in the FedExCup standings; he has not qualified for the TOUR Championship since 2011. • Bradley has three top-10s this season, highlighted by a runner-up at the Travelers Championship in his most recent start. Phil Mickelson, Tony Finau, Nate Lashley • Mickelson won his 44th PGA TOUR title at the 2019 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am; he first played in Minnesota at the 1991 U.S. Open (finished T55 as an amateur). • Finau finished second to Na at Colonial Country Club, one of his two runner-up finishes this season; the other came in a playoff with Xander Schauffele at the WGC-HSBC Champions. • Lashley, the last player to get into the field at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, earned his first-ever PGA TOUR victory by a whopping six shots; adding to the story, Lashley has also overcome off-course adversity as his parents and girlfriend tragically died in a plane crash in 2004.   Jason Day, Hideki Matsuyama, Corey Conners • All three players are vying for positions on the 2019 International Presidents Cup Team. • A 12-time PGA TOUR winner, Day has six top-10s this season, including a tie for eighth at the Travelers Championship in his most recent start. • Matsuyama made the cut at last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic to extend his TOUR-best streak of cuts made to 24; has qualified for the TOUR Championship each of the last five years and sits 31st in the FedExCup standings. • Conners won the 2019 Valero Texas Open to become the first Monday qualifier to win on the PGA TOUR since 2010.

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United States’ John Catlin claimed his third European Tour title in eight months after defeating Germany’s Maximilian Kieffer in a thrilling playoff battle at the Austrian Open on Sunday.

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KAPALUA, Hawaii – One round is not a great sample size but for now Bryson DeChambeau is a genius. As he had indicated he would in the months leading up to golf’s new rule changes, DeChambeau took advantage of one of the much talked about alterations – being able to putt with the flagstick in. The five-time PGA TOUR champion alternated between leaving it in and taking it out throughout his opening round at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and drained a number of putts that rattled off the flagstick. After he signed for a 4-under 69 one stat stood out – he led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting at +3.868. While Justin Thomas said he couldn’t take himself seriously if he left the stick in earlier this week, DeChambeau’s results are as serious as they come. “I feel like I maximized my potential on that, especially on 16 today, where it’s kind of blowing downwind, five percent slope, straight downhill you want that pin to help. So that’s what I kind of did and utilized it to my advantage,â€� DeChambeau said. “I felt like for the most part I needed the pin to be in and it went in and it was a very nice help.â€� One of the concerns was playing partners may be inconvenienced but Dustin Johnson said there was no issue. “It was definitely weird, well not weird, but different looking watching somewhat putt with the flag in but it actually worked out where it wasn’t a big deal today,â€� Johnson said. “It didn’t really slow us down or anything. There were a couple of times where if we were close and the flag was out I would just putt it because I knew he would put in back in.â€� The two spoke briefly before the round about the issue with Johnson just advising DeChambeau’s caddie to grab the flag on the greens so as it wouldn’t be an issue. DeChambeau, who is currently running eighth in the FedExCup, will continue to monitor how it works for him over time. “It’s so situational and I don’t know when it’s actually going to hurt me, if it is going to hurt me. So that’s why I got to understand that, when it does hurt me I’ll know and that I won’t do it anymore,â€� he said. “But as of right now it seems like it’s a pretty nice benefit. “On 14, I kind of pushed it a little bit and it went in the right side and if I hit it a little harder it may lip out, but instead it hit the flag and went in easily. So it’s totally situational, still liquid, I’m still learning, under competition, when it’s the right thing to do.â€� DeChambeau wasn’t the only player to leave the flag in on a few occasions, but they were not for strategic purposes. Marc Leishman tapped in his first eagle of 2019 from three-inches and couldn’t help but laugh at himself as he had left the pin in.  “I thought I could just lag it in the front edge and make sure it didn’t hit the pin and bounce out,â€� he joked. “It was the first one I’ve done, probably the last, but I thought I better get one out of the way.â€� MUST-READS    Tway taps in to Kapalua memories Mid-round interviews a hit

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