From the courtroom to the course, everything you need to know about the FedEx Cup playoffs

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – In recognition of his character, sportsmanship and commitment to charitable giving, Justin Rose has been named the 2021 recipient of the PGA TOUR’s Payne Stewart Award presented by Southern Company. Rose will be honored on Tuesday, August 31, at the Payne Stewart Award Ceremony in conjunction with the TOUR Championship. The ceremony will be televised live on Golf Channel as part of a “Golf Central” special from 7-8 p.m. ET at the Southern Exchange in downtown Atlanta. The Payne Stewart Award is presented annually by the PGA TOUR to a professional golfer who best exemplifies Stewart’s steadfast values of character, charity and sportsmanship. Stewart, an 11-time winner on the PGA TOUR and World Golf Hall of Fame member, died tragically 22 years ago during the week of the TOUR Championship in 1999. Southern Company, the “Official Energy Company of the PGA TOUR and PGA TOUR Champions,” was the TOUR Championship presenting sponsor the year of Stewart’s passing. A year later, the PGA TOUR created the Payne Stewart Award in his honor, and Southern Company has supported the annual presentation since its inception. Previous recipients have all distinguished themselves through their respect for the game, the TOUR’s tradition of charity and their ability to make a positive impact in the lives of others. “I am truly humbled and honored to be associated with the enduring legacy of Payne Stewart through this award,” Rose said. “The Payne Stewart Award has become an annual celebration of Payne’s impact on the PGA TOUR and its players. I am forever grateful to be connected to a man who was the consummate professional on and off the golf course and will cherish being a Payne Stewart Award recipient well after my playing days are over.” Rose, 41, was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and moved to Hampshire, England, when he was 5 years old. He met his wife Kate in 2000 through her work at IMG, and the couple have two children, Leo and Charlotte. They established their own Foundation in 2009, and have worked tirelessly with charities in South Africa, the United States, the Bahamas and England throughout that time. “Justin Rose embodies everything the Payne Stewart Award represents,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “Like Payne, he has been one of the premier players of his generation while using his platform to better the lives of those around him. “The inspiring progress that he and Kate have made through their family’s foundation is a terrific representation of how Payne chose to focus his efforts away from the golf course, by giving back and treating people the right way.” Rose’s Charitable Impact In addition to a sculpture by Bob Pack presented to the recipient, the Payne Stewart Award is accompanied by an annual Payne Stewart Award Grant made possible by Southern Company. The $500,000 grant supports several initiatives in Stewart’s name and is distributed as follows: $100,000 to Payne and Tracey Stewart’s primary charity, The Stewart Family Foundation; $100,000 in Stewart’s honor to Payne Stewart Memorial, located in Missouri at Kids Across America, which is affiliated with Kanakuk Kamps; and $300,000 to a charity designated by the winner. Rose has chosen to designate the Kate & Justin Rose Foundation. The mission of the Kate & Justin Rose Foundation (KJRF) is to “feed hungry tummies and curious minds” and has provided nutrition, books and educational experiences to children in Central Florida since 2009. To date, KJRF has raised more than $3 million, provided more than 500,000 hunger-free weekends, and more than 300,000 books to 29,000 children. In 2020, due to the increased need during COVID-19, KJRF agreed to partner more closely with Blessings in a Backpack and start their own Orlando chapter: Rose Blessings Orlando. With an initial gift of $1.2 million to start this chapter, and an additional gift of $1 million, RBO went within the year from feeding 1,625 children to almost 5,000 hungry children on the weekends and during the summer holidays and are on target to achieve their long-term goal of feeding all 16,000 children in need in Orlando by 2030. Overseas, in September 2019, following the devastation in the Bahamas from Hurricane Dorian, KJRF set about rebuilding the Grand Bahamas Children’s Home, which was totally devastated by Hurricane Dorian. Since then, the home has been rebuilt and refitted, and KJRF has created and funded a Mental Health Initiative and employed a full-time therapist for all 40 of the Home’s children who have already been through so much trauma in their young lives. More recently, in their home country of England, Justin and Kate stepped up to support female professional golfers, who found themselves without any playing opportunities in June 2020 following the onset of COVID-19. The Roses created the “Rose Ladies Series,” an eight-tournament swing across the South East of England to provide playing opportunities and visibility for female golfers while their tours were shut down. In 2021, the Rose Ladies Series expanded to include some of the country’s most prestigious golf courses across England and Scotland for 11 daily tournaments to coincide with gaps in the Ladies European Tour season. This is in addition to the “Justin Rose Telegraph Junior Golf Championship” that Justin has personally sponsored for the last few years with the vision of encouraging and growing golf at junior and grassroots level. There is no charge for any amateur under the age of 18 to enter and it is a tournament that has been close to Justin’s heart since he won it back in 1997. Sadly, both Justin and Kate lost a parent to cancer when they were younger, and have been fundraising for Cancer Research UK since 2003, including partnering with popstar Niall Horan every other year for a Horan & Rose fundraiser. “Those who achieve great results in life without regard for their impact on their communities are never as successful as the people who place the needs of others ahead of their own,” said Tom Fanning, Southern Company chairman, president & CEO. “Justin’s professional accomplishments are amplified and multiplied by the tireless philanthropy performed through his foundation. On behalf of the tens of thousands of Southern Company employees who, like Justin, use values like character, charity and sportsmanship each and every day to make their communities better, congratulations, Justin, on being the well-deserved recipient of the 2021 Payne Stewart Award presented by Southern Company.” A Distinguished Career The golf world was first introduced to Rose as a 17-year-old during the 1998 Open Championship, where the upstart amateur holed his third shot from 50 yards on the 72nd hole at Royal Birkdale to finish T4 in his Open debut. Rose has since built an illustrious resume during his PGA TOUR career, having collected 10 PGA TOUR titles since 2010 and the FedExCup in 2018. The week prior to lifting the FedExCup, he ascended to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career following a runner-up at the BMW Championship. In 2013, Rose followed in Stewart’s footsteps by becoming a U.S. Open champion with his dramatic victory at Merion Golf Club for his first major championship title. In golf’s return to the Olympic Games in 2016, he brought the gold medal home to England in what was a historic week for the game in Brazil. In addition to his PGA TOUR titles, Rose has 11 career wins on the European Tour, and has represented Team Europe five times in the Ryder Cup (2008, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018), earning a 13-8-2 overall record. In 2017, Rose was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire for his accomplishments in the game of golf. He is the second player from England to receive the Payne Stewart Award, joining Sir Nick Faldo (2014). Rose is the 24th recipient of the Payne Stewart Award, joining a distinguished group of respected golfers including Zach Johnson, who was recognized in 2020, and the inaugural recipients Byron Nelson, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer (2000). Other recipients include Hale Irwin (2019), Bernhard Langer (2018), Stewart Cink (2017), Jim Furyk (2016), Ernie Els (2015), Sir Nick Faldo (2014), Peter Jacobsen (2013), Steve Stricker (2012), David Toms (2011), Tom Lehman (2010), Kenny Perry (2009), Davis Love III (2008), Hal Sutton (2007), Gary Player (2006), Brad Faxon (2005), Jay Haas (2004), Tom Watson (2003), Nick Price (2002) and Ben Crenshaw (2001).

Click here to read the full article…

If people were worried the FedEx Cup finale was over before it started, they can stop now. Xander Schauffele and the field are all bunched together.

Click here to read the full article…

DUBLIN, Ohio – Collin Morikawa knew what he had to do. He had just seen a prayer of a 50-foot birdie putt drop into the cup. And like those two dozen people standing by the 18th green at Muirfield Village, including Rickie Fowler, who was filming the playoff on his smart phone, he had heard Justin Thomas’ guttural yell in celebration. RELATED: Final leaderboard | What’s in Morikawa’s bag? If Morikawa was going to have any chance of winning the inaugural Workday Charity Open, he had to convert his own birdie putt from 24 feet on that first playoff hole. There was no other option. So, he gathered himself and huddled with his caddie, J.J. Jakovac. “We agreed on a line, hit it perfect exactly how we wanted, and really helped that J.T. had that putt about halfway in between during regulation,” Morikawa recalled. “So, I kind of knew what it did at the end. So as long as I got my line started on there, we had a good shot at making it.” And he did. That clutch putt didn’t seal Morikawa’s victory – he would two-putt from 10 feet on the third extra hole to make that happen – but it was the signature moment in a roller-coaster afternoon of lead changes and emotion that Thomas would later call simply a “bizarre” day. “It would have been a fun day to have some fans just in terms of the ups and downs and the shot making,” acknowledged the disappointed runner-up, who lost a two-shot lead on the front nine, then built it back to three on the back with five birdies and an eagle in an eight-hole stretch. Thomas unraveled with bogeys on the 16th and 18th holes, though, and coupled with Morikawa’s 8-foot birdie putt on No. 17, the stage was set for the frantic and frenetic playoff. As Morikawa later said, it was a “long, long 21 holes.” Later, though, after fulfilling all his media obligations, the winner could relax. He posted a photo of himself holding the crystal trophy on Twitter. Morikawa was sipping one of Muirfield Village’s signature chocolate milkshakes, too. “Well done, it’s not our last battle,” responded a respectful Thomas, who had spoken Saturday about how he expected to have Morikawa as a teammate on Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup teams in the not-too-distant future. The win was the second of Morikawa’s career, which not coincidentally gives him more victories than he has missed cuts and lifted him to sixth in the FedExCup. The steady 23-year-old, who closed with a 66, had a streak of 22 straight weekends played, second only to the great Tiger Woods, that ended at the Travelers Championship two weeks ago. Not to mention, Morikawa nearly won the Charles Schwab Challenge, the first PGA TOUR event played after the COVID-19 hiatus, five weeks ago. He was involved in a playoff there, too, but missed a 4-footer on the first extra hole to lose to Daniel Berger. Morikawa called Sunday’s win, which came on one of the TOUR’s most respected courses in Muirfield Village, “amazing.” And he’ll get a chance to make it an unusual two-in-a-row at Jack Nicklaus’ place this week at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. Morikawa made it clear on Sunday he wants to be known for more than consistency – not only by his words but by his actions. “This is a huge kind of stepping-stone,” he said. “We got No. 1 out of the way, we got No. 2, let the gates just open and let’s just keep going because obviously it was a tough loss at Colonial a month ago, but I learned a lot. I learned a lot from last week or a week and a half ago at Travelers after my missed cut. “This is just more positives, more learning for me, and I’ve got to go back to, okay, what did I do great, what did I do wrong this week, how can I get better, move on to next week and make a lot of birdies.” This time last year, Morikawa had his degree in business administration from the University of California-Berkeley in hand, but his post-graduate work was just beginning on the PGA TOUR. He earned his PGA TOUR card the hard way, gaining status as a special temporary member before winning his sixth start the Barracuda Championship, played opposite the World Golf Championships-FedEx Championship, to lock up job security for the next two years. Ironically, one of those helping him along the way was Thomas, who invited Morikawa to dinner the week he made his pro debut at the RBC Canadian Open. “He’s someone that has kind of helped me just get comfortable,” Morikawa said. “Props to him. He’s an awesome player, awesome dude, as well. “I wouldn’t say he’s like been there every practice round for me but making things easier and just telling me when we had that dinner just over a year ago, just telling me if you’re good enough, you’re going to get out here at some point. Everyone’s path is different. You don’t know how quick or how slow it’s going to get there, but if you’re good enough you’re going to get here.” Not only has Morikawa, who won a Korn Ferry Tour event as a freshman in college, gotten to the game’s highest level, he’s solidified his spot there. He’s nothing if not a fast learner, and more days like Sunday are only going to help. “It’s not a surprise,” he said honestly. “It’s just a lot of belief in myself that I could do this, and like I said, I go back to being comfortable. Comfortable, I think is the best word for a lot of these guys out here because they’ve been out here for many years. “They know the courses, they know where to hit it, and for me it’s getting as comfortable as I can as quickly as I can. I felt a lot more comfortable in this first hole playoff than I did in that last playoff at Colonial, but I still wouldn’t say I’m at where I felt perfectly fine. “By the second playoff hole today I felt very comfortable, and I knew let’s just play some golf.” And that’s what Morikawa does best.

Click here to read the full article…