Webb Simpson gets the custom Titleist iron treatment with new ‘682.WS’ prototypes

GREENSBORO, N.C. – When the first round of official tournament play in the 2019 Wyndham Championship begins three weeks from today, three of the most heralded rookies in recent PGA TOUR history, Matthew Wolff, Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland, will be in the field. The 80th Wyndham Championship, which will determine the $10 Million Wyndham Rewards Top 10, is set for July 30-Aug. 4, 2019 at Sedgefield Country Club. All three of these future superstars accepted a Wyndham Championship sponsor’s exemptions earlier this year. Wolff, however, won last week’s 3M Open in dramatic fashion eagling the last hole to take a one-stroke win over Morikawa and Bryson DeChambeau who eagled the same hole moments earlier to take the lead.  Wolff, 20, played two seasons at Oklahoma State University before turning professional earlier this summer. While at Oklahoma State, he won NCAA championships in team competition (2018) and individual competition (2019). He won six times during his sophomore season and claimed the Fred Haskins Award as the nation’s most outstanding player.  Prior to Wolff, only Ben Crenshaw (1973) and Tiger Woods (1996) won an NCAA individual title and a PGA TOUR event in the same year. The Agoura Hills, Calif., native is the ninth-youngest winner in PGA TOUR history. With his win in the 3M Open in his fourth TOUR start, Wolff joined the PGA TOUR as a member through the 2020-’21 season and no longer needs the sponsor’s exemption he accepted.  Wolff finished tied for 19th in the 2015 AJGA Wyndham Invitational presented by BB&T and is the 87th Wyndham Invitational alumnus to earn PGA TOUR membership. Morikawa, who finished tied for second with DeChambeau at the 3M Open, earned 245 FedExCup points last weekend, and when added to the 89 he earned previously, totals 334 points giving him more points than earned by No. 150 in last season’s FedExCup point standings. With that milestone, Morikawa, 22, earned PGA TOUR special temporary membership meaning he can accept unlimited sponsor’s exemptions for the rest of the season as he works to earn PGA TOUR membership for next season which he will accomplish by earning at least as many points as No. 125 in this year’s FedExCup point standings. That number is currently 286. Morikawa played four seasons at the University of California where he was a three-time, first-team All-American. He was the Golfweek Men’s National Player of the Year in 2018 and was named Pac-12 Player of the Year this past season. The Los Angeles native was formerly No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. He played the AJGA Wyndham Invitational in 2013 and ’14 finished tied for ninth and tied for 72nd.  Hovland, a native of Norway, also turned professional this summer after playing with Wolff at Oklahoma State University. He finished tied for 32nd at the Masters and was low amateur joining CBS Sports’ Jim Nantz and 2019 Masters champion Tiger Woods in Butler Cabin at Augusta National after the tournament. He finished tied for 12th as low amateur at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach before turning professional. In his three professional starts, he finished tied for 54th at the Travelers Championship and tied for 13th at both the Rocket Mortgage Classic and the 3M Open. The 2018 U.S. Amateur Champion won the 2019 Ben Hogan Award as the nation’s top college golfer.  “What an amazing 3M Open we saw with Matt Wolff and Colin Marikawa dueling it out with Bryson DeChambeau,� tournament director Mark Brazil said. “We’ve known about Collin and Matt for quite a while since they played in the AJGA Wyndham Invitational and Wyndham Cup over the years. For Matt to win with Collin tying for second, and basically securing their cards for next year, was a lot of fun to watch. I think everyone got a good look at some of golf’s future.  “We gave Collin and Matt sponsor’s exemptions early in the year along with Viktor who was U.S. Amateur champion, low amateur at the Masters and low amateur at the U.S. Open so he has quite a resume as well. To have those three ‘young guns’ coming to the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield, which two of them have played, is a great deal for the tournament and says a lot about what we’re trying to do with the young talent on the PGA TOUR.�

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OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. – News and notes from Sunday’s final round of THE NORTHERN TRUST, the opening event of the FedExCup Playoffs, where Dustin Johnson prevailed in a sudden-death playoff with Jordan Spieth. They finished regulation tied at 13-under 267, and Johnson made birdie on the first extra hole. For more from Glen Oaks, click here. For the latest on the FedExCup movement, click here. JOHNSON BACK TO HIS BEST What if Dustin Johnson never fell down those stairs? You know the ones. Those few stairs at his Augusta rental home, the ones that jarred his back, threw out his rhythm and caused his season to enter a malaise. Johnson had been victorious in three consecutive starts heading into the Masters: the Genesis Open and two World Golf Championships, the Mexico Championship and Dell Technologies Match Play. He was asked at the time if he felt unbeatable. “If I’m playing my best, yeah, I’ll play against anybody anytime,â€� he said. And then the stairs. He didn’t play at Augusta and missed the cut at the U.S. Open. He was a non-factor at the Open Championship (T54) and didn’t really threaten the leaders at the PGA Championship (T13). He was being lost amongst the Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas hype as the FedExCup Playoffs began. But no more. “I feel about as good as I did before Augusta,â€� Johnson said after taking over the FedExCup lead with his fourth win of the season. “I’m definitely happy with the golf game right now. I was flying maybe a little bit under the radar, but I was struggling. I was struggling a little bit coming in here. I was working really hard on the game.â€� VEGAS ALL BUT LOCKS UP LIBERTY Jhonattan Vegas has made no secret of his desire to make the International Team for this year’s Presidents Cup at Liberty National in New Jersey. The Venezuelan all but locked up his place with another great display at THE NORTHERN TRUST. A final-round 65 catapulted Vegas into a tie for third place at 9 under par. He’s projected to move past THE PLAYERS champion Si Woo Kim and into the eighth spot in the International Team standings. The top 10 players in the standings after the Dell Technologies Championship, which begins Friday, will qualify for the team. It would take superhuman efforts from three players behind him on the standings next week to deny him his place, and even then, he’d still be a popular candidate for one of Nick Price’s two captains picks. “Obviously a good round, under the circumstances,â€� Vegas beamed. “I needed to play well with everything on the line: with trying to make it to East Lake and trying to make the Presidents Cup.â€� “I’ve said it all along, I really, really wanted to make the team.â€� Vegas also jumped from 29th to 10th in the FedExCup standings after his stellar final round. While Vegas all but clinched his spot on the International Team, there’s a tight race for the final spot on the U.S. Team. Charley Hoffman and Kevin Chappell are separated by just 23 points entering the final week of their Presidents Cup candidacy. Chappell had the edge after a third-round 64 at Glen Oaks, but Hoffman fought back Sunday with a 65 to climb up to T17. While Chappell’s Sunday 70 left him in a tie for sixth, Hoffman still holds a slight advantage. Both Hoffman, 40, and Chappell, 31, are trying to qualify for their first Presidents Cup team. The Dell Technologies Championship now becomes the last stand. “I’ve told everybody that if I play good golf, I’ll be on that team. I control my own destiny,â€� Hoffman said. “Obviously next week I’m going to a golf course I’ve won at. I have good feelings going into next week and hopefully I can hold onto that. If not, I’ll hope for a Presidents Cup pick, but hopefully I’ll make the team.â€� Phil Mickelson, who is hopeful for one of those picks, did little to show U.S. Captain Steve Stricker that he is in top form. The veteran shot a dismal 75 on Sunday to drop to T54 for the week. SPIETH NOT CONCERNED Jordan Spieth says he won’t take scar tissue with him from the New York area after giving up a five-shot lead with 13 holes to play at THE NORTHERN TRUST. The Texan had closed out nine of his 10 previous 54-hole leads, but he allowed Dustin Johnson to come from behind and beat him in a playoff after a costly double bogey on the par-3 sixth and a bogey on the par-4 ninth. Spieth canned an 18-foot par putt on No. 17 to stay tied with Johnson before two-putting on 18 from off the green. “I didn’t lose the tournament. He won it,â€� Spieth said when asked if it might take a while to get over. “(I) played well. Game feels good. And I recognized a couple tendencies that I got into with my swing towards the end of the round that prevented me from hitting great iron shots like I did before, so I know what to work on.â€� Spieth moved to second in the FedExCup standings as he strives to become the second player behind Tiger Woods to win the title twice. CALL OF THE DAY DAY DIALING IN MENTAL GAME Jason Day’s sixth-place finish moved him to No. 29 in the FedExCup standings. It’s the first time he’s been in the top 30 all season. The 10-time PGA TOUR winner and former THE PLAYERS champion was left to lament a few stretches of bad holes at THE NORTHERN TRUST, particularly a front-nine 40 on Friday. He now heads to TPC Boston where he has six top-15 finishes in nine tries including a T2, T3 and T7. The third event of the FedExCup Playoffs, the BMW Championship, is at Conway Farms, where Day won in 2015. “Knowing that I’ve got some momentum going into those two weeks, it’s huge,â€� Day said. “I’m much more mentally sharp right now than I have been all year, which is great, even though I am making silly errors. I’m over the ball and I’m actually looking at the target and hitting the shot that I want to hit, rather than just looking at the target and kind of seeing nothing.â€� ODDS AND ENDS Defending FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy battled his way to a T34 finish, some 15 shots outside the playoff between Johnson and Spieth. “My game isn’t where it needs to be. But it’s okay,â€� McIlroy said. “Conditions were tricky out there. My battling qualities, that’s all I really have right now. Sort of a little inconsistent with my swing and sort of with everything else. It’s just a matter of trying to go out there and put the best possible rounds together and see where that leaves me.â€� Luke List recorded two eagles in a round for the third time this season, making 3s at the par-5 third and 13th holes. List also made two eagles in a round at the FedEx St. Jude Classic (third round) and the John Deere Classic (first round). List entered the week tied with Tony Finau for most eagles this season (14), and now heads the list with 16. Daniel Berger was the only player to birdie the 516-yard par-4 opening hole in the final round, holing a putt after a 210-yard approach to six feet. After injuring his right knee when he slipped while hitting a shot on the final hole of the third round, Lucas Glover, who entered the week No. 55 in the FedExCup, received treatment from the on-site Player Performance Center to return on Sunday and shoot a final-round 71. He sits No. 57 in the FedExCup heading to the Dell Technologies Championship. Jon Rahm had a sterling debut in the FedExCup Playoffs. He finished T3 at THE NORTHERN TRUST to move from No. 6 to No. 5 in the standings. Paul Casey’s solo-fifth finish marked his eighth top-10 result in his 16th FedExCup Playoffs event and his fifth top-five in his past six Playoffs event (5th/2017 THE NORTHERN TRUST, 4th/2016 TOUR Championship, 2nd/2016 BMW Championship, 2nd/2016 Dell Technologies Championship, T31/2016 THE NORTHERN TRUST, T5/2015 TOUR Championship). Webb Simpson hit 14 of 18 greens, his best effort in that category this week, to produce a 5-under 65 in the final-round. Simpson’s T6 marked his third top-10 result in nine appearances at THE NORTHERN TRUST, and his second-consecutive on TOUR following a third-place finish at the Wyndham Championship last week. The last time Simpson posted top-10 results in consecutive starts was in 2013-14 when he had four-in-a-row (2013 TOUR Championship/4th, 2013 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open/1, 2013 The RSM Classic/T7, 2014 Sentry Tournament of Champions/T3). BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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