Nelly Korda is back, Lydia Ko eyes Hall of Fame at LPGA Chevron Championship

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Justin Thomas struggled with his putter at the Valspar Championship, but the ball-striking was strong enough for a top-15 finish that put him atop the FedExCup standings. Thomas, who won the FedExCup in 2017, now has a 30-point lead over Bryson DeChambeau. Thomas is trying to join Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as the only two-time winners of the FedExCup. Thomas also took the lead in the Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10. The Valspar was his 11th top-25 in 13 starts this season, including a win at THE PLAYERS Championship. He finished T13 this week after shooting four consecutive rounds of par or better (69-71-67-70). RELATED: Final leaderboard | What’s in Burns’ bag? “I’m playing some really good golf and I’m really, really close to, I feel like, getting it going here pretty good,” Thomas said. “(Moving to No. 1) is a good kind of bonus for a so-so week.” Thomas led the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, Approach-the-Green and Tee-to-Green. It’s the first time he’s led a tournament in all three categories. He’s the first player to accomplish that since Rory McIlroy at the 2018 BMW Championship. “When I feel like I can kind of lay it off at the top and try to hit pull cuts — that’s what really was my thought at THE PLAYERS — I’ve had a lot of good ball striking rounds doing that,” Thomas said after shooting 70 on Sunday. “My miss, I’m still getting a little stuck underneath it, but it’s close. My good shots are really, really good right now and the consistency is there. I just need to see a couple putts fall.” Thomas also led the field with three eagles this week. He started the final round with his second eagle of the week on the first hole, hitting a 206-yard approach to 7 feet. He was third-to-last in Strokes Gained: Putting among the players who made the cut, however. He lost 6.5 strokes on the greens, the second-worst putting performance of his career. He saw some improvement over the weekend, however. “I just was trying to focus a little bit more on speed and how far I was trying to hit it as opposed to how hard,” Thomas said. “Sometimes I get a little wrapped up in trying to maybe hit it harder instead of farther and when I do that I kind of drag the handle and that’s when I hit that one to the right. That’s just a tendency in my stroke. I really was just trying to focus on speed and speed I was trying to hit the putt and stay stable.” Thomas is playing next week Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, where he won the 2017 PGA Championship, and then playing the PGA at Kiawah Island.

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The Jordan Spieth Family Foundation was thrilled to host four Dallas-area high school seniors at the AT&T Byron Nelson Championship on Tuesday, May 7th at Trinity Forest Golf Course. The students, Jordy, Mayre, Ebelin and Daniel, participated in the North Texas PGA Fairway to Success program through their Dallas ISD high schools. The program, founded in partnership with Deloitte, focuses on after-school golf skills in addition to mentorship, office visits, college scholarships and life skills. Deloitte and the University of North Texas gifted their scholarships on Monday, while Jordan and the Spieth family opted to surprise their remarkable recipients on-site with lunch, meet and greets and a VIP tour of the tournament behind-the-scenes including: lunch in the PGA TOUR Player private dining rooms, tours of the ShotLink trailers, equipment area, Media center and a final private shopping spree stop at the merchandise tent. These students have shown outstanding commitment to their academics and work-loads, incredible leadership as well as perseverance in the face of adversity. The Jordan Spieth Family Foundation is thrilled to surprise these deserving young people with a JSFF scholarship while on site at the AT&T Byron Nelson to assist with their college plans. Jordan, Annie and Chris Spieth along with Foundation and PGA TOUR reps were on hand to surprise and spend time with these scholars. Congratulations to the four 2019 Jordan Spieth Family Foundation FTS scholarship recipients: Jordy is very proud to serve as a role model for his 11-year-old sister. After his family immigrated to the United States, he was able to help teach his sister the English language. Jordy’s dream is to become a lawyer, so he is able to help immigrants like himself understand the laws better in the United States. Jordy will also be attending the University of North Texas at Dallas this fall and will be majoring in Political Science. Jordy has been a part of JROTC all four years of college and currently serves as a Company Commander. He also is the team captain of the swim team, secretary of the Spanish Honor Society at Thomas Jefferson, and is the team captain of the academic team for JROTC. Jordy is also able to maintain a part-time job after school at the Original Chicken & Rice.  Mayre said in her interview “making money isn’t as significant as being happy” and that holds true to Mayre’s personality. Mayre wants to make a chance within everyone as she continues down the path of life. She is planning on attending the Texas A&M-Commerce this fall to study music. She was accepted into the music program at Texas A&M – Commerce. Her goal is to become either a music or English teacher. Mayre has recently started working part-time after school at McDonald’s. She is very involved with the Thomas Jefferson band as she serves at the Drum Major, Section Leader/Drill Instructor and the band council VP. She also is currently serving as student council president and has served for two straight years, she had previously been treasurer. Mayre is also currently the VP of the National Honor Society.  Ebelin will be the first in her family to attend college and to pursue a higher education degree. She will be attending Texas A&M this fall and plans on studying nursing. Ebelin has participated on the Thomas Jefferson golf team that last 3 years and won districts last season. Ebelin is also involved with the TJ drill team and National Honor Society. She serves as the President of ASP Ambassadors. Ebelin currently works at In-N-Out Burger after school and during the summer. She is choosing to become a nurse, as she wants to make a difference in people’s lives.  Daniel is a senior from W.W. Samuell High School and just graduated with his associate’s degree from Eastfield College this past Saturday. Daniel is planning on attending Texas A&M majoring in biochemistry, with the pursuit of going to Medical School and eventually becoming a general surgeon.  This past summer, Daniel interned at UT Southwestern and was able to shadow doctors. While he is maintaining his collegiate and high school classes, he also works part time after school at Pizza Patron. Daniel is also involved with a program called Upward Bound, which Daniel is able to help lower-income families and tutor students.  To learn more about the Jordan Spieth Family Foundation, please visit www.jordanspiethgolf.com/foundation. For more on the North Texas PGA Fairway to Success program, please visit https://www.ntpgajuniorgolf.com/fairway-to-success.html.

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