Snedeker is 2nd U.S. vice captain for Ryder Cup

Happy New Year! The 2022 portion of the PGA TOUR schedule kicks off in Hawaii at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and boasts an impressive field of winners from 2021. Harris English looks to defend his title at Kapalua, while 38 of the 39 PGA TOUR winners from the 2021 calendar year are teeing it up. FIELD NOTES: Phil Mickelson will peg it at the Sentry Tournament of Champions for the first time in 21 years … English looks to become the first person to successfully defend his title at the Sentry Tournament of Champions since Geoff Ogilvy in 2009 and 2010 … The golfer eligible to tee it up this week and not in the field is Rory McIlroy … Xander Schauffele didn’t win a TOUR event last year, but he’s in the field thanks to his gold-medal performance in Tokyo last summer. Schauffele won this event in 2019 … Other winners of the Sentry Tournament of Champions who are teeing it up again including Justin Thomas (2017, 2020 – won THE PLAYERS in 2021), Jordan Spieth (2016 – won the Valero Texas Open in 2021), and Patrick Reed (2015 – won the Farmers Insurance Open in 2021) … First-time TOUR winners who are making their maiden trips to the Sentry Tournament of Champions include Cameron Davis, Joel Dahmen, Talor Gooch, Lucas Herbert, Garrick Higgo, K.H. Lee, Seamus Power, and Erik van Rooyen… World No. 1 Jon Rahm is back in action for the first time since the Fortinet Championship. No. 2 Collin Morikawa is also teeing it up and has a chance to overtake Rahm for top spot in the world. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort, par 73, 7,596 yards (yardage subject to change). The Plantation Course is one of two at Kapalua (The Bay Course being the other) and has long been home to the TOUR’s winners-only event. Opened in 1991, this was the debut design from Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. The duo did a hearty renovation in 2019. The course is the only on TOUR that plays to a par 73 and it features massive elevation changes, big fairways, and of course, wonderfully dramatic ocean views. STORYLINES: Mickelson, who won the 2021 PGA Championship at 50 years old, last played the winners-only event in 2001. He’s won it twice before (1994, 1998) when it was played at La Costa Resort and Spa in California … With 2022 underway, many stars have their eyes set on the Presidents Cup. There are plenty of International hopefuls teeing it up in Hawaii, including past team members Hideki Matsuyama, Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Si Woo Kim, Sungjae Im, Branden Grace, and Abraham Ancer. The Internationals will be prime to takedown the American team, likely to include many from the victorious Ryder Cup squad from September … Only three times in the last 13 years has the winning score at the Sentry Tournament of Champions not been at least 20-under par (the average winning total is 22-under) … There were only 12 rounds over par in 2021… Players who are coming into Hawaii with some “off-season” momentum include Brooks Koepka (who took down Bryson DeChambeau in The Match), Viktor Hovland (who won the Hero World Challenge), and Kevin Na and Jason Kokrak (who won the QBE Shootout). 72-HOLE RECORD: 261, Ernie Els (2003) 18-HOLE RECORD: 62, K.J. Choi (3rd round, 2003), Graeme McDowell (4th round, 2011), Jason Day (4th round, 2015), Chris Kirk (4th round, 2015), Xander Schauffele (4th round, 2019). LAST TIME: Harris English could not have started his year any better. English, who captured the Sentry Tournament of Champions for his first victory on TOUR since 2013, would go on to win the Travelers Championship in June as well. He was also part of the victorious American Ryder Cup team. English’s win at Kapalua came in a playoff over Joaquin Niemann. The duo both finished at 25-under through 72 holes after Niemann fired a sizzing Sunday 9-under 64 (tied for the low round of the week). Although English missed a 10-foot eagle try on the 72nd hole that would have won him the tournament outright, Niemann struggled in the playoff and English’s 6-foot birdie was all he needed to take the title. Interestingly enough, the only reason English was in the field was because he made the TOUR Championship in 2020. Given the abbreviated schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sentry Tournament of Champions for 2021 expanded its field to include all those who made it to the TOUR’s season finale. Justin Thomas – looking to defend his title from 2020 – finished one shot out of the playoff. Ryan Palmer finished fourth alone, while Xander Schauffele and Sungjae Im finished tied for fifth. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 6-10 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 6-10 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Sunday, 4-6 p.m. ET (NBC), 6-8 p.m. ET (Golf Channel) PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Saturday, 3:15 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups). 6 p.m.-10 p.m. (Featured Holes). Sunday, 1:30 p.m.-4 p.m. (Featured Groups), 4 p.m.-8 p.m. (Featured Holes). PGA TOUR Live is available exclusively on ESPN+ Radio: Thursday-Friday, 4–10 p.m. ET; Saturday, 5–10 p.m. ET; Sunday, 3–8 p.m. ET. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio) Note: The weekend TV windows could change based on NFL windows.

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Martin Laird won the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open for a second time to give him four career victories on the PGA TOUR. Here’s a look at what the Scot has in his bag. RELATED: Final leaderboard Driver: Ping G410 LST (9 degrees) Shaft: Project X HZURDUS Smoke Black 70G 6.5 3-wood: Titleist TS3 (15 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana BF 70 TX 5-wood: TaylorMade R15 (19 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana S+ 80 TX Irons: (4-PW) Srixon Z785 Shafts: Project X 6.5 Wedges: Cleveland RTX 3 “Raw” (52-10), Cleveland RTX 4 “Raw” (56-10 FULL, 60-9 MID) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour Ball: Srixon Z Star XV

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McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — K.H. Lee ran across the fairway to try to get a better view of the key shot in his second consecutive victory in the AT&T Byron Nelson. The South Korean must have known it would be close, same as the low-scoring drama around him that included hometown favorite Jordan Spieth and a couple of other major winners in Hideki Matsuyama and Justin Thomas. Lee’s 240-yard shot on the par-5 12th hole stopped less than 5 feet from the pin, and the eagle put him in front for good Sunday on the way to a 9-under 63 and a one-shot victory over Spieth at TPC Craig Ranch. Lee earned 500 FedExCup points in the win and moved from No. 116 to No. 28. Spieth shot a 67 to finish a stroke ahead of Matsuyama (62) and Sebastián Muñoz (69), who held or shared the lead the first three rounds. Xander Schauffele had a career-best 61 and tied for fifth with Ryan Palmer (66) and Thomas (67). A year ago, Lee was playing for a spot in the PGA Championship, where he’ll be again next week at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This time it was for a place in history as the 30-year-old joined Sam Snead (1957-58), Jack Nicklaus (1970-71) and Tom Watson (1978-80) as the only repeat winners at the AT&T Byron Nelson. Lee finished at 26 under, one shot better than last year. Spieth had to settle for another career-best finish in the event he so badly wants to win, a year after the three-time major champion was ninth but never really close in a disappointing final round. This final round was really close. Leading by one, Lee made a curling 12-foot putt to save par on the par-3 17th after a short chip ran long when Lee tried to find his footing in the sand with the ball above his feet just outside the bunker. Spieth missed a 9-foot birdie putt on 17 that would have pulled him even, then had to have eagle on the par-5 18th after Lee’s tap-in birdie. Spieth’s eagle chip stayed left of the hole. With short par 4s and reachable par 5s, the birdies never stopped at TPC Craig Ranch, the second-year home of the Nelson. There were 2,228 birdies after 2,007 a year ago, which was the most on the PGA TOUR last season. Eagles were plentiful, too. Last year, six players reached 20 under. This time it was 14. Even missed chances at eagles were costly, such as on No. 12 when Muñoz’s 6-footer circled the cup and stayed out, leaving him a stroke behind not long after Lee followed his clutch shot by making the short putt. Schauffele posted a clubhouse lead at 23 under with a birdie on 18 just as the last groups were making the turn. The 12-ranked player said he didn’t figure on hanging around long with birdies — and eagles — so plentiful at TPC Craig Ranch. He was free to go after Matsuyama’s eagle at 18 put the 2021 Masters champion a shot ahead. Still, Schauffele’s turnaround was remarkable in his first event since teaming with Patrick Cantlay to win the Zurich Classic of New Orelans. The reigning Olympic champion was 26 under over the final 49 holes, starting with eight birdies from No. 6 on in the second round to rally from 3 over and make the cut on the number (5 under). He began the final round nine shots back. Schauffele holed a 97-yard wedge for eagle on the short par-4 sixth then added eight birdies over the last 11 holes for the third score of 61 or better this week. Muñoz opened with his second 60 of the season, a first on tour. “I had no pressure to shoot a low score,” Schauffele said. “The leaders are expected to shoot at least five or six (under) to kind of keep the pace. So I was literally just trying to birdie as many holes as possible while being smart as well.” Justin Lower recorded the second of two aces in the round in the stadium setting on 17, landing a low 9-iron from 135 yards just right of the pin before the ball backed up and rolled in. Marc Leishman had the first hole-in-one on the 213-yard 15th, land a 7-iron short and watching it roll in. It was Leishman’s second career ace and the first at the Nelson since Tyler Duncan in 2018.

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