19th hole: Expectations for Tiger Woods’ latest comeback

If these boots are made for walking they won’t have too far to go as the TOUR remains in Texas but shifts from Austin to San Antonio. TPC San Antonio and the AT&T Oaks Course will host for the 11th time since the event relocated here for the 2010 edition after missing out in 2020 to COVID-19. RELATED: Power Rankings | Expert Picks This is the third oldest event (non-major) on TOUR after the Western Open (now BMW) and Canadian Open. Dating back to 1922, it’s the longest running event in one city so history is part of the backdrop this week. So is the weather. The forecast this week suggests mild conditions and breezes that fall into the “normal” range this time of year. Greg Norman, with help from player consultant Sergio Garcia, created a rough and tumble Par-72 which now stretches to almost 7,500 yards (7,494 for 2021).Wide fairways and narrow Champion Bermuda greens are both difficult to hit if that Texas wind blows and gusts. With only two inches of rough, experiments off the fairway and around the greens can be attempted. The only major course change was adding a new tee box on No. 5 (342 yards is now 401). Since 2010 these greens have ranked in the top three as toughest on TOUR to hit. The Oaks Course also has dished out the third most TRIPLES or worst scores over that same time period. Scoring this week happens on the inward nine so discipline and patience will be needed early in the rounds. The last two events have had mild conditions and the tournament record was set and then broken by two players who had never won on TOUR before. The three events prior churned out winning scores of 12-under, 12-under and 11-under. A pair of custom made boots plus $1.386 million and 500 FedExCup points await the winner from a purse of $7.7 million. There’s never been a playoff in 10 previous editions but the field of 144 will try and emulate Corey Conners and his masterful performance from the 2019 edition. Recent Event Winners Stats Recent Winners and Notables 2019: Corey Conners (-20, 268) Canadian picked up his first TOUR win in his 51st start. … Won by two after starting one shot back in the final group. … Fired 66 on Sunday, which included TEN birdies. … Set the tournament scoring record by three shots. … Circled 29 birdies, seven more than second best for another record. … Only player to post all four rounds in the 60s. … Never led after any round except the final round. … Became the fourth first-time winner in the last six events here. … Became the first Monday qualifier to win on TOUR since 2010. … Won on his second visit. … Entered the week MC in five of his last six but had T3 at Sony to start the new year. Notables: 2016 winner Charley Hoffman (2nd) closed 64-67 for his third podium in 10 starts. … Ryan Moore (3rd) led the field in Fairways and was T3 GIR. … Si Woo Kim (T4) set the 36-hole scoring record and led after 18, 36 and 54 holes before 72 on Sunday. … Brian Stuard (T4) hit the top 25 for the first time in six starts. … Byeong-Hun An (T7) posted one of the two rounds ABOVE par from the top 15 players. … Graeme McDowell (T7) followed his win at Corales with another strong finish in breezy conditions. … Scott Brown (T7) picked up his first top 25 in his sixth try. … Matt Kuchar (T7) ranked in the top four in both Fairways and GIR. … Dallas resident Danny Lee (T7) and Adam Schenk (T7) rounded out the top 10. … Cut was 1-under. … 20 bogey-free rounds. … First time the event played below par (71.242). … No player has ever successfully defended as Andrew Landry MC. … There has never been a playoff required to determine a champion. 2018: Andrew Landry (-17, 271) Texan picked up his first TOUR win in his 32nd start as he won by two. … Set the tournament scoring record. … Became the third first-time winner in the last five. …. First 54-hole lead or co-lead. … Only player to sign for all four rounds in the 60s. … Bogey-free 67 in Round 3 pushed him into the final pairing. … T51 on debut in only other attempt. … Entered the week MC in five of six after P2 to Jon Rahm at The American Express. Notables: Trey Mullinax (not entered; T2) posted the course record, 62, in Round 3. … Sean O’Hair (T2) closed 65-66. … 2015 champion and local Jimmy Walker (4th) posted all four rounds in the red. … Zach Johnson (5th) shared the 54-hole lead on 13-under with Landry. … Ryan Moore (7th) co-led after 18 and 36 holes and was bogey-free. … Chris Kirk (T8) posted 66, his best at Valero, in Round 2. … Andrew Putnam (T8) picked up his best finish from three starts. … Chesson Hadley (T20) and Keegan Bradley (T48) shared the first round lead with Moore on 68. … Defending champion Kevin Chappell cashed T30. … Cut was 1-over. … There has never been a multiple winner of this event at The Oaks Course. 2017: Kevin Chappell (-12, 276) Picks up his first TOUR win in start No. 180. … Defeated Brooks Koepka (not entered) by a shot with a birdie on the final hole. … 26 players began Sunday five shots back of his 54-hole lead. … Converted his first 54-hole lead on TOUR. … Chappell and Koepka only two players double digits under par. … Backed up his T4 from 2016. … Cashed his third top five in eight starts at Valero. … Previous start was two weeks prior with T7 at the Masters. Notables: Tony Finau (T3) posted the low round of the week with 65 in Round 2 and held the 36 hole lead. … Veteran Brian Gay (T6) picked up his second top 10 in eight visits. … Texan Ryan Palmer (T6) played the final 54 holes in 9-under. … First round leader Branden Grace (T10) backed up his T9 from 2016. … In his last visit Camilo Villegas (T10) picked up his only top 10. … Defending champion Charley Hoffman (T40) picked up, at the time, his worst check at the event. … Only two rounds in the 60s on Saturday. … Only one bogey-free round on the weekend. … Cut was Even. Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2020-2021 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. * – Top 10 finish here since 2015 or past champion Horses for Courses

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Patrick Reed picked up his 9th PGA TOUR title with a win at the Farmers Insurance Open. He carded a final-round 68 on the South Course at Torrey Pines. Take a look at the clubs in his bag. RELATED: Final leaderboard Driver: Titleist TSi3 (9) Shaft: Aldila Rogue Silver 125 MSI 70TX 3-wood: TaylorMade SIM (15) Shaft: Aldila Rogue Black 130MSI 80 TX Hybrid: Callaway Apex Pro (20) Shaft: UST Mamiya Recoil Prototype 95 Irons: Grindworks Patrick Reed Prototype (4-PW) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 Wedges: Artisan Proto (51), Vokey SM8 (56-08M), Vokey SM6 (60-04LAD+ @61) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Putter: Scotty Cameron Tour Rat Ball: Titleist Pro V1

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ATLANTA – The road to the FedExCup title began with Starting Strokes, with No. 1 seed Patrick Cantlay staked to an early lead at the 30-man TOUR Championship. RELATED: Final leaderboard | What’s in Cantlay’s bag? But really, the road to the FedExCup began earlier than that. Much earlier. In fact, Cantlay (final-round 69, 21 under total) began mapping out his one-shot victory over Jon Rahm (68) years ago, at Virginia Country Club in Long Beach, California. Already an accomplished junior, he would study the older, more accomplished players like Paul Goydos and John Cook. What did they do well? What could he learn? That maturation process has now gone into overdrive, first with Cantlay’s lights-out putting and overtime victory over Bryson DeChambeau at the BMW Championship – earning a new moniker, “Patty Ice” – and now with his wire-to-wire victory at the TOUR Championship, where he lived into the new nickname to win the FedExCup. “You know, as good as it felt to feel like I slept on the lead for two straight weeks darned near, it feels good to not necessarily have the lead anymore and be done and closed out,” he said. “It was a long year … just a ton of golf and a ton of pressure golf. “But I’m very grateful and happy to be here,” he continued, “and I’m really proud of myself for staying in the moment and delivering when it counted.” Oddly, the nickname, which was emblazoned on the back of an Atlanta Falcons jersey for this week, was a factor. It wasn’t the name itself; it was the feeling behind it. “It could have been a different nickname, but he really appreciated that the fans got behind him,” said Matt Minister, Cantlay’s caddie for the last four and a half years. “Because up until last week, everybody else was being cheered for, and then they really started cheering for him. That’s what made the difference, that they got behind him.” Cantlay’s old nickname? “Sheldon, from ‘Big Bang Theory,’” Jamie Mulligan, his coach, said with a laugh. Let the record show that your new FedExCup champ has traveled a long road that was by turns predictable and ghastly. Through it all, though, he has held tight to perhaps his greatest strength: knowing precisely what to let soak in, and what to let slide by. An old soul, Cantlay is 29 going on 84, according to his coach. “He hasn’t probably ever listened to a full song that was written after 1979,” Mulligan said. “He’s listening to Led Zeppelin, Jackson Browne, Cream.” He reads biographies about influential figures much older than that. Then again, Cantlay isn’t entirely swayed by the wisdom of his elders. His parents went to USC; he went to UCLA, where he won the Fred Haskins and Jack Nicklaus awards. He shot a second-round 60 at the 2011 Travelers Championship, the first 60 or better by an amateur in PGA TOUR history, announcing his arrival as a force. Cantlay turned pro after his sophomore year in June, 2012. He played the Korn Ferry Tour, took the odd sponsor’s exemption on the big TOUR. It was all going according to plan. Then it wasn’t. Cantlay was at Colonial Country Club in Texas, warming up for the second round of the Charles Schwab Challenge, when it felt like someone had knifed him in the back. He WD’d, but his nightmarish odyssey was just beginning. After a seven-month break, his back still wasn’t right. Cantlay struggled in 2014, sat out 2015 entirely, and still wasn’t feeling well at the outset of 2016. Then came tragedy. Cantlay and his best friend, Chris Roth, had drawn up plans back at Servite High School in Anaheim: Cantlay would play the TOUR, Roth would be his caddie. But those plans were cut short. Out one night, out with Cantlay, Roth was hit by a car and killed while crossing the street on the way to a restaurant in Newport Beach. “Just a freak, one-in-a-million type deal,” Cantlay later called it. He spent the rest of 2016 rebuilding emotionally and physically. He returned in 2017, and in limited action out of concern for his L5 vertebrae, fulfilled his Major Medical Extension in just his second start. The turning point came seemingly out of nowhere: a runner-up finish to Adam Hadwin at the Valspar Championship. “I think the biggest thing is it’s given me great perspective,” Cantlay said Sunday of his trials. “I think for a long time, everything just went great. Growing up, I felt like I got better and better in golf and life got better and better, and then it got as bad as it could have been. I felt as low as it could have been for a little while. “Coming out on the other side of that, I feel like I am a better person having gone through those dark days,” he continued. “But it gives me great perspective and it makes me very grateful to be in the position I’m in today, because it wasn’t always a sure thing. I was very close to going back to school and putting golf behind me.” He got his first win at the 2018 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He moved to South Florida, where he could be around peers like Justin Thomas. His maturation gathered even more momentum when he had a chance to win the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide but finished fourth. He sought the counsel of Jack Nicklaus and was told to look up and enjoy himself the next time he was in such a situation. He won the Memorial the next year (2019). “First off, the way his body has matured,” Minister said, when asked to run down the changes he’s seen in his boss. “When I first met him, he was around 180 pounds. Now he’s 200 pounds. He’s bulked up and turned into a man. He’s so much stronger. He hits the ball not as far as some of the long hitters, but he can hold his own.” As his turnaround at the Memorial suggests, the change has been more than physical. “With each passing year, he’s been better in these situations, better dealing with the crowds, better in the media,” Minister said. “His interviews are fantastic; you see it with each passing year, his maturity and how comfortable he is being out here.” Staked to a lead over the rest of the 30-man field at the TOUR Championship, Cantlay got perhaps the greatest test of mental stamina of his career. He passed with flying colors, making no worse than bogey and refusing to help the chase pack. The scariest moment came at the 17th hole Sunday, but Rahm missed his 11-foot birdie putt, and Cantlay, out of position after missing his drive and approach right, and a duffed chip, made from six feet for bogey, limiting the damage to a shot. When it was over, all the lessons at the knees of his elders, the hard times, the move to South Florida, the newly won “Patty Ice” handle – Cantlay had soaked up and lived into every ounce of whatever could help him. And he’d let slide the rest. The old soul was a man in full, a complete player, and a FedExCup champion.

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