2017-18 PGA TOUR season preview

Hard to believe another season is upon us, but the 2017-18 PGA TOUR lid-lifter, the Safeway Open, tees off this week at Silverado Resort in Napa, California, The new season will usher in new stars, new comeback stories, and fresh-faced rookies who play with the poise of polished veterans. Herewith, the big storylines going into the new season. WHAT’S NEW The PGA TOUR’s 49 FedExCup tournaments represent an increase of two events over last season. New this season: THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES at Jeju Island, Oct. 16-22, 2017, represents Korea’s first official TOUR event. Some five months later, the Dominican Republic will host its first TOUR event, the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, which after a two-year run on the Web.com Tour, will be elevated to a PGA TOUR event and debut March 19-25, the same week as the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. Meanwhile, the Puerto Rico Open moves from Match Play week to Feb. 26-March 4, coinciding with the WGC-Mexico Championship. With the addition of two new international tournaments, the schedule includes nine tournaments in eight countries outside the U.S. The total prize money reaches a record of more than $363 million, and the Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, Maui, gets a new title sponsor in Sentry. Other changes: The AT&T Byron Nelson, May 14-20, moves to the new Trinity Forest Golf Club in Irving, Texas, while two FedExCup Playoffs events change venues. THE NORTHERN TRUST, Aug. 20-26, returns to The Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey, and the BMW Championship, Sept. 3-9, goes to Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia for the first time. Also: The one-week break in the FedExCup Playoffs will take place after the first three tournaments and before the season-ending TOUR Championship.  THREE ROOKIES TO WATCH BOUNCE-BACK CANDIDATES PLAYERS ON THE RISE VETS WHO’LL WIN FOR THE FIRST TIME FIVE BURNING QUESTIONS 1. Will the 20-somethings continue to dominate? Yes. They won three of the four majors in 2017, and the FedExCup. Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, each 24, combined to win eight times, and Xander Schauffele, 23, picked up his second W of the season at the TOUR Championship. Whew! Throw in Daniel Berger, yet a fourth member of the high school Class of 2011; and Hideki Matsuyama, 25; and others, and 19 players in their 20s won 28 times. Youth is wasted on the young? Not in this case.     2. Who has the best chance to complete the career grand slam? Spieth at the PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis. When Bellerive hosted the 1992 PGA, Nick Price won, three ahead of Nick Faldo and Gene Sauers. None of those guys was an overly long hitter. Yes, Phil Mickelson will return to one of his favorite U.S. Open venues — he contended until the bitter end at Shinnecock Hills in 2004 — but at 47 he looks like a sentimental longshot. And after a down 2017, Rory McIlroy may have too much work to do to get back up to speed in time for the 2018 Masters.  3. Can Spieth and Thomas keep up this pace? Yes, and that’s a mind-boggling thought. At 24, Spieth already has three majors to his name after his electrifying victory at The Open in July, when he stepped on the gas to leave Matt Kuchar in the dust. “If I have the year I had this year the next 15 years, then I’ll be the greatest player that ever played the game if you judge it by major championships,â€� Spieth said at the BMW Championship. For good measure, he went 3-1-1 at the Presidents Cup. Scary. As for Thomas, he said at the BMW, “I feel like I’ve matured a lot as a player and as a person.â€� Well, yeah. He’d already won five times, including the PGA Championship. Then he finished second at the TOUR Championship at East Lake to salt away the FedExCup title, and leading money-winner honors with $10 million. He, too, went 3-1-1 at the Presidents Cup. Double scary. 4. Is this the season for a Tiger comeback? Stay tuned. Although he won five times in 2013, Woods has made just 19 starts since then, including one in 2017, at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. It didn’t go well. Woods shot 76-72 to miss the cut at Torrey Pines, where he had won eight times as a professional, including the 2008 U.S. Open. He announced in April that he had undergone back fusion surgery — his fourth back operation in three years. Woods will turn 42 in December. I would like to play competitive golf,â€� Woods said during the victorious U.S. Presidents Cup press conference. “I just don’t know what my body is going to allow me to do. That’s something I’m going to have to, as I said, listen to my surgeon, see what he says, and then I’ve got to get a feel for what my body is able to do and not do.” The guess here is that Woods is eyeing the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, Nov. 30-Dec. 3. 5. What will become of all these caddie changes? Wait and see. Mickelson dissolved his 25-year partnership with Jim (Bones) Mackay; McIlroy ended things with J.P. Fitzgerald; and Jason Day relieved coach and father figure Col Swatton of his caddie duties. Just like that, three of the most prominent players in the game — all in the throes of a below-average season — announced they were starting over with new side men. Mickelson, at least, went 3-0-1 at the Presidents Cup with his brother, Tim, on the bag. FINAL PREDICTIONS Three early picks to win THE PLAYERS Championship 1. Sergio Garcia – He’s won it before, and he’s coming off a life-changing season. 2. Francesco Molinari – Finished T6 in 2017, T7 in 2016. A hot putting week and he wins. 3. Justin Thomas – T3 in 2016, and that was before he became a cold-blooded closer. One early pick to win the FedExCup Jordan Spieth – How could anyone ever bet against him?

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