2017-18 Rookie Rankings

NAPA, Calif. – Rarely does a day go by when Kevin Tway is not reminded of his father, Bob, an eight-time TOUR winner who won the 1986 PGA Championship. Kevin, who made them the 10th father-son duo to win on TOUR with his playoff victory over Ryan Moore and Brandt Snedeker at the Safeway Open on Sunday, takes it in stride. He speaks to his father daily about the family profession, and clearly remembers the spring break in Scottsdale, Ariz., when he was 16, when he beat Dad for the first time. “I remember it because leading up to that, when we were pretty close, he’d look over and be like, ‘You know I’m going to birdie the last two holes to beat you,’� said Kevin Tway, 30. “And he would, every single time. I’d go home pissed, crying, going, ‘Mom, Dad did it again.’� This time it was Bob Tway who wiped away tears as he watched the Safeway on TV back home in Oklahoma. He did not dispute Kevin’s account, but made no apologies for making it hard on the kid. “I told him, I said, ‘I’m not going to lose just for you to win,’� Bob Tway said by phone Sunday night. “‘You’re going to work for it.’ So, a couple times I actually did do that and it upset him. You know how it is, kids want to beat their dads. I said, ‘Unfortunately, it’s going to be a little harder to beat your dad.’� Kevin Tway has now done more than that, punching his ticket to the Masters and the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua with his victory at Silverado. All week he stressed the need for patience, and he relied heavily on that quality in the wind, as gusts forced him to turn his cap around backward as he warmed up on the driving range. “It was blowing like 40,� Tway said. “My hat was flying off.� This looked like Brandt Snedeker’s tournament for most of the day as he made the turn with a four-stroke lead, but Tway, playing with him in the final threesome, hung around long enough to execute a three-shot swing on the last two holes of regulation, going birdie-birdie as Snedeker went bogey-par. Tway’s third straight birdie in the playoff, and fifth straight overall, was enough to outlast first Snedeker and then Moore. It was all plenty dramatic, so much so that Bob Tway joked about hiding behind the sofa as he watched from home. “I can’t say that I held it back very good with the tears,� he said, “but I did okay.� Bob Tway’s best season was 1986, when he reeled off four wins including the PGA Championship. He is 59 and mostly retired, but he can still be found many weeks on TOUR, following on foot as he follows Kevin, who bears a striking resemblance to the old man. Kevin Tway was born two years after Bob’s signature victory, and smiles and nods at all the well-meaning fans who tell him about the PGA and/or his dad’s other wins. “I’ve had people come up to me and say, ‘Oh, I watched your dad in ’86,’� Kevin Tway said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, I wasn’t born yet, but yeah, cool.’ Yeah, I hear about it all my life.� Last week, their club back home was set up to play as hard as it can, the greenskeeping staff forcing everyone to play from the tips, and with tucked pins. (Fittingly, it’s called the Tip-and-Tuck tournament.) Bob thought he was doing pretty well to shoot 72. Kevin shot 67. But if Kevin rarely loses to his dad anymore, Bob still had him beat in one regard: closing. Bob, after all, had those eight TOUR wins; Kevin didn’t have any. When he worked his way into contention at the RBC Canadian Open in late July, only to shoot a final-round 76, it was emblematic of a trend that had seen him falter on Sundays. As he always has, though, he worked through it. His has been a slow, steady progression on TOUR as he leans on not just Dad but also friends of Bob’s like fellow TOUR pros Willie Wood and Scott Verplank. Bob Tway stressed the importance of hitting fairways and greens, and patience, and Kevin also learned to monitor his food intake, eating every two or three holes. Now he’s a TOUR winner, which means someday someone is going to tell Bob Tway about being in attendance that time that Kevin won in the wind. Is there a downside, Kevin was asked, to having a famous TOUR pro father? “You could look at it that way,� he said. “Maybe a little (high) expectations, but I think it’s almost a plus. He played right where I’m playing for 30 years, so he kind of knows what I’m feeling at any point in time, so he’s a good person to talk to.� Especially on Sunday night, after you’ve just hoisted your first PGA TOUR trophy.

Click here to read the full article…

Corey Conners returns to defend his maiden PGA TOUR title as the Valero Texas Open returns to the TOUR schedule after being cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19. FIELD NOTES: Dustin Johnson, the reigning FedExCup champion, was a late entrant and will return to the Valero Texas Open for the first time since 2015, when he finished T6. Johnson made his PGA TOUR debut as a sponsor exemption in 2007 at the same event … Jordan Spieth will make one more start in his run-up to the Masters and return to TPC San Antonio. He finished T30 in 2019, his first start at Valero since 2015 when he finished runner-up … Corey Conners will finally have a chance to defend his 2019 title. That year Conners became the first golfer to go from Monday Qualifier to TOUR winner since 2010 … Besides Johnson, who will defend his Masters title the following week, and Spieth, other past Masters champs in the Valero field include Phil Mickelson, Zach Johnson, and Danny Willett … Sponsor exemptions include Sam Bennett, Austin Eckroat, Mac Meissner of SMU, and 18-year-old Akshay Bhatia. Eckroat, who was named to the 2021 Walker Cup team, finished T12 in this season's Mayakoba Golf Classic presented by UNIFIN. Bhatia has made the cut in three of five starts this season, including a T9 at the Safeway Open ... Other notables who are looking to keep rising in the FedExCup standings with a start at TPC San Antonio include Tony Finau, Abraham Ancer, and Hideki Matsuyama. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. STORYLINES: Will someone else follow in Corey Conners' footsteps and go from Monday to Masters? There are four spots open for a Monday qualifier to try to do just that ... The Valero is the final opportunity for someone to win a TOUR event and punch his ticket to Augusta National. Some still looking for their invite for 2021, and who are in the field at TPC San Antonio, include: Rickie Fowler (who hasn't missed the Masters since 2010), 2016 Valero winner Charley Hoffman, FedExCup champions Brandt Snedeker and Jim Furyk, and Canadian TOUR winners Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor (hoping to follow in Conners' footsteps from 2019) ... The Valero Texas Open was first contested in 1922, making it one of the longest-running events on TOUR. COURSE: TPC San Antonio (AT&T Oaks), par 72, 7,494 yards (yardage subject to change). PGA TOUR winner Sergio Garcia assisted Greg Norman of the design of the AT&T Oaks course at TPC San Antonio. The course features rolling greens, tree-lined fairways, only 100 feet of elevation change and was carved out of rocky San Antonio Hill Country terrain. 72-HOLE RECORD: 254, Tommy Armour III (2003 at La Cantera). TPC San Antonio record: 268, Corey Conners (2019). 18-HOLE RECORD: 60, Bart Bryant (3rd round, 2004 at La Cantera), Zach Johnson (3rd round, 2009 at La Cantera). TPC San Antonio record: 62, Trey Mullinax (3rd round, 2018) LAST TIME: It was truly a tale of two nines for Corey Conners in the final round in 2019, the last time the Valero Texas Open was contested. But in the end the Canadian was victorious by two over Charley Hoffman - and punched the final ticket to the Masters after Monday qualifying for the Valero earlier in the week. On Sunday, Conners birdied four of his first five holes but gave them all back with bogeys from Nos. 6-9. He bounced back with three birdies in a row on Nos. 10-12 and added three more for good measure on the back nine to close with a 6-under 66 and finish at 20-under for the week. Hoffman, a past champion at Valero, ended up at 18-under, while Ryan Moore (after tied for the low round of the week Sunday, an 8-under 64) finished a shot back and solo third. Brian Stuard and Si Woo Kim rounded out the top five, finishing at 15 under. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 1-3:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3:30-6 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, 1-2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2:30-6 p.m. (NBC). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 8:15 a.m.- 7 p.m. (Featured Groups). Saturday, 8:15 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). Sunday, 8:15 a.m.-2:30 p.m. (Featured Groups), 2:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio). TOURCast: Get shot-by-shot info in real time with shot tracks and video with TOURCast. TOUR Pulse: Get the PGA TOUR app to utilize TOUR Pulse, which provides users the ability to experience a mix of content, such as video highlights, written hole summaries and stat graphics on every player after every hole they complete.

Click here to read the full article…

Phil Mickelson finished off his delayed second round at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with a birdie, three straight bogeys and a closing birdie. He is tied with Lucas Glover, Paul Casey and Scott Langley.

Click here to read the full article…