2017 Quicken Loans National, Round 4, leaderboard, tee times, TV schedule

Tiger and Charlie Woods carded 18 birdies and two eagles across 36 holes at the PNC Championship, but it wasn’t enough for the duo to earn the event’s championship belts for the first time. Team Woods finished 20-under total at Ritz-Carlton GC, good for a T8 finish at the team scramble event. Vijay and Qass Singh won the event at 26-under, marking Team Singh’s first victory in the event after a series of runner-ups and third-place showings. Team Woods has now finished seventh, second and eighth in its first three PNC Championship appearances. Although Tiger and Charlie finished short of their ultimate goal, there were plenty of memorable shots and moments throughout the weekend in central Florida. Here’s a hole-by-hole look at Team Woods’ final round at the PNC Championship. Hole 18 (par 5, 557/500 yards) Charlie pulls driver and executes on an aggressive line, striping it down the left center of the fairway. From 234 yards, he scoots a low burner that narrowly eludes a greenside bunker and skips up to the fringe, 40 feet from the hole. “Where’d it go?” Charlie asks his dad with a smile. “Just get in the cart,” quips Tiger. Tiger’s approach hangs out to the right, settling in the fairway some 40 yards from the hole. Tiger doesn’t hold back on the eagle attempt, as the ball burns the edge with plenty of pace and rolls 8 feet by. Charlie produces a smooth stroke on a good line, but the ball holds up 3 feet short of the hole. Charlie drains the birdie to conclude the week on a positive note. Tiger and Charlie embrace, with hugs exchanged all around between the Woods and Thomas duos. Team Woods, 20-under (7-under Sunday) Winner: Team Singh, 26-under Hole 17 (par 3, 171 yards) Charlie selects 6-iron and plays a high fade that settles on the right side of the green, leaving a lengthy birdie try of some 40 feet. Tiger plays next with a tight draw that doesn’t quite move all the way back, catching the right fringe and settling 30 feet from the flagstick. Playing from Charlie’s ball, Tiger gives the birdie try an aggressive rap but it rolls out 8 feet past the hole. Charlie’s birdie try is on a promising line but pulls up 3 feet short. Both players miss the par putt on the right side, a stinging moment as Team Woods heads to its final hole of the event. Team Woods, 19-under (6-under Sunday thru 17) Leader: 25-under, Team Singh (thru 17) Hole 16 (par 4, 425/375 yards) Tiger stripes a drive down the left side of the fairway that flirts with a fairway bunker but settles a few yards shy, safely in the short grass. Charlie takes driver and strikes it well, but with slightly too much juice, as it finds the fairway bunker. Playing from dad’s position, just 87 yards out, Charlie is less-than-enthused upon impact; the ball leaks right and finds a watery grave. Tiger doesn’t miss a beat though, as his well-struck wedge lands 25 feet past the hole and spins back to within tap-in range. The crowd roars in appreciation. Tiger arrives at the green and cleans it up. Birdie for the Woods duo. Team Woods, 20-under (7-under Sunday thru 16) Leader: 25-under, Team Singh (thru 16) Hole 15 (par 4, 467/423 yards) Playing from a fairway bunker, Charlie goes first from 135 yards. With his dad keenly looking on, Charlie advances it to the front of the green, but leaving a cross-country birdie effort to a back hole location. Tiger takes an aggressive line and delivers, the ball landing soft just long-right of the hole and leaving a 12-foot birdie try. Tiger putts first and produces a smooth stroke, the ball tracking all the way but narrowly missing on the left side, burning the edge. Five strokes off the clubhouse lead (Team Daly) with four to play, Charlie faces essentially must-make territory, but the putt is left the whole way; Charlie walks after it quickly in dismay. Par for Team Woods. Meanwhile, Team Singh makes a tap-in birdie at the par-4 16th to move even further ahead. Team Woods, 19-under (6-under Sunday thru 15) Leader: 25-under, Team Singh (thru 16) Hole 14 (par 5, 565/526 yards) Charlie plays first and pulls driver, uncorking a moon shot that just carries a fairway bunker and finds the short grass, providing Team Woods a chance to give the green a go. Tiger plays next from the back tee and follows suit with a high cut that never leaves the center of the fairway. Team Woods elects to use Charlie’s tee shot, with 217 yards to the flag. Tiger plays first and stares it down with a long iron, but the ball leaks right and catches a greenside bunker. Charlie plays a smart shot to short-right of the green, taking the left-side pond out of play. Charlie opts for wedge on the eagle chip and catches it slightly heavy; the ball stops some 15 feet short of the flag. The same story applies on Tiger’s chip, as the wedge perhaps sticks in the grass to keep the ball from releasing fully. Another 15-foot birdie look. With Team Singh having just made eagle at this hole to move to 24-under, time is running out for Team Woods. Tiger putts first and misses on the right side; Charlie then misses on the left side. A disappointing par for Team Woods at the gettable par 5. Five strokes off the pace with four holes to play. Team Woods, 19-under (6-under Sunday thru 14) Leader: 24-under; Team Singh (thru 14), Team Daly (F) Hole 13 (par 4, 352/317 yards) After a well-struck drive on the short par 4, Team Woods has just 48 yards to the hole for approach. Charlie plays first on a conservative line to the back part of the green, taking the bunker out of play, the ball settling some 30 feet past the hole. Tiger executes a vintage low nipper that lands just 3 feet left of the hole and spins to settle at a similar distance. “A little smile as he walked back to the cart,” observes the broadcast team, and for good reason. Tiger arrives at the green and wastes no time in cleaning up the birdie. Not many holes remain, but Team Woods has no intention of going down without a fight. Team Woods, 19-under (6-under Sunday thru 13) Leader: 22-under; Team Singh (thru 13), Team Daly (thru 17), Team Harrington (F) Hole 12 (par 3, 192 yards) Tiger hoists a mid-iron into the sky and the ball catches the front of the green, leaving a lengthy birdie try of 35 feet or so. Charlie plays next with 8-iron and produces a slight fade that attacks the flag, settling on the left corner of the green just 10 feet from the cup. A strong birdie opportunity for Team Woods, which likely needs to run the proverbial table at this point. Charlie had been putting first throughout the week, but Team Woods changes it up; Tiger goes first this time. The birdie putt tracks toward the cup but tails to the left at the last second. Charlie studies the break and doesn’t miss a beat, draining it center-cut with perfect pace. He provides a smooth fist pump, knowing this birdie was essential to maintain hopes of the championship belts. Team Woods, 18-under (5-under Sunday thru 12) Leader: 22-under; Team Singh (thru 13), Team Daly (thru 16) Hole 11 (par 4, 410/375 yards) Charlie pulls driver and produces a bold strike, but the ball drifts into pine straw off the fairway. It will be a short iron into the green nonetheless. From 130 yards, Charlie plays a smooth shot that safely lands on the front-center of the green, 25 feet from the hole. Tiger plays next with an aggressive line to the back pin, the ball spinning and coming to rest just 12 feet away. A mid-length birdie opportunity for Team Woods. Neither can convert, though, and the duo settles for a less-than-ideal par at this juncture. Team Woods, 17-under (4-under Sunday thru 11) Leader: 22-under, Team Daly (thru 15) Hole 10 (par 4, 387/355 yards) Charlie pulls driver and takes an aggressive line over a waste area, clearing it with ease; the ball bounds down the fairway to leave a flip-wedge in. From just 40 yards, Charlie hoists his approach high but cannot get it to check; the ball releases into a fairway collection area behind the green. Tiger plays a mid-height pitch toward the flag that releases just to the right, leaving an 8-foot birdie try. Charlie putts first and delivers, the ball dropping in the right-center of the cup. Birdie for Team Woods to begin the final nine. They’ll need several more. Team Woods, 17-under (4-under Sunday thru 10) Leader: 22-under, Team Daly (thru 14) Hole 9 (par 4, 453/389 yards) After two solid shots into the green, Team Woods faces 20 feet for birdie from the back of the green. Charlie lags it close, allowing Tiger to putt without fear, and he gives it plenty of pace but rolls it by on the right side. Team Woods trails current leader Team Daly by six strokes at the turn. Last year, Team Woods strung 11 consecutive birdies on Sunday (Nos. 6-17) en route to a runner-up finish, two back of Team Daly. The Tiger-Charlie duo will need some similar back-nine magic in order to contend on the final holes. Team Woods, 16-under (3-under Sunday thru 9) Leader: 22-under, Team Daly (thru 13) Hole 8 (par 3, 215/178 yards) Tiger takes 4-iron and stripes it toward the flagstick; the ball holds a perfect line but settles 20 feet short of the hole. Charlie selects 5-iron and plays a high fade; he leans slightly but the ball lands and stops hole-high, with a makeable birdie look of 15 feet or so. Charlie misses a foot short, right in the heart, and Tiger’s birdie try slides to the right. A slightly disappointing par for Team Woods, five strokes off the pace with 10 holes to play. Team Woods 16-under (3-under Sunday thru 8) Leader: 21-under, Team Daly (thru 12) Hole 7 (par 4, 363/329 yards) Tiger takes driver and is displeased upon impact, the ball sailing into the trees. Charlie finds trouble as well, and the duo faces an uphill battle in hopes of saving par and remaining within striking distance. Playing the third shot from flip-wedge distance, Charlie catches it heavy and the ball catches a greenside bunker short. Tiger plays a low spinner that checks too soon and stops 25 feet short. Team Woods will have some heavy lifting to save par. Charlie misses the par putt right, and Tiger misses it left. Bogey for Team Woods, a potentially devastating occurrence at this juncture. In a slight bit of saving grace, Team Thomas fails to convert on its mid-range birdie look and settles for par. Team Thomas now trails Team Daly, playing five holes ahead, by a stroke. Team Woods, 16-under (3-under Sunday thru 7) Leader: 21-under, Team Daly (thru 12) Hole 6 (par 4, 422/380 yards) Playing from the center of the fairway, 123 yards out, Charlie sees his approach land 15 feet short but catch a ridge and funnel back down the slope to leave a 35-foot birdie try. Tiger tugs his wedge left; it misses the green and settles in the fairway some 40 feet from the hole. Charlie’s lengthy birdie try up the hill starts out right and never turns back left, the ball running out to leave a 4-foot comebacker for par. Tiger plays next and perhaps overcompensates, the ball missing left and running out to leave 3 feet for par. Charlie cleans it up with no problem. Justin and Mike Thomas have 25 feet for birdie. Mike misses but Justin calmly rolls it in, moving Team Thomas into the solo lead by one stroke over Team Singh and Team Daly, and now three clear of Team Woods. Team Woods, 17-under (4-under Sunday thru 6) Leader: 20-under, Team Thomas (thru 6) Hole 5 (par 5, 558/528 yards) Tiger pulls driver and strikes a controlled fade down the center of the fairway, his ball speed recorded at 174 mph. He has been keeping pace with Justin Thomas off the tee throughout the week, a testament to his career-long ability to adapt his swing to accomodate various injuries. Charlie pulls driver and displays a dynamic recoil with the ball flight to match; the ball has plenty of juice and safely finds the left side of the fairway, leaving just 200 yards into the green on the short par 5. Playing his second from the left side of the fairway, Charlie stares it down all the way, but the ball catches a pond just short of the green. Tiger is unfazed, as he launches a high mid-iron that tracks toward the flag and settles just 15 feet short. Justin and Mike Thomas are both off the green, giving Team Woods a chance to cut into the deficit. Charlie attempts eagle first, and he judges it perfectly, the ball starting out right and creeping back toward the center. It falls over the left edge and into the cup as Charlie raises his putter and pumps his fist twice. “I finally made one,” Charlie says with a smile as he exits the green. Team Thomas makes birdie, but Team Woods cuts into the deficit, which is now two. Team Woods, 17-under (4-under Sunday thru 5) Leader: 19-under; Team Thomas (thru 5), Team Singh (thru 6) Hole 4 (par 4, 187/152 yards) Tiger plays first and launches a high mid-iron that finds the left side of the green, some 25 feet from the flag. Charlie plays next with a short iron and is displeased immediately; he displays a one-handed finish as the ball leaks right and catches the greenside bunker. After Justin Thomas finds the bunker, his dad Mike carries the moment with a crisp iron to 12 feet, giving the team yet another birdie opportunity. As per team practice, Charlie putts first. He does not provide enough pace, the ball settling 4 feet shy of the cup. Tiger provides plenty of pace, the ball trying to turn left-ro-right into the hole but just hanging out on the left side. A tap-in par, which matches Team Thomas, as Mike and Justin each see their mid-range birdie attempt slide by. The margin remains three strokes in chase of the leaders. Team Woods, 15-under (2-under Sunday thru 4) Leader: 18-under, Team Thomas (thru 4) Hole 3 (par 5, 529/510 yards) Playing from the right side of the fairway, 228 yards out, Charlie pulls a fairway metal and executes a high fade that catches the right side of the green, leaving 50 feet for eagle. Tiger plays next and launches a high fade with a long iron that safely finds the center of the green, 30 feet for eagle. Not outside the realm of possibility. Charlie putts first, and his eagle try has good pace but slides off a couple feet to the left. Tiger gives his eagle bid plenty of pace and it slides by on the right side, running out 8 feet past the hole — emboldened by Charlie being near tap-in range. Charlie indeed cleans up the birdie. In the meantime, Mike Thomas drains a 15-foot eagle for Team Thomas, extending the duo’s margin to three over Team Woods. Team Daly and Team Singh are one off the pace. Team Woods, 15-under (2-under Sunday thru 3) Leader: 18-under, Team Thomas (thru 3) Hole 2 (par 4, 410/380 yards) Tiger stripes his drive well over 300 yards, leaving a flip wedge from just 72 yards. Charlie leaves his approach short, but dad takes care of things with a high wedge that lands soft and settles within 6 feet. Sporting a red sweater, Charlie putts first and misses on the right side. Tiger studies it intently but also misses the left-ro-right slider on the right side. A disappointing par for Team Woods considering the opportunity, but the silver lining is that Team Thomas makes par as well. Pace is kept. Team Woods, 14-under (1-under Sunday thru 2) Leader: 16-under, Team Thomas (thru 2), Team Daly (thru 6) Hole 1 (par 4, 395/380 yards) Tiger and Charlie arrive on the tee sporting the trademark Woods Sunday red, after exuding confident vibes in their range warm-up. Team Woods finds the fairway to begin the proceedings, and a wedge to 6 feet leaves a short-range birdie try. Charlie putts first and misses, but Tiger handles with no problem. Team Thomas also makes birdie, though, to remain two strokes clear of the Woods duo. Team Woods, 14-under (1-under Sunday thru 1) Leader: Team Thomas, 16-under

Click here to read the full article…

ORLANDO, Fla. - By now, you know the name, if not the golfer. Christiaan Bezuidenhout. It's a whopper. Twenty-two letters, with an extra ‘a’ thrown into the first name for good measure. As names go, not only is Bezuidenhout cumbersome to stitch onto a golf bag, but it is not very autograph-friendly. Like, say, a Ben An. How unfortunate. If Bezuidenhout maintains the trajectory he has shown the past 22 months, tasting success around the globe, there should be many youngsters chasing after it. Bezuidenhout, from South Africa, is only 26 years old, and already has ascended to 35th in the Official World Golf Ranking. Scaling that highly comes with nice perks. In addition to playing six major championships in 11 months, Bezuidenhout - C-Bez, as his manager calls him - will tee it up this week in the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin. He is in Group 7 along with former Masters champions Patrick Reed and Bubba Watson, as well as talented Chilean Joaquin Niemann, against whom he will play his first match Wednesday at Austin Country Club. Bezuidenhout has won on South Africa's Sunshine Tour, on the European Challenge Tour, and on the European Tour, winning back-to-back on the latter in December. When he captured the Alfred Dunhill Championship (by four) and South African Open (by five), he became the first European Tour player to win back-to-back since Justin Rose in 2017. Bezuidenhout owns three European Tour victories, defeating Spaniard Jon Rahm on Rahm's home soil at the 2019 Andalucia Masters for his first victory in Europe. His next conquest: the United States. Bezuidenhout has set up camp in a condo within a few hundred yards of the Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Arnie's Place, and is hoping to play good enough in 12 allotted PGA TOUR starts to pile up enough FedExCup points to earn temporary membership for 2020-21. Helped by a T7 at Bay Hill a few weeks ago, he finds himself with 160 points, more than halfway to the 288.035 points that he needs. "The goal is to get myself based over here and and play full-time," he said. "I want to compete against the best players in the world, and the PGA TOUR is the ultimate place to play golf." He has a game that isn't all that flashy, but rounded, solid, and unfailingly rock-steady. Bezuidenhout is not overly long off the tee, but can move it out there 300-310 yards when he is striking it well, which is long enough. His strength is in his short game. He's a quality chipper and a very good putter. He loves to work on the putting, typically spending two-and-a half hours a day on the practice green performing drills, honing his touch. Through 16 PGA TOUR rounds this season, he ranks first in Strokes Gained: Around-The-Green and is 25th in Strokes Gained: Putting. On the European Tour in 2020, he ranked third in average putts per round (27.98), nearly a stroke and a half ahead of the European Tour average. "He putts it really good," said South African Branden Grace, who, like Bezuidenhout, rose through the junior ranks as part of the Ernie Els Foundation. (Bezuidenhout enjoys a terrific relationship with Els, who has has provided him valuable advice. He often visits with him, or exchanges texts with him.) "Christiaan played really well at the end of the year, winning those last two events in South Africa. It really pushed him up in the World Ranking. He's a great player. Keep an eye on him." Bezuidenhout's story is one of early adversity, plenty of personal pain, and ultimately, of significant triumph. At the age of 2, Bezuidenhout was with his parents in a supermarket in South Africa when he reached for a random two-liter Coca Cola bottle and drank from it. When his parents turned around to check on their son, he was on the ground, unconscious, foaming at his mouth. The bottle from which he drank had rat poison in it. Young Christiaan was rushed to the hospital and spent a couple of weeks in Intensive Care. The poison impacted his nervous system, and would affect his speech. Since his youngest days, Bezuidenhout has spoken with a stutter. He was diagnosed at 4 with severe anxiety. He had a difficult time speaking publicly, and dealt with challenging days when he was in primary school. Sometimes the words in his head didn't come out at all. He often was bullied when trying to speak, or read, in class. "I never showed that it hurt me," he said. "When somebody laughs, I'd just laugh with them. I never wanted them to see that it affected me. I'd let it go. And then when I got home from school, I'd just do my own thing, you know?" Christiaan's "thing" became golf. The game soothed him. He came from a golf family, and was hitting balls by the time he was 4. Self-admittedly a loner, and having no interest to compete in team sports, Christiaan found golf to be the perfect escape. He didn't need anyone else to hit balls, or play, and didn't need to talk to anyone. On the grounds of his humble golf club in Delmas, a small farming town outside of Johannesburg, Bezuidenhout would venture to the third fairway of the town's little nine-hole course, empty his shag bag of balls, and hit 7-irons and 9-irons at a tall tree in the middle of the fairway. When he needed to hit longer clubs, he'd gather up his golf balls and head to a lengthier par-5 hole, smashing them for hours. For him, every golf ball struck was therapeutic. When he started to win junior tournaments, officials knew his situation, so he'd be allowed to gather his trophy and go, not making the traditional winner's speech. When Bezuidenhout wasn't playing junior events, it was back to Delmas, hitting balls until his hands gave out, or the sun dropped from the sky. "We had about 60 members at the club, very small," he said. "Not a great golf course. Nine holes. So I'd play nine holes, 18 holes, 27 holes, hit balls. chip and putt. Play some more holes. That's what I did, every day, after school. I never wanted to be anything else but a professional golfer." He was on medications for years, and at 14, as his golf was beginning to blossom, drew a two-year suspension from competition for taking beta blockers. (The suspension later was reduced to nine months.) It kept him from competing at the World Amateur, and crushed his spirit for a time. For Bezuidenhout, it was one more setback to fight through. Three years ago, Bezuidenhout was bumping along as a young professional, sitting outside the top 500 in the World Ranking, when he met up with fellow South African Grant Veenstra, a former professional who had turned to coaching after a 12-year career on the Sunshine Tour. Veenstra is short and stocky and in-your-face direct, and will openly tell you his style isn't for everyone. He has had some nice success as a coach, mentoring pros such as Richard Sterne, Dean Burmester, Haydn Porteous and promising up-and-comer Jayden Schaper, who finished second to Bezuidenhout at the Dunhill. Bezuidenhout showed up as anyone might with a potential new instructor. He brought his clubs and figured he'd hit some balls. Veenstra had other thoughts. "Pack your clubs away," he told him. "We're going to the pub." There, over a handful of brandy and Cokes, Veenstra wanted to explore Bezuidenhout's story. What were his fears? Did he ever back off down the stretch of a tournament to avoid the champion's duties of speaking at a trophy ceremony? And just how good did he want to be? "I wanted to hear it from him, and we cleared up all of that," Veenstra said. "We had a great talk. It broke the ice. The next morning at 8 a.m., we started hitting golf balls." The two keep a regimented program of maintenance for Bezuidenhout's game (four hours of golf, then physio and strength work), and have worked recently to push Bezuidenhout into becoming a more consistent ballstriker. His solid hits, especially with the driver, are fine; one of Bezuidenhout's biggest strenths is how straight he hits the ball. His mis-hits, however, often come up woefully short, which in turn leaves him long irons in, which makes it difficult to hit greens, and consequently, to score. Surprisingly, even when he has won, Bezuidenhout said he only had one, sometimes two good ballstriking rounds in those weeks, relying mostly on his razor-sharp short game to pull him through. "I tend to change my clubface angle at the top (of the swing), and it falls open. It doesn't start online," he said. "That's why I'm working a lot on getting my clubface squarer, stronger, so that I can hold that position in my swing. As soon as I master that, I think I'm going to be a different player, more consistent in my game. That's what's been lacking the last couple of years - putting four solid ballstriking rounds together. If I'm a more consistent ballstriker, and iron player, then those top 30s can become top 10s." Even with a costly bogey/double bogey finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Bezuidenhout tied for seventh, his best finish on the PGA TOUR. He will play this week's WGC-Dell Match Play, the Masters and the RBC Heritage, hoping to wrap up his FedExCup points quest, and then re-assess his schedule going forward. Veenstra marvels at Bezuidenhout's consistency, his mental toughness, and his ability to adjust to what he has in his game on a given day. He said Bezuidenhout does not get down on himself. Case in point was the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational. Bezuidenhout had a grand opportunity on Sunday, playing in the second-to-last group alongside Rory McIlroy. But he struggled mightily in very tough conditions, shooting 79 and plummeting to T18. Four days later in the first round at THE PLAYERS, Bezuidenhout bounced back by shooting 65. That next morning, Commissioner Jay Monahan announced the PGA TOUR season was on hold because of COVID-19. Bezuidenhout returned home to South Africa for three months. "The ability to bounce back, that's the sign of a great player," Veenstra said. "Christiaan's 15th club is his mind. He has a very strong mind on how to turn it around, and he rarely lets a round get away from him. "He is a man who is all about structure. To see him climb, and to see his game improve, it's been amazing. We still have goals to achieve going forward. We want to be top 20 in the world for 20 years - that's where we are going with it." Just as he has grown as a player, Bezuidenhout has grown to be very comfortable with who he is, and how he speaks. His thoughts and words have eloquence, and just take a little more time to be delivered. Told that his story of perseverance could serve to inspire young children who are dealing with situations similar to his, he nods modestly in affirmation. "Hopefully, I do," says the man who has as much depth to him as his 22-letter name might suggest. "Golf has helped me a lot. It helped me to deal with it. ... It's not a secret. I don't have to hide it, or be ashamed of it, or who I am. I'm fine with it. I'm happy with who I am."

Click here to read the full article…

Click here to read the full article…