Augusta National Women’s Amateur preview

Jordan Spieth nailed a 55-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th and shot 9-under 63 on Thursday, giving him a share of the lead with J.J. Spaun at the Byron Nelson.

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Two months ago, Tiger Woods won the TOUR Championship, the 80th career title of his illustrious PGA TOUR career. The percentages are not in his favor that he’ll be able to defend that title next August at East Lake. In the five seasons since the TOUR introduced its wraparound schedule, just 21 players (out of 150) have advanced to the FedExCup Playoffs finale without accruing a single FedExCup point in the fall portion of the season. That averages to just about four players a season – or 14 percent of the 30-man field who reach the TOUR Championship. Of course, Woods’ greatness is such that historical averages and low percentages are things that usually don’t apply to two-time FedExCup champion. And to be fair, he did make the TOUR Championship last season without benefit of a start in any fall event. He’ll hope to do the same this season. Two more past FedExCup champs also reached East Lake last season without acquiring a single point in the fall – Rory McIlroy and Billy Horschel. So, it’s not impossible. It’s just much easier if you’re able to get a quick start. That’s what makes this week’s RSM Classic extremely important for those looking for the last chance this calendar year to make a move. The crosshairs are firmly on the likes of Zach Johnson and Kevin Kisner at Sea Island. Both players opened their seasons last week in Mexico but failed to make the cut, thus rendering this week’s result a little more important. They’re not alone. Fellow TOUR winners Sangmoon Bae, D.A. Points, Wesley Bryan, Retief Goosen, John Huh, Padraig Harrington, Sean O’Hair, David Lingmerth, Jim Herman, Cody Gribble, Freddie Jacobson, Tommy Gainey, Brendon Todd, Tim Herron, Eric Axley, Jason Gore, Will MacKenzie, and Chad Campbell are also in the field this week but are yet to open their FedExCup accounts. Of the 147 TOUR members in this week’s field, 25 are still seeking their first FedExCup point. That’s just the former winners, let alone the rest of those looking to get a wriggle on. Joining Woods as high-profile players certified to start January on zero are former FedExCup and PLAYERS champion Henrik Stenson; another former PLAYERS champ in Sergio Garcia; plus Bubba Watson and Daniel Berger. You can already see the talent trying to cram into those likely few open spots at East Lake. To make matters more interesting, there is one less Playoffs event this season, as the season was reconfigured to end the FedExCup Playoffs before Labor Day. There will now be just two Playoffs events prior to the TOUR Championship. “I don’t necessarily think it gives you a head start now, I think it’s more so you don’t go into January behind the 8-ball because if you don’t play in the fall, if you don’t play well, you’re so far back,â€� Rickie Fowler explained when describing his starts at the Shriners Hospitals For Children Open and the Mayakoba Golf Classic. “You might be playing catch-up the first few months, on the west coast and then Florida.â€� Even Jason Day, who managed to make the TOUR Championship in each of the first four wrap-around seasons without playing the fall, relented to playing in Asia last season and again this season. Jordan Spieth managed the feat in 2017 but this season decided on fall golf. With the introduction of the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 system where regular-season play is rewarded financially, Spieth saw added value. “No matter what anybody says, that’s a goal of every PGA TOUR member … to try and win the regular season and FedExCup playoff bonus,â€� Spieth said. Unfortunately, with just six FedExCup points to his name he hasn’t exactly given himself the big leg-up that he wanted. Still, it’s better than nothing. One man who does have a head start is CIMB Classic winner Marc Leishman. The Australian was sick of looking at his name so far down the list in Hawaii each January but also saw the value in playing to try to free yourself up for the remainder of the season. “It is definitely very important to get off to a good start. You don’t want to get to the Masters next year and still trying to get into that top 125,â€� the four-time winner said. “Having success early in the season … it just makes you think about winning more and you can take a few more risks, which sometimes you need to do to win. “Sometimes early in the season if you’re one or two back, you don’t want to do anything silly because you don’t want to go from second back to 12th. But once you’ve got a good early start, you can really just think about winning and that’s exciting.â€� Of course next season, with more events to come before the turn of the calendar, early success will likely become even more critical. You can’t win the FedExCup in the fall … but you can certainly lose it.

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He’s back! That’s right, golf fans. Viktor Hovland has returned to defend his title at the Hero World Challenge. Oh, you were thinking about Tiger Woods, huh? Well, he was scheduled to be back, too, but he withdrew on Monday due to plantar fasciitis in his right foot. He alerted followers on Twitter that he remains committed to his remaining pair of scheduled starts in his last month as a 46-year-old. RELATED: The First Look The entire field of 20 committed to the 72-hole competition at Albany in The Bahamas is ranked below. More on the construct of the week overall can be found with additional scrolling or swiping. POWER RANKINGS: HERO WORLD CHALLENGE The Hero World Challenge has been an unofficial event throughout the entirety of its existence (2000-present). However, like many of its kind, real prize money is distributed to all who qualify and compete. The total purse is $3.5 million of which $1 million is reserved for the champion and just in time for holiday shopping. Albany has hosted the competition since 2015, although the 2020 edition was canceled due to the pandemic. It’s situated in the western reaches of New Providence Island. In an amusing coincidence for golf fans who play golf with something on the line in their weekly games, Nassau is the island’s most recognizable destination, albeit in the opposite corner. The par 72 boasts a quintet of par 3s and par 5s each. It can extend to 7,414 yards, but even when it played 105 longer in 2021 than it tested the previous three editions, scoring was commensurate with its history at 69.475. After all, this is a heavyweight field. Now, the differences of the scores between the highs and the lows for every round last year ranged from nine strokes (in R1) to a dozen (in both R3 and R4), and that was in relatively light winds compared to what’s in store this week. Sustained breezes no calmer than 15 mph are forecast throughout, but they’re going to intensify to as strong at 30 mph at times in the middle rounds. The TifEagle bermuda greens typically are prepped to measure 12 feet on the Stimpmeter, but as all tournaments profess, that is subject to the magnitude of the invisible challenge. The targets average just 4,500 square feet, so that fields check in at least a couple of digits under par almost every year prove their quality. There is no cut and Official World Golf Ranking points piggyback the bank deposit, so adopting the marathon approach across four rounds has merit. En route to the title in his debut appearance a year ago, Hovland prevailed by one at 18-under 270, thus becoming the fourth winner to land on that aggregate in the last five years. (There’s never been a playoff at Albany.) Hovland converted four eagles, three of which on the 307-yard, par-4 14th where “only” six were recorded by the entire field all week. NOTE: Although PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf is off until the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Jan. 5-8, we will publish our Expert Picks for the Hero World Challenge on Tuesday, Nov. 29.

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