Barracuda Championship, Round 4: Leaderboard, tee times, TV times

The ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP was Tiger Woods’ first tournament in two months. It was his first start since knee surgery. He bogeyed the first three holes. It didn’t matter. Woods still earned his record-tying 82nd win. The ShotLink team broke down Woods’ 82 wins here. Today’s Stats Insider will focus on last week’s performance in the first PGA TOUR event in Japan. 1. BOUNCE BACK: Woods became the first player in the ShotLink era (since 2003) to win after making bogey on his first three holes of a tournament. Woods is the fifth player since 2003 to win after playing his first three holes in +3 or worse. Highest score to par on first three holes to start event among PGA TOUR winners since 2003 2. IRON IT OUT: Woods’ impressive iron play was on full display in Japan. He was in full control of his ball, finishing third in greens hit (55 of 72, 76.4%). This shouldn’t be a surprise. Among players with at least 300 measured rounds, Woods has the highest career Strokes Gained: Approach per round, and it’s not even close. He’s averaged +1.1 strokes gained per round. Jim Furyk is second with +0.74, while ZOZO runner-up Hideki Matsuyama is third with +0.72. 3. HAPPENS IN THREES: Here’s further proof of Woods’ stellar iron play last week: he played the par-3s last week in 9-under-par. It marked his career-best performance on par-3s (in relation to par). He is one of six players since 1983 to play the par-3s in 9 under or better en route to victory. Best Par-3 performance among PGA TOUR winners since 1983 4. GOING LOW: Woods finished three shots ahead of Matsuyama. Third-place finishers Rory McIlroy and Sungjae Im finished six shots back. The 10th-place finishers were 10 shots back. Woods’ 36-, 54- and 72-hole scores this week were among the best of his career. Yes, one of the par-4s was shortened to a par-3 for one round, but it was still an incredibly impressive performance. This was the 25th consecutive time that Woods converted a 54-hole lead of 3+ shots into a victory. He’s never lost in that scenario. 36 HOLES: 64-64—128 (5th-best of his career) 54 HOLES: 64-64-66—194 (3rd-best) 72 HOLES: 64-64-66-67—261 (3rd-best) 5. TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER: Woods led the field in birdies (27) and putts per green in regulation (1.62). The latter is proof of strong ball-striking and strong putting. It means you’re hitting it close enough to one-putt, and rolling it well enough to convert. There was no ShotLink in Japan, but wasn’t necessary to show us that Woods was the cream of the crop.

Click here to read the full article…

Round 4 of THE PLAYERS Championship begins Saturday from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Lee Westwood leads by two with Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Paul Casey, Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia and more close behind. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action. Leaderboard Full tee times HOW TO FOLLOW (All times ET) Television: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC) Every Shot Live: Live streaming of every shot hit at THE PLAYERS Championship will get underway Thursday morning from TPC Sawgrass. Nearly 100 cameras will capture roughly 31,000 strokes taken over approximately 430 rounds played. It will be available free through PGA TOUR LIVE on NBC Sports Gold on Thursday. See schedule below. PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 6:30 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups), 8 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes), 6:40 a.m.-8 p.m. (Every Shot Live). Saturday, 7:45 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups), 12 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes), 7:50 a.m.-8 p.m. (Every Shot Live). Sunday, 7:45 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups), 11 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes), 7:50 a.m.-6 p.m. (Every Shot Live) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 12 p.m.-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. FEATURED GROUPS Collin Morikawa, Martin Laird Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed Sergio Garcia, Matthew Fitzpatrick MUST READS Westwood, DeChambeau reprise their regular game Round 3 review: THE PLAYERS Championship A predictably unpredictable PLAYERS By the numbers: No. 17 at THE PLAYERS Championship Win probabilities: THE PLAYERS Championship ‘Every Shot Live’ returns 20-year anniversary of Tiger’s ‘Better Than Most’ putt Inside THE PLAYERS’ greatest comeback Five things to remember from the 2019 PLAYERS CALL OF THE DAY

Click here to read the full article…

2021 Palmetto Championship at Congaree, Round 2 Top 10 win probabilities: 1. Dustin Johnson (2, -9, 41.0%) 2. Chesson Hadley (1, -11, 22.4%) 3. Harris English (T4, -6, 7.1%) 4. Seamus Power (T4, -6, 3.3%) 5. Tain Lee (3, -7, 3.0%) 6. Erik Van Rooyen (T4, -6, 2.8%) 7. Tyrrell Hatton (T17, -3, 2.7%) 8. Pat Perez (T4, -6, 2.5%) 9. Garrick Higgo (T10, -5, 2.3%) 10. Chez Reavie (T4, -6, 2.3%) Top Strokes-Gained Performers from Round 2: Putting: Chesson Hadley +4.4 Around the Green: John Pak +3.4 Approach the Green: D.J. Trahan +4.1 Off-the-tee: Matt Fitzpatrick +2.7 Total: Chesson Hadley +7.0 NOTE: These reports are based off of the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live “Make Cut”, “Top 20”, “Top 5”, and “Win” probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 20K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of the Palmetto Championship at Congaree, or to see how each golfer’s probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model’s home page.

Click here to read the full article…