Bryson DeChambeau wins Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard

Late birdie keeps Feng in U.S. Women’s Open lead

Click here to read the full article…

Las Vegas already is famous as a spot where success and failure is measured and felt in an instant, but the pace at which it’s experienced isn’t limited to the indoors of casinos. RELATED: Play Pick ‘Em Live | The First Look America’s Playground also boasts the Las Vegas Motor Speedway just outside the sprawl northeast of town, but even there the fastest vehicles seen may not be on the 1.5-mile track when the fighter jets are practicing at nearby Nellis Air Force Base. And there’s yet another racetrack in town, metaphorically speaking, of course. It’s TPC Summerlin, host of this week’s Shriners Children’s Open. As the easiest par 71 on the PGA TOUR, each of the 144 entrants should expect to hit the ground, uh, running. Whoever crosses the finish line better than the rest will be the 40th champion in tournament history. POWER RANKINGS: SHRINERS CHILDREN’S OPEN J.T. Poston, Si Woo Kim, Cam Davis, Alex Noren and Justin Suh will be among the notables reviewed in Draws and Fades. It’s not a surprise that Sungjae Im doesn’t win every time he plays, but it might have been a surprise if he went his entire career without winning at TPC Summerlin, as he did a year ago. Known largely as one of the busiest among the best, Im also has been among the most frequent in signing lots of scorecards with lots of red numbers. So, while a contemporary or seven can stride into this week’s host course with confidence that it will reward the kind of practice that should yield low scores, Im is the kind of guy who has been there and done that time and again. Relatively speaking, he already was a target before his title. Still, a pair of 2-under 69s resulted in a trunk slam last year – or, given where we are in our history, a slowly lowered liftgate after a button on the fob has been depressed – but that’s not uncommon when the weather cooperates, which it will again this week. The retractable roof is closed. Sunshine will dominate the scene with daytime highs flirting with and touching 90 degrees. What wind flaps the flags will be a non-factor. It’s a simple formula and one with which the recent graduates of the Korn Ferry Tour are familiar: Pile up the scoring opportunities and pour in the putts. If any isn’t targeting 20-under at the conclusion of four rounds, he’s doing it wrong. Last year’s field average in similar conditions was 68.926 (or 2.074 strokes under par) and that was a three-year high. In addition to scoring, Im led in greens in regulation (62) and scrambling. That combination usually is unbeatable provided chances are converted, but he did that, too, ranking fifth in putting: birdies-or-better. He also paced in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and par-4 scoring, but he did everything well all week. Everyone who has pegged it on the 7,255-yard layout before likely will notice that all fairways and greens have been replaced with new grass. It’s a significant change/improvement since last year’s edition, but the turf was exposed to a hot summer in 2022, and recovery efforts are ongoing. As a result, the bentgrass greens are not expected to roll further than 11 feet on the Stimpmeter. (The customary maximum is 11½ feet.) However, the thickest of primary bermuda rough continues to be mowed at 2½ inches. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Draws & Fades WEDNESDAY: Pick ’Em Preview SUNDAY: Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

Click here to read the full article…

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.

Click here to read the full article…