Casey, Cook share Valspar lead at halfway point

NASSAU. Bahamas – In two weeks, Rickie Fowler no longer will be a 20-something. His birthday on Dec. 13 will be his 30th, and with that milestone comes a change in perception. Gone are the days of being considered of the TOUR’s young guns who represent the game’s future. Now the time has arrived to craft his legacy.  The clock, whether symbolic or real, is ticking. “I’ve always heard that 30s were your prime,� Fowler said on the eve of his title defense at this week’s Hero World Challenge. “So we’re just getting into it.� But does that ticking clock come with an increased sense of urgency? Not yet, said Fowler, who has four PGA TOUR wins since getting his card in 2010. While the 2015 PLAYERS Championship remains his signature victory, Fowler has yet to reach the lofty heights of still-in-their-mid-20s friends Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, who’ve collected two FedExCups, four majors and 19 overall TOUR wins in the last four seasons. The comparisons may be a bit unfair, but the difference in pace can’t be discounted. “I look at the next 5-10 years as the time to take advantage of things and make sure that we’re not sitting back and just relaxing,� Fowler said. “Go out and take care of what we want to take care of and see what can happen.� Fowler comes off a 2017-18 season in which he recorded six top-10 finishes in 20 starts, including two seconds (one of which was the Masters). It was, in his words, a “fairly consistent� season. “Put myself in contention a lot, put myself in great positions at the majors,� he added. “Just never got the job done.� Now as he turns 30, it’s time to start completing more jobs. He insists, though, that his definition of a successful season has not changed. “I think as long as you’re always seeing improvement and it’s not just based off wins,� he said. “Yes, I want to win more. If I went off of my checklist or what I ultimately want to do, I haven’t had a successful season. “So I want to win more majors. I want to win more golf tournaments. But in golf, other than Tiger winning at a 30 percent rate, that doesn’t just happen. So you have to kind of look at the glass half full, especially if you’re talking about staying motivated and keep wanting to move forward. If you look at the negatives or downside of not winning, man, it’s going to be a long road. … “I’ve just always tried to go kind of a glass half-full, keep moving forward.� So get ready for a big push the next 10 years for Fowler. His legacy is on the line. When he celebrates his 40th birthday on Dec. 13, 2028, he’ll have a much better understanding of how he rates as a pro golfer. “I would say 40s is a little bit more of where we’d look at prime … in the rearview mirror. So I’m looking forward to these next 5-10 years of taking advantage of them and making them count.� STENSON AND HIS CADDIE: Henrik Stenson will continue to work with new caddie Scott Vail while he takes a break from Gareth Lord, who has been on Stenson’s bag since 2013. Stenson and Vail first worked together at the European Tour event in Dubai two weeks ago. Stenson said the partnership could remain for the foreseeable future. “There’s a high chance Scotty will continue,� Stenson said Wednesday. “We’re in the dating stage. We’ll see where it takes us.� Stenson, who took five weeks off after playing the Ryder Cup, finished tied for 12th in Dubai. LAST MAN IN: Keegan Bradley wasn’t originally scheduled to compete in the Hero World Challenge, but he got the last-minute invite when Tommy Fleetwood withdrew. It’ll be his first start in this event since 2015, when he finished when the host course was Isleworth in Florida. “Coming to this tournament’s a no-brainer for us,� said Bradley, who won the BMW Championship during the FedExCup Playoffs. “It’s a real testament to how you’ve played not only this year, but over the past two years because of how the world ranking points work. It’s a big deal to play in this tournament. It’s a great way to close out the year, a great place to come.� Bradley didn’t even mind the additional travel, even though it’s already been a busy fall of travel. He made the trip to Malaysia to play the CIMB Classic, flew back to the U.S. for a week, then flew back to Asia for the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in China. Asked why he didn’t just go ahead and play THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES in Korea while he was already in Asia, Bradley just shrugged. “Now looking back on it, it might have been a mistake,� he said. WINNERS IN THE FIELD: Of the 18 players in Albany this week, two already have posted wins on the PGA TOUR – Xander Schauffele (at WGC-HSBC Champions) and Bryson DeChambeau (Shriners Hospitals for Children Open). Both players are ranked inside the top 10 in the FedExCup standings.

Click here to read the full article…

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Gary Woodland will have to hold off the game’s best players if he wants to win on one of the game’s iconic venues. There isn’t a better way to win a major. Woodland has a one-shot lead over Justin Rose entering the final round of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. It is his first 54-hole lead in a major. Related: Leaderboard | Tough day for Woods, Mickelson “My game is in a great spot,â€� Woodland said. “I’m at a beautiful golf course. I came here to win, and that’s what we’re going out to do tomorrow.â€� He’s made just two bogeys this week, the fewest in the field. He’s bogey-free in three trips around Pebble Beach’s back nine, too. Woodland is in the top 15 in both Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Approach-the-Green, hitting 74% of the fairways and 69% of the greens. The putter has been the most impressive important club in the bag, though. He is third in that statistic. “Gary, when he’s on, makes golf look easy,â€� said Matt Kuchar, who won a World Cup with Woodland and sits six shots back. Winning a major is never a simple task, though, especially when your closest pursuers form a roster as strong as the 1927 Yankees. Of the next five names on the leaderboard, four have won major championships. That list includes Rose, the reigning FedExCup champion. Woodland has some space over the rest of the field – Rose is the only player within three shots of him – but his pursuers all have impressive resumes and have proven themselves in the game’s biggest events. “I know if I play my game and play like the way I’ve been playing, the guys from behind me are going to have to do something really, really special,â€� Woodland said. “So I’m going to go out, stay within myself, stick to my game plan and try to extend that lead more than anything.â€� Brooks Koepka, the most intimidating man in majors since Tiger Woods, is in third place, just four behind. He’s tied with Chez Reavie. His success in these championships diminish the size of his deficit. Confidence may be the most important attribute in golf, and Koepka is brimming with it. That’s what happens when you’ve won the past two U.S. Opens and PGA Championships. “I don’t need to go out and chase,â€� Koepka said. “I don’t need to do much.â€� Louis Oosthuizen won his Open Championship at the Home of Golf. If he were to win a U.S. Open, it would be fitting, then, to do it at this championship’s most historic venue. And then there’s Rory McIlroy, who, like Koepka, owns four majors and has every reason to be confident. The final round falls one week after he shot a final-round 61 to win the RBC Canadian Open. Woodland has never been better than third entering the final round of a major. That was at last year’s PGA Championship, when he shot a final-round 69 that was overshadowed by the duel between Koepka and Tiger Woods. Woodland was paired with Woods on that final day. He struggled with the chaos that surrounded Woods’ pursuit of his first major in a decade, but gained valuable experience. “I don’t know if I enjoyed it to start the round, I think there was a lot of moving pieces going on, and I think I kind of got caught up in it a little bit,â€� Woodland said. “Once I settled in, … I was back to being myself. And that’s what I’ve learned from that situation, is I can’t control everybody else. I can control my attitude, and I can control my game. And that’s what I’m out here to do.â€� Woodland finished sixth, his best finish in 30 majors. He may face unprecedented pressure, but nothing will match the chaos that surrounds a final-round pairing with Woods when he is in contention. His game has continued to progress under Pete Cowen, though. The former college basketball player now has a more complete game. He isn’t just relying on athleticism. “I feel very comfortable on this golf course,â€� he said. “(Swing coach) Pete Cowen has got me comfortable working the ball both ways if I need to. And that just frees me up a little bit. I have a short game now I can rely on.â€� Rose, a former U.S. Open champion, can be an intimidating opponent, but he’s also a friendly face. They met in 2008, when Woodland joined Lake Nona just before heading to the final stage of Q-School. Rose introduced himself and gave advice about the challenge ahead. Woodland went on to get his card. Woodland is ninth in the FedExCup this season, the highest-ranked player without a win. He has seven top-10s, including two runners-up, in 17 starts. The most recent of his three PGA TOUR wins came at last year’s Waste Management Phoenix Open. Pebble Beach’s inviting holes allow Woodland’s closest pursuers to apply pressure early. They are among the easiest on the course. Pebble Beach is firming up, though. After a week full of red numbers, the course is starting to offer a more traditional U.S. Open test. That means players will have to be selective about when to be aggressive. “The golf course is firming up. It’s not as receptive as it was early in the week,â€� Woodland said. “Hopefully I can go out and control myself.â€� If he does, a trophy will be waiting for him in one of golf’s most beautiful spots. He’ll have to earn it, though.

Click here to read the full article…

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Two years after Max Homa played only one Sunday in an entire PGA TOUR season, he showed his mettle at Quail Hollow by closing with a 4-under 67 to pull away from the field and win the Wells Fargo Championship. Homa began the back nine with two birdies to build a four-shot lead and didn’t make any mistakes until it only affected the final margin. Joel Dahmen saved par with a tough chip over the creek for a 70 and finished three shots behind. Homa, who won the NCAA title at Cal in 2013, won for the first time in his 68th start as a pro. The victory gets him into the PGA Championship in two weeks at Bethpage Black and the Masters next April. But what a turnaround for the 28-year-old Californian. Homa was at No. 829 in the world when he got his third crack at the PGA TOUR in October. Two seasons ago, he made only two cuts in 17 tournaments, missing the 54-hole cut in one of them and finishing last at an opposite-field event in the other. But he made six of seven cuts coming into Quail Hollow, and played like he belonged. “Confidence takes a lot of anxiety away,” he said Saturday night as he prepared to play in the final group for the first time. Homa never flinched, effectively sealing it with a long shot up the hill and onto the green at the par-5 15th for a two-putt birdie, saving par to keep a three-shot lead going to the final hole and drilling his tee shot down the fairway. He wrapped it up with a 10-foot par putt to finish at 15-under 269. “Over the moon, man,” he said before going to sign his card. “It means a lot to do it under pressure, and job security is great. I haven’t had that.” The victory was worth $1,422,000 — about $454,000 more than he had made in his previous 67 starts — and gives him a two-year exemption, along with a tee time at Bethpage Black in two weeks. The only other major Homa played was the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion, a month after his NCAA title. Dahmen held his own until costly bogeys around the turn. But that chip was on the 18th for par to finish alone in second meant a difference of $158,000. “I didn’t beat myself today, which was kind of the goal,” Dahmen said. “Max is playing awesome. He’s a good friend. I think we’re going to celebrate tonight.” Justin Rose (68) finished alone in third and moved ahead of Brooks Koepka to No. 2 in the world. Rory McIlroy was primed to join Tom Weiskopf as the only three-time winners at Quail Hollow, starting the final round two shots behind. He never got anything going until it went the wrong way. He turned a 20-foot eagle attempt into a three-putt par on the par-5 seventh, failed to get up-and-down on the reachable eighth for a birdie, and then went bogey-double bogey around the turn to take himself out of the mix. No one else was much of a threat either, just two guys who had never come remotely close to winning on the PGA TOUR. Former PGA champion Jason Dufner, part of the three-way tie for the lead to start the final round, made consecutive bogeys early and had no bearing on the final round. A double bogey on the 18th gave him a 73 and dropped him into a tie for fourth. Rose pulled within two shots with a birdie on the par-5 10th, only to settle into a series of pars. By the time Sergio Garcia reached double digits under par, Homa was well on his way. Homa and Dahmen were at 13 under until Dahmen blinked first. He found a fairway bunker on No. 9, couldn’t get to the green and made bogey, and then missed a 12-foot birdie chance on the 10th. Homa, playing behind him in the final group, holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 10th for a two-shot lead, made birdie from the left rough on the 11th with a 12-foot putt and escaped more trouble off the tee on the 12th with a two-putt from 80 feet. “Well done,” his caddie, Joe Greiner, told him when he hit a solid 6-footer to complete the par. After a one-hour delay from storms, Homa returned to hole a 6-foot par putt on the 14th and was steady down the stretch, just as he had been all day. Homa became the fifth player to make Quail Hollow his first PGA TOUR victory, joining Anthony Kim (2008), McIlroy (2010), Rickie Fowler (2012) and Derek Ernst (2013).

Click here to read the full article…