Check out Sergio Garcia’s walk-off ace

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Only two Mexican players have won on the PGA TOUR: Victor Regalado at the 1974 Pleasant Valley Classic and Cesar Sanudo at the 1970 Azalea Open Invitational. (Mexican-American Lee Trevino played for the U.S. and even captained the 1985 U.S. Ryder Cup team.) But with a record four exempt Mexicans on TOUR—Abraham Ancer, Roberto Diaz, Jose de Jesus Rodriguez and Carlos Ortiz—things are looking up. They’re way up at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, which has made room for three more Mexicans in the field, bringing the total to seven, and a strength-in-numbers ethos that is rare for a TOUR event. Golf’s return to the Olympic Games in 2016 and 2020 has helped, as have two TOUR events in Mexico. But the record Mexican representation is also a reminder of what can happen when you give a guy a chance, Diaz and others said this week. It speaks to the power of special exemptions, and the steadying presence of PGA TOUR Latinoamérica. “Mexico has got really the potential to produce a lot more players than four,� said Ancer, who finished T4 at last week’s Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. “It’s not as easy as for Americans because there’s not really any public courses in Mexico, but it’s trending in the right direction for Mayakoba.� There are a handful of reasons for this. For starters, it’s hard to overstate the importance of exemptions for lesser-known Mexican players like Sebastian Vazquez, Armando Favela and Oscar Fraustro this week. Such dispensations were once a stepping stone for the four Mexicans who now have their TOUR cards, and Diaz is a case in point. He was given a spot in the field at Mayakoba in 2013, and while he missed the cut, it was still a career-changer. “They knocked on the door, on my door, and they said, ‘All right, you can do it,’� Diaz said. “And then you start playing more and more and more, and finally you come here as a member and you see everything different and you see how everything started. “Just very thankful,� he added. “Very, very thankful, because it’s super important that an organization like this help out kids coming out of college or coming (into) professional golf.� Ortiz, who won three times and was Web.com Tour Player of the Year in 2014, also spoke of Mayakoba, which began in 2007, as a lifeline. “I feel really grateful to the people that put this together,� he said. “They were the first ones to believe in golf in Mexico.� This is arguably the strongest field ever to hit Mexico’s Riviera Maya, with Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Tony Finau among the stars. The infusion of homegrown talent is a bonus, and numbers are up not just because once-exempted players are now coming to maturity. It’s also because PGA TOUR Latinoamérica launched in 2012, creating a gateway to the big time. Jose de Jesus Rodriguez was a legend in Mexico when he joined PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, and sure enough he was 2017 Player of the Year to reach the Web.com Tour last season. “Day by day your confidence grows,� said de Jesus Rodriguez, who missed the cut in his first TOUR start, the Safeway Open, but has made the weekend rounds the last two weeks. “Mexico is a very important market for us, and seeing their talent succeed is a result of their hard work and perseverance,� said Jack Warfield, President of PGA TOUR Latinoamérica. “The future for Mexican and other Latino players is bright, as this year alone we saw double the figures of Mexican Nationals playing on our Tour.� Herewith, a rundown of the four local favorites at Mayakoba this week. Abraham Ancer Ancer was born in McAllen, Texas, but grew up in Reynosa, Mexico, before playing for Odessa (Texas) Junior College and later Oklahoma. He is only 5 feet, 7 inches tall, but his stature was unrivaled among his countrymen last season. After finishing T9 at Mayakoba, he held late leads at the Quicken Loans National (final-round 72, T4) and Dell Technologies Championship (73, T7) and qualified for all but the last FedExCup Playoffs event. He finished T5 at the CIMB Classic, and T4 at the Shriners. “Just need to keep putting myself in that situation, and I’ve been able to do that lately,� he said. “I think my short game has been sharp; just a couple mistakes here and there that have kept me from, like, that top spot. But other than that, I’m very happy with my game.� Jose de Jesus Rodriguez The PGA TOUR Latinoamerica Player of the Year in 2017, de Jesus Rodriguez, 37, has won nearly 20 times in Mexico, twice in Columbia, and once in Paraguay. He was 12th on the Web.com Tour Regular Season money list last season, and cried after his TOUR card-clinching victory at the United Leasing and Finance Championship at Indiana’s Victoria National. He is one of eight brothers. “There’s 10 in my family,� he said. “Little house. Very difficult.� His nickname, El Camaron (The Shrimp) came about because his face was red at birth and his grandmother thought he looked like one. He started as a caddie with a baseball grip; is now coached by his brother, Rosendo; and, perhaps most famously, talks to his golf balls. “It’s good for me because it’s frustrating sometimes,� de Jesus Rodriguez said. “And when I talk to the ball I’m more relaxed, more patient. ‘Vamos, reyna (queen); vamos, hermosa (sister); vamos, Linda.’ I start at night: ‘Hey, tomorrow we start. Please get in the hole.’� Roberto Diaz Diaz, who lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, shot a second-round 65 on the way to a T25 finish at Mayakoba last year. Alas, it was his only top-25 finish in 25 TOUR starts, which sent him back to the Web.com Tour Finals, where he reestablished himself. The Veracruz native became the fourth Mexican to gain exempt status on TOUR for the 2018-2019 season upon the conclusion of the Web.com Tour Championship, where he tied for 17th to crack the top 25 on the Web.com Tour Finals money list. “It’s a learning curve,� he said. “I learned a lot last year.� Carlos Ortiz Results have been up and down the last four years, but when Ortiz shot a final-round 64 to finish T3 at the Sanderson Farms Championship two weeks ago, it marked his best result in 64 TOUR starts and recalled his Web.com Tour Player of the Year season of 2014. The other big victory of late: Ortiz, who is based in Dallas, is a new father, to 5-month-old Sofia. Ortiz spoke at the Sanderson of kids like Sofia not caring whether you shoot 65 or 75, so perhaps he’s feeling less pressure. Of the four Mexicans on TOUR, he added at Mayakoba, “I don’t think we have even reached the potential that this sport can have in this country.�

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Rory McIlroy feels a first win since September 2016 is “not far away” as he prepares to make his competitive comeback in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

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Hard to believe another season is upon us, but the 2017-18 PGA TOUR lid-lifter, the Safeway Open, tees off this week at Silverado Resort in Napa, California, The new season will usher in new stars, new comeback stories, and fresh-faced rookies who play with the poise of polished veterans. Herewith, the big storylines going into the new season. WHAT’S NEW The PGA TOUR’s 49 FedExCup tournaments represent an increase of two events over last season. New this season: THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES at Jeju Island, Oct. 16-22, 2017, represents Korea’s first official TOUR event. Some five months later, the Dominican Republic will host its first TOUR event, the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, which after a two-year run on the Web.com Tour, will be elevated to a PGA TOUR event and debut March 19-25, the same week as the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. Meanwhile, the Puerto Rico Open moves from Match Play week to Feb. 26-March 4, coinciding with the WGC-Mexico Championship. With the addition of two new international tournaments, the schedule includes nine tournaments in eight countries outside the U.S. The total prize money reaches a record of more than $363 million, and the Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, Maui, gets a new title sponsor in Sentry. Other changes: The AT&T Byron Nelson, May 14-20, moves to the new Trinity Forest Golf Club in Irving, Texas, while two FedExCup Playoffs events change venues. THE NORTHERN TRUST, Aug. 20-26, returns to The Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey, and the BMW Championship, Sept. 3-9, goes to Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia for the first time. Also: The one-week break in the FedExCup Playoffs will take place after the first three tournaments and before the season-ending TOUR Championship.  THREE ROOKIES TO WATCH BOUNCE-BACK CANDIDATES PLAYERS ON THE RISE VETS WHO’LL WIN FOR THE FIRST TIME FIVE BURNING QUESTIONS 1. Will the 20-somethings continue to dominate? Yes. They won three of the four majors in 2017, and the FedExCup. Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, each 24, combined to win eight times, and Xander Schauffele, 23, picked up his second W of the season at the TOUR Championship. Whew! Throw in Daniel Berger, yet a fourth member of the high school Class of 2011; and Hideki Matsuyama, 25; and others, and 19 players in their 20s won 28 times. Youth is wasted on the young? Not in this case.     2. Who has the best chance to complete the career grand slam? Spieth at the PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis. When Bellerive hosted the 1992 PGA, Nick Price won, three ahead of Nick Faldo and Gene Sauers. None of those guys was an overly long hitter. Yes, Phil Mickelson will return to one of his favorite U.S. Open venues — he contended until the bitter end at Shinnecock Hills in 2004 — but at 47 he looks like a sentimental longshot. And after a down 2017, Rory McIlroy may have too much work to do to get back up to speed in time for the 2018 Masters.  3. Can Spieth and Thomas keep up this pace? Yes, and that’s a mind-boggling thought. At 24, Spieth already has three majors to his name after his electrifying victory at The Open in July, when he stepped on the gas to leave Matt Kuchar in the dust. “If I have the year I had this year the next 15 years, then I’ll be the greatest player that ever played the game if you judge it by major championships,â€� Spieth said at the BMW Championship. For good measure, he went 3-1-1 at the Presidents Cup. Scary. As for Thomas, he said at the BMW, “I feel like I’ve matured a lot as a player and as a person.â€� Well, yeah. He’d already won five times, including the PGA Championship. Then he finished second at the TOUR Championship at East Lake to salt away the FedExCup title, and leading money-winner honors with $10 million. He, too, went 3-1-1 at the Presidents Cup. Double scary. 4. Is this the season for a Tiger comeback? Stay tuned. Although he won five times in 2013, Woods has made just 19 starts since then, including one in 2017, at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. It didn’t go well. Woods shot 76-72 to miss the cut at Torrey Pines, where he had won eight times as a professional, including the 2008 U.S. Open. He announced in April that he had undergone back fusion surgery — his fourth back operation in three years. Woods will turn 42 in December. I would like to play competitive golf,â€� Woods said during the victorious U.S. Presidents Cup press conference. “I just don’t know what my body is going to allow me to do. That’s something I’m going to have to, as I said, listen to my surgeon, see what he says, and then I’ve got to get a feel for what my body is able to do and not do.” The guess here is that Woods is eyeing the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, Nov. 30-Dec. 3. 5. What will become of all these caddie changes? Wait and see. Mickelson dissolved his 25-year partnership with Jim (Bones) Mackay; McIlroy ended things with J.P. Fitzgerald; and Jason Day relieved coach and father figure Col Swatton of his caddie duties. Just like that, three of the most prominent players in the game — all in the throes of a below-average season — announced they were starting over with new side men. Mickelson, at least, went 3-0-1 at the Presidents Cup with his brother, Tim, on the bag. FINAL PREDICTIONS Three early picks to win THE PLAYERS Championship 1. Sergio Garcia – He’s won it before, and he’s coming off a life-changing season. 2. Francesco Molinari – Finished T6 in 2017, T7 in 2016. A hot putting week and he wins. 3. Justin Thomas – T3 in 2016, and that was before he became a cold-blooded closer. One early pick to win the FedExCup Jordan Spieth – How could anyone ever bet against him?

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