Column: Steve Stricker quick to clear air with Patrick Reed

It’s that time of year again, when you turn on the TV for the Sentry Tournament of Champions and ask yourself, “Why did I go another year without booking a trip to Kapalua?” The 2021 PGA TOUR winners (and Olympic gold medalist Xander Schauffele) open 2022 in Hawaii with a no-cut event that has provided some of the wildest finishes in recent memory. We’ve witnessed two playoffs and a final-round 62 to win in the last three years. A big reason for the theatrics? The uniqueness of Kapalua. The Plantation Course is not your everyday TOUR venue. This track comes with mountains and valleys and tropical weather providing an unpredictable and dramatic four days in paradise. The unique design of Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, so we are celebrating by bringing you Five Things to Know about the course that opens the calendar year on the PGA TOUR. It’s a rare par 73 Ernie Els won at 31 under in 2003, and Jordan Spieth nearly caught him with a winning score of 30 under in 2016. These scores for a four-round event may seem crazy until you check the scorecard. Kapalua is the only par-73 course on the PGA TOUR schedule, as it comes with just three par 3s. The long holes are long and the short holes are short at Kapalua. The course has seven holes that regularly play longer than 500 yards – four of those are par 5s – but also has four par 4s playing shorter than 400 yards (all on the back nine). Weather, especially the wind, is often a factor in Maui, but six of the last seven champions have shot 21 under or better, so players making the trip to the South Pacific better be ready to make some birdies. The 18th hole is full of trouble From the tee box, the 18th hole provides one of the most beautiful drives in golf, looking straight down into the Pacific Ocean with mountains in the distance. But the journey, more than one-third of a mile when played at its longest, brings danger into play. The par 5 can stretch all the way to 667 yards, making it one of the TOUR’s longest holes. With a wide fairway, players can take a rip off the tee but need to catch some help from the ridge if they want to attack in two. On the second shot, a ravine, along with scattered bunkers, make missing short and left a disaster, and with a usual front-left Sunday pin position, this all comes into play. Justin Thomas found the hazard in 2020 and made a bogey to fall into a playoff with Patrick Reed and Xander Schauffele, which Thomas eventually won after playing No. 18 three more times. A more conservative second shot is directed out to the right, where the contours will guide the ball back toward the green upon landing. However, if the ball does not get a kick, a downhill pitch shot awaits. While having a par-5 as the 18th hole seems like an obvious birdie opportunity to finish each round, the 600-plus-yard gauntlet also provides a long strip of danger en route to the clubhouse. Birdie is manageable. Eagle is feasible, but risky. Recent renovation was also a restoration When the Plantation Course opened in 1992, Coore and Crenshaw made sure to use the West Maui Mountains and Pacific Ocean for stunning views on every hole. Those features won’t change, at least for a few thousand years. But the bounce of the course had decreased at a much faster rate and required a fix after almost three decades of existence. “Years ago, you would hit a tee shot and it would chase and chase and chase unbelievable distances. But as the grass grew and grew for 30 years, a lot of that element was lost,” Coore said before the 2020 Sentry TOC. “The course had gotten so soft that it was easy pickin’s for TOUR players and really long for resort players.” In 2019, 100 acres of the Plantation Course’s fairways were stripped and regrassed with a new surface: Celebration Bermudagrass, a denser playing turf than the original Bermuda. This surface could be mowed tighter and controlled against year-round trampling. “The idea at Kapalua always was to land a shot 60 yards short of a green and let it roll on,” Coore said in 2020. “In recent years, a ball landing 20 yards short of a green would just stop. It will play differently this year. Players will be able to use sideslopes to feed shots to a flag. And drives will roll out farther, sometimes closer to trouble.” The greens, which had shrunk over almost three decades, were expanded closer to their original sizes. “There’s no question our greens needed a little more calming to offer some more pin positions,” Crenshaw said. Perhaps 2020’s winning score of 14 under, the highest since 2007, was representative of this change. But it didn’t last. Harris English and Joaquin Niemann went low again last year, each reaching 25 under. It’s way, way up Most tourists may come to Maui for the beach. TOUR players come for the elevation. The Plantation Course reaches a high point of 510 feet and spans 316 acres of property. The following week’s Sony Open at Waialae Country Club on Oahu will peak at roughly 10 feet of elevation change on a 120-acre property. The Kapalua Golf website embraces the elevation change by noting, “This course offers plenty of downhill tee shots. You’ll feel like one of the pros when – with the aid of the aggressive slope of the 18th fairway – you will enjoy hitting one of the longest drives of your life.” While most holes feature ocean views, there is no water on the course. However, various canyons, including the notorious penalty area on 18, provide potential trouble. Mountains, not water, define Kapalua. Americans have dominated America’s 50th state has been an automatic U.S. victory for the last decade and change. Coming into the 2022 event, the Sentry Tournament of Champions has seen 11 consecutive American winners, from Jonathan Byrd in 2011 to Harris English in 2021. Former world No. 1s and FedExCup champions Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth are among those who have also won and often contend there. It wasn’t always this way. After David Duval, Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk won the first three editions at Kapalua from 1999-2001, the U.S. went nine straight years without a win on Maui. Aussies Stuart Appleby and Geoff Ogilvy won three times and two times, respectively, while Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia and Daniel Chopra each lifted the trophy once. Since last year’s Sentry, the TOUR has had 17 different international winners, including Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith, team winners of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Five of the fall’s nine winners are from countries outside of the United States. Will that trend continue at Kapalua?

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GERMANTOWN, Tenn. – The drive between Memphis, Tennessee, home of Graceland, and Tupelo, Mississippi, birthplace of Elvis Presley, is an hour and 27 minutes. Hayden Buckley knows all about it. He was born in Chattanooga but raised in Tupelo. RELATED: Leaderboard | Projected FedExCup standings “We would come to Memphis a lot,” said Buckley, who shot a third-round 65 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and is projected to move from 95th to 59th in the FedExCup, inside the cutoff for next week’s top-70 BMW Championship. “I would fly out of Memphis every time I left home or fly back in to come home. I feel like it’s home a little bit.” He said he had played TPC Southwind several times, and while he has since moved to South Florida, he estimated he had 50 or so friends and family following him Saturday. He was one of the biggest FedExCup movers thanks to good gallery mojo and even better putting. The 26-year-old rookie came into the FedEx St. Jude ranked 178th in Strokes Gained: Putting but was first in that statistic at TPC Southwind on Saturday, needing just 23 putts in his seven-birdie, two-bogey effort. He’s 9-under par and four behind leader J.J. Spaun (68). “Yeah, it’s not only for next week, but next year,” Buckley said of the stakes this weekend. “I know every little spot or every birdie I make really does matter for, you know, if I get in next week that’s great, but even for next year I’m going to have opportunities that I wouldn’t have.” Buckley started strong this season with a T4 at the Sanderson Farms Championship and T8 at the Shriners Children’s Open but had missed four straight cuts when he teed it up at a U.S. Open qualifier. Not only did he get through, but he also finished T14 at the U.S. Open. He hasn’t missed a cut since. “I remember qualifying for the U.S. Open and saying this is kind of my first good thing that’s happened in almost two months,” Buckley said. “… I wasn’t sure in that little seven-week stretch of missing six cuts, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be here. I knew being close to home, I wanted to be here. It was a tough two months. I made some changes and I think they paid off.” The biggest of these, he said, came after he’d missed the cut at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial, when he began working with course management specialist Scott Fawcett. “Went out with him on Saturday to play golf and just talked to him and kind of dove all into it,” Buckley said, “and after that, good things started happening. I think I’m getting stronger as well. My game’s maturing a little bit, my putting’s gotten better.” “I was really struggling with putting for a while,” he added. “I made the changes. I think it’s a mix of everything, but Scott really helped out a lot.” The only time Buckley has missed the weekend rounds since June came at the Wyndham Championship last week, when he made the cut but withdrew with pain in his right hand. He thinks he may have aggravated it on the firm turf at the 3M Open (T26) and/or Rocket Mortgage Classic (T24). This also marks his 30th start of the season, which he said has been too much. Alas, he added, he felt he had to play in whatever he could get into as a rookie. In retrospect, his Wyndham weekend that wasn’t might have been the best thing for him. And for his fans, too. “I haven’t really looked into the crowd,” Buckley said. “I’m going to go see them here in a little bit. … I don’t get to come home much and it’s nice to have that support close to home.” NOTES: Trey Mullinax, who began the week in the 70th and final BMW Championship-eligible position in the FedExCup, is making a bid to not only keep his season alive but maybe position himself for the top-30 TOUR Championship. Mullinax, who picked up his first PGA TOUR win at the Barbasol Championship this summer, shot 66 to reach 11-under par. He’s just two off the lead. … FedExCup No. 93 Adam Schenk shot 66 but still has more work to do. He’s projected to go to 76th, just outside the BMW cutoff. … Ryan Palmer shot 69 and is projected to move from FedExCup No. 110 to 71st, one short of continuing his season, with one round remaining. BMW BUBBLE WATCH Here are the players projected to move in or out of the top 70 in the FedExCup. The top 70 will advance to the second event of the Playoffs, the BMW Championship at Wilmington (Del.) Country Club. PROJECTED IN Wyndham Clark (No. 79, projected to 51): Coming off a T8 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Clark was 4-under for the first four holes Saturday on the way to his third straight 67. He’s 9-under and will go into the final round four behind leader J.J. Spaun (68). Andrew Putnam (No. 87, projected to 55): Shot 67 to join a large group tied for 6th place at 9-under, four back. Endured a stretch of seven missed cuts in eight starts in the spring but has found something with T11 at 3M Open and T27 at Wyndham Championship. Hayden Buckley (No. 95, projected to 59): Enjoying some good mojo close to home, and much improved putting as he was first in strokes gained on the greens Saturday. Adam Scott (No. 77, projected to 64): Signed for a 70 to hang around at 7-under, six back going into Sunday. Scott holds the eighth and final spot in the International Presidents Cup Team standings. The top eight after the BMW qualify for the team, and if he doesn’t make it on points, International Captain Trevor Immelman will have to use a captain’s pick on him. Tyler Duncan (No. 118, projected to 57): Shot 67 to reach 10-under, three back. RSM Classic winner two seasons ago doesn’t have a top-10 finish this season. “Obviously, the results haven’t been there,” he said. “I feel like the game has been moving in the right direction and I feel like I’ve made a lot of improvements that I needed to make, and they just haven’t paid off yet.” PROJECTED OUT Alex Smalley (No. 61, projected to 72): Duke product and PGA TOUR rookie missed the cut at the FedEx St. Jude. Anirban Lahiri (No. 63, projected to 73): International Presidents Cup Team veteran missed the cut at FedEx St. Jude. Brendon Todd (No. 68, projected to 74): Won twice and finished a career-best 20th in the FedExCup two seasons ago but will have to do better than his even-par 70 in third round. John Huh (No. 67, projected to 75): Wyndham Championship runner-up withdrew with a lower-back injury after shooting 40 on his first nine holes Friday. Lanto Griffin (No. 69, projected to 79): Not in field after recent back surgery.

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