Comcast Business to Sponsor PGA Tour Top 10 Leaderboard

HILTON HEAD, S.C. – A year ago, C.T. Pan had a great chance to win the Wyndham Championship. Pan stood on the 18th tee that Sunday, tied with Brandt Snedeker, only to watch forlornly as his drive sailed right, hitting the cart path and bouncing out of bounds. Pan ended up making double bogey while Snedeker rolled in a birdie putt and picked up the ninth win of his career. The 27-year-old from Chinese Taipei got another opportunity realize his life’s dream on Sunday at the RBC Heritage, and this time Pan didn’t let the opportunity slip away. On an afternoon of attrition at Harbour Town, Pan held steady down the stretch, grabbing the lead with a birdie at the 16th hole, then gutting out pars on the final two holes. His 67 left Pan at 12 under and one stroke ahead of Matt Kuchar, the FedExCup leader who finished two groups ahead and applied pressure when he birdied the 72nd hole. RELATED: Final leaderboard | Winner’s bag | Updated FedExCup standings And as he sat in the media center wearing the RBC Heritage’s trademark tartan jacket, Pan later acknowledged that the near-miss at Sedgefield last year played a big role in Sunday’s victory. “It definitely changed my perception on the last couple of holes down the stretch of what I should do,â€� he said. “The last three holes I would say I played really well here, a lot of good shots just because I told myself I need to focus on the details, the little things, and just stay in present. … “And that’s something I didn’t do at Wyndham.â€� The little things, like studying the final-round pin placements on Saturday night so he’d be comfortable with the shots he’d need to hit. Pan wanted to make it through the first four holes in even par, which he did, then fire at the pins from Nos. 5-13, which he also did, playing those holes in 4 under. “And that’s how I snuck on the leaderboard,â€� said Pan, who moves to No. 26 in the FedExCup standings with the win. “And I’m just happy I executed my strategy very well there.â€� Pan also made a point of getting to the course by 9 a.m. Sunday – four-and-a-half hours before his tee time – to work out the kinks after an adventurous third-round 69 that includes six birdies, four bogeys, an eagle and a double bogey. “Yesterday, my wife is not happy with my round,â€� Pan said with a smile. “It was too colorful for her.â€� Michelle Pan, who had made a short-lived appearance as her husband’s caddy in Greensboro, wasn’t on hand to share in his joy at Harbour Town on Sunday, though. She was in Houston serving as the host of the at the C.T. Pan Junior Championship at The Clubs of Kingwood. Pan, who honed the skills that earned him a scholarship to the University of Washington on the AJGA  circuit from 2007-2010, had planned to be there, too. But he hadn’t finished higher than 42nd in his nine previous starts, and Michelle urged her husband to play in Hilton Head instead. “Just listen to your wife and you will have a good life,â€� Pan said. The AJGA event concluded on Saturday and Pan was thrilled to find out that one of the 10 aspiring golfers he brought over from Chinese Taipei won the girls division. “So, this is one of the best weekends that I’ve ever had,â€� Pan said. Inspiring the next generation of golfers in his home country is important to Pan, who is the youngest of six children. He first started playing at an abandoned driving range where he and his brother and his late father, an elementary school teacher, would create holes with makeshift pin flags. By the time Pan was 7, he was competing in local junior tournaments and he was able to play at the local course where his mother still works as a caddie. Pan’s father could see that his son had talent, and he encouraged him every step of the way. A second-place finish at the 2006 Asian Games attracted attention in the United States and soon Pan was headed to the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. He was 15 and he spoke virtually no English when he arrived in the Sunshine State. But Pan was nothing if not driven, and he knew his father was right. “He told us that he believed this sport has a really good potential in the future,â€� Pan said. “And obviously I didn’t know anything back then. And it was right time when with Tiger, it was ’96, I believe, when Tiger coming up like crazy. He’s still crazy. “But, yes, my family is a big part of my golf career. … So I just miss a lot of my family, this W.â€� The win has opened a lot of doors for Pan, who joins T.C. Chen as the only players from Chinese Taipei to win a PGA TOUR event – and the first in 32 years. He’s much closer to his goal of playing in the season-ending TOUR Championship after finishing 35th and 88th in his first two seasons. “Hopefully, this year I’ll do something special, just like this win, to secure it,â€� Pan said. Oh, and there’s that invitation to Augusta National that he’ll get in the mail early next year. Pan and his wife had watched on TV with great interest as Tiger Woods won the Masters on Sunday, and now they’ll get to experience it first-hand. “She was like, hey, I’m not patient at all, so you better get me there as soon as possible,â€� Pan recalled. “And she doesn’t want to caddie for me anymore in tournaments. She only wants to caddie for the Par-3 events. “So now I can fulfill my promise.â€� Pan’s victory Sunday also will certainly put him on Ernie Els’ radar screen as he contemplates his International Presidents Cup team – if the 2018 Olympian wasn’t there already. “It would be my biggest honor to play under Captain Els,â€� he said. “…  And back home in Taiwan, I mean, we don’t have a Ryder Cup in Asia. And I just feel it’s kind of unfortunate for the golf fans back home in Asia. “And I think the Presidents Cup will be something like that. And it will inspire more kids to play golf or inspire more people to follow golf.â€� Just like he did on Sunday at Harbour Town.

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The host this week at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday doesn’t need to be introduced. One of the most accomplished athletes across all of sports history, Jack Nicklaus was a beacon of on-course excellence for the entirety of his legendary career. We all know the numbers synonymous with Nicklaus: 6 (Masters wins), 18 (major championship wins), 73 (PGA TOUR victories). But those don’t fully detail how consistently great Nicklaus was over the course of three decades. Let’s dive into a few of the numbers that shaped the legend of The Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus. 46 Nicklaus has 46 top-three finishes in major championships, 20 more than any other player in history. Tiger Woods is second, with 26. The players in third and fourth on that list – Phil Mickelson (24) and Sam Snead (22) have the same total combined as Jack does on his own. 87 In 17 Masters starts from 1963 through 1979, Nicklaus won five Green Jackets and finished outside the top-10 only twice. Nicklaus was 87-under-par at Augusta National in that stretch, 69 shots better than any other player. In 66 rounds, he beat the field scoring average 59 times (89.4%). Nicklaus gained 206 strokes against the field in that span, 76 more than anyone else (Gary Player was second, at 130). 15 From 1966 through 1980, Nicklaus never finished worse than sixth at The Open Championship. Since Nicklaus’ streak ended in 1981, there has not been another player to do it more than three consecutive years at The Open. Nicklaus’ streak is nearly twice as long as any other player since World War II – Peter Thomson did it in eight straight Opens from 1951 to 1958. 35 In the entire decade of the 1970s, Nicklaus finished in the top-10 in 35 of 40 major championships. In that span, he had more wins in the majors (8) than finishes outside the top-ten (5). 22 From 1966 through 1982, Nicklaus won four U.S. Open titles and finished T-11 or better 18 times. In that span, he recorded 22 rounds in the 60s at the U.S. Open, eight more than anyone else (Arnold Palmer had the second-most, with 14). He averaged 3.41 Strokes Gained: Total per round in that span, nearly half-a-stroke more than any other player in that span with 40 or more rounds played (Tom Watson, 2.95). 56 Nicklaus has 56 top-five finishes in major championships. No other player has more than 33 (Tiger Woods). From 1960 through 1980 alone, Jack had 51 top-five finishes in majors, more than twice as many as any other player in that span. Palmer had the second-most, with 23. 17 Nicklaus won in each of his first 17 full seasons on the PGA Tour. That streak is tied with Arnold Palmer for the most consecutive seasons with at least one TOUR victory all-time. 24 Nicklaus won his first and 18th professional major championships 24 years apart – his first coming at the 1962 U.S. Open, his last being the 1986 Masters. He is one of two players in men’s golf history to win majors more than 20 years apart. Tiger Woods (1997 Masters – 2019 Masters, 22 years) is the other. 40 In 1980, at age 40, Nicklaus led the PGA TOUR in total driving, a statistic that combines a players’ ranking in average driving distance and fairways hit. His number that season combining those ranks was 23 – a sum no player has bettered in any season since. For comparison’s sake, Jon Rahm led the PGA TOUR last season in total driving with a combined rank number of 80, the only player on TOUR under 100. Nicklaus went on to lead the TOUR in that statistic in his age 41 and age 42 seasons, as well. 18 Nicklaus made the cut at the U.S. Open forty years apart – at age 18 (1958) and age 58 (1998). He won the U.S. Open 18 years apart (1962-1980), the longest gap between victories in that championship’s history. 24 Nicklaus played the Masters in par or better over 72 holes a record 24 times in his career, five more than any other player. His 71 rounds under par are 13 more than any other player in Masters history. He is also the Masters all-time leader in birdies, eagles, top-5s and top-10 finishes. 2000 Nicklaus will be inextricably linked to Tiger Woods in the annals of golf history. One of the most remarkable statistics tying together the two came at the end of Nicklaus’ playing career, and the prime of Woods’. Nicklaus made his final start at both the U.S. Open and PGA Championship in 2000. Woods won both of those. Nicklaus’ final starts in the Masters and Open Championship came five years later. The winner of both of those events? Woods. 19 In addition to his 18 major wins, most all-time, Nicklaus has an unreal 19 runner-up finishes in majors. No other player has more than eleven (Phil Mickelson).

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The U.S. has a big lead. Europe will need an unprecedented Sunday surge. Can it be done? We go through all 12 singles matches to see if it is possible.

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