Defending Match Play champ is no fan

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WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. - Kamaiu Johnson, a sponsor exemption, has withdrawn from the Farmers Insurance Open after testing positive for COVID-19. Officials from the Farmers Insurance Open and Century Club of San Diego announced that fellow Advocates Pro Golf Association (APGA) Tour player, Willie Mack III, will replace Johnson in the field as a sponsor exemption. Johnson, a Farmers® brand ambassador and winner of the 2020 APGA Tour Championship, reports feeling well and will have the PGA TOUR's full support throughout his self-isolation period under CDC guidelines. "To say that I'm disappointed would be a massive understatement. I've dreamed of playing on the PGA TOUR for a long, long time, but health and safety come first," Johnson said. "It's times like these where you have to keep focusing on the bigger picture at hand, and from my experience, a fork in the road often has an interesting way of leading to new opportunities. Getting a brief glimpse of the Farmers Insurance Open and what it would be like to play on the PGA TOUR only further ignites the fire inside me to work that much harder to chase the dream of playing on TOUR full-time. I am so thankful to Farmers Insurance and the entire team at the Century Club of San Diego for not only providing me with this opportunity, but also for all they're doing to promote diversity in golf and beyond. I will be Willie Mack's biggest fan this week. He's a good friend and an incredibly talented player." In March 2020, Mack became a Farmers Insurance® brand ambassador. He is a former Michigan Amateur champion and was the 2019 APGA Player of the Year, winning two of the seven events he entered. Mack currently leads the Florida Professional Golf Tour and will continue playing their events in addition to a full APGA Tour season in 2021. Last week, Mack was awarded an exemption to The Genesis Invitational, which will be played in the Los Angeles area in February. "This is a bittersweet moment. Kamaiu and I are very close friends and he has worked so hard to have this opportunity. There is no doubt that Kamaiu will get his chance, and when he does, he is going to do big things," Mack said. "To get two exemptions over the course of one week is incredible, with The Genesis Invitational awarding me the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption last week, and now to receive a spot in the Farmers Insurance Open from an organization that has already done so much for me. I will cherish this moment and forever be grateful for these incredible opportunities." Removing the financial burden associated with the game is a top priority for both Farmers and the APGA Tour. Ensuring players have access to the tools and support they need allows them to better focus on competing. For players like Johnson and Mack, the support Farmers provides APGA Tour athletes can be invaluable. "We understand what this week meant to Kamaiu and how hard he worked to get here. On behalf of everyone at Farmers, we wish Kamaiu the best and look forward to more opportunities for him to play PGA TOUR events in the near future," said Farmers Insurance CEO Jeff Dailey. "While these unfortunate circumstances do not allow Kamaiu to play at the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open, we wanted to extend an exemption to another Farmers brand ambassador, Willie Mack III. Our ongoing support of the APGA Tour and its players is just one of the ways we're reinforcing our commitment to help remove barriers and advance diversity in the game of golf." Mack's exemption is the latest example of Farmers support for the APGA Tour and its players in recent years. The national insurer has provided funding for APGA Tour events and the organization's athletes, sponsored players including Johnson and Mack, and for the second consecutive year will host an APGA Tour event in conjunction with the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open on the PGA TOUR. For more information about Farmers commitment to the game, visit Farmers.com/Golf.

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NOTE: For the first three events of the FedExCup Playoffs, Rob focuses only on golfers outside the bubble to advance. In this last installment, all five below enter the BMW Championship outside the top 30 in FedExCup points. Charl Schwartzel … The South African is the only qualifier on this page with experience at Conway Farms. He shared eighth place in 2013. For the second consecutive season, he begins the third leg of the Playoffs slotted 43rd in the FedExCup standings. Last year, after opening T53-70th, a five-way share of fourth place at Crooked Stick yielded a rise to 30th in points and into the TOUR Championship. This time around, he strolls in with better form after a T29 and a T25 in the first two legs, respectively. Mackenzie Hughes … At 31st in FedExCup points, he’s the easiest to pluck from the 40 outside the top 70, but to lean on that as the reason would be ignoring why he’s 31st. As I laid out in a recent edition of the Rookie Ranking, the Canadian cannot be ruled out to scoop up the once-in-a-lifetime honor, but he’s probably going to need to advance to the TOUR Championship given the depth of his class. A T13 at the Dell Technologies Championship served a reminder to his competition as it matched his third-best result of the season and best since mid-February. Through two legs of the Playoffs, he’s ninth in strokes gained: putting. Xander Schauffele … Not that Hughes needed any additional motivation to secure a tee time at East Lake, but his fellow rookie, Schauffele, is one notch back at 32nd in the FedExCup standings. The 23-year-old from California could be part of a photo finish for the Rookie of the Year award. It would cap a flourish that was sparked in earnest by a T5 at the U.S. Open and has included four top 20s since, including a breakthrough win at The Greenbrier Classic. He leads the FedExCup Playoffs in par-5 scoring average. Hudson Swafford … It’s reasonable to assume that he experienced an emotional letdown after breaking through for his first PGA TOUR title at the CareerBuilder Challenge in January. After all, expectations were high following his phenomenal career at the University of Georgia. He connected top 10s two months post-victory, and then went virtually silent until hanging up a T10 in his debut at Firestone in August. A T13 at TPC Boston two weeks ago lifted him to 33rd in the FedExCup standings and to without shouting distance of his debut at East Lake. It’d make for a proper way to celebrate his 30th birthday (on Sept. 9). Ranks seventh in the Playoffs in strokes gained: tee-to-green, sixth in proximity and T11 in bogey avoidance. Rafa Cabrera Bello … Populated this space two weeks ago, and then finished T18 at the Dell Technologies Championship to climb 20 spots to 60th for the BMW Championship. The Spaniard is seeking to become just the fourth in Playoffs history to play his way into the TOUR Championship after starting both the second and third legs outside the bubble. Only Marc Leishman (2009), Geoff Ogilvy (2011) and Morgan Hoffmann (2014) have previously scaled the same ladder. (Hoffmann is the only golfer of the three to begin the Playoffs outside the top 100.) RCB ranks 13th in the Playoffs in strokes gained: putting and 12th in scrambling, so he’s connecting with his bread and butter.

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