DP World Tour suspends English golfer over betting

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Sam Simpson could only laugh when his son Webb called after winning the U.S. Open on Father’s Day. Webb Simpson expected to share different emotions during Sunday’s call to his mother. “He just told me he couldn’t believe I did it, and I laughed with him,â€� Webb Simpson said shortly after winning THE PLAYERS on Mother’s Day. “I think my mom, when I call her tonight, she’s probably going to be in tears, speechless. “We’ll talk a lot about my dad, I’m sure.â€� It has been a difficult time for the Simpson family ever since their beloved patriarch, Sam Simpson, passed away Nov. 26 at the age of 74. He was a devoted husband to Debbie Simpson for 38 years. He also was the one who introduced Webb Simpson to the game.  Sam Simpson was a single-digit handicap who could offer his son the occasional swing tip, but he was more concerned with Webb’s character. He taught his son about work ethic, perseverance and respect. “Sam used golf as a way to teach Webb life lessons,â€� said William Kane, Webb’s childhood friend. Even as Sam Simpson battled dementia during his final years, those lessons stayed with his son. They helped Webb Simpson fight through those difficult years after he was forced to give up his beloved belly putter. His frustrations on the greens led to tearful conversations with his wife, Dowd, and caddie, Paul Tesori. Quitting was never an option, though. “My dad always told me growing up to never give up, never be a quitter, so that was off the table,â€� Webb Simpson said. “I was never going to be done with golf. But it was certainly a struggle.â€� Nearly six years have passed since Webb Simpson won the U.S. Open. THE PLAYERS was Webb’s first win in more than four years. In between those victories, he fell to 143rd in Strokes Gained: Putting and outside the top 75 in the world ranking. After making it to East Lake for four consecutive seasons, and finishing second in the 2011 FedExCup, Webb missed the TOUR Championship in both 2015 and 2016. “For us, it’s nothing short of miraculous,â€� Tesori said. “We didn’t know if we’d ever see it again.â€� Webb Simpson found his solution a year ago, on the eve of the 2017 PLAYERS Championship. That’s when Tim Clark, the 2010 PLAYERS champion, recommended Webb combine the claw grip with the long putter that runs up his left arm. Last year, Webb returned to the TOUR Championship for the first time since 2014. Now he ranks eighth in the FedExCup after his fifth career victory. He led THE PLAYERS field in Strokes Gained: Putting. He had two of the top 10 putting rounds of his career on Thursday and Friday, tying the Stadium Course’s record of 63 with a magical performance on the greens in the second round. Simpson tied THE PLAYERS’ 36- and 54-hole scoring records to build a seven-shot lead before the final round. He admitted Sunday evening that holding such a large lead was harder than he’d imagined. He wasn’t just thinking about holding the Waterford crystal trophy. I’ve thought many times in the gym or the practice area, ‘If my dad was here, what would make him proud?’ “I thought about him all day,â€� Webb Simpson said about his father. “It’s been an emotional week for my mom and my sisters and my brother. We miss him like crazy.â€� Sam Simpson was a gregarious man who was passionate about life, and about golf. He had a way of making everyone around him feel comfortable. He tried to live righteously while treating people with warmth and kindness. “Your life was fuller for having him in it,â€� said Ted Kiegiel, the director of golf at Carolina Country Club in Raleigh, North Carolina. “His dad was his role model, he got him started in the game. He was his best friend for a long time,â€� Tesori said. “His dad was a strong man. Not just strong-willed. He was a muscular, strong, passionate man. To see that being taken away over time, I think that was harder on him than I even know.â€� Webb Simpson’s PLAYERS victory has parallels to Jack Nicklaus’ victory in the 1970 Open Championship. Nicklaus won at St. Andrews months after his father, Charlie, passed away. Jack hadn’t won a major in three years, but he was inspired after losing the man he called “my guide, my companion, my mentor, my supporter, my defender, but always most of all my closest and surest friend.â€� Sam Simpson played all those roles for Webb, who has been motivated this year to honor his father. “I loved when he was proud of me,â€� Webb said. “I’ve thought many times in the gym or the practice area, ‘If my dad was here, what would make him proud?’â€� The golf course has become a refuge during his grieving, allowing him to relive all the memories they accrued on the course. Golf was a shared passion, and an opportunity to spend hours together. They would travel from their home in Raleigh, North Carolina, to Pinehurst and Wilmington for golf trips. “He was Webb’s best friend,â€� Dowd said. “His dad had this uncanny way to push Webb, but not too much. He gave him a love for the game that was natural and birthed from within. His dad always encouraged him. “Any time Webb would go through anything challenging, he would always call his dad. They could just putt around and play and it brought back the joy in the game.â€� Sam’s death was unexpected. They thought they had a few more years with him, but that changed in November. Webb was in 12th place halfway through The RSM Classic, but he withdrew after learning that his father’s health had deteriorated. Webb got to spend 10 days at Sam’s side before he died. People streamed in and out of Sam’s hospice room to tell how he had changed their lives. The memorial service overflowed into the gymnasium at White Memorial Presbyterian Church. “My dad was already my hero, and he became that much bigger in my mind,â€� Webb said. “He just had a sweet way about him with people. Everybody seemed to love him. … He meant a lot to a lot of people.â€� Tesori used two words to describe Sam Simpson: ‘humble’ and ‘trustworthy’. Sam didn’t take any credit for his son’s success, giving the credit to God instead. He made his living in realty, with a company that he co-founded on a handshake agreement with his best friend, Harrison “Speckâ€� Underwood. They were in an elevator at the lawyer’s office when they decided there was no need for a formal contract. They cut it in half and threw it in the trash can. “Money was never spoken of. It was more about our obligations to our family and our children,â€� Underwood said. “So we walked into the office and asked the attorney if he had any scissors.â€� The partnership lasted more than 40 years. Sam Simpson was a member at the Country Club of North Carolina in Raleigh. He took his son for his first lesson with the Kiegiel when Webb was 8 years old. Three years later, Webb would join his father in his weekend games. Sam Simpson didn’t let his son move back to longer tees until he was consistently shooting low scores from his current set. It was a practice that taught Webb Simpson to go low. When Kane and Webb played late-afternoon rounds in the summer, Sam Simpson almost always rolled up to the 16th fairway in a golf cart, Diet Coke in hand. Sam was his son’s biggest fan. He caddied for Webb in amateur events and always was there to offer encouragement. Webb missed six consecutive cuts in his second TOUR season, in 2010, but turned around his season after spending a weekend playing with his father. “He constantly reminded his son that, in golf, anything can happen,â€� said Webb’s friend, Doug Rose. “Finish strong, keep fighting, don’t ever give up.â€� Webb Simpson didn’t. And now he’s THE PLAYERS champion.

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It’s one thing to join the sub-60 club – but it is another to parlay it over the next three days into a tournament win. Welcome to the Monday Finish where Brandt Snedeker scorched the Greensboro turf on Thursday with a sublime 59 and then methodically plotted his way to victory. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1 Brandt Snedeker opened the tournament with a serious bang … posting just the 10th sub-60 score in PGA TOUR history. The feat on its own is seriously awesome. Particularly as he opened the round with a bogey. But what is more impressive is backing it up and turning it into a victory. We often hear people say in golf that it is really hard to back up a really low round with another. And of course his second-round 67 was a good eight shots behind Round 1. But it was good enough to stay ahead. A third-round 68, half of which was played on Sunday, was once again good enough to lead but the challengers were coming … they were breathing down his neck. So in the final round when he was caught on the leaderboard it could obviously have gone one of two ways … run out of gas or get a second wind. Snedeker showed himself as every bit a former FedExCup champion to kick on with a 65 and a three-shot win. Only Al Geiberger (1977 FedEx St. Jude Classic), David Duval (1999 CareerBuilder Challenge), Stuart Appleby (2010 A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier) and Justin Thomas (2017 Sony Open in Hawaii) were previously able to post sub-60 scores on the PGA TOUR and go on to win that week. Signs of a real champion. 2 More on the man known as Sneds – it had been at best a half decent “comeback� before this week from a pesky sternum injury that ended his 2016-17 season early. But really not that great by the standards of a then eight-time PGA TOUR winner and former FedExCup champion. After an MDF finish at the Houston Open in April Snedeker was outside the top 125 on the FedExCup standings and he dipped in and out again by the end of May. This no doubt was a huge source of frustration for someone who had often felt the heights of the sport. But perseverance is a trait Snedeker can be proud of. A couple of top 10s in the last six weeks had him primed to return to the scene of his maiden TOUR win in 2007. And he made it count. Moving from 80th to 30th in the standings makes becoming a dual FedExCup champion like Tiger Woods a serious possibility. 3 Speaking of comebacks of sorts … what about Webb Simpson? Last season was the beginning of his resurrection. This season the former U.S. Open champion has taken it up a few more notches. THE PLAYERS champion closed out the regular season with a runner-up finish and seventh top-10. He enters the Playoffs in seventh position.  The most obvious difference in a visual sense is his confidence. It is clearly back. Simpson knows he’s good again. And with that confidence more could be coming from this special talent. 4 It certainly can be fun watching the FedExCup finale through the prism of the points and who is going to play their way in. And while Sergio Garcia was unable to push home hard enough to keep his Playoffs streak alive there were two guys who stepped up under the gun and got it done. Harris English produced a decent T11 finish to move from 132nd to 124th – clutch. But perhaps more so – Nick Taylor putting up his lowest round of the season Sunday to go from 129 to 119. We are lucky enough to have live projections at our fingertips and it is the embodiment of the saying every shot matters. Just six points separated 125th and 126th. At least those guys 126-150 have conditional status next year (and a place in the Web.com Finals to better their status). Spare a thought for Matt Jones. He missed the cut and watched his number slide from 146 to 151. Just two points, or basically one shot this season, separated him from some status. Now he must fight to regain it. Every. Shot. Matters. 5 C.T. Pan will learn plenty from his 72nd hole performance where he went from the lead to finishing three shots back. No one wants to face that sort of implosion – Pan hit his tee shot well right and out of bounds – but at the very least it will be a serious teaching moment. Afterward, he admitted a voice in his head got the better of him. Just admitting that is a sign he will do better next time. He will recognize it and perhaps be able to harness the nerves and use them to his advantage. The good news – at 63rd in the FedExCup he will have a chance to go deep in the Playoffs and perhaps go one better. FIVE INSIGHTS 1 Snedeker was just the third player to shoot a 59 with a bogey on his card, and the first player to break 60 while being over par at any point during the round (+1 through 3). His Strokes Gained stats were as follows: Total: +9.71 (1st); Off-the-Tee: +0.11 (84th); Approach-the-Green: +5.55 (1st); Around-the-Green: +1.58 (4th); Putting: +2.47 (11th). 2 Snedeker hit 15 of 18 greens on Thursday’s round of 59. He had eight birdie putts within 6 feet, and seven of those came on his back nine (the front nine). Of his 5.55 strokes gained on approach play, 5.4 of them were gained on his back nine. He shot 8-under 27 on that side despite holing just one putt from outside 5 feet: a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-4 ninth hole (since his ball was on the fringe, the stroke doesn’t count as a putt under PGA TOUR statistics). 3 It was Snedeker’s ninth PGA TOUR win. At 37 years old, he owns the 25th win by a player in his 30s this season. He led after every round becoming the second wire-to-wire winner this season (Brice Garnett at Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship). He has now won the same tournament for a second time on three occasions; Wyndham Championship (2007, 2018), Farmers Insurance Open (2012, 2016) and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (2013, 2015). Marks his fourth top-10 finish of the season. With the exception of 2014, has collected at least four top-10 finishes a season since joining the PGA TOUR in 2007. Claimed three in 2014. 4 Brandt Snedeker ranked 111th in SG: Approach-the-Green entering the Wyndham Championship and T-121st in Fairway Proximity averaging 31 feet, 9 inches to the hole on approach shots. At the Wyndham Championship, Snedeker was nearly two shots better per round in SG: Approach-the-Green (+1.987 ranked third) and averaged over 10 feet closer on approach shots from the fairway (20 feet, six inches ranked third). 5 By virtue of earning as many or more Non-Member points as No. 125 in the FedExCup standings after the Wyndham Championship, Joaquin Niemann and Kiradech Aphibarnrat earned fully-exempt status to the PGA TOUR for the 2018-19 season.

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Jamie Lovemark … As contemporary Rickie Fowler continues to work at shedding the label as one of best active golfers without a victory in a major, the 30-year-old Lovemark, who had a similarly impressive amateur pedigree, is still chasing his first trophy in a PGA TOUR event. He’s 0-for-130 as a professional. Not that it’s getting in the way of a fine career. Since returning to the big leagues full-time in 2015-16, he’s posted 12 top 10s and another 13 top 25s. He’s coming off his latest, a T19 at the Travelers Championship where his putting was on point. Yet, that’s arguably the weakest component of his generally well-rounded attack and he’s currently 44th in strokes gained: tee-to-green and 46th in adjusted scoring. Tom Hoge … The Web.com Tour Finals grad hasn’t wasted a strong start to his third season on the PGA TOUR. After opening 8-for-8 with four top 25s, he’d added a pair of top 15s – the more recent a T13 at Muirfield Village to open this month – and sits comfortably at 71st in the FedExCup standings. He’s also T71 in strokes gained: tee-to-green with assistance from slotting fifth in proximity to the hole. Tyler Duncan … If you’re an avid fan of the PGA TOUR, you may recall that he held at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds of the season-opening Safeway Open before settling for a tie for fifth place. It was a classic carryover from the Web.com Tour Finals in which he went T24-T5-MC-T12 to secure his first TOUR card. Alas, that also remains his only top 10 in individual competition as a rookie, a designation that also has predictably resulted in one disappointment after another, but he’s righted the ship over the last two months. After the conclusion of the holiday break, the 28-year-old product of Purdue missed six straight cuts and nine of his first 10. However, since partnering with fellow rookie Adam Schenk for a T7 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Duncan is 7-for-7 to remain in control of his own destiny at 115th in the FedExCup standings. His strength is ball-striking, which caters to his consecutive cuts made streak extending at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. J.T. Poston … It’s rare when one PGA TOUR sophomore without a win playing on conditional status manages to finish inside the top 125 of the FedExCup standings, but both he (108th) and Trey Mullinax (74th) are getting the job done this season. Poston has scattered five top 20s in 15 starts, two of which in his last three. He ranks 37th in strokes gained: off-the-tee and 45th in greens in regulation. Jason Gore … Although TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm hosted a PGA TOUR event from 1987-2004 and in 2006, the record book reflects Nick Watney’s final-round 64 in last year’s Quicken Loans National as the course record. Indeed, it’s the lowest score in a TOUR event since the course was redone 10 years ago, but Gore owns a footnote in its history. In the opening round of the 2012 Neediest Kids Championship, he carded a 63, technically the lowest of four sanctioned tournaments, including the 2010 Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship. The following year, which was the second of two spins as host to the Web.com Tour, Gore placed T11. When he returned in 2017, he finished T13 at 3-under 277. That remains his only payday in his last 14 TOUR appearances dating back to July of 2016. After gaining entry as a sponsor exemption last year, look for him to make the most of the same invitation this week while smiling throughout.

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