Expert Picks: Charles Schwab Challenge

BLAINE, Minn. – It wasn’t an easy decision, but Tony Finau knew the time had come. So, after last week’s Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, he parted ways with Greg Bodine, who had caddied for him since his rookie campaign in 2014-15. “We were together for six years and it’s a tough thing, you know,” Finau said on Thursday. “On a personal level I love the guy and on a business level I felt it was time for a change in my situation and something just different.” Something different – for this week only at the 3M Open – is Finau’s long-time friend and teacher, Boyd Summerhays. And the transition appeared seamless as the PGA TOUR veteran fired a 65 to tie with Ryan Moore, Xinjun Zhang and Nick Watney, one stroke off the lead. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Dustin Johnson withdraws from 3M Open citing back injury “It was good, a really solid round, really clean,” FInau said. “I think I only missed one green and just hit it nicely, gave myself a lot of looks and I think that’s what you’ve got to do around this place. It’s soft enough to hit them close and I was able to do that enough today and make some putts.” Finau had done the same last week at Muirfield Village, which was a decidedly different challenge, playing firm and fast and hard. He held at least a share of the lead through two-and-a-half rounds before things started to unravel as Finau played the final seven holes on Saturday in 4 over and saw Jon Rahm surge ahead. Jack Nicklaus’ signature layout was as unforgiving as any major championship venue on Sunday when Finau limped in with a 78 that left him a distant seven strokes off the pace in eighth. So, a week that had begun with so much promise ended in disappointment and a long-time player-caddie relationship in disarray. And the Memorial wasn’t the only tournament this year where Finau seemingly had a prime chance to pick up a second career PGA TOUR victory that so many say is harder won than the first, either. He held the 54-hole lead at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and was two strokes up with two remaining only to lose in a playoff to Webb Simpson. In fact, Finau has had six runner-up finishes since that win at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open. Finau thrived with Summerhays on the bag on Thursday at TPC Twin Cities, though, making seven birdies and just two bogeys on a golf course that demands the leaders go low. He ranked first in Proximity to the Hole and Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, third in Approach The Green and fifth in Off the Tee. Summerhays has caddied for Finau in the past so it was a comfortable solution. Finau thinks it’s good for the instructor to get a glimpse of his game inside the ropes, and on Thursday, the student put on quite the show. “We’re very close,” Finau said. “No hard feelings no matter what, I think that’s a good dynamic to have when you’re out there. I didn’t have him say too much. I know I’m playing well and for the most part just bring him in when I want him.” That final-round 78 notwithstanding, Finau said he left Muirfield Village – which featured a major-championship caliber field — feeling good about his game. The fast start on Thursday in Minnesota only added to his resolve. “To be able to build up a lead I had on Saturday, that gives a guy some confidence,” Finau said. “I don’t think it really matters how I finished the tournament, at least that’s the positive I take from it is in that field on that golf course, I was able to play really clean, really nice golf. “I think it takes a lot of skill to do that, just to put yourself in that position. So that’s kind of what I took away from that week and kind of looking to do some of the same this week.”

Click here to read the full article…

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland – Winning the Claret Jug is fun, especially when you produce the kind of amazing, frenetic finish he did last year at Royal Birkdale. But giving back the Claret Jug a year later during a pre-tournament ceremony that included a short drive in a futuristic concept vehicle, followed by a quick presentation while standing on the first tee? Kind of a drag. Or as Jordan Spieth put it, “It wasn’t an enjoyable experience.â€� Not that he’s complaining. It’s the price that must be paid for winning The Open Championship, a price Spieth would gladly pay every year if necessary. “The traditions of The Open are very special, even if you’re on the wrong end of that one,â€� he said. But while waiting there on Carnoustie’s first tee Monday in front of the curiosity seekers and tournament officials, it finally hit home that his reign as Champion Golfer of the Year is over. He had expected the transfer of the Claret Jug to be a simple behind-the-scenes process in the players’ parking lot after he pulled the black case from his car. He didn’t expect pomp and circumstance. “Because of that, it actually hit me harder,â€� Spieth said. “I was like, man, this was in my possession. I took it to all the places that allowed me to get to where I am today. My family was able to take it around. Members of the team were able to take it. “It’s the coolest trophy that our sport has to offer, so having to return that was certainly difficult. Kind of hit me a little bit there on the tee box.â€� Of course, he hopes it’s only a temporary loss of title. But that’s when another reality may factor in – his 52 weeks spent as Open champion also means it’s been 52 weeks since his last victory. It’s his longest calendar drought since he turned pro. In that time, he’s played 24 events worldwide — 22 of those on the PGA TOUR, with eight top 10s, including a couple of runner-up finishes in the FedExCup Playoffs last year. Mostly, though, it’s been a year of frustration, especially in 2018 due to struggles with his putter (he enters this week ranked 175th on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting). He’s been playing, in his words, “cut-line golf,â€� and his schedule has been a heavy one that drained him of energy. So getting away from the game for a few weeks has been nice. He followed his last start at the U.S. Open with a trip to Seattle to be with his sister Ellie, who participated in the Special Olympics USA Games. He also visited his caddie Michael Greller, who lives in the area. They went out to Chambers Bay, site of Spieth’s 2015 U.S. Open win, and relived some moments while walking the 18th hole. Spieth then went to Cabo San Lucas on a vacation with friends, much like last year (you may recall the photo of Spieth with other A-listers such as Michael Phelps, Michael Jordan, Russell Wilson and Fred Couples). They played a little bit of golf, nothing serious. Only last week did he get back to the grind of preparing for competitive action. “Nice to kind of have that itch to get back,â€� he said. “It was nice to kind of start from scratch, almost like wet concrete with parts of my game.â€� He’s hoping the reboot — along with a firm and fast Carnoustie course that expects to play different than most others in the Open rota do – will be the jumpstart he needs. “Coming to an Open Championship requires a lot of feel and imagination, and I think that’s what I needed a bit of in my game,â€� Spieth said. “I’d gotten very technical and very into making everything perfect instead of kind of the way I normally play. “This week kind of provides that opportunity where you don’t know how far the ball is necessarily going to go off the tee. You need to play the spots, and then you have to use your imagination from there – hold the ball, ride the wind, a lot of different scenarios based on where pins are and the distance that you have.â€� If this week comes down to a matter of making decisions, then Spieth can draw on good vibes from a year ago at Royal Birkdale. It was his decision to play from the driving range after his wayward tee shot at the 13th hole, and when all is said and done, it may go down as the best decision of his career. Spieth reviewed that decision on Monday, recalling that he overruled Greller, who was “pretty adamantâ€� about hitting a second tee shot. Instead, Spieth went through the process of exploring the scenarios afforded him. He opted to take an unplayable lie so he could go in line with the hole as far back as necessary. He asked if the driving range was out of bounds. It wasn’t, so he eventually an appropriate spot (after a free drop to avoid some trailers), and the yardage was close enough to reach the green. His ability to salvage a bogey completely shifted his mood, as he followed by playing the next four holes in 5 under to pull away from Matt Kuchar. “I looked like a different person – demeanor, player, everything,â€� Spieth said. Perhaps he’ll be a different player this week than the recent form he’s shown. That’ll would require improved putting, a bit more consistency off the tee, and not overthinking his decisions. He’s confident about getting back to a winning groove – but if it happens at Carnoustie, he’d rather it not be as dramatic as a year ago. “Even though it was so special the way it happened, that was more special for the writing and the story,â€� Spieth said about last year. “For me, I would’ve been more proud if I had made no bogeys and three birdies – and that would be the goal of what to do next time.â€�

Click here to read the full article…

NAPA, Calif. – Cameron Champ has had to fight hard not to break down on the course.  Jeff Champ, his father, welled up with tears as the sun dipped low Saturday evening, Cameron a few feet away indulging reporters with stories about the man who started it all, Grandpa Mack. RELATED: Tee times | Leaderboard “I mean, he’s the most loving man I know,â€� Cameron said after shooting a third-round 67 to take a three-shot lead over Adam Hadwin (67), Sebastian Munoz (67) and Nick Taylor (70). Mack Champ – Jeff’s father, Cameron’s grandfather – is in hospice care with stage IV stomach cancer at home in Sacramento. The Champ family has been shuttling back and forth between there and Napa, where Cameron has written “POPSâ€� on his shoes and golf balls. It was Grandpa Mack, after all, who taught his grandson the game he once wasn’t even allowed to play. “Oh, it would be huge,â€� Cameron said, when asked what it would mean to win. Despite failing to birdie any of the par 5s, Champ shot one of the best rounds of the afternoon starters, who saw the toughest wind. He cited his college years at windy Texas A&M for steeling him for the Safeway, and now, almost exactly a year since he won in just the second start of his rookie season at the Sanderson Farms Championship, he’ll go for PGA TOUR win No. 2 Sunday. “When he’s hitting it straight, it’s hard to catch up because he’s 40 ahead of me and he’s got wedge or 9-iron when I’m hitting 5-iron or something,â€� said Collin Morikawa (70, 10 under, four back), who played with Champ on Saturday. “But it’s awesome to watch. I’ve watched and I’ve grown up playing with him a lot. I’ve always seen how far he hits it.â€� Champ is one-for-one with the 54-hole lead (Sanderson). One suspects his focus will be tested at the Safeway, but focus is precisely what his grandfather has preached most. “Me and my dad, we always laugh about it because he always says, ‘Stay focused, stay focused,’â€� Champ said. “Like, ‘OK, Pops.’ He just said, ‘Play free,’ and that’s what I’ve been doing. It’s been nice. I haven’t made any of the mistakes, simple … up-and-downs in front of the greens, I felt like I was struggling with those all last year.â€� Grandpa Champ’s other big saying: “It’s not where you come from, it’s where you’re going.â€� (So often has he heard it that Cameron had the words stamped on his wedges.) Mack Champ endured racial discrimination as he grew up in Columbus, Texas, about 75 miles west of Houston. He caddied on a nine-hole course for 75 cents a loop, but wasn’t allowed to play there. Not until he was stationed overseas with the Air Force did he begin to learn the game, teaching himself the swing in part by reading “Sam Snead’s Natural Golf.â€� Son Jeff Champ was not a golfer but a minor-league baseball player – a catcher, like Earl Woods. As a result, it wasn’t until the arrival of Cameron that Mack had a willing student to impart the lessons he’d learned in golf, and, much later, someone to walk the fairways with. When Cameron won the Sanderson last season, Mack was brought into the victory celebration by iPhone. “We did it for you, Grandpa,â€� Jeff said. “We did it for you.â€� Despite his late tee time (5 p.m. ET with Munoz, who will go for his second victory in as many weeks), Cameron Champ said he didn’t plan any more trips to visit his grandfather until after the tournament. Although he would dearly love to bring the trophy to Sacramento, he said the dire situation with “POPS,â€� who hasn’t been eating, has put golf into perspective. “Whether I shoot 80 tomorrow or whether I shoot 65, I really don’t care,â€� he said. “I’m just going to focus on, you know, putting my best round together and whatever that’s going to be tomorrow, it’s going to be.â€�

Click here to read the full article…