Fantasy Insider: Masters Tournament

• Co-Sanctioning Partnership confirmed through to 2025 • Additional Co-Sanctioned Challenge Tour events confirmed through to 2026 The European Tour and the Sunshine Tour are delighted to jointly announce today a new landmark partnership which celebrates their already long-term relationship of over a quarter of a century and recognizes South Africa’s contribution to the global game. The European Tour has committed to help further develop the Sunshine Tour, improving the existing international pathway between the two Tours that has seen countless South African players benefit from over the years, and to recognise the sustained contribution of South Africa’s professionals and Sunshine Tour Chairman Johann Rupert in the development and growth of the game worldwide. The PGA TOUR – the European Tour’s Strategic Alliance partners – are fully supportive of this new development in global golf which will focus on two key areas. The first of these is the fact that the South African Open Championship – one of the oldest and most prestigious tournaments in world golf – is guaranteed as a co-sanctioned tournament between the European Tour and the Sunshine Tour through 2025, with a minimum prize fund of $1.5 million for this period. Further tournaments to fall under this new co-sanctioning agreement will be confirmed in due course. The Challenge Tour will also benefit from the new partnership with a commitment to not only continue to stage the existing three Challenge Tour events in South Africa, but also to create several new co-sanctioned events which will feature on both the Challenge and Sunshine Tours. Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the European Tour, said: “For many years the European Tour has greatly valued the relationship we have enjoyed with the Sunshine Tour and today’s announcement is the next step in that journey together. “Through the leadership, vision and commitment of Chairman Johann Rupert, the Sunshine Tour has not only flourished and produced many of the game’s greats over decades, it is also part of the ecosystem that is at the very core of professional golf. “We have been proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Sunshine Tour on this pathway for over a quarter of a century and we very much look forward to continuing this partnership for many years to come.” Thomas Abt, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour, said: “This partnership is an acknowledgement of the contribution that our Chairman Johann Rupert has made not only to the advancement of the Sunshine Tour and its legacy, as well as golf development, but also to the overall growth of the global game. “We are delighted with a partnership that recognizes South African golf’s place in the history of this great game, and which has been showcased through our long association with the European Tour. Selwyn Nathan, our Executive Director, has been instrumental in forming this partnership with the European Tour with our Chairman and Board’s counsel, and which sees us in the position that we are in today. This partnership will open the door to even greater growth for our players.” PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan said: “We are thrilled to see these two leading golf organizations come together for the benefit of the global game, players and fans. The European Tour and Sunshine Tour each have rich histories, celebrated events and a proven record of developing some of the world’s best players. This new partnership further illustrates the strengthening ecosystem of professional golf that we have all worked together to build for the betterment of the game.” The shared history between the European Tour and the Sunshine Tour goes back over a quarter of a century to the first co-sanctioned tournament, the Lexington South African PGA Championship at the Wanderers Club in February 1995. From then until now the two Tours have combined close to 100 times. The winner of that first event was Ernie Els and it is appropriate that the four-time Major Champion set the ball rolling as he remains the most successful South African player in European Tour history, having contributed 28 of the 160 wins to date; a total which sees South Africa ranked fourth on the list of the most successful nations in European Tour history; behind England, the United States and Spain. Els is joined on the list of South African European Tour champions by fellow Major winners Retief Goosen, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen, Trevor Immelman and Gary Player. He is also joined by Justin Harding, Daniel van Tonder, Garrick Higgo (a winner on the PGA TOUR as well), Dean Burmester, George Coetzee and Christiaan Bezuidenhout who have all triumphed on the European Tour recently – further proof of the Sunshine Tour’s status as a breeding ground for future international stars.

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FedExCup and world No. 1 Brooks Koepka leaves no doubt as he fires a final-round 65 to pass Rory McIlroy and become the season’s first three-time winner at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Meanwhile, 22-year-old phenom Collin Morikawa notches his first career victory at the Barracuda Championship. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where Koepka not only won his first WGC, he also clinched first place and $2 million in the season-long Wyndham Rewards race, and all but wrapped up the $1 million Aon Risk Reward Challenge, for a total payday of $4.75 million. Cal product Morikawa, meanwhile, won in just his sixth start as a pro. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. There was a sense of inevitability in Memphis. Although he went into the last round behind by a shot, Koepka felt like the favorite to win, given his recent form. Not to knock McIlroy; it’s just that this was Koepka’s sixth PGA TOUR victory in the last two-plus years, and four of those have been majors. “Incredible,� he said more than once. That adjective held true for his consistency this season and his total take after winning the tournament, the Wyndham Rewards and, almost certainly, the Aon Risk Reward Challenge. “The year’s not done,� he said. “I’ve still got a few things to finish off and hopefully it will go my way.� For more on Koepka’s big win, click here. 2. Beware the sick golfer. Yeah, you’ve probably heard that one, but it bears repeating after the WGC-FedEx St. Jude. Koepka picked up a bug somewhere between Portrush and TPC Southwind, but it sure didn’t negatively affect his play. In fact, after his bogey-free 65 sent him straight to the top with room to spare, you could argue the sniffles somehow helped him. “Just get on with it,� Koepka said of his credo for the week. “People go to work sick all the time.� As it has throughout this season, his game looked terrifically healthy. In the next month, he’ll see if he can improve on his FedExCup finishes in 2018 (ninth) and ’17 (10th). It looks, ahem, rather likely. 3. Simpson had a funny highlight. What was the highlight for the runner-up, Webb Simpson (64, 13 under, three back)? His eagle at the par-5 third hole? His four back-nine birdies? The fact that this was his best result since his runaway victory at THE PLAYERS Championship last year? Nah. The highlight, Simpson said, was not making a complete mess of the first round, which began on the back nine and resulted in a very scratchy, 1-under 69. “I played so poorly the first round,� he said. “… Any normal first round for me, that would have been three or four shots higher, but I hung in there. I hit it terribly, but made some big par putts and birdied the last hole, No. 9, out of the rough. So, that for me was the key to the tournament, because if you go out and shoot three or four over, you kind of knock yourself out of it.� 4. Barracuda champ off to flying start. When Matthew Wolff won the 3M Open earlier this summer, he had broken through in just three starts after leaving college. Collin Morikawa, who finished T2 at the 3M, did it in six starts. Summer on TOUR has been a game of Name That Prodigy. “This proves that I’m ready,� Morikawa said after making birdies on four of the last five holes to overtake 54-hole leader Troy Merritt in the Modified Stableford format. Morikawa, who shot up to 46th in the FedExCup, finished with 47 points, three ahead of Merritt, who himself is up to 68th in the FedExCup. For more on Morikawa, click here.  5. Morikawa showed closing speed. Just as Koepka did not make a bogey in his closing 65 at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude, Morikawa saved his best for last at the Barracuda. He said he got mad-decisive after failing to birdie the reachable, par-5 13th hole, the kick in the backside he needed to birdie four of his last five. “I just wasn’t trusting myself,� said Morikawa, who, unlike Koepka, is only 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs 170 pounds. “I wasn’t taking my usual tempo; just a little out of rhythm.� Burying a seven-foot birdie putt on 14 got him right back in it, and he kept his foot on the gas pedal all the way home. Scored conventionally, he would have shot a final-round 65, like Koepka, and tallied 22-under-par. Morikawa has shot 15 of his last 17 rounds in the 60s. FIVE INSIGHTS 1. After struggling on the greens while finishing tied for fourth at The Open Championship the previous week, Koepka led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting for the week (+9.346) at TPC Southwind. 2. Koepka becomes the first player to win on TOUR after entering the week No. 1 in the FedExCup standings since Bryson DeChambeau at the 2018 Dell Technologies Championship. He also becomes the fifth player to win a WGC event and a major in the same season, joining Tiger Woods (1999-2002, 2005-2008), Geoff Ogilvy (2006), McIlroy (2014), and Dustin Johnson (2016). 3. The solo second finish for Webb Simpson (64, 13 under, three back) marked his best finish since winning THE PLAYERS Championship last year. He was seeking his sixth career TOUR title and notched his fifth top-10 finish this season. 4. Rory McIlroy (71, T4), the overnight leader, was one of only three players in the top 20 to post an over-par score in the final round. He leads the TOUR with 12 top-10 finishes in 16 starts this season. 5. As per my colleague Sean Martin, Morikawa, had he played enough, would lead the TOUR in scoring (67.9), greens (74.1 percent), birdies per round (4.9), and Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green (+1.42). He would be second in SG: Total (+2.29) and just 100th in SG: Putting (+0.19). WYNDHAM REWARDS The Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is in its first season and adds another layer of excitement to the FedExCup Regular Season. The top 10 players at the end of the FedExCup Regular Season will earn bonus payouts from the Wyndham Rewards Top 10. Brooks Koepka locked up the top spot after the WGC-FedEx St. Jude, while Rory McIlroy and Matt Kuchar swapped places and have secured the second and third spots, respectively. But there’s a lot to play for at this week’s Wyndham Championship, which ends the regular season. Paul Casey stands to make the biggest move, from eighth all the way to fourth in the final standings, with a Wyndham win.

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