Farmers Insurance Open welcomes back APGA Tour players

BLAINE, Minn. – James Hahn cracked a bottle of Michelob Ultra upon approaching the podium to meet the media Sunday afternoon at the 3M Open. It was well earned. Hahn, 40, had just completed a final-round, 6-under 65 at TPC Twin Cities, marking the day’s low round in windy conditions outside Minneapolis. The performance propelled Hahn to a season-best T4 finish, moving him from No. 133 to No. 109 in the FedExCup standings. Hahn arrived at the 3M Open knowing it was crunch time to earn a spot in the FedExCup Playoffs for the eighth time, with this week marking the third-to-last event of the PGA TOUR’s regular season. With a stretch of six consecutive 3s on the back nine Sunday, including a hole-out eagle from 69 yards on the par-5 12th, Hahn all but secured a Playoffs berth. “Magical,” said Hahn of his final-round performance in Minnesota. “That’s what it felt like. We’re getting gusts up to 25 miles per hour and then it would lay down and then it would gust again for 25 miles per hour. I’m hitting some pitching wedges 170 yards and on the next hole you’re hitting 6-iron from 150. “It’s just one of those days where you had to pick your clubs very well and commit to it, and I felt like I did a good job of that today.” Hahn entered the week with back-to-back T9 finishes in early May marking his best showings to this point in the season (Wells Fargo Championship, AT&T Byron Nelson). The former shoe salesman has won twice in a successful TOUR career, meaning at worst he will always carry past champion status. The University of California-Berkeley alum knows the importance of fully exempt TOUR status, though, and he doesn’t shy away from the implications of Playoffs qualification. “Coming down the stretch, we’re obviously trying to win a golf tournament, but one stroke here or there could also mean not keeping my card for next year,” Hahn said. “It means a lot to be able to make the Playoffs, to earn full status for next season, but just to feel like you’ve accomplished something, that’s definitely a goal for everyone starting the season that, A, you want to make it long into the Playoffs, but you have to make the Playoffs to start. For me, I just feel like it’s a long season, and I’m going to enjoy this beer.” That beer was very much earned. Other pros to move inside the top-125 on the FedExCup with strong showings at the 3M Open included Scott Piercy, Greyson Sigg and Robert Streb. Piercy, a four-time TOUR winner, held a four-stroke lead through 54 holes at TPC Twin Cities but was undone by a triple bogey on the par-4 14th hole Sunday en route to a T4 finish. The San Diego State alum entered the week at No. 138 on the FedExCup and moved to No. 112, on the verge of securing a Playoffs berth. Sigg finished T7 at the 3M Open to move from No. 126 to No. 107, all but cementing a Playoffs berth in his rookie TOUR season. Streb, a longtime pro and two-time TOUR winner, finished T11 at TPC Twin Cities and moved from No. 128 to No. 115. TOUR rookie Callum Tarren finished the week T7 to move from No. 144 to No. 126. For a player who went until The Honda Classic in February before his first made cut of the season, he’s trending at the right time as he strives to secure his first Playoffs berth – and avoid a trip to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. Players who finish Nos. 126-200 on the FedExCup, not otherwise exempt, will have the opportunity to regain status via the three-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals in late August and early September. Nos. 126-150 will be assured no worse than conditional TOUR status next season. The PGA TOUR regular season concludes across the next two weeks with the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit and the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Davis Love III remembers Jordan Spieth “bopping into the team room” at the 2013 Presidents Cup, sporting a T-shirt and shorts, and quickly turning his attention to ping pong. Love’s wife Robin was unfamiliar with the precocious Spieth, just 20 years old at the time. “Robin said, ‘Who is that kid?’” Love recalled this week. “I go, ‘That’s the future of our team right there.’” He was right. Spieth has yet to turn 30 but is the most-experienced member of this year’s U.S. Presidents Cup team and his partnership with childhood friend Justin Thomas, already successful before this year, has now become historic. Spieth and Thomas won all four of their matches this week, becoming the first American pair since Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker in 2009 to go 4-0-0 (and just the third overall). On Saturday, Spieth and Thomas beat Sungjae Im and Corey Conners in morning Foursomes, 4 and 3, before a Spieth chip-in ended their match with Hideki Matsuyama and Taylor Pendrith by the same 4-and-3 margin. “I rode my horse today for sure, and I feel like it’s just one of those things where if one’s off, the other one’s on and vice versa,” Thomas said. “Man, it’s a great quality, and I really hope we keep it up because it doesn’t get any more fun than this out here.” As the International Team rallied for victories in Saturday’s final three matches to claw within 11-7 entering Sunday Singles, it was the U.S. Team’s cornerstone duo that provided the crucial point to avoid being shut out in afternoon Four-ball and keep a significant cushion. The International Team would need its best Singles performance in this tournament’s history just to tie the Americans. No team has ever scored 8.5 points in Singles, the amount needed for the U.S. to win outright. RELATED: Saturday match recaps | Tom Kim gives International Team a spark Thomas hit it within 5 feet on the 15th hole in their afternoon match – the same hole that is used as the Wells Fargo Championship’s closing hole – before Spieth chipped in for a birdie that the International’s had an opportunity to match. Taylor Pendrith missed an 8-footer that would have extended the match, however. “I was thinking Justin’s got birdie, but I may as well try and not wait for him. It’s straight up the hill,” Spieth said. “That hole location where I was is about the easiest spot if you’re going to miss the green. I just came out right on line and went in with a little speed, but with the pin out, it went right in the middle. … I thought we were going to need a birdie just to go to the next hole.” Thomas and Spieth have been friends long enough, and so successful as a team, that no one is concerned with stealing the spotlight. After Pendrith’s putt lipped out, a beaming Thomas motioned his hands in Spieth’s direction, encouraging the crowd to shower Spieth with applause. On the youngest U.S. Team in Presidents Cup history, the 29-year-olds Spieth and Thomas are unquestioned veterans. Spieth now holds a career 12-5-1 record in Presidents Cup competition, with Thomas now 10-2-2. They carry respect, and they back it up. “I think there are certain guys on the team who have played a lot in these team events,” said world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler early in the week. “I look at Jordan and JT as those guys. They’re the longest tenured … there are certain guys where their voice holds a lot of weight.” Spieth and Thomas relish the leadership role and the pairing. Following Friday’s Four-ball victory against Adam Scott and Cam Davis, Thomas was asked how he handles Spieth’s trademark brand of scrambling golf. A troublesome spot akin to an 18-handicapper leads to recovery theatrics and a head scratch. Time and again. On Thursday, Spieth hooked a drive on 15 that landed in the creek running alongside the fairway and inexplicably bounced out; the duo won the hole with a par. The next day, Spieth’s approach on 15 bounced off rocks in the creek and caromed into light rough over the green. He saved par and tied the hole. “That was nothing,” Thomas quipped Friday evening. “It’s not even, like, remotely close to some Jordan Spieth golf I’ve seen before. Anything and everything he does on the golf course does not surprise me. I’ve seen crazier, that’s for sure.” The end of Saturday’s match is yet another example.

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