FedEx Cup playoff events on deck, Ryder Cup spots up for grab in men’s professional golf

ATLANTA - This week was never guaranteed, which should make us that much more grateful that it is here. Even PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan admitted there were moments he doubted this season would see its completion. "It's been a long road," he said Wednesday at East Lake Golf Club, site of the season-ending TOUR Championship. This season has traversed a tumultuous year in this country's history. Golf can serve as a diversion during such times, or even better, as an inspiration. And the world's best players have done that by producing their best performances in the midst of so much turmoil. We would be remiss, however, if we didn't acknowledge that we've faced issues much bigger than golf this year. Matters of life and death, of justice and morality. A single golf shot cannot change the world, but the TOUR and its players have committed to using their platform for good. On Wednesday, PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan announced that the TOUR will commit $100 million over 10 years toward organizations that benefit racial equity and inclusion efforts. Players from Cameron Champ to Jon Rahm have spoken out against the issues that roil our country. "The truth is the PGA TOUR and many PGA TOUR players do an outstanding job with the platform that we have to help communities all around the country," Rahm said Wednesday. "We play 40-plus weeks a year, and each week we help a community." That impact isn't always felt by people hundreds or thousands of miles from an event, but millions tune in each week to be awed by elite players performing unfathomable feats. We've seen plenty of that this season. Just look at the first two weeks of the FedExCup Playoffs. Dustin Johnson put on arguably the best performance of his Hall of Fame career, breaking a barrier that's never been breached outside the Sentry Tournament of Champions and its unique venue. En route to an 11-shot win at THE NORTHERN TRUST, Johnson became the first person to shoot 30 under in a PGA TOUR event outside of the par-73, Coore-and-Crenshaw designed course at Kapalua. A week later, Johnson holed a 43-footer on the final hole to force a playoff with Rahm at the BMW Championship. How did the Spaniard respond? With a 66-footer for birdie on the first extra hole. It's believed to be the longest putt holed on the final hole of a tournament by the winner since ShotLink started measuring strokes in 2003. We've also seen 23-year-old Collin Morikawa establish himself as a star after suffering heartbreak in the first event back from the season's cessation. He missed a short putt to lose the Charles Schwab Challenge to Daniel Berger but responded with wins at the Workday Charity Open and PGA Championship. Of the 13 events held since the season was halted by the coronavirus pandemic, more than half have been won by a top-10 player in the world. And that doesn't include the two wins from Morikawa, who jumped into the top 10 after his win at the PGA Championship. For the first time in history, the top three in the FedExCup and Official World Golf Ranking mirror each other at East Lake. Johnson, Rahm and Justin Thomas have established themselves as the TOUR's leading trio. But so much still hangs in the balance with just five days remaining in the PGA TOUR season. The FedExCup will be awarded to the player atop the TOUR Championship's leaderboard on Monday evening. But that's not all. The PGA TOUR's Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards are up for grabs, as well. Those races are still too close to call. Like the FedExCup, they could come down to the final putt at Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club. The rookie race comes down to Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland. Scheffler could be the second consecutive player to win the Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year and PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year awards in consecutive years. Sungjae Im did it last year. Before him, only one player, Stewart Cink, had accomplished that feat. Scheffler, who's 17th in the FedExCup, finished fourth in both a FedExCup Playoffs event (THE NORTHERN TRUST) and a major (PGA Championship). He also had two third-place finishes this season, and shot a 59. Viktor Hovland, on the other hand, has something Scheffler does not: a win. Hovland's came at the Puerto Rico Open. He also finished third in the Workday Charity Open and ranks 27th in the FedExCup. He probably needs to surpass Scheffler this week to have a chance at taking home top rookie honors. The race for Player of the Year is much more wide open. At least one-fifth of the TOUR Championship field has a chance at the Player of the Year trophy, which is voted on by the players. Justin Thomas leads the TOUR with three wins this season, including the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Another five players have won twice this season (strangely, we've seen more multiple winners in this shortened season than we did last season). Any of those two-time winners can lay claim to the Player of the Year Award if they win the FedExCup. Not only would the TOUR Championship be their third win of the year, but it would come with the prize of the FedExCup, which awards season-long excellence. The group of players with two wins includes Johnson, Rahm, who has conquered two of the four hardest courses this season (Muirfield Village, Olympia fields); Webb Simpson, a medium-length driver thriving in an era of long hitters; Brendon Todd, whose comeback from oblivion would undoubtedly garner votes from his peers; and Morikawa, who was beat out by Matthew Wolff for college golf's top awards in 2019 but could be PGA TOUR Player of the Year a year later. Morikawa starts the first round at East Lake five strokes behind Johnson. It's the same position in which McIlroy started before winning last year's TOUR Championship and FedExCup. This is the second year of the TOUR Champioship's staggered start. Johnson, the FedExCup leader, starts at 10 under. Rahm is 8 under. And players farther down the FedExCup standings will start farther behind Johnson. Then, come Monday, the final leaderboard also represents the final FedExCup standings. One scoreboard. One championship. One trophy. The unique format plays mind tricks on the world's best players, disrupting their routines and throwing them out of their comfort zones. Many would consider the two-shot lead an advantage, but it's not that easy. At most tournaments, a player doesn't hold a lead until Thursday night. Johnson has been leading the TOUR Championship since he left Olympia Fields on Sunday night. That wears on a player. "You essentially have the pressure of the FedExCup on your shoulders four days in a row, even though you still need to play really good golf for four rounds," Rahm said. "It’s in your mind. Right? We’re constantly getting reminded, you’re No. 1, you’re No. 2, or your No. 3. I think if you’re behind it almost helps just because you already know where the leader is at." Thomas, who'd won the FedExCup just two years earlier, arrived at last year's TOUR Championship in the pole position of the FedExCup. He couldn't maintain the advantage, though, eventually finishing five behind McIlroy (even with the starting advantage). "It was weird. Nobody in golf can say that they have ever teed up on Thursday with a two-shot lead and leading the entire field, so I (didn't) know how to react, and nobody really would," Thomas said recently. "But I feel like I didn’t handle it as well as I should have." Whoever handles it the best this week can lay claim to being the best player in a PGA TOUR season unlike any other. That's a prize worth fighting for.

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With apologies to the 1991 Marc Cohn hit single, there will be limited “Walking in Memphis” this week. Grinding, hustling and fighting to win and/or advance will be more like it as TPC Southwind hosts a Playoffs event, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, for the first time. Although the course has never kicked off the three-week FedExCup Playoffs, which will continue with the top-70 BMW Championship and finally the top-30 TOUR Championship, its bona fides as a PGA TOUR stop are well established. Here are Five Things to Know about TPC Southwind. 1. RICH HISTORY This week, TPC Southwind accomplishes a rare feat: Host of three PGA TOUR events. The course was designed with tournament golf in mind. With architect Ron Prichard at the wheel and Hubert Green and Fuzzy Zoeller acting as consultants, the course opened in 1988. In 1989, it began hosting the Federal Express St. Jude Classic, and it would continue to do so through 2018. (The tournament’s history in Memphis goes all the way back to 1958.) For the past three years, the course hosted the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. This year, TPC Southwind makes its FedEx Cup Playoffs debut as the FedEx St. Jude Championship, formerly the spot occupied by THE NORTHERN TRUST, won by Tony Finau last year. The low score at par-70 TPC Southwind is 61, shot by three different players in three decades. Jay Delsing set the pace in 1993, Bob Estes tied it en route to victory in 2001 – he also made a hole-in-one at TPC Southwind in 2002 – and Tom Lewis also signed for a 61 in 2020. John Mahaffey was the first player on the PGA TOUR to win at TPC Southwind in 1989, edging a group of four players, including Green. World Golf Hall of Fame members Tom Kite, Fred Couples and Nick Price (twice) are also among those to have won at the storied Memphis course. A statue of World Golf Hall of Famer and 1961 St. Jude Classic winner Cary Middlecoff, who was a dentist before winning 39 times on the PGA TOUR, including two U.S. Opens and the 1955 Masters. He is tied with Tom Watson for 10th on the PGA TOUR’s all-time wins list. Middlecoff was born in Tennessee and won the Tennessee State Amateur four consecutive times. 2. NEW CHALLENGES TPC Southwind’s first big renovation came in 2004 as a means of modernizing and strengthening the course. David Toms had won at 20-under 264 in 2003, after which the course got 11 new tees, 15 new bunkers and three new bridges, while three ponds were enlarged, four creeks stabilized and over 125 trees planted. The fifth hole was adjusted from a par 5 to a par 4 and the par-3 eighth hole was completely altered. The course also went from bentgrass to Champion Bermudagrass on the greens, and when Toms came back in 2004, he shot four strokes higher (16-under 268) but this time won by six strokes. The changes had had their desired effect, and no one has since reached 20 under. The course got another renovation in 2020, when some bunkers were eliminated, some were added, some were enlarged, and some were reduced in size. But above all, every bunker was re-edged and packed with fresh new sand and all-new drainage. Meanwhile, two front-nine holes were lengthened. The par-5 third, which had played at 554 yards, mostly straight, had 25 yards tacked onto it with a new tee box. The first half of the fairway, already near the water, was shifted 15 yards to the right. With water in play on the second shot, this further complicates the decision of whether to go over the lake in two or lay up to the left. The par-4 17th hole was lengthened to a peak of roughly 505 yards. What’s more, players now must recalibrate their distances with a creek splitting the fairway on the downhill hole. The par-4 15th hole got 100 yards of new stone, placed along the creek that runs to the left of the tee shot, but to the right of the green. While aesthetically pleasing and matching other holes on the course, the artistic addition also provides less bail out for shots rolling or flying fast toward the water. “The course has been on kind of a yearly project, reinforcing a lot of the creeks and ponds,” TPC Southwind superintendent Nick Bisanz said in 2020. “Adding retention walls to help shore things up. But there are also three or four projects each year as part of kind of a beautification process, to enhance the look of the course.” What has remained constant are the two grain silos and windmill on the course that serve as reminders of the property’s former identity as a dairy farm. 3. SPLISH SPLASH Memphis may not be known for its beaches, but TPC Southwind is known for its water. Since 2003, TPC Southwind’s 5,989 balls in the water are the most at any PGA TOUR course during that stretch. TPC Sawgrass (4,809), Muirfield Village (4,753) and PGA National (4,730) are the next three. Of the many water holes at TPC Southwind, one that stands out is No. 11, which is similar to Pete Dye’s island 17th at TPC Sawgrass. Like the famed hole at THE PLAYERS Championship, No. 11 in Memphis requires a short iron into an island green with one bunker protecting the front runoff. But while TPC Sawgrass’ 17th hole plays just 137 yards, TPC Southwind’s 11th is listed at 157 yards but can tip at 165. Si Woo Kim recorded a 13 on TPC Southwind’s island hole last year, the highest recorded score on a par-3 in a non-major since the TOUR started keeping such statistics in 1983. The highest score at TPC Sawgrass’ 17th is a 12 by Bob Tway in 2005. The 457-yard ninth is a hard dogleg to the right that requires a precise, long tee shot before an approach shot over water. Players out of position off the tee will likely need to hit a conservative second shot up the right side. The 18th hole has water running along its entire left side, but unlike No. 9, this 453-yard par-4 is a dogleg to the left. The 239-yard, par-3 14th hole can also sneak up on players with water down the right side. Any pin positions on the right side of the green will require players to make a full carry over the water. 4. ZOYSIA AND BERMUDAGRASS TPC Southwind is one of the TOUR stops with zoysia fairways and tee boxes. The grass, hardier than other strains, is beneficial in the Memphis climate that can see cold bursts in the winter and significant heat in the summer. The bermudagrass rough has been known to contaminate the fairways, with the TPC Southwind staff constantly working to preserve the pureness of the zoysia. Recent PGA TOUR zoysia stops include Bellerive Country Club for the 2018 PGA Championship and Trinity Forest Golf Club and TPC Craig Ranch for the AT&T Byron Nelson have shown the potential for low scores. However, at TPC Southwind, especially going back to the 2004 renovation, other elements have given the course some defense. Since 2004, only one winning score – Justin Leonard’s 4 under in 2008 – has been outside the 9-under to 19-under range. TPC Southwind’s pure bermudagrass greens give some respite to the players who avoid the sand and water, however. TPC Southwind had the TOUR’s lowest three-putt percentage (1.44%) and highest percentage of made putts from 5-10 feet (60.5%) and from 15-25 feet (18.8%) last season. 5. 18TH HOLE OF BLUES TPC Southwind saves its most dramatic hole for last. The 18th hole, a 453-yard par 4, is fierce, fair and demands champions attack one final challenge in Grind City. To call it a dogleg left would be an understatement; the hole makes almost a full 90-degree turn around a gaping water hazard. A short tee shot brings bunkers into play on the right, with limited rough and water awaiting left misses off the tee. A longer tee shot can take out the bunkers on the right but requires more carry over the left water if players want to take the chance. Hit it too short off the tee and you face a long-iron approach mostly over water. A longer tee shot brings water into play on the left, while a deep bunker hides behind the green. A year ago, Cameron Smith came to No. 18 tied for the lead at 16 under, but after pumping his tee shot long and right through the fairway, he went for too much and hit his second shot off a tree and into a neighboring backyard. He ultimately made a double-bogey 6 to finish T5. In 2021, No. 18 played as the course’s second-toughest hole with an average score of 4.14. Only No. 5, a 485-yard par 4, played harder at 4.22. However, while players made six double-bogeys or worse at No. 5, they racked up nine such scores at TPC Southwind’s challenging finishing hole. For the leaders of this tournament – and for those trying to make it to the next leg of the FedExCup Playoffs at the BMW Championship – the 18th hole will provide a stern test.

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On the PGA TOUR, the average approach shot from 200 to 225 yards out in the fairway finishes 42 feet from the pin. With Jon Rahm applying pressure and the FedExCup on the line, Patrick Cantlay hit his approach at 18 on Sunday at East Lake – from 218 yards away – to a cozy 11 feet, 4 inches. Those statistics help contextualize how good Cantlay’s approach was in the biggest moment so far in his PGA TOUR career. In a season loaded with big moments, there is no shortage of remarkable numbers to help accent the sport we all love. These are the 10 statistics that best defined the 2020-2021 PGA TOUR season. 1. Bryson DeChambeau breaks own season driving distance record (323.7 yards) In 2020, with a rebuilt frame and power-focused approach, Bryson DeChambeau set the PGA TOUR single-season driving distance average record, at 322.0 yards. In 2021, he shattered his own mark, averaging 323.7 yards off the tee – and more importantly – won multiple big tournaments along the way. Because it happened nearly a calendar year ago, it’s easy to forget that DeChambeau’s triumph at Winged Foot was part of the 2020-21 PGA TOUR season. That Sunday at the 2020 U.S. Open, DeChambeau shot the only round under par in the field, the first time a champion had done that since Jack Fleck in 1955. His 7.90 Strokes Gained: Total was the most in the final round by a U.S. Open winner since Johnny Miller’s Sunday 63 at Oakmont in 1973 (+10.77 Strokes Gained). The most poignant image from DeChambeau’s win at Bay Hill in March remains his mammoth drive at the par 5 sixth, carrying the water and whipping the crowd into a frenzy. But Bryson was razor-sharp through the bag that week, especially in the final round. The field scoring average in the final round at Bay Hill was 75.49, the highest in a final round there since 1980. DeChambeau’s 71 tied the low round of the day and lifted him to a 1-shot victory. 2. Dustin Johnson records lowest score to par in Masters history (-20) No single week embodied the oddities of sport during the pandemic like the 2020 Masters. An annual symbol of springtime renewal, a patron-less Augusta National staged a Masters Tournament while Thanksgiving décor adorned grocery stores stocked with frozen turkeys. It was bizarrely emblematic of a year where time both stood still and progressed at warp speed, where home, work and school were all the same place. Fittingly, it was the most unflappable player of his generation who brushed all of this aside and became Golf Terminator in a career-defining performance. Dustin Johnson won by 5 strokes, the largest margin of victory at Augusta National since Tiger Woods won by 12 in 1997. He hit 60 greens in regulation for the week, the most by any player in a single Masters Tournament since Tiger Woods in 2001 – the week he completed the ‘Tiger Slam.’ His 4 bogeys for the week are the fewest ever by a Masters champion. Johnson had +13.82 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee + Approach for the Tournament, the most of any player by five full strokes. Cameron Champ ranked second, at +8.81. 3. Sungjae Im makes most birdies-or-better (513) in a single PGA TOUR season In a season of 50 tournaments, spanning 360 days, the prolific achievements of Sungjae Im can help sum up the sheer size of 2020-21 on the PGA TOUR. Im, who played 17 more rounds this PGA TOUR season than anyone else, finished with 513 birdies-or-better, the most in a single season on the PGA TOUR since at least 1980. The previous mark was held by Steve Flesch, who made 509 in the 2000 campaign. Im had a good season – he reached the TOUR Championship and had 5 top-10 finishes – but his birdie-making rate wasn’t close to the best on TOUR. Im ranked 29th in par-breaker percentage (23.36%), well behind TOUR leader Bryson DeChambeau (26.32%). Yet, because Im played 42 more rounds (756 more holes) than DeChambeau, he was the man to play his way into the record books. Using a baseball analogy, think of it as Im setting the single-season hits record while DeChambeau led the league in batting average. 4. Justin Thomas ties lowest closing 36-hole score ever at TPC Sawgrass (-12) Friday evening at THE PLAYERS Championship, Justin Thomas was a tournament afterthought. Eight shots behind Lee Westwood, Thomas would need a truly remarkable performance to get into contention on the weekend and possibly win against the toughest field in all of golf. That’s exactly what he did. Thomas was 12-under on the weekend, tying the lowest closing 36-hole score in the history of THE PLAYERS (Fred Couples and Rocco Mediate each shot -12 on the weekend in 1996). His ball-striking numbers were through the roof: Thomas gained 11.2 strokes tee-to-green over the last 36 holes, the most by any player in a single weekend since tracking began in 2004. His 17 greens in regulation in the final round were the most by any player in the final round of a Players Championship win since Hal Sutton in 2000. With the win, Thomas joined Tiger Woods as the only players with a PLAYERS, major championship and double-digit PGA TOUR victories before age 28. 5. Phil Mickelson becomes oldest major champion in golf history (age 50) In May, a new generation of golf fans got familiar with the name Julius Boros – the man who previously held the title of ‘oldest player to win a major.’ Boros was 48 when he won the 1968 PGA Championship at Pecan Valley. Less than a month shy of his 51st birthday, Phil Mickelson took that title with a timeless victory at Kiawah Island. Mickelson was spectacular from a ball striking perspective, leading the tournament in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. He gained more than 2 full strokes per round with his approach play, and tied for the best par 5 scoring average in the field. Mickelson truly captured lightning in a bottle that week: it was his only top-10 finish of the 2020-21 PGA TOUR season. 6. Playoffs: Longest and Largest The quantity of playoffs on the PGA TOUR this season – 14 – is not particularly historic. Ten years ago, the 2011 season yielded 18 playoffs, most ever in a single season. In 2015, we nearly eclipsed that total, with 17 playoffs. The size and length of the playoffs we did see, though, were another story. At the Wyndham Championship, six players were tied through 72 holes, tying the largest sudden-death playoff in PGA TOUR history (done twice previously). At the Travelers Championship, Harris English and Kramer Hickok needed 8 extra holes to decide a winner. Only one sudden-death playoff, the 1949 Motor City Open, has ever lasted longer in PGA TOUR history. In that instance, Cary Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum were declared co-winners by after 11 holes due to darkness. Three other playoffs this season went at least 5 holes: the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Barbasol Championship and BMW Championship. It made for a summer full of sunset-backed drama and Sunday evening flight itinerary changes. 7. Collin Morikawa wins 2nd major in 8th career start Collin Morikawa’s brilliant performance at Royal St George’s was worthy of inclusion in this series of notes on its own. He didn’t miss many greens in regulation (he hit 75% for the week), but when he did, he scrambled efficiently (78%, T-3rd in the field). Morikawa needed less than 28 putts per round for the week, tied for fewest of anyone. There are only three instances since 2000 where a player shot a bogey-free final round of 66 or lower to win a major championship. Rory McIlroy has one of them (2012 PGA at Kiawah Island) – Morikawa has the other two, at the 2020 PGA Championship and 2021 Open. It’s the pace at which Morikawa claimed his first two major wins, though, that puts him in an unprecedented place in men’s golf history. Morikawa has won two major championships in just eight career starts, the fewest of any player since the Masters was first held in 1934. Only two players in the last century won their 2nd professional major in fewer starts: Walter Hagen (6th start, 1919 U.S. Open) and Gene Sarazen (4th start, 1922 PGA). 8. Fourteen consecutive PGA TOUR winners trailed entering the final round Closing out a PGA TOUR victory is difficult any given week. Over the last 15 seasons, players with the 54-hole lead or co-lead have gone on to win the tournament just 34.6% of the time. Players with a 1-shot lead have a win percentage just over 30%. Even a lead as big as 4 strokes isn’t completely safe – more than 22% of those tournaments end up won by a someone trailing through 54 holes. For 14 consecutive PGA TOUR events this summer, closing with the 54-hole lead was impossible. From the Charles Schwab Challenge (won by Jason Kokrak, who entered the final round 1 shot back) through THE NORTHERN TRUST (won by Tony Finau, who entered the day 2 off the lead) not a single PGA TOUR event was won by a player who held the 54-hole lead or co-lead. The run of 14 consecutive comeback wins on the TOUR was the longest such streak in at least the last 30 seasons. The leaders didn’t always simply fall flat on those particular Sundays (or Mondays). Usually, they were just caught by a particularly hot chaser. Excluding the Memorial (Jon Rahm was the 54-hole leader before his WD) and the Barracuda Championship (modified Stableford Scoring), there were 19 players during that run who held the 54-hole lead or co-lead. Their scoring average in those final rounds was 71.4. Those who won in that stretch had a final round scoring average of 66.7. 9. Patrick Cantlay sets Strokes Gained: Putting record at BMW Championship (+14.58) Before taking on Bryson DeChambeau in an epic 6-hole playoff, Patrick Cantlay wrapped up the most impressive putting performance of the ShotLink era at Caves Valley. Cantlay wound up with +14.58 Strokes Gained: Putting for the week, the most by any player in a single tournament since detailed tracking began in 2004. Perhaps even more remarkable is that he set the record despite having negative Strokes Gained: Putting the 3rd round. Cantlay made 21 putts longer than 10 feet, the most ever in a single tournament tracked by ShotLink. No other player that week made more than 16 putts of 10 feet or more. Cantlay finished the season with 15 straight rounds in the 60s, the most to finish a PGA TOUR season since Charles Howell III ended the 2002 campaign with 16 in a row. 10. Jon Rahm has 15 top-10 finishes, 6 more than any other player No player in the 2020-21 PGA TOUR season was more consistently great than Jon Rahm. His victory at the U.S. Open came during a summer flurry that featured almost exclusively high finishes. Since May, Rahm has only 1 result outside the top-10: his withdrawal from the Memorial Tournament when he led by 6 shots after 54 holes. In his last 28 rounds worldwide, Rahm has made birdie-or-better on 30% of his holes played, and shot in the 70s just 6 times. Rahm finished the season leading the PGA TOUR in scoring average, Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, total driving and Strokes Gained: Total. Rahm is just the fourth player since 1980 to have 15 or more top-10 finishes in a season with 22 starts or fewer. The others to do it are Tiger Woods (twice, 1999 and 2000), Tom Watson (1980) and Dustin Johnson (2015-16).

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