FedExCup update: Thompson moves inside top 125 after strong opening round

All of the gold at the end of the rainbow is up for grabs at East Lake Golf Club outside Atlanta as the FedExCup Playoffs will pay out $60 million in bonuses to close the 50-event 2020-2021 season. East Lake Golf Club, established in 1904, has served as the permanent host of the TOUR Championship since 2004. Tom Bendelow’s original design was updated in 1913 by Donald Ross so greens pitching back-to-front will again be in play this week. Rees Jones has handled the upkeep over the last 25 years to keep up with the best players on TOUR annually. The FedExCup Playoffs debuted in 2007 so course history is a very real angle this week. RELATED: Power Rankings | Expert Picks In 2008 East Lake changed their greens from Bentgrass to Bermuda so Zach Johnson’s course record of 60 set in 2007 can be taken with a grain of salt. Since the introduction of Bermuda, 63 has been the lowest round posted four times, last done by Henrik Stenson in 2015. Before 2016 the event concluded with a Par-3 hole. The nines were flipped in 2016 to add another layer of drama as the Par-5 18th, one of the easiest annually on the course, will provide the final act. Xander Schauffele holds the event (gross) record, set last year, on 15-under 265. Since the nines were reversed, the winning score has been double digits under par in every event. Zoysia fairways and Mini-Verde Ultradwarf Bermuda greens running around 13 feet are surrounded by almost three inches of Bermuda rough. The remnants of Hurricane Ida are dumping rain Tuesday on the area after a very abnormally wet July. The Par-70 (35-35) already stretches out to 7,346 yards and nothing about firm or fast will be on the cards this week. The two Par-5 holes annually play the easiest on the course so scoring on both of them will be required. Wet Bermuda rough won’t allow for much control off of the fairway and around the greens. The perfect Bermuda greens, just over 6,000 square feet on average, will see putts holed for both par and birdie. The formula this week will involve finding the most fairways to attack hole locations and saving pars when missing the fairway and greens. Like any big-time event, the full bag and the six inches between the ears should be in play and that is definitely the case this week. The 30 players involved will have four rounds (no cut) to try and chase down FedExCup leader Patrick Cantlay and his Starting Strokes of 10-under par. The player posting the lowest net total (Starting Strokes combined with the total of strokes accumulated after 72 holes) after 72 holes will take home the biggest bonus of them all, $15 million plus a five year exemption on TOUR. Dustin Johnson is back for the 13th time in this event and will look to repeat as FedExCup Playoff champion. The only multiple winner of this event (entered this week) is Rory McIlroy (2019, 2016) and nobody has ever defended the title of Playoff Champion or Event champion. Top 30 FedExCup bonus money distribution Recent Event Winners Stats Recent Winners 2020 – Dustin Johnson (-21 net, -11 gross) Fired a final round 68 to win by three. … Won his sixth FedExCup Playoff event and first FedExCup championship. … First No. 1 seed to win since Tiger Woods in 2009. … Led by five, an event record, after posting 64 in Round 3. … Final group off Round 3 after leading by one after 36 holes. … Opened with 67 to share the first round lead. … Would have finished T3 without Starting Strokes. … 17th win in start No. 274. … His six wins in the FedExCup Playoffs are the most in history. … Picked up his third win in his 10th tournament since the restart. … 64 tied the low round of the week (four others listed below). … Notables in the field this week: 2017 FedExCup Playoff EVENT champion Xander Schauffele (2nd) posted the lowest 72 hole total since Bermuda was introduced in 2008. … 2017 FedExCup Playoff champion Justin Thomas (T2) picked up his fifth top 10 in his fifth visit. … Jon Rahm (4th) posted the second WORST round of the week with 74 in Round 2. … Debutant Scottie Scheffler (5th) posted 12-under (gross), second best on the week. … Debutant Collin Morikawa (6th) co-led the field with Schauffele with 21 birdies. … 2019 champion Rory McIlroy (T8) also posted 64 (Rd 1) but only made four birdies thru the middle two rounds. … Patrick Reed (T8) picked up his best finish in his seventh attempt as he led the field in Fairways and Pars. … Sungjae Im (11th) opened 68-64 to trail Johnson by one after 36 holes. … Harris English (T12) ranked third in Putts. … Daniel Berger (T14) joined the party with 64 in Round 3. … Abraham Ancer (T18) opened his second visit with 64 before cooling. … Viktor Hovland (T20) led the field in GIR. … Scoring average was 68.917. … Only five bogey-free rounds and Reed had 40 percent of them. 2019 – Rory McIlroy (18-under net, 13-under gross ) 2016 winner posted a final round 66 to become just the second player to win the FedExCup Playoffs and Event twice. … Began the final round one shot back of Brooks Koepka. … Only player to post all four rounds in the 60s as he won by four shots. … Posted 13-under gross, three better than Schauffele, for the best total of the week. … Led the field with 20 birdies. … Co-led the field in Bogey Avoidance. … Becomes the only winner to also win THE PLAYERS in the same season. … Third win of the season along with the RBC Canadian Open. … Hits the top 10 for the sixth time in seven visits. … 17th TOUR victory in start No. 268. Notables in the field this week: Xander Schauffele (T2) opened with the co-low round of the week, 64, posted 10-under (gross) and co-led the field in Bogey Avoidance. … Brooks Koepka (T3) tried to go wire to wire but his final round 72 saw him fall short. … 2017 FedExCup Playoff Champion Justin Thomas (T3) entered the week as the No. 1 seed. … Tony Finau (7th) posted all four rounds 70 or better. … Hideki Matsuyama (T9) matched McIlroy with two rounds of 66. … Patrick Reed (T9) cashed his first top 10 in six appearances. … Just eight players posted rounds of 60 on Sunday. … Scoring average 70.003. … Only three bogey free rounds for the week. 2018 – Tiger Woods (11-under, 259) Did not qualify this season (injury). … Woods won the Event but Justin Rose (did not qualify) won the FedExCup Playoff Championship. … Final edition before Starting Strokes. … Only player double digits under par. … Led by three after 54 holes. … Shared the 36 hole lead with Rose. … Opened with 65, co-low round of the week, to share the lead. … Becomes first player to win the FedExCup Playoff Event twice. … 80th win in 346th start. … First appearance since 2013. Notables in the field this week: 2014 champion Billy Horschel (2nd) led the field in Fairways and GIR. … Dustin Johnson (T3) picked up his best finish in his 10th appearance. … Hideki Matsuyama (T4) ranked T3 in Fairways, 3rd GIR and signed for the only bogey free round of the week. … Rory McIlroy (T7) played in the final group and co-led the field with 19 birdies. … 2017 champion Xander Schauffele (T7) picks up his only finish outside of the top two. … Justin Thomas (T7) was one of four players who posted all four rounds at 70 or better. … Jon Rahm (T11) joined McIlroy with 19 birdies. … 69.617 scoring average. Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2020-2021 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. Horses for Courses East Lake Gross 2019-2020

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – A fan leaned over the nylon rope with his arm extended as Justin Thomas marched to the first tee to start his rain-delayed first round at THE PLAYERS Championship. “Air bump,” Thomas said as he held out his fist in the direction of the fan. Collin Morikawa greeted PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan on his way to the tee, as did Rory McIlroy. The sun shone and all was calm at Golden Hour, nearly 5:56 p.m. Thursday, their new tee time. The rain had delayed things five-plus hours, but the chaos was just beginning. With 4.8 inches of rain giving way to brutal wind, Group 31’s hellish first round would take parts of three days and 43 hours to complete. “Bethpage ’09 U.S. Open is probably the closest I’ve experienced to something like this,” McIlroy said after shooting a second-round 73 (2 over total). What did he do to kill time with his wife, Erica, and daughter, Poppy? “A lot of ‘Frozen.’ A lot of ‘Peppa Pig.’ A lot of ‘Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.’” It was less a first round for the ages than a first round that could age you. McIlroy, Morikawa and Thomas played two holes Thursday, 13 holes Friday, and took up where they’d left off with their second shots at the par-5 16th hole as play restarted at noon Saturday. Their seemingly never-ending first round ended just before 1 p.m. as Thomas doubled 18 to shoot 72, McIlroy was 132nd (of 143) in putting for 73, and Morikawa (also 73) bogeyed 17 and 18. They were immediately sent back out for more, and Thomas wowed with a 3-under 69 in the wind, second best of the second round (Bubba Watson, 68). Morikawa shot 75 and was at 4 over. Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Hoge are co-leaders, but only Fleetwood (even through three holes) has even begun his second round. The 36-hole cut won’t likely come until around noon Sunday. “It was very weird, obviously hard to get into a rhythm,” Thomas said of the Round 1 slog. “Had a lot of different emotions; first off thinking it looks like we were on the right side of the draw and being pretty excited about that, and then realizing that was very much not the fact. “And then just having to get over that as quick as I could,” he continued, “because it’s obviously frustrating, especially when I feel like I’m playing well, kind of getting just thrown into something like that.” He had so much time to think about the tedium of the first round, and how it could have been avoided, he began to fault his scheduling priorities. “To be perfectly honest, I blame Tiger,” he said, tongue in cheek, “because I played in the afternoon so I could go to his Hall of Fame ceremony (late Wednesday night). If I would have just maybe stuck to my guns and played early, I would have been better. I’m just joking.” All told, there were 35 of the 72 players in the late Thursday wave who started their opening round that night and ended it Saturday afternoon. Their experiences underline what a strange tournament this has been, and sent some observers scrambling to find comparisons, if any exist. In 2016, Jaime Diaz wrote in Golf Digest about the 1986 U.S. Women’s Open at the NCR C.C. in Dayton, Ohio: “The championship was first delayed after a railroad tanker derailed and spilled a load of phosphates, which raised clouds of poison smoke throughout the community. Shortly thereafter, the area also experienced heavy lightning storms and a 4.2 earthquake. When the sun finally came out, players complained of flesh-eating flies.” This PLAYERS hasn’t been that crazy, but it has required near superhuman levels of patience, and a closer look at the featured group of McIlroy, Morikawa and Thomas shows just how much patience. Morikawa posted on social media that he spent more time warming up than playing Thursday, when the threesome got in exactly two holes and one tee shot – by Morikawa – before darkness halted play. On Friday, after players were taken off the course and play was finally called at 3 p.m., Thomas posted a picture of himself and his dog, Franklin, with the tag: “Rain delay stuff.” “Not much,” he said, when asked how else he killed time. “We have some good friends that live like 15 minutes away, so we’re staying in their house. The Spieths are there with us, so we’ve just been hanging out. I will say that a dog and a baby keeps the downtime, occupies it a lot easier for the both of us.” (Jordan Spieth and wife Annie welcomed a son, Sammy, in November.) The downside for Thomas after his stellar second round was that a Monday finish at TPC Sawgrass, as is now inevitable, means he and his father, Mike, must cancel a trip to Augusta National on Monday and Tuesday. The bright side is that he, and likely McIlroy, will play on after the cut. “Yeah, it’s unfortunate,” McIlroy said of the weather the last three days, “but hopefully sort of get back on track tomorrow and get this thing going.”

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CHICAGO, Ill. – Rory McIlroy hired his best man for his bag. Jason Day has replaced his. Day has become the latest high profile player to change up his long-term caddie with news he will rest mentor and coach Colin Swatton from club carrying duties in favor of another close friend, Luke Reardon. While Swatton will remain Day’s coach, Reardon has been given the bag at Conway Farms this week for the BMW Championship where the 2015 champion will attempt to find his first win since the 2016 PLAYERS Championship. It is believed Day will trial the change for the rest of 2017. His season goes on the line this week as he sits 28th in the FedExCup and must perform to move on to the 30-man TOUR Championship. Day will then play The Presidents Cup before likely stops in Korea and China in the new 2017-18 season on his way to an Australian Open showdown with Jordan Spieth in November. It was just two years ago that Swatton and Day ascended to World No. 1 status for the first time with Day’s wire-to-wire win in Chicago. It was the culmination of a long journey which began at a golf academy in Australia when Day was just 12 years old and arrived to be taught by Swatton. Both had lost their fathers to cancer shortly before they met. Together they have claimed 10 PGA TOUR wins, including the 2015 PGA Championship and 2016 PLAYERS. From their early beginnings Swatton became a father figure to Day, eventually moving to the USA with him to pursue the dreams of professional golf as his coach and caddie. The pair have been virtually inseparable with Swatton the best man at Day’s wedding to wife Ellie among other major moments in his life. “I love them together,� Ellie said a year ago of the pair. “Anytime there has even been a minor thought they wouldn’t work together, I would have a heart attack and it stresses me out because I know how good they are for each other. “Jason’s path would have been totally different if he didn’t meet Col. Who knows if he hadn’t met him where he would be. Col is a massive reason he has made it this far, and just as importantly, kept going.� Reardon has a close connection to both men. He was also coached by Swatton at the academy in Queensland and was a roommate of Day’s. It was an early rising Reardon who opened Day’s eyes to the virtues of hard work. Once Day saw his friend getting up early to practice he vowed to get up earlier and work harder, an ethic that took him to the top of the world. Day is the third big name player to change caddies recently after Phil Mickelson split with Jim Mackay and Rory McIlroy moved on from J.P. Fitzgerald.

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