It has been more than a year of feeling mostly “awful, awful,” but a week ahead of his 39th birthday, the six-time PGA Tour winner feels strong enough to resume his golf career at the Sony Open in Hawaii — where Walker has won twice.
Click here to read the full article…
| Looking for profitable slots? Check wich slots have the best RTP at slotocash casino. |
Winner – Quicken Loans National (Last 5 Years) Bill Haas Billy Hurley III Troy Merritt Winner – THE PLAYERS Championship (Last 4 Yrs Plus Year of Win) Rickie Fowler Si Woo Kim Winner – PGA Championship (Last 5 Yrs) Jimmy Walker Winner – THE TOUR Championship (Last three years) Billy Horschel Winners of the Arnold Palmer Inv. & the Memorial (Last 3 Years) Matt Every Marc Leishman David Lingmerth Winner – Tournament Winner in the Past Year Aaron Baddeley Jonas Blixt Wesley Bryan Greg Chalmers Kevin Chappell Cody Gribble Adam Hadwin Russell Henley Mackenzie Hughes Rod Pampling D.A. Points Patrick Reed Brendan Steele Hudson Swafford Justin Thomas Jhonattan Vegas Winner – Prior Year U.S. Amateur Championship Curtis Luck Member of Last Named U.S. Ryder Cup Team J.B. Holmes Member of Last Named U.S.Presidents Cup Team Chris Kirk Member of Last Named International Presidents Cup Team Danny Lee Top 125 on Prior Year’s FedExCup Points List Gary Woodland Roberto Castro Kevin Na Jason Kokrak James Hahn Fabian Gomez Jim Herman Smylie Kaufman Tony Finau Harris English Charles Howell III David Hearn Kevin Streelman Kyle Reifers Vaughn Taylor Daniel Summerhays Ben Martin Ricky Barnes Patrick Rodgers Harold Varner III Martin Laird Johnson Wagner Patton Kizzire Alex Cejka Bryce Molder K.J. Choi Spencer Levin John Huh Sung Kang Jason Bohn Tyrone Van Aswegen Derek Fathauer Blayne Barber Keegan Bradley Peter Malnati Robert Streb Lucas Glover Brett Stegmaier Robert Garrigus Zac Blair Cameron Tringale Andrew Loupe Boo Weekley Kyle Stanley Ben Crane Michael Kim Graham DeLaet Luke List Shawn Stefani Seung-Yul Noh Top 125 (Medical) Brian Gay Sponsors Exemptions – Web.com Tour Finals Ryan Brehm Jonathan Randolph Sponsors Exemptions – Members not otherwise exempt Arjun Atwal Jason Gore Sponsors Exemptions – Unrestricted Wyndham Clark Gavin Kyle Green Sam Horsfield Ryan Ruffels Players below 10th – FedExCup Points List Bud Cauley Ollie Schniederjans Kelly Kraft Kevin Tway Whee Kim Morgan Hoffmann Nick Taylor J.J. Spaun Byeong Hun An Cheng Tsung Pan Dominic Bozzelli Camilo Villegas J.T. Poston Xander Schauffele Nick Watney Ryan Blaum Michael Thompson Geoff Ogilvy Grayson Murray Trey Mullinax Scott Stallings J.J. Henry Brandon Hagy Matt Jones Sam Saunders Cameron Percy Seamus Power Bryson DeChambeau Greg Owen Martin Flores Julian Etulain
Tony Finau and Lexi Thompson got off to a good start in the scramble format of the 54-hole event, but they have some work to do to catch the leaders.
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Harry Higgs lost his full PGA TOUR card toward the end of last season and took a step Friday at Sea Island toward getting it back. Higgs played bogey-free on the more difficult Seaside course for a 7-under 63, giving him a share of the lead with recent Texas grad Cole Hammer and Andrew Putnam going into the weekend of The RSM Classic. Plenty is at stake in the final official PGA TOUR event before a six-week break to end the year. Hammer, who had a 66 at Seaside, is playing on a sponsor exemption and has no full status on any tour. Putnam, whose only PGA TOUR title was in 2018, had a 65 on the Plantation course. He is playing for the eighth time in 10 weeks, having missed only the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in the fall because he’s made every cut — he was a runner-up in Japan — and because the weather isn’t all that great at home near Seattle. Higgs is an everyman, popular among his peers, and it stung to finish last season the way he did. After he tied for 14th in his Masters debut, Higgs missed the cut in 10 of his last 14 events to finish out of the top 125 in the FedExCup. He went to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals and missed the cut in all three of those tournaments. Now he has conditional status, and this presents a great opportunity. Job security can be stressful on the PGA TOUR, especially going into a season in which only 70 will qualify for the lucrative postseason. “It’s in the back of your mind. It always is for almost everybody except for some of the top players in the world,” Higgs said. “But it can motivate you to work a little bit harder, make better decisions. The goal is to not really have to worry about it come March or as early as possible, right?” The leaders were at 12-under 130. Joel Dahmen (64 on Plantation), Beau Hossler (67 on Plantation) and Sahith Theegala, who matched Higgs with a 63 on Seaside, were one shot behind. Dahmen won in the Dominican Republic last year and his exemption runs out after this season. He often rooms with Higgs, so he can appreciate the feeling of playing with the pressure of trying to keep a job. “Golf is very hard and it can go sour quickly. To play with freedom for … two-and-a-half years, really, never had that in my career. So yeah, teeing up in Napa was like, `OK, we’re back at square one. If you don’t play well, you don’t have a job.’ I was very aware of that. “I don’t think about it necessarily when I’m out there, but there’s been a couple extra days of practice, for sure.” The weather wasn’t quite as cold as the opening round, and scoring remained low. The cut was at 4-under 138. Hammer, who made his first PGA TOUR cut as a pro last week in Houston, made bogeys from the fairway on the seventh and eighth holes at Seaside — two of the easier holes for the day — and then turned it around with an approach to 3 feet on No. 9 and then a birdie putt from 18 feet on the next hole. He was bogey-free the rest of the way and will be in the final group on the weekend. “I was a little bit depressed after 7 and 8. I put myself in great position to make birdies and I walked out with two bogeys, and that’s almost inexcusable,” Hammer said. “But coming back firing on 9 and then making a birdie on 10 — erasing those bogeys on two of the tougher holes right away — was huge for momentum and for confidence.”
