Five players looking to jump into FedExCup Playoffs position at 3M Open

Some key numbers from Billy Horschel’s victory at the AT&T Byron Nelson: 8.385 Horschel’s strokes gained: putting vs. the field average at TPC Four Seasons. Horschel gained more than nine strokes on the field in Rounds 1-2 before taking a net loss on the weekend. Despite this, he became the third player this season to win an event in which he led in strokes gained: putting (Russell Henley, Shell Houston Open and Cody Gribble, Sanderson Farms Championship). Here’s a look at Horschel’s per-round strokes gained numbers for the season leading up to the AT&T Byron Nelson vs. last week at TPC Four Seasons: 453’9â€� Total distance of putts Horschel made in four rounds at TPC Four Seasons – the second-highest total of his career. Here’s a look at Horschel’s top performances in terms of distance of putts made. 59’3â€� Length of Horschel’s birdie putt on No. 14 that pulled him level with Jason Day on Sunday afternoon. It was the longest made putt of his career by two feet. The top-5 longest putts of Horschel’s TOUR career: 8 Birdies Horschel made in his last 21 holes at TPC Four Seasons. That collection of birdies includes a hole out from a greenside bunker Saturday on No. 17 and four putts of less than 5 feet. 4 Consecutive cuts Horschel missed prior to the AT&T Byron Nelson – his longest drought since his first full season on the PGA TOUR (2011).

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The shot had no equal. And it still doesn't. This week's Waste Management Phoenix Open marks the 20-year anniversary of the only hole-in-one on a par 4 in PGA TOUR history. It happened in the first round in 2001 and was just how Andrew Magee drew it up, his tee ball at the 332-yard 17th trundling onto the green, bonking off of Tom Byrum's putter in the group ahead, and diving into the hole. Confusion ensued. On the tee they couldn't be sure what had happened, on the green they didn't know who had hit the ball. And what would the Rules of Golf say? Even the joke that went around later, that it was the only thing Byrum had made all day, was somewhat murky. Steve Pate attributed the quip to Byrum; Magee to Byrum's caddie. Magee, who was born in Paris, where his father worked in the oil business, was by then a Scottsdale resident and playing in a group that also included Jonathan Kaye and Jerry Smith. Up ahead of them was the threesome of Byrum, Pate and Gary Nicklaus. There is video of the shot - sort of. It shows only a ball zooming by and Pate flinching. Here's how it all went down, straight from those who were there. Magee had double-bogeyed the par-5 15th hole, but after making a long birdie putt at the 16th, he had the honor on 17, where TOUR pros have little difficulty driving the green. Andrew Magee: I’m standing there 332 yards away on the 17th tee, having played there quite often at the TPC of Scottsdale. I knew I couldn’t really get it up on to the green all the way, maybe the front of the green from 332 yards, and I was talking to Jonathan Kaye. He said, ‘You’d better wait a little bit. We’re a little downwind here.' I said, ‘You know what, I don’t really hit it up on that green. I’ve played here a lot. I’d maybe drive it up to the front.' Jerry Smith: Andrew and Jonathan, they’re both very quick players and they’re antsy, and we’re just sitting there waiting for the group ahead. Andrew is just like, he’s just ready to hit. Magee: I was still mad about the 15th hole. I said, I’m just going to go ahead and hit it. It’s not going to roll up to them. It’s going to go to the front edge. Magee reared back and gave it everything he had as he came through the hitting area. Few would remember that Mark Calcavecchia won the tournament by eight shots over Rocco Mediate, or that Magee would finish T44. They would only remember what happened next. Magee: A little puff of wind came up as I took it back, and I just killed this driver. I just killed it. It flew the middle bunker, down the middle of the fairway about 30 yards short of the green and it ricocheted really hard off the back of that bunker and it bounced up on to the green and all I knew was - I was on the tee, I really couldn’t see what was going on. Steve Pate: It was playing short. I think the only reason Andrew - he’d made a double the hole before or a couple holes before and was just not very patient. I was walking across the front of the green reading my putt and a ball came zipping by me. I thought I jumped out of the way, but when I saw the video later, the ball was well past me by the time I jumped. It all happened quickly. Byrum was sizing up a putt from 8 feet when someone else's ball rolled onto the green, struck his putter head, hit the flagstick, and disappeared. Magee: From the tee, the middle bunker kind of hides the front of the green, so I couldn’t see the ball, but my dad was up there to the right of the green, and he was raising his arms. Pate: The ball went past me. Tom Byrum was kneeling down reading a putt and the putter head was resting on the ground, and it deflected off of that and it went in. Smith: We all kind looked at one another like, Did that do what we think it did? Magee: My father was jumping up and down, raising his arms, but I was still numb to the fact that my ball had gone in the hole. I thought maybe I had hit somebody on the green. Pate: I got startled. Walking across the front of the green, I’m not expecting a ball to come whizzing by my feet with some speed. It took a few seconds to process what had happened. Smith: Then the Rules official came up. Magee: I really didn’t know until I got 100 yards from the green. The crowd is still cheering and clapping and my dad is raising his arms and the TOUR official is driving the cart kind of alongside with me, and he goes, ‘Yep, it counts.' I said, ‘Even if I hit somebody? It's not a penalty?' He goes, ‘No, if you hit your own equipment it is, but this is a 1. It’s recorded.' Pate: I’m thinking, S—, he just made a 1. Not something you see every day. Magee: They left my ball in the hole for me to pick it out, and I raised it to the crowd, my dad cheering, just going crazy. Only later in the clubhouse, after I finished my round, did I learn that it’s the only hole-in-one on a par 4 in the history of the TOUR. Given its once-in-a-lifetime improbability, the albatross has had a lasting impact. A plaque memorializing Magee's miracle sits on 17, and he is asked about it routinely. Pate: He shouldn’t have hit because the hole was playing really short, but what happened was so unusual, it was kind of cool to be a part of. Magee: I saw Steve and Gary Nicklaus after the round, and they congratulated me. They weren’t hurt at all. Maybe they felt like they might have been part of the history, too, since their names are also associated with the only hole‑in‑one on a par 4. Jason Kokrak aced the 409-yard, par-4 fifth hole at the Seaside Course during the 2013 RSM Classic pro-am, but it didn't count for history since it wasn't an official round. Pate: I am surprised there hasn't been another one, especially with the trend in the last few years to make more par-4 holes drivable. And guys are already hitting it farther. Smith: To think that that’s the only hole‑in‑one on a par 4 on TOUR is pretty remarkable; even the majors and stuff, they love setting up par 4s that the guys can drive. Magee: Robert Garrigus almost made a one on the same hole I did, but it hit the pin and bounced out. Dustin Johnson came up inches short at Kapalua. Every time there’s a close one I get texts from my friends saying I survived another day. If you Google me, it’s the first thing that comes up. It doesn’t say I won four times on TOUR and played 600 tournaments. I talk about it all the time; people ask me how it went down. I go out to TPC, and all my friends that play out there, they take a picture of the plaque and send it to me. I’m delighted by all of it. I am astonished it’s lasted 20 years; hopefully we can last 20 more.

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He’s back! That’s right, golf fans. Viktor Hovland has returned to defend his title at the Hero World Challenge. Oh, you were thinking about Tiger Woods, huh? Well, he was scheduled to be back, too, but he withdrew on Monday due to plantar fasciitis in his right foot. He alerted followers on Twitter that he remains committed to his remaining pair of scheduled starts in his last month as a 46-year-old. RELATED: The First Look The entire field of 20 committed to the 72-hole competition at Albany in The Bahamas is ranked below. More on the construct of the week overall can be found with additional scrolling or swiping. POWER RANKINGS: HERO WORLD CHALLENGE The Hero World Challenge has been an unofficial event throughout the entirety of its existence (2000-present). However, like many of its kind, real prize money is distributed to all who qualify and compete. The total purse is $3.5 million of which $1 million is reserved for the champion and just in time for holiday shopping. Albany has hosted the competition since 2015, although the 2020 edition was canceled due to the pandemic. It’s situated in the western reaches of New Providence Island. In an amusing coincidence for golf fans who play golf with something on the line in their weekly games, Nassau is the island’s most recognizable destination, albeit in the opposite corner. The par 72 boasts a quintet of par 3s and par 5s each. It can extend to 7,414 yards, but even when it played 105 longer in 2021 than it tested the previous three editions, scoring was commensurate with its history at 69.475. After all, this is a heavyweight field. Now, the differences of the scores between the highs and the lows for every round last year ranged from nine strokes (in R1) to a dozen (in both R3 and R4), and that was in relatively light winds compared to what’s in store this week. Sustained breezes no calmer than 15 mph are forecast throughout, but they’re going to intensify to as strong at 30 mph at times in the middle rounds. The TifEagle bermuda greens typically are prepped to measure 12 feet on the Stimpmeter, but as all tournaments profess, that is subject to the magnitude of the invisible challenge. The targets average just 4,500 square feet, so that fields check in at least a couple of digits under par almost every year prove their quality. There is no cut and Official World Golf Ranking points piggyback the bank deposit, so adopting the marathon approach across four rounds has merit. En route to the title in his debut appearance a year ago, Hovland prevailed by one at 18-under 270, thus becoming the fourth winner to land on that aggregate in the last five years. (There’s never been a playoff at Albany.) Hovland converted four eagles, three of which on the 307-yard, par-4 14th where “only” six were recorded by the entire field all week. NOTE: Although PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf is off until the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Jan. 5-8, we will publish our Expert Picks for the Hero World Challenge on Tuesday, Nov. 29.

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