Frustrated Garcia: ‘I can’t wait to leave this tour’

From Americans, holding all four majors, to the odds of the favorite actually winning, to whether Shinnecock Hills will hold up, the drama is there for this U.S. Open.

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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – It was just last week that Vijay Singh turned 56 years old. No word on how he celebrated, but it’s doubtful any present could be better than the one he might give himself Sunday. Singh is just 18 holes away from becoming the oldest winner in PGA TOUR history, as his 5-under 65 in Saturday’s third round of The Honda Classic put him within striking distance of the lead. Sam Snead currently has the record for oldest winner, at 52 years, 10 months, 8 days when he won the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open. Just six other players have won PGA TOUR events in their 50s, the most recent being Davis Love III, who was 51 when he won the Wyndham Championship in 2015. Singh, of course, could shatter Snead’s record by more than three years. He understands the enormous challenge that awaits him Sunday. “I’m physically quite capable of doing it,� Singh said. “Mentally, I’m going to go out there and see how my mind works. If I just don’t let anything interfere, I think I can do it.� It’s been 11 years since Singh’s last TOUR win, the 2008 Deutsche Bank Championship – the second of his back-to-back wins in the FedExCup Playoffs that year that helped seal his FedExCup title. But he does have recent success on PGA TOUR Champions, with four career victories, including three in 2018 – including the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship and the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. Asked what he might be able to draw from those wins, Singh replied: “Playing the Champions Tour, you’ve got to make a lot of birdies. It’s all about making a lot of putts, a lot of birdies there. That brings, I guess, aggression out of you, and you go out there and you know you have to make birdies. “It’s just like the Web kids coming over here. They feel the same way – they’re going to make a ton of birdies. I think anything I take away, it’s that. You’ve got to score well on the Champions Tour, just like you’ve got to score well here.� Just three years ago, Singh finished T-6 at The Honda Classic, shooting four rounds of par or better. Four months later, he was runner-up at the 2016 Quicken Loans National, finishing with a final-round 65. That’s the last time he’s had a top-10 finish on TOUR. Since then, he’s made 36 starts on the PGA TOUR, with 22 missed cuts. That includes both of his starts this season. But just when it appeared his days as a Sunday contender were done, Singh has found his game again in the first 54 holes this week. “Today I played really well,� Singh said after his six-birdie, one-bogey round. “Today I played like I know how. I just let it go and the swing was a lot more freer. If I did what I did today – this is how I used to play. I don’t know what I found, but I’m going to see if it’s still there tomorrow.� Putting has been his nemesis the last decade – the last time he ranked inside the top 100 in Strokes Gained: Putting was in 2006, when he was 99th in that category – but he ranks inside the top 30 in the field this week, and he had a terrific putting day Saturday. He made all 16 putts inside 10 feet, including all four in the 5-10 foot range. He has a new long putter that he put into play recently and “that kind of inspired me, and I’m putting really well with it.� Added Singh: “There is no tension in my body. Putting has been great this week. Standing over the putts, there’s no fidgeting feelings or anything like that. I guarantee if I had a short putter, I would feel a little tense and anxious, but this long putter, I felt pretty much nothing …. “Putting is another thing that kind of stopped me from scoring well, and this week I made a lot of putts with it, and I hope I can do that again tomorrow.� Singh, of course, is long fabled for his tireless work ethic, but even those long hours on the range can’t guarantee he’s up to the rigors of a stress-filled Sunday. He does have one suggestion to solve that. “That should give me a cart tomorrow,� Singh joked. “I deserve one.� Don’t worry, Vijay. If you win The Honda Classic, they’ll give you something much more valuable.

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The PGA TOUR’s lone official team event returns to the schedule in 2021 after being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic last season. Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer are back to defend their title from 2019 against a big-time field of FedExCup contenders, TOUR winners, and major champions. FIELD NOTES: Henrik Stenson, 2013 FedExCup champion, teams up with fellow Olympic medalist Justin Rose. The pair are reunited after breaking up in 2019… Reigning PGA Champ Collin Morikawa is making his Zurich debut alongside Matthew Wolff… Danny Willett is joining forces with fellow Englishman Tyrrell Hatton; they played together in the third round of the RBC Heritage on Saturday… Fresh off his T3 finish at the Masters, Xander Schauffele is pairing up with another top-10 golfer in the world, Patrick Cantlay… Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown, both of Aiken, South Carolina, are looking to finally take it across the finish line in New Orleans. They lost in a playoff in 2017, had the 54-hole lead in 2018, and finished T5 in 2019… Other notable pairings include South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, the long-hitting tandem of Cameron Champ and Tony Finau, European squads of Viktor Hovland and Kris Ventura plus Graeme McDowell and Matt Wallace, and Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith (who with Jonas Blixt won this event in 2017). FEDEXCUP: Winners receive 400 FedExCup points each. STORYLINES: FedExCup points are distributed as if the partners tied for first. The winning duos will split the 500 points usually reserved for an individual champion plus the 300 points to the golfer who finishes second for 400 points each… The unique team format sees golfers play best-ball on Thursday and Saturday and alternate-shot on Friday and Sunday… There are plenty of potential Presidents Cup (Leishman/Smith) and Ryder Cup (Willett/Hatton; Hovland/Ventura) teams in New Orleans… This is the fourth year the event will be played as a team format. It’s one of the longest-standing events on TOUR, having started in 1938. COURSE: TPC Louisiana, par 72, 7,425 yards. The Pete Dye design is just 15 minutes from downtown New Orleans and while water is featured prominently, it is also one of the TOUR’s most scoreable layouts. The course, which boasts Steve Elkington and Kelly Gibson as consultants, moves through 250 acres of wetlands with more than 100 bunkers. 72-HOLE RECORD: 261, Cameron Smith/Jonas Blixt (2017), Kevin Kisner/Scott Brown (2017). Individual record: 262, Chip Beck (1988 at Lakewood CC). ALTERNATE SHOT RECORD: 65, Jon Rahm/Ryan Palmer (2nd Round, 2019) BEST BALL RECORD: 60, Retief Goosen/Tyrone van Aswegen (2nd round, 2017), Kevin Kisner/Scott Brown (4th round, 2017), Chez Reavie/Lucas Glover (1st round, 2018), Marty Dou/Xinjun Zhang (1st round, 2018), Brian Gay/Rory Sabbatini (1st round, 2019) LAST TIME: Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer won by three over Tommy Fleetwood and Sergio Garcia in ’19. Fleetwood and Garcia pressured Rahm and Palmer by making birdies on Nos. 17 and 18 but it was too little, too late. It was Palmer’s first TOUR title in almost a decade, since the 2010 Sony Open. KH Lee/Matt Every and Brian Gay/Rory Sabbatini finished T3, while Seamus Power/David Hearn, Roberto Castro/Cameron Tringale, Hank Lebioda/Curtis Luck, and Kevin Kisner/Scott Brown – who lost a playoff to Cameron Smith and Jonas Blixt in ’17 – finished T5 HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 3:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS) PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday, 8 a.m.-6:30 p.m. (Featured Groups); Friday, 9:15 a.m.-6:30 p.m. (Featured Groups); Saturday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes); Sunday, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m.-6:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio). TOURCast: Get shot-by-shot info in real time with shot tracks and video with TOURCast. TOUR Pulse: Get the PGA TOUR app to utilize TOUR Pulse, which provides users the ability to experience a mix of content, such as video highlights, written hole summaries and stat graphics on every player after every hole they complete.

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