Golfer Reed feared for life amid pneumonia bout

OVERVIEW Potential New Year’s resolutions for Patrick Cantlay: Find a way to beat Bryson DeChambeau, and find a way to make it to the 2019 Presidents Cup in Melbourne, Australia, where Cantlay would play for the U.S. in a major international team competition for the first time as a pro. The only surprise is that it hasn’t happened yet. His 60 at the 2011 Travelers Championship promised stardom, his career was nearly derailed by a back injury, and now he’s returned to the upper echelon in style. Cantlay finished a sporty runner-up to DeChambeau in his first PGA TOUR title defense at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in November. If the faces looked familiar in Las Vegas, they should have. Five months earlier, Cantlay led going into the back nine of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide  but suffered a late bogey to finish fourth. DeChambeau won in a playoff over Byeong Hun An and Kyle Stanley. When you list the top 20-somethings on TOUR, it’s easy to forget about the quiet Cantlay, 26. DeChambeau is quirkier and has more wins than Cantlay, as do Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele. But Cantlay belongs in the conversation. He made 21 cuts in 23 starts last season, reached the TOUR Championship for the second straight year, and was 20th in the FedExCup. After playing a reduced schedule in 2017, Cantlay is a regular threat to win and a relatively new resident of North Palm Beach, Florida, where during off-weeks you can find him at The Bear’s Club playing with peers like Thomas — good company to keep. – By Cameron Morfit Click here to see who else made the Top 30 list. BY THE NUMBERS FEDEXCUP UPDATE Current 2018-19 position: 10th Playoff appearances: 2 TOUR Championship appearances: 2 Best FedExCup result: 20th in 2018. SHOTLINK FUN FACT Patrick Cantlay has played his last eight consecutive second rounds in the 60s for a combined 31 under — best second-round stretch of any player on the PGA TOUR since the 2018 PGA Championship. INSIDER INSIGHTS PGATOUR.COM’s Insiders offer their expert views on what to expect from Patrick Cantlay in 2019. TOUR INSIDER: Cantlay is a supreme ball-striker who was 9th in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green last season. Alas, he lost strokes to the field on the greens, finishing 153rd in Strokes Gained: Putting. Perhaps not coincidentally, he missed the cut at the Masters, one of his worst results of a season that saw him notch 15 top-25 finishes. Strong title defense at Shriners in November, when he bogeyed the 17 but birdied 16, 18 to make the winner earn it. – By Cameron Morfit FANTASY INSIDER: He lands in the same spot as last year’s Top 30, and that’s just fine for us. In fact, it’s the perfect representation for his consistency and reliability. Since returning to the PGA TOUR (just 22 months ago), he’s gone 37-for-39 with 13 top 10s and another 13 top 25s. His health and personal experiences outside the ropes have framed a perspective that introduced a fearlessness and calm to what was already a gifted skill set. As a result, the 26-year-old presents the fascinating blend of grinder and scorer. The next time I fade him might be the first, if it even happens. — By Rob Bolton EQUIPMENT INSIDER: Ask any equipment fan about Cantlay, and they’ll probably bring up his custom putter. It’s a Scotty Cameron GSS prototype with dancing four-leaf clovers and “Putter Studioâ€� stamped into the back cavity, and his initials on the back bumper. He did switch into a Cameron Concept putter in 2018, but he’s currently back into his familiar Irish-stamped studio blade as of the Shriners Open. Cantlay is also relatively stubborn when switching into new equipment at the top-end of his bag. While he made the change into new 718 AP2 irons, he’s still gaming a Titleist 917D2 driver, a 915F fairway wood, an 816H2 hybrid, and Titleist SM5/SM6 wedges. It will be interesting to keep an eye on any equipment changes Cantlay makes in 2019. — By Andrew Tursky STYLE INSIDER: If you think all the young guns on TOUR favor super sporty looks, guess again. Cantlay is part of a group of rising stars that still has time for classic kits. There is nothing fancy about Cantlay’s style, but he has a knack for cranking out simple and solid outfits round after round. He is in his comfort zone while wearing a neutral palette of black and grey, occasionally splashing a pop of color. — By Greg Monteforte

Click here to read the full article…

Learning after a heartbreaker at last season’s Wyndham Championship, where he was in the mix until a double-bogey on the last hole doomed his chances, C.T. Pan goes birdie, par, par under pressure and in difficult winds to notch his first PGA TOUR win at the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where Pan shot a final-round 67 to edge FedExCup leader Matt Kuchar (67) and become the tournament’s seventh straight come-from-behind winner. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Pan almost didn’t tee it up. Having played the American Junior Golf Association from 2007 to 2010, Pan was excited to put on the first C.T. Pan Junior Championship, an AJGA event, back home in Houston. One problem: the tournament was scheduled for the same week as the RBC Heritage. In light of Pan’s lackluster results on TOUR of late, his wife and sometime caddie, Michelle, pushed him out the door, saying she’d host the juniors instead. Good decision. “Just listen to your wife and you will have a good life,â€� Pan said with a smile after becoming the sixth international winner on TOUR in the last eight events. As for Michelle, she says she’d done carrying the bag but has already volunteered to caddie for her husband at the Masters Tournament Par 3 Contest next year. 2. Another short hitter tamed Harbour Town. The course rewards precision, but not necessarily length. Pan is only 5 feet, 6 inches tall and ranks 170th in Driving Distance (284.8 yards). In other words, he fits the mold of other RBC Heritage winners like Loren Roberts (1996), Brian Gay (2009), Jim Furyk (2010, ’15) and Graeme McDowell (2013). Dustin Johnson was trying to make like five-time RBC Heritage champion Davis Love III, the most notable long hitter to win here, but after taking a one-stroke lead into the final round he shot a 6-over 77 to finish T28. Xander Schauffele never got much going and finished T63. Pan was studying the final-round pin placements Saturday night, and got to the course four and a half hours before his tee time Sunday. He also plotted out and executed a strict approach to play conservatively over the first four holes (which he played in even par) but go for it on holes 5-13 (4 under). “And that’s how I snuck on the leaderboard,â€� he said. 3. Most notable win for power was Seamus Power. Seamus Power had missed 11 cuts in 15 starts heading into last week, but his 4-under 67 in the final round gave him a T6 finish, his fourth top-10 finish in 69 TOUR starts. “Yeah, a lot,â€� Power said, when asked what he could take away from the good result. “The last four or five tournaments have been much, much better. It’s was a struggle early but starting with THE PLAYERS I started to find some stuff and build it better. “So it’s been encouraging,â€� he added after moving from 189th to 141st in the FedExCup. “A week like this is great. It’s a kick start for me. It’s not where I want to be, but certainly a move in the right direction.â€� 4. Kuchar is building FedExCup lead. In notching his 12th career runner-up finish and second in his last four starts, FedExCup leader Matt Kuchar banked 300 more FedExCup points and is now up to 2,030. Kuchar, a two-time winner this season who has six top-10 finishes in 13 starts, is almost a full 500 points ahead of second-place Xander Schauffele (1,562). “I wish I could tell you,â€� Kuchar said, when asked what has changed this season. “I think I just continue to evolve. The goal as a player every year is to continue to get better. And I feel like the work I’ve done, my instructor, Chris O’Connell, each year we try to get a little bit better. And I think we’ve really done some good work. It’s tiny little things that add up.â€� 5. Lowry almost made like 2015. Shane Lowry was going for his second TOUR victory and first since the 2015 World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, but a final-round 70 wasn’t quite enough (T3). “I personally feel like it almost got away,â€� Lowry said after moving from 203rd to 125th in the FedExCup. “I’m a little bit disappointed. This was my best week in quite a while. So many positives to take from this week. And going forward I’m looking forward to next week.â€� Lowry will play the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with partner Padraig Harrington. FIVE INSIGHTS   1.  Pan won with his short game. After ranking in negative numbers in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (-0.159, 50th in the field), he stabilized at 18th best in SG: Approach-the-Green (+0.872). Then he got really good: He was seventh best in SG: Around-the-Green (+0.928) and fifth in SG: Putting (+1.571). That means he outperformed the field by 2.499 strokes per round from on and around the tiny greens at Harbour Town. And his edge was heightened in the final round, when he was +1.72 in SG: Around-the-Green, the second-best SG: Around-the-Green performance by a winner this season, trailing only Xander Schauffele at Sentry TOC (+1.77) 2. He was flawless from short range. Pan made all 52 putts he hit from inside six feet, one of three players who made the cut who were perfect from that range. Matt Kuchar (second) and Denny McCarthy (T33) were the others. The winner also averaged a very tidy 24.75 putts per round, marking the 15th time a TOUR winner has averaged 24.75 putts per round in a four-round event since 1986. Five of those 15 events have been at the RBC Heritage. 3. There were some big FedExCup movers. Not only did Pan shoot up 87 places, to 26th, in the FedExCup, Shane Lowry (T3) made a jump of 78 spots to 125th, and K.J. Choi (T10) was up 55 spots, to 187th. At 48 years, 11 months and 2 days, Choi would have been the oldest RBC Heritage champion, barely edging 1994 winner Hale Irwin. Choi briefly held a piece of the lead, but could only manage a 1-over 72. 4. Johnson’s 77 was a shocker. The final-round blow-up by world No. 1 and RBC Ambassador Johnson was his worst score since the third round of the 2018 U.S. Open. He was looking to improve on his T16 finish the year before and join 2017 champion Wesley Bryan as the only South Carolinians to win the tournament. Alas, Johnson’s one-stroke lead through 54 holes turned into a T28. 5. The wind sent scores soaring. Johnson wasn’t the only victim of the tricky winds, as defending champion Satoshi Kodaira shot 82 and there were only two bogey-free rounds (J.T. Poston, 66; Brian Stuard, 68) Sunday, the fewest of the week. The course played to a scoring average of 71.170, just slightly over par. WYNDHAM REWARDS The Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is in its first season and adds another layer of excitement to the FedExCup Regular Season. The top 10 players at the end of the FedExCup Regular Season will earn bonus payouts from the Wyndham Rewards Top 10. There were no changes after the RBC Heritage, with Matt Kuchar, a two-time winner this season, strengthening his position at the top with his second runner-up finish in his last four starts. First-time winner C.T. Pan, meanwhile, vaulted from 113th all the way to 26th and looks considerably better as he zeroes in on his stated goal of making the TOUR Championship.

Click here to read the full article…

NORTON, Mass. - When you claim you "hit the ball better … putted better … (and that) everything was just cleaner and better," and you're still sitting 16 strokes out of the lead, well, it sort of magnifies how poorly the previous rounds had gone. No argument there from Tiger Woods, whose closing 5-under 66 in Sunday's final round of THE NORTHERN TRUST made his exit from TPC Boston a little merrier and provided a little more enthusiasm for next week's FedExCup Playoff, the BMW Championship. RELATED: Full leaderboard | FedExCup standings "Today," said Woods, "was good all the way around." Indeed, the numbers support that, as he hit 10 of 14 fairways, 16 of 18 greens, and while he would have preferred to have taken fewer than 31 putts, he did make 100 feet of them. That was a vast improvement from Friday (68 feet) and Saturday (45 feet) when he scored poorly, rounds of 71 and 73 digging a massive hole that left him a whopping 21 strokes behind Dustin Johnson through three rounds. Not that a round of 66 was going to be called an instant classic, because in this week of deep red numbers, a 5 under effort was ordinary. Indeed, three pairings later, Kevin Na matched the 66, then came a 65 by Troy Merritt and 63 by Robby Shelton. In other words, the 66 wasn't going to open much room for Woods, who started the day 67th and was still tied for 55th after signing for 6-under 278. More to his concern, he knew he was going to lose ground in the FedExCup standings. Having come into the week 49th, Wood was projected to be 55th at the close of his round and while his definitive place will be determined after all the scores are in, he took ownership of his dilemma. "I wish I would have played a little bit better this week to make it a little bit easier on me next week to try and get into East Lake," said Woods, who qualifies for the BMW Championship for being Top 70 and would need to be Top 30 to make it into the TOUR Championship. But, regardless of how he performed here these last four days, Woods knows if he plays well at the BMW Championship and gets into the TOUR Championship, "it's going to be a busy stretch, either way." Of course, he is factoring in the U.S. Open, scheduled for September 17-20 at Winged Foot, though it was another U.S. Open he was asked about. Namely, the 2003 edition, because it was at Olympia Fields some 30 miles south of Chicago and it hardly rates as a memorable experience. "I haven't been there since the (U.S.) Open, so I need to get back there and take a look at the golf course and see the changes they have made." It was his seventh U.S. Open as a professional, and he had already won the major twice. But at Olympia Fields he labored to a share of 20th place - at the time his worst finish as a pro in the national championship. He required 147 strokes on the weekend (75-72) and only three times in the 16 U.S. Open where he's made the cut as a pro has Woods shot higher in Rounds 3 and 4. "I didn't like the rough," said Woods. "It was one of the weeks I kept laying the club down (translation: he just wedged out of rough all week). Hopefully, it will be a little bit better this week."

Click here to read the full article…