Golf’s future taking shape under Monahan

PONTE VEDRA, Fla. - The PGA TOUR announced today that Fortinet, a global leader in broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity solutions, will become the title sponsor of PGA TOUR's Napa tournament, to be named the Fortinet Championship. The six-year agreement begins as the kickoff event of the 2021-22 FedExCup Regular Season at Silverado Resort and Spa, Sept. 13-19, 2021. The Fortinet Championship dates to 2007, with the event moving from CordeValle Golf Club in San Martin to Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa in 2014. With its present location, the event has been the TOUR's season-opening event each season since 2014, with the exception of the 2019-20 season. "We are thrilled to welcome Fortinet to the PGA TOUR family with the Fortinet Championship leading off the 2021-22 FedExCup Regular Season in September," said Tyler Dennis, PGA TOUR President. "Napa is an extremely popular stop for our players, their families and our fans. We look forward to having Fortinet help grow the event to maximize charitable impact for the Napa Valley community." Net proceeds from the Fortinet Championship will benefit non-profit organizations in the areas of STEM, women and minorities in technology, as well as veterans reskilling programs. "Fortinet is excited to partner with the PGA TOUR as both our organizations are committed to trust and creating exceptional experiences - ensuring players and customers are set up for success to overcome even the most trying conditions and challenges," said John Maddison, EVP of Products and CMO at Fortinet. "This partnership will benefit our community, customers and local nonprofit organizations. We look forward to hosting the Fortinet Championship in Napa." Fortinet's mission is to make possible a digital world that organizations can always trust by protecting edges, data and content, people, devices and systems. Fortinet delivers the most innovative, highest-performing network security fabric to secure and simplify organizations' IT infrastructures. Fortinet is a leading global provider of network security and SD-WAN, switching and wireless access, network access control, authentication, public and private cloud security, endpoint security, and AI-driven advanced threat protection solutions for carriers, data centers, enterprises, and distributed offices. Silverado Resort and Spa hosted the PGA TOUR from 1968-80 before returning in 2014. The venue has produced a prestigious list of winners including Jack Nicklaus (1969), Tom Watson (1978), Ben Crenshaw (1980) and Johnny Miller (1974-75). In addition, Silverado was a PGA TOUR Champions venue from 1989-2002. All four rounds of the Fortinet Championship will be televised on Golf Channel, featuring a 156-player field, 500 FedExCup points and a $7 million purse. Stewart Cink, the winner of the 2009 Open Championship and a member of four U.S. Presidents Cup teams and five U.S. Ryder Cup teams, is expected to defend his 2020 title.

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Scottie Scheffler might have earned top spot in the FedExCup standings heading into the TOUR Championship in Atlanta but fans of Max Homa and Cameron Smith have one big reason to suggest their men brought more joy in 2022. The cream of the 2022 PGA TOUR season descends on East Lake Golf Club this week chasing the prestigious FedExCup and the $18 million bonus that comes with it. All 30 players in the field will have dreams of hoisting the Cup even if they are starting various distances behind points leader Scottie Scheffler. If you had placed a $100 bet with BetMGM Sportsbook when the markets opened for every PGA TOUR event the top 30 played in this season it wouldn’t be Scheffler who profited you the most money. Even with his TOUR leading four wins from 24 starts Scheffler’s return for those bets would have profited $7,800, a mark that falls behind Smith and Homa. Of the 30 players in the field, 22 of them had at least one win this season. Scheffler started at +2800 for his first career win at WM Phoenix Open, +1600 for his Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard triumph and +1800 for his World Golf Championships – Dell Technologies Match Play dominance. He opened at +4000 for the Masters although by tournament week he’d tightened in to +1600. Had you waited till then your profit above would’ve dropped from $7,800 to $5,400. But if you jumped on the mullet toting Australian Smith you would’ve collected at +2000 for his Sentry Tournament of Champions win, +3300 for his PLAYERS Championship efforts and +5000 for his historic Open Championship win at St. Andrews. To be fair, much like Scheffler at the Masters, Smith’s odds had been slashed by tournament week to +2500 so profit for those bettors would drop from the $8,600 to $6,100. And then there is Homa. The very popular TOUR pro opened at a very juicy +6600 for his season opening win at the Fortinet Championship and then helped his fans out at +4000 for his Wells Fargo Championship. As such Homa’s wins would’ve turned a $8,300 profit from his 23 starts. For the record Scheffler starts at +250 at East Lake this week, mainly due to the fact he starts the tournament 10-under as the top seed so his return for a win won’t put him over the others. Smith is +2500 starting six shots back while Homa would bring a hefty +12500 payday but he is starting eight shots off the pace. Interestingly the next three best returns over the year come from players in Atlanta off the back of just one win this season. Sepp Straka’s win at The Honda Classic came at +10000 but his TOUR Championship leading 32 starts this season mean the profit drops to $6,800 for those Straka lovers out there. K.H. Lee was a very generous +8000 leading into his title defense at the AT&T Byron Nelson but his second straight win at the event means his profit line sits at $5,300. And Billy Horschel had an incredible ball-striking week to win the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday at +6600 leaving a profit this season of $4,500 for his fans. Three-time winner Sam Burns collects came at +1600, +2000 and +2500 leaving profit after his 23 starts at $3,800 while U.S. Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick opened at +5000 to bring a $3,100 profit if his fans backed him every week. Last week’s BMW Championship winner and current FedExCup reigning champion Patrick Cantlay would have represented a loss for his betting fans prior to the triumph at Wilmington Country Club. But his salute from +1600, combined with his +800 collect in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans brings a $500 profit for the Patty Ice crew. Cantlay’s teammate in New Orleans, Xander Schauffele, would have provided a $2,600 profit from his three wins. The +800 at the Zurich Classic, combined with wins at +2000 for the Travelers Championship and +2500 for the Scottish Open helped his followers. Despite sporting victories this season fans of Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas and Viktor Hovland would still be facing a loss on their seasons. Rahm’s win at the Mexico Open came when he was a heavy favorite at +450 so his 18 starts means a loss at -$1350. Thomas was as high as +25000 during the final round of the PGA Championship but he opened at +1200 so unless you connected on live odds it’s a loss of -$800 over the season. And Hovland’s win at Mayakoba came at +1600 leaving a season loss of -$400. Of the eight players without wins, the biggest loss would be with rookie Sahith Theegala at -$3,100 from his 31 starts.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA – The PGA TOUR announced today that it has renewed and expanded its partnership with XUMO, a leading disruptor in streaming tv and digital entertainment. In 2019 the expanded partnership will see the TOUR distribute more than 175 hours of live Featured Holes coverage on XUMO from 23 events in addition to expanded highlights, player interviews and tournament recap shows. Fans can expect live Featured Holes coverage from tournaments such as THE PLAYERS Championship, the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide and the FedExCup Playoffs. In March 2018, the TOUR and XUMO announced the first ad-supported PGA TOUR “OTT channelâ€� on smart TVs. The channel provides viewers live and video-on-demand programming, direct from the leading OTT platform across the connected television ecosystem. The PGA TOUR’s channel on XUMO is available on LG’s Channel Plus service, exclusively powered by XUMO on channel “IP-750,â€� and across the XUMO distribution network, including Hisense, Sharp, VIZIO and Panasonic connected devices, making XUMO available in over 35 million U.S households. “The sports genre on XUMO has experienced explosive growth, and with the addition and expansion of the PGA TOUR’s content and channel on XUMO, we’re able to deliver even more LIVE and catch-up programming that fans demand,” said Stefan Van Engen, senior vice president, content programming and acquisitions at XUMO. “In fact, XUMO saw a 65-percent increase in on-demand viewing in Q3 of 2018 alone as viewers re-lived full tournament recap experiences leading up to the TOUR Championship last September.â€� “As we strive to provide PGA TOUR fans with content wherever they are, XUMO has been a great distribution partner,â€� said Luis Goicouria, the PGA TOUR’s senior vice president of media. “Our fans have shown they love the opportunity to consume TOUR content on their big screen in a new, curated, lean-back way.â€� For more information or to view a list of XUMO’s 160+ free, premium digital channels, please visit XUMO. To enjoy PGA TOUR content and coverage, watch its first and only AVOD channel on XUMO.

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