Grand Slam: Majors record book

McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — K.H. Lee ran across the fairway to try to get a better view of the key shot in his second consecutive victory in the AT&T Byron Nelson. The South Korean must have known it would be close, same as the low-scoring drama around him that included hometown favorite Jordan Spieth and a couple of other major winners in Hideki Matsuyama and Justin Thomas. Lee’s 240-yard shot on the par-5 12th hole stopped less than 5 feet from the pin, and the eagle put him in front for good Sunday on the way to a 9-under 63 and a one-shot victory over Spieth at TPC Craig Ranch. Lee earned 500 FedExCup points in the win and moved from No. 116 to No. 28. Spieth shot a 67 to finish a stroke ahead of Matsuyama (62) and Sebastián Muñoz (69), who held or shared the lead the first three rounds. Xander Schauffele had a career-best 61 and tied for fifth with Ryan Palmer (66) and Thomas (67). A year ago, Lee was playing for a spot in the PGA Championship, where he’ll be again next week at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This time it was for a place in history as the 30-year-old joined Sam Snead (1957-58), Jack Nicklaus (1970-71) and Tom Watson (1978-80) as the only repeat winners at the AT&T Byron Nelson. Lee finished at 26 under, one shot better than last year. Spieth had to settle for another career-best finish in the event he so badly wants to win, a year after the three-time major champion was ninth but never really close in a disappointing final round. This final round was really close. Leading by one, Lee made a curling 12-foot putt to save par on the par-3 17th after a short chip ran long when Lee tried to find his footing in the sand with the ball above his feet just outside the bunker. Spieth missed a 9-foot birdie putt on 17 that would have pulled him even, then had to have eagle on the par-5 18th after Lee’s tap-in birdie. Spieth’s eagle chip stayed left of the hole. With short par 4s and reachable par 5s, the birdies never stopped at TPC Craig Ranch, the second-year home of the Nelson. There were 2,228 birdies after 2,007 a year ago, which was the most on the PGA TOUR last season. Eagles were plentiful, too. Last year, six players reached 20 under. This time it was 14. Even missed chances at eagles were costly, such as on No. 12 when Muñoz’s 6-footer circled the cup and stayed out, leaving him a stroke behind not long after Lee followed his clutch shot by making the short putt. Schauffele posted a clubhouse lead at 23 under with a birdie on 18 just as the last groups were making the turn. The 12-ranked player said he didn’t figure on hanging around long with birdies — and eagles — so plentiful at TPC Craig Ranch. He was free to go after Matsuyama’s eagle at 18 put the 2021 Masters champion a shot ahead. Still, Schauffele’s turnaround was remarkable in his first event since teaming with Patrick Cantlay to win the Zurich Classic of New Orelans. The reigning Olympic champion was 26 under over the final 49 holes, starting with eight birdies from No. 6 on in the second round to rally from 3 over and make the cut on the number (5 under). He began the final round nine shots back. Schauffele holed a 97-yard wedge for eagle on the short par-4 sixth then added eight birdies over the last 11 holes for the third score of 61 or better this week. Muñoz opened with his second 60 of the season, a first on tour. “I had no pressure to shoot a low score,” Schauffele said. “The leaders are expected to shoot at least five or six (under) to kind of keep the pace. So I was literally just trying to birdie as many holes as possible while being smart as well.” Justin Lower recorded the second of two aces in the round in the stadium setting on 17, landing a low 9-iron from 135 yards just right of the pin before the ball backed up and rolled in. Marc Leishman had the first hole-in-one on the 213-yard 15th, land a 7-iron short and watching it roll in. It was Leishman’s second career ace and the first at the Nelson since Tyler Duncan in 2018.

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Charles Barkley, who finished in a tie for 76th at the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament last year, is drawing bets to finish in the top 70 this year. Said Stephen Curry, however: “There’s no way he’s doing it.”

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Few have worked harder or come from more improbable golf backgrounds to make it onto the PGA TOUR than Olin Browne, as late a bloomer as you’ll find. Smitten with the game at 19, he honed his talents while at Occidental College in Los Angeles and turned pro at 25. So, making it to the big leagues demonstrated uncanny determination. Yet, it wasn’t quite what Browne envisioned that late autumn day in 1994, enveloped by the surroundings of arguably the liveliest city in America, Las Vegas. At an age when many of his PGA TOUR peers were in the middle of their careers, Browne at 35 was in his sophomore season and feeling privileged to be there. Still, the bright lights and big-league stage of the PGA TOUR in Las Vegas didn’t mesh with the melancholy in his heart. It was the last full-field tournament of the year, No. 44 on the schedule and the 31st start of the season for Browne, yet “it just felt so sad,� he said. “The season was over, but there was no crescendo.� Twenty-four years later, Browne – a regular competitor on the PGA TOUR Champions – was apprised of the way the 46-tournament 2018-19 PGA TOUR schedule will conclude and in support of his younger colleagues, he nodded his approval. “Now, there’s a crescendo.� What caught Browne’s attention was the climactic finish to next season – three consecutive weeks of the FedExCup playoffs culminating with the TOUR Championship Aug. 22-25. Reducing the playoffs by one and concluding the season before Labor Day and the onrush of football are definitive exclamation points, in Browne’s view, and two former PGA TOUR competitors who helped give shape to the FedExCup Playoffs agree. “It’s more dynamic, instead of the season petering out like it used to,� said Joe Durant, who was a member of the Policy Board when the FedExCup debuted in 2007. Another Policy Board member was Brad Faxon, who recalls that “we always had the thought to eliminate competing against the NFL when the FedExCup started. This new schedule is good. I think it’s better to have only three playoff events.� That they were in on the ground floor or the FedExCup Playoffs but didn’t really get to reap the enormous benefits gives Durant and Faxon reason to laugh. Yet they’re in good company, because their contemporaries – players like Browne and Billy Andrade and Mark Calcavecchia – pretty much were on their way off the PGA TOUR when the FedExCup Playoffs started. But to a man, they sing the same refrain. “No regrets, none at all,� said Andrade, who, like Faxon and Browne, never qualified for the FedExCup Playoffs. “The PGA TOUR provided me with so much, so I’m thrilled that I was part of it.� Durant played in just the very first FedExCup Playoff in 2007. “We probably all wish we were out there for these playoff tournaments, there’s so much money, but to be fair, we had our opportunities and they were pretty good, too,� he said. “It’s the way life rolls. There’s nothing to be bitter about.� Instead, Browne points to the mission of the PGA TOUR – to provide financial opportunities – and appreciates that the FedExCup Playoffs “are another way to funnel proceeds to members.� But he credits PGA TOUR leadership for molding the schedule the way it has; whereas in much of his career it ended without that season-ending crescendo, now the close of the season – three playoffs in a row coming on the heels of a summer stretch of two majors and a World Golf Championship – is the best part of the year. “You could make that point and you’d have a hard time arguing that,� said Browne. Not that there aren’t highlights elsewhere in the 2018-19 schedule, among them: With THE PLAYERS Championship returning to March (14-17) for the first time since 2006, there will be four straight tournaments in Florida. That easy travel flow will appear again in the summer with three Midwest stops – new tournaments in Detroit (Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club June 27-30) and Minneapolis (3M Open at TPC Twin Cities July 4-7), followed by a longtime favorite in Silvis, Ill. (John Deere Classic July 11-14). Given the PGA Championship’s move to May, the month of August will be cleared for the PGA TOUR’s dynamic sprint to the season’s finish line with three straight weeks of playoffs: THE NORTHERN TRUST (Aug. 8-11), the BMW Championship (Aug 15-18) and TOUR Championship (Aug. 22-25). From the PGA TOUR’s perspective, a significant aspect of the schedule involves the vitality of the deals with the title sponsors. Nine are signed on for 10 years, six others for at least seven years, and 29 partners have deals that extend beyond 2020. All positive factors at a time when the PGA TOUR is firmly establishing a different look to its schedule and welcoming a wave of younger faces. While a veteran such as Calcavecchia – who was in his 12th PGA TOUR season and had won seven times by the time Jordan Spieth was born – competed most of his career without the FedExCup Playoffs, he suggests there is a common denominator with he and that younger star. “My goal was always to get to the TOUR Championship at the end of the year,� he said. “I don’t think that’s any different.� Spieth would likely agree. But what has changed are the logistics to getting to the TOUR Championship. Andrade pointed out that back in his playing days, competitors lagging well down the money list could make a big charge in the mid-August-to-late-October stretch and he was a big fan of those tournaments. Now, “they are still big tournaments in the fall, only players need to take advantage of them to get a jump on the (FedExCup) list.� Back when the FedExCup was announced, then-Commissioner Tim Finchem said there were layers of intent. One, an exclamation point was needed to the season, with the best players gathered for a series of tournaments. Successful as that has been with 11 seasons of the FedExCup, that scenario will be stronger with the 2018-19 playoffs. But Andrade and others remember Commissioner Finchem talking of “creating a situation where players will play more,� and that vision has come to fruition, too. Consider the fall and early January tournaments that begin the wrap-around season. Players have approached them differently as the race for the FedExCup has become more established and numbers from the 2017 TOUR Championship prove this. Of the 30 players who made it to East Lake Golf Club, 12 of them had started their seasons by playing in at least five of the first nine weeks. Then, at the other end of the schedule, the push to improve FedExCup status and take advantage of the Playoffs has produced stellar fields, too. Of the top 20 players in the Official World Golf Ranking, 17 of them played in at least six of the last nine PGA TOUR tournaments, including No. 1 Dustin Johnson, who played in eight of them. That represents a shift in the landscape, because 15 years ago six of the world’s top 10 players play in just two or three of the final 10 weeks of the season, Such data has made a believer out of a Faxon, who was involved in discussions to bring on the FedExCup Playoffs, but not the wrap-around schedule. “The wrap-around season didn’t make sense to me until I realized the NBA, NHL and NFL all do it successfully,� said Faxon. “But now it all makes more sense and I’m very impressed how they moved it this quickly.�

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