Herman celebrates ‘out of the blue’ Wyndham win

Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau plans to return to Bay Hill after navigating a few injuries through the early part of the 2021-22 season. He’s joined by a field full of the game’s biggest names include two-time FedExCup champion and past Arnold Palmer Invitational winner Rory McIlroy and world No. 1 Jon Rahm. FIELD NOTES: Bryson is back. DeChambeau, who won the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, has been battling some injuries early this season. His agent, Brett Falkoff, told PGATOUR.COM that DeChambeau will “continue to rehab” and is hopeful to compete … Recent winners who are returning to Bay Hill include Rory McIlroy – a winner already this season – along with Tyrrell Hatton and Marc Leishman … World No. 1 Jon Rahm is set to tee it up … FedExCup leader Hideki Matsuyama is returning to action as he inches closer to his Masters title defense … Scottie Scheffler is back in action. He earned his maiden PGA TOUR victory at the WM Phoenix Open and backed that up with a T7 at The Genesis Invitational … Lee Westwood returns to Bay Hill after a runner-up last season … 2021 U.S. Amateur winner James Piot is in the field. It’s the PGA TOUR debut for the Michigan State product … Will Zalatoris will forever be connected to Arnold Palmer. Zalatoris, who is teeing it up at Bay Hill, played at Wake Forest on the Arnold Palmer Scholarship and won the 2020-21 Arnold Palmer Award as TOUR Rookie of the Year … Sponsor exemptions include a wide mix of TOUR veterans and fresh faces. Former FedExCup winner Brandt Snedeker in addition to major winners Graeme McDowell, Henrik Stenson, Padraig Harrington and Danny Willett are all in the field. They’re joined by Nicolai Hojgaard – who made his TOUR debut at The Honda Classic – John Pak, Davis Thompson and Min Woo Lee, among others … Texas A&M’s Sam Bennett earned his way into the field as the Arnold Palmer Cup representative from 2021. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 550 FedExCup points. COURSE: Bay Hill Club & Lodge, par 72, 7,466 yards. The Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard has been held at Bay Hill every year on TOUR since 1979. The mostly flat layout challenges the TOUR’s best mostly with water that comes into play on many of the holes. The last two years have seen some blustery conditions as well, resulting in tough scoring conditions. For example, Tyrrell Hatton’s winning total of 4-under 284 was the highest since 1983, while last season’s final-round scoring average of 75.49 was the highest in a final round since 1980. STORYLINES: The biggest question heading into Bay Hill is how Bryson DeChambeau will fare, as he recovers from a pair of injuries – to his left hip and left hand. This marks his first PGA TOUR start since missing the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open. He was scheduled to play The Genesis Invitational, as well, but withdrew before the event began … DeChambeau was the first American winner at Bay Hill since Matt Every six years prior. International players had won in five consecutive tournament iterations … The winner at Bay Hill earns a three-year PGA TOUR exemption instead of the usual two due to the event’s elevated status … There is plenty of firepower set to tee it up at Bay Hill, with five of the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking in the field. That number includes world No. 1 Jon Rahm, who announced on social media last week that he and wife Kelley are expecting their second child. Rahm finished T21 at The Genesis Invitational, his first finish outside the top-15 in the 2022 calendar year. 72-HOLE RECORD: 264, Payne Stewart (1987). 18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Andy Bean (Round 2, 1981), Greg Norman (Round 2, 1984), Adam Scott (Round 1, 2014). LAST TIME: Sunday at Bay Hill proved to be one of the toughest days on record, so it should have been no surprise that Bryson DeChambeau overpowered the field the best. DeChambeau shot a final-round 71 a year ago, matching the low score of the day. No one broke 70 on Sunday at Bay Hill for the first time since 1980. It was DeChambeau’s second win of the season. He opened with a bogey, but he made birdie on Nos. 4 and 6 – after a 377-yard drive over water on a memorably aggressive line at the par-5 sixth – and stayed steady the rest of the way home. Lee Westwood shot a 1-over 73 and finished runner-up. He and DeChambeau were never separated by more than one shot over the final 15 holes. Corey Conners finished in third alone, while Andrew Putnam, Richy Werenski and Jordan Spieth rounded out the top five. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 2 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12–6 p.m. ET. Saturday, 1–6 p.m. Sunday, 1-6:30 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio) For outside of the U.S., click here for GOLFTV powered by the PGA TOUR PGA TOUR LIVE PGA TOUR Live is available exclusively on ESPN+ • Main Feed: primary tournament-coverage featuring the best action from across the course • Marquee Group: new “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group • Featured Groups: traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups • Featured Holes: a combination of par-3s and iconic or pivotal holes

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At 2, Talor Gooch rigged his Power Wheels Jeep so it could carry his plastic golf clubs. He accompanied his father to the course at 3, occasionally hitting a few shots from the fairway. As a 6-year-old, he made an albatross and broke 80. He was already driving it 150 yards. He was a world champion three years later, claiming the second U.S. Kids Golf World Championship. Gooch’s exploits quickly earned attention in Midwest City, an Oklahoma City suburb with a population of approximately 50,000. By the time he graduated from Carl Albert High School – where he won 19 of his 40 tournaments, including a state individual title – he was good enough to sign with Oklahoma State, one of the nation’s premiere golf programs. Even the Cowboys’ longtime football coach, Mike Gundy, who also grew up in Midwest City, knew about Gooch. “I’ve heard about you. You’re a hometown legend,” said Gundy, according to the Cowboys’ former golf coach, Mike McGraw. Now the ‘hometown legend’ is a PGA TOUR winner and the FedExCup leader entering the first event of the calendar year. Gooch’s victory came in November, a few days after he celebrated his 30th birthday. He played a sterling Sunday round after starting the final round of The RSM Classic with the first 54-hole lead of his career. He hit 16 greens and didn’t make a bogey, becoming just the seventh player in the last four seasons to hold a 54-hole lead and then shoot 64 or lower to win. The others? Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Webb Simpson, Joaquin Niemann and Si Woo Kim. That’s a group that features three former World No. 1s. All but one of those players has won either a major or THE PLAYERS. The PGA TOUR’s 2022 season resumes this week with the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Gooch had to cancel his annual buddies’ trip because of his debut at Kapalua. Not that he minds. This has the makings of a breakout season for the former phenom. He finished 11th or better in all but one of his six starts in the fall portion of the schedule. With 852 FedExCup points, he holds a 122-point lead over second-ranked Sam Burns. That success — along with winning RSM’s Birdies Fore Love, which awards $300,000 for charity to the player who makes the most birdies or better in the fall — has allowed Gooch to start the Talor Gooch Foundation, which will benefit children’s causes. It wasn’t always this easy. Then again, it’s often not. We can forget that the Morikawas and Hovlands are the exception. But Gooch was prepared for the trials inherent to so many pro-golf careers. He grew up around athletes, starting with his father, Ron, who played in the Texas Rangers’ organization, and knew self-belief was key to success, especially during the struggles. “Any athlete will tell you if you don’t believe in yourself, nobody else will,” said Kelsey Cline, Gooch’s mentor and a former University of Oklahoma golfer. “Golf gets complicated, and we all make it tough. The two most important things are self-belief and ball control. Everything else will take care of itself.” Growing up in the winds of Oklahoma helped him develop the latter. He’s one of the best iron players on TOUR and his low “stinger” tee shots were key on blustery days at The RSM. The former has been steeled by experiences earlier in his career. He had to endure two seasons on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada and a scare at Q-School’s second stage – which left him wondering if he’d need to work at Best Buy to fund his career — before making it to the PGA TOUR. His rookie season in 2018 was interrupted by the removal of his appendix. Instead of seeking a medical extension, he tried to tough it out and keep playing. He secured conditional status for the following season, and in that second TOUR campaign he shared a leaderboard with some of the game’s biggest stars at Torrey Pines to prove he belonged. “A takeaway from my dad, all these great athletes that I’ve been fortunate to spend time with, is don’t get down, don’t let anyone see you’re down,” Gooch said. “You can get a little frustrated, but get right back up and dust yourself off and get going.” Ron Gooch played minor league baseball in the Texas Rangers’ organization, amassing a .271 batting average in more than 1,600 plate appearances. He hit .293 in more than 100 games at Triple A but never made it to the majors. Through his friendship with Cline, Talor played childhood rounds with Sam Bradford while the Heisman Trophy winner was starring at Oklahoma. J.T. Realmuto, the Philadelphia Phillies’ All-Star catcher, attended Carl Albert at the same time as Gooch, and the two remain close today. Gooch’s former Oklahoma State teammate, Wyndham Clark, calls him “a gamer” because of his toughness and ability to get the ball in the hole. In high school, Gooch won a tournament less than 48 hours after his clubs were stolen from his car; he used a backup set and a driver borrowed from his coach to shoot 68. Charles Howell III, another former Cowboy, says Gooch possesses a quiet confidence. His decision to attended Oklahoma State is testament to that. He knew some questioned if he’d crack the Cowboys’ starting lineup, which featured three first-team All-Americans (two reached No. 1 in the world amateur ranking, while another was the son of a major champion). Gooch started every event as a freshman. “If you don’t have that little bit of grit to go prove people wrong,” he said, “you’re not going to make it long.” In his second TOUR season, with just conditional status, Gooch finished third in the Farmers Insurance Open. Only Justin Rose – the No. 1 player in the world and reigning FedExCup champion — and Adam Scott beat Gooch. He tied Hideki Matsuyama, while Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, and Jason Day finished directly behind him on the leaderboard. Gooch was fifth at this year’s PLAYERS, the tournament with the game’s strongest field, behind only Justin Thomas, Lee Westwood, Bryson DeChambeau and Brian Harman. And in October, he shot a final-round 62 in THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT to get in the mix with McIlroy, Collin Morikawa and his fellow Oklahoma State alum, Rickie Fowler. “I want to be the best and I want to compete against the best,” Gooch said. He’ll have more opportunities this year. His RSM win moved him to a career-best 32nd in the world ranking. He’ll make his Masters debut in April and, thanks to his incredible haul in the fall, likely will qualify for his first TOUR Championship. A coaching change in March has helped Gooch’s game reach a new level. He started working with Boyd Summerhays, best known as Tony Finau’s instructor, at THE PLAYERS. Gooch has been fifth in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green since (behind only Daniel Berger, Collin Morikawa, Paul Casey and Justin Thomas). Summerhays’ schedule at TPC Sawgrass was full because of his commitments to his other TOUR students, but he was told by a caddie that he shouldn’t pass on the opportunity to work with Gooch. “Everything I had heard about him being a competitor, a dog, having that fight, I saw from the beginning,” said Summerhays, a fellow Oklahoma State alum. “I had a caddie, when he heard Gooch may come to see me, say trust me, Talor has the ‘it factor.’ I didn’t question it. I trust my friend’s judgement.” Summerhays couldn’t meet with Gooch until late on the eve of THE PLAYERS, however. He texted Gooch at 4:30 p.m., inquiring if it was too late for him, but Gooch didn’t hesitate to show up. They worked until 7 p.m. on the eve of one of the year’s biggest events. Late afternoons at the course are nothing new for Gooch. Golf became his father’s passion after his baseball career ended. Talor soon asked if he could come to the course, as well. “I wanted to play golf, but I didn’t want to leave him out of anything,” Ron said in a 1988 story in The Daily Oklahoman about his 6-year-old prodigy. “You can feel guilty, or you can take him and make your handicap go up.” Ron chose the latter, and Talor quickly started garnering attention, which is why he was featured in the local paper at such an early age. Talor would tee it up from 150 yards on the par-4s and 175 yards on the par-5s. He made 2 on the par-5 16th at John Conrad Regional Golf Course after hitting his drive about 30 yards from the green and holing out with an 8-iron. “Yes!” he shouted and sprinted after his ball, the newspaper reported. Conrad became like a second home. “I may go eat a sandwich at Conrad, and he’ll go hit two buckets of balls,” Ron told the Oklahoman. Talor calls Conrad “your typical muni,” with flat fairways and shaggy greens. The modest beginnings molded him. In junior golf, his family would often spend up to 15 hours in the car traveling to tournaments and scrambled to make ends meet. “So much of my makeup starts from where I started from, not having the best of everything … and having to make the most of what I’ve got,” Gooch told the Talk of the TOUR podcast. “I wanted for nothing, but I had to go work to get everything I wanted.” That includes a PGA TOUR win and a spot among the game’s elite this week at Kapalua. Talor Gooch’s perseverance allowed him to make good on his promise.

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Here are nine tidbits from the first round of the Quicken Loans National that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm hosts for the second time and measures 7,107 yards (Par-70).   KNOW THY ENEMY These were the top-10 selected golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game presented by SERVPRO. Perfect scoring conditions greeted the morning wave as Andrew Landry tied the professional course record with his bogey-free 63. The afternoon side wasn’t bad either, as another 63 by J.J. Spaun gave us co-leaders after the opening round. The weather will just be hotter tomorrow and the winds relatively similar, so there won’t be a tactical advantage on tee times. The afternoon folks will need to be properly hydrated! PEOPLE’S CHOICE J.B. Holmes isn’t a name we’ve seen at the top of the list or even on the list in recent memory. Gamers are riding the wave of hot, albeit deliberate, play from the big hitter from Kentucky as he’s hit the podium in his last two events. He found 10 fairways and 10 GIR but could only get up-and-down on four of the eight he missed. The ones he did hit left him 117th out of 120 players in proximity. His best round in five here is 71 so gamers will have a decision whether or not to use the bench in Round 2. This was only his second round in the black in his last 17 rounds. RECORD DUO Landry and Spaun both used seven birdies without squaring a bogey to set the first round pace. Since his victory at the Valero Texas Open, another difficult track, Landry has played just two of six weekends and his best payday is T65. He MC last week 81-67 but that was a distant memory today. Spaun popped up at Trinity Forest where he opened with 64 and closed with 63 to share third. Gamers hoping to ride that wave were smacked with MC, MC and T47 in his last three outings. Spaun led the field in Round 1 in SG: off the tee as he split 12-of-14 fairways (T1). He fired 73-78 here last year to MC. HOST WITH THE MOST Tiger Woods finally gets a chance to play at his own tournament, and he looked to create some momentum with a new putter in the bag. Gamers remember that he blistered Memorial tee-to-green but made absolutely nothing. The putter didn’t solve all of his problems as he lost over one shot on the greens but his tee-to-green game wasn’t on point either. The greatest part of Woods’ game is his ability to grind. He wiped out a double with a pair of birdies and added 15 pars to sign for 70 (E). An early start on fresh greens should kick-start the putter in Round 2.  HOOK ‘EM That sound you hear every Thursday is Beau Hossler. For the 10th event running his Round 1 scorecard is in red figures. For the third event in a row it has been 66 or better has his six birdies and one bogey added up to 65 (T5) today. Finishing the job is the next step as he’s only hit the top 10 in one of those three events, T2 last week at TPC River Highlands. He hasn’t MC in this stretch either so this isn’t smoke or mirrors. CIAO! Francesco Molinari made his way into the top 10, and rightfully so as gamers are paying attention. He enters the week in an excellent form as his last three worldwide paychecks have been for a win, second and T25. If the main requirement this week is navigating this track tee-to-green it shouldn’t be any surprise he opened with 67. BRAKES PUMPED While 71 (+1) didn’t knock Kyle Stanley out of contention, it surely wasn’t the start gamers were expecting from the defending champion. Driving wasn’t the issue as he found 12-of-14 fairways but his approach play saw him check in at No. 98. The good news is he’s third on TOUR in GIR so this goes down as an aberration for me and I’m expecting normal service to resume tomorrow.  WALK THE LINE Jimmy Walker has played great for almost three months, and that’s why his 74 in Round 1 was surprising. Marc Leishman only hit three fairways and shot 67, so scoring here can happen. Walker found just seven fairways but checked in at No. 111 in SG: putting and only saved par in three of seven chances missing GIR. He opened on No. 10 with an unplayable and a water ball for double-bogey seven so it could have been worse! He’ll need to make more than one birdie in Round 2. STUDY HALL The Round 1 scoring average was 69.992 (-0.008) as opposed to 71.203 in the inaugural year last year. The 18-hole lead last year was 65. No wind helps! There were eight bogey-free rounds all of last year as this course was the most difficult (non-major) on TOUR. There were five on Friday as red-hot Andrew Putnam (64), Seamus Power (66) and Joel Dahmen (66) joined Landry on Spaun in the clean card club.  C.T. Pan (67) broke his driver on No. 14, but still found a way to birdie that hole and the next two. His eight birdies for the round led the field. He gets to put in a new driver on Friday.

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