Hideki Matsuyama leads strong Japanese contingent in ‘home’ event

As the PGA TOUR ramped up preparations for next week’s return to competition at the Charles Schwab Challenge, it identified the implementation of a quick, reliable COVID-19 testing procedure for players, caddies and essential personnel as one of the most critical requirements, one that also could carry over to PGA TOUR Champions and the Korn Ferry Tour for the remainder of the season. It turns out the TOUR had to look no further than an existing partner on PGA TOUR Champions in tournament sponsor Sanford Health. Among the largest health systems in the United States, Sanford Health demonstrated the ability to deliver on-site testing with rapid results through mobile testing units staffed by several lab technicians. So, plans have been finalized whereby Sanford Health will deploy three of the units across the continental U.S., each manned with a driver and three technicians, to cover the three Tours for the remainder of the season. Each unit will arrive the Saturday prior to the tournament to begin processing RT PCR tests. The test itself takes less than five minutes to administer, and test results are returned within several hours. Approximately 400 individuals are expected to be tested on-site each week. “Our ability to provide on-site testing services for the PGA TOUR is the direct result of our early and strategic investment in expanding testing capacity for our own patients, residents and employees,� said Micah Aberson, Executive Vice President of Sanford Health. “We’re all care givers, whether that is in the hospital, long-term care facility or in a mobile testing unit. This service will help players and staff feel safe, and we can play an important part by preventing the spread of the virus and supporting a responsible return to sporting events.� The mobile unit will remain on site through Thursday before traveling to the next closest tournament site, regardless of Tour. The Sanford Health teams, which also will be tested each week, are prepared for extended travel schedules in order to fulfill their mission on the three Tours. “When you’re in health care, you go where you are called,� said Rochelle Odenbrett, Senior Executive Director for Sanford Laboratories. “These groups of Sanford ambassadors will be on the road for weeks at a time doing work that is necessary in order to bring a little normalcy back to our lives and some joy to golf fans around the world – that’s the global impact these people are making. As for planning the schedule for each team, it’s like putting together a puzzle, and every piece has to fit exactly right. Our team has done an incredible job of mapping out where the three mobile units will be utilized during the season.� Andy Levinson, PGA TOUR Senior Vice President Tournament Administration, stresses that health and safety are the No. 1 priority as the TOUR returns to competition. “Not only will Sanford Health’s mobile laboratories enable us to deliver test results in a matter of hours so that our athletes can properly prepare for competition,� Levinson said, “but they also will allow us to implement our testing program without utilizing critical resources from the communities in which we play, which was of upmost importance to us.� Familiarity between the organizations certainly helped in expanding the relationship, with Sanford Health serving as title sponsor of the Sanford International in its hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota (September 11-13). So, too, did having two-time U.S. Open winner Andy North on the Sanford Health Board of Trustees as well serving as the official tournament host. “A lot of credit for the foundation of this collaboration goes to Andy North,� Aberson said. “He helped bring us and the PGA TOUR together to make testing at every tournament a reality.� As a result, Sanford Health also becomes a marketing partner with the designation Official COVID-19 On-site Testing Provider of the PGA TOUR. “When we announced our partnership with Sanford Health in 2017, we knew we were going to build one of the premier events on the PGA TOUR Champions calendar, as their commitment to our sport and the Sioux Falls community has allowed the Sanford International to flourish,� said Miller Brady, President of PGA TOUR Champions. “As we look at the world today in the midst of COVID-19, it is tremendous to see Sanford Health’s determination in helping the PGA TOUR safely return to golf the week of June 8 and moving forward. They are a valued member of our PGA TOUR Champions family and it’s inspiring to see this level of leadership when we need it the most.� Aberson views this as another example of Sanford Health taking a leadership role during the pandemic, be it collaborating with state and local leaders to advancing groundbreaking research. Sanford Health includes 44 hospitals, 1,400 physicians and more than 200 Good Samaritan Society senior care locations in 26 states and 10 countries. “Our team has focused on finding answers and meeting the needs of the communities we serve in this unprecedented time,� he said. “We take great pride in taking the lead in helping ensure a safe return to play for professional golf events in the Unites States by offering this testing and are honored to help contribute to getting players back on the course for fans around the world to enjoy.�

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MADRID — Jon Rahm shot a 5-under 67 Sunday to win the Spanish Open with overnight leader Paul Dunne two strokes behind. The fourth-ranked Rahm had six birdies in his final round to end the Centro Nacional de Golf tournament on 20-under 268. The 23-year-old Spaniard earned his third European Tour win a week after finishing fourth at the Masters Tournament in Augusta. “When I made the decision to come straight from Augusta it wouldn’t be to just show up and walk around, I wanted to win this tournament,” Rahm said. It was Rahm’s first professional win at home. Dunne (71) entered the final round with a one-shot lead over Nacho Elvira (71) but three bogeys ruined his chances of a second tour win. Elvira finished third at three shots behind Rahm. George Coetzee was a shot further back in fourth after a 63.

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If you’ve been reading regularly, you’ve been treated to numerous victories among us experts. Well, all but Jonathan and I have picked off a win in the last two months, so the success is not comprehensive. Ben bagged Brooks Koepka’s title defense at the U.S. Open. Both Sean and Tom were on Bubba Watson at the Travelers Championship. Four weeks later, Sean connected again, this time with Francesco Molinari at The Open Championship. Last, and least as it pertains to FedExCup points earned, after a serendipitous pivot from Beau Hossler, who withdrew early in the week of the Barracuda Championship, Mark hoisted hardware with Andrew Putnam as his charge in Reno. For a little league of six, that’s a sporty run, but it’s even more gratifying (for them) because all occurred rather deep into the season even if guys like Koepka, Watson and Molinari were planned saves. The PGA Championship is event No. 43 of 2017-18, so only six remain. Yet, because PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO uses FedExCup points to measure performance, all gamers are still very much mathematically alive. It’s the beauty of this format, whereas gamers way of the pace at this point in an earnings-based model check out. And believe me, I’m relying on the possibilities in the FedExCup Playoffs in which points are quadrupled. Even if you’re front-running, deciding which golfer gets the call at Bellerive Country Club should be incumbent on who you’re slotting for the final four events. The stymie could be more valuable than having the winner of the season’s final major, so review the available golfers for your nearest pursuers and draw a treasure map. I’m all-in on Brooks Koepka this week. He’s an obvious selection for the PGA, but he also frees me to save the likes of Jason Day for the Dell Technologies Championship and Justin Rose for the TOUR Championship. Others available to me include Patrick Reed, Louis Oosthuizen, Patrick Cantlay, Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele and Branden Grace. They will help plug the holes in between. Just as I’m the last to use Koepka, I’m the only expert who has yet to burn both Rose and Fleetwood, so the objective is to maximize their starts. Figure out who lines up that way for you. In a vacuum, defending champion Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Tony Finau all make sense in addition to Koepka, Rose and Day this week. Assuming that you can handle that decision without further endorsement, the focus shifts to notables to avoid for similar reasons. Jordan Spieth is the first to holster for the Playoffs. He’d line up wonderfully for East Lake, but he has to get there first. If he plays well enough to advance, then that will mean contending somewhere else along the way. Consider opening the Playoffs with the 25-year-old at The Ridgewood Country Club, but remember my Fantasy Rule No. 3: Remain fluid. Rickie Fowler presents strongly almost every time he plays, and this week is no different, so he caters to all philosophies. Start or save, neither trumps the other. Patrick Reed falls into a similar classification. Meanwhile, he’s a former winner of the Wyndham Championship (2013), which is included in his Future Possibilities, but we can’t rely on an appearance there for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that the PGA Championship is his fifth straight start worldwide, just like last year when he took a pass on the Wyndham. Two-man gamers need to stick with the chalk, although you’re operating with dust by now. Consider Thorbjørn Olesen, Alex Noren, Cantlay and Grace. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2017-18. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Paul Casey … Dell Technologies (2); TOUR Championship (3) Kevin Chappell … Dell Technologies (3) Jason Day … PGA Championship (1); THE NORTHERN TRUST (8); Dell Technologies (5) Jason Dufner … Wyndham (6); TOUR Championship (7) Rickie Fowler … THE NORTHERN TRUST (10); Dell Technologies (6) Sergio Garcia … TOUR Championship (4) Bill Haas … Wyndham (2) Billy Horschel … TOUR Championship (4) Dustin Johnson … PGA Championship (9); Dell Technologies (11); TOUR Championship (6) Zach Johnson … TOUR Championship (8) Kevin Kisner … Wyndham (6) Russell Knox … Dell Technologies (7) Brooks Koepka … PGA Championship (2) Matt Kuchar … THE NORTHERN TRUST (9) Rory McIlroy … Dell Technologies (5); TOUR Championship (3) Ryan Moore … TOUR Championship (6) Kevin Na … Wyndham (3); THE NORTHERN TRUST (11) Louis Oosthuizen … PGA Championship (4); Dell Technologies (3) Patrick Reed … PGA Championship (8); Wyndham (7); THE NORTHERN TRUST (9); Dell Technologies (2) Justin Rose … WGC-Bridgestone (7); TOUR Championship (2) Adam Scott … Dell Technologies (9); TOUR Championship (6) Webb Simpson … Wyndham (1) Brandt Snedeker … Wyndham (4) Jordan Spieth … TOUR Championship (4) Henrik Stenson … PGA Championship (7); Wyndham (8; defending); Dell Technologies (9); TOUR Championship (2) Justin Thomas … Dell Technologies (6; defending); TOUR Championship (3) Jimmy Walker … Dell Technologies (7) Bubba Watson … TOUR Championship (4)

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