How Matt Parziale went from fighting fires to playing alongside Tiger at Augusta

Austin Cook (+10000 to win) … Golf. You just never, ever, ever, ever know. After enduring a dreadful 2021 that included 17 missed cuts, including 11 in a row at one point, he settled for 136th in the FedExCup. And even that was possible because a playoff loss at the Shriners last fall served as approximately 64 percent of his season total in points. A T15 at the Barracuda Championship in August was a glimmer, but it wasn’t until a seemingly pedestrian T32-MC-T11 in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals that translated into real success and fully exempt status on the PGA TOUR once again this season. Although splashing at 42nd in the pecking order of his category, he’s already on the board with a T11 at the Fortinet Championship and a solo 67th at the Sanderson Farms Championship, so he’s poised to climb into the top 10 when the first reorder occurs at the conclusion of The RSM Classic, which he won four years ago. Adam Svensson (+8000 to win) … When I signed off on my comment beside him at No. 137 in the full-membership fantasy ranking, I had revised “reinvented” to “refined” as a description of his evolution as a professional golfer. In his only previous spin on the PGA TOUR in 2018-19, the Canadian was among the top 25 in numerous measurements of ability from tee to green, but as it often is with fresh faces, poor putting relegated him to the Korn Ferry Tour. Suffice it to say that he doesn’t belong there, either. With two wins among eight top 10s, he’s back in the big leagues. To the message of what’s better, he slotted 36th on the KFT in putts per GIR during its two-year season, but he still checked in at sixth in accuracy off the tee and 11th in GIR. The ball-striking captured my attention for Port Royal, but the improved putting qualified him for this prop. Cameron Percy (+8000 to win) … This already is his second appearance as a Sleeper this season, and that’s OK. He lined up here for the Fortinet Championship and finished T64. He needed better to fulfill the terms of a Minor Medical Extension but the 47-year-old Aussie is set with conditional status for the remainder of this season. Sometimes, the absence of that hovering is addition by subtraction, but he’d look good in the vacuum of these variables, anyway. He’s cashed in eight consecutive PGA TOUR starts and he’s 2-for-2 at Port Royal where the wind likely connects with the muscle memory of his formative years Down Under. He also led the TOUR in 2020-21 in greens in regulation and finished T7 in proximity to the hole. Beau Hossler (+8000 to win) … After opening last season with five straight paydays in the fall, he went cold until June but four top 25s still left him on the outside looking into the FedExCup Playoffs and ultimately conditional status this season. Still just 26 years of age, he can get over on the learning curve as if he never sputtered. Perhaps a season-opening T16 at the Fortinet Championship served as a combination of a devil-may-care approach and relatively recent form, but it projects to continue at Port Royal where he’s finished a respective T24 and T26, the latter including a second-round 68 on a day when the field averaged 73.64. He split only four (of 14) fairways and hit nine greens in regulation that day, but this patented putter delivered as he needed it just 22 times on the greens. Mark Hubbard (+5000 to win) … Second appearance for the 32-year-old. He finished T41 in the inaugural edition but sat T20 entering the final round. After what was a career campaign in 2019-20, he backpedaled into more familiar territory well outside the top 125 in the FedExCup last season, but he ranked 19th in fairways hit, T52 in Strokes Gained: Putting and T4 in par-3 scoring. Of course, it now means that with conditional status, he has nothing to lose and everything to gain. He’s also picked up the pace in recent months with 13 cuts made in his last 16 starts on two tours. All four top 20s baked in that stretch were on the PGA TOUR, including a T16 at Silverado last month. Odds were sourced on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021. For live odds, visit betmgm.

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SAN ANTONIO – Six-time PGA TOUR winner Jimmy Walker, honored Monday with induction into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame, said he was taking the Lone Star State’s highest golfing honor with his full-time work with new teacher Matt Killen as confidence he can return to golf’s highest levels. “This is a nice honor to be recognized by your home state for golf, along with being recognized by my school Baylor University for their athletic hall of fame, but I have really done it all in my career,� Walker said at the afternoon inductions ceremonies at the A.W. Tillinghast 1916 designed Brackenridge Park, Texas’ first public golf course. “I’ve got my card, I’ve lost my card, I’ve won at every level, I’ve played the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup, made big putts, won big events. I was ranked as high at 9th in the world and at age 40, I still want to do it again.� Walker, who has battled Lyme Disease, along with his wife Erin, ever since he won the 2016 PGA Championship, said he feels as healthy as he has since before the PGA win and his illness. He has played two PGA TOUR events this fall in the 2019-20 season but will take time off until resuming play at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January. “Golf beat me up pretty good last year and the end of 2018, so I’m taking it easy now, working with Matt, resting and getting healthy,� he said. Walker comes off a season in which he failed to produce a top-10 finish for the first time since 2008 and had just three top-25 finishes, also his lowest since 2008. He failed to make the FedExCup Playoffs for the first time since 2009. “Everything happens for a reason; I really believe that,� Walker said. “I got sick right after I won the PGA Championship, but that gave me a five-year exemption. If I hadn’t done that, I might be out of a job right now.� He started working with Killen, who has worked with Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas and J.B. Holmes, full-time after the British Open at Royal Portrush and said he is excited with the results. “I ask a lot of questions and he had a lot of good answers,� Walker said. “He is working on my club transition, my short game and putting and a lot of good stuff. “Will this Hall of Fame honor bring my game back? Not by itself, but some low numbers and seeing the ball go in the hole will and that’s where I headed. “I know I can get back because I’ve done it before. I’ve been on a real strict diet and I’ve lost 10-20 pounds and I’m added it back with muscle.� Walker is the 40th Texas PGA TOUR player to be inducted into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame, located at Brackenridge Park. and the 11th PGA Championship winner. Walker was a member of the Presidents Cup in 2015 and said he plans to watch the competition on television in December, with the event being held in Melbourne, Australia. He attended Rickie Fowler’s wedding recently and was reunited with many of his previous Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup teammates, further fueling his competitive desire to regain a spot on the U.S. national teams. “I’ve played in two Ryder Cup teams and one Presidents Cup and I love the team game,� Walker said. “I’ve played some really good golf in the past and that’s what I know I can do again. I’m taking is easy for now, but that’s a huge goal of mine.�

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The PGA TOUR heads back to Japan for the fourth iteration of the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. Japan’s favorite modern golfing son, Hideki Matsuyama, will headline the field as he looks to defend his title from last season. Matsuyama captured the 2021 ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP by five shots. FIELD NOTES: World No. 5 Xander Schauffele is the top-ranked golfer in the field… Collin Morikawa, at No. 9, is the other member of the world’s top-10 teeing it up… Schauffele – who won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics – and Morikawa are joined by fellow U.S. Team Presidents Cup member Cameron Young, who is making his event debut (and first trip to Japan)… There’s plenty of International Team Presidents Cup flair in Japan as Sungjae Im, Tom Kim, Corey Conners, K.H. Lee, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Cam Davis, Si Woo Kim, Mito Pereira, and Sebastian Munoz are all in the field. Pereira held the 36-hole lead at the Shriners Children’s Open… Matsuyama leads the home-country contingent. The event is co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO) once again for 2022 and there will be more than a dozen members of the JGTO teeing it up… Mackenzie Hughes returns to action after his win at the Sanderson Farms Championship… Sponsor’s exemptions include Matt Wallace, who finished T4 last season, along with TOUR winners Cameron Champ, Satoshi Kodaira, and Rickie Fowler… European Ryder Cup teammates Viktor Hovland (ranked No.11 in the world) and Tommy Fleetwood are also in the field. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, par 70, 7,079 yards. About 40 yards has been added to the official scorecard at the Narashino Country Club for this year’s iteration of the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. The 36-hole facility in Chiba, Japan, was opened in 1965 and played host to a number of high-level golf events in its history before the PGA TOUR arrived in 2019. Designed by Shinya Fujita and east of Tokyo, it’s a stunning parkland layout. STORYLINES: The ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP will once again have a 78-man field, four rounds, and no cut. A full 500 FedExCup points will be awarded to the winner… Tiger Woods and Matsuyama won the two ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP events to take place in Japan, while Patrick Cantlay won the event in 2020, which was moved to Sherwood, Calif… Matsuyama is looking to successfully defend a title on the PGA TOUR for the second time (he won the WM Phoenix Open in 2016 and 2017)… Plenty of youthful Japanese firepower will be teeing it up at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. Two Mark H. McCormack Medal winners in Keita Nakajima and Takumi Kanaya will be in the field along with 20-year-old Ryo Hisatsune, who just turned professional. 72-HOLE RECORD: 261, Tiger Woods (2019) 18-HOLE RECORD: 63, Keegan Bradley (Second round, 2019), Rory McIlroy (Third round, 2019), Hiroshi Iwata (First round, 2021), Naoto Nakanishi (Fourth round, 2021). Tournament Record: 61, Richy Werenski (Second round, 2020 at Sherwood) LAST TIME: Japan’s own Hideki Matsuyama had a flurry of a finish to win the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP last season by five shots. The Masters champion made three birdies in a five-hole stretch on his back nine Sunday – and eagled the par-5 closing hole to put a bow on the week – to top runners up Brendan Steele and Cameron Tringale. Matsuyama closed with a 65 and a 15 under total to capture a TOUR title for the seventh time. He won eight times in Japan previously, including in 2011 as an amateur, but was unable to medal at the Tokyo Olympics so this win was a measure of revenge. Matsuyama held a one-shot lead through 54 holes but that was erased by Tringale by the 10th hole Sunday, who jumped into the first-place position after back-to-back birdies on Nos 9 and 10. That’s when Matsuyama turned it on, however. Matsuyama’s closing eagle featured a beautiful fairway wood from 241 yards which nearly found the bottom of the cup for an albatross. Mackenzie Hughes, Matt Wallace, and Sebastian Munoz rounded out the top five. HOW TO FOLLOW: Television: Wednesday (into Thursday)-Thursday (into Friday): 11 p.m.-3 a.m. ET (Golf Channel). Friday (into Saturday), 10:30 p.m.-2:30 a.m. Saturday (into Sunday): 11 p.m.-3 a.m.

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