How to watch the 2019 Genesis Open

JACKSON, Miss. — Ryan Armour and Tyrone Van Aswegen are threatening to break up the young men’s monopoly at the Sanderson Farms Championship. The 41-year-old Armour shot a 4-under 68 in Friday’s second round to take a one-shot lead over Van Aswegen at the Country Club of Jackson.   Armour has never won on the PGA TOUR and has only four top 10s in 104 career events. He made four straight birdies on the back nine and finished just before a wave of thunderstorms swept over the Country Club of Jackson and suspended play for the day.   There were 30 players still on the course when play ended. They’ll finish their second rounds on Saturday in what’s expected to be much colder weather. Armour, who grew up in Ohio, said he’s used to playing in less than ideal conditions.   He’s at 10-under 134.   “No matter if it’s cold or hot, if the scores are going crazy, just give yourself as many opportunities as you can to be successful,” Armour said.   Armour or Van Aswegen, 35, would be the oldest winner at Sanderson Farms since Woody Austin in 2013. Cody Gribble, Peter Malnati and Nick Taylor were all in their 20s when they won over the past three years. So were Scott Stallings, who won in 2012, and Chris Kirk in 2011. Armour has been on the PGA TOUR off and on since 2007, but never had consistent success, bouncing between the Web.com and PGA TOUR. He didn’t play in any PGA TOUR events from 2011 and 2014 and didn’t even qualify for the Web.com Tour in 2013.   He spent much of that time around his home course in Florida, catching up with family and making adjustments to his game.   “I knew if I was going to get back going, it had to happen then,” Armour said.   He got his Web.com card back in 2014 and eventually made it back to the PGA TOUR last season. He had to go to the Web.com Tour Finals to get his card back for this season and finished second in the first Finals event last month. Now he’s brought that form to Mississippi. Van Aswegen, winless in four years on the PGA TOUR, shot the low round of the day, a 7-under 65. He tied for ninth at the Safeway Open earlier this month in Napa, California.   The South African started on the back nine and was 3-under before a double bogey on No. 16. He rebounded with seven birdies over his final 10 holes.   “I had to just make a decision to keep going,” Van Aswegen said. “If you don’t do that, your round is toast. I was pretty happy to rebound after that. I had some luck along the way, too, so that was nice.”   Vaughn Taylor shot 66 and was two shots back, along with Seamus Power, who had two holes left to play in the second round on Saturday.   Dru Love, the son of Davis Love III who is playing on a sponsor’s exemption, shot 67 and was four shots back. His father shot 72 and was likely to miss the cut.

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IRVING, Texas –  Alan Edmondson first began collecting the autographs of every Masters winner on his golf cap 25 years ago. He wasn’t sure this year if he had the energy to chase after another one. Much easier, he thought to himself, to have a previous champion win again. But when pressed prior to this year’s Masters for the name he most wanted to add to his cap, Edmondson had one response. Sergio Garcia. “Honest truth,” Edmondson said. Last month, Sergio did his part by winning at Augusta National. And on Tuesday at the AT&T Byron Nelson, Edmondson – a Dallas resident since 1980 – collected his signature, as Garcia added his name to a unique piece of memorabilia steeped in golf history. Garcia became the latest to sign Edmondson’s cap, putting his name right next to his mentor and idol, fellow Spaniard Seve Ballesteros. “It’s an honor to be on that hat,” Garcia said. Garcia became the 43rd Masters winner to sign the cap. There have been 51 different winners. When Edmondson began his quest in 1992, six had already died – Horton Smith, Henry Picard, Ralph Guldahl, Jimmy Demaret, Craig Wood and Claude Harmon. Two others, Ben Hogan and Cary Middlecoff, were too ill to sign. “Hogan was my biggest regret because he lived closed by in Fort Worth,” Edmondson said. Since then, 10 of the Masters champs that signed the cap have died, the latest being Arnold Palmer. That what makes the cap so unique. No fan can hope to duplicate what Edmondson has already acquired. It actually began by a chance meeting and an unexpected inquiry. At the 1992 Masters, one of Edmondson’s friends was in attendance and bought the cap. He gave it to Edmondson as a souvenir. That next month, Edmondson went to the Tuesday practice round for the AT&T Byron Nelson, proudly wearing his Masters cap. He was headed for his car late in the day when he saw Fred Couples walking toward him, heading for the range. Couples had won the Masters that year. Edmondson asked if he wouldn’t mind signing the cap. Couples obliged. Another fan, having witnessed the exchange, caught up with Edmondson and said, “I’ll give you $100 for the cap.” “That’s when the lightbulb went off,” Edmondson said. He turned down the offer. When he got home, he told his wife Betsy and their 4-year-old daughter Callie about his interesting afternoon and his idea to get more signatures. “That sounds great,” Betsy said that night. “I just have two questions: Where’s the $100 and why do you still have that stupid cap?” Since there was no internet back then, Edmondson visited a nearby library and found the list of all Masters winners. He now had the names. All that was left was getting the signatures. He made it a fun father-daughter project, and Callie has been by his side for most of the signatures. Thanks to the two annual PGA TOUR stops in the North Texas area – at TPC Four Seasons and at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth — Edmondson could start making inroads. He often met the players when they showed up at the course to sign in. The Dallas-area also used to play host to a PGA TOUR Champions event, allowing Edmondson to get some of the older winners such as George Archer and Doug Ford. After a few years, he had just a handful of signatures and felt the need to step up the pace. So he told one of his church friends about it – a friend who just happened to be a former three-time winner on the PGA TOUR, Texas native Rik Massengale. Massengale quickly offered his help on the project. “He thought it was a fun idea and really helped me get a purpose for it,” Edmondson said. Massengale was instrumental in getting Phil Mickelson’s signature on the cap. In fact, Mickelson invited Alan and his daughter to join him on the range. That same day, they also got Mike Weir’s signature. Massengale also introduced Edmondson with introductions to Billy Casper, who at the time was playing with Rik’s brother Don on PGA TOUR Champions. Casper lived in California and didn’t have any events scheduled for Texas. But on one trip to Florida, Casper had a layover at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. Edmondson met him at the gate – this was before current security measures that now prevent non-fliers from getting close to the gate – and got the autograph between flights. On at least one occasion, one Masters champ encouraged another to sign the cap. It happened with Mark O’Meara, the 1998 champ. O’Meara had already signed the cap. He was at TPC Four Seasons waiting to play a practice round with his good friend Tiger Woods, and he told Alan and Callie to wait with him. When Tiger walked out, they got his signature. All the signatures have been acquired in person. Most have come in either at the local TOUR stops; obviously they didn’t have trouble getting local favorite Jordan Spieth’s signature after his win two years ago. But Edmondson has also flown to Ohio to get the signature of Herman Keiser (1946 winner) and to Florida for Angel Cabrera (2009 winner). “It was just a labor of love meeting those guys,” Edmondson said. Only one time has Edmondson given the cap to someone else to get a signature. It was at TPC Four Seasons, the year before the successful attempt to get Tiger’s autograph. Edmondson gave the cap to Tiger’s former agent Hughes Norton – and for five minutes was a nervous wreck. He even asked Norton for his business card in case something happened to the cap. When the agent returned and said he couldn’t find Tiger, Edmondson was disappointed but relieved to have the cap back in his possession. Edmondson used to keep the cap in a plexiglass case on a shelf in his closet. But then his home was burglarized. The thieves took Callie’s collection of 500 Beanie babies. They also took several of Edmondson’s caps — including one he had bought at the Hard Rock Café in Cabo San Lucas that was right next to the Masters cap. But for some reason, they didn’t take the cap with all the signatures. When Edmondson got home and realized how lucky he was that the cap was still in his closet, he took quick action. “Within 10 minutes, it was in a safe-deposit box at our bank,” he said. Given its age, the cap is in very good condition. The material hasn’t faded and neither have the signatures. Because it was sold in the days when style was less a consideration, it has an old-timey look, certainly not a sleek one. That’s a blessing in disguise. “There’s still lots of room to sign on it,” Edmondson said. “And it stands up nicely,” added Callie. How long will they keep the project going? Certainly no reason to stop now. Edmondson will soon turn 68. Callie is 29 and just started her family a year ago. “We’ll keep going as long as we can,” Edmondson said. But if Spieth or Garcia were to win a second Masters next year, Edmondson won’t mind taking the next year off.

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