Hubert Green passes away at age 71

Brittany Lincicome, twice an LPGA major winner, becomes the first woman in a decade to test her skills against PGA TOUR competition as the fourth-year event makes its debut in its new Kentucky home. Hall of Famer Davis Love III, joined by son Dru, also tops the field along with 2014 FedExCup champion Billy Horschel and nine-time TOUR winner Stuart Appleby. The roster also includes six-time winner Hunter Mahan, making his second start since his wife’s sister died of leukemia. FIELD NOTES: Paul Goydos, who tied for fifth at the U.S. Senior Open earlier this month, crosses over during an open week on the PGA TOUR Champions schedule. … With most of the world’s top players at Carnoustie this week, James Hahn is 62nd in the FedExCup standings and owns the highest world ranking in the field at No. 89. … Dudley Hart, twice a TOUR winner, makes just his second TOUR start of 2018 and fourth in the past 24 months. He briefly led the Web.com Tour’s LECOM Health Challenge two weeks ago after opening rounds of 68-65. … Derek Fathauer, who twice reached the U.S. Amateur quarterfinals while attending Louisville, is among at least a half-dozen golfers with Kentucky ties. That also includes Lexington native Josh Teater and recent University of Kentucky teammates Chip McDaniel and Cooper Musselman. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 300 points. STORYLINES: Lincicome, offered a sponsor invite after twice winning the Barbasol’s sister event Pure Silk LPGA Bahamas, becomes the fourth woman to tee it up in a TOUR event and first since Michelle Wie in 2008. Only Babe Zaharias has made the 36-hole cut, coming at the 1945 Los Angeles Open. … Mahan continues to press on after sister-in-law Katie Enloe – wife of SMU men’s golf coach Jason Enloe – passed away July 3 after a six-month leukemia battle. Mahan made the John Deere Classic cut in his first start back. … Davis Love III and Dru arrive as a tandem for the fifth time since March, though neither survived the John Deere Classic’s cut. It’s Dru Love’s 12th start vs. PGA TOUR competition; he’s made the weekend twice. … With five weeks left in the regular season, time is drawing short for pros to pick up crucial FedExCup points. More than half the field – including Appleby, Mahan, Jonathan Byrd and Chad Campbell – currently sits below 125th on the points list. COURSE: Keene Trace GC (Champions), 7,328 yards, par 72. Located about 20 minutes southwest of Lexington, the Arthur Hills design celebrates its 30th year by landing Kentucky’s first regular PGA TOUR event since 1959. Champions is a top-five mainstay among the state’s course rankings and has served as site for such events as the 1994 U.S. Senior Amateur, 1990 Women’s Western Amateur and Southeastern Conference championships. The course is one of just two on TOUR that end on a par-3, this one requiring a carry of some 200 yards over water to a large but shallow green. 72-HOLE RECORD: 263, Grayson Murray (2017 at RTJ Golf Trail/Grand National). 18-HOLE RECORD: 60, Jhonattan Vegas (2nd round, 2016 at Grand National), Chad Collins (2nd round, 2017 at Grand National), Scott Stallings (3rd round, 2017 at Grand National). LAST YEAR: Murray made the tournament’s final edition in Alabama his first PGA TOUR win, using a 3-under-par 68 on the final day to overtake Scott Stallings and hold off Chad Collins’ late threat. Collins, who tied the Barbasol’s 18-hole record with a 60 in Round 2, had a chance to tie for the lead with a 6-foot birdie chance at No.18 but couldn’t convert. That left it to Murray, who successfully negotiated a two-putt from 50 feet to lock up the victory. Murray won in the 24th start of his rookie season, with only one previous top-10 coming at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Stallings shot 71, falling to a share of third with Brian Gay (65) and Tag Ridings (69). HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 5-8 p.m. (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 4-7 p.m. (GC).

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It was wild enough that a pair of impossible haymakers from improbable contenders Sunday at the Island Green 17th – Eddie Pepperell’s 50-foot birdie roll followed in the next group by Jhonattan Vegas’ 70-footer – put a bit of a shock into what was seen as the long-awaited coronation of Rory McIlroy as THE PLAYERS Champion. But when this blast from the past came riding in on a cool spring breeze, a classy veteran so grizzled that he joked that “my first name has become ‘48-year-old’ and my middle name is ‘Jim,’ � well, Jim Furyk nearly left everyone speechless. Let the record show that the dynamic McIlroy birdied the 15th and 16th holes Sunday, then played 17 and 18 brilliantly to nail down his 15th PGA TOUR victory, but this was an occasion when a runner-up performance deserved significant attention and heaps of praise. “I don’t feel any less pride for the way I played because I didn’t win,� said Furyk, who wasn’t even qualified for his 23rd PLAYERS Championship untill he placed inside the top 10 at the Honda Classic a few weeks ago. “I have a lot of respect for (McIlroy) as a person. But it still stings (to finish second). I mean, I’m a competitor, and I want to win, and it pisses me off I didn’t.� Such an afterthought entering the tournament and even after opening with a 71 to sit six off the lead, Furyk ignited a little bit of attention with a second-round 64, then added more intrigue when he shot 71 Saturday to enter the fourth round in a tie for sixth, five off the lead. Against a heavyweight leaderboard of McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood and Jason Day, Furyk probably did not generate much support from those picking a winner, but he had that fire in his belly that had been missing for a long time. “I played a great event at Honda (T-9) and was just excited. I knew how well I was playing . . . but it was nice to get in contention to get under the heat, to have to hit shots under a lot of pressure. It will be a confidence boost going forward.� Biggest gut-check? The stretch of holes between Nos. 5 and 8, “where I lost my tempo and lost my confidence and hit horrific shots,� he said. Somehow, he survived – a chip-in birdie at the fifth, then clutch par-saves at six, seven and eight. When a solid par at nine sent him to the 10th tee, “I told Fluff (caddie Mike Cowan) that I’ve got to build my confidence,� and Furyk suggested “3-under on the back in these conditions (cool and blustery)� would get him into the thick of things. When you’re in your 26th PGA TOUR season and have played nearly 600 tournaments, you’ve got “credentials,� as they say, and Furyk showed he knew what he was talking about. He birdied the par-4 10th and par-5 11th, was one of four players tied for the lead at 14-under mid-way through his back, and when he shook off a sloppy bogey at the par-4 15th with birdies at 16 and 18, “48-year-old Jim Furyk� was your clubhouse leader at 15-under. Daughter Caleigh had returned from a volleyball tournament in Orlando in time to watch her dad play 17 and 18, then she joined her mother, Tabitha, and brother, Tanner, to huddle with Jim after he signed for 67 – 273. They laughed near the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse, then he disappeared into the sprawling building where he watched his lead melt away in McIlroy’s finishing kick. It might not have been easy viewing for Furyk, but this had been a four-day stretch that showcased the enormous amount of guts which defines him. He is not only nearing another birthday (he will be officially called “49-year-old Jim Furyk� May 12) and playing against kids half his age who hit it twice as far as he does, but Furyk admittedly has never felt comfortable at this brilliant Pete Dye design. No matter that he has lived just minutes away for more than 20 years, “there are hard edges, hard lines here and (for years) I couldn’t figure it out,� said Furyk. In 22 previous starts, he had finished Top 10 just four times, but more telling is that arguably the most consistent player of his generation not called Tiger Woods, Furyk had missed the cut five times and finished outside the top 30 on six occasions. But this week, riding new-found confidence in the aftermath of the Honda and a determination to be more aggressive at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course, Furyk shined. Maybe not as brightly as McIlroy, but surely in a way that he hasn’t in years, not with his world ranking having fallen to 167th and his health a big challenge. But thrilled to be healthy for the first time since 2015, Furyk came into the year determined “to see how competitive I could be.� Finishing just one behind a dynamo named McIlroy in the PGA TOUR flagship tournament that features the best field in golf answered that in a very positive fashion.

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