In or out? Stick study may change your game

Brooks Koepka, making his 2019-20 PGA TOUR season debut, joins early-season winners Joaquin Niemann and Sebastián Muñoz in Las Vegas for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Koepka, a three-time winner last season, looks to get off to a quick start this fall as he builds toward the Presidents Cup in December, where he will be a vital cog in the Americans’ hopes against the International Team.  One of Koepka’s teammates, Bryson DeChambeau, is the defending champion at TPC Summerling, having beaten another U.S. Team member, Patrick Cantlay, by a single stroke. Cantlay won in Vegas the previous year. FIELD NOTES: Koepka, who played the Shriners from 2014-17, is making his return to Las Vegas. He’s notched a runner-up, a tie for fourth, and missed the cut twice. … Phil Mickelson will tee it up in Las Vegas for the first time since 2005 after playing the Safeway Open. … Adam Scott, who played for the UNLV golf team in the late 1990s, will be returning to Las Vegas. … Koepka’s brother, Chase, along with 17-year-old Akshay Bhatia, are in the field on sponsor exemptions. … Sebastián Muñoz, the early FedExCup leader, will be in the field after winning the Sanderson Farms Championship. He has two top-10’s on the season so far. … 2016 winner Smylie Kaufman will be playing his first PGA TOUR event since the John Deere Classic in July. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. COURSE: TPC Summerlin, 7,255 yards, par 71. The club, just west of Las Vegas, has hosted the Shriners since 1992. STORYLINES: Last time we saw Koepka, he tied for third at the TOUR Championship, five strokes behind FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy. Since 2012, Koepka has five worldwide wins after Labor Day. … Rickie Fowler is in the field, marking his 2019-20 TOUR debut. He finished T4 last year after shooting 6 under on his back nine. It was his first of six top-10s en route to finishing 19th on the FedExCup. … Former winners Kevin Na and Ryan Moore both are long-time Las Vegas residents and are back in the field alongside many other TOUR pros with ties to the desert. … Jim Furyk has won three times (1995, 1998, 1999), the only player to do so in this event, and the former FedExCup champ is back in action this week. Furyk, who turns 50 in 2020, played this week at the Safeway Open. … After his win last year, Bryson DeChambeau became a strong advocate for the Shriners Hospitals for Children. He invited patient ambassadors to his first Bryson DeChambeau Foundation Charity Day event. 72-HOLE RECORD: 260, Ryan Moore (2012), Webb Simpson (2013). 18-HOLE RECORD: 59, Chip Beck (3rd round, 1991 at Sunrise GC). TPC Summerlin record: 60, J.J. Henry (1st round, 2013), Rod Pampling (1st round, 2016). LAST TIME: Bryson DeChambeau won for the fourth time in 12 months after nailing an eagle from nearly 60 feet on the 16th hole Sunday. His 5-under 66 nipped defending champion Patrick Cantlay by one shot. Four players had a share of the lead on the back nine including Cantlay, who was looking to become the fist golfer in 20 years (Jim Furyk 1998-1999) to defend his title in Las Vegas. Cantlay made a bogey on the par-3 17th which was his eventual undoing. Sam Ryder finished third – his best result of the season – after shooting a 9-under 62, the round of the day Sunday. Rickie Fowler, Abraham Ancer, and Robert Streb finished T4 to round out the top-5. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 4 p.m.-8 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 5 p.m.-8 p.m. ET (Golf Channel) PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 9:45 a.m.-8 p.m. ET (Featured Groups) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 2 p.m.-8 p.m. ET. Saturday-Sunday, 3 p.m.-8 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The TOUR’s hot-shot rookie and one of its longest-tenured players will play in the final group at The RSM Classic on Saturday. They’ll be joined by one other man. Jason Gore, insurance salesman. Back problems and bad golf led the former TOUR winner to look for another job. It also helped him regain his love for the game. Kirkland-Gore Insurance was founded about 18 months ago. Entertaining clients is his main responsibility, but he did earn his insurance license last week. “I was playing well at home, but who knows when you get out here and play in this kind of weather, especially with this competition,â€� Gore said. He is competing on a sponsor exemption this week.  In the past 25 years, only eight players have won a PGA TOUR event while playing on a sponsor exemption. Gore is one of them. He will play in Saturday’s final group alongside Cameron Champ, the early front-runner for this season’s Rookie of the Year award, and Charles Howell III, the 39-year-old veteran of more than 500 TOUR events. Howell has a three-shot lead over Champ and Gore after back-to-back 64s. Howell is looking for his first win in more than a decade and just the third in nearly two decades as a pro. Champ is looking for his second win in five starts. Gore and Champ both shot 63 on Friday to move into second place. Champ is in position to take the FedExCup lead. At least for a day, Gore was reminded of better days. He’s still known best for his magical run in 2005, when he was the endearing underdog who played in the U.S. Open’s final group. He won four of his next eight starts, including his lone PGA TOUR title, and shot a 59. He’s won just once on the Web.com Tour since. This week, he’s back in the final group after getting one of the last spots in the field. He learned Sunday night that he’d been given a tee time at Sea Island. His car was packed for an unofficial event at Pebble Beach. He was on a red-eye flight to the East Coast hours later. “I’m just glad my boss would let me off to play,â€� he said. He only has the partial PGA TOUR status that is afforded to past champions, though. He’s played just 12 events over the past two years. He’s made one cut. “I haven’t played a weekend in so long, I don’t know what to do,â€� Gore said. “I have nothing to lose.â€� On Friday, he didn’t look like a man with a day job, albeit one that affords a lot of time on the golf course. He birdied his final four holes to shoot 30 on the back nine of Sea Island’s Seaside Course. He leads the field in Strokes Gained: Putting after gaining more than 5 shots on the greens Friday. He made all seven of his attempts between 5 and 15 feet, including three putts of 10-15 feet. He also made a 27-foot birdie putt on 17. Gore’s year got off to a promising start. Now he’s looking for a strong finish. He finished second in his third tournament of 2018, the Web.com Tour’s Club Colombia Championship. He hasn’t made a cut in his last eight starts, though. “My back felt terrible,â€� said Gore, who has arthritis in his spine. He had radio-frequency ablation six weeks ago to “burn all the nerves in there.â€� “Being out here, it kind of beats you up after all these years,â€� he said. Stepping away was just what he needed to get back on the leaderboard.

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