Inside the Field: Wells Fargo Championship

Click here to read the full article…

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Will Zalatoris said it was the toughest decision he’s had to make in his golf career. But he knew that his working relationship with his caddie, Ryan Goble, who had “basically been my best friend for the last three years,” Zalatoris said, had become stagnant. So, after the two finished off a 66 in the second round of the Wyndham Championship, Zalatoris told Goble he was fired. “Ryan’s a brother for life,” Zalatoris said Saturday. “We’ve kind of had a rough month together and it was starting to affect our relationship. I know guys say that when they split, but it really was. We were guys that we would love to have dinner together and hang out and … what was going on on the course was starting bleed off the course and that’s not what you want. “He’s an incredible friend, I love him to death, and I told him I had to do what’s best for me.” Zalatoris asked his short game and putting coach, Josh Gregory, to fill in on the weekend, and Saturday’s result was a second-straight 66. The former Wake Forest All-American finished minutes before the second rain delay and will start the final round at 7 under. Zalatoris plans to have Joel Stock, who has caddied for Ben Crane, Kevin Tway and Cameron Tringale, work for him during the FedExCup Playoffs and beyond. The decision Zalatoris made was not a hasty one. He said that both he and Goble had “kind of sensed it for a little bit” and the frustration had carried over for the last month. He characterized Goble as “one of the funniest guys I know.” Zalatoris, who has runner-up finishes in three of the nine majors he’s played, including two this year, also left the door open for a future reunion. “Nothing’s permanent and we’ll kind of see how everything goes from here,” he said. Gregory, the former SMU and Augusta University coach who is based in Dallas where Zalatoris lives, called Saturday “one of the coolest days of my coaching career.” He knew how difficult it was for Zalatoris to fire Goble and he said the goal on Saturday was simply to have fun. “I feel awful, but Ryan Goble was first class the way he handled it,” Gregory said. “He’s been there with Will when Will was ranked over 1,000 in the world and now, he’s a top-15 player in the world and going to trend upwards. “So, (Ryan) will be very successful in the future, and he will land a great job and things are going to be good. And it’s going to be a win-win for both of them.” Playing well Saturday was a bonus, Gregory said, although the round started with a double bogey on the second hole after “one of the worst shots I’ve ever seen him hit.” Eight birdies followed, along with just two bogeys, and Zalatoris has another chance to pick up his first PGA TOUR victory. “I would guess that the lead’s probably going to be 13 or 14, maybe even higher, so I’m going to have to put up a pretty low one tomorrow to win this,” said Zalatoris, who came to Greensboro ranked No. 11 in the FedExCup. “Pretty good momentum obviously going forward to the next few weeks in the Playoffs.” Zalatoris called Gregory Friday evening to ask him to caddie on the weekend. The 47-year-old said he was glad to fill in and even happier he’d lost some weight recently – “otherwise I don’t think I would have made it in the heat,” joked Gregory, who toted the bag for another one of his students, Henrik Norlander, earlier this year at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Gregory said he hoped he was able to bring a smile to Zalatoris’ face on Saturday, along with some conviction and positivity – like when the Texan made double at No. 2 and his coach just said, “let’s go see how many bridies we can make.” “We’ve had an awesome few years, and this was a tough day, tough week for him,” Gregory said. “You heard in his interviews how much he loves Ryan, and their relationship was amazing. It was time. He needed to make a change and selfishly for me to be there for him and give him a hug and, and tell him I love him. Our goal this weekend was to have fun.”

Click here to read the full article…

ATLANTA – What an end to the PGA TOUR season. Tiger Woods completed his incredible comeback while Justin Rose was rewarded for his remarkable consistency over the course of the season. “Today was a good day for the old guys, for sure,â€� Rose joked. Instead of being another pundit to pontificate about their performances – there was plenty of that on Sunday – let’s take a look at the numbers. 1. Tiger Woods won the TOUR Championship after four back surgeries. Justin Rose never had to go under the knife, but he struggled with his own back problems in recent years. He revealed Sunday that he was suffering from a back injury when he won the gold medal at the 2016 Olympics. That injury was part of the reason he went winless in the 2016 and 2017 seasons after six straight years with at least one PGA TOUR win. “I’ve had my challenges. We all know Tiger’s well-documented injury history. I’ve had my fair share along the way, as well,â€� Rose said. “Those are moments that you have to ask yourself how much you do want it because of the amount of time and diligence and sacrifice and doing all the right things constantly day in, day out. It’s not just turn up and play, it’s about doing 50 things every day just to be able to play your best. “I think just as you get older, you have to do — you have to be sort of a lot more diligent, I suppose. But the fire is there. Like you say, that’s what keeps me doing it. I love waking up and trying to improve, and it’s certainly not a chore.â€� With age, comes more responsibility and more steps necessary to compete. Rose had to change his swing to alleviate the pain in his back. Less time getting medical treatment meant more time practicing. It explains how this 38-year-old father of two came to rise to the top of a game that is increasingly dominated by kids. The previous four FedExCup champions had an average age of 25. He is the third-oldest player to win the FedExCup. Only Vijay Singh (2008) and Jim Furyk (2010) were older when they lifted the Cup. They won before the game’s current youth movement, though. After the BMW Championship, Rose became the third-oldest player to reach No. 1 in the world ranking for the first time. “Everyone loves a comeback story because we’re all coming back from something,â€� said Rose’s swing coach, Sean Foley. 2. Rose won the FedExCup with incredible consistency. He finished in the top 10 in 61 percent of his starts, the best percentage on TOUR this season. Dustin Johnson was the only other player to finish in the top 10 more than half the time. Rose’s run really started with last year’s FedExCup Playoffs, where he finished in the top 10 in all four events. He has now finished in the top 10 in 15 of his past 22 starts (68 percent). He’s also finished in the top 10 in seven of the past eight Playoffs events, including three runners-up. He started this year’s Playoffs with a missed cut at THE NORTHERN TRUST, but then had two runners-up and a fourth-place finish to clinch the Cup. “Whenever you win over the course of a season, … (it’s) something special. It’s very unique,â€� Rose said. “This opportunity only presents itself if you play very, very good golf for a long period of time through the course of a season, so I’m proud to have taken my chance this year.â€� He has been so consistent because he addressed the one hole in his game: his putting. Rose was long known as one of the game’s best ball-strikers. Now he’s one of the top putters, as well. His well-rounded game allows him to contend week-in and week-out. He finished the season in the top 30 in all four Strokes Gained statistics: Off-the-Tee (14th), Approach-the-Green (29th), Around-the-Green (7th) and Putting (17th). His drastic rise in Strokes Gained: Putting – he had one of the best single-season improvements in that statistic’s history – gave him the complete game to win the FedExCup. He rose more than 100 strokes in Strokes Gained: Putting since last season. He switched to the claw grip after the 2016 Ryder Cup and utilized multiple methods to improve his green-reading. “From how he eats, to how he trains, to how he breaks down a golf course, he has a very thoughtful approach to maximizing his probability for success,â€� Foley said. “Sometimes people are afraid to change what they do or how they do it. His lack of satisfaction in what he’s doing has really pushed us to look under every rock.â€� 3. Tiger Woods and his Scotty Cameron putter are working well together. Woods used three putters in the first three events of the FedExCup Playoffs, but it looks like the Cameron may stay in the bag for awhile. Woods was second in Strokes Gained: Putting at East Lake (+5.12). It was his best performance with the putter since 2013. He holed five putts of 20 feet or longer, one short of his career-high. He almost led that statistic for just the sixth time in his career. He was atop this week’s Strokes Gained: Putting standings when arrived at the final hole, but he lost six-tenths of a stroke for missing his 7-foot birdie putt. He can be excused, though, because he knew that he just needed two putts for the win. Statistics are important, but none of them trump winning. 4. Woods finished T3 in driving accuracy at East Lake. It’s just the fourth time in the last decade – and the first time since 2012 — that he’s been in the top three of that statistic at a tournament. Sure, it’s a small field at East Lake. But the course is a difficult driving test and the thick Bermudagrass rough makes life tough for those who stray from the fairways. The driver was an asset this week. He’s improved so much with that club since he increased the loft and switched shafts at THE NORTHERN TRUST. Woods hit 36 of 56 fairways (64.3 percent). More importantly, he avoided the big, penal misses and missed the fairways in the correct spot. His ball control was key to winning at an old-school, difficult East Lake layout. 5. The stats out of the TOUR Championship won’t do his iron play justice. He finished 14th in the 30-man field in both greens hit and Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green, but controlling his misses was key to his short-game success. He saved par so many times because he left himself easy chip shots. East Lake’s slick greens and thick rough made it very difficult for players to save par when they short-sided themselves. “I think the best thing about my ball-striking this week … is every time I’ve missed it, I’ve missed on the correct angle, so I’ve had control of it going into the greens. And even when I missed the greens, I had pretty simple pitches where I’ve had a lot of green to work with,â€� he said. Woods led the field in scrambling, getting up-and-down 17 of 24 times, and was third in sand saves (7 of 9). His seven bogeys were tied for fewest in the field (he also had one double). For further proof of Woods’ strong ball-striking, look at the season-ending standings for Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green. Once again, he finished the season atop that statistic. He’s led the TOUR in that metric in each of the past six seasons in which he’s played enough rounds to be included in the statistical standings (2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2018).

Click here to read the full article…