Inside the Field: Wyndham Championship

THE OVERVIEW Fans love the long ball. Cameron Champ is further proof. His prodigious length landed him on the cover of Golf Digest magazine after his first tournament as a PGA TOUR rookie. He showed that he’s more than just a sideshow by winning his next start, the Sanderson Farms Championship. As the only rookie to win this fall, Champ is the early frontrunner for the Rookie of the Year Award. He no longer has to worry about keeping his card – he’s exempt until the end of the 2021 season – and has upcoming starts at big events like the Sentry Tournament of Champions, THE PLAYERS Championship and PGA Championship. (Side note: Champ’s tee balls should play nicely on the sloping fairways of Kapalua’s Plantation Course.) His length receives an inordinate amount of attention, but for good reason. He leads the TOUR in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee at 1.483 strokes per round. That accounts for 70 percent of the strokes he gains per round. At the Sanderson Farms, he had an average of 152 yards left to the hole after his tee shot. That was nearly 30 yards closer than the field average. He covered more than two-thirds of the Country Club of Jackson with his tee shots. Hitting it far is nice. Hoisting trophies is better. Champ has done both. — By Sean Martin BY THE NUMBERS How Cameron Champ ranked in Strokes Gained statistics during his last full season on the PGA TOUR: FEDEXCUP UPDATE Current 2018-19 position: 6th Playoff appearances: 0 TOUR Championship appearances: 0 Best FedExCup result: The PGA TOUR rookie has put himself in good shape to reach the TOUR Championship after a fantastic performance in the fall portion of the schedule. SHOTLINK FUN FACT Cameron Champ hit 43 drives of 340 yards or longer during the fall portion of the 2018-19 wrapahead schedule. That’s 22 more drives than the next highest player (Seth Reeves) on that list. INSIDER INSIGHTS PGATOUR.COM’s Insiders offer their expert views on what to expect from Cameron Champ in 2019. TOUR INSIDER: It takes more than long tee shots to win on the PGA TOUR. Champ also used stellar putting to win the Sanderson Farms Championship. He finished second in Strokes Gained: Putting that week. “That’s definitely been a part of my game I’ve worked on extremely hard on on the Web.com Tour last year,â€� he said. “I’ve kind of been a streaky putter at times. (I’m) just trying to slowly grow other parts of my game as well. Short game and putting, but mainly putting, because my ball striking has been so good.â€� — By Sean Martin FANTASY INSIDER: It’s not supposed to be this easy; well, it’s not supposed to look this easy. I slotted the PGA TOUR rookie a conservative 129th in my full-membership fantasy ranking before the season started, but he’s already exceeded even elevated expectations with a seamless rise to the golf’s top shelf, so much so that his debut in our annual Top 30 series already feels low. Make no mistake that his strength off the tee is a bonus because he’s a terrific putter and scorer. His only weakness is inexperience, at least it’s supposed to be. Up next is Kapalua, where the longest drive in recorded history is Davis Love III’s 476-yard poke on the par-5 18th hole in the final round in 2004. With the proper wind (or perhaps not), consider that in jeopardy. — By Rob Bolton EQUIPMENT INSIDER: Champ has extremely high club head speed compared to his contemporaries (leading the Tour at 129.6 miles per hour), and he already has a legendary story about breaking his driver. Just minutes before teeing off on Sunday at the 2018 Sanderson Farms, which he won, Champ broke his Ping G400 Max driver on the range due to his tremendous speed. Luckily, Champ had a backup driver with his specs – 9 degrees with a Fujikura Pro White TS 63X shaft. Also of note, Champ uses two different 4 irons: a Ping i500 4-iron and a Ping iBlade 4 iron. The different constructions allow Champ to properly fill his yardage gaps. — By Andrew Tursky STYLE INSIDER: If any player was born to wear Nike, it is Champ. The combination of his surname, athletic build, and freakishly long drives make him a perfect fit for the image Nike is selling. While Champ won’t wow you with fancy kits, the razor-sharp tailoring of his clothing will continue to get him noticed. — By Greg Monteforte

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While there will be no pro-am portion to this year's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the tournament will still feature 156 players and a field full of notable names, including reigning FedExCup champion Dustin Johnson. Nick Taylor returns to defend his 2020 title, while Phil Mickelson is gunning for his record sixth title at Pebble Beach. FIELD NOTES: Dustin Johnson, a two-time winner at Pebble Beach, returns to play his first event on the continental U.S. in 2021. He finished T11 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions to start the year... Kamaiu Johnson, who was set to make his PGA TOUR debut at the Farmers Insurance Open but was unable to due to a positive COVID-19 test, will instead tee it up at Pebble. Johnson's inspiring story — he was an eighth-grade dropout but found comfort in golf — caught the eyes of TOUR event organizers... Other sponsor exemptions include 19-year-old Akshay Bhatia, who finished T9 at this season's Safeway Open, and 2019 U.S. Amateur champion Andy Ogletree. Davis Riley, who sits third on the Korn Ferry Tour's Regular Season Points List, also is in the field on sponsor exemption. He made the cut at last week's Waste Management Phoenix Open... The Prince of Pebble Beach, Phil Mickelson, returns to the PGA TOUR this week and is looking for his record sixth victory at the event... The PGA TOUR Champions will be represented at Pebble Beach. Other than Mickelson, a trio of over-50 major winners - John Daly, Tom Lehman and Jim Furyk - will also be in the field... Past FedExCup winners including Jordan Spieth, Brandt Snedeker, and Bill Haas will also tee it up. Spieth and Snedeker are past winners at Pebble Beach. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: This year, with no pro-am portion of the tournament, the 156 professionals will play only two courses instead of the usual three. The two courses that will be used are Pebble Beach Golf Links (Jack Neville/Douglas Grant, 1919) and Spyglass Hill Golf Course (Robert Trent Jones Sr., 1966). The cut will take place after 36 holes instead of 54. Pebble Beach Golf Links, par 72, 7,051 yards Spyglass Hill Golf Course, par 72, 7,041 yards STORYLINES: The first of three victories for Jordan Spieth in 2017 came at Pebble Beach. Spieth, who won the Travelers and The Open Championship that same year, hasn't won since. Spieth, who was T8 heading into the weekend in Phoenix, will keep that momentum going into Pebble Beach, a place he's comfortable... Matt Gogel - who hasn't played the PGA TOUR since 2007 - is in the field as a Sponsor Exemption. Gogel won at Pebble Beach in 2002 and was a key supporting actor in Tiger Woods' comeback win in 2000. It was Gogel, then a TOUR rookie, who had the seven-shot lead with seven holes left that Woods eventually overcame thanks in part to a hole-out eagle at the par-4 15th... Jason Day has done everything but win at Pebble Beach. His fourth-place finish in 2020 gives the Aussie six top-6 finishes at the event, but no victories... Nick Taylor's win in 2020 was the first by a non-American in 15 years. In fact, only four non-Americans have ever won at Pebble Beach (Taylor, Vijay Singh, Brett Ogle, and Bruce Crampton). 72-HOLE RECORD: 265, Brandt Snedeker (2015). 18-HOLE RECORD: 60, Sung Kang at Monterey Peninsula (2nd round, 2016). Pebble Beach record: 62, Tom Kite (3rd round, 1983), David Duval (3rd round, 1997). Spyglass Hill record: 62, Phil Mickelson (1st round, 2005), Luke Donald (1st round, 2006). LAST TIME: Nick Taylor held off a charging Kevin Streelman to win his second PGA TOUR title. Taylor, whose first TOUR win came at the 2014 Sanderson Farms Championship, was paired with Phil Mickelson for the final round, but Taylor's 2-under 70 proved to be enough as Mickelson fired a final-round 74. Taylor held on down the stretch making birdies on Nos. 15 and 17 after bogeys on Nos. 11 and 12, and a double bogey on the par-5 14th. Mickelson finished third, Jason Day finished fourth, and Maverick McNealy, Daniel Berger, Matt Jones, and Charl Schwartzel all finished T5. Taylor opened the tournament with a 63 and was in contention all week long before taking it across the finish line Sunday. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel). Saturday, 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS). Sunday, 3 p.m.-6:30 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. ET (Featured Groups). Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). Sunday, 10:20 a.m.-3 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3 p.m.-6:30 p.m. (Featured Holes). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. Sunday, 1 p.m.-6:30 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio). TOURCast: Get shot-by-shot info in real time with shot tracks and video with TOURCast. TOUR Pulse: Get the PGA TOUR app to utilize TOUR Pulse, which provides users the ability to experience a mix of content, such as video highlights, written hole summaries and stat graphics on every player after every hole they complete.

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