Inside ‘The Match’: How Tiger vs. Phil came to be

HONOLULU – Patton Kizzire says he’s lobbying the PGA TOUR to plant palm trees at more of its venues. With his two career wins coming at the Mayakoba Golf Classic and the Sony Open in Hawaii over the 2017-18 season, it’s not hard to see why. Both have an obvious tropical feel and most players in the field at both find themselves in a relaxed state of mind. You might think any other correlations might not be something to highlight. But last season, Matt Kuchar won at Mayakoba and then… you guessed it… at Sony. Coincidence? Maybe. Probably even. But surely, Brendon Todd doesn’t mind the omen having grabbed his Mayakoba trophy a few months ago. RELATED:  What you need to know for Sony Open in Hawaii | Power Rankings “It’s exciting for sure,â€� said Todd, who sits second in the FedExCup after two wins in the fall. “I would love to pick up another win this year. I’ll take as many as I can get. I spotted the TOUR a few years of bad play so I’m ready to get mine while I’ve got it.â€� Kuchar, the defending champion at Sony this week, remembered realizing the fact after his win 12 months ago. Just like Kizzire it would be his last win of the season. “I didn’t really put two and two together until after I won Sony… and I said to Patton, I was a little disappointed you didn’t win anything else,â€� Kuchar who has nine career TOUR wins, recalled with a grin. “I was hoping to continue following in his shoes. Now I have yet to have Brendon Todd come up to me and be disappointed that I didn’t win any more than the Mayakoba and Sony… but he might be.â€� Kizzire added with a laugh that it was a cool stat, but one that has now run its course. “It would be very interesting if Brendon won this year but obviously I’m pulling for myself this week. He’s been winning enough lately,â€� Kizzire said. “And this is a very different course this year with the heavy winds and the rain it will be a tough challenge. A lot of creativity and patience will be the key this week.â€� Coincidence or not, surely there is something more to this we need to explore. Let’s jump into some stats, although we must keep in mind that in Mayakoba ShotLink is not used extensively like most events. So we don’t get a direct comparison to Waialae Country Club where we do have access to more numbers.  But we do know that when Kizzire saluted in both tournaments, the focal point was his putting. He had just 107 total putts in Mexico and the same again in Hawaii. In Hawaii, this correlated to being third in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting and was T2 for putts per round, while in Mexico his 107 putts was T5 in relation to the field. What about Kuchar? His 111 total putts when he won at Mayakoba was T21 in the field. His 112 putts at Sony was T13 in the field, but he finished third in Strokes Gained: Putting that week. “Both golf courses are ball placement venues and put a premium on putting,â€� Kizzire confirms. “You have to put it in the fairway and place it well and make your putts. It’s not just for bombers, it is precision and strategy.â€� Funnily enough Kizzire hit just 35 of 56 fairways in Mexico when he won, which was T52 in the field and at Sony he found just 29 of 56 fairways. Clearly, he made it up on the greens. Kuchar, however ranked third in driving accuracy in his Mexico win and fourth in Hawaii. So in theory Kizzire is right. “You need to be awfully accurate off the tee as there can be lots of trouble to be found if you miss fairways on both courses,â€� Kuchar says. “That’s the best correlation. They are relatively flat and tight courses. I like the courses that provide options. They can be played so many different ways. “It is much more position oriented, and it’s not just grab driver and hit it. There are so many courses that we play you just know every non par-3 is grab the driver and smash it. The two we talked about there are a lot of different options.â€� Then there is the confidence factor. Once a player has a win under their belt in any season, the shackles are lifted pressure wise to some degree. “You get a little break and then you come to Hawaii feeling good,â€� Kizzire says. “You play in Maui which gets you get accustomed to the time change plus you are playing some golf in the winds in the lead up… so it can just create a perfect storm for success.â€� That sounds good to Todd. Of course, he has already won twice having picked up the Bermuda Championship prior to his win at Mayakoba. Bermuda is also a tropical venue. For the record, Todd ranked 13th in total putts while winning in Mexico with 109 for the week. He currently ranks 87th for the season in Strokes Gained: Putting. “I’m still confident from the fall. Still striking it nicely and the weeks where I chip and putt well are the weeks where I contend so I’m continuing a focus on those areas,â€� Todd said from the practice putting green where he was getting extra work done. “Playing last week in the wind has helped me in practice rounds so far as I am feeling like I’m in tune with how far things are going and how cross winds are playing. “This course is playing soft like Mayakoba was but it is blowing a lot harder here than it was there so I will have to play well.â€� If he does win this week you can be sure the field in next seasons Mayakoba Golf Classic might get a bit of a boost this time around.

Click here to read the full article…

As we hit the last event of the regular season and get ready to ride the rollercoaster of the FedExCup Playoffs, it seems an apropos time to check in on our bold predictions that came way back from last October. It has been another brilliant season full of highlight moments. We’ve seen the resurgence of some stars like THE PLAYERS champion Webb Simpson. We’ve seen Brooks Koepka become a major force. We’ve seen some newcomers emerge with the likes of Austin Cook, Aaron Wise and Satoshi Kodaira leading the rookie race. We’ve seen T.J. Vogel become a Monday king – getting through qualifying an incredible eight times. And we’ve seen some bigger names slide. But they’ve still got time to round back into form. Were we able to predict it all? Let’s see. 18. THE PLAYERS champion Si Woo Kim finds his consistency and becomes a regular threat on the PGA TOUR. Last season Kim shocked the world with his dominant PLAYERS win because for the remainder of the season he was virtually irrelevant. He made 14 cuts in 30 starts with six WDs. While he has certainly been much better this season with 20 made cuts and five top-10s from 27 starts it would be a stretch to claim he’s been a regular threat. We’ll be generous and give ourselves half a point here. 0.5/1 17. Phil Mickelson breaks his win drought. Mickelson arrived at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship having not tasted victory since 2013. But he was able to hold off a red-hot Justin Thomas to finally return to the winner’s circle. Thomas holed out for a dramatic eagle in regulation play to be part of a playoff but Mickelson held his nerve. 1.5/2 16. Three players will have a taste at World No. 1. Oh we were so close. And it could still come true during the last five weeks of the season. Dustin Johnson has continued to be a pretty good mainstay at the top, holding court for all but four weeks of 2018 so far. Justin Thomas was given his first view from the top in May. Justin Rose had a handful of chances to get to the top and still might, and Brooks Koepka is now breathing down Johnson’s neck. 1.5/3 15. Rose will bloom, and win, among the azaleas. As mentioned above Justin Rose has had a couple of chances to climb to No.1 in the world in what has been a pretty decent season. Wins at the World Golf Championships–HSBC Champions and the Fort Worth Invitational. He also won the Turkish Airlines Open and Indonesian Masters and was inside the top 25 of all four majors and THE PLAYERS. But he did not go one better than his 2017 runner-up at the Masters, finishing T12. Half a point. 2/4 14. Hideki Matsuyama wins a major. Can’t hide behind it. This one was wrong. After winning plenty of tournaments in 2016-17 it seemed a decent gamble on Japan finally getting a major champion. But instead, Matsuyama has seen a significant drop in form. He has just two top-10 results on the PGA TOUR this season. His best major result was T16 at the U.S. Open. Perhaps we should have seen it coming. Most players have a small dip in results after the birth of a first child. But they also bounce back the season after so let’s watch this space. 2/5 13. Rookie of the Year Xander Schauffele will keep on going. This kid is the real deal, so we were right about that. But we also said he’d win again this season, and so far, the trophies have eluded him. Two runner-up finishers. A third. A total of five top-10s and just four missed cuts from 23 starts. Who knows, he may just defend his TOUR Championship title and prove us fully right yet. 2.5/6 12. Tiger Woods plays again on TOUR. What a difference a year makes. This was considered a BOLD prediction last October. We had no idea if Woods would ever return to competitive golf as he recovered from a fourth back surgery, this time a fusion. Of course he has and he’s been amazing. His recent runner-up finish at the PGA Championship was his second of the season. Five top-10s in just 12 starts. Not only has Woods played, he could win this season. If he doesn’t get a trophy, you can be sure the prediction next season will be about claiming an 80th title. And some. 3.5/7 11. Someone will play late Sunday with the career Grand Slam on the line. This was true at the first major of the season as Rory McIlroy moved into the final group behind Patrick Reed at Augusta National. The problem for Rory was he never really threatened from there with a final-round 74 dropping him into a tie for fifth. Phil Mickelson was never a threat at the U.S. Open, and Jordan Spieth needed a late Sunday charge at the PGA Championship to finish T12. 4.5/8 10. Sangmoon Bae makes the FedExCup Playoffs – and so does a Chinese player. Well, we were off the mark with Bae as he returned to the TOUR from his Korean military duty. In 16 starts he has just one top-25 finish and ranks 201st in the FedExCup. And our history-making Chinese players haven’t fared much better. Zinjun Zhang sits 165th in the standings and Marty Dou is way back in 227th. 4.5/9 9. Justin Thomas will keep narrowing the gap between himself and Jordan Spieth. This has certainly happened, but just as much for Thomas’ great play as Spieth’s lack of it. The FedExCup champion has a huge chance to the be the first player to go back-to-back and win the FedExCup again after three wins already. His career win total sits at nine, while Spieth has stalled on 11 after a winless season to this point. Spieth has five top 10s – it certainly has not been a terrible season – but by his own standards he has dipped. The good news? There is still time to turn it around in the Playoffs. 5.5/10 8. Expect two or three wins from among this quartet: Maverick McNealy, Beau Hossler, Aaron Wise and Cameron Champ. Well, Wise held up his end of the bargain with an impressive win at the AT&T Byron Nelson, showing great poise down the stretch on Sunday. He’d been runner-up his previous start. Hossler has threatened often, twice a runner-up including a playoff loss at the Houston Open are part of five top 10s. Champ and McNealy have spent the majority of their time on the Web.com Tour where Champ has a win and a locked-up TOUR card for next season. McNealy has been fair without being great but will have a chance to advance from the Web.com Tour Finals. 5.5/11 7. Anirban Lahiri will use the Presidents Cup as a springboard to win on TOUR. Not yet he hasn’t. The Indian national has four top-10 finishes this season without being a serious threat. Still has the potential to be a superstar. 5.5/12 6. Jason Day and Adam Scott return to winning form. This one is already half true and might become full reality. Both players had been winless last season but Day certainly has returned as a TOUR threat. Wins at the Farmers Insurance Open and Wells Fargo Championship proved it. Scott, however, appeared to be heading for a long-term funk until lately. Scott led the PGA Championship with four holes to play before Brooks Koepka stepped up. His third-place finish was just his second top-10 of the season. Maybe he can push through the FedExCup Playoffs with a win. 6/13 5. U.S. Team will win the Ryder Cup in France. This seemed an obvious statement after their demolition of the International Team in the 2017 Presidents Cup, but as we head toward the contest, the European Team looks very strong. Players like Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood bring fresh form and Ian Poulter has his fire back. It should be an epic contest. 4. We will have a three-peat winner. Nope. Justin Thomas missed his chance at the CIMB Classic (T17). Hideki Matsuyama was a WD in his dual title defense in Phoenix, and Daniel Berger couldn’t keep pace with a dominant Dustin Johnson at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. 6/14 3. Justin Thomas will win THE PLAYERS Championship. Not this time. Instead he settled for T11. No one really competed with the resurgent Webb Simpson, who lapped the field with an incredible putting performance over four rounds. 6/15 2. There will be another first-time major winner along with Matsuyama. We did get two first-timers at the majors with Patrick Reed winning the Masters and Francesco Molinari taking Italy’s first major title at The Open Championship. But as Matsuyama was not one of them, we can only claim a half point. 6.5/16 1. The 25-and-under brigade will equal if not better their numbers from 2017. While Justin Thomas has kept winning and others like Aaron Wise and Jon Rahm have helped him out, reaching the incredible 18-win total from last season has remained out of reach. 6.5/17. Final Verdict: Currently 6.5/17. Bold predictions are meant to be just that. But we were still hoping for a better than 50 percent record! With that in mind…we’re hoping to earn more points with win from the U.S. Team at the Ryder Cup, and wish Scott, Hossler, Schauffele, Lahiri and Koepka the best in coming weeks.

Click here to read the full article…

Play begins today for the QBE Shootout at Tiburón Golf Course in Naples, Florida. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action. Leaderboard Tee times HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Friday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 1-5 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Sunday, 12-2 p.m. ET (NBC), 2-4 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). TEAMS Rory Sabbatini – Kevin Tway Louis Oosthuizen – Bubba Watson Harris English – Matt Kuchar Daniel Berger – Steve Stricker Sebastian Muñoz – Joaquin Niemann Abraham Ancer – Matthew Wolff Billy Horschel – Brendon Todd Ryan Palmer – Harold Varner III Marc Leishman – Cameron Smith Cameron Champ – Tony Finau Lanto Griffin – Mackenzie Hughes Kevin Na – Sean O'Hair MUST READS Expert Picks Twelve dynamic teams announced for QBE Shootout

Click here to read the full article…