His putter betrayed him on the first hole, and it didn’t get any better the rest of the day. He did make the cut. And when that’s the lone positive, you know it was a long day.
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World No. 6 Justin Thomas has confirmed that he will defend his title at the 2021 PNC Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Orlando, Grande Lakes, Dec. 16-19. Thomas once again will play with his father, Mike Thomas, after the pair won on their PNC Championship debut last year, birding 15 of their 18 holes to card a final-round 57 and end the week on 25-under par. Vijay Singh and son Qass claimed the second spot, while Mark O’Meara and his son Shaun shared third place alongside Lee Trevino and his son Daniel, all of whom are competing again in this year’s championship. Winner of the 2017 PGA Championship and this year’s THE PLAYERS Championship, Thomas commented: “We are excited to return to the PNC Championship this year to defend our title. It was the perfect way to end the season last year and a great time for the whole family. We’re all looking forward to getting back out there again. It is really special to be able to be out there competing with Pops amongst this amazing field of major champions and their families. We’ve both been training, we’re ready, and can’t wait for the week to start!” One player announcement remains to complete the field of golfing legends past and present. The 19 players confirmed for the 2021 line-up along with Thomas are: six-time Major winner Nick Faldo; three-time major winner and European Ryder Cup Captain Padraig Harrington; two-time major winner Mark O’Meara; three-time Major Champion Nick Price; double U.S. Open Champion Retief Goosen; 2003 U.S. Open Champion Jim Furyk; 1996 Open Champion Tom Lehman; World No.1 Nelly Korda; 2016 Open Champion Henrik Stenson; nine-time Major winner and all-round golf legend Gary Player; eight-time Major winner Tom Watson; Lee Trevino, who has played in every edition since the Championship began in 1995; former World No. 1 David Duval; two-time Major winner John Daly; three-time major winner Vijay Singh; 2013 PNC Championship winner Stewart Cink; two-time Masters Champion Bubba Watson; and Matt Kuchar, qualifying via his victory at the 2012 PLAYERS Championship. The tournament, which will be broadcast live on NBC, attracts major champions whose victories this year span 1959 to 2021. Last year, the PNC Championship included a field that had won a remarkable 67 Major titles. With only 20 teams competing, players past and present have shown unprecedented interest in campaigning for a spot in the star-studded line-up. The PNC Championship has continued to evolve and develop since the inaugural tournament in 1995, when ten major winners gathered with their sons. The tournament now features 20 major champions and their relatives competing for the total purse of $1,085,000 in a two-day, 36-hole scramble for the Willie Park Trophy. The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. has been the title sponsor of the tournament since 2012. The event formerly known as the PNC Father/Son Challenge, was renamed the PNC Championship in 2020 to reflect the high level of competition and field composition, while still celebrating an inclusive family event that showcases the special bonds that the love of golf creates. To qualify for the PNC Championship, players must have won a major championship or The Players Championship. Their partner must not hold a PGA TOUR card. The PNC Championship is operated in partnership by IMG and NBC Sports. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit pncchampionship.com.
Former FedExCup champions Justin Rose and Jordan Spieth, as well as Brooks Koepka, winner of the inaugural Wyndham Rewards Top 10, highlight the field at the Wyndham Championship. J.T. Poston will be there to defend his title in the final event before the FedExCup Playoffs. FIELD NOTES: Koepka, who held the top spot in the FedExCup entering last year’s Playoffs, will look to build on the progress he showed at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and PGA Championship. He was outside the top 125 in the standings before his runner-up in Memphis… Spieth and Patrick Reed, who had a thrilling playoff duel in 2013, are both back in the field… Former FedExCup champ Brandt Snedeker returns to a tournament he has won twice, including his first TOUR win and a victory two years ago that included a first-round 59…Four golfers in the top-10 of the FedExCup standings will tee it up at Sedgefield CC, including reigning Rookie of the Year Sungjae Im, past Wyndham winner Webb Simpson and his former junior-golf rival from nearby Raleigh, Brendon Todd… Teen-aged pro Akshay Bhatia and past Wyndham champion Arjun Atwal are among the sponsor exemptions… World No. 13 Tommy Fleetwood will make his fourth straight start in the Return to Golf. FEDEXCUP: Winner gets 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: Sedgefield Country Club (Ross), 7,127 yards, par 70. Opened in 1926, Sedgefield is the only Donald Ross original that serves as a regular PGA TOUR venue. The course features Ross’ signature small and undulating greens. STORYLINES: The Wyndham Championship marks the final week of the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 competition. No. 1 on the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is Justin Thomas, who is not in the field in North Carolina, but entered the PGA Championship with a commanding 713-point lead in the standings. Webb Simpson sits at No. 2 as of the PGA Championship and will be playing… Im, Reed, and Todd are the other three inside the top-10 of the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 competition that are playing Sedgefield… As of the PGA Championship, Chase Seiffert sits at No. 125 in the FedExCup standings and holds the final spot in the FedExCup Playoffs… Nick Watney is just one FedExCup point back and sits at 126th while Bronson Burgoon is just one FedExCup point ahead at 124th… Two golfers jumped inside the top 125 at the 2019 Wyndham Championship (Andrew Landry and Patton Kizzire)… The last four winners of the Wyndham Championship have all shot 20-under or better. 72-HOLE RECORD: 258, Henrik Stenson (2017), JT Poston (2019) 18-HOLE RECORD: 59, Brandt Snedeker (1st round, 2018). LAST TIME: J.T. Poston, who grew up just 90 minutes from Greensboro, North Carolina, fired a sizzling 8-under-par 62 on Sunday at the Wyndham Championship a year ago to win his first PGA TOUR title. In the process, Poston became the first golfer on TOUR since Lee Trevino in 1974 to capture a 72-hole tournament without making any bogeys or worse. Poston also matched Henrik Stenson’s tournament record 22-under 258. Poston nipped fellow North Carolinian Webb Simpson by one shot. Simpson finished runner-up while Byeong Hun An (who matched Poston’s 8-under 62 as the round of the week in the first round), Viktor Hovland, and Si Woo Kim rounded out the top five. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 2 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS). Sunday, 12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday 7 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups). Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). Sunday, 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. (Featured Groups), 2:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).
Now that we’re past the midpoint of the fall portion of the last wraparound season, it’s a good time to remind you that the stand-alone PGA TOUR Fantasy app will be discontinuing at some point after the conclusion of Segment 1. I first relayed the news in this space for the Fortinet Championship, and then an email with timing of the change was distributed on Oct. 11. RELATED: Horses for Courses, Statistically Speaking You’ll still be able to navigate to PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf via the PGA TOUR app, via the PGA TOUR’s website or directly at FantasyGolf.PGATOUR.com. Unlike how many rookie gamers think about what decides league titles, the Butterfield Bermuda Championship is the kind of event that can have a greater impact than the no-cut invitationals and majors. This is because there’s so much more of a learning curve for gamers in the absence of household names than when we can throw a handful of darts and hit chalk with confidence. It’s a week in which the preview material that Mike Glasscott and I contribute is more valuable. I’ve used the comparison before because it applies: This is like a position week in a bowling league. No, our season-ending tournament – in our lingo, the FedExCup Playoffs – isn’t imminent, but it’s the kind of experience that tends to separate the contenders from the pretenders. We’re presented with a few of these throughout every season, and they can add up. Unless cornered and at the buzzer, I always play conservatively. PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf rewards the approach because it’s a season-long contest. So, my roster in Bermuda reflects a blend of consistent success at Port Royal and my confidence in others just to make the cut. As much as it is an easy week to generate distance from your opposition, that operates in the wrong direction, too. Note that Bermuda is an hour ahead of Eastern Time in the United States, so if you navigate to Tee Times or the Leaderboard, and either page defaults to “Event” time, it could fool those of you living in Eastern Time into thinking that it’s your local time, which would be a reasonable time to begin, when, in fact, you’ll be an hour late. POWER RANKINGS WILD CARD Seamus Power (-120 for a Top 20) … The Irishman presents a worthy exercise in what matters more – recency or course success. Had he been cruising along as he has so often since the spring of 2021, he’d have a prominent spot in the Power Rankings proper, but it’s been four months since his last top 25, a drought that includes a couple of limited-field, no-cut competitions. Even this lowest Top-X finish offered at BetMGM is aggressive given that, while he’s 3-for-3 at Port Royal, he’s connected for only one top 30. However, and even the most ardent of cynics must cite this, he didn’t elevate in earnest until after his second appearance in 2020, but he had been tracking for last year’s T12 for months. DRAWS C.T. Pan (+300 for a Top 20) … Not that there haven’t been other opportunities for him to rekindle form, but Port Royal is right up his alley. He’s making his debut, but he won’t be overwhelmed off the tee, so he’ll be finding the shortest grass more often than others. This target is a reach, but it’s worth a fraction of a unit. Stephan Jaeger … Including his flourish of a fortnight at the finish line to qualify for his first FedExCup Playoffs, he’s cashed in seven consecutive starts. He also placed T20 in his debut at Port Royal last year. Solid DFS complement. Brian Gay … He turned 50 a few weeks after a T12 in his title defense here last year, but don’t let that stop you from fractional plays in DFS. His scoring average in 12 rounds at Port Royal is 67.42. He’s also done well as a rookie on the PGA TOUR Champions where two of his last three starts resulted in a top 10. Bottom line, he remains a great fit. Will Gordon Harry Hall Adam Long Cameron Percy Nick Taylor Kevin Yu Odds sourced on Tuesday, October 25th at 6 p.m. ET. For live odds visit betmgm. FADES Erik van Rooyen … To recap, two weeks ago, he returned from a three-month absence due to the injured neck that forced him out of The Open Championship at the 11th hour. In the swing through Spain, he finished T61 and missed the cut. Suffice it to say that he’s rarin’ to get back after it. With his second child due in a couple of months, it’s fair to consider that his game will sharpen back into form, but the dynamics of the timing now are very different than how the Nappy Factor seemed to be in play when his first child was born in the summer of 2021. So, while on name value alone, he cannot be ignored, be choosy and cautiously optimistic. Charley Hoffman … Sure, he had a T10 in Detroit three months ago, but it’s his only top-30 finish of the last 12 months. And in his only appearance at Port Royal, he shot 73 and 84 in 2020. Doug Ghim … Form over fit here. Finished T14 in his last trip in 2020 but he’s scuffled since hanging up a pair of T16s in a three-week stretch in July. Perhaps utilize in exactly one aggressive DFS build. Scott Gutschewski … The 46-year-old was omitted from my full-membership fantasy ranking, but he was granted one start on a Minor Medical Extension after I filed. To fulfill its terms (130.629 FedExCup points), he needs to finish alone in fourth in Bermuda. It’d be a career-best but perhaps not out of the realm of fair possibilities. Consider that it was just three months ago that his solo fifth at the Barracuda Championship set a personal-best on the PGA TOUR, albeit with Modified Stableford scoring measuring performance. However, the more realistic goal is a two-way T38. That’d yield 17.500 FedExCup points and clear the threshold (17.041) required for conditional status for the remainder of the season. If he falls short, he’ll lose his card and, who knows when/if he’ll ever play another TOUR event. You wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t a gamer, but if you were just a fan, this is one of the most compelling narratives to follow this week. MJ Daffue Lucas Glover Harry Higgs Michael Kim Matthias Schwab Brian Stuard RETURNING TO COMPETITION n/a NOTABLE WDs Peter Malnati … This is a bummer because he’s gone for a T21 (2020) and a T7 (2021) in his two tries at Port Royal. As he’s proven, it’s an ideal layout and challenge for his skill set. Vince Whaley … Meanwhile, course-history buffs appreciate this decision. He had been in contention throughout last year’s edition en route to a T7, but his form has been off since a burst this past summer. That burst is the exception to his norm, so stick with full-season considerations, if at all. Davis Thompson … The rookie opened at 28th in the Korn Ferry Tour graduate reshuffle and currently stands to rise 24 spots when the category reorders for the first time at the conclusion of the fall portion. Whenever the value of getting off to a hot start is referenced in the context of the grads, this is how it’s done. Not only is he positioned not to be concerned about playing time for the foreseeable future, but he also can rest now and pivot to the invaluable less-is-more gameplan. RECAP – THE CJ CUP at South Carolina POWER RANKINGS Power Ranking Golfer Result 1 Rory McIlroy Win 2 Jon Rahm T4 3 Justin Thomas T40 4 Viktor Hovland T21 5 Scottie Scheffler T45 6 Shane Lowry T23 7 Tom Kim T11 8 Max Homa T23 9 Jordan Spieth T52 10 Keegan Bradley T21 11 Sahith Theegala T67 12 Sungjae Im T34 13 Sam Burns T7 14 Matt Fitzpatrick T13 15 Emiliano Grillo T45 Wild Card Collin Morikawa T29 SLEEPERS Golfer (Bet, if applicable) Result Byeong Hun An (+400 for a Top 20) T62 Luke List (+275 for a Top 20) T58 J.J. Spaun (+350 for a Top 20) T58 Keith Mitchell T40 Alex Smalley T52 GOLFBET Bet: Rory McIlroy (Top 5), Scottie Scheffler (Top 10) and Sungjae Im (Top 20) – +1200 Result: McIlroy (Win), Scheffler (T45), Im (T34) BIRTHDAYS AMONG ACTIVE MEMBERS OF THE PGA TOUR October 25 … Troy Merritt (37); Xander Schauffele (29) October 26 … none October 27 … Fabián Gómez (44) October 28 … none October 29 … none October 30 … none October 31 … Mark Wilson (48) Responsible sports betting starts with a game plan. Set a budget. Keep it social. Play with friends. Learn the game and know the odds. Play with trusted, licensed operators. CLICK HERE to learn more at HaveAGamePlan.org.
