J.R. Smith said his college golf experience will bring on similar emotions to those he had in the NBA. “It’s still as nerve-racking as shooting a free throw in front of 5,000 (fans) instead of making a 5-foot putt in front of three.”
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ATLANTA – Notes and observations from Thursday’s first round of the TOUR Championship, where Kyle Stanley holds the lead after shooting 64. For more coverage from East Lake Golf Club, click here for the Daily Wrap-up. STANLEY COMES BACK STRONG Last year, Kyle Stanley had to worry about keeping his PGA TOUR card. Now he has a chance to claim the FedExCup. Stanley shot 64 on Thursday in his first competitive round at East Lake Golf Club, making seven birdies against a single bogey. Stanley, 29, is making his TOUR Championship debut in his seventh season. “When we played our practice rounds I thought it was … a pretty difficult test. It was nice to get off to a pretty fast start, making four birdies in a row,â€� said Stanley, who started his day with two pars before making birdie on Nos. 3-6. He is projected to finish second in the FedExCup with a victory. All 30 players at the TOUR Championship are capable of claiming the Cup, though. Stanley finished 34th and 31st in the FedExCup in 2011 and 2012, his first two PGA TOUR seasons. He soon struggled, though, and fell outside the top 150 in both 2014 and 2015 before narrowly sneaking into last season’s playoffs. He had to finish T14 at last year’s Wyndham Championship, the final event of the PGA TOUR’s regular season, just crack the top 125 in the FedExCup. He returned to the winner’s circle at the Quicken Loans National in July and added four other top-10s this season. Stanley ranks in the top 10 in both Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (7th) and Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green (10th). Stanley and Dustin Johnson are the only other players to rank in the top 10 in both categories. Stanley missed just three fairways and four greens Thursday. SPIETH DOING SPIETH THINGS Jordan Spieth’s TOUR Championship, and his quest for a second FedExCup, got off to an inauspicious start. He snap-hooked his opening drive and struggled to hit the ball straight on the first five holes. “I felt like it was really a grind out there and it’s just because the first four, five holes of the round I was all over the place tee-to-green,â€� Spieth said. “And then my whole back nine I had a chance to birdie all but one of the holes and only made one of them.â€� It added up to a 67 that has Spieth in sixth place. More importantly, he’s projected to retain the top spot in the FedExCup, 150 points ahead of Stanley and 200 points ahead of Justin Thomas, who played alongside Spieth on Thursday and also fired 67. The TOUR Championship’s 30-man field is re-paired after each round, but Spieth and Thomas will play together again Friday. It will be a tight race for the FedExCup as four of the top five players in the standings broke par Thursday. Any player in the top 5 can clinch the FedExCup with a win at East Lake, regardless of how his closest competition fares. Johnson was one shot behind Spieth and Thomas. He’s trying to make amends for last year’s TOUR Championship, where he held the 54-hole lead before a final-round 73 cost him both the TOUR Championship and the FedExCup. Johnson is third in the standings after winning four times this season, including the opening event of the postseason, THE NORTHERN TRUST. Jon Rahm, No. 5 in the FedExCup, also fired 67. He is trying to become the first player to win the FedExCup in his first Playoffs appearance. Marc Leishman was the only member of the top 5 to shoot over par on Thursday, firing a 1-over 71. Leishman is No. 4 in the FedExCup after finishing third at the Dell Technologies Championship and winning the BMW Championship. CALL OF THE DAY SIMPSON GETTING IN THE GROOVE Webb Simpson is thankful to be back at East Lake Golf Club after missing the past two TOUR Championships. He could be happy with the start of his first TOUR Championship since 2014 after firing 4-under 66 on Thursday. He is in second place, two shots behind Stanley. Simpson made just one bogey Thursday. He made three birdies and an eagle at the par-5 sixth, where he hit his 231-yard second shot to 6 feet. “I told somebody yesterday that I’m definitely way more thankful to be here than I was the four years in a row I came here, and it’s because of what you said. It’s hard to get here,â€� he said. “I’ve been putting a lot better, and second, I think I’ve been thinking a lot better. … I haven’t hit it great this year but I’ve hit it good enough, and the ball striking’s coming. I think the reason I haven’t won is because I haven’t been able to put together four days of good ball striking. But I have seen improvements the last couple months and hopefully I can get a tournament here soon where I do have four rounds in a row.â€� Simpson also credited an improved short game after nearly two years of work with short-game coach Pat Goss, who also developed the world-class short game of Luke Donald. Simpson started working with Goss in November 2015. The TOUR Championship field is re-paired after each round, so Simpson will play in Friday’s final group with Stanley. ODDS AND ENDS Former Florida State teammates Daniel Berger and Brooks Koepka will play together in Friday’s second-to-last group after each fired 66 on Thursday. Next week they’ll be Presidents Cup teammates, as well, as both will make their debut in the biennial. Berger finished Thursday’s round by making the day’s only eagle at the 18th hole, where he hit his 234-yard second shot to 11 feet and made the putt. Paul Casey continued his strong play at East Lake with a first-round 66. He has finished in the top five in all three of his appearances at East Lake (2010, ’15, ’16). It continues a trend of strong performances in the FedExCup Playoffs. He has finished in the top five in six of his past eight starts in the FedExCup Playoffs. SHOT OF THE DAY BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Justin Thomas did everything necessary to lose the Sentry Tournament of Champions, but he won it with a birdie on the third playoff hole.
Tiger Woods will make his 2019 calendar debut at next week’s Farmers Insurance Open, an event he’s won seven times. The tournament made the official announcement Wednesday. Woods also committed to playing in the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles on February 14-17 where he doubles as the tournament host. Woods’ last PGA TOUR appearance was the memorable TOUR Championship in September when he walked up the 18th fairway en route to victory through a crowd of fans. That win was the 80th of his TOUR career, putting him just two shy of Sam Snead’s all-time record. The last time Woods played competitively was the week after Thanksgiving at his Hero World Challenge, a non-TOUR event in the Bahamas. Woods did not fare well that week, finishing 17th in the 18-man field. Still, the thought of a healthy Woods for a full season will be a huge storyline this season. A year ago when Woods played at Torrey Pines, he was still unsure how much he could play after enduring four back surgeries. After being limited to just two tournaments in the span of more than two full calendar years, Woods made his comeback in 2018, starting at Torrey Pines. He played 18 tournaments, securing 12 top-25 finishes and seven top-10s – including a pair of runner-up placings and his TOUR Championship win, his first victory in more than five years. He finished T6 or better in The Open Championship and the PGA Championship and earned more than $5 million for just the second time in nine seasons. Woods won the Farmers in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2013, and earned his most recent major championship victory in a 19-hole playoff at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in 2008. In addition to his seven victories, Woods has finished in the top 10 six other times in 16 appearances. He is the tournament’s all-time leading money winner, with $6,915,700. “We couldn’t be happier to have Tiger back in our field,â€� said Century Club of San Diego CEO Peter Ripa. “He really launched his fairytale comeback season right here last January, and he has enjoyed incredible success at Torrey Pines Golf Course and in our tournament over the years. It will be exciting to see him alongside many of the game’s other top players Jan. 24-27.â€� Until last year, Woods hadn’t played four complete rounds in the Farmers since his last victory here in 2013. After missing the cut during an abbreviated comeback in 2017, he advanced to the weekend last year by making birdie on his 18th hole Friday to make the cut on the number. Rounds of 70 and 72 Saturday and Sunday left him tied for 23rd. He would go on to secure top-10 finishes in the Valspar Championship, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Quicken Loans National, The Open Championship, the PGA Championship and the BMW Championship before his season-ending victory at East Lake. “This year as a whole was probably the most rewarding, because there was a point where I just didn’t know if I would ever do this again,â€� Woods said before the Hero World Challenge. “The expectations are much different this upcoming year. Now I know that I can do it, now it’s just about managing and making sure I’m fresh for events, because I know I can win tournaments again.â€� Twenty years ago, Woods captured his first title at the Farmers Insurance Open. It was his eighth victory on the PGA TOUR but carried extra significance because of the golf course on which he did it. Woods joins a strong list of early commitments that includes defending champion Jason Day; defending FedExCup champion Justin Rose; San Diego native Xander Schauffele; 2017 Farmers Insurance Open winner Jon Rahm; along with world top-30 players Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau, Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed, Marc Leishman, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Alex Noren, Gary Woodland and Hideki Matsuyama. Joining Fowler and Schauffele among San Diego products committed to the Farmers Insurance Open are Torrey Pines High School graduates Pat Perez and Jamie Lovemark, Poway product Charley Hoffman and San Diego State University alum J.J. Spaun. Joining Woods and Rahm as past tournament champions who have committed are Day (2018, 2015), Brandt Snedeker (2016, 2012), Scott Stallings (2014), Ben Crane (2010) and Nick Watney (2009). Young up-and-coming players to watch who have committed include PGA TOUR rookie and long-bomber Cameron Champ and 19-year-old Chilean sensation Joaquin Niemann. Woods will look to better last year’s performance at Riviera in February. In his first appearance at the event since 2006 Woods missed the cut, just one of two (U.S. Open) missed weekends all season. Prior to that he had eight top-20 finishes at Riviera, including runner up finishes in 1998 and 1999. The Riviera Country Club was the site of Woods’ first PGA TOUR event in 1992, competing on a sponsor’s exemption as an amateur. Woods’ TGR Live manages the Genesis Open and proceeds from the tournament benefit his TGR Foundation. “I’m looking forward to being back in Los Angeles for the Genesis Open,â€� Woods said. “It’s always great to be able to play at Riviera and I am very proud of the impact the Genesis Open has been able to make on education through my foundation.â€�
