James Hahn, Cameron Percy and Brian Stuard share Safeway Open lead

A new year for the PGA TOUR begins in style Thursday on the island of Maui, with 17 of the top 20 players in the Official World Golf Ranking teeing it up in the limited-field Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua Resort’s rollicking Plantation Course. It will be a strong first act to set the tone for what promises to be a robust opening month of golf. Eight of the top 10 players in the world, including last year’s Sentry runner-up, Jon Rahm, will be on hand at Kapalua as the tournament celebrates its 25th anniversary on the island. The elite field is limited to tournament winners from the 2021-22 season and those finishing among the top 30 in the last season’s FedExCup. There are 39 players at Kapalua vying for a purse of $15 million, with the winner taking home $2.7 million. The Sentry Tournament of Champions will mark the first of 13 designated events (excluding majors) that will offer a minimum purse of $15 million in 2023 as the TOUR embarks on a new era. Most of the designated events feature purses of $20 million, with the purse at THE PLAYERS Championship in March standing at $25 million. But there is great strength amid other tournament weeks, too. After Sentry, the TOUR will move over to Oahu, a puddle-jump flight, to Honolulu for the Sony Open in Hawaii (Jan. 12-15), where defending champion Hideki Matsuyama headlines a field that includes Billy Horschel and Jordan Spieth. Last January, Matsuyama provided one of the shots of the year at Waialae Country Club, hitting a 3-wood into a bright setting sun to 3 feet to set up a winning eagle against Russell Henley on the first hole of a playoff. Horschel is coming off a season in which he won the Memorial presented by Workday and twice was a runner-up. At 36, he made his long-awaited first U.S. team as a professional, competing on the winning side at the Presidents Cup. Spieth, a winner at the 2022 Valero Texas Open, will be playing Sony for the first time since 2019; in 2017, he tied for third. Waialae is one of the TOUR’s true old-school gems, short by today’s standards (7,044 yards, but a par 70), but always offering a stern test, especially when the island winds stir. The TOUR reaches California and the mainland to open the ‘West Coast Swing’ with the 64th edition of The American Express (Jan. 19-22) at PGA WEST’s Stadium Course and La Quinta Country Club. On the 50th anniversary of Arnold Palmer earning the 62nd and final victory of his legendary career at this event, the field will boast some stout star power of its own, as evidenced by an accomplished quartet of early tournament commitments: Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, the reigning PGA TOUR Player of the Year, as well as Tony Finau, a three-time winner last year, and the close-knit pair of Californians, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. All four not only were tournament winners in 2022 but also part of the U.S. Team’s winning Presidents Cup squad at Quail Hollow Club in September. Schauffele made his professional debut at The American Express in 2016, and a year later would win the TOUR Championship; Scheffler, ranked second in the world, tied for third in the desert in 2020; Cantlay finished ninth in 2020 and 2022, opening with 62 last year; and Finau, twice a winner in 2022 (3M Open, Rocket Mortgage Classic), has a top finish of 14th at the AmEx in four starts. January on the PGA TOUR finishes strong with the Farmers Insurance Open (Jan. 25-28) at Torrey Pines Golf Course’s North and South tracks. The South, which hosts weekend play, is the site of two U.S. Open Championships as well as San Diego’s longstanding PGA TOUR stop, which turns 70 this year. One U.S. Open winner at Torrey was Tiger Woods (2008); the other was Rahm, who not only broke through to win his first major at Torrey in 2021 but also captured his first PGA TOUR title there, as well. The place is so special to Rahm that he even proposed to his wife at Torrey. Needless to say, Rahm will be part of the Farmers field. Only once in his six Farmers starts has Rahm finished worse than seventh. Among those joining Rahm are two Americans coming off big seasons in 2021-22: Max Homa, already a winner this season (Fortinet Championship), and Cameron Young, who did everything but win last year. Young, 25, was a five-time runner-up last season, contending in two majors (runner-up at the Open Championship), but didn’t finish the year empty-handed. He made the U.S. team that won the Presidents Cup and in late October, was voted the PGA TOUR’s Rookie of the Year, taking home the Arnold Palmer Trophy. At the TOUR Championship in August, PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan announced that 13 events beyond the four major championships would be “elevated” with larger purses on the 2022-23 TOUR schedule – these include the four majors, three FedExCup Playoff events, THE PLAYERS, WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, Sentry Tournament of Champions, and three invitationals (Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, the Memorial presented by Workday). Four more designated events were later added: WM Phoenix Open, RBC Heritage, Wells Fargo Championship and the Travelers Championship. The new schedule means that top players will have 17 designated events where the best in the world will gather and compete, as well as a minimum of three other tournaments of their choosing. If January is any sign of things to come, the 2022-23 season will consist of great fields and exciting tournaments week in and week out.

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Moving Day at the Safeway Open gets underway Saturday in Napa, California. Here’s everything you need to follow the action from Round 3. Round 3 leaderboard Round 3 tee times HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 5 p.m.-9 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 6 p.m.-9 p.m. ET (Golf Channel) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-9 p.m. ET. Saturday-Sunday, 4 p.m.-9 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio). NOTABLE TEE TIMES (ALL TIMES LOCAL) Cameron Champ, Collin Morikawa 1:30 p.m. (No. 1 tee) Adam Long, Justin Thomas 1:40 p.m. (No. 1 tee) Nick Taylor, Dylan Frittelli 1:50 p.m. (No. 1 tee) Bryson DeChambeau, Nick Watney 2 p.m. (No. 1 tee) MUST READS DeChambeau shoots 64 to take Safeway Open lead Oda in contention with familiar caddie Win probabilities: Safeway Open Nicklaus planning renovation of Muirfield Village Mickelson aiming for Presidents Cup pick DJ plans Hero World Challenge return, will play Presidents Cup Top 10 rookies to watch What to expect during the fall schedule Sign-up and play Fantasy Golf CALL OF THE DAY

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Another year is in the books. Sunday’s final round of The RSM Classic was the last official PGA TOUR round of 2022. The year concluded with the nine fall events that mark the beginning of the 2022-23 schedule. As usual, the fall saw a mixture of first-time winners and stars who added to their resumes. The latest class of Korn Ferry Tour graduates had ample opportunity to display its skills, and the U.S. Team continued its success with a Presidents Cup victory at Charlotte’s Quail Hollow Club. Seamus Power ended the fall as the top player in the FedExCup. His success is a testament to patience, as the 35-year-old Irishman is playing the best golf of his career. He won his second TOUR title at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship and closed the calendar with two more top-5 finishes. Power, who competed alongside Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry in amateur golf, could be teammates with them at next year’s Ryder Cup after cracking the top 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking. As Thanksgiving approaches, here’s a quick rundown of five stories you may have missed from the fall. They include Rory McIlroy’s return to the top of the golf world, the game’s newest sensation, a wild win for one of the game’s most popular players and a major champion’s comeback. 1. RORY RETURNS TO NO.1 Rory McIlroy won his third FedExCup in August. A victory in his next start, at THE CJ CUP in South Carolina, put McIlroy back atop the Official World Golf Ranking. “I’ve worked so hard over the last 12 months to get back to this place,” McIlroy said. “I feel like I’m enjoying the game as much as I ever have. I played with that joy and it’s definitely showed over these last few months. “It’s a big achievement. I’m really proud of myself right now.” McIlroy has reached No. 1 in the world nine times. He was No. 1 when the PGA TOUR schedule stopped for three months at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but he lost the top ranking to Jon Rahm when the Spaniard won the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday later that year. McIlroy began his most recent FedExCup-winning campaign with a victory at THE CJ CUP at Las Vegas’ Summit Club. He followed with incredible consistency, finishing in the top 10 in more than half his starts, including two more wins at the RBC Canadian Open and TOUR Championship. He led the TOUR in Strokes Gained: Total (+2.12) and scoring average (68.7). McIlroy is the first player to win the FedExCup three times. Now he’s trying to become the first player to successfully defend the Cup. How did he begin his defense? With another win at THE CJ CUP. For good measure, he won the DP World Tour’s season-long points race in November. It was the fourth time he finished the year as the DP World Tour’s top player. 2. TOM KIM, GOLF’S ASCENDANT STAR The celebrations were entertaining. The performances were historic. Even though his team lost to the U.S., Tom Kim’s exuberant displays produced many of the highlights from this year’s Presidents Cup. The pinnacle was his putter-slamming celebration after he sank a 10-foot birdie putt to win a tight Saturday afternoon Four-ball match. He set up the winning birdie by striping a 2-iron approach from some 240 yards. “I was already thinking in the back of my mind, ‘If this goes in, what am I going to do? How am I going to celebrate?'” Kim said. What did he do for an encore? Win the Shriners Children’s Open in his next start, beating former FedExCup champ Patrick Cantlay in the final round at TPC Summerlin. Kim was just the third player since 1974 to win on TOUR without making a score of bogey or worse, and he’s the first since Tiger Woods to win twice before turning 21. This came after his win in August in the Wyndham Championship, where he became the first player since 1983 (when the TOUR began keeping hole-by-hole records) to win after recording a quadruple-bogey or worse on the opening hole of a tournament. “I’m having fun playing on the PGA TOUR,” said Kim, who’s fourth in the FedExCup. “It’s awesome.” And we’re having fun watching. 3. HOMA’S HOLE-OUT The first tournament of the season surely had one of the wildest finishes we’ll see this season. A chip-in and unlikely three-putt on the Fortinet Championship’s 72nd hole led to another title for Max Homa, whose career continues on its upward trajectory out of the depths. Homa arrived at Silverado’s par-5 18th hole one shot back of Danny Willett. When Willett hit his third shot inside 4 feet and Homa missed the green with his 30-yard bunker shot, it looked like Willett would earn his first PGA TOUR title since the 2016 Masters. Homa chipped in his next shot for birdie, however, and Willett proceeded to three-putt. “That was crazy,” Homa said. “I still don’t really know what happened. It was one of those weekends you just had to hang around.” It was Homa’s fifth PGA TOUR victory and fourth in his past 45 TOUR starts. The victory was the beginning of an eventful fall for one of the TOUR’s most popular players. He took an overnight flight from California to Charlotte, North Carolina, for the Presidents Cup, where he represented the United States for the first time as a professional. He went 4-0-0 for the victorious U.S. Team, calling it the “best week of golf I could imagine.” Homa finished in the top 25 in his next two starts before shutting it down for the birth of his first child. He and his wife Lacey welcomed a son, Cam, on Oct. 30. 4. A ROOKIE’S RAPID RISE Taylor Montgomery had to endure an agonizing finish to his Korn Ferry Tour campaign in 2021. A year later, he couldn’t have asked for a much better start to his PGA TOUR career. The top 25 in the Korn Ferry Tour’s points standings after both the Regular Season and the Korn Ferry Tour Finals earn PGA TOUR cards. Montgomery finished 26th … in both. A pair of missed cuts – including a second-round 85 at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship – led to him falling outside of the top 25 in each finale. This year, Montgomery locked up his card early with his consistent play. Then he carried a strong finish to his Korn Ferry Tour campaign – top-15s in nine of his final 10 starts, including six finishes of fourth or better – into his rookie season on PGA TOUR. It started with a third-place finish at the Fortinet Championship and kept on rolling. Montgomery finished in the top 15 in all but one of his seven fall starts. He ranks 11th in the FedExCup entering the new year. He also won the RSM Birdies Fore Love competition after making the most birdies or better in the fall season. He’s done it with an impressive combination of power and touch. He averages 309 yards off the tee and ranks 13th Strokes Gained: Putting. 5. KEEGAN’S COMEBACK Success came quickly for Keegan Bradley, who won three times in his first two seasons on TOUR. He won the first major he ever competed in, the 2011 PGA Championship, becoming just the third man in a century to win in his major debut. A professional golf career is rarely a linear progression, however. Bradley has won twice in the 10 years since claiming the 2012 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, enduring two lengthy winless droughts. The latest came to an end this fall, with a victory in THE ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Japan that brought the New Englander who prides himself on toughness to tears. It was his first win since the 2018 BMW Championship. “I’ve been crying since I finished,” he said. “I can’t remember the last time I cried. I talked to my wife on the phone a second ago, FaceTime. I can’t keep it together; I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” In early 2021, Bradley had fallen outside the top 150 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time since his rookie season on TOUR. Bradley was back on the upward swing before his victory in Japan. He finished T5 in this year’s PLAYERS Championship and then was runner-up at the Wells Fargo Championship in May, which got him back inside the top 50 of the world ranking and qualified him for the U.S. Open in his native New England. He finished T7 at Brookline for his first top-10 in a major in eight years. As it often does with Bradley, it came back to the putter. Bradley enlisted the help of noted putting coach Phil Kenyon last fall and in 2022 gained strokes on the greens for the first time since 2014. “It means a lot,” he said. “There’s a lot of hard work that goes into it. Even if you play perfectly, doesn’t mean you’re going to win. But for me, I feel like I should be contending for tournaments, I want to be contending to play on Ryder Cup, Presidents Cups teams, majors. You know, this is going to go a long way.”

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