James Hahn leads at Byron Nelson

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Jordan Spieth will begin his quest for the career grand slam by playing with the other two major winners this season in the traditional featured group at the PGA Championship. Spieth, last month’s Open Championship winner, will play with Masters champ Sergio Garcia and U.S. Open champ Brooks Koepka in the first two rounds at Quail Hollow. Spieth had the same honor two years ago at Whistling Straits after winning the season’s first two majors. He played with then-Open champ Zach Johnson, along with Rory McIlroy, who was the defending PGA champ. Spieth, incidentally, finished second that week to Jason Day. The PGA Championship begins Thursday, with television coverage on TNT scheduled from 1 p.m.-7 p.m. ET in the first two rounds, and 11 a.m.-2 p.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday. CBS will pick up coverage on the weekend starting at 2 p.m. With the FedExCup Playoffs beginning in two weeks, the PGA Championship offers an opportunity to make a move inside the top 125 who will advance to the Playoffs. FedExCup points are increased this week, with 600 points going to the winner. Here’s a look at some of the featured groups in the first two rounds (FedExCup rankings in parentheses): MORE: Tee times Jordan Spieth (2), Brooks Koepka (7), Sergio Garcia (20) – Since 2000, four previous winners of a major that season have gone on to win the PGA – Tiger Woods in 2000 and 2006, Padraig Harrington in 2008 and Rory McIlroy in 2014. This is the second consecutive year that Spieth and Garcia have been paired in the first two rounds of the PGA. Meanwhile, Spieth and Koepka are paired together for the first time in 2017. Tee times: Rd. 1 – 8:25 a.m. ET off 10th tee; Rd. 2 – 1:35 p.m. ET off 1st tee Dustin Johnson (3), Jason Day (52), Henrik Stenson (84) – Each player will be trying to get their mojo back. Johnson was the dominant force going into the Masters, with three straight wins, but has struggled to match that form since the off-course injury at Augusta. Day hasn’t won since the 2016 THE PLAYERS Championship, and Stenson hasn’t won since last year’s Open Championship. Tee times: Rd. 1 – 8:35 a.m. ET off 10th tee; Rd. 2 – 1:45 p.m. ET off 1st tee Jason Dufner (22), Phil Mickelson (45), Jimmy Walker (98) – Walker, the defending champ, showed signs of life in the first two rounds last week at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational before sliding back on the weekend. Dufner’s best major is usually the PGA – he has a win and two other top-5s. Mickelson has never won at Quail Hollow, but he does have nine top-10s in 13 career starts. Tee times: Rd. 1 – 1:25 p.m. ET off 1st tee; Rd. 2 – 8:15 a.m. ET off 10th tee Jon Rahm (5), Rickie Fowler (6), Rory McIlroy (43) – Based on his course history, McIlroy might be the favorite this week – in seven starts at Quail Hollow, he has six top-10s, including two wins. Fowler also has won at Quail Hollow, and was fourth at the Wells Fargo Championship a year ago. Rahm, meanwhile, is making his first start at the course. Tee times: Rd. 1 – 1:35 p.m. ET off 1st tee; Rd. 2 – 8:25 a.m. ET off 10th tee Other notables Hideki Matsuyama, Sunday winner at Bridgestone after his sizzling final-round 61, is playing with Ernie Els and Ian Poulter … Past PGA Championship winners Davis Love III, Keegan Bradley and Padraig Harrington are in the same group … Reigning PLAYERS champion Si Woo Kim is paired with Billy Horschel and Matthew Fitzpatrick … Matt Kuchar was the runner-up at The Open Championship; Justin Rose was the runner-up at the Masters. They’re together with Brandt Snedeker, who has nine career top-10s in majors.

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The 14th edition of the Presidents Cup is upon us. Top players from around the globe have convened at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, for this thrilling team competition between the U.S. and International teams. To get you prepared for the matches, here’s everything you need to know about how the Presidents Cup works. WHAT IS IT: The Presidents Cup began in 1994 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Prince William County, Virginia. This team competition between the U.S. and International teams is held every two years (except for one-year delays caused by 9/11 and COVID-19). The International Team is comprised of players from outside the United States and Europe. Each team is made up of 12 male players. This year’s match is being played at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sept. 22-25. NUMBER OF MATCHES: The Presidents Cup consists of 30 matches played over four days. There are 18 team matches – nine apiece using the Foursomes and Four-balls formats – followed by 12 Singles matches on Sunday. Foursomes, or alternate shot, consists of a two-man team playing one ball. Teammates alternate hitting shots until the ball is holed, and the team with the lowest score on the hole wins. In Four-balls, both members of the team play their own ball. The lowest score between the team’s two members counts as the team’s score for the hole. The United States’ Davis Love III, as the host Captain, chose to begin the Cup with Foursomes matches Thursday morning. The format for each round will then alternate accordingly. There will be five Foursomes matches Thursday, five Four-ball matches on Friday and two rounds of four matches apiece on Saturday. There will be four Foursomes matches Saturday morning and four Four-ball matches in the afternoon. POINTS: All matches are worth one point apiece, for a total of 30 points. There are no playoffs, with each side receiving a half-point for matches tied after 18 holes. WHO WINS?: The first team to reach 15.5 points wins the Cup. If the competition is tied, 15-15, at the end of Singles play, the competition will be deemed a tie and the teams will share the Presidents Cup. This is inspired by the 2003 Presidents Cup, which was deemed a tie after a memorable playoff between Tiger Woods and Ernie Els was halted due to darkness. RESULTS: The United States has won 11 of the 13 Presidents Cup. The 2003 edition ended in a tie, while the International Team won in 1998 at Royal Melbourne. The United States is the defending champion after winning, 16-14, at Royal Melbourne in 2019. WHO PLAYS?: World Golf Hall of Famer Davis Love III is the U.S. Captain this year, while former Masters champion Trevor Immelman is the International captain. Each team is comprised of six automatic qualifiers and six captain’s picks. The U.S. Team’s automatic qualifiers were based on FedExCup points earned over the previous three seasons. Each FedExCup point earned in the 2019-20 season was worth a half-point for the U.S. Presidents Cup standings. In 2020-21, each FedExCup point was worth one Presidents Cup point, and FedExCup points were tripled for the 2021-22 season. The top six players in the U.S. standings after the BMW Championship on Aug. 21 qualified for the team. Love made six captain’s picks on Sept. 7. The International Team qualification period ran from the 2021 Open Championship through the 2022 BMW Championship. The International Team’s points system operated similarly to the Official World Golf Ranking, except it used a proprietary calculation to determine field strength and the quantity of points awarded per event. International Team points earned from this year’s PGA Championship through the BMW Championship were given a 25% premium. The ranking was determined by the average points per start in the qualifying period (minimum 15 events). LINEUP CARD: Pairings for Thursday Foursomes will be made at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Sept. 21 from the Interview Room within the Media Center. The captain of the defending team (U.S.) will choose who goes first to start the draw, and the captains will alternate for the remaining sessions, i.e. if the U.S. chooses first for the first round, then the International Team will choose first for the second round. Captains set their lineups for each session one match at a time, alternating in a snake format. For example, if the U.S. Team chooses first, Davis Love III will announce his two-man team for the first match. International Captain Trevor Immelman will then choose which two-man team he will send out in the first match and announce his team for the second match. Love will then respond with his team for the second match and choose his team for the third match. The same process will be used for Singles. Each player is required to play a minimum of one match prior to the Singles session. Prior to 2019, players were required to compete in two matches prior to Singles. TROPHY: Created by Tiffany & Company, The Presidents Cup trophy weighs a total of 28 pounds. The trophy is spun by a spinner from five sterling silver circles into five different shapes. The spun components then are put together by a silversmith to create a cup. The smith runs a roller die to create the beaded embellishment that goes around the cup and the foot of the trophy. The oval logo is etched and applied on the cup. Labor dedicated to creating the trophy totaled 80 hours (spinning, smithing, finishing). The entire trophy is vermeil in 24-carat gold, and the original trophy is housed at the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida.

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BLAINE, Minn. – It wasn’t an easy decision, but Tony Finau knew the time had come. So, after last week’s Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, he parted ways with Greg Bodine, who had caddied for him since his rookie campaign in 2014-15. “We were together for six years and it’s a tough thing, you know,” Finau said on Thursday. “On a personal level I love the guy and on a business level I felt it was time for a change in my situation and something just different.” Something different – for this week only at the 3M Open – is Finau’s long-time friend and teacher, Boyd Summerhays. And the transition appeared seamless as the PGA TOUR veteran fired a 65 to tie with Ryan Moore, Xinjun Zhang and Nick Watney, one stroke off the lead. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Dustin Johnson withdraws from 3M Open citing back injury “It was good, a really solid round, really clean,” FInau said. “I think I only missed one green and just hit it nicely, gave myself a lot of looks and I think that’s what you’ve got to do around this place. It’s soft enough to hit them close and I was able to do that enough today and make some putts.” Finau had done the same last week at Muirfield Village, which was a decidedly different challenge, playing firm and fast and hard. He held at least a share of the lead through two-and-a-half rounds before things started to unravel as Finau played the final seven holes on Saturday in 4 over and saw Jon Rahm surge ahead. Jack Nicklaus’ signature layout was as unforgiving as any major championship venue on Sunday when Finau limped in with a 78 that left him a distant seven strokes off the pace in eighth. So, a week that had begun with so much promise ended in disappointment and a long-time player-caddie relationship in disarray. And the Memorial wasn’t the only tournament this year where Finau seemingly had a prime chance to pick up a second career PGA TOUR victory that so many say is harder won than the first, either. He held the 54-hole lead at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and was two strokes up with two remaining only to lose in a playoff to Webb Simpson. In fact, Finau has had six runner-up finishes since that win at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open. Finau thrived with Summerhays on the bag on Thursday at TPC Twin Cities, though, making seven birdies and just two bogeys on a golf course that demands the leaders go low. He ranked first in Proximity to the Hole and Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, third in Approach The Green and fifth in Off the Tee. Summerhays has caddied for Finau in the past so it was a comfortable solution. Finau thinks it’s good for the instructor to get a glimpse of his game inside the ropes, and on Thursday, the student put on quite the show. “We’re very close,” Finau said. “No hard feelings no matter what, I think that’s a good dynamic to have when you’re out there. I didn’t have him say too much. I know I’m playing well and for the most part just bring him in when I want him.” That final-round 78 notwithstanding, Finau said he left Muirfield Village – which featured a major-championship caliber field — feeling good about his game. The fast start on Thursday in Minnesota only added to his resolve. “To be able to build up a lead I had on Saturday, that gives a guy some confidence,” Finau said. “I don’t think it really matters how I finished the tournament, at least that’s the positive I take from it is in that field on that golf course, I was able to play really clean, really nice golf. “I think it takes a lot of skill to do that, just to put yourself in that position. So that’s kind of what I took away from that week and kind of looking to do some of the same this week.”

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