Jon Rahm to miss cut at Fortinet Championship

SYDNEY, Australia – There are probably plenty out there wondering why is Jordan Spieth in Australia this week instead of enjoying a Thanksgiving feast in Texas. Why would a player of his stature fly halfway around the world to play in the Australian Open – an event with a fraction of the purse he usually plays for? And why would he do it for now a fourth year in a row? The first time, Spieth was convinced by his Australian-born swing coach Cameron McCormick (who will caddie for him this week) to check out the wonders of down under. Those who had won the Stonehaven Cup before also helped sway the young Texan who has a keen sense of golf history. Any tournament that boasts Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Peter Thomson, Tom Watson, Greg Norman, Adam Scott and Rory McIlroy among countless others as victors is certainly worth adding your name to. From there, a love affair has grown, and while Spieth was always destined for greatness, the former FedExCup champion and three-time major winner has always attributed Australia for helping to shape his stratospheric rise in golf. Over the past three years, Spieth has finished 1-2-1 in the event and is once again the tournament favorite. In 2014, Spieth headed to The Australian Golf Club as a one-time PGA TOUR winner who was starting to get a reputation as a non-closer. He’d come off a season with eight top-10s on TOUR but zero victories. His lone win, the 2013 John Deere Classic, had been helped out by a holed bunker shot that, quite frankly, was lucky to go in and not shoot through towards a potential watery grave. It had some questioning him. Questions Spieth didn’t like, but questions he took and answered astutely. And then he put together a ridiculously sublime final-round 8-under 63 at in brutally tough conditions to obliterate the field and win by six shots. A week later he won the Hero World Challenge. A few months after, the Valspar Championship. Then the Masters and U.S. Open on the way to a five-win season. In the lead up to what would be his first major win at Augusta National, Spieth said this: “The Australian Open may have been the most important tournament that I’ve ever played in because at the time, it had been maybe a year and a half since winning the John Deere in that playoff where I kind of squeaked in, luckily. “Going there to an elite field with the world No.1 player (Rory McIlroy at the time) and obviously with the local favorite Adam (Scott) and with a venue like The Australian, to put myself in a position and just have a level of patience that I had not had when I was in contention prior to that was important.â€� He had realized he was trying too hard during the Regular Season. With the chatter getting louder about his abilities, he was wanting it too much and when things started to slide, he couldn’t arrest it. “But in Australia, we didn’t let anything get to us; the roars in front, the scoreboard changes, and I shot arguably the best round I’ve ever played when tied for the lead,â€� he added. “It was a huge, huge boost for me and it allowed me to close the tournament, close it the right way and feel comfortable with the lead when I had it the next week and since then.â€� In fact, he’s now won nine of the last 10 times he’s held the 54-hole lead on the PGA TOUR, with the only hiccup being his infamous 2016 Sunday crash at Augusta. Funnily enough, it was the bombardment of questioning he faced after that victory that led him to one of the most historic finishes of all time earlier this year at The Open. With his round and tournament slipping away after a wild tee shot on the 13th hole led to a dramatic drop and ultimately a bogey, Spieth went back to his bank. He thought a little of winning in Australia. He thought more of losing in Augusta. “You can’t help but have your mind wander,â€� Spieth said this week. “How is this going to affect the next year? Am I going to be questioned about this and my ability to close in big events again, even though I shouldn’t have been questioned in the first placed by a couple of bad swings -  I felt that. “That comes into play in my mind, and I was almost just so angry at the way that year went after that Masters – the constant questioning even though I had a pretty successful season – that I just refused to go through it again. “I’m going to do everything in my will power, don’t care about how I’m hitting it, how I’m putting it, just do not allow yourself to lose this event and I was able to pull off the shots necessary.â€� Those shots saw him finish birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie, par to win by three. With the Presidents Cup in 2019 slated for Australia, the likelihood is the Australian Open will take the slot the week before. As such, the chances of some of the biggest stars in golf playing it along with Spieth, are very high. “I would certainly encourage players to come play next year and right before in ’19 when we’re over here,â€� Spieth advocates. “It can only help in my mind and they’re going to love it. The guys still talk about the last President’s Cup in Melbourne, the veterans, just how great of a time it was.â€� But until they get down under to join him, Spieth will try to continue riding the momentum into the new season. Chances are pretty high he will. SPIETH’S AUSSIE MOMENTUM 1. Won 2014 Australian Open – Then won 5 PGA TOUR events, including two majors, the FedExCup and PGA TOUR Player of the Year in 2015. 2. Second Place in 2015 Australian Open – Then won 2 PGA TOUR events in 2016. 3. Won 2016 Australian Open – Then won 3 PGA TOUR events including a major.

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CALENDON, Ont. – Gerry Dee ended his experience at the Osprey Valley Open in a much better way than he started – in fact, he did something Friday he had never done in his golfing career. Dee, a Canadian comedian and actor who has played golf most of his life (including teeing it up as a youngster against Mike Weir) played this week at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley on a sponsor exemption and made an eight on his first hole of the week. He ended, however, by making back-to-back birdies on No’s 8 and 9 Friday – his final two holes of the day. “I’ve never birdied my final two holes, ever. And I’ve played a lot of golf,� said Dee with a seemingly never-ending chuckle. It was all part of a week for Dee where he got to see up close how talented members of the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada are. The 50-year-old Dee plays to a five handicap and is a member of The National Golf Club of Canada, long believed to be the country’s most difficult layout. He shot 84-79 to miss the cut this week, however, he said there were some great takeaways the last two days. “You learn a lot on a golf course, which is why I think I’m so fascinated by the game mentally. There’s an embarrassment factor for me. I never wanted to embarrass myself and let my friends and enemies take a dig at me. I didn’t light it up and there are so many better golfers than me that are not on this Tour, but for me as a comedian and a dad and 50 years old, I’m proud of how I bounced back and how I shot today,� said Dee. Dee played with fellow Canadians Russell Budd (68-69) and James Allenby (69-69) and said he learned a lot from the two of them. Allenby, who was in the final group on Sunday at the Canada Life Open earlier this year, said playing with a celebrity gave this week a bit of flavor. “I was impressed with his game. He hits it pretty solid with his irons. There were a couple things where if he had time to work on things he’d do even better, like the feel with his putting, but breaking 80 on the second day… I was pretty happy for him,� said Allenby. Dee said it was “a treat� to watch Allenby and Budd play up close the last two days. Dee admitted he didn’t want to get in their way while they played for their livelihood, but he did get a little help from the two pros and pick their brains about junior golf, since Dee (who is a father of three) has kids who are playing in their own golf tournaments these days. “They were easy-going guys, phenomenal players. Both of them are in position to win this. I’m going to watch it assuming I didn’t make the cut,� said Dee, tongue firmly in cheek. Dee, who has played with members of the PGA TOUR before, said it was obvious that members of the Mackenzie Tour are pretty close to that level, too. He alluded to Doc Redman – who is ninth on the Mackenzie Tour’s Order of Merit – finishing runner-up on the PGA TOUR three weeks ago in Detroit as an example of someone that was on the Mackenzie Tour but can still make noise at a higher level. “I was saying to Russell, ‘you’re all capable of having that weekend.’ That’s the level it’s at. For people who are watching and thinking ‘20-under, oh it must be an easy course because it’s Mackenzie Tour,’ they’re just as good,� said Dee. “As you’ve seen with (Mackenzie Tour) alumni who have gone and dominated on the PGA TOUR… they get it going and they get it together. “I saw shots – putts, flops, drives, and everything was just impressive. These guys are good, man.� Dee said it was more of a mental grind this week than a physical one, joking that he hopes he didn’t actually make the cut because he was so drained. “On the course I can’t check texts, I can’t check emails, I don’t know what time it is, I don’t know what the cut is… you’re just out there on an island, stressing. Every shot I was stressing. Every shot,� said Dee. “I’d be looking, at the fifth hole, and I was just counting how many holes I have left. It’s too draining. I was watching (Allenby and Budd) and at one point James was on the cutline, and I saw what a grind it is. I might have quit.� When the final birdie putt of the day fell, Dee doffed his cap to the assembled crowed around the final hole of the day, shook hands with his playing competitors, and that was that. For a career funnyman, he put on a serious performance this week. He couldn’t help but get in one last laugh, though. “It was a great time. I was so glad I did this. I wasn’t sure if I should, but I learned a lot about a lot of things. Now I’ll probably have a bath. That’s what you do at my age, have a bath,� said Dee. “How many guys out here are having baths?�

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Koepka opens with a 64 to lead WGC-HSBC

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