Key club for Seminole match: Wolff’s putter

Hayden Buckley (+400 for a Top 20) … It was last fall when the then-unheralded PGA TOUR rookie burst onto the scene with a T4-T8 fortnight spanning the Sanderson Farms and Shriners. Well, he’s at it again. He placed T19 at Country Club of Jackson last week where his 7-under 65 was the second-lowest score of the finale. Widening the lens, he’s 8-for-10 since the U.S. Open in June at which time he acknowledged how adjustments were paying off when the lights went on. Given that he began to drift into territory in which he wasn’t going to be a certainty to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs, it’s revealed the kind of moxie that a second-year talent who appreciates what the work feels like tends to pay forward, particularly on sites where he’s done it before. Russell Knox (+350 for a Top 20) … The 37-year-old Scot is off to a classic start to the new season. A top-25 machine for stretches of what is now a 12-year career, he’s opened with a pair in this one. While better than most alternatives, the sample size still is small but it echoes his overall balance when he’s gliding above the surface. He’s also 6-for-8 at the Shriners with a podium finish, albeit in 2014. If a market for a Top 40 opens, dedicate a unit or more to it. Taylor Moore (+225 for a Top 20) … To steal a line from baseball, this bet is an aggressive send, so retreat into a more comfortable goal where it’s presented. Yet, he deserves the shot to score. The 29-year-old PGA TOUR sophomore has cashed in 10 consecutive starts, half of which resulting in a top 25, including last week’s T24 in Mississippi. His tee-to-green game was on point and he ranked third in scrambling. He also finished T24 at TPC Summerlin in his membership debut a year ago on the strength of terrific mid- to long-range putting. Beau Hossler … Every season, there’s usually at least one golfer who serves as the poster boy for the possibilities despite the saddle of conditional status. He was that in 2021-22. That relatively buried position in the overall pecking order prevented him from qualifying for the Shriners, which is an open. However, because he capitalized on a couple of early opportunities, his standing in the FedExCup opened doors in all of the invitationals in which he piled on at times. Altogether, he qualified easily for the Playoffs to regain fully exempt status and eliminated the doubt of climbing into this week’s 144-man field at TPC Summerlin. This is the kind of stage on which it’d make sense for him to cash in on the calling card of his white-hot putter because he’s 4-for-4 with a pair of top 25s and a scoring average of 68.13 in 16 rounds since a T7 in his first try in 2017. Robby Shelton … Like Hossler above, Shelton relies on his flat stick to make noise, so if either focuses on hitting to the middles of the targets, it could be a special week. Shelton paced the Korn Ferry Tour in 2022 in both putts per GIR and converting GIR into par breakers. Placing most of the eggs in one basket wasn’t that bad considering he was the only multiple winner on the circuit all season. He’s also 2-for-2 at TPC Summerlin at which all eight of his scores were sub-70s and where this week’s experience may feel like a KFT stop in terms of its ease. Odds were sourced on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022. For live odds, visit BetMGM.

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It was a nice round that got him right in the thick of it despite having traveled across 14 time zones. But Marc Leishman’s 5-under 65 in the first round of the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, two back of leader Harris English, wasn’t the story. Not in and of itself. More significant was that Paul Leishman, his father, identifiable by the sponsor logos on his shirt and cap that matched his son’s, watched it all. Pelita, his mother, took in about nine holes with Audrey Leishman, Marc’s wife. His parents hadn’t seen him in almost a year and a half amid the pandemic, but after several written appeals the Australian government allowed them to leave for America and what became a tearful reunion at the Memphis airport on Monday night. “Dad’s one of my best mates,” Leishman said. “So not seeing him and my mum for a year and a half was – really tough. Also, I was playing terribly last year, so that didn’t help, either.” Sometimes the score doesn’t really tell the story, and that was the case for Leishman at TPC Southwind. It would be hard to overstate exactly what it took for his parents to be here. The Australian borders are shut and may not reopen for several months, a decision that has prompted backlash among those who believe the government has gone too far to stop COVID-19. “It was really tough; it’s been really tough for a lot of people,” Marc said. “We had to write letters to the Australian government for them to be allowed out of the country. We all wrote letters. I wrote one, Mom and Dad wrote one, different people from different fields write them. We had the PGA TOUR write one. There were letters coming from everybody. We had a pretty good case.” Although Leishman says, “The government were very good and got back to us quickly, gave them the go-ahead,” it was also a frustrating exercise that took months. “I understand not being able to go back into the country,” he said, “but not being able to leave is an interesting one.” Finally given the green light, Paul and Pelita left Warrnambool, Victoria – three hours southwest of Melbourne – and headed to America and Leishman’s hometown of Virginia Beach, Virginia. They were met at the airport by Audrey’s brother, Michael, on Saturday night. Harvey, Oliver, and Eva – Marc and Audrey’s three children – were in the dark and shocked to open the door and find their grandparents. Audrey filmed it. Marc, meanwhile, was still in Tokyo competing in the Olympics for Australia. Two days later, on Monday, Paul, Pelita, Audrey and the kids flew to Memphis, where the family has rented a house with a pool near TPC Southwind. Although the plan was to meet Marc back at the house, the charter flight from Japan – carrying the 19 players in the field in Memphis – was early to arrive, just a few minutes after Paul, Pelita, Audrey and the kids. Improvising, Paul and Pelita surprised their son at baggage claim. “That was another emotional moment,” Paul said. He may not be able to get back to Australia for a while, but he’s not particularly worried about it. The plan is for everyone to head to the Greenbrier in West Virginia after this week, as Marc and Audrey are having work done on their house. And after that, who knows? Marc and Paul are so close, it would almost be a blessing in disguise if his dad does get stuck in America. They’ve spent countless hours playing golf together, and it was a momentous day when Marc, then 13, finally beat his scratch-handicap father in the Warrnambool Golf Club championship. Although Marc now lives in America, he saw his father frequently before the pandemic. It’s been a hard year and a half. “It’s a weight of your back, I guess, just to be able to see him again,” said Marc, who came into this week at FedExCup No. 31. (The top 30 get into the season-ending TOUR Championship.) “He’s not too worried if he gets stuck here, I don’t think. He loves it in America, coming to the golf tournaments. It’s a pretty good spot to be, especially the way Australia is at the moment.” He’ll go back out for round two Friday. His dad expects to follow every shot.

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LAS VEGAS — Tom Kim closed with a 5-under 67 and completed a bogey-free week in Las Vegas to win the Shriners Children’s Open when Patrick Cantlay fell apart on the final hole Sunday. Kim became the first player since Tiger Woods in 1996 to win twice on the PGA TOUR before turning 21. The 20-year-old South Korean won the Wyndham Championship in August to make the FedExCup Playoffs and he’s been soaring ever since. “I’m having fun playing on the PGA TOUR. It’s awesome,” Kim said. But he needed some help from Cantlay, who could have gone to No. 2 in the world with a win at the TPC Summerlin. They traded birdies along the back nine and came to the par-4 18th hole tied for the lead when it all fell apart for Cantlay. He was first to play and hooked a 3-wood left of the fairway into a desert bush in a ravine. Kim belted driver into the fairway and by the time he finally played his second shot to the green, Cantlay was lying four in the bottom of the pond. Cantlay tried blasting out of the bush to no avail. He took a penalty drop. He then hit out of the desert sand and into the pond. Cantlay finished with a 35-foot putt for triple bogey for a 69 that gave him a share of second place with Matthew NeSmith (66). “I figured the only chance I had was to get it in the fairway,” Cantlay said about his decision to try to play from out of the bush. “I played well — one bad swing at the end. Obviously, I would have liked to have closed the deal out today, but sometimes that’s golf. Kim became the first player since J.T. Poston at the 2019 Wyndham Championship to win a PGA TOUR event without making bogey. The way the back nine was going, no one could afford to drop any shots. Cantlay birdied the 11th and 12th to tie Kim for the lead. Kim responded with birdies on the next two holes to restore a two-shot lead. Cantlay had 30-foot eagle chances on the next two holes, driving the par-4 14th green with a 3-wood and reaching the par-5 15th in two, while Kim had to settle for pars. Cantlay’s 35-foot putt for triple bogey was worth $160,000, but that was small consolation. It was his third disappointment in Las Vegas, the site of his first PGA TOUR win. He lost in a playoff to Kevin Na in 2019 and had a share of the 54-hole lead the following year until a poor final round to tie for eighth. “I hit a lot of good shots,” Cantlay said. “Obviously, the last hole makes the whole week kind of sour.” That left Kim a somewhat muted celebration. “I played solid this week — no bogey for 72 holes,” Kim said. “I got very lucky on the 18th, I’m not going to lie. Patrick played awesome, and to come out with a win I feel fortunate.” Woods was 20 when he won in Las Vegas and then at Disney in just seven tournaments since turning pro. Kim now is the second-youngest player to win two PGA TOUR events before turning 21, a month behind Ralph Guldahl when he won the 1932 Arizona Open for his second win. It’s been quite the year for Kim, who honed his golf in Australia and the Philippines before turning pro. He started this year by winning the Singapore International and finishing runner-up in the Singapore Open on the Asian Tour. After winning the Wyndham Championship, he made his debut in the Presidents Cup by going 2-3-0 for the International Team and delivering one of the biggest moments with a 10-foot birdie putt in Fourballs in a 1-up win over Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. Next up is the ZOZO Championship in Japan for Kim, who goes to No. 15 in the world and becomes the highest-ranked Asian player, moving ahead of Hideki Matsuyama of Japan.

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