Kim rallies to beat Vu in LPGA playoff in Arizona

Island hopping continues in Hawaii as the TOUR shifts from the newly redone Plantation Course on bucolic Maui to the hustle and bustle of the classic Seth Raynor Waialae Country Club in Honolulu on Oahu. The traffic on the course, and island, increases this week as 144 players comprise the first full-field event of calendar 2020. The top 60 and ties will play the weekend for a piece of a $6.6 million prize purse with the winner taking home $1.188 million plus 500 FedExCup points. Waialae CC stretches only 7,044 yards (Par-70) and has hosted the event since 1965, so course form plays a massive angle. Bermuda greens and tight driving targets usually provide the challenge but this week, the trade winds will also keep scoring at a premium. The classic layout has only crowned two debut winners this century and only two more under the age of 30 since 1999 so experience, in the wind and on the course, matters this week. With gusty conditions in the forecast, experience and ball-striking receives extra emphasis. Of the 144 players entered, 23 knocked the rust off last week in Maui. Over the last 21 events, 15 champions played the week prior in the winner’s-only event. Justin Thomas (2017) and Ernie Els (2003) are the only two to win both Hawaii events back-to-back to kick off the year. RELATED: Power Rankings | Expert Picks Recent Winners 2019: Matt Kuchar (-22, 258) Became the third winner since 2012 to also win the previous year at Mayakoba. … Just the second player 40 or older to win this century. … Played the previous week on Maui. … Top nine in EVERY major statistical category other than Strokes-Gained: Around-the-Green. … Led the field in GIR and Ball-Striking. … Won in his 14th attempt. Notables: Only four over-par rounds posted from the top 28 players in benign conditions. … Andrew Putnam (2nd) and Brian Gay (T22) both gained over 10 strokes on the greens. … Corey Conners closed 64-64 for T3 after qualifying on Monday. … Noted wind player Marc Leishman cashed T3. … Top 28 were 10 under or better. @GolfOdds has set this year’s winning total for 270.5. #Windy. 2018: Patton Kizzire (-17, 263) The 2017 Mayakoba champion defeated James Hahn on the second playoff hole to win in his second visit to Waialae CC. … Joined the previous four winners by finishing in the top five in Strokes-Gained: Putting. … Third-consecutive winner who did NOT finish in the top 55 in driving accuracy. … T1 Par-3 scoring. Notables: James Hahn fired 62 in Round 4 to force a playoff. … Tom Hoge led by one after 54 holes and missed the playoff by a shot. … Brian Harman led by three after 36 holes (64-63) before cashing T4. … Webb Simpson’s furious finish (63-65) secured T4. … 10 under was good for T25 and there were only five over-par rounds from those 31 golfers. 2017: Justin Thomas (-27, 253) Completed the Maui-Honolulu double as he set the course record (59; Round 1) and the tournament record to win by seven shots. … Set the TOUR record for best 36-hole score (123) and tied the 54-hole mark (188). … Led by seven after 54 holes over Zach Johnson. … Top four in all Strokes-Gained categories minus Around-the-Green. … Won in his third attempt. Notables: Kevin Kisner posted 60 in Round 3 and eventually cashed T4. … Johnson signed for 61 in Round 2 and played in the final group (T6). … Chez Reavie closed the proceedings with 61 to hit T8. … The top 44 players were 10 under or lower. Key stat leaders With gusty conditions in the forecast and a winning total expected around 10 under, this week is going to look different to previous editions at Waialae. Getting the ball in the hole is going to trump scoring for me this week. Top golfers in each statistic on the 2019-20 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week.  * -  previous top-10 finish here since 2015 Strokes-Gained: Putting  4  Graeme McDowell (first appearance)  5  *Andrew Putnam  7  *Patton Kizzire  9  Vaughn Taylor 11 *Webb Simpson 12 *Brandt Snedeker 14 *Pat Perez 19 Peter Malnati 20 *Kevin Kisner 22 Patrick Rodgers 23 Sam Burns Strokes-Gained: Approach-the-Green  2  *Justin Thomas  3  Emiliano Grillo  5  Hideki Matsuyama  9  *Corey Conners 13 *Chez Reavie 14 *Webb Simpson 15 Talor Gooch 17 *Matt Kuchar 18 *Russell Knox 19 Keegan Bradley 24 Nate Lashley 25 Joaquin Niemann 28 *Marc Leishman Bogey Avoidance  2  *Webb Simpson  4  *Charles Howell III  6  *Matt Kuchar  7  *Scott Piercy 10 Vaughn Taylor 13 Matt Jones 14 Sungjae Im 16 *Justin Thomas 17 Bud Cauley 22 *Rory Sabbatini 25 Patrick Reed Mahalo Justin Thomas: T16 or better in four of five starts the last five years. … Also owns 61 from debut event in 2015. … Scoring average is 66.56 and is 51 under his last three trips. Charles Howell III: Leading money winner at the event and he’s never won! …  18 visits, 18 paychecks. … Hit the top 10 in five of his last 10 starts and 10 overall. … 23 rounds in the red and counting and 61 of 68 career rounds 70 or better. Matt Kuchar: Last six have gone for WIN, T13, T3, T8, T5 and T5. Frequent Fliers Marc Leishman: Never missed in 10 trips. … Of 40 rounds, nine have gone for 65 or better. … Eight of 10 paydays T28 or better. Webb Simpson: Never missed in nine trips. … 11 of 35 rounds 66 or better. … T20 or better last five visits. Brian Gay: Cashed 16 of 19 career including 16 of his last 17. Wait, What? Brian Stuard: Made six of seven weekends with four top-10 paydays and 67.23 scoring average. … Top 10 last two years. Hudson Swafford: 67.32 scoring average in six tries; three top-10 paychecks including T3 last year. Jimmy Walker: Last repeat champion in 2015 hasn’t found his mojo in his last three visits. Caution. Pat Perez: Almost half of his 17 appearances have ended up in the top 25 with half of those in the top 10, but his last three (MC-81-T69) have been clunky.

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Rory McIlroy – needing a win at Augusta National to complete the career Grand Slam — plays well late in the season, and therefore will benefit from a rescheduled Masters. RELATED: What to know about a November Masters | Roundtable: Most emotional Masters | All-time Masters Power Rankings That was the logic Jack Nicklaus used when he recently told the Golf Channel the new November date could benefit the two-time FedExCup champion. After all, it was only last November when McIlroy beat Xander Schauffele in a playoff at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions. McIlroy’s late-season theatrics also include winning two FedExCups, two PGA Championships, and two (European Tour) DP World Tour Championships in Dubai. All of those accomplishments came in golf’s late, August-through-November stretch. And now the Masters is set for Nov. 12-15 in the revised golf calendar announced earlier this week. A win that week by McIlroy would make him the sixth player to achieve the career Grand Slam, although theoretically Jordan Spieth (PGA Championship, now Aug. 6-9) or Phil Mickelson (U.S. Open, now Sept. 18-21) could beat him to the punch. (Mickelson, by the way, is not yet qualified for the U.S. Open.) In a sense, trying to predict how McIlroy might fare at a November Masters is a fool’s errand. For one thing, the coronavirus pandemic may or may not allow for the tournament, and others, to come off at all. For another, the top-ranked player in the world is by definition best equipped to adapt to any change – be it a new date or some other twist. Oh, also: It’s not like McIlroy needs to change his fortunes all that much to win the Masters. He has finished in the top 10 there in five of his last six starts. That the course suits him has been obvious since he led by four shots through 54 holes in 2011, only to fall apart on the back nine on the way to a final-round 80. As he said last year about Augusta National, “If I haven’t figured it out by now, there’s something wrong.â€� Had the Masters been held as originally scheduled this week, McIlroy surely would’ve been a a big favorite. Not just because of his track record and obvious motivation, but also his recent form – seven consecutive worldwide top-5 finishes, including all four of his PGA TOUR starts in the 2020 calendar year that has left him currently No. 3 in the FedExCup standings. In fact, going back to his last 14 worldwide starts, he has two TOUR wins and 10 other top-10 finishes. He seemed to be peaking at the perfect time. Now he’ll need to peak again in six months. Asked on a Golf Channel media conference call Thursday what they thought of Nicklaus’ assessment, analysts Notah Begay III, Brandel Chamblee and Justin Leonard did not disagree, but gave their own reasons why November might suit McIlroy just fine, or better than that. “I’ve never been to Augusta in November, but my guess is that the golf course could play a little bit softer,â€� Leonard said. “… We know how well Rory McIlroy plays in kind of softer conditions.â€� (McIlroy cruised to his first major title, the 2011 U.S. Open, on a wet, soft course at Congressional and has since dominated on other wet, soft venues, particularly at the PGA.) Added Chamblee, “My friends who have played there in November tell me the golf course plays quite long.â€� (McIlroy was second in driving distance and sixth in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee when the season was suspended after round one of THE PLAYERS Championship last month.) “I can’t imagine any scenario that doesn’t favor Rory,â€� Chamblee added. Leonard and Chamblee also noted McIlroy’s remarkable consistency (a TOUR-leading 14 top-10s, with three wins, last season), and his ability to put together long stretches of greatness. That could bode well for him in a late summer and fall that could be chock full of big events. Begay seconded that and added another factor that might help McIlroy: No longer the season’s first major, the Masters – if the reconfigured schedule goes according to plan – would be the last. “So that might change a little bit of the mind-set,â€� Begay said. “That might change a little bit of the approach. He might have already won one by then.â€� Not only would McIlroy be coming in hot, he would be coming to a Masters for which the golf world would not be converging with quite the usual amount of pent-up anticipation. “So it actually could benefit him in a couple of ways from a mental standpoint,â€� Begay said. Added the Golf Channel’s Rich Lerner, moderating the discussion: “Just to put a button on this Rory conversation: 27 pro wins combined, European Tour and PGA TOUR, seven of those wins have come in the month of September or beyond, and deep into November.â€� Add it all up and a Masters in November might leave McIlroy with a very warm feeling, indeed.

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Ernie Els missed a chance to build a big lead during the second round of the PGA Tour Champions’ Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach on Saturday, but he holds a 1-stroke lead over Dicky Pride, with Jim Furyk and four others 2 shots back.

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