Brooks Koepka hasn’t played since the Wyndham Championship because of hip and knee injuries.
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Koepka withdraws from U.S. Open with injuries
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Tiger’s last Masters as much about family as a green jacketTiger’s last Masters as much about family as a green jacket
Tiger Woods walked off the 18th green as a Masters champion for the fifth time, a major champion for the 15th time, and the sensation was unlike anything he had ever felt. ”That’s going to be in people’s minds forever,” Rickie Fowler said last month, just two days before the Masters was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Woods set 20 records that signaled the arrival of a brand of dominance never seen in golf.
Sleeper Picks: WGC-FedEx St. Jude InvitationalSleeper Picks: WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational
Mackenzie Hughes … It’s probably an insult to drop him in here, but the 29-year-old from Canada hasn’t qualified for a World Golf Championship since the 2017 edition of this event when it was held at Firestone Country Club’s South Course. His most recent three starts include a T3 at the Travelers Championship, where he led the field in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green, and T6 at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, where he paced the field in Strokes Gained: Putting. Looping in a runner-up finish at The Honda Classic in what was his last start before the hiatus, all three of his top-45 finishes this season are top sixes. He’s also missed 10 of 17 cuts, but that can’t happen this week, so the promise of 72 holes plays into his firepower. Matt Jones … This is the Aussie’s first appearance in a World Golf Championship in four years. He qualified for this week’s with a victory at the Emirates Australian Open in December. Aside from the hiatus, it’s been a largely quiet 2020, but a T5 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and a T14 at the Workday Charity Open are timely highlights. In the latter at Muirfield Village, he flashed confidence around and on the greens. Now he settles into a site where he went 4-for-5 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic from 2015-2018 with a T3, a T18 and a scoring average of 69.125. Joel Dahmen … Given his consistently strong form over time, it’s a little hard to believe that this marks his debut in a World Golf Championship. It’s not his first look at TPC Southwind, or his second. As a PGA TOUR rookie in 2017, the native of Washington State placed T18 in the FedEx St. Jude Classic. It was one of only two top 40s in 16 starts that season. His propensity to keep his ball in play off the tee keeps his options open on approach. A moxie evidenced with the ability to connect low rounds all the while maximizing course management support why he’s dangerous in a limited-field event with no cut. While Muirfield Village knocked him around in six rounds earlier this month, he’s already hung up a pair of top 20s in the restart. For the season, the 32-year-old has four top 10s among eight top 20s. Shaun Norris … The 38-year-old South African has only eight PGA TOUR starts under his belt and he didn’t crack the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time until October of 2018, but he’s figured out how to retain positioning at this level. Even after early struggles on the Japan Golf Tour in 2019, he regrouped to finish second in the Order of Merit for the second straight season. He’s won once in each of his four years on that circuit, and he led the JGTO in putts per GIR last year. Opened 2020 by going 5-for-5 worldwide with a T6 in Abu Dhabi and a T18 in Oman. In between, his T37 at the WGC-Mexico Championship registered as his career-best finish in PGA TOUR competition. Robert MacIntyre … The lefty was the last of the 15 additional qualifiers via the Official World Golf Ranking on July 20 to construct a field of 78. His T6 at The Open Championship in 2019 punctuated a seriously strong season en route to the Rookie of the Year award on the European Tour. He didn’t win but he finished second three times and totaled seven top 10s, and then opened 2020 with a T8 in Dubai. The Scot will turn 24 on the Monday following the conclusion of the WGC-St. Jude. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.
Will Zalatoris in major championship striking distance once againWill Zalatoris in major championship striking distance once again
BROOKLINE, Mass. – Will Zalatoris’ career goal is to win a major championship. The goal was rooted at age 6, when a young Zalatoris noticed Ken Venturi’s 1964 U.S. Open trophy on display at the California Golf Club of San Francisco, one of two courses that cultivated his love for the game as an elementary schooler, alongside par-3 Mariners Point Golf Center. “Probably when I recognized the U.S. Open trophy being at Cal Club,” said Zalatoris of his goal’s origins. “Walked by it every single day when we went to Cal Club. It’s still sitting there.” Zalatoris has done everything in his power to reach this goal, putting himself in position time and time again to chase a major championship title. He entered this week’s U.S. Open at The Country Club with five top-10 finishes in eight career major starts, including a runner-up at the 2021 Masters and a playoff loss to Justin Thomas at last month’s PGA Championship. He’s in position yet again at Brookline, where he competed at the 2013 U.S. Amateur and has long regarded as one the most difficult courses he has played. On a demanding Saturday afternoon outside Boston, Zalatoris carded 3-under 67, the day’s low round. Zalatoris began the third round trailing 36-hole co-leaders Collin Morikawa and Joel Dahmen by four strokes. He ended the day at 4-under, tied for the clubhouse lead with Matt Fitzpatrick – winner of the 2013 U.S. Amateur at Brookline, where Zalatoris fell five strokes shy of qualifying for match play. Zalatoris, 25, is regarded as perhaps the best player yet to notch a PGA TOUR title, and it’s not for lack of opportunities. The Wake Forest alum stands No. 13 on the FedExCup standings, with seven top-10s in 17 starts including two runner-up finishes, the highest-ranked player on the FedExCup without a career TOUR victory. He’s No. 14 on the Official World Golf Ranking, also the highest ranked without a TOUR title. Zalatoris, known as one of the game’s premier ball strikers, clearly thrives on the demanding setups presented by major championships. Saturday afternoon at The Country Club fit the bill with consistent winds, narrow targets and increasingly firm greens. The first-year PGA TOUR member, who won 2021 TOUR Rookie of the Year honors as a non-member, wasn’t fazed. He made birdie on holes 2, 4 and 9, offset by just one bogey at the short par-4 seventh. He made eight pars on the back nine, adding a birdie at the 503-yard, par-4 15th after a short iron to 5 feet. He got up and down from a front greenside bunker at No. 18 to post the day’s low round, one better than Fitzpatrick and Denny McCarthy. Zalatoris previously said that he felt “imposter syndrome” in his PGA Championship playoff against Thomas. As he finds this stage time and again, his confidence grows. Throughout his career, he has maintained a consistent self-belief that he’s working on the right things and capable of performing on the highest level. “Coming off the PGA (Championship), it gave me a lot of belief and confidence that I belong in this situation,” Zalatoris said. “There’s a difference in thinking it and then actually being in the situation and believing it. So I think that’s probably the biggest change. “I’ve put myself in this situation a few times in my career, and obviously have to go out and get it tomorrow.” Zalatoris didn’t see immediate success in professional golf. After falling short at Q-School, he earned enough points as a Korn Ferry Tour non-member (via a combination of Monday qualifiers and sponsor exemptions) to gain Special Temporary Membership. He fell short of earning a TOUR card via the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Finals, and after accruing the most Korn Ferry Tour points throughout the 2020 calendar year, he earned enough non-member FedExCup points that fall to earn Special Temporary Membership on TOUR. He’s now a first-year TOUR member, but his game indicates a confidence and maturity beyond his years. It has been earned. Now he takes aim at his first TOUR title, his first major title, against a backdrop that appears well suited for his skill set. Somewhere, that 6-year-old kid is nodding with approval. “I’ve had a few long waits so far in my career,” Zalatoris said. “I’ll make sure I try to stay up a little bit tonight and make sure I sleep in just to kill some time. The fact that this place is that brutal and that there are so many major champions around the leaderboard … I don’t feel like I’m trying to protect it by any means. “Stick to the routine and go play some twilight golf.”