Kuchar shoots another 64, leads Mayakoba by 2

Francesco Molinari dominated the Quicken Loans National with an impressive display of ballstriking. A final-round 62 gave him an eight-shot win that moved him to 42nd in the FedExCup standings. Molinari had a birdie putt from inside 20 feet on 55.6 percent of the holes (40 of 72). He hit the ball so well that he could have ranked 72nd (out of 74 players) in Strokes Gained: Putting and still won the event. Here’s a look at closer look at his impressive statistics from his victory. — Molinari’s eight-shot victory matched the largest winning margin on TOUR this season. It was the third win by six or more shots. Dustin Johnson owns the other two. Johnson won the 34-man Sentry Tournament of Champions by eight shots and the FedEx St. Jude Classic by six shots. He closed his St. Jude victory with a hole-out from 171 yards for eagle. — Molinari gained 20.5 strokes on the field last week, the 11th-best Strokes Gained: Total performance in the ShotLink era (since 2003). Strokes Gained: Total measures a player’s score against the field average. Molinari was 13 shots better than the field’s highest-ranked player, Rickie Fowler, who finished in 12th place. Only one player has outperformed Molinari in Strokes Gained: Total while gaining fewer strokes on the greens. Tiger Woods gained less than one stroke (0.95) on the greens when he won the 2006 World Golf Championships-American Express Championship by eight shots. — Molinari led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach and greens hit and was second in proximity to the hole. He hit a career-high 62 of 72 greens, including all 18 in the second round. His average proximity to the hole was 24 feet, 11 inches. There have been more than 13,000 rounds played on the PGA TOUR this season. A player has hit all 18 greens in just 37 of them. — Molinari also ranked fourth in driving accuracy last week, hitting 75 percent of the fairways (42 of 56) while averaging 304 yards off the tee. He missed six fairways in the third round and missed just eight in the other three rounds combined. — Eighty-four percent of Molinari’s Strokes Gained for the week were a result of his tee-to-green performance. He gained a career-best 4.33 strokes per round from tee-to-green last week. It also was the best tee-to-green performance by a winner this season. — Molinari’s 62 greens hit tied for fifth-best on TOUR this season. Three of the four better performances came at the AT&T Byron Nelson at Trinity Forest, a Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore design that is known for its wide fairways and oversized greens. The AT&T Byron Nelson’s champion, Aaron Wise, hit a season-high 66 greens that week.

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LAS VEGAS – Freshly crowned Shriners Hospitals for Children Open champion Patrick Cantlay turned professional in 2012 a few months before Jordan Spieth… and he was better than him. Before that the California kid had spent a record 55-weeks at the top of the world amateur golf rankings. As a freshman at UCLA, he had won the Haskins and Nicklaus awards as the best college player in the country. During the 2011 summer he was 21st at the U.S. Open and then shot into further consciousness among mainstream golf fans when he shot a second-round 60 at the Travelers Championship, the lowest ever score by an amateur on the PGA TOUR. This kid was the goods and the career we have seen from Spieth, well… that was expected to be something Cantlay would produce in his first five years on TOUR. But life doesn’t always come easy. And in Cantlay’s case… it can come at you very hard indeed. In 2013 he was warming up on the range at the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational at Colonial prior to the second round when he felt a sharp pain in his back. He tried to play but was forced to withdraw mid-round. Eventually he would be diagnosed with a stress fracture in his back – an injury that kept him out for three months. He returned to secure his playing status but in doing so forced himself out for seven more months. A few comeback attempts came in 2014, 2015 and 2016 but they all ended the same… with extended time off as his back would just not cooperate. But that wasn’t even the worst of it. In 2016 Cantlay was out with his caddie and best friend from high school Chris Roth in Newport Beach. As they crossed a road Roth, just 10 feet or so in front of Cantlay, was struck by a car in a hit-and-run accident. Cantlay called 911 and tried to help his stricken friend but Roth was pronounced dead at a local hospital. He admits the incident sent him into a depressive state. One “there was and still is a reason for.â€� The plan had always been for Roth to be on his bag. He would have been celebrating in this victory but of course that was not to be. Despite this Cantlay fought on. “There’s not a lot of give up in me,â€� he said Sunday. Last season we saw his return and in just his second start at the Valspar Championship he was runner up. Two starts later he was T3 at the RBC Heritage. In just nine starts he forced his way into the FedExCup Playoffs where he went T10-T13-T9 in the opening three events to force his way into the TOUR Championship. In his 2017-18 debut he was T15 at the World Golf Championships – HSBC Champions last week before this triumph. And it didn’t come without his now trademark fight. He produced five birdies in a six-hole run around the turn on Sunday but then bogeyed the final two holes in regulation to slip back. Given a second chance he nailed a pressure 8-foot bogey putt in the first hole of the playoff with his back against the wall and then on the second playoff hole carved his way out of tree trouble before putting beautifully from off the green to set up a tap-in par for victory. Just 35 weeks ago Cantlay sat outside the top 1000 golfers in the world. Now the 25-year-old projects inside the top 50, the third fastest player in history to make such a leap. And while his contemporaries like Spieth and Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele have been making waves in the 25 and under category, Cantlay now has hopes of making his own run at history. “I want to be the best player in the world, and I want to win a bunch of tournaments. I feel like if that’s not what you’re out here for, you shouldn’t be out here,â€� Cantlay said. “Having won, I hope they pile up. I feel like getting your first one can sometimes be the toughest one to get, and I feel really good about my game, and hopefully I can start getting some more wins.â€� Cantlay says he’s not frustrated by his lost time or the success of those he was once beating as an amateur. “I don’t feel like I’m behind the eight ball. I feel like someone put the pause button on playing… but I feel like I picked up right where I left off, where I was playing good before,â€� he added. “This year has been really good. I feel like I’ve always been right there with those guys, so I’m looking forward to working hard and hopefully having some battles with them in the future.â€� We hope so too.  OBSERVATIONS – Alex Cejka was packed up and about to put his clubs in the car when he thought better of it. Having finished two hours ahead of eventual playoff combatants Patrick Cantlay and Whee Kim he had good reason. His awesome 8-under 63 Sunday left him 9 under but the German figured it wasn’t quite going to be enough. And it was fair enough thinking. Both Cantlay and J.J. Spaun sat above him on the leaderboard with the getable back nine to play. Countless others sat equal with him or just one back playing a stretch he made six birdies on. But as the winds started to lift around TPC Summerlin the Las Vegas resident decided to hit a few putts… then he hit the range. And after the carnage ensued he was indeed headed to extra holes. He had a 15-foot putt on the first playoff hole for the win that burned the edge and another from similar distance to keep the playoff alive on the second sudden-death hole that missed low to cruel his chance to add to his 2015 Puerto Rico Open title. “You cannot win a playoff with a bogey and I made two bogeys in the playoff, so that’s a little bit disappointing,â€� Cejka lamented. “But overall, I’m happy… that’s the way the cookie crumbles, sometimes.â€� – When his tee ball on the second playoff hole started to sail left towards the desert Whee Kim knew his chances of victory were dwindling. The unplayable lie did prove the death of him but he took solace in the fact he’s trending in the right direction. While the Korean was obviously disappointed to lose at TPC Summerlin he’s taking plenty of momentum to Mexico next week. After finishing fourth at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES and now runner-up in his next start he figures the uptrend only has one better spot to get to. First. – J.J. Spaun had shown grit to claw his way back to the lead on the back nine after some struggles mid round but a maiden victory fell from his grasp down the stretch. A bogey on 15 and doubles on 17 and 18 left the 36 and 54-hole leader crashing down into a tie for 10th.   – A.J. McInerney emerged from the scorers trailer on Sunday to raucous applause after his final-round 67. The Las Vegas local, who shielded his girlfriend from gunfire and returned in his truck after evacuating to help others at the Las Vegas massacre, had surged up the leaderboard much to the delight of a very vocal support group. In his first ever PGA TOUR start McInerney finished T10, leaving him with a tough decision to make. He could leverage that into another start next week at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba but in doing so he would have to give up his spot at second stage of Web.com Tour Q-School. After some frantic phone calls and pacing around the locker room McInerney decided to tee it up at Q-School to try for full status for next season. “Just amazing. This week has been absolutely incredible,â€� McInerney said. “I tried to make Vegas proud, they came out strong today, and it was absolutely amazing to be a part of that.â€� – UNLV grad Charley Hoffman posted scores of 68-71-71-70—280 (-4) to finish T18 in his hometown event. Hoffman announced early in the week that he would be donating his entire paycheck this week to the Direct Impact Fund via PGA TOUR Charities to aid in the relief efforts of last month’s Las Vegas shooting. Hoffman’s T18 finish was worth $98,600. QUOTABLE “My goals for the rest of the season, definitely majors. It will be nice to be into all of those, and making it all the way to the FedExCup Playoffs and TOUR Championship. And (I want to) play well in those events, those are big. It was my first time playing (the Playoffs) last year, and really realized the gravity of them, and would like to do well and compete.â€� – Patrick Cantlay on his goals moving forward. “I’m lucky that the Shriners Hospitals and PGA TOUR gave me the platform to help donate and help people here in the city of Las Vegas. I called Las Vegas home for 20 years. Went to college here. Lot of pride, lot of friends out here in Las Vegas, a lot of people obviously grieving. Just hope to be able to give back hopefully a decent check here and hopefully do some good.â€� – Charley Hoffman after his T18 finish earned just under 100K for the victims of the Route 91 shooting. “This is my third year on TOUR, and I’ve been able to start pretty fast, which I don’t know what the story is with that, but it’s nice. I enjoy fall golf. I have some goals for this year. I want to get in the winner’s circle. Trophies are what I’m after. So that’s where my focus is. I have to be patient, but I’m eager to get one.â€� – Patton Kizzire after a Sunday 64 left him T4. SUPERLATIVES Low Round: Alex Cejka birdied eight of his last 12 holes to shoot a sublime 8-under 63 and surge his way into a playoff. Shout out to Alex Kang, Talor Gooch and Patton Kizzire for nice Sunday 64s. Longest Drive: The honor for longest drive Sunday went to Adam Schenk for his 375-yard effort on the fourth hole. He made par. Longest Putt: Ryan Armour might not have backed up his win with another but his 75’10â€� eagle bomb on the par-5 16th was mighty impressive from the Sanderson Farms Championship winner. Toughest Hole: The par-4 3rd proved the toughest hole on Sunday playing to a 4.295 average with just two birdies on the hole. Easiest Hole: The drivable par-4 15th was the hole to get after on Sunday playing at just 281-yards. It averaged 3.551 with two eagles and 40 birdies.  CALL OF THE DAY SHOT OF THE DAY BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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Answer: This golf tournament, while traditionally contested in April, was shifted to November for the first time in 84 editions. Question: What is the 2020 Masters? The playful tribute to the late Alex Trebek, the long-time host of "Jeopardy!," aside, the Masters really is a tradition unlike any other, and especially amid a pandemic. Not only are there two editions during the 2020-21 PGA TOUR super season, they will occur consecutively as it concerns the six majors. For more on the when the field was determined, a review of the weather, how Tiger Woods prevailed and other information, scroll past the projected contenders. RELATED: The First Look | Inside the Field | Nine things to know: Augusta National POWER RANKINGS: MASTERS TOURNAMENT Tuesday's Fantasy Insider will include 2015 champ Jordan Spieth, Francesco Molinari, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler and first-timers Collin Morikawa and Matthew Wolff among the notables. The construct of the field for the 2020 Masters was announced months ago but it's timely to revisit it once more. The qualifiers for the tournament were set as if it had been staged in its usual slot in April. Winners of eligible tournaments since play resumed in June qualified only for the 2021 Masters. With the recent withdrawals of Joaquin Niemann and Sergio Garcia, both due to COVID-19, the field stands at 92 as of Monday afternoon. Twenty-six (or 28 percent) are first-time participants, a not-so-insignificant fact given the documented value of course knowledge at Augusta National Golf Club. Because the par 72 is so consistent over time, the golfers aren't just playing the course, they're playing against relative experience of others. It's as close to a home-course advantage as a veteran can get at what technically is a neutral site. The variable that's new to all is the weather, at least as it concerns the seasons. However, with traces of summertime heat and humidity hanging on, it's possible if not probable that only the reduction of daylight hours will feel different to everyone who has traveled to Augusta, Georgia, in early April. Daytime highs will eclipse 70 degrees and even flirt with 80 during the first two rounds. Winds will be light, but rain is all but guaranteed thanks in part to the encroachment of what's left of Tropical Storm Eta that made landfall in southern Florida late on Sunday night. Suffice it to say that the SubAir system has been oiled and will be engaged. Advance forecasts were suggesting much cooler air. The compromise is that it'll likely be warm enough for fewer hours every day, but the impact on the distance the ball flies won't be as substantial as previously considered. Even so, because Augusta National is a second-shot test and favors placement off the tee over length, the conditions could influence roll on the fairways and the greens. Because of the unprecedented transition to the fall, comparisons to the last edition in 2019 should be left to the record only, but there's still a curiosity for how Augusta National will stack up against it this week. With a scoring average of 71.865, the 2019 field was the first to break par since 1992. The average driving distance of 296.5 yards was much longer than usual (although only holes 1 and 2 are measured) as driving accuracy also rose. Those two statistics rarely evolve with a direct relationship, but all other facets of completing a round also were easier. Defending champion Tiger Woods navigated a scintillating finale to prevail and he led the tournament in greens in regulation. That's job one for anyone who intends for him to slip the green jacket over his shoulders come Sunday. ShotLink isn't utilized at Augusta National, but it's not dumbing down the recap by attaching other analytics to his performance. Woods ranked 10th in converting GIR into par breakers, 14th in putts per GIR and T10 in bogey avoidance. On the whole, it was just enough to escape with a one-stroke victory, his 15th in a major. For the second consecutive edition, Augusta National tips at 7,475 yards. The addition of 40 yards to the par-4 fifth hole last year yielded a scoring average of 4.336. Not only was it the hardest hole on the course, but it also was the 10th-hardest of 522 par 4s in all of 2018-19. That's notable because as recently as 2016, it wasn't inside the top-half hardest holes on the course. In addition to a new format that will send groupings off split tees in the first two rounds, the 36-hole cut has been modified to low 50 and ties. The previous provision of including all within 10 strokes of the lead has been eliminated. Included in a series of spoils, the champion will receive a lifetime exemption into the Masters, five-year exemptions into the other three majors and a five-year membership exemption on the PGA TOUR. ROB BOLTON'S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM's Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Fantasy Insider * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM's Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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