The top of the board is star-studded, with Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka neck-and-neck at the top of the St. Jude Invitational.
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How to adapt in a pandemic? Put one foot in front of the other, for starters. At facilities that remain open amid the coronavirus pandemic – about 49 percent of courses nationwide as of last weekend, according to the National Golf Foundation – golfers are going back to walking in order to practice social distancing and avoid touching potentially infected things like golf carts. “People are finding that walking isn’t that bad,� said David Ward, a teaching pro at Jacksonville Beach Golf Club in Florida, where business remains strong and every other tee time is a walking tee time. The course has just 72 carts, and with the one-per-cart rule, they go fast. Jax Beach also offers a coronavirus deal on carts; two people go in on one cart for a slightly reduced rate, and each walks for nine of the holes to maintain healthy distancing. According to estimates, walkers cover about five miles and burn roughly 2,000 calories over 18 holes. (Compared to around 1,300 calories for riding.) But walking had fallen out of favor. Now, though, it’s back by necessity. Putting one foot in front of the other has made such a comeback that even before the current lockdown – all but five states have some form of stay-at-home order, either state-wide or partial, impacting 95 percent of the country’s population – golfers were reporting a scarcity of push/pull carts in big-box stores. The trend is more than anecdotal. “We’ve seen a sizeable uptick in the sales of push and pull carts,� said Rodney Chamblee, Merchant of Accessories for PGA TOUR Superstore, where such carts start at $119.99. How sizeable? Sales have doubled over the past several weeks, he said. “That’s certainly been a positive,� said Chamblee, who is not related to Brandel Chamblee, the Golf Channel analyst. “Unfortunately most of things are manufactured in Asia, and you can’t go for long like that before your supplier runs out. China is still recovering from the coronavirus, so a lot of the manufacturing has just gotten going again, and you’re beginning to run into a bit of an imbalance between supply and demand here. If you want a cart, you better get one.� Will the surge of walkers endure even after the pandemic has abated? It’s too early to tell, but possibly. “Our course is not overly long,� said teaching pro Ward of Jacksonville Beach, “and it’s not a hike from the greens to the tees. You’re not walking through a subdivision. I think a lot of people will keep walking.�
DORADO, Puerto Rico – Although D.A. Points doesn’t technically get to defend his title this week in Puerto Rico, he may be the one who was credited for the idea of the Puerto Rico Open Charity Pro-Am. Points, who won the 2017 Puerto Rico Open by two shots, didn’t even wait until the call came out from the TOUR for support after last year’s hurricane. He volunteered to come down to the island as soon as there were questions about whether or not an event would take place this year. “I said to the guys at the PGA TOUR, ‘hey, let me know. If you guys want me to go down there for a fundraiser or a Pro-Am, just let me know,’� he said. “I wanted to help out.� Points was part of a contingent of 20 professional golfers from the PGA TOUR, Web.com Tour, and LPGA Tour who came together to help raise more than $500,000 for relief efforts this week. He said the resiliency of the Puerto Rican people is part of who they are. Even though last year’s Hurricane Maria was the worst recorded natural disaster in the island’s history, he said he’s seen them roll with the punches and was pleasantly surprised at how – of what he’s seen so far – the island is still “beautiful Puerto Rico.� Points’ story as well could be one of resiliency, as he said he came into last year’s Puerto Rico Open after a few down years and was trying to dig his game out of one of the deepest pits he’d ever been in. He birdied his first five holes Sunday but then got ahead of himself and fell back slightly, before birding four of his final six holes to eventually win by two over Retief Goosen, Bryson DeChambeau and Bill Lunde. He said he cared little about defending his title this week. He was happy to be part of the experience for the people here. “I’m sad the tournament isn’t going on this year, but I still have this opportunity to be down in Puerto Rico and play another great golf course,� he said. The biggest reason why it was important to be here this week, he said, was because people care about Puerto Rico – and the people who live here. When the TOUR reached out to some other past champions, it was an easy thing to say yes to. Derek Lamely, who won this event in 2010, said the big reason why he’s here is because of how much Puerto Rico feels like his home in Florida. “As stupid as it is to say, it even smells like home,� he said. “I’ve always liked it here.� Another Floridian and past Puerto Rico Open champion, George McNeil (2012), said without question he was going to participate this week and help out as much as he can. It was an opportunity to help show people Puerto Rico was open for business again, and because he saw how much impact a hurricane can have on a community – with Fort Myers, Florida getting hit by Hurricane Irma last year – he was happy to participate. “When the TOUR was figuring out what to do and they come up with this, it was a very easy yes. I’m happy to be down here and happy to play. The response and what people are doing is over and beyond what they expected, which is always great to see,� said McNeil, whose pro-am team (he split pro duties with Cheyenne Woods of the LPGA Tour, Tiger Woods’ niece) fired a 16-under-par 56 to win the event by one shot. “People are so excited about having us down here.� The PGA TOUR and its tournaments raised over $180 million for charitable causes in 2017, a record amount. McNeil said this week’s event – with the ultimate goal of raising $500,000 for local charities that have been part of the relief effort – is a microcosm of the TOUR’s charitable efforts as a whole. “That’s what the TOUR is all about,� he said. “It’s one of the things I’ve always loved the most,� continued Lamely. “You look at all these sports – the NFL and Major League Baseball – and we crush them all (in charitable giving). It’s definitely a great thing to be a part of.� And although Points will have to wait another year before he can try to become the second person to win the event twice in his career, an event like this week’s pro-am was a chance to be of something even bigger than a golf tournament. “This was our chance to say, ‘hey, we know you went through a really tough time, so if there is any way to help out, we will,’� he said. “People are still with Puerto Rico and we were ready to help bring people back here.�
No, I am not burning Tiger Woods at THE PLAYERS Championship, and I encourage you to do the same. For as obvious that a healthy Woods is the man at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard that he’s won eight times (and for which the opposite of the opening line led off last week’s One & Done preview, which is why it could sound familiar), he’s as obvious a no-play at TPC Sawgrass. Just about everybody is. With double bogeys and worse awaiting around numerous corners, on several approaches and on the tees of par 3s of TPC Sawgrass, and with the deepest field the PGA TOUR offers attempting to tame it, this is the ideal week to abstain from the kind of talent on which you’re going to rely in the majors and FedExCup Playoffs. Since, in other preview material, I’ve already gone into how course success largely is a coincidence and that the course always wins, only rookie gamers who aren’t aware of the pitfalls of THE PLAYERS will be making piles on those usual suspects. Instead, the dispersion of ownership percentages should be flat and vast. Yes, 600 FedExCup points and $2.25 million goes to the winner, but the odds of you having that guy are lower here than probably every other week. Anecdotal arguments trumps the empirically rooted because it’s so apparent. Do not permit the temptation of taking a bite from that apple supersede your attraction to it. The simple philosophy is to use THE PLAYERS, the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play and The Open Championship as the glossiest bridges over which to navigate with chalk on the fringes. Each presents a blend of variables cause for pause. Repeat after me, “I want to burn a big name, but …” In order, the most sensible One & Done picks at TPC Sawgrass are Sergio Garcia, Francesco Molinari, Adam Scott, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Tommy Fleetwood, Ian Poulter and Xander Schauffele. And get used to it in Austin and at Royal Portrush. You want starts performing on the biggest stages for certain, but you’re also going to be OK if any underachieves. The only point I’ll concede to veteran gamers who are chasing and will be circling guys like Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson is that you’re entitled to an extra risk-reward play with one less Playoffs event this season. Granted, that applies only to PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done gamers since FedExCup points measure performance, but earnings-based gamers still need to consider the merits of clubbing down off the tee. Speaking of the Playoffs, because the three-event series will end a month earlier this year and because THE PLAYERS is contested now, this is an ideal time to sit down and sketch out who’s still on your board and where you might want to take your swings with each of the remaining haymakers. In the past, I’ve advised using the Masters as the midseason timing mechanism for this review, but it might be too late by then in 2018-19. The purpose of waiting until now is to remain open-minded and fluid. This allows most of the picks to emerge organically, which should be more fun than penciling in probables for future stops. Now that you know how you stack up against your opposition, you can develop a plan of attack for the second half of the season. If you’re front-running, keep doing what you’re doing assuming you haven’t burned all of the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking. In that extreme case, consider throttling back in the pursuit of moderation. If you’re behind, then think about playing more aggressively assuming you haven’t been a victim of unprecedented bad luck. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2018-19. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Byeong Hun An … Memorial (1) Daniel Berger … Travelers (1) Keegan Bradley … Memorial (5); Travelers (4) Rafa Cabrera Bello … PLAYERS (1); Wyndham (4) Patrick Cantlay … Valspar (2); Memorial (3) Paul Casey … Valspar (7; defending); WGC-Match Play (8); Masters (2); Wells Fargo (9); Travelers (1); TOUR Championship (3) Jason Day … PLAYERS (7); WGC-Match Play (11); Masters (4); Wells Fargo (6 defending); PGA Championship (3); U.S. Open (10); Open Championship (9) Bryson DeChambeau … Heritage (1); Memorial (2; defending); Travelers (4); John Deere (7) Jason Dufner … PLAYERS (7); Valspar (4); New Orleans (1); Charles Schwab (6); Memorial (5); U.S. Open (2); Wyndham (8); TOUR Championship (10) Tony Finau … Valero (5); Memorial (2) Rickie Fowler … Masters (2); Wells Fargo (6); PGA Championship (9); Memorial (5); U.S. Open (10) Sergio Garcia … PLAYERS (7); Valspar (9); Masters (6); Open Championship (5); TOUR Championship (2) Branden Grace … Heritage (1); Valero (3); Byron Nelson (5); U.S. Open (4) Emiliano Grillo … Charles Schwab (3) Adam Hadwin … Valspar (2); John Deere (5) Brian Harman … Charles Schwab (1); Travelers (5); John Deere (4) Russell Henley … Masters (3) Charley Hoffman … Masters (4); Heritage (7); Valero (3); Charles Schwab (6); Travelers (1) J.B. Holmes … Wells Fargo (5) Billy Horschel … Valero (2); New Orleans (3; defending); Wyndham (6); TOUR Championship (1) Dustin Johnson … Masters (8); PGA Championship (11); Memorial (10); U.S. Open (1); WGC-St. Jude (6); TOUR Championship (7) Zach Johnson … Valero (4); Charles Schwab (5); John Deere (1); Open Championship (2); TOUR Championship (8) Si Woo Kim … PLAYERS (3); Heritage (1) Chris Kirk … PLAYERS (5); Valero (3); Charles Schwab (2) Kevin Kisner … Heritage (3); New Orleans (5); Charles Schwab (2); Memorial (6) Russell Knox … Heritage (2) Brooks Koepka … WGC-Match Play (3); Masters (7); PGA Championship (2; defending); Charles Schwab (6); U.S. Open (1; two-time defending); Open Championship (8) Matt Kuchar … PLAYERS (5); Valspar (9); Masters (6); Heritage (2); Charles Schwab (7); Memorial (1); Open Championship (8) Martin Laird … Valero (5); Reno-Tahoe (2) Marc Leishman … Byron Nelson (6); Memorial (4); Travelers (3); Open Championship (8) Hideki Matsuyama … PLAYERS (9); Masters (4); PGA Championship (13); Memorial (8); U.S. Open (14); Wyndham (7); TOUR Championship (5) Rory McIlroy … Masters (4); Wells Fargo (3); Memorial (5); Travelers (8); Open Championship (1); TOUR Championship (6) Phil Mickelson … Masters (9); Wells Fargo (2); Open Championship (8); WGC-St. Jude (3) Francesco Molinari … PLAYERS (3); Wells Fargo (6); PGA Championship (4); Open Championship (1; defending) Ryan Moore … Valspar (3); Valero (7); Masters (13); Memorial (11); Travelers (6); John Deere (8); Wyndham (2); TOUR Championship (9) Kevin Na … Valspar (6); Charles Schwab (3); Wyndham (5) Louis Oosthuizen … Valspar (3); WGC-Match Play (1); Masters (2); U.S. Open (5); PGA Championship (4) Ryan Palmer … Valero (2); Charles Schwab (4) Scott Piercy … New Orleans (1; co-defending); Canadian (7; last winner at Hamilton in 2012) Jon Rahm … Masters (5); Charles Schwab (1); TOUR Championship (7) Patrick Reed … Valspar (1); Masters (5; defending); PGA Championship (4); U.S. Open (3); Travelers (7) Justin Rose … PLAYERS (10); Masters (1); Charles Schwab (7; defending); Memorial (4); Open Championship (8); TOUR Championship (2) Xander Schauffele … PLAYERS (5); U.S. Open (3); Open Championship (4); TOUR Championship (1) Adam Scott … PLAYERS (2); Masters (6); Byron Nelson (11); PGA Championship (8); U.S. Open (9); Open Championship (7); TOUR Championship (3) Webb Simpson … PLAYERS (5; defending); Heritage (6); Wells Fargo (7); Charles Schwab (8); Travelers (9); Wyndham (1) Cameron Smith … Wyndham (3) Brandt Snedeker … Masters (10); Heritage (6); Charles Schwab (7); U.S. Open (5); Travelers (9); Wyndham (1; defending) Jordan Spieth … Valspar (14); Masters (1); PGA Championship (7); Charles Schwab (5); Memorial (13); U.S. Open (4); Travelers (9); Open Championship (6); TOUR Championship (8) Brendan Steele … Valero (8); Wells Fargo (9); Travelers (4); Reno-Tahoe (3) Henrik Stenson … PLAYERS (9); Valspar (3); Masters (5); PGA Championship (4); Open Championship (6); Wyndham (8); TOUR Championship (7) Kevin Streelman … Valero (9); Heritage (5); Memorial (4); Travelers (7) Justin Thomas … PLAYERS (11); PGA Championship (9); Memorial (8); TOUR Championship (3) Jimmy Walker … Valero (2); Byron Nelson (6) Bubba Watson … WGC-Match Play (6; defending); Masters (5); Memorial (7); Travelers (2; defending); TOUR Championship (8) Gary Woodland … Memorial (4) Tiger Woods … Masters (2); Memorial (4); THE NORTHERN TRUST (6); TOUR Championship (5; defending).
