Leaderboard: Tournament of Champions

Tiger Woods announced today that he will continue his pursuit of a record-setting third FedExCup at next week's THE NORTHERN TRUST. The top 125 in the FedExCup standings are eligible for the Playoffs opener, which will be played Aug. 20-23 at TPC Boston in Norton, Massachusetts. Woods, who won at TPC Boston in 2006, announced his commitment on social media. Woods, the 2007 and 2009 FedExCup champion, also has two runners-up and a third at TPC Boston. The 82-time TOUR winner currently sits 47th in the FedExCup standings thanks in large part to his record-tying win at ZOZO Championship. A victory at TPC Boston also would give Woods the PGA TOUR wins record that he shares with Sam Snead. Woods, 44, must forge his way to the TOUR Championship if he is to do so. The top 70 in the FedExCup following THE NORTHERN TRUST will be eligible for the BMW Championship (Aug 27-30) and the top 30 after play at Olympia Fields will make it to the TOUR Championship (Sep 4-7) at East Lake Golf Club. Should Woods make it to the season finale, it would be the first time he's played three consecutive weeks on TOUR since the 2018 FedExCup Playoffs. Back then there were four Playoff events and Woods played the first three before players were given a week's rest prior to East Lake. Woods won the TOUR Championship that year and finished second in the FedExCup behind Justin Rose. Now, under the staggered-start format, the winner of the TOUR Championship also claims the FedExCup. It is yet to be seen if Woods' surgically-repaired back can withstand three straight weeks of competition. Woods has played just five events this season. He has played just twice since the season restarted, finishing T40 at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide and T37 at the PGA Championship. But Woods left TPC Harding Park last week optimistic his health would hold up to the heavy load as he'd been planning accordingly. The 2020 U.S. Open is also slated just two weeks after the TOUR Championship as the second event of the new 2020-21 season. "We’ve been training for that. Trying to get my strength and endurance up to that ability to making sure that I can handle that type of workload," Woods said as he left the PGA Championship. "We knew once I started playing again when I committed to Memorial that this was going to be a heavy workload, and my training sessions, we’ve been pushing it pretty hard, making sure that I kept my strength and endurance up. "It’s a long grind. Playing well at the right times, it’s all about timing when you get to the TOUR Championship."

Click here to read the full article…

AUGUSTA, Ga. - The rain was falling softly in the semi-darkness as Tiger Woods stood on the practice putting green awaiting his 7:55 a.m. tee time, while legends Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player were on the nearby first tee preparing to hit their ceremonial first tee shots. Woods sensed something flying over his head. He looked up. "There was a drone flying over the putting green," he said after shooting a 4-under 68 in which he didn't make a bogey, his first bogey-free round here since 2008. "Down one today you could hear the drone over there. You don't hear drones here." Yes, CBS has added drones to the coverage. It was, all in all, a new kind of experience in the first round of the pandemic-delayed Masters at Augusta National. No patrons. No flowers. Strange plot twists. RELATED: Leaderboard | Like ‘old' times at Augusta | DeChambeau bounces back from calamity Paul Casey shot a 7-under 65 to take the early lead, although half the field didn't finish. At 5 under through 10 holes, Justin Thomas had the best round going among the late starters. "I’ve got a lot of golf left," said Thomas, whose best finish in four Masters starts was his T12 last year. "Just go home and get some rest. It’s a long day tomorrow." The rain-delayed first round was suspended for darkness with 44 players, roughly half the field, still out on the course at 5:30 p.m. They'll restart at 7:30 a.m., with round two set to begin at 9:35 a.m. Friday, if all goes according to plan. The way things have gone, that's a big if. Indeed, Thursday was an odd one. Bryson DeChambeau, the most talked about player in golf, double-bogeyed the short par-5 13th hole, the most vulnerable hole on the course, and shot 70, the same score as Larry Mize, 62. Woods began his round at the 10th hole at 10:55. He'd never started a Masters on 10, but then there's never been a November Masters, with daylight a precious commodity. Another difference: no blooming azaleas, or much of anything else. It's just too late in the year. The course does, however, have more Bermuda grass in it than normal, causing the ball to react differently. And it was humid Thursday, like East Lake in September, Casey said. Tony Finau, one of his playing partners, spun his approach shot into the bunker at the first hole. "On a good-looking wedge shot," Casey said. Woods said putts just weren't breaking. Casey said the greens were softer than ever. "There was a shot I hit on number two, a 6-iron to that left hand pin that you can’t hit that shot in April," said Casey, who eagled the hole. "It was just left of the flag. It pitched and stopped instantly, and that shot in April would have one hopped over into the patrons, and probably would have walked off with a 5 instead of a 3." A first-time Masters participant this week could return in April only to find a totally transformed, much firmer and faster course. "They are going to have a rude awakening," Casey said with a laugh. Still, he added, there remained something special about just being here, even with the quirks. Woods agreed. "There’s no patrons, no roars," he said. "Yes, as the camera guys would say, ‘Where did the ball end up? Because we just don’t know.' That’s very different. A lot of firsts today. That’s kind of the way this entire year has been. The fact that we’re able to compete for a Masters this year, considering all that’s been going on, it’s a great opportunity for all of us."

Click here to read the full article…

Ollie Schniederjans was still a little raw, and a little hurt. Two hours earlier, with the eyes of the world watching intently, he had worked his way into a tie at the top at THE PLAYERS Championship. Two hiccups on the back nine, though, including a triple-bogey 6 at the most famous hole in American golf, had given him an even-par 72 and a T16 finish. “I cost myself a lot of money on 17,â€� he said, “so that’s hard to deal with right now.â€� Now, though, he looks ahead to this week’s Valspar Championship, and, big-picture, he likes what he sees. Because Ollie Schniederjans 2.0 is finally achieving liftoff. He has a new swing coach (Butch Harmon), a new trainer (Brendan McLaughlin, who also works with Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson), and a new caddie (Damon Green, formerly with Zach Johnson). At TPC Sawgrass, Schniederjans, who stands out for his conspicuous lack of headwear and his feathery brown bangs, was even sporting a new mustache. “Just since today,â€� he said after the wild final round. “Yesterday I had a goatee.â€� Not long ago, it appeared Schniederjans didn’t need to change anything. He was a member of golf’s heralded Class of 2011—Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas were co-valedictorians—and marked for greatness as he mowed through the amateur ranks and was an All-American at Georgia Tech. But his early professional career fizzled. While Spieth and Thomas were racking up a combined 20 PGA TOUR titles, Schniederjans was running in place. He was 60th in the FedExCup in 2017, when he had his best chance to win before finishing runner-up at the Wyndham Championship, and 98th last season. If anything, he felt himself getting worse. “I wasn’t hitting it good enough,â€� he said at THE PLAYERS. “I couldn’t work it both ways. I couldn’t get it in the air real well. I lost a lot of speed last year.â€� What’s more, he added, he was stubbornly clinging to his old ways. “A lot of time was wasted,â€� he said, “and energy was wasted just trying to figure things out on my own.â€� He went to see Harmon for the first time in December, traveling to the renowned teacher’s home base in Las Vegas. He began working with Green at the Sony Open in Hawaii, in January, and made a second pilgrimage to Vegas for another full-day visit with swing coach Harmon. All the while, McLaughlin was overseeing his new program to strengthen his body for golf. That’s a lot of changes all at once, and the results were slow to come. Schniederjans came into last week languishing at 193rd in the FedExCup and 239th in the Official World Golf Ranking. He kept at it, though, not content to be mediocre and unwilling to quit before the changes had had a chance to take hold. They did so at THE PLAYERS, where Schniederjans, who took up golf at the relatively advanced age of 12, seemed to play better as he got closer to the lead. “That was the one thing Zach was good at, too,â€� caddie Green said. “We’ve talked about it a lot, how you have to be the guy who wants the ball and wants to take the shot at the end of the game. He really does, and you could see it. I’ve been telling him for the last month, ‘You’re going to peak at TPC, I can just feel it.’ Just tryin’ to get in his head and give him a little confidence.â€� Schniederjans has certainly never lacked drive; he burns to be one of the best in the world and is constantly having Green film his swing. Green calls him “an old soul for a 25-year-old,â€� such is his low-key, studied approach to improvement. His physical tools are also impressive. It’s one thing to reach the par 5s in two shots at TPC Sawgrass, but quite another to reach with a 9-iron, like Schniederjans. (He’s 11th on TOUR in driving distance, averaging 309.5 yards.) “He’s got around 125 mph ball speed, which is sick,â€� Green said. “If he can hit a few more fairways and improve on his putting, which let us down a little at TPC, he’s gonna do damage.â€� Schniederjans’ big weekend at THE PLAYERS was the long-awaited affirmation that he’s on the right path. With the leaders faltering early, he birdied three of the first six holes to tie for the lead, rising to the occasion like old times. This was exactly what was predicted for him. Alas, he double-bogeyed the 10th, rallied with three birdies, then rinsed his tee shot on 17, the resulting 6 a buzz-kill at the end of an otherwise electric weekend run. Still, these are early days, and the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook, which has given us first-time winners like Adam Hadwin, Kevin Streelman and Gary Woodland, awaits. Schniederjans calls caddie Green a huge help, and says the same for Harmon and McLaughlin. He’s got the right support team, and his decision to change everything is finally paying off. “I played extremely well – I had two terrible holes that cost me the tournament,â€� he said. “I know when I get in the mix, I can get the job done. I’ve just got to keep putting myself in this position.â€�

Click here to read the full article…