Justin Rose takes a three-shot lead into the final round. Can he hold on at Torrey Pines?
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Tiger Woods has had top-20 finishes in his first two starts this year but hasn’t seriously threatened to win his 81st PGA Tour title Will that change this week?
SAN DIEGO – They say the appendix is a useless body part but Talor Gooch wondered if his mojo went with his into the medical waste bin after it was removed last season. But any sense of that notion is gone now as he backed up his fourth-place finish at the Desert Classic with an impressive tie for third at the Farmers Insurance Open. It has rocketed the 27-year-old to a career high 27th in the FedExCup and given him every opportunity to make his first FedExCup Playoffs. In his rookie PGA TOUR season in 2017-18 the Oklahoma native was by no means playing amazing but still found himself inside the top 125 on the FedExCup list heading into summer. While he had failed to post a top 10 he had started to grow in confidence, particularly after a T13 at the Wells Fargo Championship. And then the appendix had to come out. “Up to that point I was playing decent and I think I made one cut after that,â€� Gooch said. “That kind of threw me off a little bit.â€� He decided against taking a minor medical exemption and instead tried to fight his way through. But it was apparent he came back a little early and the results dropped. His poor finish meant he missed the FedExCup Playoffs but did manage to stay inside the top 150 to gain conditional status this season. Starts from this position are hard to come by. Gooch had to Monday qualify into the Sony Open in Hawaii where he missed the cut only because he hit the wrong ball and was penalized. Rather than dwell on a potentially very costly mistake he surged his way up the leaderboard at the Desert Classic and booked a ticket via his finish to Torrey Pines. Now he’s booked another start next week at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. “Last week was the first time I was in contention and I kind of came through the final round and that obviously gave me a lot of confidence,â€� he said. “Never having done it before, now kind of doing it … I know I can do it now. It feels good. “There’s no doubt that the physical parts have been there the last couple weeks and then it’s just a matter of getting out of your own way. I’ve figured out how to do that the last couple weeks and hopefully we can keep doing it.â€� The goals have certainly lifted now. Forget top-10s, he’s now thinking wins. He’s not a complete stranger to success having won the 2017 News Sentinel Open on the Web.com Tour. A win on the PGA TOUR would take away all the uncertainty of when starts are coming his way. “I think the results would indicate I’m closer to winning,â€� Gooch said. “It’s a funny game as far as winning. People kind of got numb to how hard it is to win out here because of Tiger over the last couple decades. “You have to have things go right, you have to be there in that position a lot as well … If I can get that first one out of the way, then hopefully they start tumbling after that.â€�
Aaron Wise could be forgiven for thinking it would be easy.  He turned pro after winning the NCAA title as an Oregon sophomore. He made his pro debut in a major, the U.S. Open, and won two starts later, on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada. A year later, he won on the Web.com Tour to earn his PGA TOUR card. He was just 21.  “I thought I could walk out here,� Wise said. “You quickly realize how good these players are.�  By late April, he stood 105th in the FedExCup standings. Forget the TOUR Championship or postseason awards. Just keeping his card was an uncertainty.  Then things dramatically changed. He challenged Jason Day on the back nine of the Wells Fargo Championship, forcing the former World No. 1 to birdie 16 and 17 for a two-shot win. Wise won in his next start, with an impressive ball-striking display at the AT&T Byron Nelson.  Those finishes vaulted him into contention for the Rookie of the Year Award. A strong finish clinched the award for the Californian. Playing against the strong fields that assemble for the TOUR’s season-ending events, Wise finished in the top 20 in four of his last six starts.  He accepted the Rookie of the Year Award Tuesday in Las Vegas, his adopted hometown since turning pro and the site of his 2018-19 debut. The Shriners Hospitals for Children Open will be Wise’s first start since the TOUR Championship.  He was one of three rookies to win last season, along with Satoshi Kodaira (RBC Heritage) and Austin Cook (The RSM Classic), but was the only one to make it to East Lake. He added his name to an elite list by doing so at such an early age.  Wise, 22, was the fifth-youngest to ever qualify for the elite, 30-man field. Only Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Sergio Garcia and Si Woo Kim made it at an earlier age. Wise finished 24th in the FedExCup standings to fulfill a goal he set at the start of his rookie season.  “It seemed pretty seamless, but it’s been a lot of hard work and there have been a lot of tough times,� Wise said at this year’s TOUR Championship. “Times like this make it all worth it.� It seemed pretty seamless, but it’s been a lot of hard work and there have been a lot of tough times. Times like this make it all worth it. His early success belies meager beginnings. He was 3 years old when his family moved to Southern California from South Africa. The exchange rate decimated the family’s savings.  “My parents did well to keep food on the table,� Aaron said. “We didn’t have much.�  His mother, Karla, used to buy oversized shoes for Aaron to extend the time between purchases. He still wears a size 10.5 today even though his feet are a 9.5. The proper size felt too constricting to feet accustomed to more space.  “Being put in tough situations where I knew other people were getting better opportunities to succeed, it made me have to believe in myself,� Wise said. “I think it’s why I play so well under pressure. I believe in myself.�  Instead of being disheartened by a slow start to his rookie season, Wise committed himself to getting better.  “He doesn’t panic,� said his college coach, Casey Martin. “Emotionally, he’s very mature. He’s confident in his own skin.�  Wise knew that his iron game had to improve. His driver and putter have long been his strengths, but he was making too many bogeys from the middle of the fairway.  “I just wasn’t very good at it when I got out here,� he said. “With the way they tuck the pins out here and as firm and fast as the greens are, you can’t get up-and-down all the time.�  His improved iron play quickly paid dividends.  He hit 66 of 72 greens in his win at the AT&T Byron Nelson, the most by a TOUR winner since 1997. Wise also led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green, proving that his stats weren’t simply the result of the oversized fairways and greens at Trinity Forest.  In the FedExCup Playoffs, only five players hit a higher percentage of greens in regulation than Wise (75.7 percent). He was one of just 12 players with at least three top-20 finishes in the four Playoffs events. He doesn’t panic. Emotionally, he’s very mature. He’s confident in his own skin. Wise also overcame the unforeseen circumstances that come from traveling week-in and week-out. One such surprise struck just days after the Nelson, while he was still basking in the afterglow of his first victory.  In a span of a few days, he cracked two drivers at the Fort Worth Invitational. Without a third-string driver ready, he struggled to find one that he could trust in competition. That contributed to five straight missed cuts after his victory. Wise deemed it a frustrating “rookie mistake.�  “The driver has always been a strength of my game,� said Wise, who ranked 27th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee last season. “As soon as I lost that, I felt like I wasn’t in position to make good scores on holes.�  It wasn’t until a two-week break before the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational that he could take the time to do in-depth driver testing. He quickly found success after finding a driver that fit.  He finished sixth at tree-lined Firestone Country Club, then challenged Bryson DeChambeau at THE NORTHERN TRUST before finishing fifth. Wise closed the season with a T16 at the BMW Championship and T15 at the TOUR Championship. His 68.8 scoring average in the Playoffs was the second-best ever by a rookie.  “It’s been a year of ups and downs,� Wise said. “The highs have been amazing, but there have been some lows. To finish it on a good note was a point of emphasis.�  And now he starts his sophomore campaign by hoisting a trophy.
