Live leaderboard: Quicken Loans National

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Tiger Woods feels a special energy around the Old Course at St Andrews. He has referred to it throughout his career as his favorite course in the world. He has won two Open Championships there. This summer, he has made the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews his priority. Woods traveled to Europe a week early for this week’s JP McManus Pro-Am at Adare Manor GC in Ireland, and he said Tuesday that his decision to not compete at last month’s U.S. Open was made with an eye ahead. “I had some issues with my leg, and it would have put this tournament in jeopardy, and so there’s no reason to do that,” Woods told reporters Tuesday. “This is a pretty historic Open that we are going to be playing. I’m lucky enough to be part of the past champions that have won there, and want to play there again, and I don’t know when they are ever going to go back while I’m still able to play at a high level. “I want to be able to give it at least one more run at a high level.” Woods has competed in five previous Open Championships at St Andrews. His eight-stroke victory in 2000 was his second of four consecutive major titles in what is known as the “Tiger Slam.” His two-stroke victory at St Andrews in 2005 was his second of three Open Championship titles; he also won in 2006 at Royal Liverpool. Woods’ first Open Championship appearance came in 1995 at St Andrews. He made the cut as an amateur and finished T68. He finished T23 at St Andrews in 2010 and missed the cut in 2015. “I’ve always loved this golf course, from the first time I played it back in ’95,” Woods said at the 2015 Open at St Andrews. “I just love the creativity. You have to be able to hit all different types of shots. You need to have the right angles. Over the years of learning how to play the golf course under all different types of wind conditions, it changes greatly, and it’s based on angles. You have to put the ball on certain sides of the fairways in order to get the ball close. “To me, that type of thinking and the strategy that goes into that is something I’ve always loved.” After suffering severe injuries to both legs in a single-car accident in February 2021, Woods made his competitive return at this year’s Masters, making the cut and finishing solo 47th. He also made the cut at the PGA Championship in May but withdrew after a third-round 79; he had cited leg soreness after the round. Woods considered competing at last month’s U.S. Open at Brookline but withdrew prior to the tournament. He tweeted the week prior to the event that his body needed more time to get stronger for major championship golf. He flew to Ireland for this week’s two-day JP McManus Pro-Am, held Monday and Tuesday, and he plans to spend time practicing off-site before traveling to St Andrews. “If you asked me last year whether I would play golf again, all of my surgeons would have said no,” Woods said Tuesday. “But here I am playing two major championships this year. I will always be able to play golf, whether it’s this leg or someone else’s leg or false leg or different body pieces that have been placed or fused. I’ll always be able to play.” For the chance to play next week at St Andrews, he is very grateful.

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NICHOLASVILLE, Kentucky – The Champions Course at Keene Trace Golf Club is an unknown commodity for nearly all the pros teeing it up at the Barbasol Championship. The first three years of the tournament had been held at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Opelika, Alabama. So players have been scrambling this week to learn the intricacies of this scenic Arthur Hills design. “Obviously new excitement for this tournament,” World Golf Hall of Famer Davis Love III said. “New golf course and new town and nobody really has an advantage here, so we’re all trying to figure it out.” Billy Horschel, though, feels good vibes at the course nestled among sprawling horse farms that has hosted a U.S. Senior Amateur, SEC Championship and an NCAA tournament, among other events. “Knowing the history of it, that the Florida Gators won the 1993 national championship here is also a little good luck, so …,” Horschel said, grinning as his voice trailed off. Until this week, the PGA TOUR hadn’t played an annual event in the Bluegrass State since 1959 when the third and final Kentucky Derby Open was played in Louisville. (Yes, we know Valhalla in Louisville has hosted three PGAs and a Ryder Cup but those aren’t TOUR-run events or played at the same place every year.) In fact, only one player competing this week at Keene Trace was even alive when that final Kentucky Derby Open trophy was handed out. But Jay Don Blake, born seven months earlier, was still in diapers – and he’s here this week making his 499th start. The field for the Barbasol Championship, which is played opposite The Open Championship at Carnoustie, has topped out at 132 players. The tournament offers 300 all-important FedExCup points to the winner and is one of just seven events remaining to earn a spot in the 125 who make the FedExCup Playoffs. Horschel, who won the FedExCup in 2014, enters the week solidly in the postseason at No. 45 in the standings. But the recent Zurich Classic of New Orleans winner is hoping to build on the work he did last month with swing coach Todd Anderson and set the stage for a big finish to the year. “Obviously the British Open Championship is going on this week, but I wanted to play some golf and I wanted to compete,” he said. “I feel like my game is in a really good spot, and I just wanted to build off some momentum that I’ve had the last few months … and get ready for the last half, stretch of the season with the PGA Championship and the four Playoff events. “So I didn’t want to take three weeks off. I wanted to come play. I’m grateful there was an opposite event to The Open Championship, and Barbasol puts on a great event.” THREE PLAYERS TO PONDER Brittany Lincicome: The 32-year-old from Florida is just the sixth woman to play in a PGA TOUR event. The eight-time winner on the LPGA Tour came to Kentucky on the heels of a playoff loss on Sunday. She is known for her length off the tee and is hoping to become the first woman since Babe Didrikson Zaharias at the 1945 Phoenix Open to make the cut. Joel Dahmen: The 30-year-old from Washington enters the Barbasol Championship on a hot streak after ties for fifth and second in his last two starts. All but two of his last 12 rounds have been in the 60s and he is 31 under the last two weeks. William McGirt: The North Carolinian finds himself on the FedExCup bubble at No. 125 so a good finish at Keene Trace could go a long way toward relieving the pressure of the final five weeks. WEATHER CHECK From PGA TOUR meteorologist Willis Young: High pressure will provide us with dry and pleasant weather through Thursday, with comfortable humidity levels. Low pressure will develop over the northern plains and push into the Great Lakes region by early Friday. A warm front will lift northward over the state Thursday night through Friday, resulting in showers and thunderstorms over or near the golf course first thing Friday morning. Very moist and unstable air will allow storms to redevelop during the afternoon/evening hours. An unsettled weather pattern will persist through the weekend.   For the latest weather news from Nicholasville, Kentucky, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK I had to play on the boys’ golf team when I was younger, and back then, 14, 15 years ago, there wasn’t as many girls as there is now that played, so for me back in the day it was great because the guys were better, their games were better, and it pushed me to want to be better. So I think playing with the guys, even this week, I’ll learn a few things. I can take things from this week out into my LPGA events. I think it’ll help my game for sure.I played when Annika played. It’s fun for us to see them out. My generation loved playing in the mixed team and competing alongside the LPGA players. … No matter what she does this week, it inspires the younger generation, both men and women, to play golf. So I think it’s great. It’s fun. BY THE NUMBERS 182 – Number of combined PGA TOUR victories among players in the field. 14 – Number of Bank One Classics, on PGA TOUR Champions, played in nearby Lexington, the last in 1997. 6 – Players with Kentucky ties in the field — Josh Teater, Grover Justice, Cooper Musselman, Chip McDaniel and Matt Atkins grew up in the Bluegrass state while Derek Fathauer attended the University of Louisville. 2 – Number of LPGA majors won by Brittany Lincicome. SCATTERSHOT The front and back nines of the par-72 Champions Course have been flipped to create a more exciting finish. So for the second time in three weeks, the final hole is a par 3 – this one a 205-yarder, while the 17th is a par 5 and No. 16 a par 4. Horschel thinks the back nine will be a little more generous since the greens are less undulating. “The greens are in absolutely incredible shape,â€� he said. “Course is in pretty good shape with all the rain they’ve had. I think the scores will be really low. I think it’s going to allow some guys to be aggressive into the greens. I think you’ll have to go low, so 18-, 20-, 22-under par is I think the winning score.â€� Josh Teater grew up in nearby Lexington and remembers attending the Bank One Classic on PGA TOUR Champions when he was a kid. “My interest in golf had already been sparked,â€� Teater said in an article on the Barbasol Championship website. “But that probably took it to another level.â€� Teater, who is playing the Web.com Tour this year in hopes of regaining his TOUR card, was given a sponsor’s exemption for this week’s event. He’s one of the few pros who has played the Champions Course in competition – shooting 7 under to finish third at the 2004 Kentucky Open, three strokes off the pace set by J.B. Holmes.

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