Live leaderboard: Round 1 of Safeway Open

XANDER SCHAUFFELE EARNS SIXTH PGA TOUR WIN AT TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP The Travelers Championship seems to facilitate drama down the stretch on a yearly basis, and Sunday delivered once again at TPC River Highlands. Xander Schauffele led into the final round, seeking his first individual PGA TOUR victory since 2019. The reigning Olympic gold medalist led by three strokes early on the back nine but was caught and surpassed into the 72nd hole by TOUR rookie Sahith Theegala, seeking his first TOUR title. Theegala found a fairway bunker off the tee on the finishing hole, though, and left his second shot in the bunker en route to a devastating double bogey. Schauffele split the fairway and stuffed a wedge inside 4 feet for a closing birdie and two-stroke win over Theegala and J.T. Poston at 19-under total. With the victory, Schauffele moves from No. 20 to No. 8 on the FedExCup standings, 500 points accrued. It’s his sixth career TOUR title and second of the season; he won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April alongside good friend Patrick Cantlay, his playing partner Sunday in Connecticut. “It’s incredible,” remarked a beaming Schauffele after double fist-pumping on the 72nd green, the New England fans roaring in appreciation. EXCITING CHANGES COMING TO THE PGA TOUR The PGA TOUR will return to a calendar-year schedule in 2024, one of a series of changes announced Wednesday that also includes eight tournaments with greatly enhanced purses, revised field sizes for the FedExCup Playoffs and a reimagined fall including up to three no-cut, limited-field international events. Commissioner Jay Monahan announced the changes, made in conjunction with the Policy Board and Player Directors, in a press conference at the Travelers Championship. “While different than it’s been in the past, I think it’s going to be very exciting for fans and I think will create great energy in the fall,” said Monahan, who added that he expects the fall events to be “very consequential, very meaningful.” Click here for full details, including which events will offer significantly increased purses. MAKING THE TRIP TO THE JOHN DEERE CLASSIC Lucas Glover returns to defend his title from 2021 with major champions, TOUR winners, and plenty of up-and-comers in the field looking to find the winner’s circle at the John Deere Classic. Daniel Berger is the top-ranked golfer in the field, with past PLAYERS Championship winners Jason Day and Webb Simpson teeing it up. Glover will look to become the first player to defend his title at the John Deere Classic since Steve Stricker a decade ago. Davis Riley is the highest-ranked golfer in this season’s FedExCup standings teeing it up. TPC Deere Run is a D.A. Weibring design which offers plenty of birdie opportunities but risk-reward scenarios as well. There are three spots up for grabs for those who have not already earned a spot at St. Andrews for the 150th Open Championship. Five of the last 10 winners of the John Deere Classic were first-timer TOUR winners. The winner will receive 500 FedExCup points. VIDEO OF THE WEEK MIC CHECK “I think it’s not lost on me what PGA TOUR events can do for the communities that they’re played in. I think that’s not lost on the players that when they come and play PGA TOUR events they’re helping to do something really good in the community and I think that’s important.” – Two-time FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy reflected on the impact that the PGA TOUR has on the communities it plays in. BY THE NUMBERS 3 – Starts it took for Pierceson Coody to win his first event on the Korn Ferry Tour after claiming the Live and Work in Maine Open. 16 – Sir Nick Faldo, the six-time major champion and lead golf analyst for CBS, announced he will be retiring at the end of his 16th season covering the PGA TOUR for the network. 3 – Consecutive years a player has won the U.S. Senior Open in his first appearance after Padraig Harrington won on Sunday. The others were Steve Stricker (2019) and Jim Furyk (2021). There was no event in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10 The Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 highlights and rewards the extraordinary level of play required to earn a spot in the TOP 10 at the conclusion of the FedExCup Regular Season as determined by the FedExCup standings. The competition recognizes and awards the most elite in golf.

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BROOKLINE, Mass. – The oldest player in the field played one final practice round Wednesday for the 122nd U.S. Open at The Country Club. Fans lined the gallery ropes three deep. Fran Quinn, 57, had built a buzz as the oldest player to survive U.S. Open Final Qualifying since the USGA began keeping such records in the early 1980s. And he did so as a native son, hailing from Holden, Massachusetts just 40 minutes west. On his final approach shot before teeing it up Thursday in the first group off No. 10, he holed a mid-iron from 186 yards. “Bet the mortgage on Fran!” yelled a fan from outside the ropes. Quinn nodded and smiled. Welcome to what at least one news outlet has called the story of this U.S. Open so far. Quinn, who grew up as one of seven siblings in Holden, Massachusetts, cultivated a gritty mentality that family and friends describe as “never-say-die.” He first earned a PGA TOUR card at 26. He earned his second TOUR card at 44. His son Owen, 23, also a professional golfer, calls him a “journeyman from Massachusetts.” And now, Fran Quinn, a high school quarterback before turning his full attention to golf, will tee it up against the best in the world in his home state. It’s a victory lap, to be sure, but it’s more than that, for his competitive fire remains very much intact. “It’s innate,” his wife Lori said of her husband’s drive. “He was born with that. Coming from a family of golfers, and he was just an athlete. Played hockey, football, really good quarterback. Playing with these young guys, it keeps him young. He hits it long, he walks with them. Fifty-seven is purely a number, and he’s not 57.” Quinn reinvented his game in his late 30s and early 40s, said Kevin Johnson, a fellow Massachusetts native and longtime travel companion on the Korn Ferry Tour. (They combined for 737 starts and 10 wins on that circuit.) He never stopped looking for that extra edge, even after fracturing a bone in his shoulder in summer 2019. The payoff: Quinn will hit the tournament’s opening tee shot off No. 10 on Thursday, a peak moment for a player who attended the 1988 U.S. Open at The Country Club as a fan after falling one stroke short at Final Qualifying. He also advanced to the final match of the 1987 Massachusetts State Amateur at The Country Club, falling to Johnson. While attending the 1988 U.S. Open, Quinn’s dad, Fran Sr., said Quinn would play for his national championship someday. Fran Sr. was correct, five times over – Quinn has also competed in the 1992, 1994, 1996 and 2014 U.S. Opens. At the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, Quinn was tied for second after the opening round and made the cut, leading to a memorable Father’s Day walk with Owen on the bag. This one, though, packs an extra punch because it’s so close to home. Lori caddied in Monday’s practice round before handing the bag to Owen for the remainder of the week. Fran was showered with adoration at every turn across Tuesday and Wednesday practice rounds, punctuated by his hole-out. How is this happening? It goes back to the kids, and the fact that Quinn plays against him every chance he gets. He competes against players his own age on PGA TOUR Champions – he finished T21 at last week’s American Family Insurance Championship – but tees it up against Owen, nephew Matthew Quinn and various high school- and college-aged family friends when he’s home. It keeps him young. Matthew, a rising high school senior who completed an Algebra II final exam last Monday before tracking Fran’s hole-by-hole scores during afternoon play at Final Qualifying, said Quinn is a “guaranteed 4 under par” per round in their 2-on-2 best-ball games at Worcester CC. Others, too, have been impressed by his game. “He’s still got the distance, and I think that’s from playing with the young guys,” said Johnson, now a tournament referee on PGA TOUR Champions. “Competing with Owen and his buddies has kept Franny swinging hard. If he played with guys who dink it out there 250 all the time, you’re going to think you’re hitting it long when you’re hitting it 270. “He has not lost any distance,” Johnson continued. “It’s amazing. Even after his shoulder injury, he still hits it hard, and I think that’s why he’s been so competitive.” The injury was a fluke accident. In the midst of the 2019 PGA TOUR Champions season, Quinn tripped in a pothole in a crosswalk in New York City while visiting his son Sean. Fifty percent of his glenoid (right shoulder socket) was shattered. For a year, he couldn’t raise his arm above his belly button. He underwent a first and then a second surgery, the latter operation performed by New England Patriots head physician Mark Price. Thus began an 18-month recovery in which Quinn’s fire never waned. “I remember him being in his kitchen, when he was in his sling,” said family friend Joe Murphy. “He’d be like, ‘Murph, I’ve got my wedge going. I’ve got my wedge yards up. I can still beat you.’” Quinn hadn’t attempted U.S. Open qualification since 2015, but this year’s proximity to home piqued his interest – and when he learned his son and nephew would play Local Qualifying, those competitive instincts kicked in. “I was with Owen in Florida,” said Matthew. “I put myself in for Local Qualifying, and Owen put himself in. His dad was like, ‘Why don’t you put me in as well?’” Quinn was 3-over through nine holes at his Local Qualifying site, Taconic GC in Williamstown, Massachusetts. But he battled back to post 1-over, one stroke clear of a playoff. Owen carded the same 1-over total to advance, as well. From there, Quinn stayed the course at his Final Qualifying site in Purchase, New York – the same location where he missed qualifying for the 1988 U.S. Open at Brookline by a shot. This time, with Lori on the bag, he made amends. He was 2 under for 36 holes, then made birdie on the second hole of an 8-for-3 playoff to earn his spot in the field. “I was like, ‘Come on, you’re the most seasoned player here. You have the most experience in playoffs. Let’s get in,’” Lori said. “He’s like, ‘OK.’ And he did. He listens to me. What a good husband!” Quinn’s story has captured the hearts and minds in his native Massachusetts and beyond. “It’s to show his family, his son … it just shows that good things can happen if you just keep working hard,” said Johnson. “He was at the end of his rope after the shoulder injury, didn’t know if he was ever going to come back. But he just grinded it out. It just shows that hard work … he loves the game, and now to get this opportunity, it’s like the icing on the cake. “I know him,” Johnson added. “He’s not just going to go through it. He’s going to work his butt off. He can play well there. He’s trying to do really well. It’s not just a ceremonial, happy that he got there. I think he’s definitely going to do well.” “I’m just so proud of him,” added Lori. “He’s kind of the bionic man.” “Fran,” said family friend John Pagano, “is the man.”

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BLAINE, Minn. – When Bo Van Pelt teed it up at the Safeway Open earlier this year, it had been 1,321 days since his last PGA TOUR start. Let that number sink in for a minute. That’s more than three-and-a-half years sucked out of Van Pelt’s career, which was interrupted first by surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder, secondly by a procedure to clean out bone spurs and lastly by an operation to remove one of his ribs. Small wonder, then, that the 45-year-old veteran was so encouraged by his performance through two rounds at the 3M Open. Van Pelt fired a 68 on Friday to go with an opening 66 – the first time he’d broken 70 in consecutive rounds this year – and is just four strokes off the lead. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Dustin Johnson withdraws from 3M Open citing back injury Some players in his position would have given up, content with a life of playing client golf. Van Pelt, after all, had earned more than $20 million during a PGA TOUR career that included one victory at the now-defunct U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee so making money wasn’t top of mind. But he wanted to see if he could still compete at the highest level – and at least through 36 holes at TPC Twin Cities, Van Pelt has been equal to the task. “It’s like I told my wife and my kids, this is going to be the hardest thing I ever had to do is to try to compete out here at 45 after taking almost four years off,” Van Pelt said. “I don’t think there’s anybody probably ever done it. “But I like where my game’s going. It’s hard to just keep rah-rahing yourself when you’re shooting over par, so it’s nice to kind of put some red on the board and hopefully this will be some momentum going the right way.” The 2019-20 season has certainly been a challenge for Van Pelt. He wasn’t able to start playing 18 holes until several weeks before returning to the TOUR at the Safeway Open, where he tied for 62nd. Until this week, that was one of just three checks he’d cashed in 15 starts. Van Pelt said the four-month COVID layoff worked in his favor, though, because it gave the former Oklahoma State standout time to knuckle down and really concentrate on his game. “Even though my results haven’t been great this first month, the way I’ve been playing’s been a lot better,” Van Pelt said. “Just kind of sticking with it. It was just hard. I didn’t play 18 holes for over three years. “Basically, I was trying to relearn every kind of feel that I had less than a year ago. Yeah, it’s just been kind of a process. Finally feeling like I’m getting back to where I can compete again.” Van Pelt’s physical problems began in 2016, likely after he reached behind the driver’s seat of his car to pick up a backpack that was heavier than he expected. A few weeks later, the pain in his right shoulder ratcheted up on the weekend of the Waste Management Phoenix Open as a pair of 74s turned a solid 6 under start into a tie for 51st. So, after he missed the cut at Pebble Beach the following week, Van Pelt headed home to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to find out what the problem was. “I tore like 85 percent of my labrum and I just couldn’t play,” Van Pelt said, remembering the diagnosis. “So, they went back in and found a bunch of bone spurs, cleaned it out, thought that was going to do it.” When his hand started going numb, Van Pelt was really worried. In truth, he feared he might never play again. So, his doctor referred him to Dr. Greg Pearl in Dallas. This time, the diagnosis was thoracic outlet syndrome which occurs when blood vessels or nerves in the space between your collarbone and first rib are compressed. “So, they said on top of the torn labrum, (that’s) what I had going on,” Van Pelt said. “That’s why I kept getting a pinch and pain. He removed my first rib I guess a year and a half ago in February and it just gave me the opportunity to play.” Van Pelt made this week’s highlight reel when his 6-iron at the eighth hole on Thursday found the bottom of the cup for an ace. It was a nice way to bounce back from a bogey that had ended a run of four birdies in his previous five holes. “It was great,” Van Pelt said. “I was playing well and bummed about bogeying 7, so it was a great bounce-back. It was funny, I mean, half the holes-in-one I ever had have been with a 6-iron, so that has been my lucky club.” And time will tell if this is his lucky week.

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