McIlroy calls for LIV peace talks

FedExCup points leader Bryson DeChambeau headlines the 30-man field that will determine the season champion, as the FedExCup Playoffs once again wrap at Atlanta’s historic East Lake Golf Club. Justin Rose, Tony Finau, Dustin Johnson and defending champion Justin Thomas round out the five players who can lay claim to the $10 million end-of-season bonus simply by winning the TOUR Championship. For everyone else, a little – or a lot – of assistance is required. FIELD NOTES Tiger Woods returns to postseason finale for the first time since 2013, when Henrik Stenson’s victory at East Lake allowed him to leapfrog Woods to the top of the standings. Woods will begin this week at No. 20. … Phil Mickelson is set for his 20th TOUR Championship start, extending his own record. He’ll also become the first man to reach 45 FedExCup Playoffs starts. … Jordan Spieth wound up 31st in FedExCup points, one below the cutoff. … Aaron Wise, winner of the AT&T Byron Nelson in May, is the only rookie to reach the final playoff stop this season. FEDEXCUP Winner receives 2,000 points. STORYLINES DeChambeau, who won both The Northern Trust and Dell Technologies Championship to start the Playoffs, seeks to become the first since Woods in 2009 to win from the No. 1 seed entering East Lake. If not, he’ll join McIlroy (2012) and Jason Day (2015) to win two of the first three Playoffs events but not the big prize. … The annual East Lake points reset gives everyone a mathematical shot at taking the crown. For No. 30 Patton Kizzire to win, though, DeChambeau would have to place in the bottom two at East Lake. … No. 5 Thomas, No. 9 Billy Horschel and No. 17 McIlroy have a chance to join Woods as the only two-time winner of the FedExCup crown. … Woods also can become the FedExCup’s first three-time winner, though he’ll need a win at East Lake, DeChambeau to finish no better than a share of 15th and other help. … BMW Championship winner Keegan Bradley stands No. 6, joining McIlroy (2016) as the only men to win one of the first three Playoffs stops but still needing help at East Lake to win the overall title. COURSE East Lake Golf Club, 7,385 yards, par 70. A Tom Bendelow design when it opened in 1908 as the Atlanta Athletic Club’s original home, the course got an overhaul just five years later by Donald Ross. It’s best known as the place where Bobby Jones learned the game, shooting 80 by age 11 and later stamping his name in history by completing the 1930 Grand Slam. East Lake welcomed the 1950 U.S. Women’s Amateur and 1963 Ryder Cup before a decaying neighborhood sent members moving to the northern suburbs. The AAC itself followed in 1967, leaving East Lake in the hands of 25 members opposed to the move. The club managed to hold on for a quarter-century before a 1993 project was launched to restore the club as a tribute to Jones. The TOUR Championship came to East Lake for the first time in 1998, becoming the annual host in 2004. For those visiting the Atlanta area, must-play courses include Bear’s Best Atlanta (Suwanee, Ga.), the Fazio Course at Barnsley Resort (Adairsville, Ga.) and Heritage Golf Links (Tucker, Ga.). Explore your options at TeeOff.com. 72-HOLE RECORD 257, Tiger Woods (2007). 18-HOLE RECORD 60, Zach Johnson (3rd round, 2007). LAST YEAR The TOUR Championship saw just its third split ceremony of the FedExCup era, with Thomas taking the $10 million season prize despite rookie Xander Schauffele winning the tournament. Thomas finished second on the leaderboard, carding birdies on two of his final three holes to finish off a 4-under 66. But that left him one stroke behind Schauffele, whose 68 was good enough to become the first rookie to win the season finale. It was his second win of the season, joining his win at the Military Tribute at The Greenbrier triumph in June. Thomas’ runner-up placement made him an easy winner of the points race, finishing 660 points ahead of No. 2 Jordan Spieth. East Lake’s closing ceremony had not crowned two winners since 2009, when Mickelson captured the tournament but Woods walked away with top FedExCup spoils. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 1-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 12:30-2:30 p.m. (GC), 2:30-6:30 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, noon-1:30 p.m. (GC), 1:30-6 p.m. (NBC). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (featured groups), 1-6 p.m. (featured holes). Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. (featured holes). Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured holes). RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-6 p.m.; Saturday, 1-6:30 p.m.; Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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Sometimes patience goes a long way, and things can be worth the wait. Just ask Kevin Na, who has produced plenty of highlights between victories on the PGA TOUR, but finally produced those that matter most: Winning ones. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where Na said yeah on the greens at The Old White TPC over the weekend to streak away Sunday for a dominant win. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Good things come to those who wait. When Kevin Na won the 2011 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, the prevailing thought was it would not be his last victory. Most pundits might not have said he’d win an epic number of tournaments, but the majority expected Na to make his presence felt in the winner’s circle again. The confidence of that happening dwindled with each passing missed opportunity and throughout a period where Na just could not pull the trigger on his swing. He had six runner up results since his Las Vegas triumph leading into this week. But after a less than stellar opening round, where he gave up nearly two strokes on the field in putting, Na found his groove. His performance on the greens on the weekend was first class. His Sunday efforts on the way to a 6-under 64 and a five-shot win showed a calmness in the moment he’d been missing. Saturday he made 124 feet, seven inches of putts. Sunday it was 143 feet, eight inches. See more about his putting stats below. Six birdies in seven holes set up the win. And a clutch par putt on the 12th, after his only bogey the hole before, showed he was ready. Much maligned at times for his pace of play or above mentioned “yips� Na always kept a positive attitude. And sported an infectious smile. His 16 at the Texas Open a few years back will always be the stuff of legend… but it is great to see him add a different set of highlights. 2. Phil Mickelson never really troubled those near the top of the leaderboard all week, but it didn’t stop him from dominating some headlines. Mickelson revealed a high stakes exhibition match against long-time rival Tiger Woods is in the works and had initially been mooted for the recently passed July 3 date. If it does happen, it’s sure to bring plenty of attention. It might be a decade or so after almost everyone wanted to see them head to head, but that’s okay. Now older and wiser, the pair could really add to the theatre of it all with plenty of barbs back and forth. It’s a watch this space scenario for sure. 3. He’s a familiar name with eight PGA TOUR wins, but Brandt Snedeker has been noticeably absent from regular contention this season as he returns from last year’s sternum injury. Sneds was one of those players you could always count on finding his way in and around the lead, but this reboot has been a tester on his patience as the great play hasn’t come as easy as often. But his steady perseverance started to bear fruit and now he has second top-10 finish from his last four starts. A tie for sixth at FedEx St. Jude Classic and his third place this week after a sublime Sunday 64 have Snedeker moving in the right direction to return to the FedExCup Playoffs. The 2012 FedExCup champion missed them last season with the injury. But an important move up to 84th this week — and booking a place in the Open Championship with his finish — has given him some breathing space and a platform from which to make further moves. 4. Sunday might have belonged to Na, but it was also significant to dig a little deeper and see how a bunch of players dealt with the furnace of pressure as they look to take their own dreams to another level. First there was Kelly Kraft and Harold Varner III, who held the 54-hole lead as they looked to secure their first wins on the PGA TOUR. They will certainly learn from the experience. Kraft hit the ball beautifully off the tee but couldn’t quite dial in his approach and putting game on Sunday. As each putt missed he saw Na just streak further and further away. But to his credit, he stayed solid enough to be runner up. Varner’s putter was also cold on Sunday and his tee game was also not quite up to scratch in terms of pushing for a win. But while it was clear he didn’t have his best stuff, Varner didn’t give up and ultimately finished in a tie for fifth. He shared that place with Sam Saunders, among others. Saunders was another with a chance for his first win, particularly with the good vibes of using Arnold Palmer’s old putter, but a Sunday 70 was all he could put together. Joel Dahmen had a chance to win but also failed to go low Sunday. But he put his experience of playing with Tiger Woods at the Quicken Loans National to immediate use, finishing with his first top-10 of the season. The tie for fifth is a career best finish on TOUR and just his second career top-10. And then there was John Peterson. Playing on his last start of a Major Medical exemption, Peterson needed a very high finish to get his TOUR card back. He needed a fairly high one for conditional status. Otherwise he would retire and move into real estate. After making a final hole birdie on Friday to make the cut on the number, he made his push all weekend and closed with a 66 to push into a tie for 13th. It meant a nervous wait. And in the end, it wasn’t the outcome he hoped for finishing an agonizing 0.58 points shy of the mark. If Peterson really is done with professional golf we wish him well in his new endeavors. 5. Bring on Joaquin Niemann. The youngster from Chile once again showed his mettle on Sunday. He could have mailed it in on Sunday after a disappointing third round sent him spiraling out of serious contention. But knowing every non-member FedExCup equivalent point is critical in his quest to join the PGA TOUR next season, the 19-year-old was outstanding on Sunday. His bogey-free 64 took him all the way into a tie for fifth and moved him to 414 non-member points. That would put him at 100th place on the list this season, seemingly locking up a place in the top 125 with just six weeks remaining. We are going to see a lot more of this guy. FIVE INSIGHTS 1. Na ranked inside the top 10 in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green (8th), Strokes Gained: Around- the-Green (4th) and Strokes Gained: Putting (2nd), marking just the second winner this season to rank inside the top 10 in all three of these Strokes Gained categories (Dustin Johnson, Sentry TOC). 2. Almost half (42 percent) of Na’s total strokes gained for the week were a result of his putting performance, gaining +1.772 strokes per round in Strokes Gained: Putting. In the last two rounds Na outperformed the field by +6.91 total strokes on the greens, compared to +0.19 in the first two rounds. 3. Na made five birdies in his opening nine holes of the final round, posting a 29. He’s just the fifth PGA TOUR winner in the ShotLink era to record an opening nine-hole score under 30. Na ranked inside the top four in several key putting statistics leading the field in Putts Per Round (26.50) and One-Putt Percentage (50%). He made three putts from outside 25 feet, tying Francesco Molinari (Quicken Loans National) and Webb Simpson (THE PLAYERS Championship) for the most Total One Putts from this distance by a winner this season. 4. Kraft (2nd), Snedeker (T3), Jason Kokrak (T3) and Austin Cook (T5) earned a berth into the 2018 Open Championship at Carnoustie. The leading four players who finished in the top 12 and ties not already exempt earned spots into the field. Cook received the invite for being the highest-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking of those who finished T5. 5. The big FedExCup movers this week included some critical moves with Playoff ramifications: Na — from 58th to 18th; Kraft — from 119th to 59th; Kokrak — from 95th to 64th; Snedeker — from 115th to 84th; Joel Dahmen — 126th to 108th; Saunders — 132nd to 113th and Varner — 139th to 123rd.

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