Rory McIlroy celebrated his 30th birthday with a three-under-par 68 in the third round of the Wells Fargo Championship to move within two of the leaders.
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KAPALUA, Hawaii — Jon Rahm matched the low score of his career, tied the course record at Kapalua and played his last 12 holes in 11-under par for a 61. He needed it just to catch Cameron Smith in the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Saturday. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Justin Thomas lights up Kapalua with course-record 61 In an outrageously low-scoring start to the new year on the PGA TOUR, Rahm and Smith pulled away from the rest of the winners-only field by going shot-for-shot, putt-for-putt across so much of the back nine on the defenseless Plantation course. Rahm capped off his birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie finish with putts from just inside 30 feet and 15 feet for his 12-under 61. That tied the course record set a few hours earlier by Justin Thomas, who was one shot behind when he finished and nine shots back when the day was done. The average score of 67.7 was the lowest at Kapalua since the Tournament of Champions moved to the west end of Maui in 1999. The previous record was 67.8 set the day before. There’s nothing to stop these guys except themselves, and that wasn’t happening. Rahm and Smith were at 26-under 193, five shots clear of Daniel Berger, who had a third consecutive round of 66. That wasn’t nearly good enough for this perfect week of warm weather, very little wind and extraordinarily low scoring. Ernie Els set the PGA TOUR record for lowest score to par at 31 under in 2003 at Kapalua. That’s very much in jeopardy. “Some really good golf from both us,” Smith said. He had a three-shot lead at the start of the third round, was still three shots ahead through six holes and then was 8-under par over his last 12 holes — and he lost the outright lead. Rahm, the No. 1 player in the world and looking likely to keep the ranking, was at his best in his first competition since the middle of October. He closed out the front nine with three straight birdies and started the back nine with two straight birdies. The only holes were he had to settle for par were No. 12 (where he missed a birdie putt from just inside 12 feet) and No. 13 (he left a 10-foot putt short). His best was a second shot into the par-5 15th to rolled to 4 feet for an eagle. That pulled him within one shot after Smith had to settle for a two-putt birdie. They matched birdies the rest of the way, both making from just inside 30 feet on No. 17, until the closing par 5. Both came up short, not unusual with a front pin and the grain running severely away from them. Smith narrowly missed from 15 feet, while Rahm holed his 8-foot birdie putt. As for the other 36 winners in the field? Not all of them are out of it. Patrick Cantlay was trying to stay with the leaders until his wedge to a back pin on the 16th came out hot and found the rough behind the green, leading to a bogey that felt much worse. He wound up with a 66 and fell six shots back, along with Matt Jones (62) and Sungjae Im (65). Thomas had a 74 in the opening round and had little reason to like his chances until he pulled away by playing his last seven holes in 7 under. That gave him a 61 and at least some hope, just not for very long. All 38 players were under par, with Jason Kokrak bringing up the rear at 5-under 214.
The 15th edition of the FedExCup Playoffs to conclude the PGA TOUR season has arrived. There will be math and there will be a test, three of them in fact, but it’s all to determine who is crowned the 2021 FedExCup champion. The format is exactly how it was introduced in 2019 but the last four years have taught a lot in terms of projecting who advances to the TOUR Championship. This annual Power Rankings for the FedExCup Playoffs examines the structure, the recent history and this year’s set of host courses. A projected ranking of 30 to reach the finale gets you started. POWER RANKINGS: FEDEXCUP PLAYOFFS It always seems that just when we’re settling into the latest format of the FedExCup Playoffs, it changes. Sometimes it’s because of the reduction to three tournaments. That’s what happened in 2019. Other times, unfortunately, a pandemic influences the points distribution. Of course, that was last year’s experience when points were merely tripled due to playing time lost midseason. However, a recommitment has been made to quadruple FedExCup points for the first two tournaments of 2021. Last year’s adjustment didn’t alter the course of history, however; that is, in time, it won’t appear as an anomaly. Since the current points structure was implemented in 2017, all top-19 opening seeds advanced two tournaments. In 2017 and 2018, and when points were quadrupled, that meant to the third leg of what was a four-event series. Since 2019, it’s meant a trip to the TOUR Championship. This is why all of this year’s top-19 opening seeds are found in the ranking of 30 above. Baked into that is an acceptance that every FedExCup ranking is different no matter the seeds because points totaled in the Regular Season carry forward into the first two events of the Playoffs. Only THE NORTHERN TRUST that opens the Playoffs will have a 36-hole cut of low 65 and ties. There is no cut in the last two tournaments. And because the opening field of 125 (actually 124 because 8-seed Louis Oosthuizen is resting a sore neck) will be whittled to 70 for the BMW Championship, the series opener is the most volatile. When this slice of 55 debuted in 2019, four seeds outside the opening top 70 advanced. The worst finish among them was recorded by 74-seed Joaquin Niemann, who finished T30 at THE NORTHERN TRUST at Liberty National, also the cite of this year’s edition of the same tournament. Last year, six from outside the top 70 survived, but it took no worse than a T13 (by three golfers) to do it. In fact, 111-seed Charley Hoffman also placed T13, but he rose to just 77th, thus submitting the best finish in the series opener that didn’t propel him forward. Monday’s Power Rankings for THE NORTHERN TRUST presents the usual breakdown of the host course among other information, and there will be stand-alone Power Rankings for the last two tournaments, but no matter who advances to the BMW, he will be competing as a professional for the first time at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland, so there is no recent history on which to rely. It’ll truly be a neutral field. Caves Valley has hosted a number of marquee events, including the 2002 U.S. Senior Open, the 2005 NCAA Division I Men’s Championship, the 2007 Palmer Cup and the 2017 Bridgestone Senior PLAYERS Championship. The Tom Fazio design will be set up for the BMW as a stock par 72 capable of stretching to 7,542 yards. Like it’s relatively near partner in these Playoffs, Liberty National, Caves Valley also boasts bentgrass greens. The top 30 in the FedExCup standings at the conclusion of the BMW Championship will advance to the TOUR Championship at East Lake in Atlanta. It will challenge familiarly as a par 70 at 7,346 yards with bermuda greens. In 2019, seven golfers who opened the Playoffs outside the top 30 advanced to East Lake. Last year, only two converted. The lowest seed in either edition to survive was Abraham Ancer. As the 67-seed in 2019, he was the runner-up at Liberty National and climbed to eighth for the BMW. By merely reaching the Playoffs finale, the golfers are set with traditional exemptions into the 2022 editions of the Masters, the U.S. Open and The Open Championship among many other invitations if not already equipped. Seeding upon arrival will determine all Starting Strokes, which doubles as the leaderboard position at the beginning of play. The top seed opens at 10-under, the 2-seed at 8-under, and so on. To be clear, the winner of the TOUR Championship will possess the lowest score in relation to par combined with his Starting Strokes. For example, if the top seed, who opens at 10-under, scores 10-under 270 for 72 holes, his total score will be 20-under. Meanwhile, if the 5-seed, who opens at 5-under, scores 14-under 266 for 72 holes, his total score will be 19-under. Last year, although Dustin Johnson opened as the top seed at 10-under, his 72-hole score of 11-under 269 was good for just T3 overall in aggregate scoring, but he prevailed by three strokes in combined scoring because of the opening advantage. The FedExCup champion is credited with official victory, but neither FedExCup points nor official earnings apply to the TOUR Championship. Only the leaderboard with the influence of Starting Strokes and bonus prize money will be applied. The winner at East Lake also secures a five-year TOUR membership exemption (through 2025-26). In the history of the FedExCup, six golfers have won a Playoffs event as the top seed entering the tournament they won. Dustin Johnson was the most recent when he prevailed at the 2020 TOUR Championship. The Playoffs also have been a haven for momentum and piling up victories. On 10 occasions, including twice in 2008, a golfer has won exactly two Playoffs events, including consecutively six times. Rory McIlroy has done it twice (2012, 2016), but he’s one (2012) of four who didn’t win the FedExCup in the series in which he recorded multiple victories. His second of two FedExCup titles occurred in 2019 when Starting Strokes was introduced. Of course, there also are the tough-luck experiences. In 2019, Kevin Tway opened as the 41-seed and posted respective results of T24 and T11, yet finished 31st in the FedExCup. Last year, Brian Harman (69-seed) went T11-T12 to place 37th, Jason Kokrak (90th) went T13-T6 to finish 42nd, and Russell Henley (101st) went T8-T25 to settle at 56th. However, just making it to the Playoffs means that a PGA TOUR member has had a successful season. It also means that his job is secure for the next. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings (THE NORTHERN TRUST) TUESDAY*: Power Rankings (FedExCup Playoffs); Sleepers; Fantasy Insider SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Rookie Watch * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.
Day closed the third round with three birdies in the last five holes. Now he can end a frustrating year with his first victory of 2017.
