Medal of Freedom awarded to ‘true legend’ Tiger

Justin Thomas, the fifth ranked player in the FedExCup standings and reigning PGA Champion, has committed to play in the 2018 Honda Classic, which will be held February 19-25 at PGA National Resort & Spa. Thomas, 24, is coming off a breakthrough season in which he won five PGA TOUR events and was named FedExCup champion and 2016-2017 Player of the Year. “It’s something I know how hard it is to do because of how the deep the TOUR is right now and how many great players there are and how guys are winning three, four, five times a year every year,” Thomas said. “It’s something that’s going to be tough to continue or tough to replicate in terms of last year. But I’m definitely going to give it my best.” Thomas’s five wins came at the CIMB Classic, SBS Tournament of Champions, Sony Open, PGA and Dell Technologies Championship. He joined Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth as the only players since 1960 to capture five wins in a season, including a major, before the age of 25. In 25 starts, he tallied a TOUR-best 12 top-10 finishes (tied with Spieth) with 19 made cuts and those performances led him to the Arnold Palmer Award as the TOUR’s leading money-winner ($9,921,560). Now the question is what Thomas will do for an encore. “I know I’m constantly going to get reminded of what I did last year versus this year and whether it’s better or whether it’s worse,â€� Thomas said. “The hardest part of the season is going to be staying in the moment and recognizing that it’s a new year. It’s a new opportunity for great things, and I just need to continue to work hard.â€�

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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Davis Love III got his hands dirty before this year’s RSM Classic. Love’s golf-course architecture firm, Love Golf Design, led a dramatic renovation of Sea Island’s Plantation Course. Love didn’t just peer at the project’s plans. “Pete Dye told me you’re not a golf course architect until you get on the equipment and build it yourself,â€� Love said. And that’s what the World Golf Hall of Famer did, hopping on a bulldozer to shape some of the sharp angles and old-school features that will be on display this week during the PGA TOUR’s annual visit to Sea Island. The Plantation Course will be used, along with the neighboring Seaside layout, on Thursday and Friday. The RSM’s weekend rounds will be played on Seaside. The Plantation Course’s new look is a blast from the past, drawing upon the course’s history and other attributes common to golf’s Golden Age designs. Plantation is the oldest course at Sea Island. The Walter Travis design opened as a nine-hole course in 1928, shortly before the Seaside nine that was designed by Harry Colt and Charles Alison. “We like classic design,â€� Love said. “We feel like this is a historic resort and it needs a historic-looking course.â€� Plantation’s historic feel had faded after nearly a century of play and a renovation in the late 1990s. This latest renovation draws upon the designs of architects like Travis, Seth Raynor and C.B. MacDonald. Those men designed some of Love’s favorite courses, including Chicago Golf Club, Mountain Lake in Lake Wales, Florida, and two courses in Charleston, South Carolina: Yeamans Hall and Country Club of Charleston. It was a collaboration between Love, his brother Mark, and Scot Sherman, an architect with Love Golf Design who worked closely with Dye for many years. They replicated those classic courses by creating sharp angles and straight lines, producing a look that was distinctive from the neighboring Seaside course and its big, bold bunkering. The renovated Plantation course also offers more of the scenic views that its neighbor is known for. The new course is flatter – many Golden Age designs were built on flat ground – and brush was cleared to offer more views of the Atlantic Ocean and St. Simons Sound. Some of Plantation’s new greens are squared-off instead of round. Flat bunkers with vertical grass faces were built. Railroad ties provide a stark delineation between grass and water. Grass mounds known as “chocolate dropsâ€� were placed on several holes.  A Principal’s Nose bunker, inspired by the one at St. Andrews, was built on the 10th hole and odes to other old-school template holes, like the Redan and Punchbowl, were built at Plantation. These features are evident from the start, as the “chocolate dropsâ€� are visible from the first tee and the new green evokes the Biarritz design that was often built by Macdonald and Raynor. Railroad ties front the second green. These long, wooden boards are often associated with Dye’s designs, but it’s a concept that he got from his travel to Scotland. It’s another look Love enjoys, as he’s won five times at the Dye-designed Harbour Town and twice at TPC Sawgrass, which host the RBC Heritage and THE PLAYERS Championship, respectively. Plantation’s third hole is a par 3 inspired by the Redan green that has been replicated many times over. Love looked at pictures of the Redan at Yeamans Hall as he drove a dozer on this hole. Some other notable features are the Thumbprint green on No. 11 and Punchbowl on 13. The thumbprint, like the 18th hole at the Old White TPC, has a central bowl, as if someone pressed their thumb into the center of the putting surface. A Punchbowl green is lower than its surrounds, obscuring it from view while also allowing shots to funnel onto the putting surface. The renovation also created some new closing holes. Travis designed the 14th hole as a par 5, but it was later divided into a par 4 and par 3. This most recent renovation returned the 14th to a par 5. The large, central bunker is another feature typical of Macdonald and Raynor courses. It forces players to choose between four potential lines off the tee: left, right, short and long. The 15th and 16th holes from the original routing were brought back. Fifteen is a short par 4, while the 16th is a short par 3 with a double-plateau green and penal pot bunker. The course will finish on a par 5 that features chocolate drops, railroad ties and flat bunkers. “It’s a great example of all the features which influenced us in one place,â€� Sherman said.

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No matter your memory of Pebble Beach Golf Links, there isn’t another that’s more indelible because of the backdrop. For anyone who has been told to visit at least once, there’s a sense that everyone has given how much of it we’ve seen over time. And for anyone who has been told that it’s just not the same on television, that’s true, but with evolution of high definition and 4K, the difference between fantasy and reality never has been closer. Of course, there is no substitute for competing in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. A field of 156 has assembled along 17-Mile Drive for what is the last multiple-course tournament of the 2019-20 season. Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Shore Course will share duties for the 11th consecutive year. Scroll past the projected contenders for more on the courses, the format and an explanation of the cut. In addition to reviews of past champions Jimmy Walker (2014), Vaughn Taylor (2016) and Jordan Spieth (2017), and notables such as Matt Kuchar, Kevin Na and Kevin Kisner, Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider will include breakdowns of every course and direction for fantasy gamers to customize lineups. The most recent lasting image at Pebble Beach is of Gary Woodland clutching the U.S. Open trophy with a smile befitting of a first-time major champion. Since, Pebble Beach has been given a haircut. Fairways have returned to their familiar width, so they will be inviting once again. The stock par 72 stretches only 6,816 yards, so you’d expect driving accuracy to soar with headcovers remaining on drivers for most of the round. It’s annually among the leaders in addressing approach shots from the shortest grass. Spyglass Hill debuted in the rotation in 1967. It’s been a fixture every year except 1977 and 1980. Since last year, new tees were constructed on the par-5 seventh, par-5 11th and par-4 18th holes. The aggregate increase of 75 yards has stretched the overall length to 7,035 yards, giving this year’s test the distinction as the longest of any of the iterations of all of the courses in tournament history. Still, as a par 72 with four par 5s, it’s projected to yield a scoring average close to par. MPCC’s Shore Course tips at 6,958 yards, but it’s a par 71 with five par 3s and four par 5s, three of which are on its inward-nine 37. It’s usually the easiest of the three in relation to par, but it’s comparatively more difficult when the wind kicks up. That might happen on Saturday. Otherwise beautiful conditions will define the experience. It’ll be cool, however, with daytime highs struggling to reach 60 degrees. All 54 greens consist of Poa annua prepped to run no longer than 12 feet on the Stimpmeter, wind pending. The targets at Pebble Beach are among the smallest on the PGA TOUR at just 3,500 square feet. Even the 6,000-square foot greens on MPCC – largest of the set – are smaller than TOUR average. This is to be expected on shorter courses. The structure of the tournament is similar to The American Express. Each golfer is paired with an amateur and another pro-am team. Together, they rotate through each of the three courses. The cut at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am differs in that only the low 60 and ties move on to play the final round on Pebble Beach. However, all golfers who finish in the low 65 and ties receive FedExCup points and official earnings. The low 25 pro-am teams also will play in the finale on Pebble Beach even if the pro missed the cut in the individual competition. ShotLink technology is set up only on Pebble Beach, so all measured data will apply to at most 36 holes (for those who survive the cut). 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: Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Fantasy Insider * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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