Memorial’s reversal on fans highlights struggle

Kids these days. They make it look so easy. The transition from schoolboy golf to the big leagues isn't supposed to be so simple. Sure, there are always exceptions, but they come along once every few years. Not anymore. It's fitting that Viktor Hovland won the final PGA TOUR event of 2020 because he and his peers have changed the game. They've permanently altered our perception of what's possible for the crop of prospects coming out of college each year. These players turned pro to big expectations and they've exceeded all of them. They continually sent us scouring the record books to put their accomplishments in context. Hovland has won twice before turning 24. Collin Morikawa is 23; he already owns three TOUR titles, including a major. And Matthew Wolff, who's still just 21, was a contender in two of this year's majors. Some 18 months after they turned pro, all three are in the top 15 in the Official World Golf Ranking. We can't wait to see what they have in store for 2021. So, as we look ahead to the new year, we ranked the top players on TOUR under the age of 25. 1. Collin Morikawa Age: 23 2020 FedExCup finish: 6th PGA TOUR wins: 3 The youngest winner of the PGA Championship since Tiger Woods. The lowest final two rounds by a winner in major championship history. All thanks to an incredible eagle on the third-to-last hole. Morikawa impressed with his victory at TPC Harding Park, which ensures he'll never have to wear that pesky "Best Player to Never Win a Major" tag. His ball-striking has become the stuff of legend and social media fodder, and for good reason. He finished second in Strokes Gained: Approach last season, behind only Justin Thomas. Morikawa got the best of Thomas at the Workday Charity Open, however, overcoming a three-shot deficit with three holes remaining. Then he made a 25-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to answer Thomas' 50-foot bomb. Morikawa won two holes later. Iron play has often been the differentiator for the game's best players and Morikawa is proving to be no exception. 2. Viktor Hovland Age: 23 2020 FedExCup finish: 20th PGA TOUR wins: 2 Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Seve Ballesteros. That is some of the company Hovland has joined with the quick start to his pro career. Hovland won twice in 2020, displaying an ability to thrive in stressful situations at tropical locales where people traditionally go to relax. He won the Puerto Rico Open and Mayakoba Golf Classic presented by UNIFIN, making birdie on 18 both times. "I was pretty nervous throughout the day even though I hit a lot of good shots," he said after winning in Mexico. He sure didn't look anxious. Like Morikawa, he's known for elite ball-striking. Hovland ranked in the top 20 in both Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Approach-the-Green last season. He's added distance with swing coach Jeff Smith. And Hovland, who once declared, "I just suck at chipping," has shored up his short game after switching to a 10-finger grip on all shots inside 40 yards. His Mayakoba win was made possible thanks to an incredible up-and-down from a bunker on the 16th hole, proof that he's filling the one hole in his game. He'll start 2021 ranked third in the FedExCup. 3. Matthew Wolff Age: 21 2020 FedExCup finish: 35th PGA TOUR wins: 1 He didn't win this year but he accomplished something that hasn't been done since the 1800s. Wolff finished T4 at the PGA Championship and runner-up at the U.S. Open. Per 15th Club's Justin Ray, Wolff is the first player to finish fourth or better in his first two major starts since Ned Cosgrove at the 1880 and 1881 Open Championships. The U.S. Open was one of three second-place finishes for Wolff in 2020. Two came at the hands of Bryson DeChambeau. Two also were in back-to-back starts at Winged Foot and the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, which is why Wolff will start 2021 ranked ninth in the FedExCup. 4. Sungjae Im Age: 22 2020 FedExCup finish: 11th PGA TOUR wins: 1 The PGA TOUR's road warrior finally has a home. After living out of hotels for the past several years, Im has put down roots in Atlanta. It's a fitting residence because an annual trip to Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club, site of the TOUR Championship, seems likely for the steady Korean. Im, 22, has already played in the TOUR Championship twice. He's packed a lot into his three years of playing professional golf in the United States. He was the Korn Ferry Tour's Player of the Year in 2018. He was the PGA TOUR's Rookie of the Year in 2019 (becoming just the second player to win those events in back-to-back years). And he won his first PGA TOUR title in 2020. After winning The Honda Classic and finishing third at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, the PGA TOUR's Steady Eddie was the FedExCup leader when the season stopped because of coronavirus. Im struggled when the season resumed but is back in form, including a runner-up finish in his Masters debut. 5. Scottie Scheffler Age: 24 2020 FedExCup finish: 5th PGA TOUR wins: 0 A top-five finish in the FedExCup. A sub-60 round. Fourth-place finishes in a major and FedExCup Playoffs event. The Arnold Palmer Award. It was an eventful first year on the PGA TOUR for Scheffler, the All-Everything out of Texas. He became just the third player, joining Im and Stewart Cink, to win Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year and PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year in consecutive seasons. "I felt like I had a really solid rookie season," the understated Scheffler said. He lets his clubs do the talking. It's been that way for years. Scheffler won the 2013 U.S. Junior, then finished in T22 in his hometown TOUR event, the AT&T Byron Nelson, while still in high school. He had a decorated collegiate career and was part of that 2017 U.S. Walker Cup team that also included future TOUR members Morikawa, Cameron Champ, Will Zalatoris, Doc Redman, Maverick McNealy and Doug Ghim. 6. Joaquin Niemann Age: 22 2020 FedExCup finish: 27th PGA TOUR wins: 1 His win at the Greenbrier made him one of just three players born outside the United States in the last 95 years who won on TOUR before turning 21. The others? McIlroy and Ballesteros. Good company. The Chilean continues to fulfill the promise he showed as the World's No. 1 amateur. And this year his success contributed to a good cause. He used his earnings from the final two events of 2020 to raise money for a life-saving treatment needed by his infant cousin. Niemann's downswing has so much lag it gives the clubhead whiplash, producing low lasers off the tee that are the envy of any amateur suffering from the balloon ball. He was especially effective in the latter half of 2020, finishing in the top 25 in seven of his last eight starts. That included a third-place finish on a demanding layout for the BMW Championship and a sixth-place finish against another strong field at THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK. 7. Will Zalatoris Age: 24 2020 FedExCup finish: N/A PGA TOUR wins: 0 What do you do when the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, the only source of PGA TOUR cards, are canceled by a pandemic. You play your way onto the PGA TOUR the hard way, cobbling together a schedule with a series of top-10 finishes and sponsor exemptions. That's what Zalatoris did late in 2020. He sat atop the KFT's points list in September after a record-tying 11 consecutive top-20 finishes, a streak that started when the season resumed. That earned him a spot in the U.S. Open, where he confirmed that he belonged at golf's highest tier. Zalatoris finished T6 at Winged Foot and the world was introduced to his accurate iron play. He made a hole-in-one in the first round and hit the flagstick with another approach. Zalatoris tied Dustin Johnson over 72 holes and led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green. That top-10 earned him a start in the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, where he finished inside the top-10 once again. A missed cut at the Sanderson Farms Championship briefly slowed his run - it was his first finish outside the top 20 in any event since Februray - but he responded by finishing fifth in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He earned special temporary membership in his next start and now can accept unlimited sponsor exemptions for the remainder of the season. He would rank 30th in this season's FedExCup standings if he were a full-time member. He has to win to appear in the FedExCup standings, but that doesn't seem out of the realm of possibilities. 8. Aaron Wise Age: 24 2020 FedExCup finish: 150th PGA TOUR wins: 1 Wise turned pro at 20, right after winning the NCAA Championship, so it's easy to forget how young he is. He won his first TOUR title at age 21 - two weeks after dueling Jason Day down to the wire at the Wells Fargo Championship — and qualified for the TOUR Championship later that year. Wise had four top-10s in that 2018 season. He's had just four since, but things seem to be trending upward. He struggled in 2019 and 2020, finishing 114th and 150th in the FedExCup, but the phrase "sophomore slump" exists for a reason. It can be a tough transition when so much success comes at a young age. Many players feel pressure to tinker, and the same may be true for Wise. After playing with Brooks Koepka in the 2018 NORTHERN TRUST, Wise decided he needed to bulk up in order to better handle approach shots from thick rough. Wise transformed his body in 2019 but his results suffered. Things seem to be turning around. He contended at the Vivint Houston Open, then concluded the year with a runner-up at the Mayakoba Golf Classic presented by UNIFIN. He'll start 2021 ranked 19th in the FedExCup and back on the upswing. 9. Sam Burns Age: 24 2020 FedExCup finish: 111 PGA TOUR wins: 0 He's best known as the kid who beat Tiger Woods in the final round of the 2018 Honda Classic. Before that, he was the NCAA player of the year and finished T6 in a TOUR event while still an amateur. One wrong step derailed his pro career, though. He graduated from the Korn Ferry Tour in 2018, then finished third in his second TOUR event as a member, the Sanderson Farms Championship. He kept his card despite suffering a season-ending ankle injury in July. He broke his right ankle while playing pickup basketball with kids in his neighborhood. Burns returned for the start of the new season but admits that may have been premature. He said it wasn't until this January that the ankle stopped bothering him. Two months later, the season was paused by the coronavirus pandemic. He is 53rd in this season's FedExCup, however, thanks to two top-10s in five starts. He's been gaining valuable experience atop the leaderboard, as well. He was the 36-hole leader at the Safeway Open and led after the Vivint Houston Open's third round. 10. Doc Redman Age: Turns 23 on Dec. 27 2020 FedExCup finish: 71st PGA TOUR wins: 0 He has the pedigree, as a former U.S. Amateur champ and Walker Cupper. He earned his way on TOUR the hard way, by Monday qualifying for the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic and finishing second. Still just 22 years old, Redman has been knocking on the door of a TOUR win. He has three top-4 finishes in his last eight starts. That includes a T3 in the season-opening Safeway Open and T4 in the Bermuda Championship. He'll start 2021 ranked 41st in the FedExCup. Iron play is the strength of his game. He finished 12th in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green last season. That bodes well for his future.

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The 2019-20 PGA TOUR season is upon us, with the first round teeing off Thursday at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier in West Virginia, making its debut as the season opener on the schedule. Making its debut as the season opener on the schedule, the 156-man Greenbrier field is loaded with rookies set to make a big splash. Kevin Na is the defending champ, having won the Greenbrier when it was last played as part of the 2017-18 season. FIELD NOTES: The highest-ranked golfer from the 2019 FedExCup standings is Bryson DeChambeau, who finished 12th. … Rookie Viktor Hovland will make his debut as a full-fledged PGA TOUR member after earning a TOUR card via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. Hovland notched four straight top-20 finishes to end last season, including a fourth at the Wyndham Championship. … Past champions Stuart Appleby, Danny Lee, Ted Potter Jr., and Scott Stallings will join Na in the field. … Major winners Zach Johnson, Bubba Watson, Jason Dufner, Jimmy Walker, Keegan Bradley and John Daly also are teeing it up. … Scottie Scheffler, who topped both The Finals 25 Points List and the combined (The 25) Points List on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019, is in the field. Scheffler is the lone golfer fully exempt on the PGA TOUR due solely to his play on the Korn Ferry Tour this year. … Tom Lewis, who won the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing and Finance, will make his debut as a PGA TOUR member this week. … Sungjae Im, the only rookie to reach the TOUR Championship last season, is making the first of his six planned starts in the next eight weeks. … Air Force Captain Kyle Westmoreland – who Monday Qualified for an event on the Korn Ferry Tour this summer – received a sponsor exemption. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. COURSE: The Old White TPC (7,286 yards, par 70). Has been the host venue since the inaugural Greenbrier in 2010. STORYLINES: Due to the condensed nature of the new PGA TOUR schedule, A Military Classic at The Greenbrier is unveiling its new date, moving from July to September. … Players who hope to make this year’s Presidents Cup as a captain’s pick for either Tiger Woods’ U.S. Team or Ernie Els’ International Team certainly want to play well this week. Keep a close eye on Americans such as Na, Watson and Bradley, and Internationals such as Im and Branden Grace . … Making an early move in the FedExCup standings also is key, especially with 11 events schedule for this fall. Last season, 75% of the winners in the fall advanced to the TOUR Championship, the highest percentage in the last six seasons … This will be the first tournament using the TOUR’s adjusted cut line of top 65 and ties … The 2019 edition of the tournament marks the 10th playing of the event… No 54-hole leader has gone on to win the title Sunday, as Kelly Kraft (the 2018 third-round leader) shot even par Sunday to lose by five to Kevin Na. 72-HOLE RECORD: 258, Stuart Appleby (2010) 18-HOLE RECORD: 59, Stuart Appleby (4th round, 2010) LAST TIME: It had been seven years since Na had found the winner’s circle on the PGA TOUR, but he fired a near flawless Sunday round to notch his second career TOUR victory at the Greenbrier in 2018. He would go on to finish 28th in the FedExCup standings and make The TOUR Championship for just the second time in his career. Na was emotional following his victory, thanking all those who had supported him in his long journey back to the top of a PGA TOUR leaderboard. He rode those good vibes into 2019, too, and won the Charles Schwab Challenge – his second victory in just 10 months. Kelly Kraft held the 54-hole lead but stalled Sunday shooting even par and ended up five shots back of Na’s win. Brandt Snedeker finished T3, his best result on the PGA TOUR in almost two years. After matching Na with a Sunday 66, Snedeker would parlay that finish into a victory at the Wyndham Championship the following month. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 2 p.m.–6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 3 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel) PGA TOUR Live: Thursday-Friday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m. ET (featured groups) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. ET. Saturday-Sunday 1 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio)

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SAN DIEGO — Alex Noren of Sweden two-putted for birdie on the final hole for a 3-under 69 that gave him a one-shot lead going into the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open. Noren has nine European Tour victories and is No. 19 in the world. This is his first 54-hole lead on the PGA TOUR. He leads by one shot over Ryan Palmer, who struggled after building a two-shot lead with a 45-foot eagle putt on the par-5 13th. Jon Rahm, the defending champion who needs to win to reach No. 1 in the world, took double bogey on the last hole for a 75 and fell four shots behind. Noren was at 11-under 205. Tiger Woods only hit three fairways and still managed a 70. Woods was eight shots behind.

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