Molinari runs away with Quicken Loans National victory

SILVIS, Illinois. – According to Zach Johnson – you’ve just got to “bow upâ€� and “get after itâ€�. With just six weeks left in the FedExCup regular season, the time is now to lock up your spot in the Playoffs. While the big-name winners like Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Hideki Matsuyama have long-booked their place in the top 125 and the post season, there are plenty of players on the outside looking in. And at the John Deere Classic, the sense of opportunity is well and truly in the air. With a large chunk of players inside the Playoff zone either out of action or playing on the European Tour this week in the lead up to the Open Championship, the 500 FedExCup points for the winner at TPC Deere Run represent a clear chance to change the trajectory of your season. For some of the guys on the bubble, it might not take a win, it might just take a half-decent result. As such, there is a mixture of optimism and anxiety on the range in Silvis. “Making the FedExCup Playoffs means everything,â€� Smylie Kaufman, who sits in 134th on the points list, says. “Not making the 125 for me – that’s inexcusable. It’s something I need to do.â€� A winner in the fall of 2015, his rookie season, Kaufman did not have to worry about making the Playoffs at this stage last year. But with just one top-10 finish on his resume this season he knows time is running out to make his move. He is still burning about not making it to East Lake last year, falling to 43rd when he was unable to get things going in the Playoffs. “All it takes is one week in the Playoffs. I was the guy last year who was in the top 30 all year and felt like I had a great year, but the guy who was second or third in a playoff event can go right past you and that happened to me,â€� Kaufman adds. “So I learned the hard way last year not making the TOUR Championship sucked. “I think I am the type of player that can get hot at that time of year and then who knows. If I can just get there a lot of pressure would be taken off. My card is not on the line but I want to treat it that way because there will be times in my career it is going to be on the line. “So, I just want to learn from the experiences and see how I handle the pressure.â€� The pressure is certainly different for different individuals. Kaufman has another year of exemption up his sleeve. Guys like Johnson Wagner, who sits 127th, have past champion status to fall back on. He’s won three times before. Others, like last week’s surprise contender Sebastian Munoz, have nothing to fall back on. If you finish between 126-150, you also get conditional status and several starts next season guaranteed. “I’ve won and played well out of that category before although it’s not ideal,â€� Wagner says. “There is a big difference between 150 and 151 and obviously 200 and 201 also. But you can’t put too much pressure on yourself, you’ve just got to get out there and play. “I have been in this position many times and I have definitely overreacted and panicked before. But there is nothing good that comes from that.â€� If you are inside the top 200, you get a trip to the Web.com Finals for another chance at TOUR status. Munoz entered the Greenbrier Classic in 198th. He’s now 140th. “I needed to make a move, and it is great I’ve done that,â€� Munoz said. “But now I am in range of the Playoffs, and I need to bring it home in these next events.â€� It is a move others like Brett Drewitt are hoping to make this week. The Australian Tour rookie sits at 196th and knows just one decent week will allow him the chance to do what he did last year, and get through Web.com Tour Finals. A massive week could have him bypass that altogether. “The trick is to try not to think about it, which is easier said than done,â€� Drewitt says. “But if you do think about it you have to embrace it as an opportunity. That’s what I am trying to do.â€� It is a mindset Johnson, who as a dual major winner and has been in the Playoffs every year since their inception, believes can help. He sits 103rd in the FedExCup, not great, but almost certainly enough to make it once more. “I like the mentality of having my back against the wall. I thrive in that position,â€� Johnson says. “So if they are in that sort of position, you know what, bow up. It’s time to get after it. “It’s one of those situations where the more pressure you put on yourself probably the worse it is. If you just kind of try to simplify it and take it for what it is, it’s an opportunity.â€� For context, just six players played their way into the top 125 with six weeks to go last year, and two of those were past major winners. Jerry Kelly, Jim Furyk, Robert Garrigus, Keegan Bradley, Blayne Barber and Shawn Stefani were the guys to step up in the run home and claim a spot with Stefani coming from the furthest back at 143rd. The unlucky six last year who fell back were Scott Stallings, Nick Taylor, Bronson Burgoon, Tim Wilkinson, Chad Collins and Willy Wilcox. Who will be the most likely to jump in this season … you’ll have to watch to find out!

Click here to read the full article…

Tiger Woods gets his PGA TOUR season underway at his customary starting spot, seeking more Torrey Pines glory against a strong lineup boasting FedExCup champion Justin Rose, current points leader Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm and defending champion Jason Day. Rory McIlroy is set to give Torrey Pines a test for the first time in his career, adding to his travelogue of West Coast Swing stops previously bypassed. Jordan Spieth also returns after a three-year hiatus as he seeks a jump-start to his season. FIELD NOTES: Masters champion Patrick Reed and Rickie Fowler also help create an appetizing menu of spectator options for those not following Woods. … In all, the lineup figures to deliver 19 of the top 30 in the current FedExCup standings. … Reigning U.S. Amateur champion Viktor Hovland tees it up against PGA TOUR competition for the second time since winning at Pebble Beach. The Oklahoma State junior missed the cut at last fall’s Mayakoba Golf Classic. … Former top-ranked amateur Braden Thornberry makes his pro debut at Torrey Pines on a sponsor invite. The 2017 NCAA champion, who left Mississippi at midyear, tied for fourth at the FedEx St. Jude Classic weeks after his NCAA triumph. … Another exemption went to Doug Ghim, former U.S. Amateur runner-up and winner of college golf’s Ben Hogan Award. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. STORYLINES: Woods makes his long-awaited 2019 debut, his first official start since a stirring Sunday at last fall’s TOUR Championship ended a winless run of 1,876 days. He’s won this event seven times along with the 2008 U.S. Open, but was last seen finishing next-to-last at the Hero World Challenge. … Schauffele, a La Jolla native, already has two wins this season but might be content with simply making the weekend at Torrey Pines. He’s missed the cut in all three Farmers starts. … Spieth hopes to find a spark in his first visit to Torrey Pines since 2015. His first three starts of the season have yet to produce a top-50 finish, with two missed cuts. … Day seeks to become the event’s fourth back-to-back champion, joining J.C. Snead (1975-76), Mickelson (2000-01) and Woods (four straight from 2005-08). … Last year’s result made it eight consecutive Farmers champions to open their week on the South course. Ben Crane (2010) was the last winner to start play on the North. COURSE: Torrey Pines GC (South), 7,698 yards, par 72. Now beginning its sixth decade as a PGA TOUR venue, the former World War II army base has evolved into a major championship layout amid one of the TOUR’s more scenic settings. William Bell’s 1957 design skillfully transformed the cliffs fronting the Pacific Ocean into a stimulating layout, attracting the TOUR’s annual San Diego stop in 1968. Torrey Pines also hosts the Junior Worlds each July. A Rees Jones upgrade in 2001 helped attract the 2008 U.S. Open, captured by Woods in an epic playoff over Rocco Mediate, and the South course is set to serve again as 2021 host. Torrey Pines’ North course (7,258/72), in its third year of a Tom Weiskopf redesign, again will be utilized for the first two rounds. 72-HOLE RECORD: 266, George Burns (1987), Tiger Woods (1999). 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, Mark Brooks (2nd round, 1990) and Brandt Snedeker (1st round, 2007) at Torrey Pines North, predating the Weiskopf redesign. South course record: 62, Tiger Woods (3rd round, 1999). Redesigned North record: 64, Jason Day (2nd round, 2018). LAST YEAR: Day made short work of a Monday finish, needing 13 minutes to dispatch Alex Noren with a birdie on the sixth extra hole after their playoff was halted by darkness the previous evening. The playoff began with three men, but Ryan Palmer was eliminated on the first extra hole before Day and Noren matched two more birdies and two pars until twilight took over. Day found the rough upon resumption at the par-5 18th, laying up back to the fairway and watching his 85-yard wedge trickle back to 18 inches of the flagstick. Noren’s second shot, meantime, wound up in Devlin’s Billabong that fronts the 18th green. Day’s 11th PGA TOUR victory ended a 20-month winless drought dating back to THE PLAYERS Championship in 2016. Woods tied for 23rd in his first TOUR start back after a fourth back surgery. HOW TO FOLLOW (ALL TIMES ET) TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 3-7 p.m. (Golf Channel). Saturday, 1-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). Sunday, 1-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 11:45 a.m.-7 p.m. (featured groups). Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6 p.m. (featured holes). Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6:30 p.m. (featured holes). RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m. Saturday, 1-6 p.m. Sunday, 1-6:30 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

Click here to read the full article…

Here are nine tidbits from the final round of the Dell Technologies Championship gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road in 2020. TPC Boston plays 7,342 yards to Par-71. Know Thy Enemy These were the top-10 selected golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game presented by SERVPRO. Those gamers riding THE STREAK galloped well up the leaderboard after DeChambeau matched Vijay Singh as the only two players to be victorious in the first two FedExCup Playoff events. It also reinforces the point that saving players for certain events is nothing more than having a chance to play them. This is a recording. Wash, Rinse, Repeat Bryson DeChambeau joined Vijay Singh as the only players to win back-to-back FedExCup Playoffs events. Last week’s champion posted a final-round 67 to post 16-under 267 for the week and secure his fourth PGA TOUR victory and third of the season. Justin Thomas was the last player to win back-to-back TOUR events last season during the Hawaii swing. After securing 2,000 FedExCup points and $1.62 million he’ll be the one of the favorites next week and at The TOUR Championship as the No. 1 seed. If he’s a man or machine isn’t up to me to determine. I thought I was clever using him earlier in the season and collecting solo fourth at the Wells Fargo Championship. Looking inside the numbers this week, nothing jumps off the page except his consistency across the board. I’ll point out he was sixth in both Strokes-Gained: Tee-to-Green and Strokes-Gained: Putting and that combination is usually tough to beat. There’s a reason both of those usually are in play in The Confidence Factor! People’s Choice Adam Scott probably helped a few who kept the faith in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game presented by SERVPRO but his O&D investors won’t share the same sentiment after T49. A blistering front nine only needed 30 strokes but 1-over coming home crushed all of the momentum. Just when gamers think they have it figured out … golf, eh? This was a tough time of year not to have a premium player fire up. Back it Up Gamers were concerned, rightly or wrongly, when Justin Rose took a leave of absence before the PGA Championship with back spasms. His T19 at Bellerive suggested the rust was knocked off and it was all-systems-go before MC last week, his first in 18 starts, stifled that thinking. He picked up his fifth top-10 finish in his last seven events on TOUR this week so I’d suggest there’s nothing to worry about moving forward. Finally Enough? Tony Finau backed up his solo second at Ridgewood with another top five this week as he continues to shine. He adds four more rounds of red figures to run his streak to 17 in his last 20 rounds.  ABC, Easy as 1-2-3 … World No. 1 Dustin Johnson forced gamers to be patient but his closing-round 64 reinforced why it’s ALWAYS too early to give up on the big hitter. Sure, it’s another boring top-10 payday but he was T33 before the round started. … Brooks Koepka began the week at No. 2 and could have nipped DJ for the top spot with a premium finish. He posted nothing worse than 69 and nothing better than 68 so it appears he’s up for the closing stretch.  … Justin Thomas posted just two rounds in the 60s but saved his best for last with 65. Double circles on Nos. 2 and 18 helped him move into the top 25 but it wasn’t the defense gamers were hoping for. Remember, NOBODY defends here and previous champions rarely, if ever, hit the top 20 the following year. Sunday Silence Matt Kuchar dropped 27 places and will miss the BMW Championship next week after cashing T43. … I’m not looking up Beau Hossler’s scoring average on Sunday. He dropped 27 spots from T8 after a closing-round 75. I’m putting every dollar I have on him next year and will be expecting to cash. … Tyrrell Hatton’s wonderful volatility is worth the price of admission alone but over-par rounds on Sunday are tough to handle. Last Call The drama of advancing to the next event or dreaming about East Lake has been more interesting than watching DeChambeau close out the last two weeks. That’s a compliment, folks. Punching their tickets to Aronimink Golf Club next week include Keith Mitchell, Tyrrell Hatton, Brice Garnett, Peter Uihlein, Abraham Ancer and C.T. Pan. Those of you banking on long-shot selections will be disappointed to know that nobody slotted between No. 125 and No. 100 advanced to the third stage. Study Hall The Round 4 scoring average of 69.632 was the lowest of the week as the event finished almost a full shot below par at 70.097. … Uihlein (T12) led the field in birdies with 24. Congrats to those who were rewarded by playing the “hometown” angle this week. … Koepka led the charge for the bogey-free brigade in Round 4 but was the only one of the four to hit the top 15 for the week. … Phil Mickelson posted the round of the day with 63. His investors will lament his 72-72 first two rounds but enjoy a top-15 payday. … Hideki Matsuyama might make a wonderful late-season Christmas present next week for those who forgot to play him earlier this year. … Cameron Smith and C.T. Pan continued their scalding-hot play with top-five finishes. … Tiger Woods ran out of gas as he played his final three holes in 3-over to drop to T24.

Click here to read the full article…