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Bob Parsons ambles up to the first tee of the 18-hole course at his lavish, multimillion-dollar Arizona golf club, Scottsdale National. The stocky 66-year-old is wearing a pea-green shirt, untucked, with “U.S. Marine Corps� over the left breast. In his left ear is a large black earring that’s etched with the letters “PXG,� the acronym for his golf equipment brand, Parsons Xtreme Golf. He tees up his ball and turns to his playing partner for the day, Ryann O’Toole, a 30-year-old LPGA pro who is sponsored by PXG. “Ryann, sweetheart,� he says in a gruff voice that booms across the desert. “I hope you brought your wallet.� And with that, his curt but effective swing sends the ball straight down the
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Jordan Spieth was good, very good, bad and relentless. It all added up to a 6-under 64 in the opening round of the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club. The 2015 FedExCup champion and former world No. 1 went 5-under-par in a five-hole stretch on the back nine, salvaged bogeys after wide-right tee shots at the 12th and 18th holes and sits just two behind co-leaders Byeong Hun An and Sungjae Im. “It’s trending in the right direction,� Spieth said. “I think it’s still a week or two away as far as the control, full control off the tee and into the greens.� In a sense, Spieth’s opening round was a microcosm of his season. He ranked 108th in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, but second in Strokes Gained: Putting (121 feet of made putts). No putts were bigger, emotionally, than his 15-foot bogey save at the par-3 12th and 21-footer to save bogey at the par-4 18th. These came after wild tee shots that missed way right of his target, the one at the 12th coming to rest on a fluffy downslope, the one on 18 going out of bounds. “What you got to see today as a fan was heart and soul and grit,� David Duval said on the Golf Channel. “Somebody that’s fighting.� Spieth came into this week at 67th in the FedExCup, meaning he’s good for THE NORTHERN TRUST at Liberty National next week, but on the bubble for the (top-70) BMW Championship. The problem for the 11-time PGA TOUR winner has been his inability to keep big numbers off the scorecard, and that results from his inability to fully tame his long game. Simply put, he still has the big miss, he knows it, and this results in what he calls “scar tissue.� Although he has worked his way back on the greens and was sixth in Strokes Gained: Putting coming into the Wyndham, he was a distant 183rd on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, which is odd for a guy who was at the absolute pinnacle of the game four years ago. The pundits continue to debate what happened. After Spieth tied his lowest round this season, Brandel Chamblee said on Golf Channel that he could be “on the edge of oblivion.� Or, history might show, he’s on the edge of finally figuring this out. Spieth thinks the latter. When he misses, he says, he gets quick. At the 18th hole, he dropped his club after blocking his first drive into someone’s backyard so far right of the fairway, he didn’t bother looking for the ball. Part of the problem, he said, was tactical. “I should have just played that, you know, that fade off the left side of the tee instead of trying to go to that draw with a driver, trying to be the hero,� he said after making birdie with his second ball. “It’s hard to cut it enough to get into trouble if you line up left there, so that’s certainly the plan the next few days.� Meanwhile, he’s looking on the bright side, and that starts with his putting. “I went from like 200th last year to the top 10,� he said. “That’s a pretty massive turnaround, and I needed it.� Whether he can get the big miss out of his bag and tighten up his tee-to-green game remains to be seen.
The PGA TOUR uses a standardized system for determining event fields, based off the current season’s Priority Ranking while also including additional exemption and qualifying categories. Field sizes can vary by event, as can the number of event-specific exemptions. Fully exempt PGA TOUR members are guaranteed entry into all full-field events, with various conditional categories subject to periodic reshuffles based upon FedExCup Points accrued throughout the season. Categories with ‘reshuffle’ notation indicate that a reshuffle period has occurred. Scroll below for the Sony Open field list as of Friday, January 6th at 5 p.m. ET. Check here for updates. Winner of PGA/U.S. Open Championship (five-year exemption) Gary Woodland Winner of THE PLAYERS Championship (five-year exemption) Si Woo Kim Webb Simpson Winner of Masters Tournament (five-year exemption) Hideki Matsuyama Winner of The Open (five-year exemption) Jordan Spieth Winner of World Golf Championships event (three-year exemption) Billy Horschel Winner of Arnold Palmer Invitational, Memorial Tournament and Genesis Invitational (three-year exemption) Adam Scott PGA TOUR tournament winner (two-year exemption) Keegan Bradley Ryan Brehm Stewart Cink Cam Davis Tyler Duncan Harris English Lucas Glover Russell Henley Jim Herman Tom Hoge Mackenzie Hughes Sungjae Im Tom Kim Matt Kuchar K.H. Lee J.T. Poston Chad Ramey Chez Reavie J.J. Spaun Robert Streb Adam Svensson Nick Taylor Michael Thompson Brendon Todd Richy Werenski Career money exemption Zach Johnson Ryan Moore Rory Sabbatini Jimmy Walker Sponsor’s exemption (members not otherwise exempt) K.J. Choi Jerry Kelly Sponsor’s exemption (unrestricted) Blaze Akana Keita Nakajima Kohei Okada Taiga Semikawa Designated sponsor exemption Kazuki Higa Yuto Katsuragawa Kaito Onishi PGA Club Professional Champion – 6 Events Jesse Mueller PGA Section Champion/Player of the Year Michael Castillo Past Champion of Respective Event Patton Kizzire Top 30 on prior season’s FedExCup Brian Harman Corey Conners Top 125 on prior season’s FedExCup Denny McCarthy Maverick McNealy Keith Mitchell Kurt Kitayama Andrew Putnam Christiaan Bezuidenhout Emiliano Grillo Brendan Steele Troy Merritt Chris Kirk Alex Smalley John Huh Brandon Wu Adam Long Ryan Palmer David Lipsky Adam Schenk Aaron Rai Stephan Jaeger Patrick Rodgers Russell Knox Kevin Streelman Mark Hubbard Peter Malnati Danny Lee Hayden Buckley Sam Ryder Nate Lashley James Hahn Greyson Sigg Scott Piercy Max McGreevy Chesson Hadley Kevin Tway Matthias Schwab Kramer Hickok Austin Smotherman Doc Redman Kelly Kraft # Major medical extension Nick Hardy Kyle Stanley Zac Blair Korn Ferry Tour Points winner (The 25 and The Finals 25) Justin Suh Top-10 and ties from previous TOUR event Cole Hammer Robby Shelton David Lingmerth Erik Barnes Korn Ferry Tour graduates via The 25 and The Finals 25 (reshuffled) Taylor Montgomery Tyson Alexander Ben Taylor Ben Griffin Will Gordon Kevin Yu S.H. Kim Byeong Hun An Davis Thompson Joseph Bramlett Harrison Endycott Ryan Armour Zecheng Dou Paul Haley II Harry Hall Austin Cook Brian Stuard Eric Cole Ben Martin MJ Daffue Scott Harrington Nico Echavarria Carl Yuan Kyle Westmoreland Austin Eckroat Michael Kim Brice Garnett Brent Grant Tano Goya Vincent Norrman Trevor Cone Brandon Matthews Kevin Roy Matti Schmid Michael Gligic Carson Young Samuel Stevens Trevor Werbylo Augusto Núñez Anders Albertson Nos. 126-150 on prior season’s FedExCup Points List (reshuffled) Harry Higgs # = Latest medical extension information can be found here.
