Monday Finish: TOUR Championship edition

2019 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, End of Round 1: Round 1 course scoring averages: Pebble Beach (PB): -0.6 strokes per round Spyglass Hill (SH): 0.0 Monterey Peninsula (MP): -2.1 Current cutline: 67 players at -2 or better (T54th position) Top 3 most likely projected cutlines (cut is after 3rd round to low 60 and ties): 4 under par: 16.9% 5 under par: 16.8% 3 under par: 14.9% Top 5 win probabilities (first round course listed): Dustin Johnson (MP, T9, -5) : 14.9% Jason Day (MP, T3, -6) : 9.2% Tony Finau (PB, T29, -3): 7.3% Phil Mickelson (MP, T3, -6): 4.2% Si Woo Kim (PB, T3, -6): 3.7% NOTE: These reports are based off the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live “Make Cut�, “Top 20�, “Top 5�, and “Win� probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 10K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, or to see how each golfer’s probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model’s home page.

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SAN DIEGO – Rory McIlroy is done with conservative thinking on the golf course. He’s done with trying to fit a square peg self in a round hole. He’s done with worrying about where he sits in the world rankings. Of course he came to this realization late last season after missing the cut at The Open Championship in Ireland. And from that point on McIlroy would find a new groove and push on to win the FedExCup. It’s incredible given he’d already won twice prior in 2019 including at THE PLAYERS Championship. And the start to the new 2019-20 season did not slow things down either as he claimed the World Golf Championships–HSBC Champions in China. After some time off for the holidays, the 18-time PGA TOUR winner has not pulled back from his new aggressive mindset. He will continue to go down the new mental path he has forged, knowing it is his best chance to be the first player to earn the FedExCup trophy in back-to-back seasons and the first to win it three times. RELATED: Tee Times | Power Rankings | Expert Picks “It doesn’t serve me as a golfer to try to be careful, to try to play conservatively or the way maybe some other people play,â€� McIlroy explained of his lessons learned at Royal Portrush last year. “I have my own style of play and most of the times it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but sometimes I get into situations and I become a little too conservative and I become a little too careful. “I basically said to myself after Portrush, ‘I’m 30 years old, I have basically achieved everything that I’ve wanted to achieve in the game, like why would I be careful?’ Why would I not go out there with the most carefree attitude and think everything beyond this is just gravy. That’s something that I’ve learned, that’s a mindset that I’m going to try to replicate each and every time that I tee it up.â€� This mindset will also mean McIlroy will approach the major championships differently in 2020. He has obvious desired to win a fifth major, and first since 2014. A win at the Masters would clinch a career grand slam. “When I look back at the majors that I’ve won and I’ve done well in, I’ve always started well,â€� McIlroy says. “Sometimes you go out in the first draw and you’re trying to sort of play your way in the golf tournament, make a few pars, play sort of protective golf a little bit and that’s never really been in my nature. I’m the other way, right? I start aggressively, and if I do and I play well, I usually keep myself up there in the tournament for the most part. “So it was just slow starts for the most part that held me back last year and that’s something that I’m going to try to improve on this year.â€� McIlroy can overtake Brooks Koepka as the No. 1 player in the world again if he wins this week at the Farmers Insurance Open, where he was T5 a year ago. But that is a number he says is not even on his list of goals. Instead he looks at figures like what he achieved last season statistically. He was just the fourth player to finish a PGA TOUR season ranked inside the top 25 in all four Strokes Gained stats (Off-the-Tee, Approach-the-Green, Around-the-Green and Putting). “When I set myself goals, I set myself goals like – I want to be plus‑one strokes gained approach play… it’s all about the process, it’s all about the game, it’s all about trying to make improvements,â€� McIlroy said. “If I do that and I achieve those goals, then hopefully inevitably I get to (world No. 1). The two stats that I have been proudest of over the past year were around the green and putting; I made huge strides in those. For me going forward, I’ve always driven it well, I’ve always hit my irons pretty well, but if I can keep those two around the green and on the greens as strong as I did last year, I’ll be pretty confident about the season.â€� With all this confidence brimming from the Northern Irishman one wonders if there are any challenges he is concerned about as he moves on from being the player of the last decade into this new one. Life always throws curveballs and being relatively recently married McIlroy may one day be tasked with juggling children of his own with his career. This is something many TOUR pros acknowledge can be a steep learning curve. McIlroy, though, has his eyes on the course. “If you look at when I first came out on TOUR and started winning majors, nearly a decade ago, eight years ago, you could probably count the guys on one hand that played a similar game to the way I played. I think that was part of the reason why I did so well in that stretch,â€� McIlroy says. “Now the likes of a Matt Wolff – they grew up obviously watching Tiger a little bit but (also) watching guys like myself and Dustin and that’s the type of player that’s coming out on TOUR now. So where I used to get to the golf course and think, okay, maybe five or 10 people have a chance, nowadays it’s 40, 50, 60 guys that play that sort of game. “That’s going to be the biggest challenge going forward over the next 10 years. There’s always fresh blood coming through and new talent. It’s trying to keep up with them.â€� With this aggressive and fresh outlook, you have to think McIlroy won’t have a problem with that.

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The PGA TOUR returns to TPC Louisiana this week for the 2018 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. This marks the first year of team play at the event, and with the new format comes plenty of questions. Click here for the list of the teams set to compete. Here is the breakdown of this year’s team format. HOW IT WORKS TEAM FORMAT: Round 1 and 3 are Four-Ball (Best-Ball) and Rounds 2 and 4 are Foursomes (Alternate Shot). For Foursomes play, players will rotate tee shots. One player will hit the tee shots on all the odd-numbered holes, and the other will hit the tee shot on even-numbered holes. Example: Player A and Player B are partners. On the first hole, Player A tees off; Player B plays the second shot; Player A plays the third shot; and so on until the ball is holed. The total strokes taken will result in the team’s score for that hole. For Four-Ball play, the players on each team will each play his own ball throughout the entirety of the round, with the best score on each hole recorded. Example: On the first hole, both golfers on each team tee off. Player A pars the hole and Player B birdies it. The team will be credited with a birdie. FIELD: The starting field will consist of 80 teams (160 players). Each of the top available players from the PGA TOUR Priority Rankings who commits to the tournament will choose his partner, who in turn must have PGA TOUR status unless he is chosen as a tournament sponsor exemption. SCHEDULE: Thursday’s Foursomes round begins at 8 a.m. local time (9 a.m. ET), with the last tee time at 1:56 p.m local. Friday’s Four-ball round begins at 7 a.m. local (8 a.m. ET) with the last tee time at 2:02 p.m. local. Teams will go off two tees in each of the first two days. Saturday’s start time is approximately 9 a.m. local off one tee. Sunday’s start time will be determined later. MAKING THE CUT: Following the conclusion of the second round, there will be a cut to the low 35 teams and ties at the 35th position.  IN CASE OF A TIE: A hole-by-hole (sudden death) playoff will be contested with the first hole played as foursomes (alternate shot), the second hole played as four-ball (best ball) where the formats alternate every hole, thereafter, on a set rotation of holes. WITH A WIN: The Zurich Classic of New Orleans will continue to award FedExCup points and official money, and will count as an official victory for the members of the winning team. As such, both players will receive a two-year winner’s exemption and an eligibility into Invitational fields, including the Tournament of Champions and THE PLAYERS Championship. Additionally, the PGA of America will include both members of the winning team in the Tournament Winners category for the PGA Championship. PRIZES: FedExCup points and prize money will be awarded to teams making the cut based on combining every two positions from the distribution table for a standard TOUR event, with each team member receiving an equal share. For instance, the winning team will evenly split first and second place FedExCup points (500 for first and 300 for second for 800 total points, or 400 for each player). Official prize money will be distributed in the same manner.  KEY QUESTIONS Why was the format changed? The PGA TOUR Policy Board approved the change in November, 2016 as a way to introduce team competition into the regular TOUR schedule. Said Andy Pazder, Chief of Operations for the PGA TOUR: “We have seen the growth of popularity with the biennial team competitions like the Presidents Cup, Ryder Cup and World Cup and the excitement that they produce. We believe the fans will love to see this sort of competition as a regular part of our season.” Has there ever been a team competition on the PGA TOUR? Yes. The PGA TOUR has held 61 previous official team events, with two pros paired together, using various formats. The PGA TOUR has contested 13 official team tournaments with a pro paired with an amateur (the pro always earning official-win designation). The last official TOUR team event was the 1981 Walt Disney World National Team Championship, won by Vance Heafner and Mike Holland.  How is the Zurich Classic format different? The Zurich Classic will use an alternating-round Foursomes and Four-ball format for the first time. The closest the PGA TOUR has previously come to using a Foursomes format in an official event was at the 1934 Pinehurst Pro-Pro played at Pinehurst’s famed No. 2 course and won by Tommy Armour and Bobby Cruickshank. That tournament played under Scotch Foursomes rules, a setup that allows each player to hit a drive on each hole and then whichever player’s ball is in the best position, the teammate hits the next shot in alternate-shot fashion until the ball is held. The Foursomes format at TPC Louisiana will strictly be alternate shot for every shot played on the hole.

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