Notebook: Tiger aims for No. 9 at Firestone

Alan Bratton liked the low numbers. Scores are usually the first data that coaches consult when seeking new recruits, but these were outliers that indicated Bratton was looking at special players. Rickie Fowler was 15 years old and still wearing braces when he shot 62 to win Southern California’s high school championship in 2004. He was the first freshman since Tiger Woods to win that title. RELATED: Fans at home will be able to contribute to TaylorMade Driving Relief’s COVID-19 relief efforts thanks to PGA TOUR Charities’ online and Text-To-Give donation platforms powered by GoFundMe Charity. Click here to donate. MORE: TaylorMade Driving Relief to benefit COVID-19 relief efforts | Live golf set to return | Seminole Golf Club ready for its close-up This was an earlier time, though, before the widespread adoption of smartphones and social media, so it was still possible for such a sensation to stay a secret. Fowler hadn’t competed much outside California, so Bratton, then the assistant golf coach at Oklahoma State, thought he was ahead of the curve when he watched Fowler at the Western Junior. He kept his distance to avoid tipping off other coaches. There was just one problem. Fowler won the tournament. With a final-round 64, including a birdie on 18, for a one-stroke win. The secret was out. A few years later, Bratton heard about another special player going low. The tip came from a recruit who casually mentioned about playing a tournament where the winner shot 61 and won by 13. Bratton, who had become Oklahoma State’s head coach in 2013, needed to know the name of the kid who dusted the field by more than a dozen strokes. It was Matthew Wolff. While their stints in Stillwater, Oklahoma, were separated by a decade, ties run deep between Cowboys. Fowler returns to his alma mater often, playing golf with each member of the team and giving the players his phone number. Wolff’s team had dinner at Fowler’s house when they were in town for a tournament. Fowler was on hand to congratulate Wolff when he won. So it made sense for Fowler and Wolff to be teammates when the TaylorMade Driving Relief match was in the works. They’ll need to tap into their penchant for shooting low scores if they want to succeed May 17 at Seminole Golf Club. Their opponents in this four-ball skins game – Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson — also have something in common. They’re the current and former World No. 1s. “I’ve seen some fan reaction saying how much of a favorite Rory and DJ are, so Matt and I are going in as underdogs,â€� Fowler says. “We’re ready to bring the upset.â€� Team chemistry could be an equalizer for the former Cowboys, though McIlroy revealed recently that he and Johnson had discussed teaming for this year’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Fowler and Wolff met when Fowler returned to campus for homecoming. “We clicked right off the bat,â€� Wolff says. For obvious reasons. Both developed unique swings while growing up on public golf courses in Southern California. For Fowler, it was on the Murrieta Valley Golf Range, which co-owners Bill Teasdall and Barry McDonnell ran out of a single-story portable building on land that used to be a horse stable. McDonnell became Fowler’s first teacher. Wolff spent his formative years taking lessons from George Gankas at Westlake Golf Course, a 5,000-yard layout with artificial-turf mats on its driving range. In junior golf, both players heard critics say they should change their unique swings. Neither heeded the advice. Bratton liked that each player developed his own swing and wasn’t afraid to stick to it, even in the face of criticism. He says he could recruit both players with his ears, not his eyes, because of the quality of the sound at impact. “I love to look for natural swings,â€� Bratton says. “It doesn’t mean it has to be different, but I certainly want a kid who understands how to make adjustments on their own. You see a lot of kids who are trying to do something that someone else told them to do. There’s incredible instruction out there, but sometimes kids don’t understand or try to do something that’s not natural to them.â€� Though Fowler can’t match Wolff’s swing speed, Bratton says there are similarities to their playing styles, as well. “Once they make up their mind, they wind up and go,â€� says their former coach. “They look like they’re having fun when they play.â€� For each fan donation that is made using a Mastercard, Mastercard has announced a donation match program through which they will match the first $250,000 of all fan donations made through the PGA TOUR Charities’ GoFundMe platform. Click here for more.

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HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — C.T. Pan took advantage of Dustin Johnson’s back-nine struggles to win the RBC Heritage for his first PGA TOUR victory. The 27-year-old Pan, from Taiwan, closed with a 4-under 67 on Sunday at Harbour Town Golf Links for a one-stroke victory over Matt Kuchar. Pan finished at 12-under 272. Johnson, the third-round leader in his home-state event, had a 77 to tie for 28th at 4 under. He played a five-hole stretch in 7 over, making bogeys on Nos. 11-13 and double bogeys on Nos. 14-15. RELATED: Final leaderboard | Winner’s bag   Pan took the lead for good with a 9-foot birdie putt on the par-4 16th. Kuchar closed with a 67. Patrick Cantlay, Scott Piercy and Shane Lowry tied for third at 10 under. Cantlay and Piercy shot 69, and Lowry had a 70. Pan headed to the practice range after the round to keep ready in case of a playoff, then raised his arms in triumph when told he’d won. He earned 500 FedExCup points, $1,242,000, and a PGA TOUR exemption through the 2020-21 season. Pan won twice on the PGA TOUR Canada-Mackenzie Tour in 2015 when he turned professional. He’s finished second twice in PGA TOUR events, once at the Farmers Insurance Open in 2017 and last year at the Wyndham Championship. Johnson, the 20-time PGA TOUR winner, carried a one-shot lead into the final round and the South Carolina native seemed a strong bet to add the Palmetto State’s only TOUR stop to his trophy case. But Johnson never found a rhythm early and lost all hope with his uncharacteristic drop off. He had a birdie on the fifth to keep on top. Johnson’s collapse started mildly with a bogey on the par-3 seventh hole. It took full flight on the back nine. Johnson’s frustrations were in full display on the par-4 13th when his approach went into the bunker, a foot or so from the wooden-board facing. He barely got it out and shook his head. He flew his tee shot into the water on the par-3 14th to drop two more shots. Johnson added a second double bogey on the par-5 15th, a hole he had birdied the first three rounds. Johnson waved to the stands on the 18th when he closed with a birdie. Lowry, who had three bogeys over his final six holes Saturday to lose a lead he held much of the week, appeared to regain his earlier form with birdies on the second, fifth and sixth holes to take a two-shot lead. But a bogey on the straightforward, par-4 ninth — Lowry had birdied it two of the first three rounds — dropped him back. He stubbed a pair of chips on the 12th hole and took double bogey. Lowry scratched back within a shot of Pan with a birdie on the 14th, but could come no closer. Kuchar, the 2014 winner at Harbour Town, put together a charge of five birdies to tie Pan for the top. But a bogey on the par-3 17th following a tee shot into the bunker ruined his chances of a second tartan jacket. Cantlay looked like a second strong weekend — he went 64-68 his final two rounds at the Masters to tie for ninth — might bring him victory as he tied for the top with consecutive birdies on the 14th and 15th holes. He had a chip from just off the green on the 18th for a tying birdie, but did not come close.

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