Open and shut: Spieth authors epic British win

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The PGA TOUR announced today that The WARM Place, a Fort Worth-based non-profit beneficiary of the Charles Schwab Challenge, has been named the 2021 PGA TOUR Charity of the Year. The WARM Place provides year-round grief support services to children ages 3 1/2 to 18 and their families, as well as young adults ages 19 to 25, who have experienced the death of a loved one. The non-profit provides a safe environment for children to express feelings and emotions as well as the opportunity to meet with children and families who are experiencing circumstances like their own. Since 1989, The WARM Place has companioned over 40,000 children and their families along their grief journeys. Families are never charged a fee for services and there are no geographical limitations or time limits – families are welcome to participate as long as the children are benefiting from the program. Powered by the Colonial Country Club of Fort Worth, the Charles Schwab Challenge has made a charitable impact of more than $150 million on over 150 different organizations during the past two decades. “All of the charitable organizations that we support are special, but The WARM Place is an incredibly special place and they do so many wonderful things for the benefit of families with children,” said Jim Whitten, Tournament Chairman, Charles Schwab Challenge. The award comes with a $30,000 grant from the PGA TOUR to assist The WARM Place, which will be utilized to further support their grief support program, providing children and families with the support they need to work through their intense feelings of grief after the devasting loss of a loved one. The grant will provide a month of services, at no cost, to 240 children and their families grieving. “To be recognized by the PGA TOUR nationally is so touching. I know the TOUR has a huge heart for giving back to people in need, and The WARM Place is such a wonderful organization. I couldn’t be more thankful and overwhelmed with gratitude,” said Shelley Bettis, Executive Director, The WARM Place. With the support of more than 100,000 volunteers annually, the PGA TOUR assists approximately 3,000 charities each year. Virtually all tournaments are organized as non-profit organizations to maximize charitable giving, and to date, tournaments across all Tours have generated more than $3.2 billion. The Charles Schwab Challenge, won in 2021 by Jason Kokrak, will be held May 26-29, 2022 at Colonial Country Club.

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Just four weeks and six events are left in the regular season, and the race for the top 125 qualifiers for the FedExCup Playoffs is changing dramatically every week. Each week for the rest of the 2017-18 season, PGATOUR.COM will provide an update on the various moves being made in the FedExCup standings. Winners’ Moves Francesco Molinari, winner of The Open Championship, earned 600 points for his first major title and moved from 27th to 7th in the standings. Merritt, who earned 300 points for capturing the Barbasol Championship in a Monday finish, moved from 131st to 65th. (Only a year ago he had to return to the Web.com Tour Finals after finishing 151st.) Each has won the Quicken Loans National, Molinari this season and Merritt in 2015. Top 125 Watch The top 125 players in the standings after the Wyndham Championship (Aug. 19) advance to the FedExCup Playoffs. Here are the players who moved in and out last week at the John Deere. MOVING IN Troy Merritt. Won his second TOUR title to move from 131st to 65th. MOVING OUT Corey Conners. Missed the cut at Barbasol to move from 123 to 126. Biggest Movers The five players at The Open and the Barbasol Championship who made the biggest moves in the FedExCup standings. Looking ahead • Dustin Johnson, the headliner at this week’s RBC Canadian Open, remains No. 1 after The Open, where seven players had a mathematical shot at overtaking him. Bubba Watson, who was passed by Justin Rose at Carnoustie and falls into the fourth spot, is the other big headliner at Glen Abbey and the only three-time winner on the PGA TOUR this season. • Five of the last six RBC Canadian Open champions have advanced all the way to the season-ending TOUR Championship at East Lake. Jhonattan Vegas, the two-time defending champion at the RBC, who would become the first to threepeat on TOUR since Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic (2009 to 2011), has slipped to 121st in the FedExCup. • Four former FedExCup champions are in the field at Glen Abbey: Billy Horschel (2014), Brandt Snedeker (’12), Bill Haas (’11) and Jim Furyk (’10). • Francesco Molinari, who has never made the TOUR Championship, was 123rd before the Quicken Loans National. With a win, a T2, and a win in his last three starts, he’s 7th. • William McGirt was the Bubble Boy at 125, but with a T12 at the Barbasol is up to 121. Tyrone Van Aswegen, who missed the cut at the Barbasol, slipped from 122nd into the 125th spot.

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Happy New Year! As the date above shows, it’s literally the first day of the year, so you know that the greeting is genuine. Beginning at some time later this week, we can debate (and disagree) when the message jumps the shark, but if the PGA TOUR in 2018 provides even a fraction of what we witnessed last year, we’ll be happy all year. The season resumes with the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua Resort’s Plantation Course on Maui. He’s gone 2nd-Win-T3 and has averaged 67.67 in those 12 rounds since debuting here in 2014. Arrives having recorded six straight top 10s, the last a T3 at the Hero World Challenge. Beginning a fortnight of title defenses in Hawaii. Ranked third in proximity and fourth in strokes gained: putting here last year. Gutted out victory in South Korea in October. Concluded 2017 with a solo second at Mayakoba and a victory at the Hero. T6 (2013) and solo fifth (2016) in previous two appearance at Kapalua. Checks every box. Since 2013 title here, he’s logged four top 10s in as many trips and a scoring average of 69.00 in 15 rounds. Began the 2017-18 season with a disappointing T2 at the WGC-HSBC. When you insert a long-hitting ball-striker into the spaciousness of Kapalua, you’d expect a T3 (2015), a solo second (2017) and a scoring average of 68.13 in eight rounds. Return trip, albeit five years since his debut (T23). Cannot overstate his confidence in the wind. Four top-four finishes in his last six starts worldwide capped a career year. Keeps on keepin’ on and giving no reason why he won’t continue his remarkable pace. Currently second in FedExCup points. Ended a six-year hiatus at Kapalua with a T3 last year. Third appearance and second consecutive after winning the Safeway. Ranked fifth in proximity en route to a T6 at Kapalua last year. Shared 13th place in his last start at the CIMB. Fits the profile (read more on this below) to prevail. Terrific putter in his second appearance. Already has two top fives and a solo eighth on the board this season. Sealed 2017 with victory at the DP World Tour Championship, his latest in a litany of impressive performances in tournament debuts. Maui’s trade winds are new to him this week. Opened 2017-18 with a T4 at The RSM Classic. Second in proximity and T3 in strokes gained: putting during a solo ninth in only previous Kapalua appearance in 2016. T14 in what was a sum-is-greater-than-parts showing as a debutant last year. Won’t mind another go at the Bermuda greens, but still needs to rely on his balanced attack. The first-timer already has a T3 at the CIMB Classic on his ledger this season and he placed (a distant) T2 in his last start at the Dunlop Phoenix. Now 25th in the OWGR. Rested since breakthrough victory at the Shriners. Expect first-time lumps, but since resuming his career 11 months ago, he’s 15-for-15 with five top 10s and another five top 25s. A T3 here in 2016 is the best finish by any first-timer in the last two editions. Now recovering from a sore left wrist that has overshadowed a T2 and a win this fall. POWER RANKINGS: SENTRY TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS   RANK PLAYER COMMENT With only 34 golfers in the field, there is no Sleepers this week. Instead, all remaining golfers will appear in Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider. It was announced in August that Sentry Insurance assumed title sponsorship of the winners-only Tournament of Champions through 2022. Of this year’s 37 qualifiers, only Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson have chosen not to compete. Fourteen of the 34 in the field are making their tournament debut, including Adam Hadwin of Canada, Jon Rahm of Spain and Cameron Smith of Australia. Not only is each attempting to become the first first-timer to prevail in 10 years (Daniel Chopra), but each would be ending the Americans’ streak of seven consecutive victories. If it doesn’t seem like that should matter in the context of an individual sport – you’re right, it really doesn’t outside of fact – consider that the previous nine editions were won by internationals. Sticking to another trend, with his three-stroke victory last year, Justin Thomas became the third straight winner in his second appearance, following Patrick Reed (2015) and Jordan Spieth (2016). There is a learning curve at Kapalua, but the youth of today are ruining it for the rest of the class, not that the formula for success is a mystery this week. With generous fairways, one of the largest and most receptive sets of greens on the schedule and an exclusive field comprised only of winners, the extremes baked into the challenge amplify the necessity to hit the ground sprinting. As you’d expect on a par 73 (with four par 5s but only three par 3s on a 7,452-yard layout) and with a field of this quality, Kapalua is three years running as the easiest course in relation to par. Last year’s average landed at 70.375. Connecting on approach or with the putter are prerequisites to contend, but the overlying objective is to knock it in tight what with the top of the leaderboard often eclipsing the field average of greens in regulation with easy targets. Bermudagrass surfaces are prepped to run at just 10 feet on the Stimpmeter, while the introduction of a fringe cut extending nearly two feet around the perimeter of every green figures to grab a handful of aggressive approaches. Textbook weather conditions are expected throughout the tournament. Moderate-to-gusty trade winds present the greatest test for the 14 newcomers, while sun-splashed vistas accompanying daytime highs in the upper 70s will remind most of us on the mainland why Hawaii is an even more popular destination at this time of year. ROB BOLTON’S WRITING SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Columnist Rob Bolton will be filing his usual staples leading up to this week’s event. Look for the following columns this week. MONDAY: Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Fantasy Insider WEDNESDAY: One & Done * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO, which also publishes on Tuesdays.

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