Patrick Cantlay rallies from four back to win ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD

Click here to read the full article…

Cameron Tringale ... The 33-year-old - by the way, how is he only 33 with 183 cuts made in 290 PGA TOUR starts as a professional and still winless? - continues to surge from the doldrums of the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons when he missed 31 of 54 cuts. He's 7-for-9 this season with a solo third (RSM) among four top 20s, including in each of the last two weeks. He's back to doing what he's always done best. Currently 21st in GIR, 42nd in Strokes Gained: Putting and 35th in conversion percentage inside 10 feet. He's also cashed in six of his last seven trips to Pebble Beach dating back to 2012. Rafa Cabrera Bello ... No matter the international member of the PGA TOUR, managing one's life during the pandemic was multiplied by the additional layer of concern for family abroad. To state the obvious, golfers are humans, too, so it wasn't surprising that the Spaniard struggled when competition resumed last June. He played out the string with unimpressive results before resetting over the holidays. Returning in 2021 on his home circuit, he went 4th-T35-T33 from Abu Dhabi to Dubai to Saudi Arabia in the last three weeks. While the 36-year-old may travel to Pebble Beach with some fatigue, he brings that renewed confidence and the fact that he recorded top 30s in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 2018 and 2019. That experience combined with superb putting come together at a good time. Brice Garnett ... Mixed results at Pebble Beach but he did finish T19 in his first of five trips in 2014. It's a theme that transcends the entirety of his career on the PGA TOUR, but it overshadows his knack to beat par regularly. Case in point, he ranks T14 with 25 red numbers this season, but his challenge remains connecting enough of them to maintain a lofty position on leaderboards. Currently 26th on TOUR in both fairways hit and Strokes Gained: Putting, as well as seventh in conversion percentage inside 10 feet, so the ingredients are there. Rob Oppenheim ... The light-hitting, 41-year-old journeyman rarely pings our radar. He needs a lot of things to go right to make noise. He relies on precision off the tee and accuracy on approach to get the job done. Every once in a while, that's exactly what happens and it's why he's a PGA TOUR member. In fact, his career-best finish in 87 TOUR starts was a T8 in the 2017 edition of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He's also cashed in all three of his other appearances. A little luck never hurts, either. He led the circuit with 22 hole-outs last season. Chase Seiffert ... As a rookie and first-timer in last year's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, he opened with a flawless 6-under 66 on the host course. He was up and down thereafter en route to a T50 (with a 75 on Pebble Beach in the finale), but this is an opportunity for redemption with that experience plugged in. Currently just inside the top 125 in the FedExCup on the shoulders of a pair of top 20s, including a T12 three weeks ago at PGA WEST. Presents nothing flashy but like a man comfortable in his own skin, his bag is balanced. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.

Click here to read the full article…

• COURSE: RTJ Golf Trail/Grand National (Lake), 7,302 yards, par 71. Lauded by designer Robert Trent Jones Sr. as the greatest site for a golf complex he’s ever seen, Grand National’s Lake course might be his favorite among the 11 courses on the namesake trail. Twelve holes run along the shore of 600-acre Lake Saugahatchee, and the Lake’s collection of par-3s can stand up to most any in the nation. The par-3 sixth hole plays up to 230 yards over water to a small finger of land jutting out into the lake. Christened in 1992, Grand National played host five years later to what’s now the Web.com Tour’s season finale, where Steve Flesch emerged as the winner. The Barbasol Championship arrived two years ago. • FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 300 points. • CHARITY: The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Foundation is the tournament’s charitable arm, with proceeds divided to benefit the RTJ Golf Trail’s local communities and select charities that impact Alabama as a whole. • FIELD WATCH: Jim Furyk, ineligible for a major for the first time in 22 years, tops the marquee as “Mr. 58� joins fellow former major champions Angel Cabrera and Retief Goosen. … Aaron Baddeley will not defend his title, having secured a berth in the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. … Davis Love III and son Dru tee it up in the same event for the second time in three weeks, coming after both played the Greenbrier Classic. It will be the younger Love’s fourth professional start; 677 fewer than his dad. … Charlie Wi, who stepped back last winter to focus on his teaching academy, makes just his fourth start of 2017. • 72-HOLE RECORD: 265, Scott Piercy (2015). • 18-HOLE RECORD: 60, Jhonattan Vegas (2nd round, 2016). • LAST YEAR: Aaron Baddeley ended a 5 1/2-year dry spell in dramatic fashion, winning a playoff over Si Woo Kim with a 24-foot birdie on the fourth extra hole. Baddeley, 35, whose last taste of victory came at Riviera in 2011, fired a 5-under-par 66 on the final day to pull even with Kim at 18-under 266. After matching pars through the first three playoff holes, Kim missed the green with his approach on their fourth pass at No.18. The young Korean appeared in position to save par after chipping to 5 feet, but Baddeley ended it with a curling right-to-left putt that sent him into a sprint even before the ball dropped. It was a sweet reward for the Aussie, who began 2016 at No. 417 in the world rankings but had put up four top-10s before breaking through. • STORYLINES: Though a field light on the game’s top names might be ripe for a new addition to the PGA TOUR’s list of first-time winners, the event’s first two champions have been revival stories. Before Baddeley’s heroics, Scott Piercy won the inaugural edition to end a three-year victory drought. … Boo Weekley, whose home in the Florida Panhandle lies just miles from the Alabama state line, joins Baddeley as the only men with top-15 finishes in each of the first two editions. Weekley tied for sixth in 2015 and shared 11th last year. … With five weeks left in the regular season, time is drawing short for pros to pick up crucial FedExCup points. More than half the field – including Furyk, Goosen, Love III and Weekley – currently sits below 125th on the points list. • SHORT CHIPS: Robby Shelton, who tied for third two years ago as an amateur, and Dru Love head a collection of six University of Alabama alumni playing in Auburn territory. Blayne Barber, Dominic Bozzelli, Matt Gilchrist and Patton Kizzire fly the Auburn flag. … The Tigers are well-represented in the pro-am, with football boss Gus Malzahn and basketball coach Bruce Pearl both in the field. So is Al Del Greco, a former Auburn kicker known in his day as one of the NFL’s top golfers. • TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 5-8 p.m. (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 4-7 p.m. (GC). • PGA TOUR LIVE: None. • RADIO: None.

Click here to read the full article…