Payne’s Valley: A closer look at Tiger Woods new course
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The U.S. Team has a juggernaut in Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas that moved them closer to another victory in the Presidents Cup on Saturday. The International Team has a spark plug in 20-year-old Tom Kim, who delivered the emotion and big putts that made it clear the Americans will have to work for it. The day started with the Americans having a mathematical chance to clinch the cup. It ended with them holding an 11-7 lead, with 12 singles matches left on Sunday. Spieth and Thomas became only the second U.S. partnership to win all four team matches in the Presidents Cup, handily winning their Foursomes match in the morning and their Fourballs match in the afternoon. The International Team split the morning matches, and the way this Presidents Cup has gone for them, not losing ground felt like a win. And then it got better. They rallied over the final hour in two matches to turn deficits into 1-up wins, taking the afternoon session by winning three of the four matches. The star was Kim, the youngest player at Quail Hollow and perhaps the biggest personality. He started the comeback with a 55-foot eagle putt on the par-4 11th hole against Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. They were all square going to the last, Si Woo Kim already out of the hole, and Tom Kim facing a 10-foot birdie putt for the win. He took a few steps back as the ball neared the hole, dropped his putter and slammed his cap to the ground in a raucous celebration. “I wanted that putt more than anything in the world,” Kim said. Moments later, Adam Scott and Cameron Davis rallied from 1 down with three holes remaining when Davis made a 12-foot eagle putt on the 16th and a 15-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to go 1 up. On the final hole, Sam Burns hit his approach to 4 feet that gave him and Billy Horschel a chance to earn a halve. And then Davis made a 10-foot birdie for another point. The Americans are still very much in control, needing only four wins and a halve from the 12 singles matches in the final session. Spieth and Thomas have led the way. The only other U.S. tandem in a Presidents Cup to go 4-0 was Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker at Harding Park in 2009. The International Team had Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace do the same in South Korea in 2015. Thomas and Spieth have been close friends for 15 years, dating to junior golf and international outings. This is the first time in a Presidents Cup that they have been paired together, and both are on their games. It a lethal combination. Even so, the end of the matches gave Spieth pause. “We’ve got to go get the job done tomorrow and win two more points for our team,” Spieth said. “I’d love to get a singles win, and I know Justin would, too. We’re going to be close enough where our two would be obviously extremely important.” Kim won both his matches Saturday, teaming with K.H. Lee in morning foursomes to beat Burns and Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, 2 and 1. Scott is playing on his 10th team — eight losses and one tie — and was shut out until he and Hideki Matsuyama took down Collin Morikawa and Cameron Young in the morning, and Scott and Davis proved to be a great Australian duo in the afternoon. “Any victory against the U.S. Team has got to be really hard fought,” Scott said. “So this feels good.” Max Homa is still having the week of his life. After his late heroics the night before, he partnered with Tony Finau in a 4-and-3 victory over Si Woo Kim and Davis. Homa sat out the afternoon session. He is 3-0 in his debut playing in a Presidents Cup. Schauffele and Cantlay lost for the first time in three matches this week. They were 2 up after 10 holes and were 3 under the rest of the way, with Schauffele making a 40-foot birdie putt from short of the 15th green for a 1-up lead that looked like it would carry them to another point. Instead, Si Woo Kim made a 4-foot birdie putt to square the match on the 16th, and a 5-foot par putt to keep it tied on the 17th. Tom Kim was so nervous he covered his eyes and was peaking through his fingers, pumping his fist when the putt dropped. And then the 20-year-old Korean had the stage to himself at the end, and he delivered a winner. Left to be seen is what one putt — one point — can do for an International Team that still has a four-point deficit to overcome.
The most common question I fielded during the week of the PGA Championship was if Tiger Woods’ break since the Masters was an issue. Well, he missed the cut at Bethpage, so he proved me wrong. Regrouping for this week’s Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide where Woods is a five-time winner, he makes more sense for One & Doners in pursuit than for front-runners. With Pebble Beach on deck in two weeks and with more FedExCup points and the heftiest prize fund waiting at the U.S. Open, leaders can slow-play the 43-year-old. Like all things fantasy sports, holstering a haymaker is relative. If you’re pacing, it doesn’t mean that you should ease up on your opposition at Muirfield Village. Everything but. RELATED: Watch on PGA TOUR LIVE | Power Rankings | Expert Picks | Sleepers | Fantasy Insider This field is as stacked as any to which we’ve been treated all season. Your first thought should for which talent on the top shelf you reach. Everyone else available will remain there, anyway. Matt Kuchar earned the perch atop my Power Rankings. He’s a former champion (2013) who also happens to sit No. 1 in the FedExCup standings. Oh, and look, the Memorial is No. 1 on his bevy of Future Possibilities because of his phenomenal record overall in the tournament. The only reason you consider pivoting is if you’re chasing. Then give surging Patrick Cantlay the longest look. The best endorsement that I can attach is that you can’t provide a reason why you shouldn’t burn him right now. Given that we’re deep into the season, usage is thinning, so turn to Tony Finau, if necessary. He found something with his putting for a mini-slump-busting solo second at Colonial. For the record, Kuchar, Cantlay and Finau all are available to me, and my confidence is equally strong with each, but my position dictated my decision. Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose and Hideki Matsuyama will contribute, but only McIlroy should be considered and only if you have to swing for the fence. Don’t waste any more time. Each of the other three will present as strongly at least once later. The sneakiest play on the board is Justin Thomas for chasers. League leaders won’t touch him in the wake of his injured right wrist, and that makes him even more dangerous to make a dent into deficits. Trust in his decision to return now. If you wait, you’ll miss this window of a precious opportunity. Adam Scott presents similarly to post a crooked number given recent form, so if JT is gone, go all-in on the Aussie. Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth also are in the field, but both will look even better at Pebble Beach in two weeks. Two-man gamers need to get on Rory Sabbatini’s bandwagon at Muirfield Village. Look into seats for Emiliano Grillo, Peter Uihlein and Byeong Hun An as well. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2018-19. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Byeong Hun An … Memorial (1) Keegan Bradley … Memorial (5); Travelers (4) Rafa Cabrera Bello … Wyndham (4) Patrick Cantlay … Memorial (3) Jason Day … U.S. Open (10); Open Championship (9) Bryson DeChambeau … Travelers (4); John Deere (7) Jason Dufner … Memorial (5); U.S. Open (2); Wyndham (8); TOUR Championship (10) Tony Finau … Memorial (2) Rickie Fowler … Memorial (5); U.S. Open (10) Branden Grace … U.S. Open (4) Bill Haas … Wyndham (6) Adam Hadwin … John Deere (5) Brian Harman … Travelers (5); John Deere (4) Charley Hoffman … Travelers (1) Billy Horschel … Wyndham (6); TOUR Championship (1) Kevin Kisner … Memorial (6) Matt Kuchar … Memorial (1); Open Championship (8) Marc Leishman … Memorial (4); Travelers (3); Open Championship (8) Hideki Matsuyama … Memorial (8); U.S. Open (14); Wyndham (7); TOUR Championship (5) Rory McIlroy … Memorial (5); Travelers (8); Open Championship (1); TOUR Championship (6) Phil Mickelson … U.S. Open (6); Open Championship (9); WGC-St. Jude (3) Ryan Moore … Memorial (11); Travelers (6); John Deere (8); Wyndham (2); TOUR Championship (9) Justin Rose … Memorial (4); Open Championship (8); TOUR Championship (2) Xander Schauffele … Open Championship (4); TOUR Championship (1) Adam Scott … U.S. Open (9); Open Championship (7); TOUR Championship (3) Cameron Smith … Wyndham (3) Jordan Spieth … Memorial (13); U.S. Open (4); Travelers (9); Open Championship (6); TOUR Championship (8) Henrik Stenson … Open Championship (6); Wyndham (8); TOUR Championship (7) Kevin Streelman … Memorial (4); Travelers (7) Justin Thomas … Memorial (8); TOUR Championship (3) Gary Woodland … Memorial (4) Tiger Woods … Memorial (4); THE NORTHERN TRUST (7); TOUR Championship (5; defending)
