PGA Tour changes system for points race

SILVIS, Ill. – Francesco Molinari is the only Italian to win the Italian Open, lives in London with his wife and two kids, and speaks Spanish to his Basque caddie. One thing, though, was lost in translation. His putter wasn’t listening to him. After a lackluster T25 finish at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship, Molinari decided he had had enough. He called Englishman Phil Kenyon, putting coach to Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and others, and asked if Kenyon could take on another client. “I thought the game was good early in the season, but there seemed to be something not quite right,� Molinari said after shooting a second-round 66 to get to 11 under par and in contention yet again at the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run on Friday. “Everything is coming together now,� Molinari added. Yeah, you could say that, if being arguably the hottest player in golf is your thing. Molinari shot a final-round 62 to win the Quicken Loans National two weeks ago, by eight shots. It was the first victory by an Italian on the PGA TOUR in over 70 years, and included an eagle, birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie turbo boost that left everyone else far behind. His tee-to-green performance was statistically the best by a winner on TOUR this season, and came on the heels of his big win at the European Tour’s BMW Championship. (He plays both tours.) And yes, he also rolled it well on the greens at 17th in Strokes Gained: Putting. “He’s more scientific,� Molinari said of his new putting coach, Kenyon. “We analyzed video and looked at the machines that measure the face angle, and my stroke wasn’t very good. Little by little be began to change things at Bay Hill, and it’s slowly gotten more consistent.� All of which helps explain why Molinari, 15th in the world and the highest-ranked player at the Deere, has become a force to be reckoned with even on a course he’d never seen before this week. He decided to play the Deere because he needed to add a new event, and wanted to play his way into The Open Championship instead of taking this week off. “Last year I didn’t play before The Open; I went to Birkdale to study the course, and it didn’t work out,� said Molinari, who missed the cut. “I had to play an event I hadn’t played in the previous four years, and thought it would be good to keep it going right until The Open.� Next week he will be back on his home side of the Atlantic, where he lives with his wife, Valentina, and their kids, Tommaso, 7, and Emma, 2. Molinari said they thought of moving last year, maybe establishing a base in the United States, but they’ve been in London nine years. They have friends, and Tommaso goes to school there. It’s home, and you can’t argue with that. Besides, in the midst of the best season of his career, in which he reached “the next level� with his eight-stroke romp at the Quicken Loans, Molinari would be crazy to change anything else. OBSERVATIONS HEARN LOVING TPC DEERE RUN. Canada’s David Hearn is no stranger to success at the John Deere, having advanced to a playoff with Zach Johnson and eventual champion Jordan Spieth in 2013. This week, Hearn is at it again, making 230 feet of putts over the first two rounds (66-64) to get into contention. “I guess I’m putting too well,� he joked after being asked by an official to demonstrate his stroke with the long putter after the round. (He was determined not to be anchoring.) “I just have a good feeling around here,� said Hearn, a member of the University of Wyoming Sports Hall of Fame who came into this week 152nd in the FedExCup. “I read the greens well. I’m just really trying to not think about too many things and try to point and shoot. Right now, they’re going in, so hopefully that continues on the weekend.� NOTABLES DAVIS LOVE III – Never got anything going (73-74) to miss the cut and lose to his son (below). DRU LOVE – Improved with a second-round 68 but was still likely to miss the cut at 1 under. WHEE KIM – Birdied three straight holes to close out the front nine and had it all the way to 11 under before a double bogey at the last gave him a second-round 68 and left him with some work to do on the weekend at 9 under. He’s 89th in the FedExCup. SAM RYDER – Playing three groups behind Kim, Ryder eagled the 10th hole and got to 12 under before also making double on 18. He is coming off a missed cut at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier and at 148th in the FedExCup needs to make a move. JOHN HUH – Roared back from a double-bogey on his last hole Thursday with an 8-under 63 on Friday. He’s 9 under overall, and 104th in the FedExCup. QUOTABLES I think that’s why I play so well. I’m not thinking about golf. I’m thinking about living. You can die in this heat.

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DETROIT – It was a midsummer day in America, and the golfing Cantlay siblings were hard at work. Patrick, 30, the oldest, was in the Midwest, gearing up for this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club, aiming for another solid week with just five tournaments remaining in his bid to become the first to successfully defend his FedExCup title. (He’s presently sixth in the standings.) Jack, 18, the youngest, was making headlines in the U.S. Junior Amateur at Oregon’s Bandon Dunes. After shooting a tournament-record 28 on his back nine in the first round of stroke-play qualifying, he beat Connor Williams, 4 and 3, in Wednesday’s first round of match play. Caroline, 23, a new graduate of Cal Poly, where she was a decorated member of the golf team, was settling into a new job as a tournament coordinator for the Pebble Beach Company. And Nick, who is 27 and has partial status on PGA TOUR Canada, was back home in Los Alamitos, California, honing his game for Korn Ferry Tour Q-School this fall. “We’ve all been inspired by Patrick and especially by his work ethic,” said family patriarch Steve Cantlay, who works in real estate and self-storage, and is four-time club champion at two different clubs. “But at the same time the kids have all forged their own paths. Jack is with his mom and her mom this week, but by and large we’ve let them do it on their own, dictating how hard they want to practice and everything else. We just feel like it’s better that way.” Reaching the upper echelon of any field is hard, but for siblings to do so is even harder. The Kuehne siblings made it to the TOUR (Hank), the LPGA (Kelli), and the highest rung of amateur golf (Trip). Sisters Nelly and Jessica Korda – coached by Jamie Mulligan, the same guy who coaches Patrick – have thrived on the LPGA. Peyton and Eli Manning won Super Bowls. But it’s not easy. The siblings must share the same passion, for starters. A history-making 28 The big headline-maker in the Cantlay family this week has been not Patrick but Jack. The rising Long Beach State freshman started this week’s U.S. Junior by going out in 39, but responded with a 28 (four birdies, two eagles) for the lowest nine-hole score in the 74-year history of the championship. He went from outside the cut line to grabbing the No. 4 seed in the 64-man, match-play bracket after shooting a second-round 70. Observers noted that he is Patrick’s kid brother, and in true Patrick Cantlay style, Jack shrugged off that record-setting performance as just another good round. Big brother Patrick was more effusive. “One of the things I really liked about it is I think he was 3 over par, 4 over par through eight holes in the biggest tournament he’s ever played,” Patrick said, “and then instead of panicking or losing it, he went out and, I mean … I think played his last 10 holes in 9 under.” (He did.) “That’s great for someone who hasn’t played a USGA championship before,” he added. “Being on the biggest stage, being able to do that after that kind of start, I thought that showed a lot of character.” Perhaps it runs in the family. Patrick and Nick are quieter and more reserved. Caroline and Jack are extroverts. “We are all very different and have unique personalities,” Caroline said, “but we are all very competitive in anything and everything.” Jack was not considered a blue-chip recruit, and chose to stay home for college, but who knows what his ceiling is? Patrick was out of the game for years with back problems; now he’s a seven-time TOUR winner. Nick was a basketball player and didn’t seriously pursue golf until he was well into high school. Caroline played for Cal Poly and was the 2019 Southern California Golf Association Match Play champion, but opted out of the life of a touring pro. “They’ve all grown up with a golf club like it’s a knife or a fork,” said Mulligan, a teaching professional and the CEO at Virginia Country Club in Long Beach, California, where he began teaching Patrick when the latter was 7. “They’ve been watching Patrick every shot, and I always say the best way to learn how to play great golf is to watch great golf.” Patrick, of course, is a generational talent, a golfing unicorn. Jack, who after making the turn birdied holes 10, 14 and 15 to close out his first-round U.S. Junior match against Williams, regards him as possibly the most influential person in his life. “I’ve always watched him play golf competitively,” Jack said, “…and I’ve wanted to do it, too, so it’s kind of led me down this path of playing competitively at a high level.” Strength in numbers The siblings have regular skull sessions on the game. Jack and Nick go back and forth about how to play certain shots. Jack and Caroline followed Patrick as he tied for eighth at the recent Open Championship at St. Andrews. Jack and Patrick have been in touch about the U.S. Junior. “We traded some texts (Tuesday) night after he finished up,” Patrick said. “I think he’s the four seed maybe, right around there going into match play, so we traded some texts on match play. “But he’s been working really hard on his game for a while now,” he continued, “and it’s really nice to see all the improvement that he’s had in his game. I know we played a number of years ago and we talked about really getting sharp around the greens and he’s improved that a lot.” Pat Neylan, the siblings’ maternal grandfather, was the family’s first golf nut. He and Mulligan used to sneak out for as many holes as they could get in after Mulligan closed the Virginia C.C. pro shop. Neylan, who built a short-game practice area in his backyard, brought young Patrick to the course. The Cantlay siblings are also connected to other legends – Mulligan and John Cook were taught by Ken Venturi, who learned from Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson. And they were influenced by the many TOUR pros (Cook, Paul Goydos, John Merrick, John Mallinger, etc.) who hung around Virginia C.C. Patrick has always had good players to watch, and so has Jack – starting with his oldest brother. “I used to watch him hole by hole,” Jack said. “Now if he has a good round, somebody might say something, and I’ll look into it. It’s more casual now. I do want to be my own person. “Eventually one day I want to play on the PGA TOUR, play at the highest level,” he added. He certainly has the blueprint for success, as do his next two oldest siblings. “Patrick is very talented,” Caroline said, “but what I’ve always noticed more than anything is that he works incredibly hard. His dedication and hard work is something that I’ve always admired and tried to emulate; I think Jack and Nick would agree with me in saying that he proved to us all that consistent hard work really pays off.”

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LOS ANGELES — Joaquinn Niemann survived a few nervous moments at Riviera and polished off a big week Sunday when he closed with an even-par 71 to become the first wire-to-wire winner of The Genesis Invitational in 53 years. RELATED: Final leaderboard | What’s in Niemann’s bag? Staked to a three-shot lead, Niemann’s margin was down to one when he made a 7-foot birdie on the eighth hole and PGA TOUR rookie Cameron Young sailed the green and made bogey. The 23-year-old from Chile chipped in for eagle on the par-5 11th to stretch his lead to five, and he held on for a two-shot victory over Open champion Collin Morikawa (65) and Young, whose last hopes ended with a bogey from the bunker on the 16th. Young shot 70. About the only thing Niemann missed was a chance to break the longest active tournament scoring record on the PGA TOUR. With two bogeys on the back nine, Niemann finished at 19-under 265, one short of the score Lanny Watkins had in 1985. Morikawa holed an eagle chip on the infamous and reachable 10th hole that one-hopped into the cup, and two late birdies gave him a chance. But he missed a 10-footer on the 18th in his bid to win and reach No. 1 in the world. Young, making only his 12th career TOUR start, was a runner-up for the second time this season. He also tied for second in Mississippi. Given the prestige of the tournament hosted by Tiger Woods, Young earned $1,068,000 for his tie for second. The purse was $12 million. As for Niemann, Riviera hasn’t had a 23-year-old winner since Phil Rodgers in 1962, the tournament best known for Jack Nicklaus making his pro debut. Nicklaus tied for 50th and earned $33.33 that year. Niemann picked up $2.16 million for his second PGA TOUR victory. No one else had much of a chance on a cool, breezy afternoon at Riviera. This was Niemann’s tournament from the start, when he opened with a pair of 63s and set or matched a tournament scoring record of some variety each day but the last one. Charlie Sifford in 1969 was the last player to go wire-to-wire in The Genesis Invitational, significant because the elite tournament — it attracted everyone from the top 10 in the world this week — offers an exemption in Sifford’s name to promote diversity in golf. This year is the 100th anniversary of when Sifford, the first Black golfer to win on the PGA TOUR, was born. The No. 100 was on the first hole. Niemann carved his own way around the fabled course. The most important birdie was at No. 8. He got plenty of breathing room with the eagle on No. 11. Young stayed close, even after a bogey on No. 10 when his flip wedge from short of the green failed to clear a bunker. He blasted out nicely to 4 feet but missed the par putt, slamming his bag with a putter as he left the green. He still had a chance. Young drove into a bunker on the 15th, could only get out to the fairway and then holed out for birdie from 50 yards. Niemann missed a 4-foot par putt and took his second straight bogey, and the lead was down to two with three holes to play. Young found a bunker for the second straight day on the par-3 16th. It wasn’t plugged like it was on Saturday, but he failed to get up-and-down. He birdied the par-5 17th to get back within two shots and needed some help. Niemann didn’t provide it, splitting the middle of the fairway, hitting to the back level of the green and two-putting for par from just inside 30 feet. And then the celebration was on as his closest friends — Sergio Garcia of Spain, Mito Pereira of Chile and Carlos Ortiz of Mexico — formed a big group hug on the 18th.

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