PGA TOUR, its tournaments surpass $180 million generated for charity

How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. Each lineup consists of four starters and two bench players that can be rotated after each round. Adding to the challenge is that every golfer can be used only three times per each of four Segments. The first fantasy golf game to utilize live ShotLink data, PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf allows you to see scores update live during competition. Aside from the experts below, Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at this year’s Workday Charity Open in his edition of the Power Rankings. For more fantasy, check out Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers and Reshuffle. THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN OUR EXPERTS? The PGA TOUR Experts league is once again open to the public. You can play our free fantasy game and see how you measure up against our experts below. Joining the league is simple. Just click here to sign up or log in. Once you create your team, click the “Leagues” tab and search for “PGA TOUR Experts.” After that? Pick your players and start talking smack. Want to represent the fans against our experts? SEASON SEGMENT

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BLAINE, Minn. – When Bo Van Pelt teed it up at the Safeway Open earlier this year, it had been 1,321 days since his last PGA TOUR start. Let that number sink in for a minute. That’s more than three-and-a-half years sucked out of Van Pelt’s career, which was interrupted first by surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder, secondly by a procedure to clean out bone spurs and lastly by an operation to remove one of his ribs. Small wonder, then, that the 45-year-old veteran was so encouraged by his performance through two rounds at the 3M Open. Van Pelt fired a 68 on Friday to go with an opening 66 – the first time he’d broken 70 in consecutive rounds this year – and is just four strokes off the lead. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Dustin Johnson withdraws from 3M Open citing back injury Some players in his position would have given up, content with a life of playing client golf. Van Pelt, after all, had earned more than $20 million during a PGA TOUR career that included one victory at the now-defunct U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee so making money wasn’t top of mind. But he wanted to see if he could still compete at the highest level – and at least through 36 holes at TPC Twin Cities, Van Pelt has been equal to the task. “It’s like I told my wife and my kids, this is going to be the hardest thing I ever had to do is to try to compete out here at 45 after taking almost four years off,” Van Pelt said. “I don’t think there’s anybody probably ever done it. “But I like where my game’s going. It’s hard to just keep rah-rahing yourself when you’re shooting over par, so it’s nice to kind of put some red on the board and hopefully this will be some momentum going the right way.” The 2019-20 season has certainly been a challenge for Van Pelt. He wasn’t able to start playing 18 holes until several weeks before returning to the TOUR at the Safeway Open, where he tied for 62nd. Until this week, that was one of just three checks he’d cashed in 15 starts. Van Pelt said the four-month COVID layoff worked in his favor, though, because it gave the former Oklahoma State standout time to knuckle down and really concentrate on his game. “Even though my results haven’t been great this first month, the way I’ve been playing’s been a lot better,” Van Pelt said. “Just kind of sticking with it. It was just hard. I didn’t play 18 holes for over three years. “Basically, I was trying to relearn every kind of feel that I had less than a year ago. Yeah, it’s just been kind of a process. Finally feeling like I’m getting back to where I can compete again.” Van Pelt’s physical problems began in 2016, likely after he reached behind the driver’s seat of his car to pick up a backpack that was heavier than he expected. A few weeks later, the pain in his right shoulder ratcheted up on the weekend of the Waste Management Phoenix Open as a pair of 74s turned a solid 6 under start into a tie for 51st. So, after he missed the cut at Pebble Beach the following week, Van Pelt headed home to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to find out what the problem was. “I tore like 85 percent of my labrum and I just couldn’t play,” Van Pelt said, remembering the diagnosis. “So, they went back in and found a bunch of bone spurs, cleaned it out, thought that was going to do it.” When his hand started going numb, Van Pelt was really worried. In truth, he feared he might never play again. So, his doctor referred him to Dr. Greg Pearl in Dallas. This time, the diagnosis was thoracic outlet syndrome which occurs when blood vessels or nerves in the space between your collarbone and first rib are compressed. “So, they said on top of the torn labrum, (that’s) what I had going on,” Van Pelt said. “That’s why I kept getting a pinch and pain. He removed my first rib I guess a year and a half ago in February and it just gave me the opportunity to play.” Van Pelt made this week’s highlight reel when his 6-iron at the eighth hole on Thursday found the bottom of the cup for an ace. It was a nice way to bounce back from a bogey that had ended a run of four birdies in his previous five holes. “It was great,” Van Pelt said. “I was playing well and bummed about bogeying 7, so it was a great bounce-back. It was funny, I mean, half the holes-in-one I ever had have been with a 6-iron, so that has been my lucky club.” And time will tell if this is his lucky week.

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AUGUSTA, Ga. – Tiger Woods and Fred Couples spent months discussing their Monday practice round at Augusta National. The patrons had been waiting so much longer. When Woods teed off at 2:55 p.m. Monday, it was the first time he’d played Augusta National in public since the final round three years ago. He played Sunday of the 2015 Masters in the third-to-last group, shooting a 73 alongside Rory McIlroy. This latest round was an informal nine-hole affair, as Woods, Couples and Justin Thomas breezed around the first nine in little more than two hours. The pent-up anticipation for Woods’ return, which has only increased in intensity with his promising play, was obvious from the roars he received for both the impressive, like his long chip-in from behind the second green, and the mundane. Woods was greeted by cheers each time he appeared on a tee box. Patrons even applauded when he asked caddie Joe LaCava for another ball on the fourth tee. “There’s no other tournament you hear roars in a practice round,� said Thomas, one of the young stars many are hoping will challenge Woods in an intergenerational tussle on Sunday’s second nine. Woods spent the two weeks since his last start visiting Augusta National and preparing in his backyard practice facility. There are four greens there. Three are meant to mimic geographic regions: the Northeast, his native California and his adopted home state of Florida. Only one is modeled after a specific course. “The Augusta green is a little elevated with sharp aprons, a deep bunker and it’s always the fastest green in the facility. It’s firm and they mow the aprons around them extremely tight,� said his former Stanford teammate, Notah Begay. “That way, when he gets to Augusta it feels extremely normal for him.� There’s little doubt he’d feel that way even without a dedicated practice area. No tournament has more defined Woods’ career, and he has impacted the event in a way few others have. His 12-shot victory in his first Masters as a professional led to dramatic changes to Alister Mackenzie’s masterpiece. He completed the Tiger Slam here in 2001, won again in 2002 and then hit what may be the most memorable shot of his career, the chip-in from behind the 16th green that helped him hold off a gritty Chris DiMarco. Only Jack Nicklaus has won the Masters more times. Woods has proven his ability to contend here even when in the midst of his deepest struggles, but he arrives at Augusta National this year showing his best form in five years. He contended at both the Valspar Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. He’s displayed strong iron play, a good short game and swing speed that’s comparable to the kids he’s now competing against. Most courses are quiet this early in the week, but for some patrons Masters Monday is their Sunday. It’s their first time seeing a course they’ve admired for years, and they’re uncertain if they’ll ever be able to return. They were lined 10 deep on some holes. With cell phones banned from the grounds, point-and-shoot cameras, many of them saved for this single week each year, were raised in the air each time Woods approached. Patrons formed a human wall across many fairways as they stopped in the cross-walks to watch Woods’ pre-tournament preparations. This is Augusta National, though, and the enthusiasm for Woods caused some to occasionally cross the line of staid decorum that is expected on these stately Southern grounds. Patrons were gently made aware of their transgressions by security guards in red hats and white shirts. Turns out it’s impermissible to prop another patron on your shoulders. Running isn’t allowed, and the shouts and some of the shouts and screams heard at other events are frowned upon here. The excitement surrounding Woods is understandable, though. He’s finished outside the top 25 just once in 18 appearances as a professional, even when his game was in much worse shape. His last Masters start came just weeks after he shot 82 in Phoenix and took a self-imposed exile from the game. He started the final round in fifth place before fading to 17th. He finished fourth in 2010, even though he hadn’t played an event since the previous November because of his personal scandal. Woods’ play Monday reminded Couples of the better days. “He hit a few drives there that were well worth it, whether you paid for (admission) or whether you’re in the tournament like me,� Couples said. “Today wasn’t any different than it was 10 years ago when I played with him. “I think he’ll be a factor this week. I don’t know why he wouldn’t be.�  

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