PGA Tour Power Rankings: Talent is not being wasted on the young

You knew that golf would lead the return of live sports competition of any kind at the highest level in the United States. Given its inherent physical distancing, it was just a matter of when and where for players and fans to reconnect in the era of COVID-19. TaylorMade Driving Relief on Sunday, May 17, forever will mark the reentry. It’s an 18-hole team skins match pitting Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson against Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff. Four-ball format will be used throughout. All $4 million committed is reserved for relief efforts for the pandemic. There is no prize money for the professionals. RELATED: Fans at home will be able to contribute to TaylorMade Driving Relief’s COVID-19 relief efforts thanks to PGA TOUR Charities’ online and Text-To-Give donation platforms powered by GoFundMe Charity. Click here to donate. MORE: TaylorMade Driving Relief to benefit COVID-19 relief efforts | Live golf set to return | Seminole Golf Club ready for its close-up | Key clubs: Rory’s driver | Similarities run deep for Fowler, Wolff You are in for a treat. Augmenting the experience is that Seminole Golf Club is hosting. It basks in privacy, but it’s unassuming in that it hasn’t sought a mechanism to attract attention. What better a time than right now for the Donald Ross creation to introduce itself to a television audience and the most avid golfers and fans who never have laid eyes on the property? If it wanted unique, it got it. The captive audience is the bonus. The 90-year-old stock par 72 situated hard against the Atlantic Ocean in Juno Beach, Florida, is a work of art. It’s golf in its purest form. With sand dunes and 185 bunkers, it looks and plays like a links, albeit with palm trees and other tropical flora within view. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw recently completed a three-year renovation of the course. If you’re reminded of their restoration of Pinehurst No. 2 for the 2014 U.S. Open, well, you should be. That’s another Ross masterpiece and the collaborative vision isn’t unintentional. Ross’ genius routing and his use of the topography remain his signatures on the track that tips at just 6,836 yards on only 140 acres. Because of its location, wind is the primary defense. Come Sunday, prevailing breezes at 10-15 mph are forecast. This will allow for the course to test as designed. The old saying at Seminole is that every hole presents a different wind direction because of the angles, but the forces generating the invisible enemy cannot be predicted no matter the preparation. Keeping the ball low and on the ground at times will be necessary and fun to watch. Rain will fall in the days leading up to and possibly in passing on Sunday. Even though the bermuda greens drain well, any reduction in speed could (should?) be offset with challenging hole locations. Because of extreme cant in spots and omnipresent run-off areas, the local parlance includes a reference of “greens visited in regulation.” It’s a snarky tip of the visor after approaches fail to hold their targets. Indeed, distance control and precision on approach will be at a premium. The format of the skins game is ideal for the cause. Talent of the quality donating its time should yield numerous pushes and allow the gamble to swell. With Nos. 14 and 15 as par 5s, heroics, or at least attempts, are guaranteed. In the round-long taffy pull defining the levels of difficulty of where holes will be cut, those two should be ripe for eagles. The guys will be deep enough into the day by then to have shed whatever competitive rust is remaining. While unlikely, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that this important event could persuade outgoing seniors who played golf collegiately to return for one more season. In late March, the NCAA extended the eligibility for seniors competing in spring sports for one year, and Seminole will be hosting the Walker Cup in May of 2021. 1. Rory McIlroy & Dustin Johnson With the way McIlroy was hitting it for months, he’d be forgiven if he thought about taking on Fowler and Wolff alone. In seven starts worldwide since a T3 at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, McIlroy hasn’t finished worse than T5 twice. Now, with Johnson as his wingman and playing four-ball, this is as formidable an multinational duo as you’re going to see. DJ’s low ball flight is built for this, too. 2. Rickie Fowler & Matthew Wolff Since they size up as the weaker of the teams, if they pull off victory, you won’t be able to rule out their connection as Oklahoma State products, toughness shaped in the wind as they cut their teeth and/or the value of being prohibitive underdogs with nothing to lose. Still, while Wolff is full of swagger that should make for great TV, this has the feeling of a little too much, too soon for the 21-year-old. Head-to-head in individual competition against McIlroy and DJ in his young career, Wolff is a combined 0-10-1.

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What once seemed unreasonable is a worthy conversation again — for the experts, for his peers, for Tiger Woods himself. It’s OK to talk about getting to or passing Jack Nicklaus’ 18 majors.

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The PGA TOUR makes its final Texas stop of the season, visiting historic Colonial Country Club for the Charles Schwab Challenge. FedExCup leader – and native Texan – Scottie Scheffler headlines the field that features five of the world’s top 10. FIELD NOTES: After a missed cut at the PGA Championship, Scheffler, who has won four times this season, is back in action… Bryson DeChambeau is listed in the field. He tried to give it a go at the PGA Championship but withdrew on the eve of the tournament because his hand wasn’t fully recovered from surgery in April… Collin Morikawa will tee it up in Fort Worth. He finished T14 a year ago and lost to Daniel Berger in a playoff in 2020… Jason Kokrak returns to defend his title from 2021. Kokrak, a three-time TOUR winner, won twice last year, and both titles came in Texas with former Longhorns finishing runner-up. He beat Jordan Spieth at Colonial and Scottie Scheffler was runner-up (along with Kevin Tway) to Kokrak at the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open… This year’s Champions Choice selections are Stephan Jaeger and Min Woo Lee… Sponsor exemptions include Erik Compton, John Pak and the past two U.S. Amateur champions, James Piot and Tyler Strafaci. Pak won last year’s Hogan Award, which is awarded at Colonial, as the top player in college and amateur golf. He also finished atop last year’s PGA TOUR University Velocity Global Ranking. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: Colonial Country Club, par 70, 7,209 yards. The PGA TOUR heads to the Perry Maxwell and John Bredemus design in Fort Worth, Texas, for the 77th time. It’s the longest-running non-major on TOUR to be contested on the same course. Many of the TOUR’s best who teed it up at the PGA Championship will be treated to a double dose of Maxwell, as the Oklahoma designer was the chief behind Southern Hills Country Club as well. Shot-making and accuracy will be the keys to success once again at Colonial. The course hosted the U.S. Open in 1941, the U.S. Women’s Open in 1991, and the second edition of THE PLAYERS. Like Southern Hills, Colonial is another Maxwell design that is set to undergo a Gil Hanse renovation. It was scheduled for this year but due to supply chain issues, the process will begin after the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge. STORYLINES: Jordan Spieth is hoping he’ll continue his fine play around Colonial. Spieth, who moved to eighth in the FedExCup after his win at the RBC Heritage and his runner-up at the AT&T Byron Nelson, has three runners-up in Fort Worth plus a victory in 2016… Only one golfer has ever defended his title in Fort Worth. Ben Hogan did it twice, one reason that Colonial came to be known as Hogan’s Alley… Scottie Scheffler leads the FedExCup by nearly twice as many points as Sam Burns (who is also teeing it up at the Charles Schwab Challenge) but comes to Fort Worth after his first missed cut since last October… K.H. Lee is looking for his own Texas two-step. Lee successfully defended the AT&T Byron Nelson the week prior to the PGA, winning by one over Spieth… Viktor Hovland is the other world top-10 player in the field alongside Scheffler, Morikawa, Spieth, and Justin Thomas… The winner of the Charles Schwab Challenge will once again get a restored sports car (Kevin Na got a 1973 Dodge Challenger in 2019 while Jason Kokrak got a 1946 Schwab Power Wagon). This year’s winner will get a 1979 Pontiac Firebird, which tournament organizers have nicknamed the “Schwab Firebird.” 72-HOLE RECORD: 259, Zach Johnson (2010). 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, Keith Clearwater (2nd round, 1993), Lee Janzen (4th round, 1993), Greg Kraft (3rd round, 1999), Kenny Perry (3rd round, 2003), Justin Leonard (4th round, 2003), Chad Campbell (3rd round, 2004), Kevin Na (4th round, 2018). LAST TIME: Jason Kokrak’s even-par 70 in the final round of last year’s Charles Schwab Challenge was enough, as Jordan Spieth struggled to a 3-over 73 and finished two shots back of Kokrak. It was Kokrak’s second career TOUR title. Spieth, the clear rooting favorite of the partisan Texas crowds, was still in the mix after making the turn on Sunday, but two late bogeys – including one on the 72nd hole after he hit his approach into the water – derailed his chances. Kokrak made five bogeys Sunday but offset each of them with five birdies. For Spieth, it was his third runner-up finish at Colonial. Charley Hoffman’s 5-under 65 was tied for the low round of the day Sunday, and that helped him move into a tie for third alongside Patton Kizzire, Sebastian Munoz, and Ian Poulter. That foursome finished at 10 under, four shots back of Kokrak’s winning score. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 4 p.m.-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 2 p.m.-5:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m. (CBS). Sunday, 1 p.m.-2 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2 p.m.-6:30 p.m. (CBS). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m.–7 p.m. ET. Saturday, 2 p.m.-7 p.m. Sunday, 1 p.m.-6:30 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio) For outside of the U.S., click here for GOLFTV powered by the PGA TOUR PGA TOUR LIVE PGA TOUR Live is available exclusively on ESPN+ • Main Feed: primary tournament-coverage featuring the best action from across the course • Marquee Group: new “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group • Featured Groups: traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups • Featured Holes: a combination of par-3s and iconic or pivotal holes

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