Power Rankings: Barracuda Championship

Comebacks? Records? Those are nice. But Peter Keating says the 20 most dominant athletes of 2018 made our list by redefining the impossible.

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MAMARONECK, N.Y. (AP) — Mike Davis spent the last decade running the USGA, where he set up golf courses to provide an extreme test for elite players and searched for solutions to increasing distance. Now he wants to build golf courses, a lifelong passion. Davis announced Tuesday he will retire as CEO at the end of 2021, ending a 32-year career with the USGA that began with him overseeing ticket sales and transportation. He became the seventh executive director in 2011 and the USGA’s first CEO after an organizational shakeup in 2016. Davis, whose love of golf course architecture dates to when he was a junior golfer and would doodle holes on a piece of paper, said he will join Tom Fazio II in a new golf architecture firm called Fazio & Davis Golf Design. “One of the wonderful things these 32 years afforded me was I’ve gone out of my way to see most of the world’s great courses,” Davis said. “I’ve played them, studied them, read about them, taken pictures of them. I’ve read all the architecture books. I get as giddy with some architects as I do being around Jack, Arnold, Byron Nelson and Mickey Wright.” The announcement comes two days after Bryson DeChambeau crushed the notion that accuracy is tantamount to U.S. Open success. DeChambeau said he would hit driver as often as he could, even if it went into Winged Foot’s notorious rough, and he won by six shots by becoming the only player at par or better all four rounds of a U.S. Open at Winged Foot. The retirement, however, was in the works for several years. Davis had planned to announce it in September when the 2020 USGA championship season was over, so a successor could be found. Instead, the coronavirus pandemic forced the U.S. Open to be postponed from June until last week, with the U.S. Women’s Open in Houston still to come in December. Davis said he told his wife when he was appointed executive director in 2011 that he would do the job for 10 years. He told the USGA board more than three years ago that he would work through 2021 so he could try his hand at building courses. “I knew I would regret it if I didn’t try,” he said. His one regret was not seeing through the conclusion of the “Distance Insights Project.” A summary in February suggested it was time to stop increases in distance at all levels, highlighting an average gain of 25 yards over the last 30 years for elite players. The feedback process and next step have been delayed by the pandemic. “I think something is going to happen,” Davis said. “When is it going to be done? How is it going to be done? How will we introduce it? It’s a multiyear process. I’d have to stay many years to see this thing through. I’m just happy that for the first in over 100 years, we’re finally doing something. I pushed at it with the R&A, I pushed it with our own group. “I will look back saying that is one thing I am very proud of, because I just know it’s in the best interest in the game.” His last U.S. Open will be at Torrey Pines next summer. Meanwhile, Davis stays on to guide the USGA through the COVID-19 pandemic, setting up what amounts to a satellite office and a new testing center in Pinehurst, North Carolina, advancing the distance project and working with his successor. USGA President Stu Francis said a search would begin immediately, with hopes of having the next CEO hired by the U.S. Open next summer. Davis first took over setting up U.S. Open courses at Winged Foot in 2006, and he introduced the concept of graduated rough that grew longer the farther away from the fairway. That was from his first U.S. Open experience at Baltusrol in 1980, which he attended with his father. Davis recalls thinking it was unfair that someone who missed the fairway by a little was punished more than someone who missed by a lot. He has been criticized for some setup decisions, most recently at Shinnecock Hills, though that was to be expected. His predecessor, Tom Meeks, predicted in 2009 that Davis would make a mistake at some point. “It doesn’t happen by design. It happens because it’s the U.S. Open,” Meeks said. There was so much more to the job, especially as CEO. Davis was part of the most significant overhaul of the Rules of Golf that took effect in 2019, and he signed off on a decision to ban the anchored stroke used for long putters a few years earlier. He also was executive director when the USGA signed a 12-year broadcast deal with Fox worth about $1 billion, a deal that NBC took over again earlier this year. Part of Davis already is looking ahead. He doesn’t want to design golf courses on paper. He wants to build them, and he said he would spend time on the construction crews of architects Bill Coore and Gil Hanse to learn that end of it. “I can’t wait to get my hands dirty,” Davis said, chuckling like someone who has been wanting to do this for a long time.

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GREENSBORO, N.C. – Plenty was on the line at this week’s Wyndham Championship, with the top 125 in the FedExCup standings advancing to the Playoffs, as well as the finale of the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 competition and Aon Risk Reward Challenge. Here’s a quick look at each one after Sunday’s final round at Sedgefield Country Club. FedExCup Update: Two players played their way into the top 125 – Patton Kizzire, who moved from No. 129 to 118th, and Andrew Landry, who went from No. 132 to 123rd. … Falling out of the top 125 are Robert Streb, who came in No. 124 and dropped four spots after missing the cut, and Alex Noren, the bubble boy, who ended up No. 129 after tying for 60th at the Wyndham Championship. … Both Noren and Streb will be able to compete in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, which begin Aug. 15 in Columbus, Ohio, at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Open, where 25 PGA TOUR cards will be up for grabs. Patton Kizzire: The Auburn grad, who shot 67 on Sunday, his fourth round in the 60s and tied for 13th, will be competing in the Playoffs for the fourth straight season. The 33-year-old reached the TOUR Championship a year ago. He’s exempt through the end of the 2021 season after winning twice last year. “I’ve never missed the FedExCup Playoffs, so I certainly didn’t want to do that this year,â€� Kizzire said. “I felt like I had a lot to play for and really grinded. I wasn’t breathing real easy out there. There was a lot of trying going on, and it was a fight until the end. I feel pretty good about how I did.â€� Andrew Landry: Landry, who is exempt through the end of the 2019-20 season after winning the 2018 Valero Texas Open, will be making his second straight appearance in the FedExCup Playoffs. He finished No. 37 last year. Landry closed with a 70 on Sunday and wasn’t quite sure it was good enough to move him into the top 125 but he held steady in the projections as the last few groups finished. “I was obviously trying to get myself in contention to win the golf tournament and I just kind of felt on the back nine I started thinking more of the FedExCup than it was winning a golf tournament,â€� Landry said. “I’m good with an exemption for next year and it was definitely stress free, but for some odd reason it was on my mind to get into those Playoff events. You know, it’s a big relief off my shoulders to be able to go play THE NORTHERN TRUST and try to get myself in the top 70. My game’s sharp right now, I’m playing really well and just looking forward to next week.â€� RELATED: Poston breaks through for first win | What’s in J.T. Poston’s bag? | FedExCup standings Worth Noting Pat Perez missed the cut but held onto a spot in the Playoffs at No. 125 by two points over Richie Werenski … Zach Johnson’s streak of making the Playoffs every year since the inception of the FedExCup ended when he tied for 53rd at the Wyndham Championship and finished No. 154. … Nine other players’ streaks are in tack, though – Charley Hoffman, Charles Howell III, Matt Kuchar, Phil Mickelson, Ryan Moore, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Brandt Snedeker and Bubba Watson. … J.T. Poston, who made the Wyndham Championship his first PGA TOUR victory, will be competing in the Playoffs for the second straight year. He’s put himself in position to make the TOUR Championship, too – moving from No. 83 to 27th with the win. … Speaking of East Lake, Rory Sabbatini has made the Playoffs 12 of the 13 years the FedExCup has been in existence. He’s only advanced to the TOUR Championship once – in 2007 – but is making a strong bid this year. He tied for sixth at Sedgefield and currently stands No. 36 in the FedexCup. … Viktor Hovland fell short in his bid to earn enough FedExCup points as a non-member to earn his card for next season. He ended up with 308 – which would have put him 144th. Hovland closed with a 65 and finished solo fourth, his fourth top-20 in five starts as a pro. So he’ll head to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. “I feel like I’ve just playing better and better every single week, and obviously this is my best finish throughout the five tournaments that I played,â€� Hovland said. “I’ve just got to keep it going in the Korn Ferry Finals and hopefully I’ll make it through.â€� … Johnson Wagner, Josh Teater and Harris English played their way into the top 150 at Nos. 141, 146 and 149, respectively. That means they will have conditional status on TOUR for 2019-20, at the very least, and could earn a TOUR card via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. “I plan on going and being real focused and treating them like just like they were the PGA TOUR Playoffs,â€� said Wagner, who is a a three-time TOUR winner. “In years past in those things I’ve had a bad attitude. I’ve skipped events. I’m excited to go to work next week and be ready mentally to do what I need to do.â€� … Teater missed a 10-footer on the 18th hole but looked back at No. 8 on Saturday as equally costly when he picked his ball up in the fairway (the first two rounds were played under lift, clean and place rules but not the third). “I didn’t have a clue,â€� he said when asked about the putt on the 18th hole. “Obviously I wanted to make it, but they told me in the scoring area that it may have jumped me into the 125. But there’s so much golf, I probably would have got bumped out. I mean, what if? What if I didn’t pick my ball up on the fairway yesterday when I wasn’t supposed to? Maybe that’s the ‘what if’ we should ask.â€� Wyndham Rewards Top 10 Webb Simpson was the only player to move into the Wyndham Rewards Top 10. Simpson, the 2011 winner of the Wyndham Championship, finished solo second, the 10th runner-up finish of his career, on Sunday and moved from No. 13 to No. 9 — earning an additional $550,000 bonus. When the former Wake Forest All-American moved in, Justin Rose was knocked out of the No. 10 spot which cost him $500,000. Simpson gave himself chance at the bonus when he tied for second a week ago at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational to move from No. 26 to 13th in the FedExCup. “Honestly, it wasn’t even on the radar going into Memphis,â€� Simpson said. “I was too far back, I thought, unless I did something crazy. So yeah, it was on my mind this week after second last week. I’m so thankful to Wyndham for feeling the need to jump in and be the first one to sponsor a regular season bonus for play that’s been going on since October. And they did a great job, so I’m thankful to them for that.â€� Paul Casey, who was the only player in the top 10 who competed in Greensboro, could have risen as far as fourth with a victory. He played well, starting the final round tied for fifth, three strokes off the pace, but ran out of gas on Sunday after playing four straight weeks. “It’s actually a perfect example of why we’re taking next week off,â€� said Casey, who shot 69 in the final round and tied for 13th. “… I miss my family. And I gave it a good shot today, but just ran out of energy.â€� He finished where he started at No. 8 and earned a $600,000 bonus. Aon Risk Reward Challenge The Aon Challenge is officially over with Brooks Koepka, adding another $1 million to his regular season bonus bounty. He beat Jason Day in a tiebreaker. Both Jason Kokrak and Noren came to the Wyndham Championship with an outside shot to overtake him but the elusive albatross was involved and their bids fell short.

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