Power Rankings: Sony Open in Hawaii

CAMERON SMITH WINS THE 150TH OPEN, CHEZ REAVIE WINS BARRACUDA The 150th Open at St. Andrews was seemingly destined for the history books, and the competition at the Home of Golf delivered at every turn. Australia’s Cameron Smith authored the final chapter with six back-nine birdies Sunday and a pivotal up-and-down par on the famed Road Hole par-4 17th, carding a final-round, 8-under 64 for a one-stroke victory over Cameron Young and two clear of 54-hole co-leader Rory McIlroy, whose quest to snap an eight-year major championship drought came up short with 18 consecutive two-putts on Sunday. Smith trailed by four strokes into the final round and remained three back at the turn, but the mullet-sporting 28-year-old captured the Claret Jug with the lowest final-nine score (30) by a winner in Open history. His 20-under total ties the lowest 72-hole score to par in major championship history, and he joins Jack Nicklaus (1978) as the only players to win THE PLAYERS Championship and The Open in the same season. Nicklaus’ 1978 Open triumph occurred at the Old Course, as well. Smith earns 600 FedExCup points and moves to No. 2 in the FedExCup standings behind Scottie Scheffler. He was visibly emotional upon accepting his title on a serene Scottish Sunday afternoon, but his mind was on some well-deserved festivities too. “I’m definitely going to find out how many beers fit in this thing,” Smith said of the Claret Jug. “That’s for sure.” Chez Reavie earned his third PGA TOUR title Sunday at the Barracuda Championship, recording 43 points in the TOUR’s only Modified Stableford scoring event, one point clear of Alex Noren. Reavie, 40, moves from No. 101 to No. 49 on the FedExCup standings, 300 points accrued, and secures full TOUR status through 2024. “It’s nerve-wracking, it’s exciting, it’s frustrating, it’s all the emotions,” said Reavie of back-nine Sunday contention on TOUR. “But I love it.”” WOODS’ EMOTIONAL WEEK AT ST. ANDREWS Tiger Woods missed the cut at The Open at St. Andrews, but the memories will endure not only for the fans attending and those watching, but also for him. Woods, who has won two Claret Jugs at the Home of Golf, shot rounds of 78-75 to miss the cut by nine shots. It was still an impressive effort considering his recent health issues and determination to play in what might have been his final Open at St. Andrews. Woods walked over the Swilcan Bridge on the 18th hole, raised his hat to the fans, and saw Rory McIlroy on the first hole tip his hat toward him. A few Tiger tears fell. “The fans, the ovation and the warmth, it was an unbelievable feeling,” Woods said. “I understand what Jack and Arnold had gone through in the past. I was kind of feeling that way there at the end. …They understand what golf’s all about and what it takes to be an Open champion.” TWIN CITIES TOUR TAKEOVER 3M FIRST LOOK Cameron Champ returns to defend his title at the 3M Open as the PGA TOUR’s 2021-22 season inches closer to an exciting conclusion. John Deere Classic winner J.T. Poston hopes to extend his recent run of good play while Hideki Matsuyama is one of six major champions teeing it up. Rookie of the Year candidates Davis Riley and Sahith Theegala are looking for their breakthrough victories. Riley sits 23rd in the FedExCup standings while Theegala is 38th. TPC Twin Cities is an Arnold Palmer design which opened in 2000 and is a par 71 that plays to 7,431 yards. Just three events remain in the 2021-22 PGA TOUR Regular Season; FedExCup points are at a premium. The winner in the Twin Cities will take home 500 FedExCup points. VIDEO OF THE WEEK MIC CHECK “It’s very emotional for me. I’ve been coming here since 1995. I think the next one comes around in 2030 so and I don’t know if I will be physically able to play by then. To me it felt like this might have been my last British Open here at St. Andrews.” – Tiger Woods after shooting 75 for a two-round total of 9-over 153. BY THE NUMBERS 255 – Cameron Smith set an unofficial TOUR putting record at The Open, making an incredible 255 feet of putts during the second round at the Old Course. 9 – Consecutive 3s carded by Rob Oppenheim on the back nine in Round 3 of the Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS on the Korn Ferry Tour. He shot an 11-under 60. 30 – Cameron Smith’s back-nine score at St. Andrews on Sunday, the lowest ever shot by an Open champion in a final round. COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10 The Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 highlights and rewards the extraordinary level of play required to earn a spot in the TOP 10 at the conclusion of the FedExCup Regular Season as determined by the FedExCup standings. The competition recognizes and awards the most elite in golf.

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PUNTA CANA, Domincan Republic – Jhonattan Vegas has lots of reasons to celebrate these days, both on the golf course and off. Vegas – who shot a 3-under-par 69 Thursday in the first round of the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship and was just a few shots back of the early lead – and his wife announced via a video on Instagram just days before the tournament began they were expecting their second child (a boy). This, just a week after the three-time TOUR winner rocked the golf world with his across-the-green putt on the par-3 17th at TPC Sawgrass during THE PLAYERS Championship, en route to a T-3 – his best finish on TOUR since THE NORTHERN TRUST in August 2017. At 69 feet, 7 inches, Vegas’ long birdie putt on the island green was the longest in PLAYERS history. He admitted he didn’t realize how loud it was until after he watched the replays. “I was so tuned into the moment, to the putt,â€� he said. It was such an unreal moment, pretty much, that happened there at 17, that I didn’t notice people. I didn’t notice how loud it was.â€� Vegas said his result at THE PLAYERS two weeks ago gave him the confidence he needs – and made a big difference in his game – as he looks ahead to the Presidents Cup later this year. He said making the International Team captained by Ernie Els is his biggest goal for 2019. “It’s been on the radar since I got done in New York that Sunday,â€� he said. Vegas has made four of his last five cuts – and three straight – with both of his top-10’s on the season occurring in that span. He kept that momentum going Thursday in Punta Cana and was 3-under through his first seven holes. He made bogey on the par-3 9th before birdied the long par-5 12th. He had a short birdie try on the par-4 18th but it just slid by. Still, Vegas said he was pleased with his effort on the much harder back nine. “The back nine is really hard here… five holes on the back nine you’re just really happy to make pars (on). I tried to manage a birdie or two on the other ones. That’s kind of how the course is going to play all week,â€� he said. “The front nine, you have more gettable holes, which we did early, and played solid on the back and it’s a decent score.â€� But as Vegas looks to the second round in Punta Cana, he can’t help but be excited at the prospect of being a father for the second time. He says his daughter, who’s three, is already excited to be a big sister. He said, with a proud-papa smile, she’s already thinking about giving her baby brother a bottle and singing him a song if he cries. Vegas comes from a family of all boys, and although he said he would have been thrilled with another girl, he said he can’t wait to be the father of his own son. “I’ve had such an amazing experience with my daughter, but I think the boys are fun, too,â€� said Vegas. “We can push them more and kind of be athletes like we were when we were a kid, so it’s a way to live childhood through them.â€�

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IRVING, Texas –  Alan Edmondson first began collecting the autographs of every Masters winner on his golf cap 25 years ago. He wasn’t sure this year if he had the energy to chase after another one. Much easier, he thought to himself, to have a previous champion win again. But when pressed prior to this year’s Masters for the name he most wanted to add to his cap, Edmondson had one response. Sergio Garcia. “Honest truth,” Edmondson said. Last month, Sergio did his part by winning at Augusta National. And on Tuesday at the AT&T Byron Nelson, Edmondson – a Dallas resident since 1980 – collected his signature, as Garcia added his name to a unique piece of memorabilia steeped in golf history. Garcia became the latest to sign Edmondson’s cap, putting his name right next to his mentor and idol, fellow Spaniard Seve Ballesteros. “It’s an honor to be on that hat,” Garcia said. Garcia became the 43rd Masters winner to sign the cap. There have been 51 different winners. When Edmondson began his quest in 1992, six had already died – Horton Smith, Henry Picard, Ralph Guldahl, Jimmy Demaret, Craig Wood and Claude Harmon. Two others, Ben Hogan and Cary Middlecoff, were too ill to sign. “Hogan was my biggest regret because he lived closed by in Fort Worth,” Edmondson said. Since then, 10 of the Masters champs that signed the cap have died, the latest being Arnold Palmer. That what makes the cap so unique. No fan can hope to duplicate what Edmondson has already acquired. It actually began by a chance meeting and an unexpected inquiry. At the 1992 Masters, one of Edmondson’s friends was in attendance and bought the cap. He gave it to Edmondson as a souvenir. That next month, Edmondson went to the Tuesday practice round for the AT&T Byron Nelson, proudly wearing his Masters cap. He was headed for his car late in the day when he saw Fred Couples walking toward him, heading for the range. Couples had won the Masters that year. Edmondson asked if he wouldn’t mind signing the cap. Couples obliged. Another fan, having witnessed the exchange, caught up with Edmondson and said, “I’ll give you $100 for the cap.” “That’s when the lightbulb went off,” Edmondson said. He turned down the offer. When he got home, he told his wife Betsy and their 4-year-old daughter Callie about his interesting afternoon and his idea to get more signatures. “That sounds great,” Betsy said that night. “I just have two questions: Where’s the $100 and why do you still have that stupid cap?” Since there was no internet back then, Edmondson visited a nearby library and found the list of all Masters winners. He now had the names. All that was left was getting the signatures. He made it a fun father-daughter project, and Callie has been by his side for most of the signatures. Thanks to the two annual PGA TOUR stops in the North Texas area – at TPC Four Seasons and at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth — Edmondson could start making inroads. He often met the players when they showed up at the course to sign in. The Dallas-area also used to play host to a PGA TOUR Champions event, allowing Edmondson to get some of the older winners such as George Archer and Doug Ford. After a few years, he had just a handful of signatures and felt the need to step up the pace. So he told one of his church friends about it – a friend who just happened to be a former three-time winner on the PGA TOUR, Texas native Rik Massengale. Massengale quickly offered his help on the project. “He thought it was a fun idea and really helped me get a purpose for it,” Edmondson said. Massengale was instrumental in getting Phil Mickelson’s signature on the cap. In fact, Mickelson invited Alan and his daughter to join him on the range. That same day, they also got Mike Weir’s signature. Massengale also introduced Edmondson with introductions to Billy Casper, who at the time was playing with Rik’s brother Don on PGA TOUR Champions. Casper lived in California and didn’t have any events scheduled for Texas. But on one trip to Florida, Casper had a layover at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. Edmondson met him at the gate – this was before current security measures that now prevent non-fliers from getting close to the gate – and got the autograph between flights. On at least one occasion, one Masters champ encouraged another to sign the cap. It happened with Mark O’Meara, the 1998 champ. O’Meara had already signed the cap. He was at TPC Four Seasons waiting to play a practice round with his good friend Tiger Woods, and he told Alan and Callie to wait with him. When Tiger walked out, they got his signature. All the signatures have been acquired in person. Most have come in either at the local TOUR stops; obviously they didn’t have trouble getting local favorite Jordan Spieth’s signature after his win two years ago. But Edmondson has also flown to Ohio to get the signature of Herman Keiser (1946 winner) and to Florida for Angel Cabrera (2009 winner). “It was just a labor of love meeting those guys,” Edmondson said. Only one time has Edmondson given the cap to someone else to get a signature. It was at TPC Four Seasons, the year before the successful attempt to get Tiger’s autograph. Edmondson gave the cap to Tiger’s former agent Hughes Norton – and for five minutes was a nervous wreck. He even asked Norton for his business card in case something happened to the cap. When the agent returned and said he couldn’t find Tiger, Edmondson was disappointed but relieved to have the cap back in his possession. Edmondson used to keep the cap in a plexiglass case on a shelf in his closet. But then his home was burglarized. The thieves took Callie’s collection of 500 Beanie babies. They also took several of Edmondson’s caps — including one he had bought at the Hard Rock Café in Cabo San Lucas that was right next to the Masters cap. But for some reason, they didn’t take the cap with all the signatures. When Edmondson got home and realized how lucky he was that the cap was still in his closet, he took quick action. “Within 10 minutes, it was in a safe-deposit box at our bank,” he said. Given its age, the cap is in very good condition. The material hasn’t faded and neither have the signatures. Because it was sold in the days when style was less a consideration, it has an old-timey look, certainly not a sleek one. That’s a blessing in disguise. “There’s still lots of room to sign on it,” Edmondson said. “And it stands up nicely,” added Callie. How long will they keep the project going? Certainly no reason to stop now. Edmondson will soon turn 68. Callie is 29 and just started her family a year ago. “We’ll keep going as long as we can,” Edmondson said. But if Spieth or Garcia were to win a second Masters next year, Edmondson won’t mind taking the next year off.

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