Predicting the TOUR Championship field

Byeong Hun An … Although he just missed qualifying for the Masters, he’s rested since sharing seventh place at the Valero Texas Open where he averaged 14 GIR per round (second overall) and paced the field in strokes gained: tee-to-green. It’s a true reflection on his default strength as he’s second on the PGA TOUR in strokes gained: tee-to-green, but he’s also No. 1 in strokes gained: around-the-green. The potent combo has yielded a 10-for-10 season with four top 20s. His glaring weakness is a super-streaky putter, but it’s mitigated by the small greens at Harbour Town. He proved as much here last year with a T7. Russell Knox … The 33-year-old Scot is a familiar face in this space over the years and this is his third appearance as a Sleeper in 2019 alone, but he deserves the attention. He’s survived 13 consecutive worldwide, five of which going for a top 25. He’s also perfect in five trips to Harbour Town since his debut in 2014 with a T2 (2016) among four top 20s and a scoring average of 69.40. Sits 30th on TOUR in strokes gained: tee-to-green and fourth in proximity. Ryan Armour … It’s easy to forget that the 43-year-old is enjoying just the first full season of fully exempt status earned after winning the Sanderson Farms Championship in late October of 2017. Indeed, he’ll ride it through at least 2019-20, so the pressure is off to keep his card. Even better, at least in the shorter-term, he’s poised to return to the Playoffs as he’s currently positioned at 76th in points. His best of five top 25s this season occurred just four weeks ago at the Valspar Championship where he finished T6 and led the field in scrambling while also ranking T10 in fairways hit, T14 in greens in regulation, T3 in proximity to the hole and second in strokes gained: tee-to-green. Based on season-long measurements, he’s an ideal fit at Harbour Town since he’s third in fairways hit, 11th in proximity and 18th in scrambling. This is his fourth appearance and second consecutive. Jonas Blixt … While he’s in his eighth season on the PGA TOUR, it’s still a little hard to believe that he’s approaching his 35th birthday (on April 24). It’s a phenomenon that happens following a career-worst season that was the first of two with fully exempt status achieved with a victory. Next week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans will mark the two-year anniversary of his win with Cameron Smith in the team format. Blixt has been trending nicely (yet quietly) of late. He’s cashed in each of his last six starts, two of which for a top 25 to double his total from all of last season. Putting is still his strength, and while he ranked ninth in scrambling en route to a T14 here last year, he also finished 14th in both strokes gained: approach-the-green and strokes gained: tee-to-green. Jonathan Byrd … The South Carolina native and five-time PGA TOUR winner has been as loyal as he can be to the tournament since debuting as a rookie in 2002, yet he’s connected for only one top-25 finish, and that was way back in 2004 when he placed T16. Perhaps this is the year that he establishes a personal best as he’s taking advantage of every opportunity despite Past Champion status. This is his third straight appearance via a sponsor exemption (2015, 2018), but he rolls in at 114th in the FedExCup with four top 25s in only eight starts, the best of which a solo fourth three weeks ago at Corales. Currently co-leading the PGA TOUR in par-4 scoring average and ranks second in scrambling. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.

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The photo shows the golfer with his arm around his caddie. They’re both smiling. They should have been. Last year playing on PGA TOUR Series-China, the player, Malaysia’s Arie Irawan, and the caddie, his wife of three weeks, the former Marina Malek, traveled to Guilin, China, where Arie played well at that week’s tournament and was in contention before eventually settling for a tie for fourth. Although Marina knew very little about golf, she was ready for the challenge of caddying, she loved who she was working for that week and her “boss� was more than happy with her performance. “I’m so lucky I have my wife here this week,� Irawan said following his first round. “This is the first time Marina is traveling and caddying for me, and she’s also taking care of the food, so that makes it easy. It helps a lot having her out there. It just makes me more calm, and that’s why I didn’t make any bogeys today. She makes me happy.� That joy turned to sadness in a stunning way Sunday morning in Sanya, China, as Irawan never woke up, dying in his sleep in his hotel room as resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful. He was 28.   Irawan was in Sanya for another tournament, this time the Sanya Championship, the second event of the PGA TOUR Series-China season. Marina was back home in Malaysia. Irawan had missed the cut a week earlier in Chongqing and didn’t play well in Sanya, not qualifying for weekend play again. But since he was already in the resort city bordering the South China Sea, Irawan elected to stay on site in a hotel room he was sharing with fellow player Kevin Techakanokboon. His plan was to then travel to Haikou, about a 90-minute train ride on the north side of Hainan Island, for this week’s Haikou Championship. News of his death stunned everybody who knew Irawan, an international player who travelled all over the world playing golf. Out of deference and respect, Tour officials delayed the start of the Sanya Championship final round and then ultimately cancelled it after announcing Irawan’s death. “In the times I was with him or just around him, there was always a smile on his face—whether it was playing golf, him working out or just hanging out with friends. He always had a smile,� said Shotaro Ban, a Series member who was summoned to the scene early Sunday morning and performed CPR on Irawan before emergency personnel arrived. “I think anyone who met him or knew him realized he was an extremely genuine person. He didn’t have that much to stay, but he had a great heart, and his wife is just like him. Arie exemplified what it means to be a professional golfer, a husband and a friend in the true nature. I’m just devastated by this loss.� The PGA TOUR’s Todd Rhinehart recently returned to the United States after living in Malaysia and serving as the CIMB Classic Executive Director. He said it was in 2015 when Irawan became more than just an acquaintance. That year, the native Malaysian qualified for the tournament held in Kuala Lumpur. Irawan was one of three Malaysians in the field that week, the most in the tournament’s history. “He was 24 at the time and was anxious and nervous to be playing in his first PGA TOUR event,� Rhinehart recalled. “Over the years, I saw and talked to him at TPC Kuala Lumpur while he was practicing as well as competing in our national qualifier for the CIMB Classic. He was not only one of Malaysia’s most-talented golfers, he was also an incredible young man who served as a passionate ambassador for junior golf in the country.� It was in Malaysia where Irawan got his start in the game, taking up golf eight years after he was born on August 21, 1990, to Ahmad and Jeny Irawan. In 2006 and 2007, he finished runner-up at Faldo Series events in Malaysia, and as an 18-year-old, he won the Malaysian Amateur Stroke Play Championship. With those successes, he began to attract attention from U.S. college coaches interested in securing his services. Irawan elected to attend and play golf at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. While in college, Irawan earned four letters, was an Academic All-American his junior year and earned his degree in management information systems. Upon graduation, he returned to Malaysia to embark on a professional golf career.   “His death has been tough on all of us. Golf being such a tight-knit community, it really is a shock what has happened,� said veteran Benjamin Lein, who became friends with Irawan last year when he joined the Tour as a full member. In February and back in California before the start of the PGA TOUR Series-China season, Lein put together a foursome at Industry Hills Golf Club outside Los Angeles, inviting Irawan to join him and fellow Series member Gunn Charoenkul, as well as China’s Haotong Li, for a friendly game. “It just felt like no matter where in the world we were together, he was always the same, friendly, happy Arie,� Lein noted. Li agreed with that assessment. The 2014 PGA TOUR Series-China Player of the Year learned of Irawan’s death while preparing to play his final round at the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio. “I can’t believe it. He was such a nice guy, and I feel like it’s so unfair,� said Li, who met Irawan for the first time that week in California as Li was preparing for the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship the following week. “We had a great time playing. It was a really fun day, his wife was there and Gunn’s wife (Vichuda) was there, too. It was very comfortable. He was like an old friend even though I just met him. There’s nothing to say, really. It’s just so very sad. I couldn’t believe it when I read the news.� “Being on the road away from family is tough, especially numerous weeks at a time. It’s always nice to have someone who points out the positive in every situation to keep us going,� Lein added. “That’s what Arie did. He was a selfless friend who always made everyone else around him better in different ways. I never was able to thank him for that, but he will forever be close to my heart.� Like many golfers playing at the PGA TOUR China-Series level, Irawan had his ups and downs, the two missed cuts to begin the season certainly disappointing. His best season as a professional came in 2015 when he won two Asian Developmental Tour tournaments—the PGM Sime Darby Harvard Championship and the ICTSI Eagle Ridge Invitational. A shoulder injury from a motorcycle accident curtailed his momentum in 2016. He was out of action from March until mid-August that season, and he had since struggled to regain the form he showed in 2015. “We ran into each other and talked for 10 minutes about the status of his game while I was still in Malaysia,� Rinehart added. “He was very excited about the upcoming season on the China Series and was hoping to have a great year to qualify for the Web.com Tour as he had spent some time in California with his swing coach and enjoyed his time there. “I can’t believe he’s gone,� Rhinehart continued. “My thoughts are about him and my prayers are with his family during this incredibly tough time.� Perhaps Techakanokboon said it best when he described his close friend. “Arie had a lot of experience and was wise beyond his years. He really carried himself as a professional all the time. I’m going to miss him.�

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MEDINAH, Ill. – Abraham Ancer made a putt that was worth $308,333 on hole No. 18 on Sunday at THE NORTHERN TRUST to finish in solo second place. Even though it was the fourth and final round of the event, it was only Ancer’s third competitive round ever using the putter.  Before the event started, Ancer switched out of an Odyssey White Hot Pro No. 5 putter model — with a “butaneâ€� finish — that he had used throughout the summer. He switched into a new Odyssey White Hot No. 7 model, which was equipped with a Stroke Lab putter shaft – a multi-material construction instead of the steel shaft he used prior. Ancer told PGATOUR.COM that he was hitting the ball so well and putting so poorly with the new No. 7 putter in his first round of THE NORTHERN TRUST that he decided to switch putters for the second round. Instead of going back to his old No. 5 putter, however, he switched into a new No. 5 with a different finish that was also equipped with a Stroke Lab shaft. According to an Odyssey putter representative, the new No. 5 head is slightly heavier than the old No. 5 head due to the weight distribution of the shaft, and the new black-and-blue colorway matches Ancer’s Porsche car. Aside from those minor changes, the putter is a replica of his old No. 5 model. That wasn’t the only switch that Ancer made prior to the tournament, though. Prior to THE NORTHERN TRUST, Ancer was using a Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero three-diamond prototype driver equipped with a Mitsubishi Tensei White shaft. While he stuck with the same driver head, he changed in a Mitsubishi Tensei Blue shaft. The change may seem subtle, but Ancer said the switch from Tensei White to Tensei Blue allowed him to turn the ball over from left-to-right a bit easier, rather than the ball staying out to the right. The driver change also worked. Ancer ended up finishing first in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee on the week.

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