Pro golfer Tadd Fujikawa announces he is gay

This was to have been the week of the tournament for the Summer Olympics in Japan, but Justin Rose’s chance to defend the gold medal was tabled until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In its stead is an appropriate gathering for the aptly titled World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Seventy-eight golfers representing 19 countries from six continents will be competing in the traditional 72-hole, stroke-play competition. For just the second year, TPC Southwind will play host. There is no cut. For a review of how the familiar course challenged in its first spin for the WGC, what this week’s field should expect and more, scroll past the extended list of projected contenders. RELATED: Featured Groups | The First Look POWER RANKINGS: WGC-FEDEX ST. JUDE INVITATIONAL Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider will include reviews of defending champion Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Gary Woodland, Rickie Fowler, Marc Leishman, Henrik Stenson and other notables. In part to ensure proper depth for the tournament during this unprecedented time, the field for the WGC-St. Jude was increased to 78 during the hiatus. Coincidentally, 63 automatic qualifiers were committed as of midday Monday. That matches the field of last year’s pre-pandemic edition without the field-expanding initiative. Shugo Imahira, Francesco Molinari, Thomas Pieters, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Lee Westwood and Tiger Woods all passed on spots for various reasons, so 15 golfers from outside the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking on July 20 gained entry in order of position. (A similar accommodation was introduced at the 2019 WGC-Mexico Championship so that its field was 72 deep.) In its debut as host of the WGC-St. Jude a year ago, TPC Southwind surrendered a scoring average of 69.504. It never scored that low as the site of the FedEx St. Jude Classic (1989-2018). It’s been a stock par 70 since 2005. As directly proportional to the bump in talent that the scoring average reflected, improvements in fairways hit, greens in regulation, average distance of putts made, putting: birdie-or-better percentage, par-4 scoring and par-5 scoring were noticeable. Although it yields low scores, TPC Southwind remains a complete test, which is to say that it reveals who’s on his game against the best competition. Distance off the tee is a bonus, not a prerequisite. New tees at the par-5 third hole and par-4 17th have stretched those holes by 25 and 15 yards, respectively, but overall length of TPC Southwind remains a gettable 7,277 yards. Those are not insignificant changes, but the bulk of what’s different this year are the bunkers. Each was renovated and/or moved for strategic defense purposes. Champion bermudagrass greens are dialed to roll 12 feet on the Stimpmeter. It’s the middle of the summer and this is warm and sticky Memphis, so rain and storms are all but guaranteed to impact any four-day event. The WGC-St. Jude is no exception as an elevated threat of inclement weather greets the field on Thursday. It tapers into the weekend, but it doesn’t disappear. Winds could be gusty with the greatest energy in the air. Whoever survives the elements and the broader field will earn 550 FedExCup points and a three-year PGA TOUR membership exemption. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Fantasy Insider * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Kurt Kitayama came into The Honda Classic with 25 previous appearances on the PGA TOUR, most of them ending by missing the cut. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Former roommates Peter Uihlein and Brooks Koepka enjoy strong start at Honda He’s on track to do a bit better this week in The Honda Classic. Kitayama — ranked No. 289 in the world — was nearly flawless at PGA National on Thursday, shooting a 6-under 64 to take a one-shot lead over Daniel Berger, Chris Kirk and Rory Sabbatini. It was Kitayama’s best score in 69 rounds on the PGA TOUR, fueled by a career-best run of four consecutive birdies on his second nine. And he qualifies as a surprise leader, considering even he didn’t expect a start like this. “Maybe not a start like that, but I felt like I’ve been playing well, and I’ve started to figure out my putting to kind of find this kind of round,” said Kitayama, a California native and former UNLV player who has missed cuts 64 percent of the time — 16 out of 25 — in TOUR events. Berger also was bogey-free, and missed an 8-foot birdie try on the par-5 18th to settle for 65. Peter Uihlein, TOUR rookie Matthias Schwab and Danny Willett were among the group at 67. Brooks Koepka, a Palm Beach County native basically playing a home game this week, was in a group at 68. And Joaquin Niemann, the Genesis winner last week at Riviera in Los Angeles, was 4 under through 12 before giving it all back and settling for an even-par 70. “I didn’t do anything to really deserve to be 4 or 5 under,” Koepka said. “That’s a great score here. Just kind of ho-hummed it around.” Kitayama started on the back nine, opened with three consecutive birdies, then had the run of four consecutive birdies — capped by rolling in a 20-footer from just off the green on the par-4 6th, his 15th hole of the day. “Conditions of the course are perfect,” Kitayama said. “It’s just really tough.” He made it look easy. So did Sabbatini and Berger. Sabbatini, the 2011 Honda Classic winner, had a bogey-free round of 65 with four birdies on the back nine. It was the first time Sabbatini played PGA National as a pro without making a single bogey. “I’m very well aware of it,” Sabbatini said. Berger — whose back has been iffy in recent weeks — was 5 under through 11, then finished with seven consecutive pars. “It’s nice to get off to a good start,” said Berger, who grew up playing junior golf at PGA National. Neither Kitayama nor Sabbatini is a bomber; Kitayama entered the week tied for 74th in driving distance on TOUR, Sabbatini tied for 172nd. That makes PGA National to their liking, considering it’s not a course that gets overpowered. “I’m getting to that point in my game where I think I’ve gotten past where I feel like I’m, I hate to say it, truly competitive out here,” the 45-year-old Sabbatini said. “There’s too many guys out here that have much more firepower, so I’ve just got to kind of pick and choose my way around the golf course. To me, it’s become more of a chess game and less about throwing some darts out there.”

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PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Tiger Woods doesn’t have much in common with the average golf fan, but like the multitudes who watch him on television and crowd along gallery ropes, his curiosity sent him to the Internet to search out how he stands in the PGA TOUR’s stats. Woods’ progress in this latest comeback dominates headlines whenever he tees it up, but there’s no one more interested in Woods’ performance than the man himself. There was only problem when Woods peeked at the PGA TOUR’s myriad of metrics, though. “I’m not even on the rankings. I haven’t played enough rounds,â€� he said. His performance at The Honda Classic led many to believe that his 80th win could come this year, but that optimism is tempered by the realization that Woods is still in the nascent stages of this comeback. “I think I’ve come around very quickly. I’ve only played 10 rounds,â€� Woods said. “I know people are saying that I’ve been erratic, a little inconsistent, but ten rounds, it’s not that many.â€� He’s ranked 132nd in the FedExCup as he seeks to make the Playoffs for the first time since 2013. Woods has two top-25s in three starts this season. The two-time FedExCup champion hasn’t qualified for the postseason since finishing second in the 2013 FedExCup. He’ll play the Valspar Championship’s first two rounds alongside two fellow FedExCup champions, Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson. It’s the first time Woods and Spieth have been paired since the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open, when Woods fired a second-round 82 en route to a last place finish. Spieth sympathized with an injured player whose every move was being dissected and discussed. “It was difficult then because you knew he was trying to come back while in some pain, and in his process of rehab wile playing the tournament,â€� Spieth said Wednesday. “But obviously it’s Tiger. All eyes are on Tiger. It was a difficult thing to watch because … (he’s) bugged every single shot of every single round. He’s going to need some reps on the course. “The same thing is going on right now. It’s not like he’s had a lot of tournament experience. But, he seems to be more prepared, healthier and ready to go and patient.â€� The Valspar Championship will be the first new event for Woods since the 2015 Wyndham Championship, where he finished 10th before his back injuries forced him to take a 15-month layoff. His short stay at Riviera, where he missed the cut in the Genesis Open, inspired him to add the Valspar to his schedule. Woods is a creature of habit when it comes to scheduling, but he felt healthy enough to add a new stop to his comeback trail. “After playing Honda and really feeling good about it, I wanted to push myself in my practice sessions, which I did, pushed myself in the gym a little bit,â€� Woods said. “I can handle two weeks in a row.â€� He’ll face a Copperhead Course at Innisbrook that allows players to hit shorter clubs off the tee but is punishing for mishits. It has a strong reputation as being a ball-striker’s course where accurate iron play is a necessity. Like he did in his 12th-place finish at The Honda Classic, Woods will be able to leave the club that has given him the most trouble, the driver, in his bag on a majority of holes. Woods is gaining strokes in three of the four Strokes Gained Categories. Off-the-Tee would be the lone exception. He’d rank 13th in Strokes Gained: Putting (+0.68) and 42nd in Strokes Gained: Approach (+0.42). After getting within four shots of the lead in The Honda’s final round, Woods was home last week while one of his contemporaries, Phil Mickelson, was winning the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship. Woods was happy with the way he shaped his shots in the wind at PGA National, but spent his off week trying to raise the trajectory of his iron shots. When asked what he’d consider a successful week, Woods didn’t discuss victory. “Keep progressing, making small changes, small tweaks,â€� he said. “I was able to do it the last tournament I played in and hopefully I can make a few small tweaks this week.â€� Woods has shown he’s capable of contending, but this early in his return, he’s measuring success by a different metric.

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