Reliving Kenny Knox’s improbable win in 1986 at The Honda Classic

On paper, the odds are stacked against the underdog International side at the 14th Presidents Cup. With an average age of 28.8, it’s the youngest group to compete in the history of the event. The average Official World Golf Ranking for the roster is 48.9, the highest number in the event’s history. Their opposition has 10 players ranked better currently than the International side’s leading man, Hideki Matsuyama. But three years ago at Royal Melbourne, facing similar pre-event numbers, the International side nearly pulled off one of the biggest upsets in team golf history. A record eight rookies will help fuel captain Trevor Immelman’s efforts to finish the job this week in Charlotte, and pick up the second win all-time for the International Team. Tom Kim As the third-youngest player ever to compete at the Presidents Cup, Tom Kim is inarguably one of the most exciting talents to watch this week in Charlotte. With his win at last month’s Wyndham Championship, the 20-year-old became the youngest PGA TOUR winner from outside the United States since Harry Cooper in 1923. Kim is literally trying to lead the International side to something he’s never seen in his lifetime: the only time they have won the Presidents Cup was in 1998, four years before Kim was born. Kim put on a ball-striking show this summer: from July 1 through the TOUR Championship, Kim ranked No. 2 among all qualified TOUR players in Strokes Gained: Approach per round (+1.15). In that same span, he ranks 10th in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and 14th in scoring average. Kim would have ranked in the top-20 on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Total per round (+1.09) if he had enough rounds to officially qualify. Taylor Pendrith One of the only players on TOUR ahead of Kim in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking since the beginning of July is fellow International Team rookie Taylor Pendrith. The long-hitting Canadian ranked No. 4 overall on TOUR in that statistic from July through the TOUR Championship, the best of any player competing this week at Quail Hollow. Pendrith finished the 2022 season ranked inside the top-10 in both driving distance and greens in regulation. Former world No. 1 Jon Rahm is the only other player with that distinction last season. Mito Pereira The lofty ceiling of Mito Pereira’s immense talent was on full display earlier this year at the PGA Championship, when he got within one hole of becoming a major champion. Though the finish to that championship wasn’t what he wanted, the 27-year-old Chilean vaulted himself into the conversation as one of the potential future pillars of the International Team. His full 2022 statistical profile reveals a player with elite iron play: No. 9 on the PGA TOUR in Strokes Gained: Approach, 14th in greens in regulation and sixth in average proximity from the rough. Pereira finished the 2022 season ranked 19th on the PGA TOUR in Strokes Gained: Total, the fifth-best position for any player without a win. Corey Conners As one of the most known commodities on the International roster, it’s easy to forget this is Corey Conners’ first Presidents Cup appearance. Since the beginning of 2019, Conners has been statistically among the best players in the game tee-to-green. In that span, he ranks fourth in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking, sixth in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and ninth in Strokes Gained: Approach. Conners is the only player on the PGA TOUR since 2019 to average at least +0.60 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and +0.60 Strokes Gained: Approach per round. Sebastián Muñoz There are only six players in PGA TOUR history to record multiple rounds of 60 or lower in their entire careers. In 2021-22, Sebastián Muñoz became the first player to record two such rounds in the same season, carding 60s at both The RSM Classic and AT&T Byron Nelson. Muñoz, who has qualified for the FedExCup Playoffs in each of the last four seasons, has been consistently solid for months now, making 15 of his last 17 cuts. In terms of sheer number of birdies made, Muñoz is one of the most prolific on TOUR in recent seasons. Over the last three years, only two players have recorded more birdies than Muñoz (1,070) – world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and teammate Sungjae Im. K.H. Lee Another player with a propensity for red numbers is K.H. Lee – who ranks 11th in total birdies made since the 2020 season. Earlier this year, Lee won the AT&T Byron Nelson at 26 under, one year after winning it with a score of 25 under. With the victory, Lee became the first player in TOUR history to win the same event in back-to-back years with a score of 25 under or better. At the 2021 Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, Lee recorded four hole-outs from off the green, most of any player in the field. Can he rediscover that magic this week? Cam Davis Statistically, the defining line of when Cam Davis’ 2022 season turned around was Sunday at the RBC Heritage, when he shot a closing 63 to vault into a tie for third place. Heading to Harbour Town, Davis was ranked 178th on TOUR in scoring average and was outside the top 125 in both Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and Strokes Gained: Total. He’s been a different player since then, though – from the RBC Heritage through the end of the PGA TOUR season, Davis had one missed cut and seven top-20s in 12 starts. In that span, he ranked top-30 on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking, Tee-to-Green and Total. Christiaan Bezuidenhout Coming off a season with 10 top-25s and just four missed cuts in 24 starts, Christiaan Bezuidenhout might be the best putter competing this week at Quail Hollow. He ranked sixth on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting per round for the 2022 season, the highest mark of any player on either team this week. When isolating the numbers just since the beginning of July, it’s even more impressive: from July 1 through the TOUR Championship, Bezuidenhout averaged 1.59 Strokes Gained: Putting per round, by far the best of any qualified player.

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Daniel Berger takes a run at becoming the first man since 2011 to three-peat a PGA TOUR event, joining reigning U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka and predecessor Dustin Johnson in the final stop before Shinnecock Hills. This year will be the final pre-Open setting for the longtime Memphis stop, which gets an upgrade to World Golf Championships status in 2019 and will move into the late summer slot following the Open Championship. FIELD NOTES: Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson also will take a running start into Open week, giving the lineup four of the top 20 players in the world rankings. Stenson visits Memphis for the first time since 2012. … In all, 13 St. Jude entrants will use Memphis as a tuneup for Shinnecock Hills. That number could rise after Monday’s final Open qualifying. … Ole Miss junior Braden Thornberry, fourth last year after capturing the NCAA individual title, returns on another sponsor exemption. … Two other former college standouts join the lineup: Grant Hirschman (Oklahoma) and Dawson Armstrong (Lipscomb). … John Daly, now primarily on the PGA TOUR Champions, joins the Memphis lineup for the first time since 2014. … Memphis native Casey Wittenberg tees it up on the PGA TOUR for the first time since 2016 at Torrey Pines. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. STORYLINES: Berger, whose only two professional wins have come at TPC Southwind, sets out to become just the sixth man in the past four decades to win three straight at the same venue. Steve Stricker was the last to pull it off, winning three John Deere Classics from 2009-11. … Mickelson, never lower than 11th in any of the past five editions, returns to sharpen his game ahead of the only major he hasn’t won. The Hall of Famer has six top-6 finishes this season, including a win at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship. … Koepka arrives off a runner-up finish at the Fort Worth Invitational, just his third start since a 16-week layoff to let a wrist injury heal. …Just five St. Jude champions have come from outside the United States, with Nick Price winning twice in 1993 and ’98. The others: Gary Player (1974), Greg Norman (1997), Lee Westwood (2010) and Fabian Gomez (2015). … A U.S. Open berth remains available for anyone who moves into the top 60 of the world rankings after the St. Jude’s conclusion. Seeking a last-gasp rise: No.63 Patton Kizzire and No.65 Adam Scott. COURSE: TPC Southwind, 7,244 yards, par 70. Hosting its 30th edition of the St. Jude Classic, the former dairy farm takes a step up next year as a World Golf Championships venue. Architect Ron Prichard teamed with former U.S. Open champions Hubert Green and Fuzzy Zoeller on a layout that winds through natural lakes, streams and ponds southeast of Memphis. Loren Roberts was brought in for a 2004 upgrade that removed dozens of trees on the property and replaced Southwind’s bentgrass greens with more heat-tolerant Bermuda strain. Southwind’s par-3 11th hole draws comparisons with the famed 17th at TPC Sawgrass, requiring a short iron over water to a small island green. 72-HOLE RECORD: 258, John Cook (1996). 18-HOLE RECORD: 59, Al Geiberger (2nd round, 1977 at Colonial CC). TPC Southwind record: 61, Jay Delsing (4th round, 1993), Bob Estes (1st round, 2001). LAST YEAR: Berger picked up his second PGA TOUR title at the same place he claimed his first, emerging from a logjam at the top with a bogey-free 66 on the final day. A 17-foot birdie at No.15 pushed Berger to the front for good, finishing at 10-under-par 270 and one stroke clear of Charl Schwartzel and Whee Kim. Thornberry was among five players who finished two shots off the pace, becoming the first amateur to record a top-10 finish at Memphis since 1965. At one point, nine players shared the final-round lead at 8-under before Berger finally rose above the crowd. The Florida native became the St. Jude Classic’s fourth back-to-back winner and first since David Toms in 2003-04. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. (Featured Groups), 4-7 p.m. (Featured Holes). RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.COM).

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Rory McIlroy defends his title at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, where last year’s back-nine blitz snapped an 18-month victory drought. Tiger Woods, meantime, hopes to get his season heated up at place where he’s won eight previous times. Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, 2016 winner Jason Day, and honorary co-host Justin Rose also top the marquee, as Bay Hill once again becomes the final tuneup for THE PLAYERS Championship. FIELD NOTES: Reigning Open Championship titleholder Francesco Molinari makes his first start on U.S. soil since the Sentry Tournament of Champions, topping an international sector that includes Ryder Cup partner Tommy Fleetwood, Hideki Matsuyama, Ian Poulter and Haotong Li. … Phil Mickelson, the 1997 Bay Hill champion and a recent winner at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, returns to Arnie’s Place for the first time since 2013. … Bay Hill expects to welcome 17 of the FedExCup’s current top 30. … U.S. Amateur champion Viktor Hovland makes his third TOUR start since capturing that crown. The Oklahoma State junior is No. 1 in the collegiate rankings, one spot ahead of teammate Matthew Wolff, who recently made the cut at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. … Hovland isn’t the only collegian in the field. Fourth-ranked Justin Suh also is playing. He recently won the Southwestern Invitational, his seventh win in his past 16 collegiate starts. … Other exemptions went to former NCAA champion Braden Thornberry and Sam Horsfield, born in England but raised in nearby Davenport, Florida. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. STORYLINES: McIlroy, whose win last year was his first since the 2016 TOUR Championship, hopes Bay Hill can get him over the hump again. He arrives off four consecutive top-5 finishes, including a runner-up at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship… Woods makes his 18th Bay Hill start with momentum from a share of 10th in Mexico, his first top-10 of the season. He tied for fifth last year in his first visit since winning in 2013. In addition to his eight TOUR titles at Bay Hill, he also won the 1991 U.S. Junior Amateur there. It was the first of his six USGA amateur titles. … McIlroy’s victory was the seventh by an international player in the past 13 editions, after going the first 27 years with just one non-American winner. … Rose, already a winner at the Farmers Insurance Open, adds the role of co-host this year, one of three sharing the function Palmer once enjoyed. Former Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman and Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings round out the trio. COURSE: Bay Hill Club & Lodge, 7,419 yards, par 72. Acclaimed by Palmer as the “best course in Florida� after playing a 1965 exhibition on Orlando’s western edge, it turned into a 50-year love affair as Palmer made Bay Hill his winter base and eventually bought the property. Bay Hill first welcomed the TOUR in 1979, when the old Florida Citrus Open moved across town. Built in 1961 by Dick Wilson, Palmer’s constant tinkering over the years left no doubt about whose stamp it bears. Bay Hill’s closing trio of holes often generates a dramatic finish, most notably the 7-iron hole-out at No. 18 by Robert Gamez to stun Greg Norman in 1990. For those visiting Central Florida, must-play courses include ChampionsGate GC (ChampionsGate, Florida), Hawks’ Landing GC (Orlando) and Mission Inn Resort & Club (Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida). Book your reservations via TeeOff.com. 72-HOLE RECORD: 264, Payne Stewart (1987). 18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Andy Bean (2nd round, 1981), Greg Norman (2nd round, 1984), Adam Scott (1st round, 2014). LAST YEAR: McIlroy notched his 14th TOUR victory in a manner Palmer would have been proud of, blitzing Bay Hill’s back nine with five birdies in his final six holes on the way to a three-shot romp. McIlroy began the day two shots behind Henrik Stenson and didn’t make his first birdie until No. 6, then suddenly seemed as though he couldn’t miss. The highlight came with a chip-in at No.1 5, part of a four-birdie run that began at the 13th. McIlroy’s closing 64 was the lowest final round by a Bay Hill winner since Gary Koch in 1984. It was a special win in another way, as McIlroy’s last triumph – the 2016 TOUR Championship – came on the same day Palmer passed away. DeChambeau finished second after a 68, while Woods stayed in the hunt until driving out of bounds at the par-5 16th on the way to a share of fifth. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 12:30-2:30 p.m. (GC), 2:30-6 p.m. (NBC). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. ET (featured groups). Saturday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. (featured groups), 2:30-6 p.m. (featured holes). International subscribers (via GOLFTV): Thursday-Friday, 12:30 to 23:00 GMT. Saturday, 14:00 to 23:00. Sunday, 13:00 to 22:00. RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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