Remembering Celia Barquín Arozamena, her humor, horses and hugs

The final event of the 2017-18 PGA TOUR season is here, with golf’s biggest prize up for grabs. The FedExCup will be awarded on Sunday to one of the 30 players in the field at the TOUR Championship. The top five players in FedExCup points control their destiny. If Bryson DeChambeau (1), Justin Rose (2), Tony Finau (3), Dustin Johnson (4) or Justin Thomas (5) wins the TOUR Championship, he will be guaranteed the FedExCup. The other 25 players each require help in order to wrap their hands around the FedExCup and its $10 million bonus. PGA TOUR LIVE will air live coverage for the first two rounds (Thursday/Friday) starting at 10 a.m. ET with a preview show, then going directly to the first tee time at 11:40 a.m. ET. Featured Holes coverage will then begin of the par-4 first, the par-3 15th and the par-5 18th. Weekend coverage of the final two rounds will go directly to Featured Holes coverage starting at 12 noon (Saturday) and 11:30 a.m. (Sunday). A free live stream on Twitter will be available on Thursday and Friday between 10 a.m. to approximately 11:35 a.m. ET. Players will be paired in twosomes for each day and will be re-paired before every round. For Thursday’s first round at East Lake, players are paired according to their FedExCup points standing, with the final twosome of DeChambeau and Rose teeing off at 2 p.m. ET. MORE: PGA TOUR LIVE | Tee times Here’s a look at some of the Featured Groups on Thursday (FedExCup ranking in parentheses): Tommy Fleetwood (19), Tiger Woods (20): Woods – the only two-time FedExCup champ — is making his first TOUR Championship appearance in five years. He won at East Lake in 2007 in the inaugural year of the FedExCup. Fleetwood is making his first career start at the TOUR Championship. Two weeks ago at the BMW Championship, Woods opened with a 62, while Fleetwood shot consecutive 62s in the middle two rounds. Tee time: 12:30 p.m. ET. Rory McIlroy (17), Xander Schauffele (18): Both know what it’s like to win at East Lake. McIlroy won the FedExCup title in 2016 in a three-man playoff for the TOUR Championship, while Schauffele won the TOUR Championship last season to put a bow on his Rookie of the Year campaign. Both played well at the BMW Championship, each finishing inside the top 5. Tee time: 12:40 p.m. ET. Brooks Koepka (7), Bubba Watson (8): Between them, they’ve combined for five wins this season. Oh, and you may have heard – each one drives the ball a very long way. Watson ranks seventh in driving distance average at 313.1 yards; Koepka ranks eighth at 313.0 yards. Neither has made much noise during the Playoffs, although Koepka finished strongly at the BMW. Tee time: 1:30 p.m. ET. Justin Thomas (5), Keegan Bradley (6): Last year’s FedExCup champ playing with the most recent winner in the FedExCup Playoffs. Thomas did not win the TOUR Championship last season, but his second-place finish was good enough to earn him the FedExCup title. He’d like to win both this time. Bradley ended a six-year winless streak on TOUR with his playoff victory over Justin Rose at Aronimink two weeks ago. Tee time: 1:40 p.m. ET Tony Finau (3), Dustin Johnson (4): Remember what we said about the power of Koepka and Watson off the tee? Well, these two are statistically even more powerful. Finau ranks third in driving distance at 316.3 yards, while Johnson is sixth at 314.2 yards. Both also have the same number of top-10s this season – a TOUR-leading 11 – but Finau still is looking for his first victory of the year. If he claims the TOUR Championship, he’ll also win the FedExCup. Tee time: 1:50 p.m. ET Bryson DeChambeau (1), Justin Rose (2): DeChambeau won the first two Playoffs events, guaranteeing the top spot going into East Lake. Rose has finished T-2 and solo second in his last two starts. While DeChambeau is making his first appearance at East Lake, Rose has a very good track record at the course, with a couple of seconds among his five top-10 finishes. Tee time: 2 p.m. ET

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Presidents Cup International Team captain Ernie Els received a nice piece of news during the lengthy rain delay Thursday at the first round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Els is headed to Pebble Beach in June for the U.S. Open. The USGA gave the two-time U.S. Open champ a special exemption for the second consecutive year.  Els is the first player to receive consecutive exemptions since Hale Irwin in 2002 and 2003. Els, who is partnering fellow South African Trevor Immelman this week at TPC Louisiana while also evaluating potential players for his Presidents Cup team in Australia in December, won the U.S. Open at Oakmont in 1994 and at Congressional in 1997. This will be his third U.S. Open start at Pebble Beach, site of this year’s championship. Els finished third in 2010, two shots behind Graeme McDowell. He tied for second in 2000, 15 shots behind Tiger Woods. His appearance at Pebble Beach this year will be his 27th U.S. Open start. Els is among 50 players exempt from qualifying. The USGA will take the top 60 in the world rankings after next month’s PGA Championship for players not already eligible.

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Tiger Woods went bogey-free and shot 66 on Saturday, but on a day when the scoring average was just over 67, he finished the third round 5 strokes back of leader Justin Rose at the BMW Championship.

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