Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas Don ‘I Made Tiger Great Again’ Shirts in Celebration With Tiger Woods

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The World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions not only unites the PGA TOUR with talent from multiple tours for the first time since the PGA Championship in August, it’s the last opportunity of the calendar year for the 78 in the field to see how their game matches up against many of the best on the planet. Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai is the backdrop. The 7,261-yard par 72 has served as the site for this tournament as a FedExCup points-contributing contest every year since the PGA TOUR’s wraparound schedule was introduced in 2013, but it also hosted from 2009-2011. There is no cut, total prize money is $9.75 million and the winner will receive 550 FedExCup points. Turned Sheshan International into a video game en route to victory last year. T5 at CIMB Classic two weeks ago was proof that the stress and fatigue of 2016-17 is history. Season debut. Fizzled in the Playoffs after winning THE NORTHERN TRUST, but then went 4-0-1 at the Presidents Cup. Winner here in 2013. Added a T5 in 2015. Fresh off the sting of a P2 at THE CJ CUP, but led field in putts per GIR and birdie-or-better percentage despite ranking T36 in GIR in the wind. Two top 15s in Shanghai. First start since the Playoffs that he blistered in T10-T10-T2-T10 and ranked second in strokes gained: tee-to-green. Two top 10s in three trips to Sheshan International. Sustains world-class form despite aches and ailments. Shared distant runner-up honors here last year. Averaged 68.25 in his last eight rounds at Sheshan. Runner-up finishes in his last two starts. T3 (2015) and T6 (2017) at Sheshan with a scoring average of 68.125 in those eight rounds. Sixth on the European Tour in GIR. Incredibly streaky but now arguably the hottest golfer on the planet at the moment with victories in his last two starts. Prefaced the double with a T3-T8 fuse. In eight starts since winning the U.S. Open, has just one result outside a top 20. Ranked T3 in par-5 scoring in 2016-17. T40 in debut at Sheshan International last year. At this time last year, he was outside the top 120 in the OWGR. He’s now fifth and making his tournament debut. His only weakness remains inexperience, but not for long. Continues to thrive as he owns his schedule. Opened three-week Asian swing with a T10 in Malaysia, and then answered with a T11 in South Korea. T19 here last year. Riding another Pat(ented) heater. Backed up CIMB title with a T5 at THE CJ CUP. Hasn’t seen Sheshan International since a T10 in his debut in 2010 but it doesn’t matter. Ol’ reliable. A T19 at THE CJ CUP was his 15th top 20 in eight months. The 40-year-old has also recorded top 25s in all five trips to Sheshan International since 2010. Finished 25th in South Korea on Sunday, but he’s been a bit of a horse for Sheshan International. In five appearances, he’s registered four top 25s, including a T14 last year. Winner here in 2010 has another pair of top 10s, including a T6 last year. Placed T6 in his native Italy two weeks ago. Fourth in strokes gained: tee-to-green in 2016-17. Opened the season with a T11 at THE CJ CUP where his brilliant short game bailed out pedestrian ball-striking. Has a pair of top 25s in three tries at Sheshan International. It’s hard to believe but this is his first appearance in a WGC. No biggie. He logged top 20s in his debuts at the U.S. Open, Open Championship and PGA Championship. Tournament debut. Placed T11 at THE CJ CUP to open a rare fall schedule for him. Ranked second in the field in putting. Three top 10s since the PGA Championship. Won the inaugural stop at Sheshan International in 2009. Last appeared in 2013 and placed 14th. Rested since a confident T3 to open the season at Silverado. Still slumping in individual competition, but Sheshan International has brought out his best. He’s gone T11-T2 and averaged 68.25 in eight rounds on the course. Hasn’t resonated in the biggest events anywhere near as much as in this one where he’s placed T7 (2015) and T16 (2016). Strides in on a Win-T11-T15-T15 burst, too. POWER RANKINGS: WGC-HSBC CHAMPIONS RANK PLAYER COMMENT Hideki Matsuyama was at the peak of his game at this time last year. In a six-start stretch over a three-month period, he won four times and finished second twice, but he was arguably at his best at Sheshan International. In challenging weather conditions that inflated the scoring average to 71.904, Matsuyama scored 23-under 265 and won by seven strokes. Yet, he still finished a shot shy of matching Dustin Johnson’s tournament record in 2013. This is what’s possible at Sheshan International, but Matsuyama’s performance still exceeded expectations given that the elements lined up similarly to the 2014 edition won by Bubba Watson at just 11-under 277. This week’s forecast favors low scoring early and the proverbial par-is-a-good-score narrative by the final round when the wind is expected to howl. Mostly clear skies will accompany relatively cool air throughout. With four par 5s that averaged as the fifth-hardest set on the PGA TOUR all season, finding par breakers on those holes isn’t just important, it’s a prerequisite. Tuesday’s Confidence Factor will shed more light on this and how recent winners manufactured their victories. ROB BOLTON’S WRITING SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Columnist Rob Bolton will be filing his usual staples leading up to this week’s event. Look for the following columns this week. MONDAY: Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Power Rankings (WGC-HSBC) TUESDAY*: Power Rankings (Sanderson Farms), Sleepers, The Confidence Factor, Fantasy Insider WEDNESDAY: One & Done (WGC-HSBC), One & Done (Sanderson Farms) THURSDAY: Ownership Percentages in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf and One & Done presented by SERVPRO * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO, which also publishes on Tuesdays.

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In the final round of THE NORTHERN TRUST, Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth give fans a thrilling duel and a fascinating clash of styles that ends when Johnson blasts a 341-yard drive, hits a wedge inside 4 feet, and birdies the 18th hole in a playoff at Glen Oaks Club. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where the start of the FedExCup Playoffs gave fans in New York and around the world two of the most dynamic players in golf going head-to-head. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. We’ll see more D.J./Spieth battles. Although they have contrasting styles, Johnson and Spieth tend to play the same golf courses well. Both have won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Spieth in 2017, Johnson in 2009, 2010) and the Tournament of Champions at Kapalua (Spieth in 2016, Johnson in 2013). They were headed for a playoff at the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay before Johnson’s freakish three-putt on the 72nd hole. Then came THE NORTHERN TRUST at Glen Oaks on Sunday, when the two heavyweights found themselves going toe-to-toe yet again. “It seemed 50/50,â€� Spieth said of the fans’ preferences between the two. “I think everyone wanted a fight to the end. I think the way it played out, if I had been a fan, I would have been obviously very pleased with the way this tournament went. “But you know, it’s very difficult holding a lead on a difficult golf course when the guy you’re playing with goes bogey-free and doesn’t even really sniff a bogey and shoots 4 under. You know, hats off to D.J. But no surprise, either.â€� Food for thought: Johnson and Spieth have been paired together 23 times, with Johnson (48-under par) holding a slight edge over Spieth (46 under) in relation to par in those rounds. Spieth, though, has the head-to-head edge, shooting the lower score 12 times to Johnson’s nine. 2. This wasn’t David vs. Goliath. Much has been made of Johnson’s 341-yard drive and aggressive line over the water on 18 in the playoff. He had just 95 yards left, hit wedge to 3 feet, 7 inches from the pin, and made the birdie putt. But while Johnson’s power is impressive, Spieth had some pop of his own. He averaged 302.9 yards off the tee, ranking 18th in the field in driving distance. (Johnson averaged 314.3, and was second.) In fact, Spieth said afterward he regretted not taking the same line over the water, which he believed he could have cleared, what with the wind change in the playoff. Sometimes it’s more illuminating to examine how a winner performed in what is traditionally the weakest area of his game, which in Johnson’s case is putting. At Glen Oaks, he ranked 24th in strokes gained: putting (.667), heated up on the greens over the course of his back-nine 32, and salvaged par with a 17 ½-foot par putt on the last hole of regulation. Without that burst of Spieth-like putting, the winner wouldn’t have had a chance to wow, as he so often does, with the driver. 3. Spieth did a lot with what he had. Although Spieth started with a three-shot lead, the final round could easily have turned into a walkover—for Johnson. His birdies at Nos. 9 and 10 left them tied, and signaled that Johnson’s putting was finally warming to match his red-hot tee-to-green game, which has long been a daunting (and often unmanageable) prospect for his fellow competitors. Still, Spieth fought hard despite struggling from tee to green. His double-bogey at the par-3 sixth hole was uncharacteristic of him—of the last 10 times he’d led going into the last round, he’d won nine times—and hit just 10 greens in regulation, his worst of the week. “Played well,â€� Spieth said. “Game feels good. And I recognized a couple tendencies that I got into my swing towards the end of the round that prevented me from hitting great iron shots like I did before, so I know what to work on.â€� 4. Jon Rahm looked like his old self. The new FedExCup No. 1 Johnson joked that he needed a win more than Spieth, since Johnson, who is also No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking, hadn’t hoisted a trophy since the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play in late March. But they weren’t the week’s only big winners. Jon Rahm, who shot a final-round 68 to tie for third with Jhonattan Vegas, broke out of a mini-slump that saw him miss the cut at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide and the U.S. Open, and finish a blah T44 at The Open and T28 at the WGC-Bridgestone. At Glen Oaks, Rahm looked more like the sensation who won the Farmers Insurance Open and rocketed up the FedExCup standings earlier this season, in just his second year as a pro. He also moved up to fifth in the FedExCup standings, an important distinction given that the top five will control their own destiny at the season-ending TOUR Championship, Sept. 21-24. “It’s been quite a long time since I had such a good tournament on the PGA TOUR,â€� said Rahm, 22, “and it’s good to be back on track.â€� 5. Jhonattan Vegas compartmentalized well. Venezuelan Vegas, who lives in Houston, shot a final-round 65, tied for third, and all but wrapped up a spot on the International Presidents Cup team that will take on the Americans at Liberty National, Sept. 28-Oct. 1. Somehow, he did all of that as Hurricane Harvey slammed the Texas coast with torrential rain and winds of over 100 mph. Vegas, who lives in The Woodlands, slightly northwest of Houston, said his wife, daughter and mother were still back there, but safe. “The main thing is the family is OK,â€� Vegas said. “I know there’s a lot of people hurting right now with the rain but you know, it’s one of those things that sometimes you have to learn to deal with and try to putt as much things behind. “There’s not much that I can do at the moment, so you know, I’m sure they are feeling a little bit better that I actually had a good day today.â€� FIVE INSIGHTS 1. The cream rose to the top. Four of the top-nine finishers at Glen Oaks started the week in the top 10 in the FedExCup standings, but, oddly, not all four moved up in the standings. The top two, Johnson and Spieth, started at fourth and third before moving to first and second, respectively. So far, so good. Rahm tied for third and went from sixth to fifth. Fine. But because of the one-two finish by Johnson and Spieth, Justin Thomas, who started the week at No. 2 in the FedExCup, actually went backward, to No. 3, with his T6 finish at Glen Oaks. Tough league. 2. Big movers were few and far between. Only three players moved from outside to inside the top 100 in the FedExCup, playing their way into this week’s Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston. That’s the fewest number of gate-crashers since only two played their way in at the first FedExCup Playoffs event in 2007. The three: Bubba Watson (T10) went from 113th to 72nd; Harold Varner III (T20) moved from 123rd to 91st; and David Lingmerth (T29) narrowly got through, going from 103rd to 91st. Watson, incidentally, has spent the fourth most weeks (62) inside the top five of the FedExCup standings since 2013. Johnson (88) tops the list, followed by Jimmy Walker (73) and Spieth (66). 3. DJ’s pin-seeking was statistically historic. Johnson’s proximity-to-the-hole average of 25 feet, 1 inch was not only tops in the field, and it was not just nearly 12 feet better than the field average. It also was the second-best proximity-to-the-hole average by a winner in the history of the FedExCup Playoffs, trailing only Camilo Villegas (23 feet, 10 inches at ’08 BMW Championship). 4. Cantlay’s trajectory keeps going up. Thanks to a seven-way tie for 10th, there were more than the usual number of top-10 finishers at THE NORTHERN TRUST. Patrick Cantlay, who shot from 78th to 50th in the FedExCup, was not the biggest mover in the group—Bubba Watson climbed 41 spots to 72nd—but has made the biggest strides this season. The No. 1-ranked amateur in 2011, Cantlay started the year on a major-medical extension and with more inspired play could make the TOUR Championship. 5. Spieth is still a tough front-runner. Runner-up Spieth has now converted nine of his last 11 54-hole leads to victories on the PGA TOUR, which is just under 82 percent. That’s still darn good, and approaches the gold standard in the category, Tiger Woods (92 percent). Overall, Spieth is nine of 15, or 60 percent, for his career. In 43 TOUR events this season, only 13 winners led through three rounds, a conversion rate of just 30 percent. The number would be even worse without Spieth, who accounted for three of the 13 with his victories at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Travelers Championship and The Open. TOP VIDEOS 1. DJ’s drive on the first playoff hole was incredible. But the line he took? Wow. 2. This is MUST-SEE content. Rickie Fowler goes all-in for one lucky fan. 3. Texas wedge? Yup.

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