Roger that: Federer tops Woods on money list

Six of the top 10 in the FedExCup roll into 7,392-yard, par-72 Muirfield Village Golf Club. In addition to No. 1 Matt Kuchar, No. 3 Xander Schauffele and No. 4 Rory McIlroy, the Memorial will feature five-time winner Tiger Woods, who is chasing what would be a record-tying 82nd PGA TOUR victory, Phil Mickelson, and Bryson DeChambeau, whose win here a year ago kicked off a stretch of four victories in 12 starts. Justin Thomas, coming off a wrist injury, will make his first start since the Masters Tournament. In all, the Memorial boasts 23 of the top 30 in the FedExCup standings. Related: Watch Tiger exclusively Thursday on PGA TOUR Live | The First Look | Power Rankings THREE PLAYERS TO PONDER Tiger Woods – Can he rebound after missing the cut at the PGA? It wouldn’t exactly be shocking, as the Memorial is one of seven TOUR events he’s won five or more times.  Rickie Fowler – Suffered first missed cut in 22 starts at the Charles Schwab Challenge, now looks to bounce back at Muirfield Village, where he was T8 last year and T2 in 2017. Matt Kuchar – The newly-minted 41-year-old is the FedExCup leader and playing in a high-wattage group (Phil Mickelson, Fowler), but Kuchar is the only one to have won here, in 2013. THE FLYOVER The hardest hole on the course, the 484-yard, par-4 18th hole played to a 4.211 stroke average last year, giving up just 51 birdies compared to more than twice as many bogeys (93), doubles (12) and others (five) combined. Add that it’s the hole players must face with the trophy on the line (sometimes more than once in less than an hour, in the case of playoff winner Bryson DeChambeau last year), and it’s all the more challenging. The hard dogleg right plays downhill off the tee, with trees, rough and a creek awaiting left misses, but right misses aren’t great, either, as Kyle Stanley found when he bowed out of the playoff last year. Uphill approaches are played to a large, two-tiered green protected by four bunkers and surrounded by spectators.     LANDING ZONE Hit the fairway on the 529-yard, par-5 15th hole and you’re in business; the players who found the short grass off the tee last year averaged 4.56 strokes on the hole, helping make it Muirfield’s third easiest hole. Players who missed the fairways off the tee averaged 5.06. The hole plays slightly uphill and is cut through a forest, so the ideal tee shot avoids overhanging trees on either side and crests the top of the hill, opening up the possibility of reaching in two for long hitters. WEATHER CHECK From meteorologist Wade Stettner: “Stormy conditions are forecast on Thursday with rain and thunderstorm chances possible through much of the day. It will not be an all-day washout on Thursday, but there will be threats for rain and thunderstorms in the morning and afternoon. Temperatures will be cooler on Thursday with a high in the middle 70s. Dry weather is expected on Friday with partly cloudy skies and comfortable temperatures. There is a chance for scattered thunderstorms on both Saturday and Sunday.â€� For the latest weather news from Muirfield Village, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK I learned very quickly there’s not a lot to do in South Florida when you can’t golf or fish. BY THE NUMBERS 1 – Number of players to have won the Memorial and the FedExCup in the same year. Woods did it in 2009.  T15 – Local resident Jason Day’s best result, in 2017, in 10 starts at his hometown tournament. It’s his only top-25 finish. 0 – Number of other courses to have hosted the Presidents Cup (2013), Ryder Cup (1987) and Solheim Cup (1998). Muirfield Village also hosted the U.S. Amateur in 1992. SCATTERSHOTS Rankin honored: Judy Rankin, an LPGA winner, a pioneering golf broadcaster, and widely known as one of the nicest people in the game, will be this year’s Memorial honoree in a ceremony planned for Wednesday. Peter Alliss, a broadcasting legend from the other side of the pond (BBC), will also be honored.   Strong international field on tap: In addition to Australia’s Day (who has adopted Columbus as his hometown), the Memorial will feature a deep roster of European players, including Danny Willett, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Alex Noren. Reigning British Amateur champion Jovan Rebula, nephew of Ernie Els, will make his seventh start as a professional. Brothers Carlos and Alvaro Ortiz of Mexico are in the field, too. Alvaro, the younger of the two, won the 2019 Latin America Amateur Championship to earn a spot in the Masters, where he finished T36. He has since turned pro.     Weather adds intrigue: Storms ripped through Ohio and elsewhere earlier this week, and they didn’t spare Muirfield Village. The course has taken a lot of rain and could get more Thursday and this weekend if the forecast is correct, which could put an added premium on distance off the tee. “This one is going to require a lot of good driving,â€� said five-time Memorial champion Tiger Woods. “It’s going to be soft. Guys are going to be aggressive. The ball is not going to be going anywhere.â€� Added Justin Thomas, “When it’s soft like this, it’s going to favor a long hitter.â€�

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In news that will certainly get 82-time PGA TOUR winner Tiger Woods fired up ahead of the latest edition of Capital One’s The Match, the super team of Woods and world no.1 Rory McIlroy have swung to underdog status ahead of their showdown with Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. With Woods recently withdrawing from the Hero World Challenge thanks to plantar fasciitis, bettors at BetMGM Sportsbook have pounced on the Thomas / Spieth combo for the 12-hole head-to-head contest to be held under lights at 6 p.m. on Dec. 10 at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida. While McIlroy has recently taken back status as the best golfer in the world thanks in huge part to wins at the TOUR Championship and THE CJ CUP in South Carolina in recent starts, Woods is returning to playing action for the first time since The 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews in July as he continues to manage his body following his 2021 car accident. As such, the Woods/McIlroy combo have drifted to +100 to win after opening at -135 while Thomas/Spieth have moved from +110 at opening to -125 as of Thursday. “I can tell you one thing,” Woods said earlier this week on a media call, “I have the No. 1 player on my team, so I’m good.” Woods says his most recent injury setback will not hamper his golf swing, rather it affects his ability to walk without pain. The Match provides golfcarts for participants and can be watched on TNT, with simulcasts available on TBS, truTV and HLN. Woods and McIlroy have 105 PGA TOUR wins, five FedExCup’s and 19 major championships between them. By the same measures Thomas and Spieth have 28 TOUR wins, two FedExCup’s and five majors. But while Woods and McIlroy have been on opposing teams in Ryder Cups of the past, Thomas and Spieth recently combined for a 4-0-0 record as a duo for the U.S. at the Presidents Cup and have an 8-2-0 record together in all Presidents and Ryder Cup play. “He’s probably the best iron player that’s ever lived … probably the best golfer that’s ever lived. Period,” McIlroy said of his partner Woods. “I think if he can just get it out in the fairway, and get some looks in the fairway, I think we’re going to have a really good chance.” The Match will be played in a team best-ball format. Each player will play his own ball, and the best individual score from each team will count for the hole. But as has been the case in the previous six editions of The Match, several curveballs will be introduced through the contest as money is set to be raised for Hurricane Ian relief. The third and ninth holes will provide closest-to-the-pin competitions for up to $1.1million a piece while the fourth hole will be played as a one club challenge where each competitor must use just one club for the entire hole and can win up to $750,000. The fifth and eighth holes will also provide hole-in-one challenges where $2.5 million will be donated on the team’s behalf should an ace come to fruition. If no hole-in-one is made, $250,000 will be donated on behalf of the team that wins the hole. BetMGM Sportsbook has also set up special markets outside the winner of the contest and will provide live betting on each hole in legal betting states. Currently Woods/McIlroy are -105 to win the first hole (tie no bet) with Thomas/Spieth at -120 and the same odds are posted for the first team to go 1up. You can get +150 on Woods/McIlroy to be leading after six holes with Thomas and Spieth at +138 and a tie at +333. On Thursday Woods/McIlroy were +138 to lead after nine of the 12 holes, Thomas/Spieth were +120 and a tie was +450. Responsible sports betting starts with a game plan. Set a budget. Keep it social. Play with friends. Learn the game and know the odds. Play with trusted, licensed operators. CLICK HERE to learn more at HaveAGamePlan.org

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Every shot counts. That old golf chestnut takes on extra significance on the final day of the Regular Season. This time it was Kevin Kisner who seized the day and emerged from a six-man sudden-death playoff to capture the Wyndham Championship, his fourth PGA TOUR title and first since the 2019 World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. Chesson Hadley was among the day’s other big winners, firing a fireworks-filled 62 to finish T15 and grab the 125th spot in the FedExCup and the final berth in the FedExCup Playoffs, which begin with THE NORTHERN TRUST at Liberty National on Thursday. Emotion poured out of him as he recounted his trials and tribulations of the last year, and how much he still cares. Here are five stories you may have missed from the Wyndham Championship. 1. Kevin Kisner gets off the bagel It made no sense that Kisner was 0-5 in playoffs on TOUR considering the mano-a-mano nature of the beast, and the fact that his last TOUR win was at the mano-a-mano 2019 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, where he defeated none other than Ian Poulter in the final. But that’s golf, and he’s winless no more after his short-range birdie on the second extra hole of a six-man playoff at Sedgefield Country Club. He’d finally gotten into the win column. “To be honest, coming down with three or four holes to go, I really didn’t think I had a chance to win,” said Kisner, who jumped 40 spots into 29th in the FedExCup. “I wasn’t watching the boards all day. When I birdied 16, I looked up and saw that I was only one back and I knew that 17 was a birdie hole and if you could hit a good drive on 18 you could have a chance. “It’s a crazy way to break the no-wins-in-playoff streak,” he continued, “but it was a fun week, awesome week put on by everyone here in Greensboro.” For more on Kisner, click here. 2. Six for a playoff tied TOUR record A half a dozen players is a lot for a playoff. In fact, it was tied for the most in TOUR history. Robert Allenby beat Brandel Chamblee, Dennis Paulson, Jeff Sluman, Bob Tway and Toshi Izawa in a six-man playoff at The Genesis Invitational in 2001. Neal Lancaster defeated Tom Byrum, David Edwards, Yoshinori Mizumaki, David Ogrin and Mark Carnevale in a six-man playoff at the 1994 AT&T Byron Nelson. This time around even the participants themselves seemed amused by the spectacle. “I was just remembering Russell Crow and Gladiator: ‘Are you not entertained?’ said Canada’s Roger Sloan. “It’s so cool to be a part of this. Great finish and a lot of great players here in the playoff. Congrats to Kisner for pulling it out, but man, that was a lot of fun.” Added Kevin Na, when asked if he’d ever seen anything like this: “You know, the last time I saw one was 2001 Riviera, I watched it on TV when I was a kid, Robert Allenby. It was kind of fun being a part of it. I had my chance on 17 in regulation, I thought I made that putt, it horseshoed out and maybe just wasn’t meant to be.” 3. Roger Sloan lost playoff, but won Playoffs Roger Sloan saw the glass half full. While he didn’t win the playoff, Sloan (final-round 66) moved from 131st to 92nd in the FedExCup with his T2, moving from outside to inside the Playoffs. He was headed to Liberty National for THE NORTHERN TRUST and planned to stay with friends in Manhattan; Liberty National was the site of his only other Playoffs berth in 2019. “I was in a good place this week,” he said. “I was okay with no matter where the chips fell and I think that gave me a lot of power on the golf course. Just very thankful.” 4. Chesson Hadley had a crazy, great Sunday Chesson Hadley made his first-ever hole-in-one at the 160-yard 16th hole on the way to a 29 on the back nine, his opening nine of the final round, and carded a final-round 62. Then the skinny 34-year-old from Raleigh, North Carolina, had to sit around and wait to see if it would be enough to reach the Playoffs for the first time since 2019. “It will be close,” said Hadley, whose ace earned one million Wyndham Rewards points for Birdies for Backpacks, and one million for himself. “I mean, it will be really, really close.” When Justin Rose (67, T10) missed from 10, 14, 9 and 5 feet on the final four holes, Hadley slipped into the 125th spot and was in. He screamed into the phone when he got the news. It was a nice moment for a guy who had had a tough season, having missed 14 cuts in 26 starts and, when he did play well, let a four-shot lead slip at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree. For more on Hadley, click here. 5. Some big names will miss Playoffs Hadley (T15, 132 to 125), Sloan (T2, 131 to 92) and Scott Piercy (T15, 126 to 116) played their way into the top 125 and the Playoffs. Ryan Armour (MC, 122 to 127), Patrick Rodgers (MC, 123 to 128) and Bo Hoag (MC, 125 to 129) came up empty at the Wyndham and were out. Then there was Rose, who won the 2018 FedExCup and hadn’t missed the Playoffs since their inception in 2007. He wasn’t the only big-name player to falter and fail to make it to THE NORTHERN TRUST. Rickie Fowler (FedExCup No. 134) missed the cut and will miss the Playoffs for the first time, while 2018 Ryder Cup stars Tommy Fleetwood (137) and Francesco Molinari (142) also failed to advance. Ryan Moore missed the Wyndham cut to end his season at 144th, outside the top 125 for the first time in his career. Ditto for Charles Howell III, who skipped the Wyndham (139th). “Yeah, it sucks,” Fowler said. “I mean, I know what I’m capable of, I’ve been up there and played against the best in the world and been a top-5, top-10 player in the world for a number of years in my career. I’m not in a position where I’m comfortable or where I want to be.” For more on Fowler, click here. FINAL: COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10 The Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 concluded at the 2021 Wyndham Championship. It highlights and rewards the extraordinary level of play required to earn a spot in the TOP 10 at the conclusion of the FedExCup Regular Season as determined by the FedExCup standings. The competition recognizes and awards the most elite in golf.

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