Rory McIlroy ends drought, wins Wells Fargo Championship

THE OVERVIEW There are plenty of reasons to watch Ian Poulter. Maybe you love his chest-thumping passionate antics. Maybe you get rubbed the wrong way by this animated Englishman. Whatever end of the spectrum you fit, you cannot look away. At 42, Poulter might be getting closer to the veteran stage, but he’s got just as much passion if not more than any of the young stars coming through the ranks. His Houston Open victory last season, the third PGA TOUR title to go with his 10 European Tour wins, was inspiring stuff. Told the week before that he had earned a Masters berth before recalculations showed that he actually had not, Poulter left nothing to chance in Houston. He rebounded from an opening 73 to win in a playoff and punch his ticket to Augusta. Bottom line – if you fire this guy up, he will produce. Poulter competes with heart as much as anything else. His Strokes Gained stats all sat in reasonable spots last season without being spectacular but importantly he limited his weaknesses. As long as he maintains that base line, he can will himself to another level of competition when the whips are cracking. — By Ben Everill Click here to see who else made the Top 30 list. BY THE NUMBERS How Ian Poulter ranked in Strokes Gained statistics during his last full season on the PGA TOUR: FEDEXCUP UPDATE Current 2018-19 position: 59th Playoff appearances: 11 TOUR Championship appearances: 0 Best FedExCup result: 31st in 2009. SHOTLINK FUN FACT No player on the PGA TOUR last season putted better from 6 feet than Ian Poulter, who made 41 of 45 attempts for a 90.24 percent success rate. That’s the best-ever percentage from that distance in the ShotLink era. INSIDER INSIGHTS PGATOUR.COM’s Insiders offer their expert views on what to expect from Ian Poulter in 2019. TOUR INSIDER: Poulter can certainly polarize the golf public but I, for one, think he’s great for the sport. It wasn’t that long ago he appeared to be heading towards the golfing wilderness but he climbed off the scrapheap to win again and lengthen an already impressive career. If the Englishman can find a villain in his mind on a handful of occasions this season, there’s nothing to suggest he can’t win again. — By Ben Everill FANTASY INSIDER: While he’ll turn 43 in January, because of his profile as a grinder and a clutch putter, his game will age well on most tracks. As it correlates to our world, his limited schedule always has been a problem. It’s relegated him to a complementary role in full-season leagues in which you can’t roster more than a couple like him due to limited opportunities to score. However, that reality multiplies his value in weekly games, especially on the biggest stages on which he’s thrived. — By Rob Bolton EQUIPMENT INSIDER: Poulter, like many other golfers in 2018, is currently using a Mitsubishi Tensei CK Orange shaft, which has a counter-balanced design with an extremely stiff tip. As for the driver head, Poulter employs the new Titleist TS3 (9.5 degrees). While Poulter used to play combo sets of CB-MB irons when he first joined Titleist’s staff in the mid-2010s, Poulter now plays Titleist’s 718 AP2 irons, and a 716 T-MB 4 iron. With 13 Titleist clubs in the bag, Poulter uses an Odyssey #7 model putter. — By Andrew Tursky STYLE INSIDER: Best known for bold and colorful Tartans, Ian Poulter has toned down his wardrobe recently. Since shuttering his apparel company, he has stuck with simple and classic setups with modern fits. Although he remains one of the best dressed in the game, I wouldn’t mind seeing some of that old Poulter flair return in 2019. — By Greg Monteforte

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FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Tiger Woods will have his work cut out for him if he wants to get back into contention at the PGA Championship. He’s nine shots behind first-round leader Brooks Koepka after shooting 72 on Thursday. At least Woods will be able to keep one eye on Koepka as he tries to chase him down. They tee off together at 1:49 p.m., along with Francesco Molinari. Woods’ ball-striking was steady in the first round. He made three birdies and an eagle, but also had two three-putts and twice flew greens with short wedge shots. He missed all five putts he faced from 5-10 feet on Thursday. Woods excited the Bethpage fans by playing the first four holes of his back nine in 4 under par. That stretch got him into red figures after he doubled two of his first eight holes.  RELATED: Leaderboard | Tee times | Tiger’s up-and-down Round 1 | Rethinking Tiger’s future | Tiger ‘welcomes’ playing in Olympics He undid all that hard work with three bogeys on his next four holes. That included two three-putts and a failed attempt to save par just off the green. He’ll need to clean up those mistakes if he wants to make a run this week. But there were enough positive signs to believe it may be possible. He missed just four fairways while hitting driver on a majority of the holes and hit 12 greens, many of them with long-irons in hand.  Stay here for live updates from his round. ROUND 2: TIGER HOLE-BY-HOLE No. 1 (par 4, 430 yards):

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