Rory McIlroy’s push to make history continues at WGC-HSBC Champions

Tiger Woods has withdrawn from the PGA Championship after he shot a career-high 79 in the third round Saturday at Southern Hills.

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The field list that day in 2013 in South Florida included the world’s 32nd-ranked player, Welshman Jamie Donaldson, who would earn an automatic spot on the Ryder Cup the following year. It also included another future European Ryder Cupper, Alex Noren, ranked 59th in the world. And another top-100 player, Shane Lowry, who later than year represented Ireland in the World Cup. Lowry, of course, was still several years away from claiming the 2019 Open Championship, but a couple of his fellow competitors – Lee Janzen and Rich Beem — already had major titles to their names back then. Now add a few multi-time PGA TOUR winners in Billy Mayfair, Chris DiMarco and Vaughn Taylor, and the field suddenly had serious credentials. You might not be surprised to learn that it was the week of The Honda Classic, the annual PGA TOUR stop in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. You might be surprised that it was Monday of tournament week. RELATED: Who Monday qualified this year? | Knox’s win after Monday qualifying | Go low or go home But really, you shouldn’t be surprised. The Honda Classic has the deepest field of all Monday qualifiers for any regular PGA TOUR event. It’s the Super Bowl of Monday qualifiers, with more notable names and more high-end resumes than other qualifiers throughout the season. Perhaps its closest rival are the sectional qualifiers for the U.S. Open, especially the one held near the PGA TOUR event completed the day before, as non-qualified TOUR pros take one last shot at getting into the field. Some of the names that appeared in that sectional qualifier last year in Columbus, Ohio, can be found in this week’s Monday qualifier field at The Honda Classic. The Honda’s 2013 Monday qualifier was indicative of the strength of field, and other Monday qualifiers have included the likes of Steve Stricker, Jason Dufner and Ryan Palmer and European starts such as Thomas Levet, Robert Karlsson and Jesper Parnevik. Year after year, the Monday qualifier has numerous players in the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), major champions, and multiple PGA TOUR winners. Names you expect to see on Sunday, not Monday. Take a look at the 2019 Monday qualifier at The Honda Classic: 24 players with at least one TOUR win; 11 players with more than one; a combined 47 total TOUR wins. Two players had made more than 500 career TOUR starts; three others had more than 400; and 11 had more than 200. From a career earnings standpoint, three players had made more than $20 million; six had made more than $10 million; and 13 made more than $5 million. This year was no different. Thirteen different PGA TOUR winners were in the field at Banyan Cay, along with a combined 23 European Tour wins, and 41 total Korn Ferry wins.  The field’s total PGA TOUR earnings was in excess of $212 million. Along with the United States, a dozen other countries were represented. Some of the names you might recognize – TOUR winners Jonathan Byrd, David Lingmerth and Arjun Atwal; veteran Australians John Senden and Robert Allenby; 2016 Olympian Seamus Power of Ireland; and Arnold Palmer’s grandson Sam Saunders. That’s a lot of horsepower for an event that you must play just for the opportunity to play the regular event three days later. (Of the names above, only Atwal was among the four qualifiers to earn spots; click here for full story.) “It’s a great litmus test of where you stand,â€� said Blayne Barber, who shot a 66 at Banyan Bay to get through in 2019. “Knowing you beat a bunch of players that are basically in middle of their PGA TOUR season is a great feeling.” But a deep qualifying field like the week of The Honda Classic also comes with a dose of reality. “Expectations are low in any Monday,â€� said Aron Price, who successfully qualified in 2010. “They are even lower in the Honda Monday.â€� Why does The Honda Classic have the premium Monday qualifier of the TOUR season? It’s a confluence of several reasons. The tournament itself often has an exceptional field, filled with many of the top players in the world.  The strong field leaves a lot of players with world-class resumes on the outside, looking in. Meanwhile, sponsor exemptions aren’t as easy to come by for players that in some other events might get one. This is especially true for European Tour members that aren’t members of the PGA TOUR.  In some other TOUR events, they would often be able to grab one of the sponsor exemptions, but without securing an exemption, the last resort is the Monday. The Honda is also one of the few events that attracts one of the best fields of the year and has a Monday qualifier. For instance, there are no Monday qualifiers for THE PLAYERS Championship, the four majors, the World Golf Championships events, the FedExCup Playoffs or the three elevated events — The Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. Those fields annually have premium fields. It’s also the first Monday qualifier to start the Florida swing, making it the closest Monday qualifier in the new calendar year for European players. The Honda’s move to PGA National in 2007 also is a significant factor, according to Geoff Lofstead, Executive Director of the South Florida PGA section, who runs the Honda Classic Monday qualifier. “The move to PGA National really moved the event to elite status and therefore helped make the Monday qualifier such a quality field,â€� Lofstead said. The same year the event moved to PGA National, the South Florida PGA section began holding pre-qualifiers. Before that, they limited the Monday Qualifier field to 312 players (two courses, two spots at each). The pre-qualifiers gave the opportunity to move the Monday to one course and try to limit the field size to finish on Monday. The reason for the schedule adjustment was simple. “Darkness has always been our biggest enemy,â€� said Brett Graf, tournament director for the South Florida PGA. The pre-qualifiers not only helped ensure an actual finish on Monday, it also increased the number of participants. This year, a total of 458 players teed it up for the four pre-qualifiers and Monday qualifier. Geography also plays a massive role in the qualifier being such a high-caliber field. According to a Golf.com story in 2018, 35 PGA TOUR pros live in the Jupiter, Florida area, about 15 miles away from PGA National. The most celebrated local pro, of course, is Tiger Woods and he’s joined by other big names such as Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka and Rickie Fowler. Of course, those guys don’t have to worry about Monday qualifying, but for the local pros still grinding and seeking better TOUR status, being able to Monday qualify without worrying about travel demands is huge. Veterans that might otherwise not chase qualifiers and instead wait to get into events based on their status, will choose to play the Honda Monday because of its proximity to their home. Consider Ryan Armour, who moved to Jupiter in 2003. He attempted to Monday qualify for The Honda Classic nine times before finally getting through in 2017, shooting a 67 at Mayacoo Lakes Country Club. “It wasn’t just another Monday,â€� said Armour, who later that year broke through with his first PGA TOUR victory at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Florida also is home to a large portion of the nation’s developmental tours, and the Monday qualifier creates an opportunity for developmental tour players to fight for one of the four spots in the Honda Classic without the expenses of traveling. One of those tours is the Minor League Golf Tour, based in Stuart, Florida, about 30 minutes away from PGA National. Armour, in fact, was one of those MLGT veterans, having won eight times on that TOUR. This year, of the 338 players who participated in the pre-qualifiers, 28 of those were MLGT players. Seventeen qualified to play in the Monday qualifier. Going to a pre-qualifier and a Monday qualifier for a player with no status can cost upwards of $1,500.  With the event in their backyard and minimal travel costs, many players sign up for the opportunity to rub elbows with the best golfers in the world. “Why not take a chance?â€� said developmental tour player Joseph Gunerman. “It’s not often you are 36 (pre-q and Mon q) holes away from playing in a great event for millions of dollars. “That is the reason we are all playing mini-tours anyway, to get to the big tour. When it was in my backyard, I thought I had to try.” Since 2013, there has been no Korn Ferry Tour event the same week as The Honda Classic, allowing many of those players to try gaining entry through Monday qualifier during an off-week. Plus, Korn Ferry members pay just $100 for the entry fee and don’t have to play in pre-qualifiers. In 2015, then-Korn Ferry Tour member Mark Silvers was one of the four qualifiers to get through to the Honda Classic. He called it “the ultimate badge of honor.â€� This year’s schedule is different, though, with the Korn Ferry Tour playing in Mexico this week. But what’s not different is the depth of field for the Honda Monday qualifier. Playing well enough to gain a tee time on Thursday is an accomplishment in itself. After all, the Super Bowl comes around only once a year.

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The U.S. Team rallied on the final day of the previous Presidents Cup to avoid an upset on a Royal Melbourne layout that was a mystery to most of its roster. Now the biennial competition between the U.S. and International teams returns to more familiar territory. Next year’s Presidents Cup will be held at Charlotte’s Quail Hollow Club, the annual venue for the Wells Fargo Championship (the 2022 Wells Fargo will be played at TPC Potomac in Avenel, Maryland, to allow Quail Hollow to prepare for the Presidents Cup). Davis Love III, a University of North Carolina alum, will helm the U.S. Team after leading two Ryder Cup squads. His 2012 team rolled through the opening two days before Europe staged an historic upset in Singles, known as the Miracle at Medinah, to score a road victory. Love’s 2016 team ensured that history didn’t repeat itself, winning 17-11 at Minnesota’s Hazeltine Golf Club. Love also was a vice captain at this year’s Ryder Cup, giving him a front-row seat to watch the young talent that will undoubtedly form the core of his squad. He’s obviously excited to lead a team coming off a record Ryder Cup win. Love’s team will be comprised of the top six players in the U.S. points standings after the 2022 BMW Championship. Players have been accumulating points in the Presidents Cup standings since the opening event of the 2020 season. Every FedExCup point earned during that campaign is worth a half-point in the Presidents Cup standings. FedExCup points earned in 2020-21 are worth one point, and each FedExCup point earned this season is worth three. (For the Presidents Cup standings, FedExCup Playoffs events are weighted the same as World Golf Championships.) Love also will have six captain’s picks to round out the squad, giving him plenty of roster flexibility. To help you prepare for the upcoming Presidents Cup, here are a dozen names to consider for the next U.S. squad. This is supposed to be a fun exercise so don’t yell and scream because your favorite player wasn’t included (players are listed in alphabetical order). Sam Burns Age: 25 Previous Presidents Cups: 0 Current Presidents Cup ranking: 2 Burns narrowly missed out on a spot on this year’s Ryder Cup team after a breakout season that included his first win, at the Valspar Championship, and his first TOUR Championship appearance. How’d Burns respond to his Ryder Cup near-miss? By winning his next start, the Sanderson Farms Championship, and contending in his next two events. Burns’ worst finish in four starts this fall is T14; he finished seventh or better in three of those events. Injuries earlier in his TOUR career slowed his progress, but he’s fulfilling the lofty expectations that came after he was college golf’s player of the year in 2017, finished in the top-10 of a TOUR event while still an amateur and beat Tiger Woods while playing alongside the legend in the final round of the 2018 Honda Classic. Patrick Cantlay Age: 29 Previous Presidents Cups: 1 (2019) Current Presidents Cup ranking: 8 Coming off a four-win season, it seems assured that the reigning FedExCup champion will be on the roster at Quail Hollow. His well-rounded game – he ranked in the top 30 of all four Strokes Gained categories last season – makes him an ideal partner in any format. He went 3-0-1 at Whistling Straits this year – extending his individual record in international team events to 6-2-1 — and his bromance with Xander Schauffele guarantees he already has a partner queued up for Quail Hollow. Bryson DeChambeau Age: 28 Previous Presidents Cups: 1 (2019) Current Presidents Cup ranking: 7 His driver produced some of the most memorable shots from this most recent Ryder Cup. There was the 417-yard blast that left him just a wedge into one par-5 and he drove the first green in his Singles win over Sergio Garcia. He’s been driving for show (and dough) since his radical transformation before the previous Presidents Cup, leading the PGA TOUR in driving distance and Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee in each of the past two seasons while also ranking in the top 20 of Strokes Gained: Putting each season. Quail Hollow can reward the big bomber. Look at Rory McIlroy’s success there. DeChambeau finished T9 in this year’s Wells Fargo Championship despite flying home to Dallas after thinking he missed the cut. A pair of 68s on the weekend moved him from the cut line and into the top 10. Dustin Johnson Age: 37 Previous Presidents Cups: 4 (2011, 2015, 2017, 2019) Current Presidents Cup ranking: 13 This year’s Ryder Cup was the first since 1993 in which neither Phil Mickelson or Woods competed, leaving Johnson as the elder statesman of the American squad. It’s a quiet leadership, but one that his teammates respect. His record speaks for itself: Twenty-four PGA TOUR wins, including two majors and a FedExCup. And his best performance in one of these intercontinental tussles came in the most recent one. He was the oldest member of this year’s Ryder Cup team (by a decent margin) but also the only one to go 5-0-0. He formed a strong partnership with a player more than a decade younger than him, Collin Morikawa. “He’s the oldest guy on our team, and it’s a very quiet leadership, but he makes his presence known,” Morikawa said. It’s hard to imagine an American team without Johnson, especially after what he did this year at Whistling Straits. Phil Mickelson Age: 51 Previous Presidents Cups: 12 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017) Current President Cup ranking: 59 Look, it’s a longshot. We know it. Phil knows it. But it’s a thought worth entertaining. He readily admits that he needs to play better. But outside Augusta National and Pebble Beach, there may not be another course that elicits more excitement from Mickelson. He has 10 top-10s in 16 starts in the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow. Even this year, he shot a first-round 64 that provided a glimpse of what was to come in his next start, his record-setting win at the PGA Championship. Dominant PGA TOUR Champions seasons from both Hale Irwin and Bernhard Langer led some to call for inclusion on their respective Ryder Cup teams. Mickelson could do something similar, having won four of six starts on that circuit. He relished being a vice captain in this year’s Ryder Cup – his banter on the radios was reportedly legendary – but his tenure as a playing member of the U.S. teams came to an unceremonious end in the United States’ loss at the 2018 Ryder Cup, where Mickelson went 0-2. Playing on this team could allow him to end on a winning note. Collin Morikawa Age: 24 Previous Presidents Cups: 0 Current Presidents Cup ranking: 1 He’s 24 years old and already owns two major championships. In an era obsessed with distance, Morikawa gets it done with the best iron play on TOUR. He acquitted himself nicely in this year’s Ryder Cup, his first time representing the U.S. in an international team competition as a pro. He went 3-0 with Dustin Johnson – winning twice in Foursomes and once in Four-balls – before securing the clinching point by doing what he does best, hitting his 221-yard tee shot to 3 feet on the par-3 17th. After Morikawa snatched the Claret Jug, Ryder Cup and Race to Dubai trophy in 2021, Europe may want to lock up the Champions League trophy and perhaps even the Magna Carta, lest he run off with those prizes as well. Scottie Scheffler Age: 25 Previous Presidents Cups: 0 Current Presidents Cup ranking: 6 Beating the World No. 1 in Singles automatically earns you an exemption onto the next U.S. Team, right? Scheffler was DeChambeau’s right-hand man in this year’s Ryder Cup before blitzing Jon Rahm in Singles. Scheffler, the 2020 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year, is still seeking his first win but the way he handled Rahm definitely counts for something. Scheffler birdied the first four holes en route to a 4-and-3 victory. This season is off to a strong start, with a fourth-place finish at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba and a T2 at the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open. The fact that he’s finished in the top 20 in his last six majors – including four finishes of eighth or better – show that his game is suited for the biggest stages. Webb Simpson Age: 37 Previous Presidents Cups: 3 (2011, 2013, 2019) Current Presidents Cup ranking: 19 Charlotte’s favorite son — Simpson lives on Quail Hollow – is a good bet to get a captain’s pick if he’s on the bubble for this team. He almost earned one for this year’s Ryder Cup team despite seeing a streak of four consecutive TOUR Championship berths come to an end. It was a difficult season for Simpson, who’d become a top-10 player in the world during his career resurgence. There was a COVID diagnosis and a neck injury that forced him to withdraw from the Wells Fargo. He finished the fall with a T8 at The RSM Classic that showed positive signs. He gained nearly 10 strokes with his approach play, more than three strokes ahead of Talor Gooch, who won the event and finished second to Simpson in that stat. Simpson is a model teammate who’s respected by his peers, which is why he was on the short list of potential captain’s picks for this year’s Ryder Cup. Morikawa said at this year’s Olympics that tries to emulate Simpson’s balance of on- and off-course responsibilities, and he’s not alone in expressing that sentiment. Simpson still is one of the best players on TOUR from the approach shot in. Pair him with a long hitter and you have a formidable Foursomes pairing. And Simpson’s ability to make birdies in bunches pays off in Four-balls. Jordan Spieth Age: 28 Previous Presidents Cups: 3 (2013, 2015, 2017) Current Presidents Cup ranking: 18 It’s the smallest of samples – just four rounds – but Spieth’s performance in his lone start of the fall could portend a successful season. He gained more than four strokes off the tee on the wide-open fairways of Summit Club, where he finished T18 in THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT. He was off the rest of the fall as he awaited the birth of his first child. The driver is the one club that still needs work. It’s trending in the right direction, though. Last year, he was just a tick below average in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, his best performance in that stat since 2018. As we know, Spieth doesn’t need to drive it on a string to succeed. He just needs to keep it on the planet. Spieth is a stalwart of these U.S. teams, and the plug-and-play partnership with Thomas adds a boost to his candidacy should he need a captain’s pick. Justin Thomas Age: 29 Previous Presidents Cups: 2 (2017, 2019) Current Presidents Cup ranking: 3 This Presidents Cup gives Thomas an opportunity to return to the site of his 2017 PGA Championship win, and a chance to play for the captain he’s known since college. Thomas was teammates at Alabama with Love’s son, Dru. Thomas is 6-2-2 in his two Presidents Cup appearances and has become the United States’ biggest on-course catalyst, doubling as one of its best players and its most vocal competitor. He and Spieth have proven to be more than good friends, as well. They’ve formed a formidable pairing, going 4-2-0 together in Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup play. Having one of the best iron players in the game on your team is always an asset, as well. The reigning PLAYERS champion has ranked no worse than sixth in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green in each of the last five seasons. Matthew Wolff Age: 23 Previous Presidents Cups: 0 Current Presidents Cup ranking: 11 Matthew Wolff has become the poster child for mental health awareness after his leave of absence last season. He’s started an important conversation, but let’s not also forget that he’s also one of the most promising prospects in the game. Stepping away helped him learn how to cope with the pressures of stardom, and a late-night adjustment to his setup before the Sanderson Farms Championship has unleashed his unique, powerful action once again. Wolff had the best resume when he turned pro alongside Morikawa and Viktor Hovland and was the first to win, becoming the just the third player to win an NCAA individual title and PGA TOUR event in the same year (Tiger Woods and Ben Crenshaw are the others). He finished in the top 4 in his first two majors and reached as high as 12th in the world ranking. The pressure got to Wolff last season, but he showed wisdom in deciding to step away. His enthusiasm for the game has returned and it showed with back-to-back top-5 finishes this fall. That run started at the Sanderson Farms Championship, where he was thinking about his swing while in bed and realized that his setup was off. “From that point on I’ve just been rolling,” he said. Tiger Woods Age: 45 Previous Presidents Cups: 9 (1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2019) Current Presidents Cup ranking: 118 What will Tiger Woods’ role be at next year’s Presidents Cup? That’s for Tiger Woods to decide. Love said he’d even step aside as captain if Woods requested to lead the team for a second consecutive Cup. According to Love, Woods was in consideration to return as captain but turned down the role to focus on his playing career. If Woods can walk 18 holes, there’s a chance he’ll be on this team. Perhaps as a playing vice captain. It’s been a difficult road to recovery and Woods loves the camaraderie of these team events. Even if he can only play one Foursomes match and Singles, his appearance on the roster would mean so much to Tiger, his teammates and the event. Look to 2011 as something of a precedent for Tiger making a team as a part-time player. Woods was inconsistent during just nine starts in that injury-interrupted year. He didn’t have a top-10 after the Masters but was still picked for the team and scored the clinching point for the U.S. Team at Royal Melbourne. And if he can’t play? Woods has shown his passion for playing any role he can in these team events, so it would be no surprise to see him assisting Love, just as he did at the Ryder Cup five years ago.

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