Rory won $15 million, but here’s how much everyone else took home at the FedEx Cup

DUBLIN, Ohio – Tiger Woods had trouble finding his best rhythm after his group was put on the clock in the opening round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. The 81-time PGA TOUR winner and five-time winner at Muirfield Village still scratched out a 2-under 70, five back of Ryan Moore’s early 65. But he took heart in the knowledge that last time he won the event, in 2012, he also opened with a 70. RELATED: Watch PGA TOUR LIVE | Leaderboard | Tee times | Featured Groups | Chasing 82 The trio of Woods, FedExCup reigning champion Justin Rose and defending Memorial Tournament champion Bryson DeChambeau were officially put on the clock with eight holes to go in their round. But they’d been chasing from the start after all three needed to take time scrambling for pars on the 10th hole, their first of the day, and Rose made a tough double bogey on the par-5 11th right after. “That was frustrating, because we still had the last eight holes we were on the clock. (So) I did have to speed up,â€� Woods said. “We walked quicker. We got to the ball, slowed it back down trying to get in our natural rhythm.â€� While Woods said the trio tried all the little tricks to get back in position, DeChambeau was assessed a bad time on the par-5 fifth hole, meaning another could have resulted in a penalty. “It’s one of those things where we’re trying to get back in position, but unfortunately the way things work sometimes … when we tried to speed up and tried to get back into it, we kept making mistakes to not allow ourselves to catch up with the group ahead of us,â€� Woods said. “The group ahead of us, JT (Justin Thomas) doesn’t take a lot of time, Rory (McIlroy) plays quick, and Jordan (Spieth) was 7-under through 13 holes. So they’re obviously playing fast. And we were obviously not.â€� All the same, Woods was able to card two birdies in his last three holes to rescue what had been a pedestrian round. Woods was decent off the tee, hitting 11 of 14 fairways, but then hit just 10 of 18 greens. “It was close to being easily a few more under par. It was soft enough; it was gettable. And I just didn’t quite do it,â€� Woods lamented. “I had a couple loose irons. But look at the scores, they’re all getting after it today. I was close to being out there with them. “I just need to not make a couple loose mistakes like I did today, and it could have easily turned and shot 5- or 6-under par today.â€�

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You can count Pat Perez out of the kale-and-crunches revolution. The defending champion at this week’s OHL Classic at Mayakoba much prefers the comforts of his couch and the TV remote, and at 41 he’s not part of the PGA TOUR’s youth movement, either. Having made it to his first TOUR Championship at East Lake at the end of last season, when players in their 20s won a record 28 times, Perez was asked where he fits in. “I’m the old guy,â€� he said, drawing laughter. No one was laughing, though, when on Oct. 15 he won the CIMB Classic at TPC Kuala Lumpur, giving him two wins in a span of less than 12 months. The old guy had won by four strokes, and he’s not the only graybeard who is just now hitting his stride. Perhaps inspired by New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who’s yet to show any signs of a drop-off even after turning 40 this summer, the Fab 40s on the PGA TOUR are enjoying a mini-moment. Perez will enter his title defense at Mayakoba as the current FedExCup points leader. Charley Hoffman made his first Presidents Cup team at age 40 after being selected as a Captain’s Pick by U.S. Team Captain Steve Stricker. The other Captain’s Pick was 47-year-old Phil Mickelson, who extended his streak of having played in every Presidents Cup. Two weeks after Perez’ win, Ryan Armour — also 41 and the most accurate driver on TOUR last season (72.7 percent) — won for the first time in 105 starts at the Sanderson Farms Championship. That same day, 41-year-old Henrik Stenson – who won the 2016 Open Championship at age 40 – tied for second at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions. Meanwhile, Paul Casey, 40, is playing the most consistent golf of his career. In his last 11 starts, he’s finished inside the top 20 10 times, including three top-5s in the FedExCup Playoffs. Last week, Tiger Woods, 41, announced he will return to competition at the Hero World Challenge later this month. As for Perez, not only is he the defending champ this week at Mayakoba, he’s the current FedExCup points leader. Five other 40-somethings are inside the top 20 – Armour (9), Alex Cejka (13), Stenson (T-15), Mickelson (18) and Casey (20). As Casey joked this summer, “Apparently life begins at 40.â€� Not that any of this has come easily. In fact, you might say it’s been a long time coming. On a Talk of the TOUR podcast last week with host John Swantek, Armour noted that he had no place to play as recently as 2013. Then he made a few simple but crucial adjustments, starting with a healthy living pledge. “My wife was just like, ‘OK, listen, we’re going to go forward with this,’â€� Armour said. “‘We’re going to eat better, we’re going to exercise more, we’re just going to be healthy individuals, and no matter what happens with the golf, we’ll always have that.’â€� Armour also abandoned his misguided efforts to get longer. Instead, he changed shafts to bolster his brand of precision golf, then finished T4 at the Wyndham Championship in August, his first top-10 in more than a decade. (Incidentally, the tournament was won by the 41-year-old Stenson). A runner-up at the Web.com Tour’s Nationwide Children’s Hospitals Championship secured Armour’s TOUR card for this season, and at the Sanderson Farms, he became the eighth player since 1970 to get his first win at 41 or older. OLDEST FIRST-TIME WINNERS (SINCE 1970) Woods has won 79 TOUR titles, second-highest total of all time behind Sam Snead’s 82. Of course, none of those have been since he’s turned 40 (he’ll turn 42 on Dec. 30). Given his shaky health the last few years while undergoing a series of back surgeries, there’s no guarantee he’ll be able to add to that total. On the flip side, there is certainly hope he can continue his chase of not only Snead’s win total, but Jack Nicklaus’ 18 majors. Nicklaus, Snead, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Lee Trevino all won major titles after turning 40 – Nicklaus and Hogan, in fact, won three majors each after 40. Since 2011, the Open Championship has been won by 40-somethings four times — Stenson in 2016, Mickelson in 2013, Els in 2012 and Darren Clarke in 2011. Asked last week about Woods, Els urged patience in light of the 14-time major winner’s back problems, but added, “If we can do it, he can certainly do it.â€� Legendary range rat Vijay Singh has the most wins by a player in his 40s since 1970, with 22. Kenny Perry is in second place with 11, and Steve Stricker won nine times. Perez, Armour and Woods would love to emulate any of them, and Perez is clearly off to the best start. Given truth serum, though, all three would probably take Fred Funk’s 40s. The likeable, straight-hitting Funk won five of his eight TOUR titles after turning 40, including THE PLAYERS Championship in 2005, when he was 48. He played in the Ryder Cup that year and made the 2003 and 2005 U.S. Presidents Cup teams at ages 47 and 49, respectively. “I got comfortable in my own skin,â€� says Funk, now 61 and the father of an aspiring TOUR pro, former Texas golfer Taylor Funk. “I was determined to work hard and see how good I could do.â€� Funk had good role models when it came to work. His mother, Ruby, ran a labor-intensive custom drape-making business. His older brother, Bernie, worked hard at jobs ranging from the fire department to the civil air patrol. Fred got his first job as a paper boy when he was 8. He later worked as a newspaper delivery driver and the University of Maryland golf coach. By the time he got out on TOUR, Funk was in his early 30s, and when he kept progressing into his 40s, he was keen to make up for lost time. “Whereas a lot of the guys my age, they’d come straight out on TOUR after college,â€� he said, “and they were maybe burnt out.â€� Not Funk. He kept at it. As for Perez, he’s a harder worker than he lets on. “I’m such a different person than I was 17 years ago, even like five years ago,â€� Perez said after winning the CIMB. “I’m learning how to play the game and learning how to play my own game and stay within myself and that kind of stuff. I’m a late bloomer.â€� Just as dogged persistence can fuel successful 40-somethings, so, too, can a change of heart. Jay Haas, who wanted to be active on TOUR upon the arrival of his son Bill, rededicated himself to the game and racked up eight top-10 finishes in 2003 at 49, when he made his second Presidents Cup team. With eight more top-10s in 2004, Haas made his fourth Ryder Cup team at age 50. “Jay is an example of a change of mindset,â€� Funk says. “Because when he reignited his drive, he went to a level that he was never at before and made those teams. He flipped a switch.â€� Kenny Perry also rededicated himself late, with the goal of making the 2008 U.S. Ryder Cup team that would face Europe at Valhalla, in Perry’s beloved home state of Kentucky. The results were astounding: Perry won three times on TOUR at age 47, getting to 14 victories so suddenly he began to talk about reaching 20. (He ended with 14.) “I guess 47 is now the new 30,â€� Perry said at the time. His turnaround spoke to his focused work but after winning the 2008 John Deere Classic, his third victory in seven weeks, he cited guile, too. Asked if a 27-year-old Perry would have won that day at TPC Deere Run, he gave an emphatic no. “I wouldn’t have had the nerves to handle all that,â€� Perry said. “Knowing my golf swing was out of sync and out of kilter. I knew my putter was so good. I knew if I get it on that green, I would have a chance to make a putt. I couldn’t have won like that 20 years ago.â€� Jack Nicklaus won the Masters at 46. Two months later Raymond Floyd, 43, won the U.S. Open, the last of his four majors. Mark O’Meara won the 2008 Masters and The Open at 41, going from a nice player (and a Pebble Beach specialist) to a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Last week Rod Pampling returned to the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas, where he was the defending champion after breaking through the year before at 47. Asked about winning during a season that was dominated by players in their 20s, Pampling called it the beauty of golf. “We might not feature as often as the young guys do,â€� he added, “but when we’re there, we have a chance. We know how to win, so the experience comes rushing back. So the key is just when it comes, you know, we’re prepared for that and we can, hopefully, take advantage of it — which we did last year.â€� This week’s stop at El Camaleon Golf Course, a roughly 7,000-yard par 71 Greg Norman design that wends through mangrove jungles, limestone canals and oceanfront stretches of sand, seems particularly 40s-friendly. It’s even 50s-friendly. Funk won there in 2007 when he was 51. Perez, whose second win ties him with Mickelson and Stenson for most victories by players 40 or older since 2013, won’t have to think back too far if he gets into contention. Neither will Armour, whose Sanderson Farms win was the 20th by players in their 40s in that time span. The two recent winners will both play Mayakoba. Hoffman will be in Mexico, too, as will D.A. Points, 40, who won the Puerto Rico Open last season. Take note, Tiger. Being “the old guyâ€� isn’t a bad business these days.

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Recent incidents about pace of play have led the PGA TOUR to take a deeper look at its policy on the issue, and ShotLink technology could provide an answer. The TOUR’s current pace-of-play policy only addresses players whose groups have fallen out of position. The TOUR is now exploring whether to expand its policy to also address players whose groups are in position, but who take an excessive amount of time to hit a shot. “We know that the individual habits of players when they are preparing to hit a shot can quickly become a focal point in today’s world, and our players and fans are very passionate about this issue,â€� said Tyler Dennis, the PGA TOUR’s Chief of Operations. “We have leveraged our ShotLink technology to provide every player with a pace of play report that they can access which breaks down the varying parts of their game and gives feedback on the amount of time on average that the player takes to hit a particular shot. “We are currently in the process of reviewing this aspect of pace of play and asking ourselves, ‘Is there a better way to do it?’ We think technology definitely plays a key role in all of this and we are thinking about new and innovative ways to use it to address these situations.â€� There are many factors to consider when deciding an appropriate amount of time to play a shot, Dennis said. “We have learned over the years that pace has a lot of factors that play into it, and it’s actually quite complicated,â€� he added. “The overall time to play a round is affected by things like the number of players on the course, tee time intervals, amount of daylight, course set-up and the weather. Some of these are things we can influence, and some are not.â€� The amount of fans and media following a group also can impact the pace of play, said Justin Rose. “The crowds are a lot bigger here and a lot more vocal and there’s a lot more movement and distraction, I think which obviously creates the atmosphere that we want to play in front of,â€� Rose said. “You can’t have it both ways. You can’t have it fun and rowdy out here and yet expect guys to hit shots on a clock through situations where the environment isn’t ready for them to play.â€� The topic became a hot-button issue again this week after two videos of Bryson DeChambeau went viral on Twitter. DeChambeau felt compelled to defend himself after seeing the response on social media. “When people start talking to me about slow play and how I’m killing the game, I’m doing this and that to the game, that is complete and utter you-know-what,â€� DeChambeau said after his third round Saturday. “That’s not fair.â€� The first video showed DeChambeau pacing off a 70-yard approach shot after he hit his tee shot well left of the drivable par-4 16th hole in the second round. After returning to his ball, DeChambeau had to wait for the players on the nearby sixth tee to hit their shots. He let playing partner Tommy Fleetwood play his shot while DeChambeau waited for the tee to clear. Those factors increased the amount of time it took for DeChambeau to hit his shot. Another video showed DeChambeau taking 2 minutes, 20 seconds to hit a putt on the eighth hole, his second-to-last hole of the day on Friday. DeChambeau defended himself by saying that he walks quickly between shots to reduce the overall time it takes to play a hole. “It was a very difficult read,â€� he said about the putt on No. 8. “It was on a bit of a crown, trying to read it to the best of my ability. I couldn’t figure out a way to play it four inches out because that’s what the book said. That’s what it looked, or that’s what it said in the book, but it didn’t look like that to my eyes. We walked around, took a little bit of time. I was ready to hit. My caddie pulled me off because he saw something different. That’s just what’s going to happen every once in a while. “Is that every time? No. That’s probably 1% of the time that I take over two minutes. “You look at me, most of the time, I am doing my absolute best to get to that next shot. The time to hurry for me and the way I play the game — this is not always how some people view it, but the time to hurry is in between shots.â€� Justin Thomas played with DeChambeau in the first two rounds at Liberty National. “I like Bryson as a person, but he’s a slow golfer,â€� Thomas told reporters Saturday. “I hate saying this because I don’t want Bryson to think I’m throwing him under the bus or anything like that, but it’s just unfortunate where the pace of play is in the game at the moment.â€� DeChambeau’s group still played in 4:51 on Friday. That was just one minute slower than in Round 1 and consistent with other groups in the second round. The TOUR has seen positive results from increasing the intervals between tee times this year. “We are seeing great improvements to the flow and in particular to the speed with which we can recover following an issue with a group that results in a momentary slow-down in pace,â€� Dennis said. Under the TOUR’s current pace-of-play policy, players are “on the clockâ€� when their group falls out of position. Players are given an allotted time between 40 and 50 seconds (depending on factors such as order of play) to hit a shot. The first bad time results in a warning, while a second bad time in the same round is a one-stroke penalty. Players are fined for a second bad time in a season, and each bad time thereafter, and for each time they are put “on the clockâ€� after the 10th time. There is not currently a policy to assess penalties or fines when players’ groups are in position, but the TOUR could consider adding one. “We are really focused at the moment on leveraging our ShotLink technology to assist us with these factors,â€� Dennis said. “This year, we have rolled out version 2.0 of an application which allows the officials to monitor every group in real-time, from their positions out on the course, and respond more quickly when a group is getting behind.â€�

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