Rose inches closer to money title

GERMANTOWN, Tenn. – Rickie Fowler’s spot in the FedEx St. Jude Championship came by the slimmest of margins. It wasn’t secure until Sunday evening. The first round at TPC Southwind also was Fowler’s first since splitting with the caddie he’d had for his entire professional career. The perfect recipe for Fowler’s best round in nearly a year, right? It wouldn’t seem so, but he shot 65 on Thursday to perhaps start a Cinderella run through the Playoffs. Thursday’s round was Fowler’s lowest score on the PGA TOUR since a third-round 63 in THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT in October. His third-place finish there was his lone top-10 of the season and accounted for half his FedExCup points. It was still enough to earn the final spot in the Playoffs after missing out for the first time in his career last year. His presence at the Playoffs opener seemed unlikely after he missed the cut at last week’s Wyndham Championship but the final 36 holes played out in his favor, as he finished eight points ahead of Matt Wallace for the 125th spot in the FedExCup standings. With his Playoffs fate out of his control, Fowler didn’t watch the Wyndham Championship’s final round. He played a casual round Sunday at Michael Jordan’s The Grove XXIII in South Florida, occasionally checking the PGA TOUR app to see his FedExCup standing. Now that he’s in, he has nothing left to lose. He was projected to move to the cusp of the top 70 in the FedExCup standings and needs no worse than an 11th-place finish to crack the top 70 and advance to next week’s BMW Championship at Wilmington (Del.) Country Club. It’s been three years since he last qualified for the BMW. “Being 125, obviously need to play well to just make it to next week,” said Fowler, who had Cobra tour rep Ben Schomin on the bag Thursday. “Kind of leave it all out there, see what happens, but definitely happy with the start, especially with not making a whole lot.” Fowler made five birdies, an eagle at the par-5 16th and two bogeys to sit three shots off the lead of Si Woo Kim and J.J. Spaun after the morning wave. Fowler missed just one fairway and hit 13 greens; he gained around two strokes on the field with both his play off the tee and approaching the greens. Fowler, who led the PGA TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting five years ago and was 13th in that stat in 2019, gained just 0.2 strokes on the greens Thursday. A 12-footer was the longest putt he made all day. He had a new putter in the bag this week, a Scotty Cameron Newport Plus that is slightly wider than the traditional Newport head. It was the latest putter switch for Fowler, who has cycled through several flatsticks this season. The most recent switch came two weeks ago, when he switched back to a Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS that had come from a set of heads once reserved for Tiger Woods. Fowler first used the club in 2014. “There was a lot of good out there today. Actually, a lot of really good putts,” Fowler said. “Left a couple short, but other than that, some of it was just a little off on read.” The margins are small on the PGA TOUR. Fowler knows that as well as anyone this week.

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Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson headline the field as Minnesota celebrates its first regular PGA TOUR event in a half-century, enjoying elevated status for what previously was one of the most popular stops on the PGA TOUR Champions. Jason Day and Patrick Reed also fill out the roster that features 11 of the top 30 men in the latest FedExCup standings for the inaugural, as the TPC Twin Cities unveils a bolder layout in anticipation of testing some of the TOUR’s top talent. FIELD NOTES: Kenny Perry, who won last year’s final Champions edition, is back to make a title defense of sorts while Minnesota native Tom Lehman also tees up as a holdover from the event’s previous chapter. … Fellow Minnesotan Tim Herron also was given a spot via sponsor exemption. … Koepka, Mickelson, Reed and Jimmy Walker give the event four members of the 2016 U.S. Ryder Cup winners at nearby Hazeltine. … Robert Garrigus makes his first PGA TOUR start since sitting out three months on suspension. He tuned up with a pair of Korn Ferry Tour starts, grabbing the first-day lead in Utah after a 64. … Viktor Hovland makes his third straight start as a pro since rewriting the U.S. Open’s scoring record for an amateur and finishing T54 in his pro debut at the Travelers Championship. Former Oklahoma State teammate Matthew Wolff likewise is in the field after making his pro debut at the Travelers Championship as well. … Chase Koepka, younger brother of Brooks, also will tee it up on a sponsor invite. He’s spent 2019 on Europe’s Challenge Tour. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. STORYLINES: After embracing a PGA TOUR Champions event, two major championships and the Ryder Cup in the past 17 years, Minnesota finally has a PGA TOUR event that will put down roots. The 3M Open marks the TOUR’s first regular stop in the state since the Minnesota Golf Classic played its last edition in 1969. Raymond Floyd, Mike Souchak and Frank Beard were among those winners. … Brooks Koepka, who won the PGA Championship and was second in the year’s other two majors, hopes to right the ship in a regular event. His past two non-majors have seen him finish outside the top 40. … A top-7 performance also would lift Koepka past Matt Kuchar into the FedExCup points lead. … The 3M Open is the second event in as many years to receive a PGA TOUR promotion from another circuit. Last year, the Corales Puntacana Championship made the jump from the Korn Ferry Tour. COURSE: TPC Twin Cities, 7,468 yards, par 71. Recently upgraded in anticipation of the PGA TOUR’s arrival, the longtime Champions venue north of Minneapolis first opened in 2000 and was widely considered one of that circuit’s top layouts. The Arnold Palmer design, with Tom Lehman as a consultant, transformed a former sod farm into a rolling landscape featuring 27 bodies of water, restoring several natural wetlands while framing holes with stands of mature oak and spruce trees. The 3M Championship came to TPC Twin Cities in 2001, enjoying an 18-year run on site. In each of the past seven years, TPC Twin Cities ranked first or second in birdies among 54-hole Champions stops. 54-HOLE RECORD (Champions): 191, David Frost (2010). 18-HOLE RECORD (Champions): 60, Paul Goydos (2nd round, 2017), Kenny Perry (2nd round, 2018). LAST YEAR: Perry closed the event’s PGA TOUR Champions chapter with his third victory in Minnesota, using a second-round 60 to open a five-shot lead before cruising to a three-shot triumph. A 3-under-par 69 was all Perry needed to finish things off, keeping Wes Short Jr.’s closing 63 at arm’s length. Perry also won at TPC Twin Cities in 2014 and ’15, matching Hale Irwin’s standard of three wins in the Champions event. It also was the seventh time in eight appearances that Perry had finished among the top seven at TPC Twin Cities. “It’s going to be so long next year, I probably won’t even recognize it when I come back,â€� he quipped. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6:30 p.m. (featured groups). Saturday-Sunday, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6 p.m. (featured holes). International subscribers (via GOLF.tv): Thursday-Friday, 12:00 to 22:30 GMT. Saturday-Sunday, 13:30 to 22:00. RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 1-6:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).  

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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Viktor Hovland of Norway holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole Sunday for a 6-under 65 and a one-shot victory in the Mayakoba Golf Classic presented by UNIFIN, his second PGA TOUR victory this year. RELATED: Final leaderboard | Winner’s Bag: Viktor Hovland It was the first time since the Mayakoba Classic began in 2007 that it was won with a birdie putt on the final hole. For the 23-year-old Hovland, it’s old hat. He made a 30-foot birdie putt on the last hole to win the Puerto Rico Open in February. Aaron Wise closed with a 63 and did everything right over the last two holes except make the birdie putts. Tied for the lead, he missed birdie putts from 12 feet on each of the last two holes at El Camaleon Golf Club. Hovland had four birdies in the opening six holes and built a two-shot lead going into the back nine on a course softened by rain that caused a two-hour delay in the morning. But he made bogey on the 12th hole, and that seemed to create chances for a half-dozen players separated by one shot along the back nine. Hovland responded with birdies on the next two holes, and he appeared to be in control with a tee shot to 4 feet on the par-3 15th. But he hit a tentative putt to remain tied with Wise, and Hovland thought he was in big trouble when his long iron on the 515-yard 16th hole sailed hard to the right toward the mangrove trees. It came down in the waste area a few feet from the hazard, and he hit a splendid sand shot to 4 feet to save par. Hovland, starting his second season on the PGA TOUR after a stellar college career at Oklahoma State, finished at 20-under 264 and moved to No. 15 in the world. That makes three players in the top 15 who were still in college a year ago in May. The others are PGA champion Collin Morikawa and Matthew Wolff, a teammate of Hovland’s at Oklahoma State. Adam Long (67) and Tom Hoge (69) tied for third at 17-under 267. Hoge holed a 20-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the 15th hole to get within one shot, but he three-putted from some 70 feet on the tough 16th to fall back. Long lost hope when he sent his tee shot into the vegetation on the 17th hole and took bogey. Emiliano Grillo, who led after the second and third rounds, closed with a 72 and tied for eighth, five shots behind. Justin Thomas got back to the fringe of contention with a 62 on Saturday but followed that with a 69, making double bogey on No. 10 to end his chances. This was the final official PGA TOUR event of the year, one last chance for players to either qualify for the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua or lock up a spot in the Masters next year. Neither was an issue for Hovland, who qualified for Maui with his win in Puerto Rico and was set for Augusta National by reaching the TOUR Championship his rookie season. Austin Eckroat of Oklahoma State had a 67-65 weekend and tied for 12th.

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