Sagstrom leads women’s Olympic event

NAPA, Calif. – The first birdie of the new season was a tie, more or less. Stephan Jaeger, who was in the first group off the front nine at the Fortinet Championship, made a 2 at the par-3 second hole. Wyndham Clark, in the second group off the back nine, birdied 10. Maybe the golf gods can call it. The first bogey was a tie between Mother Nature (90-minute fog delay) and an announcer’s botched first-tee intro of Tano Goya, a 34-year-old rookie who finished 19th on the Korn Ferry Tour Finals Eligibility Points List. He’s from Alta Gracia, Argentina, 46 kilometers southwest of Cordoba, but was introduced as being from “Argentina, Argentina.” People around the tee laughed, and Goya shrugged and nodded. “It’s OK, it’s funny,” said Goya, who estimates he’s played golf in more than 40 countries but has made a home in Jacksonville, Florida, since 2020. “It happened on the Korn Ferry, too.” Two more Goya factoids: He rocks those groovy pants that taper at the ankle in the manner of South African Erik van Rooyen (and others), and he and his caddie always wear matching shirts. Brand: Full Wedge. It’s to the point where if they don’t go matchy-matchy, Goya said, people ask what’s wrong. Welcome to get-to-know-you week on TOUR, with 27 rookies in the field for the first of 47 events on the new season, and five of them (Trevor Cone, Nicolas Echavarria, Harrison Endycott, Vincent Norrman, Kevin Roy) making their first-ever TOUR start. Cone’s mother was in tears. “He’s earned this,” she said. Norrman’s father had flown all the way from Stockholm, Sweden. Philip Knowles was introduced on the first tee and smiled at the whoops from his crew of supporters, including his pregnant wife, Olivia, whom he met through high school golf. They were teammates; she played on the boys’ team. “I used to outdrive him,” she said. “Used to.” S.H. Kim shot 66 for the best round among the rookies. He’s won four tournaments worldwide, biggest among them the 2021 Japan PGA Championship, one of five Japan Golf Tour majors. Defending champ Max Homa shot his third straight 65 here. Justin Lower shot 63 and said he’s just happy to have a TOUR card after sneaking into the top 125 after his rookie season. Another standout was not a rookie but second-year PGA TOUR pro Sahith Theegala, who opened with a 67. Absent presumed Rookie of the Year Cameron Young, Theegala is the gold standard to which all rookies at the Fortinet should aspire. After posting five top-10 finishes, among them heartbreakers at the WM Phoenix Open (T3) and Travelers Championship (T2), Theegala was one of two rookies (with Young) to make the TOUR Championship last season. And he’s already looking like a super sophomore at the Fortinet, where he racked up eight birdies and three bogeys and was four off the early lead. “Yeah, it was great, I was playing well all year,” he said. “The results maybe didn’t really show it, but I made a ton of cuts, played a lot of solid golf. I feel like this year’s even more of kind of a – I use the term free-roll a lot. This year seems to be even more of a free-roll for me because I got the nerves of being a rookie and certain expectations out of the way, and now it’s my second year and I’m playing all these events again for the second time. “I feel like I have more flexibility and I’ve learned so much the last year,” added Theegala, who also benefits from a recent change that provides a two-year exemption to TOUR Championship qualifiers. One lesson: He can’t tee it up every single week, even though he’s only 24. After playing 32 tournaments last season, Theegala took a seven-day break, his longest since 2019, and didn’t touch a club. “I got the itch back pretty quickly after that,” he said. Players with the itch were all over Silverado, what with so many getting their first taste of TOUR membership. Taylor Montgomery, a two-time Nevada Open champion from Las Vegas, had nine top-10 finishes in his last 12 Korn Ferry Tour starts last season to earn his TOUR card. He opened with a 4-under 68 at the Fortinet thanks largely to needing just 23 putts and ranking first in Strokes Gained: Putting despite battling nerves. “It’s probably one of the most nervous times I’ve had on the golf course, for some reason,” he said. Surely, someone pressed, he must have some idea why. “Don’t know,” Montgomery said. “First PGA TOUR event as a pro? I have no idea. I don’t know. It’s what I do for a living. I shouldn’t be that nervous.” Goya, the Argentinian, was one of 35 players who came back to the course Friday morning to complete the first round. A second fresh start was good for him as he birdied two of his remaining three holes to card a 1-over 73. “When the pandemic hit, we didn’t have many tournaments in Latin America, so my goal was to try to get to America,” he said. “To at least get on the mini-tours, try to get competitive, so that when tournaments came back, at least I’d be ready.” With seven international victories on the European Tour, European Challenge Tour, Argentina Tour, and Southern Africa Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour grad is ready. His caddie is ready. Their matching shirts are ready. Mile upon mile of fairways, row upon row of tiny, open squares on the scorecards – it’s all in front of him now. It’s all in front of all of them.

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Refer to it as "The Hope" and most golf fans know what it is, or what it was. Images of gags, giggles and golf fill the memory bank, and in that order. In addition to Bob Hope's name planted in the name of the annual PGA TOUR stop in La Quinta, California, for decades, his presence and spirit is the foundation of the event. Even after his death in 2003, the hilarity has ensued so well that only a pandemic could disrupt the occasion. This year, and fingers crossed with non-comedic intentions, only this year, what today is known as The American Express will consist only of the golf due to the universal concerns associated with COVID-19. As a result, modifications to the format have been made. Scroll past the projected contenders for details of what has changed. They include the reduction of one course and a different but familiar cut. RELATED: The First Look | Inside the Field POWER RANKINGS: THE AMERICAN EXPRESS Rickie Fowler, Francesco Molinari, Gary Woodland and tournament host Phil Mickelson will be among the notables reviewed in Tuesday's Fantasy Insider. From its inception in 1960 through the last edition with Hope's name in the title in 2011, the tournament that has capitalized on an abundance of fun tracks throughout the Coachella Valley was a five-round, 90-hole contest. In 2012, it evolved into a traditional four-round, 72-hole shootout but with a 54-hole cut. (Other specialized cuts for the professionals and for the pro-am portion also have been commonplace.) This year, with no amateurs knocking it around beside the professionals during the tournament proper, only the Stadium Course and Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA WEST will be used. La Quinta Country Club gets the week off. This allows for a standard cut of low 65 and ties at the conclusion of 36 holes. All who survive will play only the Stadium Course in the third and final rounds. Both courses are stock par 72s. For the first time since the Stadium Course joined the rotation in 2016, its yardage has changed. At 7,147 yards this week, it's 34 yards longer due to extensions on a trio of par 4s - the 471-yard third (+23 yards), 452-yard ninth (+7) and 439-yard 18th (+4). Only one hole on the Nicklaus Tournament Course has stretched, but the course underwent a significant change since the last edition. The par-4, 453-yard 18th hole is 22 yards longer, thus increasing the overall length of the test to 7,181 yards. Meanwhile, the former TifDwarf bermuda greens were replaced with TifEagle bermuda. That transition allowed for an expansion of over 50,000 square feet of putting surfaces across the property. The greens now average over 7,700 square feet. In comparison, the targets on the Stadium Course measure just 5,000 square feet on average. The Nicklaus Tournament Course has played measurably easier than the Stadium Course over time, usually right around one stroke lower. This is expected to continue this week, but the absence of amateurs and with the potential of new hole locations on what could be springy greens on the co-host, scoring may be affected. Everyone in the field of 156 gets only one walk through the Nicklaus Tournament Course, so it may require a couple of years of competition for a new identity to be shaped. As the host course, only the Stadium is lasered for ShotLink purposes, but the objective in this tournament remains the same - hit greens and sink putts. With the removal of La Quinta CC - the easiest of the traditional trio in the last four years - overall scoring could rise marginally. For the second consecutive year, Mother Nature could confuse Snowbirds who thought that they left the inclement weather in the rearview mirror on their southern migration. Emphasis on "could." In advance of last year's event, rain was forecast early, but it didn't make an appearance. This week, after a seasonably comfortable and dry start, the risk of rain enters the picture on the weekend as daytime temperatures tumble into the low 60s. Any impact will be limited to potentially slowing greens prepared to run no longer than 11-and-a-half feet on the Stimpmeter. A delay in the action is not expected. ROB BOLTON'S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM's Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Fantasy Insider SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM's Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday. As of January 26, 2021, PGATOUR.COM will no longer support Livefyre commenting on our website. We invite you to join the conversation by following and interacting with Rob Bolton on Twitter (@RobBoltonGolf) and PGA TOUR Twitter, Facebook and Instagram channels. If you have any feedback or questions, please reach out to us via the Contact Us page."

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