Schauffele making his name known

Stephen Ames won the Principal Charity Classic on Sunday for his second PGA Tour Champions title, taking advantage of Tim Herron’s final-round collapse.

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Neither Xander Schauffele nor Tony Finau – two of the PGA TOUR’s brightest young stars – have ever played with the legendary Tiger Woods during a PGA TOUR event. That will change this week at the Farmers Insurance Open. Schauffele (the current FedExCup points leader with two wins this season) and Finau (the highest-ranked FedExCup player without a win last season) will be paired with Woods in the first two rounds at the Torrey Pines South and North courses, the TOUR announced Monday. Woods will be making his 2018-19 season debut as he looks to build on his last official TOUR start – a win at the TOUR Championship. It was his first win in five years, and the 80th of his career, putting him two wins away from tying Sam Snead’s TOUR record. Woods has won the Farmers Insurance Open seven times, and also won the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, the most recent of his 14 major victories. Given his victory at East Lake in the FedExCup Playoffs finale in September, this is renewed optimism in 2019 that Tiger is on the verge of a big season. Schauffele, meanwhile, already is in the midst of a big season. He won the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions last fall, and then started 2019 by winning the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. Finau is looking for his second TOUR win of his career after a 2017-18 campaign in which he contended in several big events. Finau has played with his idol Woods before … for nine holes during a practice round at East Lake. Two months later, Finau was invited to play in Woods’ 18-man Hero World Challenge in the Bahama, an unofficial TOUR event. “To be on TOUR now is really special because I think we’re going to have a few years to compete against Tiger when he’s playing good golf and is in a good mindset,â€� Finau said that week. “It’s going to be a cool thing and I look forward to these next few seasons to be able to tee it up with him and play with him and hopefully we have some really cool battles together. It’s something that I dreamed of as a kid and now it seems like more of a reality and a possibility than it ever has. To potentially have that opportunity to play against him and maybe play against him in the final group of a big tournament, the reality is there and it’s pretty exciting for someone like me who’s looked up to him since I was a kid.â€� Besides getting to play with Woods for the first time, the added benefit for Schauffele and Finau is that they’ll be able to show off for Woods, who is the U.S. Captain at this year’s Presidents Cup in Australia. Schauffele currently ranks second in points, with Finau in sixth. The top eight players in points through after this year’s TOUR Championship will automatically qualify for the team, with Woods making his four Captain’s Picks after that. “Big goal of mine to be on the Presidents Cup team, and especially to play for Tiger is going to be very special,â€� said Finau, a teammate of Woods at last year’s Ryder Cup. “We’ve got a full season ahead of us and a very important one at that.” Starting times, day (Thursday/Friday) and course (North/South) for the featured groupings will be announced when the official groupings and starting times for the entire 156-player field are finalized on Tuesday afternoon at approximately 3 p.m. ET. To watch the featured groupings on Thursday-Friday, fans in the United States can tune into the Golf Channel telecast (3-7 p.m. EST) and stream PGA TOUR LIVE via subscription on NBC Sports Gold and Amazon Prime Video Channels. Here’s a look at this week’s Featured Groups (current FedExCup ranking in parentheses): Xander Schauffele (1) — In early January, he blitzed the field with a final-round 11-under-par 62 and edged Gary Woodland by one stroke at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Tony Finau (16) — Finished runner-up in a playoff to Schauffele at the WGC-HSBC Champions. Tiger Woods (N/A) – Woods has won eight times at Torrey Pines Golf Course, seven at the Farmers Insurance Open and once at the 2008 U.S. Open. Jason Day (35) – The defending champion of the Farmers Insurance Open and a two-time winner at Torrey Pines, having also won in 2015. He has qualified for the season-ending TOUR Championship eight of the last nine years. Rory McIlroy (82) – Tied for fourth in his first career start at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January. Making his Farmers debut. Adam Scott (84) – Having played on eight straight International Presidents Cup teams dating back to 2003, Scott is targeting a ninth in December in his homeland of Australia at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club. Also making his Farmers debut. Brandt Snedeker (15) – A two-time Farmers winner, Snedeker is the last player to post a round of 59 on TOUR, having done so last August en route to victory at the Wyndham Championship. Jon Rahm (39) – Has 20 top-10 finishes in 53 career professional starts including a top-10 performance last week at the Desert Classic. Rickie Fowler (60) — A four-time PGA TOUR winner, Fowler will be making his 10th career start at the Farmers Insurance Open. Justin Rose (40) – The reigning FedExCup champ, Rose is in search of his 10th career TOUR title. Billy Horschel (56) – Won last year’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event with partner Scott Piercy and finished fifth in the FedExCup, his best finish since winning the FedExCup title in 2014. Jordan Spieth (T-203) – The 2015 FedExCup champ, Spieth made his professional debut at the Farmers Insurance Open in 2013.

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NAPA, Calif. - Lisa Cink grabbed her husband Stewart by the shirt front Sunday morning and pulled him in close with some vigor. "Do you know how good you are?" she asked firmly while staring him down. It was a slightly aggressive move but it was done with nothing but love. This was a wife who knows a thing or two about fighting tough battles trying to inject some confidence into her man. And it was a kick in the butt moment Stewart needed as he contemplated heading out to try to break a win drought spanning over 11 years. RELATED: Final leaderboard | 18 things to know about Stewart Cink It also wasn't the only thing Lisa imparted on her husband before he would ultimately go out to Silverado Resort and Spa to shoot his second consecutive 7-under 65 to win by two shots. Her words came after Cink had confided in her, saying "I'm really excited for today and I’m really scared." "She had some great words. She said, “You know what? You’re loved no matter what you do. No one expects anything out of you. I know you can do it and you know you can do it ... you're with your son ... so just go out there and have a great time." It helped Cink feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude to even be in a position to win again after what had stretched to a 4,074 day drought. Indeed, son Reagan was acting as his caddie this week. It was also his other son Connor's birthday. Reagan had recently become engaged. Things were good in life. Prior to his two-shot triumph over Harry Higgs, the last win for Cink was his 2009 Open Championship victory at Turnberry where he famously overran 59-year-old Tom Watson in a playoff. Watson had been a final hole par short of a famous victory but when he faulted, Cink stepped in to seal the win. It was his sixth TOUR win and looked like it could be the start of something big. But his life would get topsy turvy from there. Over the 11 seasons from 2010-2020 Cink had just 15 top-10s, none of which were victories. But it was in 2016 where things got really rough as Lisa was diagnosed with breast cancer. Thankfully she made it to remission. Just a few years ago Stewart had his own cancer scare, needing to have cancerous cells cut out of his face. More reasons to feel gratitude as he closed the front nine with a fourth birdie to join the lead. A chip in birdie on the par-3 11th had him top spot to himself, but it was a moment with Lisa off the 14th green, after he'd just missed a 16-foot birdie chance to press his advantage, that was just as critical. Instead of being annoyed, he was content. "I definitely had a lot of emotions out there today. I just was overcome at a few times with a feeling of gratitude and just feeling like how fortunate I am to be in the position that I’m in," Cink confirmed. "We call it when the bullets are flying out there. The last four or five holes of a PGA TOUR event your name’s on top of the leaderboard, but think about it, I’ve got my son caddieing for me, my wife is in almost five‑year remission now and she’s walking out there just on the side of the ropes, and at 47 I’m able to compete at the highest level and now not just compete, but win," Cink beamed. "I walked over to the side of the ropes after 14 and I grabbed Lisa by the arm and I just told her how grateful I was at that moment. I always try really hard to keep my heart in the right place when I’m competing, that’s just one of my main goals. I want to win, but I don’t want winning to be something that I have to do to like fulfill myself." Cink admitted he had come to terms with the possibility he might never win again during his long drought. The calmness at that moment was in fact a huge factor. As he heard a roar behind him that came as Higgs made a long-range birdie on the 14th, Cink responded with a 20-foot birdie of his own on the 15th. He then birdied the 16th. "I came to terms with the possibility that it might not happen, I did, but it’s not something I was settled or content with. I still compete to try to win and I work hard on my game and I just try to squeeze every little bit of juice I can out of my golf game, out of that lemon," Cink said. "In that regard, I’m no different than a 20‑ or 25‑year‑old kid out here who’s still got like his entire career ahead of him. I’m still working like crazy to try to be the best golfer I can be, but there was probably a time where I felt like maybe age might have caught up with me and maybe I might have had my last win out here, but I wasn’t ready to concede that. I just knew that if I got back into position again, that if the time’s right, I can hang in there." It wasn't without some nervous moments. Higgs turned a good bounce off some trees and a cart path into an eagle on the 16th to pull within two. And he made sure to walk all the way up to the green at 17 as Cink left his six-foot par putt short to cut his lead to just one. Cink dodged one when Higgs missed an eight-foot birdie soon after and another by hitting the fairway off the 18th tee and hitting his 7-wood through to the back of the par-5 finisher with style to allow a relatively simple up and down to make another birdie. "If you go out there thinking you’re not going to lose it, then you’re wrong and you’re going to be shocked. So I was prepared to lose it. I mean, for crying out loud, I left a five‑foot putt short on the 17th hole that I needed to make," Cink explained. "That’s not like what a champion does, but a champion does get back up off the mat when he gets knocked down and I got knocked down a little bit there and I went and played the 18th hole the best I’ve played it in my whole life." While Lisa had the golden words prior to the round, son Reagan had the gilded tongue during the round. The 23-year-old is not a regular caddie, in fact this was just his fourth time carrying the bag. As they came off the second green Reagan said, "Dad your tangibles are really, really good right now. Your club, your ball, your tangibles, like your ball’s doing what it’s supposed to do, you’re putting, your ball’s starting online. Let’s just take care of the intangibles today." Cink was impressed. And he relaxed. "That is like great advice like for someone who’s caddied three or times in the PGA TOUR and hasn’t played in a golf tournament I don’t think since high school golf," Cink said. "But he made a good point; my driver was doing what it’s supposed to do, my fairway woods, my irons, my wedges, my putter, everything was really doing what it was supposed to do and it was up to me to take care of the rest. "He did a great job keeping me positive and keeping me loose out there. We just had a really great time from the get-go all week. He’s not just a ceremonial caddie. He understands golf to the very, very highest level. It was really a great experience." The win will see the 47-year-old now fully exempt through this season and two more after it meaning he will get through to his 50th birthday when he becomes PGA TOUR Champions eligible. He will also find a place in the 2021 PLAYERS Championship and Masters tournaments and the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui. As such he will have to cancel a family ski trip in favor of one in the sun. Lisa wasn't complaining. "This is the culmination of so many things. It’s so special to have Reagan and Stewart do this together. I’ve watched him work so hard for so many years without the results, so for those to show up now is just an amazing blessing," she said. When her husband and son came off the 18th green and the win was officially secured after Higgs was unable to hole out a wedge shot for eagle Lisa grabbed Stewart's shirt again. She also grabbed Reagan's. This time she pulled them in for a well deserved massive hug.

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