Sleeper Picks: Mexico Open at Vidanta

As a follow-up to this afternoon’s announcement that THE PLAYERS Championship will be contested without fans for the remainder of the event, we would like to provide the attached Operations Plan in order to answer as many questions as possible for those impacted by these changes. As stated previously, the PGA TOUR is in constant communication with local health authorities, and we are tracking and monitoring the health information provided by the Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization and other government agencies. This is an incredibly fluid and dynamic situation, and we have been and are committed to being responsible, thoughtful and transparent with our decision process. So while this is our Operations Plan for THE PLAYERS at this time, we will make appropriate changes and provide updates as new information becomes available. Player & Player Family/Support Experience • Player and Caddie Parking will remain in current locations. • Player Transportation Committee will operate as normal, pending a daily review of usage. • PhysioFitness Trailers will have normal staffing and operating hours. • Player Services will be open with minimal staffing. • Locker Room Services to continue. • Childcare services to continue normal operating hours. • Dining – Pub 17 to remain open for contestants only. Player Family Dining in the Ponte Vedra Room will remain for “Dâ€� access, plus player managers. Additionally, the Osprey Room (2nd floor of clubhouse) will be opened for properly credentialed extended family (without “Dâ€�) and properly credential essential working staff. • Practice Facility will maintain current service levels using TPC Sawgrass Staff only. The Runner Committee will be suspended. The player shuttle service to the back of range will continue. • Caddie Services (bibs, etc.) will continue. The Caddie Dining and Caddie Lounge operations remain open. Lot 6 caddie shuttle will continue. • Player Support Personnel (therapists, coaches, trainers, instructors) will be allowed onsite. Dining will be in the Osprey Room. • No. 1 and No. 10 Tee presence will be reduced to a single starter. No VIPs or Honorary Observers will be present. • Scoring/ShotLink will deliver the full product. This involves one walking scorer with each group, two volunteers at each fairway and two volunteers at each green. These stationary volunteers also provide ball-spotting services. • The marshal presence will be extremely limited. Only essential cross walks and approximately one position per fairway and green will be manned. • There will be no standard bearers. • There will be a small commissary team replenishing player refreshments on each tee and at the practice facility.  Player refreshment tents will continue to operate. • Roping and staking will be maintained by a small team. • The scoring areas will remain staffed as normal. • There will be no changes to the Bad Weather Evacuation Plan or volunteer committee. • The PGA TOUR Rules Staff will continue to conduct the competition as normal. • For Agronomy, the intention is to have a full complement of staff and volunteers to prepare the course and practice areas. Parking Plans • Limited GameDay Staff members will man the main parking lot with a very limited number of volunteers. • Parking attendants will be present in Lots 3 and 5 • All TPC Staff and anyone who has been parking at Oakbridge will be moved Lots 3 and 5. • PGA TOUR East and West HQ Staff can return to normal parking lots (3, 4, 5) with display of employee ID or credential. Volunteer Services • Darlene’s Diner will be open to volunteers, vendors and working on-course staff. •  Volunteer parking will be in general parking area, with credential. Media • Normal credentialed Media Center operations to continue. • Media members will be allowed to follow play outside-the-ropes only. • Interviews will be conducted at the player’s discretion. • Media flash area will be managed to only allow one-on-one interviews and group interviews via player on the “Flash Interview Stage.â€�  No other “scrumsâ€� will be permitted. Other Notes • Only player family, player support and essential personnel will be allowed in the venue. • No fans will be allowed. • All hospitality areas will be closed, including Commissioner’s Hospitality. • All on-course food vendors will be closed. • No vendors will be allowed to do strike or load-out during competition hours.

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SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda — Brandon Hagy and Chad Ramey avoided the worst of the wind Thursday afternoon, each with a 6-under 65 to share the lead in the Butterfield Bermuda Championship when the opening round at Port Royal was halted by darkness. RELATED: Leaderboard | Weather maintains advantage, but rules staff makes it fair contest | ‘Brutal’ wind and rain lead to wild day in Bermuda For those who started in the morning, it might have been easier playing in the dark. “You see winds like this, but normally you don’t play in them,” said Matt Fitzpatrick of England, who had every right to be satisfied with his even-par 71. The wind and spots of heavy rain were so fierce that play was suspended briefly in the morning. And while it eased slightly in the afternoon, the gusts were strong enough that short putts were nervy and judging the distance on approach shots was key. Ramey managed to finish off a bogey-free round right before play was halted. Hagy made nine birdies to offset his bogeys, one of which was a 2-foot par putt he missed on the par-5 seventh hole. There was not much he could do about it — that was largely due to a gust. Vincent Whaley had a 66, while Congaree Palmetto Championship winner Garrick Higgo, Seamus Power of Ireland and Danny Lee were among those at 67. The group at 68 included Patrick Reed. He opened with three straight birdies only to give most of it back with a double bogey. This was a day for flighting the ball, such as the chip 8-iron from 118 yards. For so much of the day, the actual yardage was irrelevant. Reed was coming off a bogey on the 16th when he drove into a hazard on the par-5 17th. He took a penalty drop, and then hit 6-iron that plopped down near the hole and dropped for a most unusual eagle. His playing partners, Higgo and Willett, all drove into the hazard on the 17th and they managed to collectively play the hole in 3 under. When play was stopped, 33 players were under par, some having to return Friday morning to complete the first round. Only six of those scores under par came from the morning. Russell Knox, who grew up near Inverness in Scotland, was among the early starters and had few complaints with a 72. He was happy to be standing up. “We were down on the ground holding an umbrella. My fingers were cramping I’m holding on so tight, and it was pouring rain as hard as it’s ever rained,” he said. “It was an interesting day.” Hagy got a sense of that when he started in the afternoon and saw so few scores under par. Greyson Sigg and Austin Eckroat had the best rounds of the early starters at 68. They played with Seth Reeves, who had a 69. They represented half of the scores under par from the morning side of the draw. “I think it laid down a little bit for us, but it was still pretty stout,” Hagy said. “But I hit a lot of good putts and they went in. I think there’s going to be some times where you get gusts and the ball doesn’t go in, but you kind of have to keep your head down and keep trying to hit some good shots.” It’s already been a week like no other at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, which is offering full FedExCup points because it is not opposite the World Golf Championships event in Shanghai, canceled for the second straight year because of the pandemic. That means the winner gets a TOUR card for three years and an invite to the Masters, and only four players in the field already are eligible for Augusta National in April. Brian Gay, the defending champion, was bumped from his flight to Bermuda because the plane was too heavy. He arrived on Tuesday afternoon and didn’t get to play a practice round when the pro-am was canceled. Gay opened with a 75. “We definitely got the easier part of the day there in the afternoon, but it’s still a strong enough wind that your score could get away from you if you lost control of your ball,” Power said. “Hanging in there was the thing today.”

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MELBOURNE, Australia — Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry had a mid-round stretch of 5-under-par in four holes for a 9-under 63 Saturday to give Belgium a five-stroke lead after three rounds of the World Cup of Golf. Pieters and Detry started the day level with South Korea after a steady 71 in terrible rainy conditions in the foursomes (alternate shot) format of Friday. On Saturday, they took advantage — along with the 27 other teams — of much improved weather conditions at Metropolitan and the fourballs (best-ball) game. Belgium, which completed the front nine with two birdies and an eagle, then birdied the 10th, had a three-round total of 19-under 197. Three teams were tied for second — Mexico, Italy and South Korea. Mexico’s Abraham Ancer, who won last week’s Australian Open, and his partner Roberto Diaz, shot 65. Italy’s Andrea Pavan and Renato Paratore dropped two shots on the par-5 14th when both players had balls run back down off the green from slopes just off the putting surface, but recovered for a 66. South Korea’s Byeong Hun An and Si Woo Kim, who chipped in for eagle from just off the green on the 16th, finished with a 68. Three teams were tied for fifth — Sweden, Australia and England, six behind Belgium. Sweden’s Alexander Bjork and Joakim Lagergren shot 64 and Australia’s Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith 65. Leishman and Smith let an opportunity slip on the back nine. They shot 6-under 30 on the front nine — four birdies and an eagle — but had six pars to start the front nine before a birdie on 16. “Probably a story of two different nines,” Leishman said. “Got off to a great start obviously but cooled off a bit on the back nine.” England’s team of Tyrrell Hatton and Ian Poulter shot 67. The final round Sunday will be played in the foursomes (alternate shot) format. Bjork said he and Lagergren combined well to shoot one of the best rounds of the day. “When I was off, Joakim was on, and when he was off, I was on,” Bjork said. Americans Matt Kuchar and Kyle Stanley, who were one of the weather casualties on Friday with a 79, improved to a 66 Saturday but were 14 strokes off the lead and in 21st place.

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