South Africa’s Higgo wins in Gran Canaria

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. – Justin Rose enjoys an annual trip to Philadelphia, usually in the fall when the weather is cool and sweaters are a necessary article of clothing. “That’s my favorite time of year to play golf,â€� he said. “It reminds me of how I grew up playing golf in the U.K.â€� The yearly trip serves as a reminder of his biggest triumph. He takes friends to Merion Golf Club, where he won the U.S. Open in 2013. The club cuts the hole in the same back-left location that was used when he won five years ago. On Rose’s first return, all his companions wore his outfit from the U.S. Open’s final round. They forced him to change into matching clothes. “Slightly embarrassing, but it was fun,â€� he said. Merion is closed this year to undergo a Gil Hanse renovation, so Rose’s trip has undertaken a different context. Instead of playing with friends, he’s among the top contenders for the FedExCup. He’s third in the FedExCup standings with just two events remaining. If he remains in the top 5 after this week, he can clinch the Cup with a victory at the TOUR Championship on Sept. 23. Rose is playing on familiar territory at this week’s BMW Championship. Aronimink, which is less than eight miles from Merion, is on the list of historic venues where he has hoisted a trophy. He won the 2010 Quicken Loans National here. He’s also won at Colonial, Congressional, Muirfield Village, Valderrama and Royal Aberdeen. Aronimink underwent a restoration since the TOUR last visited here in 2011. Hanse, one of the top architects of this era, oversaw the work, which returned the course to its original Donald Ross design. Trees were removed, fairways were widened and bunkers were added. The greens were expanded, as well, to add hole locations. “It’s may be slightly more gentle, a bit more room out there than when I last played in 2011,â€� said Rose, who won the gold medal at the 2016 Olympics on a Hanse design. Rose arrives in good form, as well. He birdied four of his final six holes Monday to finish runner-up to Bryson DeChambeau at the Dell Technologies Championship. It was Rose’s fifth top-3 finish of the season. He has qualified for the TOUR Championship in seven of the past eight seasons, but just once has he been in the top 5 of the FedExCup entering the TOUR Championship. He was third in 2011 (after winning the BMW Championship). He finished T20 at the TOUR Championship as Bill Haas won at East Lake to claim the FedExCup. East Lake, site of the season finale, is a historic venue that would fit in nicely with Rose’s other victorious venues. He has finished second at the home course of Bobby Jones on two occasions (2012, ’15). Even in the midst of golf’s youth movement, the 38-year-old Rose is still having one of the best seasons of his career. His nine top-10s are third-most on TOUR, trailing only Dustin Johnson and Tony Finau. Johnson and Rose are the only players to finish in the top 10 in more than half their starts this season (Rose is 9 for 16). Rose also finished in the top 10 in all four of last season’s FedExCup Playoffs events, giving him 13 top-10s in his last 20 TOUR starts. The biggest improvement in his game has come on the greens. He ranks ninth in Strokes Gained: Putting (+0.51), an improvement of more than 100 spots and 2.3 strokes per tournament from last season. “Sometimes people are afraid to change what they do or how they do it,â€� said Rose’s long-time instructor, Sean Foley. “His lack of satisfaction in what he’s doing has really pushed us to look under every rock.â€� Many players suffer a fall-off in other parts of their game when making such a large improvement in another. They spend so much time practicing their weakness that they neglect their strengths. That hasn’t been the case for Rose, though. He’s remained one of the TOUR’s best ball-strikers while becoming an elite putter. He ranks ninth in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green this season. He’s also in the top 15 of Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green, a testament to the well-rounded game that has made him one of this season’s best players. Rose started using the claw grip in the fall of 2016 and has improved areas like green-reading and alignment. Rose said he employs “three or fourâ€� different strategies, including AimPoint, to read putts. “You can have a perfect stroke and not make putts,â€� Rose said. “The green-reading, the speed control, all of that is a huge factor.â€� This is just the second multiple-win season of his career. The other came in 2010, when he earned his first two PGA TOUR titles in a three-event span. He sandwiched a ninth-place finish at the Travelers Championship – where he shot 75 after starting the final round with a three-shot lead – between wins at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide and AT&T National. The latter was played at Aronimink. Rose started the final round with a four-shot lead. He led by five strokes after eagling the par-5 ninth hole with a 5-wood that stopped inches from the hole. Three-putts on the back nine’s first two holes put the title in tenuous position, though. He made par on the final seven holes to finish one shot ahead of Ryan Moore. Moore’s 65 matched Sunday’s low score. “I knew having not closed out last week, it was important for me to do it today,â€� Rose said after that win. He knows what it takes to win at Aronimink. That experience could help him hoist the FedExCup for the first time.

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Dylan Frittelli ... He's like the age-old tactic in a job interview when you emphasize the absence of a negative. His greatest strength is that he doesn't have a glaring weakness, but he doesn't jump off the page in any category, either. Consistency in the middle of the pack multiplies chances to contend in the event all cylinders are firing at once, so there are worse things. In 10 starts post-hiatus, he recorded a top 10 and another three top 25s before shutting it down until his third consecutive appearance at the Country Club of Jackson. En route to a share of sixth place last year, he led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green and Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. He also co-led in par breakers. Fabián Gómez ... The two-time PGA TOUR winner was the first man on the outside looking into the FedExCup Playoff last season. It was made possible late with a T3 at the Barracuda Championship. He finished T41 at Corales on Sunday and should pad his total early this season striding in on the confidence of a 4-for-4 record at the CC of Jackson with top 20s in 2014 and 2019. Cameron Percy ... With the way the Aussie has been playing of late, it's probably an insult to group him here, but he's been a rarity on leaderboards throughout his career with just eight top 10s and no wins in 155 PGA TOUR starts. However, he finished T8 at Corales and inside the top 25 in two of his previous three starts. He's also 4-for-4 with a pair of top 15s at the CC of Jackson since 2015. While he doesn't comp to Ryan Armour in the context of how each gets the job done inside the ropes, like the 2017 champ who was 41 and winless on TOUR with over 100 starts to his record upon arrival that week, Percy also is a touring professional of a certain age (46). Bronson Burgoon ... Withdrew early from the first two non-majors of 2020-21 so that he could attend the birth of his second child, a girl, on Sept. 17. So, not only is he past the point of high anxiety awaiting the delivery, he's also rested for six weeks. Now, after his son was born in December of 2018, he didn't experience the baby bump upon return to competition after that holiday break, but he's scattered his impressive performances widely over time, anyway. This week's expectation rests solely in his success at the CC of Jackson where he finished T20 in 2015 and T6 last year, but the simplicity of his life immediately after the recent addition to his family doesn't hurt. Davis Riley ... With Will Zalatoris in his own lane among Korn Ferry Tour members right now, Riley is part of the leading contingent in the next flight. The 23-year-old out of the University of Alabama has two wins on the KFT in its expanded season, so he would be rewarded with an automatic promotion to PGA TOUR member with a third. In the meantime, and short of victory at the Sanderson Farms Championship, non-member FedExCup points earned this week would contribute to his pursuit of Special Temporary Membership and contribute retroactively should he earn the promotion. (He'll also get starts in all four additional events on the PGA TOUR during the 2021 portion of the current season.) He descends on his second start in the SFC (T39, 2019) having missed his last three cuts, including the U.S. Open, but he's a scorer and he ranked third in greens hit here last year. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.

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