Spieth, Fowler, Rahm atop odds to win The Open

The desert sand of Las Vegas will be replaced by the pink sand beaches on Bermuda this week as a field of now 127 tees it up for the third consecutive autumn at Port Royal Golf Club. Constructed in 1970 by Robert Trent Jones, the windswept 6,828 yards of Port Royal plays to Par-71 (36-35). As wind is always a factor in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, there’s not a heavy penalty for missing fairways. Only two inches of Bermuda bounds the fairways. TifEagle greens are ample targets averaging 6,000 square feet and won’t be as slick as their cousins Stateside in summer time. 88 bunkers and water on five holes will also provide the other defenses outside of the steady sea breeze. The previous two winners should provide ample clues on what it takes to get it over the finish line. Brian Gay and Brendon Todd are notorious for their accuracy off the tee and ability to hole putts. Neither will win any long drive contests on TOUR but are both veteran winners who knew how to keep it out of trouble (check Bogey Avoidance) and get the ball up and down. They both took care of business on the back nine and closed the deal against the next generation. No longer an opposite field event, the purse is $6.5 million with the winner pocketing $1.117 million plus 500 FedExCup points. The winner is also eligible for the Sentry Tournament of Champions, the Masters and all of the other perks awarded to full field winners. Recent Event Winners Recent Winners Last year – Brian Gay (-15, 269) Birdied the first playoff hole to win. … Birdied the 72nd hole to reach a playoff. … Closed with 64, T2 round of the day. … Trailed by as many as four shots on the back nine. … Posted all four rounds 70 or better. … T3 2019. … 44 birdies in 144 holes over two years. … Picks up his fifth TOUR win at age 48. … First win since 2013 American Express. … Entered the week on four consecutive MC. Notables in the field this week: Denny McCarthy (T4) co-led the field with 21 birdies and posted the low round on Sunday with 63. … Ryan Armour (T8) matched his 2019 result as he shared the 36 hole lead. … David Hearn (T8) matched his 2019 result as he closed 67-66. … Kramer Hickok (T8) posted all four rounds in the 60s and was T1 GIR. … Kiradech Aphibarnrat (T11) was T4 Fairways and T4 Putts. … Michael Gligic (T11) only made seven bogeys (T2). … Anirban Lahiri (T11) co-led the field with 21 birdies. … Peter Malnati (T21) led after 18 holes with 63. … Defending champ Brendon Todd missed the cut. … The top 11 players were 10-under or better. … The cut was 1-over par. 2019 – Brendon Todd (24-under, 260 – not entered) Tied the course record with 62 on Sunday to win by four. … Made birdie on holes 2 thru 8 and went out in 29. … Began Round 4 two shots off the lead. … Posted 63 in Round 2. … 17-under on the front nine for the week. … Hit it great and made everything (check table). … Picks up his second TOUR victory in 177th start at age 34. … Won the following week at Mayakoba. … T28 Houston previous outing. Notables in the field this week: Brian Gay (T3) circled 24 birdies (T4). … Hank Lebioda (T4) fired 63 on Sunday. … Fabian Gomez (7th) closed 66-65 and was T2 GIR. … Ryan Armour (T8) posted 25 birdies and was 9th Putting. … David Hearn (T8) led the field with 41 Fairways. … Bo Hoag (T11) posted two rounds of 64. … Russell Knox (T11) only squared four bogeys and was T2 GIR. … Beau Hossler (T24) T2 Birdies with 26 and No. 1 in Putting. … Weather was perfect. … Cut was 2-under. … There was only TWO rounds OVER par in the top 23. … 22 bogey-free rounds. … Scoring average 69.656. KEY STAT LEADERS Top golfers in each statistic on the PGA TOUR (thru 2021 season) are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. Horses for Courses – Butterfield Bermuda Championship

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – He was a global superstar with his own clothing line; a garage full of Bentley, Aston Martin, and Ferrari showpieces; and a home worthy of Architectural Digest. But somewhere along the line Ian Poulter lost his game. An injured foot forced him to attend the 2016 Ryder Cup as a Vice Captain, not a player, and by March of last year he was mired in a joyless slog to try to fulfill the terms of his Major Medical Extension. With his PGA TOUR card in the balance, it was time to have the Big Talk with his manager, Paul Dunkley. “It wasn’t just a meeting, it was like five days of really working out a plan,â€� Poulter said Wednesday from TPC Sawgrass, where he’ll try to improve on his T2 finish last year and become the first Englishman to win THE PLAYERS Championship. “… My life, my on-course, my off-course businesses, just really restructure what it is I have, I have to do, put some emphasis on the important things, and the stuff that really isn’t that important, just get rid of it. And clear up the distractions.â€� Poulter jettisoned his clothing line; narrowly fulfilled his Major Medical to keep his TOUR status for the rest of last season (more on that later); and, unburdened and reenergized, finished T2 at THE PLAYERS after a 116-yard shot through the foliage on 18 helped him salvage a crazy bogey. The rest is history. His run to the quarterfinals at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play earlier this season, when he was erroneously told his world ranking would get him into the Masters. His 20-foot birdie putt to force a playoff with Beau Hossler at the Houston Open, Poulter pounding his chest “like some mad gorillaâ€� (his words) before winning the playoff to punch his ticket to Augusta. Today, Poulter, 42, is 25th in the FedExCup, 26th in the Official World Golf Ranking. He looks like a solid bet to make the European Ryder Cup team, and is contending regularly again. He took a one-shot lead into Sunday at the RBC Heritage last month, but playing for the sixth week in a row he bonked with a 75 to finish T7. No harm done; he was back. Success has many fathers, but you’d have to say the Poults Revival Tour traces back to THE PLAYERS last year, and specifically that 116-yard shot through the trees on 18. “I definitely think it was a huge part of 2017 for me,â€� he said. “Just to be told I was exempt to play was a huge bonus, and obviously to then kick on from that and play well, finishing runner-up, obviously enabled me to go back to Europe and play a bit more and really kind of work on a schedule. And that was obviously very helpful into the start of 2018, which has been a pretty good start to the year.â€� The key word there is schedule. Poulter likes to have one, and when his ranking bottomed out at 207th after The Honda Classic last year, things weren’t looking good. Easing into his 40s, he seemed to be headed for that no-man’s land in which players rely on sponsor’s exemptions, past-champion status, and/or career earnings to get tournament starts.   “Someone who’s quite OCD, to not know what they’re doing, is not very good,â€� he said. “So, to have stuff mapped out is quite nice.â€� On the subject of maps, Poulter will play on the other side of the Atlantic this summer, which he feels will give him the best chance to make his sixth Ryder Cup team. In the Year of the Comeback (Tiger, Phil, Jason, Rory et al) a revitalized Poulter seems to bode especially well for Europe. “I’m so happy for him,â€� said McIlroy, who was the fiery Englishman’s partner when Poulter’s birdie rampage resuscitated Europe at the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah. “Poults is one of the best guys out here.â€� When he was a boy, Poulter tested the patience of his teachers. One of them, he says, told him he would never amount to anything while jabbing him in the chest hard enough to leave a mark. He remembers the name of the teacher, remembers the whole thing like it was yesterday. He kept at it, which meant trying and mostly failing to beat his older brother, Danny. Poulter began his golf career as a lightly regarded club pro in England, selling sweaters, giving lessons, and gaining more infamy than fame for rarely making it to work on time. He kept at it. The last 18 months brought more turbulence, starting with the threat of losing his TOUR card, which seemed especially real when it seemed he hadn’t done enough through the 2017 Valero Texas Open, the last start of his Major Medical. (A math irregularity revealed he had, in fact, earned enough FedExCup points.) He was told he had done enough to make this year’s Masters, and then told he hadn’t. He kept at it. It drives Poulter crazy to be told he can’t, but it also has fueled his surprising, sui generis career. And he might be just coming into his own. He’s more than the bug-eyed Ryder Cup killer, or the guy who trails only Tiger Woods in all-time matches won (27) and played (41) at the WGC-Dell Technologies. With two runner-up finishes at THE PLAYERS, he knows TPC Sawgrass suits him. And beyond that? If history is any guide, you’d have to say anything is possible. “There’s still things I’m working on to try and get better,â€� Poulter said. “And I feel I’ve got a lot more in me to give. With that in mind, I think I can still win big tournaments. I still think I can win a major. Other guys have done that over the age of 42, and I would like to think I still can.â€� As the old chestnut goes, whether you think you can or you can’t, the surest way to help Ian Poulter win THE PLAYERS is to tell him he has no chance.

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif.  — Dustin Johnson overcame a sloppy back nine by making a 10-foot birdie on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach for a 2-under 70 that gave him a share of the lead going into the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Ted Potter Jr. needed to birdie one of his final three holes for a 59 at Monterey Peninsula. He finished par-bogey-bogey for a 62 and was tied with Johnson. They were at 14-under 201. Jason Day, coming off a victory two weeks ago at Torrey Pines, shot a 69 at Pebble Beach and was two shots behind. Johnson is going for his second straight PGA TOUR win as he closes in on a full year at No. 1 in the world.

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