Stark contrast in Spieth, Weekley final pairing

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Making his first competitive appearance since October, Rory McIlroy’s patience was tested Thursday. He needed three late birdies to register a 3-under 69, leaving him three strokes behind first-round leaders Tommy Fleetwood and Hideto Tanihara at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. “First competitive round in over 100 days so it’s a little bit different,” said McIlroy, the 2016 FedExCup champ who last played at the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland on Oct. 8. “But I did well. I stayed patient.” McIlroy’s last start on the PGA TOUR was last season’s BMW Championship, the third leg of the FedExCup Playoffs. He then made two starts on the European Tour before starting his off-season. Starting on the 10th hole, McIlroy made 11 straight pars, which included a three-putt par on the par-5 18th. McIlroy, who hit 17 greens in regulation, collected his first birdie of the day by making an uphill 15-foot putt at the third and made further birdies at the seventh and eighth. “I gave myself loads of chances,” McIlroy said. “Really pleased. I played very solid. I think I only missed one or two greens, drove the ball well and the iron play was pretty good. So just need to keep doing that over the next three days and I should have a chance.” Fleetwood, the defending Abu Dhabi champion and last year’s European Tour money-list winner, continued his excellent form by hitting all 18 greens in regulation. Fleetwood said he had control of his ball throughout. “It was very good, very stress-free,” he said. “Played really well from start to finish. “Felt like I did what you need to do well around this golf course, which is drive it well, hit your irons, but you can’t really be too greedy all the time. My pace putting was really good. (Hitting) 18 greens doesn’t happen very often so nice to do it around here.” There was a five-way tie for third place with Fabrizio Zanotti, Ross Fisher, Thomas Pieters, Bernd Wiesberger and Sam Brazel shooting 67s. Top-ranked Dustin Johnson drove his ball into a lake at the ninth, his closing hole, to finish with a 72. Matt Kuchar was also on level-par while Justin Rose went one better with a 71.  

Click here to read the full article…

HOW THEY QUALIFIED Winners of the Arnold Palmer Inv. & the Memorial (Last 3 Years) Matt Every Tournament Winner in Past Two Seasons Steven Bowditch Alex Cejka Jim Furyk Smylie Kaufman Davis Love III Hunter Mahan Ben Martin Troy Merritt Brian Stuard Career Money Exemption Carl Pettersson Sponsors Exemptions – Web.com Tour Finals Matt Gilchrest Robby Shelton Sponsors Exemptions – Members not otherwise exempt Chris Smith Omar Uresti Sponsors Exemptions – Unrestricted Sam Burns Will Cannon Trace Crowe Wes Homan Sung Min Lee Hugo Leon Dru Love Derek Rende PGA Club Professional Champion – 6 Events Rich Berberian, Jr. PGA Section Champion\Player of the Year Mike Genovese Top 125 on Prior Season’s FedEx Cup Points List David Hearn Kyle Reifers Daniel Summerhays Ricky Barnes Chad Campbell Patrick Rodgers Patton Kizzire K.J. Choi Spencer Levin Jason Bohn Tyrone Van Aswegen Derek Fathauer Blayne Barber Brett Stegmaier Robert Garrigus Zac Blair Cameron Tringale Andrew Loupe Boo Weekley Mark Hubbard Ben Crane Shawn Stefani Seung-Yul Noh Top 125 on Prior Season’s Official Money List thru Wyndham Ken Duke Retief Goosen Chad Collins Major Medical Extension Brian Gay Ryo Ishikawa Leading Money Winner from Web.com Tour & Web.com Tour Finals Grayson Murray Top Finishers from Web.com Tour Prior Season (reordered) Dominic Bozzelli J.T. Poston Ryan Blaum Scott Stallings Brandon Hagy Cameron Percy Seamus Power Trey Mullinax Bryson DeChambeau Martin Flores Julian Etulain Richy Werenski Andres Gonzales Jonathan Randolph Ryan Brehm Joel Dahmen Tag Ridings Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano Rory Sabbatini Steven Alker Nicholas Lindheim Will MacKenzie Mark Anderson Ryan Armour Brett Drewitt Brian Campbell Miguel Angel Carballo Sebastian Munoz Brad Fritsch Rick Lamb Bobby Wyatt Bobby Gates Max Homa Shane Bertsch 126 – 150 Prior Season’s FEC Points List (Reordered) Matt Jones Sam Saunders Greg Owen Chris Stroud Steve Wheatcroft Willy Wilcox Hiroshi Iwata Tom Hoge Tyler Aldridge Stuart Appleby Reorder Category – Cat. 34 thru 38 Camilo Villegas Bill Lunde Angel Cabrera Andres Romero Jonathan Byrd Mark Wilson Brendon de Jonge Y.E. Yang Dicky Pride John Merrick Charlie Wi Chesson Hadley Michael Bradley George McNeill Tim Herron Eric Axley Brendon Todd John Rollins Tommy Gainey Robert Allenby Craig Barlow Beyond 150th on Prior Season’s FEC Points List Jason Gore Jeff Overton D.J. Trahan Marc Turnesa Cameron Beckman Ted Purdy Troy Matteson Frank Lickliter II Arjun Atwal

Click here to read the full article…

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Improbable shots abounded on one of the most stressful days of the PGA TOUR season. Sunday’s final round of the Wyndham Championship is the last day for players to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs. The top 125 after the final putt drops – in this case, Henrik Stenson’s 3-footer for a one-shot victory – earn their berths into golf’s postseason, and many players need to be among that elite group to retain their full playing privileges for the following season. Both title hopes and jobs are on the line, a drama-inducing combination. A hole-in-one, a 60-footer from the fringe and unlikely birdies at the last hole all helped players qualify for next week’s THE NORTHERN TRUST, the postseason opener. And all these shots happened Sunday on Sedgefield’s final three holes. J.J. Henry narrowly grabbed the 125th spot in the FedExCup standings, and he did it by the slimmest of margins. He finished just 1.13 FedExCup points ahead of No. 126 Zac Blair. Henry birdied two of his final three holes to sneak into the top 125, including a 5-foot birdie putt on Sedgefield Country Club’s demanding finishing hole. “I’m very proud of the way I finished today,â€� Henry said. “I’ve won three times and played on a Ryder Cup team, and it was probably some of the most pressure I’ve felt, playing today.â€� Henry was one of four players to crack the top 125 at the Wyndham Championship. Martin Flores, Rory Sabbatini and Harold Varner III joined him. Both Henry and Sabbatini, who holed a 58-foot birdie putt from the fringe on No. 16, made the top 125 without a shot to spare. Sabbatini shot 64 on Sunday to finish T4. Four players were bounced out of the FedExCup Playoffs to make room for the successful foursome. Blair, David Hearn, Seamus Power and Daniel Summerhays were the unfortunate foursome. Flores shot Sunday’s low score, a 7-under 63. He made a hole-in-one on the 175-yard 16th and a birdie on No. 18, where he hit his 140-yard approach shot to 8 feet. “I just kept telling myself, ‘You have to make it. I don’t care what you have to do. Just find a way to make it,’â€� he said of his final putt. He pumped his fist after sinking his 8-foot birdie putt at the last hole, then got emotional during his post-round interview on CBS. “I knew exactly what I needed to do,â€� he said. “I did everything I could today and I’m really proud of how I played.â€� There were other players who saw their postseason hopes slip away on the final day. Shane Lowry, winner of the 2015 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, shot 67 on Sunday but finished one shot outside the top 125. Johnson Wagner started Sunday in fifth place thanks to an albatross and two eagles in his first three rounds. His final-round 74 dashed his hopes of leaping into the Playoffs from 141st in the FedExCup standings. Wagner’s bogey at the reachable par-5 15th, where he hit his 215-yard second shot in the water, gave Henry his slim advantage over Blair because it dropped Wagner behind Henry, who’d already finished his round, on the leaderboard. Blair, who began the week ranked 120th in the FedExCup, had to follow the final round from his hotel room after missing Saturday’s cut; he lipped out birdie putts on Nos. 16 and 17 to finish two shots outside the 54-hole cut. What Blair saw on television was one of the most dramatic finales to the Wyndham Championship in recent memory. More than a half-dozen players were hoping to make Hail Mary runs into the postseason, including 53-year-old Davis Love III, who started the final round in sixth place. Sam Saunders’ first FedExCup Playoffs berth was within reach as well. He shot 1 over par on the weekend (72-69) after starting the tournament with rounds of 63 and 68, finishing two shots short of the cut line. “It was the least enjoyable round of golf I’ve ever played in my life,â€� Saunders said. “You don’t know if you’re going to throw up or have a heart attack. It’s worse than trying to win a tournament, tenfold. … I’ve never had to birdie one hole to change my life for the entire year. And that just kills me.â€� Geoff Ogilvy was the man who started Wyndham week at No. 125 in the FedExCup standings. Ogilvy, winner of the 2006 U.S. Open and three World Golf Championships, said the stress of defending his Playoffs spot inspired some of the best golf of his life. He had to birdie five of his final seven holes Friday just to make the cut. He shot 6-under 29 on Sunday’s front nine, including a hole-out from 93 yards for eagle on No. 8. “If I wasn’t on (No. 125), I probably would have turned that front nine into a low-60s round. I felt like I was playing that well,â€� he said. “There’s a level of tension and stress in your body that’s on a different level when you’re in that position. “This is a different sort of pressure and a more uncomfortable type of pressure than trying to win a tournament. My body felt (bad) all week. You just don’t feel right.â€� Now his focus turns to winning the FedExCup. He has high hopes that moving inside the top 100 after THE NORTHERN TRUST could ignite a run to the TOUR Championship. He has two runners-up at TPC Boston, site of the second Playoffs event, the Dell Technologies Championship. “You can be right on the razor’s edge, one round away from going home, and then have a chance to go to Atlanta,â€� Ogilvy said. “That’s the cool thing about the FedExCup.”

Click here to read the full article…