Style Insider: PGA Show Day 1

BLAINE, Minn. (AP) — Scott Piercy shot a 6-under 65 to share the 3M Open lead with Sungjae Im after the first round Thursday. Tony Finau was two strokes back, with three near misses of birdie putts over his last four holes, along with Brice Garnett, Doug Ghim, Emiliano Grillo and Tom Hoge. On a dry, windy, 86-degree day at the TPC Twin Cities in suburban Minneapolis, the course’s penchant for producing low scores held up once again. Playing in the second group of the day off the first tee, Piercy made 151 feet worth of putts. He birdied four of the first five holes on his back nine. The 43-year-old Piercy, who led the 3M Open in 2019 by two strokes after the first round, is one of several on-the-fringe players in the field this year seeking a late-season lift in the FedEx Cup race. Piercy arrived in Minnesota in 138th place, with the cut for the playoffs at 125 and two events left after this to qualify. In four of his last six starts, Piercy has failed to advance to the weekend. On TOUR since 2009, Piercy has four career wins. Just last week, he switched his caddie, his swing coach, his driver and his putter — an uncharacteristically drastic series of decisions for him. “Every shot counts, and it’s time to buckle down,” Piercy said. “Not that we don’t try to buckle down all the time, but there’s extra buckling down, I guess. To start off this way is really nice.” Im, who’s 19th in the FedEx Cup standings and 24th in the world, birdied four of his last six holes. The 24-year-old from South Korea tied for eighth at the Masters this year but tied for 81st last week at the British Open. Finau, the lone member of last year’s U.S. Ryder Cup team and the 17th-ranked player in the world, has two top-five finishes this summer. The Utah player missed a 3-foot birdie putt on 15 and left a 4-footer for birdie just short on 16. Then on the 18th, his tee and approach shots were spot on, but an 8-foot birdie putt lipped out and settled 4 inches from the cup. Making two of those three would’ve put him in the lead. The highest-ranked player in the field, Hideki Matsuyama, withdrew. He cited a sore wrist after shooting a 77 to match his worst round of the season, his Saturday at the Masters on April 9. Entering the week in eighth place in the FedEx Cup race and the world’s No. 14 player, Matsuyama hit into the water three times on the unforgiving and lakeside 18th hole and took a quadruple-bogey 9. Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters winner and a fourth-place finisher at the U.S. Open this summer, tied for seventh at the first edition of the 3M Open in 2019. Mardy Fish, the former tennis star who’s playing on a sponsor exemption, was tied for last at 81.

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The category: Former University of Georgia golfers. Get your buzzers ready. The answer for $200: This two-time PGA TOUR winner is making his 200th career start at this week’s RSM Classic. Please respond in the form of a question. The correct response: Who is Harris English? OK, so Alex Trebek hasn’t really offered up that category on “Jeopardy!â€� – at least not yet. But if he does, it’s a good bet that English will be watching (and, of course, voicing his response ahead of the three actual contestants). English is a huge fan of the popular game show, which is no surprise considering his educational background. He made the Southeastern Conference All-Academic honor roll in each of his four years at Georgia and graduated with a degree in Consumer Economics. While he’s never been on “Jeopardy!,â€� English could certainly hold his own if given the opportunity – and, no, he wouldn’t have to rely on running the table in his go-to category of sports. With all sorts of random facts stored in his brain, he could quickly spit out the answers in more challenging areas. “It could be like a science — stuff you have learned in high school or college, but I can regurgitate the information,â€� English said. “But I like the random categories like ‘Potpourri.’ That can be about anything, really.â€� Of course, there are some categories, English wouldn’t buzz in on. Take “Opera,â€� for example, or “Shakespeare.â€� Of course, most of us would say the same. The self-described “fanaticâ€� of “Jeopardy!â€� has watched the long-running TV show since he was a kid. He’s a big fan of trivia nights, too, and has won several competitions while playing with his buddies. “My mom would always cook dinner and then as a family, we just kind of watched the ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and ‘Jeopardy!’â€� he recalled, adding that his father was probably the best at playing the games. “It was kind of our time as a family. “I just love trivia. It kind of stuck to me as a kid and I still watch it.â€� When he has an off-week and is back home in Sea Island, Georgia, he likes to square off against his wife, Helen. He says they are on par with each other when it comes to the game. “We’ll sit down and that’s kind of our thing is to watch ‘Jeopardy!’ and kind of compete against each other in a fun way,â€� English says. “That’s cool. It sounds a little cheesy, but it’s fun. “We’ll just sit on the couch and kind of yell out the answer. Obviously, it you get it wrong it doesn’t mean anything, but it’s fun to guess.â€� On a good night, English said he may get up to nine questions right. No doubt he would have cleaned up that recent night when all three contestants missed – dare we say, fumbled — all five football questions. They didn’t know what a fair catch, offsetting penalties or an option play was. They couldn’t tell you what football team Tom Landry coached or who the Purple People Eaters were. And to make matters funnier – they didn’t even try to guess. Click here to watch the video. The huge Georgia and Atlanta Falcons fan missed that episode. But English is well acquainted with Ken Jennings, who won 74 consecutive “Jeopardy!â€� games and nearly $3.2 million. And he watched Eddie Timanus, the first blind contestant on the show who won five games in 1999 and has returned for four other Tournament of Champions shows, most recently in 2014. “It’s just kind of cool these guys that get on some runs,â€� English said. “It’s pretty cool to watch.â€� English says he and his wife often do the game-show double and watch “Wheel of Fortune,â€� too. But he’d be the first to admit he’s not as good at that TV show where contestants solve word puzzles. “Some of those confuse me a little bit when they do the crosswords,â€� he says. “We will usually do both, but mainly ‘Jeopardy!’ is our thing.â€� Ask English what a good “Jeopardy!â€� question featuring him would be and he’s stumped. There are options, to be sure. He marks his ball with a 1989 quarter, for one, because it’s the year in which he was born. His bucket list includes skydiving, flying in an F16 and driving a NASCAR vehicle. Maybe, he finally says, it could be about where he grew up – English was born in Valdosta, Georgia; lived in nearby Quitman for a while and then moved to Moultrie when he was 5 years old. “So I’ve been around a little bit, but a lot of people considered like Thomasville or Valdosta where I’m from,â€� he says. “But it was really Moultrie where I grew up, I guess.â€� See, even he isn’t sure of the right answer, Alex. Thankfully, it was not Final Jeopardy!

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The 1969 Ryder Cup at England’s Royal Birkdale Golf Club featured legends like Jack Nicklaus, Tony Jacklin, Lee Trevino, Peter Alliss and U.S. Captain Sam Snead. While the U.S. Team retained the Cup, history remembers that week not just for the final score, but for one admirable act of sportsmanship that illustrated the power of better decisions that are made with clarity and confidence in the most critical moments. Nicklaus conceded a short putt to Jacklin on the final hole of the deciding match, assuring that the two teams finished in a 16-16 tie. Now remembered as ‘The Concession,’ Nicklaus’ gesture ensured the first tie in Ryder Cup history. Nicklaus did not want Jacklin, a national hero after winning that year’s Open Championship, to face the possibility of a costly miscue in that crucial situation. “I don’t believe you would have missed that, but I’d never give you the opportunity in these circumstances,” Nicklaus said. The United States retained the Cup but Nicklaus faced criticism from those who felt he should have made Jacklin hit the putt. Nicklaus’ act marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship between the two champions, and is remembered as one of the greatest gestures of sportsmanship in the game’s history. In celebration of this great act, the PGA of America, Ryder Cup Europe and Aon are rolling out a first-of-its-kind award this week at Whistling Straits. The Nicklaus-Jacklin Award presented by Aon will go to the player from each team who sees the bigger picture and who makes better decisions critical to sportsmanship, teamwork and performance. At the conclusion of the Ryder Cup, a committee headed by Mr. Nicklaus and Mr. Jacklin will name the first recipients of the Nicklaus-Jacklin Award. The selection committee will also include past Ryder Cup Captains Paul Azinger and Paul McGinley; Executive Chaiman International Business at Aon, Carlo Clavarino; as well as representatives from the PGA of America and PGA of Great Britain and Ireland, Jim Richerson and Alan White, respectively. Ryder Cup history is filled with instances of teamwork, sportsmanship, and of course, elite performance that are worthy of recognition. The Nicklaus-Jacklin Award presented by Aon brings all of those key traits of the Ryder Cup together, highlighting the players who most embody the spirit of this great event. So, what are some historical performances that demonstrate the clarity, confidence and proper decision-making that the Nicklaus-Jacklin Award presented by Aon hopes to highlight? Let’s revisit some below. Teamwork: Seve Ballesteros & Jose Maria Olazabal Europe’s anchor in 1987 was Seve Ballesteros, a four-time major champion who was making his fourth Ryder Cup appearance. But individual talent alone cannot guarantee Ryder Cup success. A cohesive team strategy that extracts the best out of each player is essential. “Ballesteros… was a genius as far as I was concerned,” Jacklin, the European captain, recalled recently. “But half his teammates were in awe of him. If you put them in with him, they would never admit to it, but they were overawed.” Jose Maria Olazabal, aged 21, was not only a Ryder Cup rookie, but the youngest player for either side that week. Ballesteros saw something in Olazabal that would spark the beginning of the greatest partnership in Ryder Cup history. “I believe Seve approached Tony and said, ‘Tony, don’t you worry, put me with Jose and we’re going to be OK,” Olazabal recalled. ‘OK’ was quite an understatement. The duo won three of their four matches together that week as Europe won its second Cup in a row. They would go on to amass an 11-2-2 record as a pairing (12 total points won), the most prolific duo in the history of the event. The success of the team tabbed the “Spanish Armada” shows the importance of clarity of mind and proper decision-making in stressful situations. Ballesteros’ ability to recognize the ideal sidekick helped Europe to its first victory on American soil. “Jose Maria wasn’t intimidated by Seve in any way, shape or form,” said Jacklin. “They were both there together and they were both countrymen, so they fed off each other. It was wonderful.” Sportsmanship: Darren Clarke In 2006, European captain Ian Woosnam had two captain’s picks for the competition at The K Club in Ireland. With one of them, he selected Darren Clarke, whose wife Heather died of cancer just six weeks before the matches. As play unfolded that week, the overwhelming support for Clarke emanated not just from his own teammates, but his competitors, as well. “It was incredible how our team got behind Darren,” Woosnam said recently, “and how the American team got behind Darren, as well.” “Every one of them (the American team) spoke to me and gave me a hug,” Clarke said. “They made me feel like I should be there.” Clarke’s play showed be belonged. He won all three matches he played, including a 3-and-2 victory in singles over Zach Johnson. Johnson conceded a 4-foot putt to seal the match for Clarke, and the Europeans rolled to an 18-9 victory. “Woosie took a huge gamble in picking me for the team,” Clarke recently said. “I did tell him I was ready to play, but then again in that scenario nobody knew how I was going to play. But the support they showed for me that whole week was incredibly special.” “Darren being here was an inspiration itself,” said Tiger Woods in 2006. “And his play was remarkable.” Woosnam’s confidence in Clarke, who overcame incredible circumstances at The K Club, paid off. Performance: Exceeding Expectations All competitors enter the Ryder Cup carrying the burden of expectation. The hopes of their respective nations lies on the talented shoulders of 24 of the world’s greatest players. The quickest way to become a Ryder Cup legend is to exceed those expectations and lead your side to victory. ‘Expected points’ are the predictive baseline for a player’s expected output in a given Ryder Cup week. This number is generated by a number of factors, including player form, course-fit statistics, past performance in team events, and match play record. Perhaps no player has best embodied outperforming expectations in recent years at the Ryder Cup than ‘The Postman,’ Ian Poulter. In his six Ryder Cup appearances dating to 2008, Poulter has an expected points total of 9.71. He has blown away that total, accumulating 15 points. Poulter will look to improve on his 14-6-2 career match record as a captain’s pick this year at Whistling Straits. On the American side, Jordan Spieth has amassed an impressive Four-ball record, winning five of his six career matches. His five points won in that format since his Ryder Cup debut in 2014 far exceed his expected sum of 3.09. Spieth and Justin Thomas combined to win both of their four-ball matches in Paris three years ago. In addition to qualitative factors like sportsmanship and teamwork, the selectors will use objective data, such as a player’s performance against his expected points, to determine the recipient of the first Nicklaus-Jacklin Award presented by Aon. Looking forward to Whistling Straits According to Twenty First Group analysis, no course on the 2015 PGA TOUR schedule valued extra driving distance more than Whistling Straits did at the PGA Championship. U.S. Captain Steve Stricker demonstrated strong decision-making by using that data to shape his team. Eight of Stricker’s 12 players ranked in the top-50 in driving distance during the last PGA TOUR season. All but one player – reigning Open Champion Collin Morikawa – had above-TOUR-average distance in the 2020-21 season. The United States’ power contingent is led by Bryson DeChambeau, who led the TOUR in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee in 2021 and set the single-season driving distance record (323.7 yards). The European side will bring some top-heavy talent off the tee to the party, as well. Four of the top five players in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee last season will play for Europe: Jon Rahm (2nd), Sergio Garcia (3rd), Rory McIlroy (4th) and Viktor Hovland (5th). Europe boasts five of the top 15 players in Strokes Gained Off-the-Tee for the season, while the Americans have just two (DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka). Power will invariably be a significant factor when determining which side wins the Cup later this month in Wisconsin.

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