Tee times: 2017 PGA Championship

KAPALUA, Hawaii — Jon Rahm began the bold new year on the PGA TOUR by coming from seven shots behind to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Sunday with plenty of help from Collin Morikawa. Rahm was six shots behind on the 13th hole at Kapalua when he ran off three straight birdies and a 12-foot eagle putt, and his final birdie gave him a 10-under 63. Morikawa had gone 67 holes without a bogey on the Plantation Course when it all fell apart with his wedges and his putter, the two areas that had carried him to a six-shot lead at the start of the day. From 25 yards short of the 14th green, he blasted out of a bunker and over the green. He muffed a wedge from a tight lie with the grain of grass into him on the par-5 15th. His wedge to the 16th didn’t go far enough and rolled some 60 feet back into the fairway. Morikawa looked to be in a state of shock as he walked down the 17th fairway, leading by as many as seven shots during the final round and suddenly finding himself two shots behind and running out of hope. He wound up tying a PGA TOUR record for losing the largest 54-hole lead at six shots. Seven other players have done that, most recently Dustin Johnson in the fall of 2017 at the HSBC Champions in Shanghai. Rahm finished at 27-under 265 to win by two shots over Morikawa, who birdied the 18th hole — his first birdie since No. 6 — to close with a 72. It was the second such collapse by Morikawa in a little more than a year. He closed out 2021 at the Hero World Challenge and had a five-shot lead with a chance to reach No. 1 in the world with a victory. He shot 76 and finished fifth. Masters champion Scottie Scheffler had a chance to return to No. 1 this week if he finished in a two-way tie for third or better. He had to settle for a 70 and tied for seventh. It was a small measure of redemption for Rahm, who last year finished at 33-under par at Kapalua which was a PGA TOUR record that lasted only a few seconds. Cameron Smith finished at 34 under to win by one. Rahm now is 60 under in his last two appearances at Kapalua. The victory was his ninth on the PGA TOUR and 17th worldwide, and assured he will be back on Maui to start 2024. Rahm now has won three times in his last six starts worldwide — he won in Spain and Dubai late last year — and he goes home with $4.2 million. Rahm won $2.7 million from the $15 million purse at Kapalua, the first of the elevated events on the PGA TOUR schedule. He also gets 25 percent of his Player Impact Program bonus money — he finished No. 5 in the PIP for $6 million. The Spaniard now has won in each of his seven full years on the PGA TOUR. Tom Hoge had a 64 and tied for third with Max Homa (66). Hoge headed for the airport to go to Los Angeles to watch his school, TCU, playing for the national championship against Georgia. Hoge then will go back to Hawaii for the Sony Open.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – What a difference a day makes. Not 24 hours after Phil Mickelson seized the lead with a magical 64 at the Wells Fargo Championship, he succumbed to mental mistakes and plummeted down the leaderboard with a 75 on Friday. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Inside Max Homa’s mind | Rickie Fowler solid in return at Wells Fargo Championship At 3 under total he was still within reach of the leaders with the afternoon wave just getting started. “I threw two shots away on 15 and two on 17,” Mickelson said, “and that ultimately — you know, things I’ve been doing, and I just can’t keep doing that. I’m optimistic for the weekend, though.” At 50, Mickelson has struggled with mental lapses despite meditation, eye exercises and dietary changes. Particularly egregious, he said, was his bogey at the par-5 15th – he was up around the green in two but watched his pitch shot bleed off the back of the green – and double-bogey on the par-3 17th (water). “I hit a lot of good shots on the front nine,” he said. “I didn’t make any putts and turned in even. Then the back nine I made – I just – I just wasn’t sharp. I think kind of an example of what I’ve been talking about is like on 17 we’re standing over the ball and I’m changing my mind and I’m changing the shot, moving the clubhead a little bit and it just – instead of backing away and kind of refocusing. “I just kind of hit it and I’m not really kind of aware of what I’m doing.” Everything was fun, fun, fun on Thursday, when the fizz of his chemistry with Joel Dahmen (72, 2 under) and Lanto Griffin (68, 1 over, in danger of missing the cut) bubbled over into the golf. “We got in some dopamine talk,” Dahmen said after his first-ever round with Mickelson. “Frontal lobe and dopamine,” he continued, “and then the units of it, which I was actually impressed with. Then he hit a 6‑iron to three feet, so he must have had his dopamine correct on that one.” Mickelson laughed. “I hope you were paying attention,” he said. There was no such jocularity Friday, especially not on the back nine, when Mickelson shot 40 and looked like the guy who is 165th in the FedExCup and 115th in the world. He hit his tee shot into the water and did well to save par at the par-4 14th hole, and his bogey on 15 seemed to come out of nowhere. “I hit a great drive and I kind of went blank on the 2-wood (second shot),” he said, “because I couldn’t quite get it there and I wasn’t sure what I was doing and I just kind of hit without realizing I was hitting and (lacking) a purpose and a swing purpose. “It’s just little things like that that I’ve been struggling with,” he continued. “Then I hooked it to the right and compounded it with a few bad wedges. I love the golf course, I’m playing well, and if I can stay focused this weekend, I’m going to have a good weekend.”

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How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. Each lineup consists of four starters and two bench players that can be rotated after each round. Adding to the challenge is that every golfer can be used only three times per each of four Segments. The first fantasy golf game to utilize live ShotLink data, PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf allows you to see scores update live during competition. Aside from the experts below, Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at this year’s The Open Championship in this week’s edition of the Power Rankings. For more fantasy, check out Rookie Watch, Qualifiers and Reshuffle. THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN OUR EXPERTS? The PGA TOUR Experts league is once again open to the public. You can play our free fantasy game and see how you measure up against our experts below. Joining the league is simple. Just click here to sign up or log in. Once you create your team, click the “Leagues” tab and search for “PGA TOUR Experts.” After that? Pick your players and start talking smack. Want to represent the fans against our experts? SEASON SEGMENT

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