The Confidence Factor: U.S. Open

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Former Presidents Cup International team member Graham DeLaet will undergo another procedure on his ailing back, keeping the Canadian Olympian away from the PGA TOUR for an undetermined amount of time. DeLaet, 39, announced on Twitter he would be undergoing a Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) procedure on his lower back. The goal of the procedure is to alleviate the chronic pain he has been dealing with for the past few years. "I am very hopeful that this will give me the day-to-day relief to enjoy more quality time with my family and friends," he said. "I am also hopeful it will enable me to put in the time needed to practice again and get back to the PGA TOUR. "It's definitely been a frustrating few years." The native of Weyburn, Saskatchewan (a town of about 10,000 people about an hour north of the U.S. border) has suffered a myriad of injuries over the last few seasons but was in the midst of returning to the TOUR via a Major Medical Exemption. DeLaet was a bright light for the International Team at the 2013 Presidents Cup - where he went 3-1-1 and delivered some final-hole dramatics alongside Jason Day and against Jordan Spieth - finished 8th in the FedExCup that same year, his career-high. He first earned his PGA TOUR card in 2010. DeLaet played five tournaments in 2019-20, making two cuts. He's since played five tournaments in 2021 but missed four cuts and withdrew from the Vivant Houston Open, citing his back as the culprit. "I've been through this now so many times over the past 10 years and all the warning signs were there for me to shut it down and take care of my body," said DeLaet at the time. DeLaet flashed some brilliance at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in 2020, shooting a second-round 64 - his lowest TOUR round since a matching 64 at the Travelers Championship in 2017. In that season he notched six top-10 finishes - but has been away from the TOUR for the better part of two years. He withdrew from THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES in late October of 2018 and did not play the whole of 2019. DeLaet failed to get relief from a steam-cell treatment in December 2017 claiming at the time it "has not helped regenerate my L4-L5 disc and in fact has gotten worse since the procedure." The hirsute star ended up having an L4-L5 microdiscectomy surgery in 2018, his second such procedure after an earlier one in 2011. DeLaet was non-committal about a timeline to return to the TOUR. While he's been recovering DeLaet appeared on the Canadian broadcast of the Masters in November as an analyst and has become prolific with his barbecue on social media while placing focus on being an attentive father to his now 5-year-old twins Roscoe and Lyla.

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ALBANY, Bahamas – The field for the 2021 Hero World Challenge has been announced, as the limited-field PGA TOUR event hosted by Tiger Woods is set to return to Albany, Bahamas, Nov. 29 – Dec. 5. This year’s event will include two additional players after the field was permanently expanded from 18 to 20. Fifteen of the players set to compete rank inside the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Collin Morikawa, winner of the 2020 PGA Championship and 2021 Open Championship, will make his tournament debut and be joined by 2020 U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau, 2021 Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama and defending Hero World Challenge winner Henrik Stenson. Starting this year, the winner of THE PLAYERS Championship also received an invitation to the Hero World Challenge, with Justin Thomas set to compete again at Albany. Xander Schauffele returns to Albany following his gold medal performance at the Tokyo Olympics this summer. 2021 Hero World Challenge field: Name (Official World Golf Ranking as of 9/6/21), Country Collin Morikawa (3) USA Viktor Hovland (14) Norway Patrick Cantlay (4) USA Jordan Spieth (15) USA Xander Schauffele (5) USA Daniel Berger (16) USA Justin Thomas (6) USA Tyrrell Hatton (17) England Bryson DeChambeau (7) USA Hideki Matsuyama (18) Japan Tony Finau (9) USA Patrick Reed (19) USA Brooks Koepka (10) USA Henrik Stenson, defending champion, Sweden Harris English (11) USA Webb Simpson, tournament exemption, USA Abraham Ancer (12) Mexico Scottie Scheffler, tournament exemption, USA Rory McIlroy (13) Northern Ireland Justin Rose, tournament exemption, England The field for the Hero World Challenge features three previous winners of the event in Stenson (2019), Matsuyama (2016) and Spieth (2014), the winners of 20 major championships and 14 players who competed in the Ryder Cup in September. Tournament rounds will be held Thursday, December 2 – Sunday, December 5, 2021 at Albany, bringing the event back to The Bahamas for its sixth year. Live television coverage of the 2021 Hero World Challenge will be provided by GOLF Channel during all four rounds and by NBC during the third and final rounds. Good-any-one-day grounds tickets and a limited number of premium hospitality packages for the Hero World Challenge are available for purchase at HeroWorldChallenge.com. Proceeds from the 2021 Hero World Challenge benefit the TGR Foundation, Tavistock Foundation and Bahamas Youth Foundation.

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