The First Look: Wyndham Championship

Sunday’sTaylorMade Driving Relief match at Seminole finally gave us live golf to watch and discuss. Here are five observations from five PGATOUR.COM writers. McIlroy is still golf’s alpha By Cameron Morfit I’ve been watching a lot of “Billionsâ€� during the pandemic, which is one of Rory McIlroy’s favorite shows. I know this because he’s been golf’s ne plus ultra tastemaker since long before the TaylorMade Driving Relief match at Seminole on Sunday, from reading (his fellow pros have started buying some of his recommendations) to exercise (he leads golf’s Peloton pack). He’s No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking and in ways OWGR doesn’t even begin to measure. We found out Sunday, when McIlroy hit a 121-yard shot closest to the pin – securing his and Dustin Johnson’s 11-7 skins victory over Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff – that even after two months of no competitive golf, that hasn’t changed. The defending FedExCup champ remains the game’s alpha. RELATED: Final scores, pledges made | Team Rory/DJ win | More than $5 million raised so far | How to donate McIlroy made a kick-in birdie from the bunker at the par-4 16th, then a big par putt on 17 to keep the skins carrying over. His final blow in sudden death, the closest-to-the-hole effort from the front tees and with the wind gusting at the 17th hole, earned another $1.1 million (of $1.85 million) for the American Nurses Foundation, his and Johnson’s beneficiary. With that, McIlroy delivered the day’s last fist pump. Fowler-Wolff won $1.15 million for the CDC Foundation. “It’s a huge effort from everyone involved,â€� McIlroy told Steve Sands on NBC. They were talking about how the event, which, with donations from viewers, generated $5.5 million for front-line health workers, came together. Not surprisingly, McIlroy was in the middle of it. UnitedHealth Group, which donated the $3 million for the skins contest, is one of McIlroy’s corporate partners. Gerry McIlroy, his dad, is a member at Seminole. And John Pinkham, McIlroy’s partner in their pro-member victory there, was the one who first hatched the idea for a charity match in the first place, according to NBC’s on-air interview with club president Jimmy Dunne. What’s more, McIlroy had the best one-liners, explaining that he’d won two FedExCups (for a cool $25 million) and wasn’t going to be unnerved by a short par putt at the first hole. After Wolff blew his tee shot into the dunes at the second, McIlroy casually thanked him for social distancing. And while Fowler also has won the Seminole pro-member, it was McIlroy who utilized his course knowledge to intentionally hit his drive at the sixth hole onto the fourth tee on the way to making his first birdie. True, Fowler had more birdies, 7-5. True, Wolff had cooler (rainbow) shoes and a righteous ’stache. But no one came up bigger in the biggest moment than McIlroy, which was just one more reason among many that for an afternoon, at least, all seemed normal and right with professional golf. Golf in the age of social distancing By Ben Everill Admit it. When Rory McIlroy touched his face a few times, you noticed it. This once innocuous move that previously lived outside your field of consciousness is now part of the everyday norm for most of us. And so with the PGA TOUR due back inside a month, the social distancing and health measures on display were one of my main curiosities when tuning in to the TaylorMade Driving Relief match. Just how might the new normal for golf play out? While this was a special event with some special exceptions — like having a personal flag remover in Mark Russell, the PGA TOUR Vice President of Rules and Competitions — for the most part this star-studded quartet played under conditions the rest of us mere mortals must adhere to as golf courses across the world adjust to life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seeing them carrying their own bags was cool ,and it was fitting to see Johnson throw his over one shoulder and saunter around like he was Robin Hood slinging arrows. From the first tee, the combatants stood nicely spread out, doing their best to implement the minimum 6 feet of social distancing recommended by the CDC. With each aerial shot, we could see how the players, and those essential to the broadcast, continued to do so throughout. Matthew Wolff and Rickie Fowler gave us an insight into celebration changes on the 11th hole. As Fowler dropped in a long birdie, the silence was deafening. Usually it would bring huge roars but without fans, clearly the dynamic changes. So Wolff produced a celebration dance thrust for his friend. Fowler still waved to an imaginary crowd. “You hear all those cheers,â€� Fowler smiled at Wolff. “Yeah, I still hear them, they’re going crazy!â€� his partner answered before Fowler joked about going to press play on his speaker for a crowd sound effect (a call-out to his new Travelers ad). With limited production staff, we were treated to players with microphones. The insight was incredible and if that one day becomes a new normal on TOUR, we’d all be cheering. When McIlroy won $1.1 million for charity on the 19th hole closest-to-the-pin tiebreaker, he gave out a cheer, a fist pump and turned to celebrate with Johnson … only to realize a simulated air high five was his best option. “Would have loved to give my partner a real high five, it was a team effort,â€� McIlroy admitted. “It would have been nice to give him one or a little hug or something, but obviously we can’t in these times.â€� Still, it was clearly a fun day and with over $5 million raised for COVID-19 relief, the new normal was something Johnson can get on board with. “It was fun and all for a good cause, so I really enjoyed being out here today,â€� he said. “This is how it is going to be for the most part when we come back. It was nice to get out here and kind of see what it will be like.â€� Golf does its part to inspire By Sean Martin No offense to Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and the other legends of the game, but my 3-year-old son knew something was up. And I’m not sure he liked it. The grainy footage was the first giveaway. As were the smaller clubs they used from the tee. “Is he hitting 3-wood?â€� my son asked as Jack Nicklaus teed off in a Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf match against Sam Snead. I’m only 37, but that number felt like it grew exponentially when I had to explain to him that no, son, there used to be a day when the drivers were made out of wood. How would he know? His clubs already have graphite shafts. So, whenever he’s seen golf on the television in a recent weeks, he’s always asked if I’m watching “old golf tournaments.â€� On Sunday, the answer was finally no. TaylorMade Driving Relief started during nap time, but when he awoke, he quickly spotted his favorite player, Rory McIlroy. “Is that Rory?!?!â€� he said excitedly. My wife once heard him announce himself as McIlroy while hitting shots in our backyard. “Now on the tee, Rory McIlroy,â€� she heard him say before he took a swing with his 7-iron. He’s a Matthew Wolff fan, as well. When he first saw Wolff, back in the 2018 NCAA Championship, he howled. This was back when he associated animals with their noises. Maybe one day he’ll think it’s cool that dad grew up at the same course as Wolff. He loves the game. It’s one of the few things he watches on TV. But I was a bit surprised when he only watched one hole before heading outdoors to hit balls of his own. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad he opted for the outdoors. But I thought he’d take more interest in the first live golf in months. But then he reminded me that the real purpose of golf isn’t to get us to sit on our couch. It’s to inspire us. And golf did that today. Seminole makes a splashy debut By Jim McCabe Much of what has been said in defense of allowing and encouraging golf in this pandemic was on display Sunday in the TaylorMade Driving Relief charity event. Four of the world’s best players demonstrated the game is conducive to social distancing, no one needed to hand off rake bunkers or flagsticks, and while the lack of crowd emotion made for a different feel, it didn’t dull the competition whatsoever. Did watching Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson compete against Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff in a team skins game quench our thirst for live golf? Not totally. Our tanks were that dry. But we were thrilled to have it back. There were scores and numbers to report, of course – an improvised 120-yard shootout allowed McIlroy and Johnson to win the skins game, 11 to 7, and money count, $1.85 million to $1.15 million, and more than $5.5 million was raised for COVID-19 causes overall – and that lent an air of competition to the 18-hole match. But in all due respect to the powerful drives and the snippets of elite athleticism shown by McIlroy, Johnson, Fowler and Wolff, the star of the show was the stage, Seminole Golf Club. Prominently positioned in any mention of America’s great golf courses, Seminole is in many ways a mystery to those who aren’t members or those who’ve had the great privilege of an invitation. While it has hosted an annual pro-am for years that is jam-packed with PGA TOUR stars and is famously connected to the iconic Ben Hogan, Seminole is otherwise a blank canvas to many golf fans. That’s because, before Sunday’s competition, the golf course had never been on television. That, of course, cannot be said of Pebble Beach or Augusta National, of Shinnecock and Oakmont, of Riviera and Muirfield Village . . . iconic courses, yes, but all of them have had their share of TV time through the years. Cypress Point and Pine Valley are vaunted courses less known than the above, but even they have had more TV exposure than Seminole. Among the many appeals that sets golf apart from other sports is that the stage needs to be mentioned prominently. For the same reason famed violinist Isaac Stern pointed out a standard in his world: “Everywhere in the world music enhances a hall with one exception: Carnegie Hall enhances the music.â€� This isn’t to suggest that Seminole is to golf what Carnegie Hall is to musicians. But it is to suggest that if you didn’t come away enamored with, or intrigued by, Seminole, then we’ll have to agree to disagree. With a brilliant blue sky, pulsating sunshine, marvelous palm trees (planted with social distancing in mind), breathtaking vistas, and a set of greens that demand everything of your iron play, it was Seminole in all its glory. A little bit rusty, a lot of fun By Mike McAllister I don’t care if they were rusty. Don’t care if all four players failed to make a birdie on the first two holes despite eight approach shots with wedges (those dang Donald Ross domed greens!). Don’t care if Matthew Wolff and Dustin Johnson seemed to take turns off the tee finding the sandy waste areas or the water. As Rory chided Wolff after an early errant drive, “Thanks for doing your part for social distancing.â€� The only thing that mattered was that live golf was back, the first time in 66 days when THE PLAYERS Championship was shut down after the first round. Instead of having to cancel or postpone another tournament, this time the news was good, even if the golf wasn’t exactly crisp at historic Seminole for the TaylorMade Driving Relief match. Really, what did we expect? Johnson said he put the clubs away for nearly two months. No wonder he uttered the phrases “bad swingâ€� and “that’s badâ€� during the telecast. Still, there were enough highlights. • Wolff ripping drives of 356 and 368 yards to win $450,000 for charity on the two longest-drive holes; remember, his competition included two guys who basically cornered the market in Strokes Gained: Off-the-tee the last 10 years. • Fowler heating up with birdies to win skins on three of four holes in the middle of the round. Certainly he’s very familiar with Seminole, having won the Pro-Member three consecutive times. • And McIlroy with the clutch shot of the day to win $1.1 million and the final six skins on a closest-to-the-pin contest from 120 yards on the extra hole, the par-3 17th. It came after Wolff teed off first, challenged by his partner Fowler. “Gotta hit a shot,â€� Fowler told him. “Just being honest. Rise to the occasion. Show me something.â€� Wolff did show something by finding the green; Fowler, alas, followed by missing it. Johnson also missed the green, setting up McIlroy — described earlier in the telecast by Bill Murray as “The Irish Fellowâ€� — with one swing for $1.1 million. He made it count. It was the world’s best golfer coming through in the clutch. After the past 66 days, that’s exactly what we needed to see. We needed to see live golf played by the world’s best players, a small indication of hope that things will get better. “It has been awesome,â€� McIlroy said. “Nice to get back on the golf course and to get back to some normalcy.â€�

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Welcome to the Numbers to Know, where we’ll take a closer look at Webb Simpson’s victory at the RBC Heritage. It was Simpson’s second win of the season and moved him to No. 1 in the FedExCup. Let’s dive right in. 1. RUN TO REMEMBER: This win, the seventh of Simpson’s career, was the latest in an impressive run over the past year. Since last June, Simpson has two wins, four runners-up and one third-place finish. That’s the most top-three finishes TOUR in that span. He has finished in the top-3 in half of his six starts this season alone. 2. GOIN’ LOW: Good iron play and strong putting are a recipe for low scores, so it should be no surprise that no one has been going lower more often than Simpson recently. He ranks seventh in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green and 13th in Strokes Gained: Putting this season. He was eighth and second in those two categories at the RBC Heritage, respectively. Simpson shot 65-65-68-64 to win Sunday by a shot. Simpson has the most rounds on TOUR of 65 or lower since June 1 of last year (15), and he shoots those numbers much more often than anyone else on TOUR. 3. FINISHING KICK: Simpson’s second round was one of the best putting performances of his career (more on that later). He may have experienced a little regression to the mean after gaining more than six strokes on the greens Friday, though. He lost 2.6 strokes on the greens over his next 27 holes before finding his stroke again in the nick of time. He holed four putts from outside 10 feet on the final nine holes, gaining 2.7 strokes on the greens in that span. He holed birdie putts of 10, 22, 15 and 18 as part of his back-nine 30 on Sunday (he also two-putted for birdie on the par-5 15th). It was the low score by a winner on Sunday’s back nine in more than a year. Corey Conners also shot 30 to win last year’s Valero Texas Open. Simpson was the first player since Rod Pampling at the 2016 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open to hole four putts of 10 or more feet on the final nine hole of a tournament. It also matched the most over the last five seasons. Jordan Spieth and Smylie Kaufman also did it. 4. SECOND TO NONE: Simpson’s second round at the RBC Heritage may have been the best putting round of his career. He gained +6.01 strokes on the greens, which was just a hair behind the personal record he set at last year’s U.S. Open (6.03). He also set or tied several career-highs in Friday’s round. Almost all of Simpson’s Strokes Gained: Putting for the week came in the second round. He gained just +0.6 strokes on the greens for the remainder of the week. 5. PICKING HIS SPOTS: Simpson admits that scheduling is key since he isn’t one of the TOUR’s longest hitters. And, as a father of five, he tries to limit his time away from his family and play only at the courses where he has the highest chance of success. Entering this season, there were three events where Simpson had six top-25s but no wins. Those were his most top-25s without a victory at full-field events. He finally got the victory at two of those events this year – the Waste Management Phoenix Open and RBC Heritage – and finished one shot out of a playoff at the other (Sony Open in Hawaii). The Sony and TOUR Championship are now tied for events where he’s had most top-25s without a win (7).

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It’s the big 5-0! The 50-event super season concludes with this week’s TOUR Championship. If the playoff between Patrick Cantlay and Bryson DeChambeau at the BMW Championship was the pregame for the final celebration of 2020-21, then we’re in store for quite a show at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. After surviving six holes of sudden death to prevail on Sunday, Cantlay rose to No. 1 in the FedExCup standings, so he will start atop the leaderboard on Thursday. You’ll find the explanation for that, how Starting Strokes influenced the first two editions of the Playoffs finale and much more beneath the ranking. NOTE: This full-field Power Rankings includes starting score for every golfer in the field. POWER RANKINGS: TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP Tabulation of FedExCup points ended at the BMW Championship, so only scores matters now. Starting Strokes was introduced at the TOUR Championship in 2019. It’s the compromise between rewarding bodies of work in the long- and short-term, and the promise to crown the winner of the tournament as the FedExCup champion. Unlike all other stroke-play competitions, the golfer with the lowest 72-hole aggregate at the TOUR Championship isn’t necessarily going to be the winner, but that’s how it worked out when Rory McIlroy captured the title in 2019. As the 5-seed, he opened at 5-under, and then scored 13-under (267). His 72-hole aggregate was three better than the second-lowest, but all that mattered was that his final score in relation to par of 18-under (5-under + 13-under) was the best in the field. In fact, the winner is determined on score in relation to par with Starting Strokes contributing, and that did matter in the second spin. Starting Strokes aided Dustin Johnson in emerging with his first FedExCup title last year. He opened at 10-under, shot 11-under during the tournament and posted 21-under for a three-stroke victory. However, his 72-hole aggregate was 269 was good for just T3 without Starting Strokes contributing. Xander Schauffele was lowest at 15-under 265 but opened at just 3-under as the 14-seed, so he settled for co-runner-up (with Justin Thomas) at 18-under. Unlike trends based on FedExCup points and positions, which are unique to every season, Starting Strokes has laid the foundation for an apples-to-apples comparison between TOUR Championships. Consider that in each of the first two editions, exactly six golfers seeded 12th or worse upon arrival finished inside the top 10 in relation to par at the conclusion of their respective events. (That’s a total of 12 among the combined 21 top 10s.) The highest climb to date belongs to 25-seed Chez Reavie in 2019. He opened at 1-under, shot 5-under and finished eighth at 6-under. Last year’s biggest riser was Tyrrell Hatton, who opened at 2-under as the 19-seed, and then shot 10-under for a combined 12-under and seventh place. Of course, movement occurs in the other direction as well. Coincidentally given Sunday’s duel, the top drops of the first two TOUR Championships with Starting Strokes were Cantlay (2019) and DeChambeau (2020). Cantlay opened as the 2-seed and finished T21. DeChambeau finished 22nd last year as the 8-seed. After the unknown of Caves Valley, the familiar backdrop of East Lake awaits. It remains a stock par 70 at 7,346 yards with bermudagrass greens ready to roll up to 13 feet on the Stimpmeter. Primary rough again is 2½ inches high. Essentially, for the 28 who have given it a go here before, it’s an open-book examination. Yes, that means that debutants 10-seed Sam Burns and 27-seed Erik van Rooyen are cramming, but they aced the first two tests, anyway. After East Lake held up for a historically average 70.033 in 2019, it proved to be vulnerable last year at 68.917. It was its lowest scoring average since 2007, the last edition before Rees Jones’ second of three renovations to the course. (Course scoring averages are not influenced by Starting Strokes.) Despite that dip, because the course is the same, the objective is the same – hit greens and sink putts. However, setting up scoring opportunities also remains the primary challenge. East Lake held firm in allowing a customary 11.6 GIR per round last year, 12th-lowest among all courses last season. Getting the ball onto the putting surfaces is harder than getting it into the hole. Last year’s field converted one-third of GIR into par breakers. That also aligns with recent history, but it connected in salvaging par 60.81 percent of the time, a record high at East Lake. The pair of par 5s – Nos. 6 and 18 – are most vulnerable and always have been. En route to his victory, DJ recorded six birdies and two pars on the set to rank T5 in par-5 scoring for the week. He also supported the theme of how the long game trumps the accurate at East Lake. He was T2 in distance of all drives but 28th in fairways split, yet still finished T5 in GIR, T11 in proximity to the hole and third in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. His putting was good enough to total 20 birdies against nine bogeys. What’s left on the backside of Hurricane Ida that will skirt northern Georgia will be long gone by the time the turf on the first tee box is pierced on Thursday. Outstanding conditions throughout the tournament will allow for East Lake to present as planned. Daytime temperatures will climb into the 80s and winds will be light. A few pillows passing in the sky won’t develop into anything. In addition to forever being known as the 15th FedExCup champion, the winner also will record an official victory and a five-year PGA TOUR membership exemption. By qualifying for the Playoffs finale, all 30 in the field receive exemptions into the 2022 editions of the Masters, U.S. Open and The Open Championship if not already eligible. All prize money distributed is unofficial but very real. The winner pockets $15 million. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Fantasy Insider, Expert Picks SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Rookie Watch * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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