‘The Match’ will be unique experience for viewers

The PGA TOUR is back on the mainland – specifically the Coachella Valley in Southern California. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Desert Classic. Arnold Palmer won the inaugural event in 1960, then won it for a fifth time in 1973, a victory that would be the last TOUR win of his legendary career. We’ll be thinking of Arnie this week. THE FLYOVER The 435-yard par-4 18th at the Stadium Course was ranked in the middle of the pack among all closing holes on TOUR last season (25th of 51 with a stroke average of 4.043). Water down the left side and a bunker complex on the right ratchets up the difficulty level – especially if you’re in the mix late Sunday afternoon. PGA West master instructor Bryan Lebedevich discusses the challenges of the 18th below. LANDING ZONE The 195-yard par-3 13th ranked 26th hardest among the 918 holes played on the PGA TOUR last season, playing to a stroke average of 3.302. Not only did it produce 13 double bogeys, but also eight “others.â€� The other 17 holes combined at the Stadium Course had nine others. Because of the water, you can’t miss left, and there’s not much room right of the green to bail out. So, yeah, pretty tough hole. Here’s where all recorded tee shots landed last year. WEATHER CHECK From PGA TOUR meteorologist Wade Stettner: “Another storm system will impact Southern California on Thursday with mostly cloudy skies and a chance for rain showers. Most of the rain will fall west of the mountains, but there may still be a few light showers and periods of light rain. Total rainfall on Thursday is forecast under 0.10 of an inch. Dry weather is forecast from Friday through Sunday with warm afternoon temperatures. Breezy conditions are forecast on Friday with winds gusting to 25 mph.â€� For the latest weather news from La Quinta, California, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK I get a good vibe in California. I like it. What can I say?   BY THE NUMBERS 5 – Players in the FedExCup era who made the Desert Classic their first career TOUR victory (Charley Hoffman in 2007, Pat Perez in 2009, Bill Haas in 2010, Jhonattan Vegas in 2011 and Hudson Swafford in 2017). 68.83 – Scoring average last season at La Quinta, making it the third easiest course on TOUR behind Aronimink (67.88) and Sedgefield (68.69). That was also the lowest scoring average at La Quinta in the ShotLink era since 1983. 7,503 – Strokes under par on the par 5s at the Desert Classic since 2012. No other tournament on TOUR has had easier par 5s than the three courses used at this event. SCATTERSHOTS 30-Birdie Club: Since the 2013-14 PGA TOUR season, there have been four TOUR winners who made 30 total birdies on their way to victory in four-round events. Two of those have come at the Desert Classic — Jason Dufner in 206 and Patrick Reed in 2014. The other two were Justin Thomas at the 2015 CIMB Classic and Michael Kim at the 2018 John Deere Classic. Charl’s Debut: Among the first-time Desert Classic participants this week is South African Charl Schwartzel, who will be making his 183rd career start on the PGA TOUR. Schwartzel’s best results in any tournament debut were solo thirds at the 2013 AT&T Byron Nelson and third (with teammate Louis Oosthuizen) at the 2018 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Fast Starter: Will 2007 Desert Classic winner Charley Hoffman gets off to another fast start this week? He’s a combined 42 under in the first round in his 11 career starts (five different courses), and his first-round stroke average of 68.18 is his third-best Round 1 scoring average at any tournament . He has 11 opening-round scores of par or better. After starting at La Quinta the last four years, Hoffman will start out at the Stadium Course on Thursday with Schwartzel as his playing partner (along with their amateur teammates). Another Big Hitter: USC freshman Charlie Reiter is considered one of the longest hitters of any 2019 freshman golfer. The Palm Desert High School grad, who is playing on a sponsor exemption this week, isn’t exactly sure how he generates all that power. “I think I was just born with it, maybe,â€� he said.

Click here to read the full article…

He was a connoisseur of the close call, an object lesson in losing with dignity, and at odds with his putter. Golf gave Tony Finau ample reason to believe it just wasn’t meant to be. Not for him, and not on the PGA TOUR, the toughest tour in the land. And yet there was an ember that simply wouldn’t die, a stubbornness of belief that despite all evidence to the contrary – eight runner-up finishes and 39 top-10 finishes since his first and only TOUR win in Puerto Rico, in 2016 – he could do this. “I have an extreme belief in myself, and I have to,” Finau said after shooting a final-round 65 and beating Cameron Smith with a par on the first hole of a playoff at THE NORTHERN TRUST at rain-soaked Liberty National. “This game is hard as it is. These guys are so good as it is. If you can’t believe you can beat them, man, it’s just an uphill battle, and I just continue to believe.” How did he do it? How did this extravagantly talented 31-year-old family man bounce back to rocket all the way to the FedExCup standings after so much heartache? In golf terms, he simply hit it better than anyone else from tee to green. Maintenance workers worked to restore playability to the course after nine inches of rain necessitated a Monday finish, and the softness of the course may have further rewarded his distance advantage. But for Finau winning the tee-to-green game is not so unusual. What stood out was his work on the greens, where he gained 2.338 strokes on the field in the final round. He was 16 in Strokes Gained: Putting for the week despite coming into the week at 114th in that stat. His resilience was harder to measure but perhaps even more important. He went into his playoff against Smith with a 0-3 career record in sudden death, and some of the losses were gruesome. Falling to Max Homa at the Genesis Invitational this season? Tough. Losing the Waste Management Phoenix Open last year, when Webb Simpson birdied the last two to catch him and then birdied the first hole of the playoff? Brutal. Finau had seemed to have two hands on the trophy in Phoenix, and afterward his oldest son, a budding golfer himself, was in tears beside the 18th green. Soon the TOUR went on COVID hiatus, leaving Finau to think about what he could have done differently. On Monday he called it his toughest loss. “It’s hard losing,” he said, “and it’s hard losing in front of the world.” A steady drumbeat of questions and endless analysis followed every close call. Finau changed putters, changed grips. He went left-hand low, switched back to conventional. After hitting a succession of spectacular shots but getting little out of it in his third-round 68 at Liberty National on Saturday, he said he was going to have a talk with the flatstick. Instead, given the day off Sunday while Henri dumped nine inches of rain on the course, Finau practiced on the carpet in his hotel room throughout the day. “I would say I putted for maybe an hour and a half total,” he said. “Just kind of five, ten minutes here and there throughout the day. I didn’t really leave my room all day. “I wouldn’t say I found something,” he added, “but I knew I was putting it nicely.” In fact, Finau one-putted seven of his last nine holes for a back-nine 30. Some of these, like his birdies on 12 and 16, were near kick-ins. So was his eagle at 13, set up by a majestic 6-iron that was perhaps the shot of the tournament. But there were knee-knockers from just outside 6 feet to save par at 11 and 18. These are the types of putts he didn’t make in his win drought. And he certainly didn’t convert from over 30 feet, an unexpected bonus, the way he did for birdie at the par-3 14th hole. Meanwhile, leader Jon Rahm, the world No. 1, was finally looking human, going 2 over for his last four holes. Smith birdied the 17th hole to join Finau at 20 under, but sliced his drive out of bounds on the first hole of the playoff, the par-4 18th, all but ending it. Rahm was there to try and buck up a crestfallen Finau at the Genesis. And the shock was so severe at the Waste Management, no one seemed to know what to do. “This one’s going to sting,” Finau’s coach Boyd Summerhays said as they all staggered away. Now, though, Finau didn’t need any consoling at all. He had jumped into pole position in the FedExCup Playoffs, and was off for a celebratory sushi dinner. All those close calls suddenly didn’t matter anymore. “I believe in myself,” he said. “I believe in my team. I haven’t had the wins to maybe have that type of confidence and belief, but you just have to. “I have to believe I can go out there and beat J.T. today, and I can beat Jon Rahm,” he continued. “I have to believe that, and I did, and I continue to do that, and that’s the only reason why I’m sitting here today as the champion.”

Click here to read the full article…

FORT WORTH, Texas – Kevin Na counts Colonial Country Club as one of his top-three favorite courses on the PGA TOUR, along with Riviera (the “otherâ€� Hogan’s Alley) and Hilton Head (the “otherâ€� plaid jacket venue). Colonial, in fact, is one of a handful of courses on which Na – who must rely on shot-making rather than length — feels like he can legitimately contend. “I say seven or eight,â€� Na said. “Some golf courses I feel like I have no chance. I don’t play those unless it’s a major and I got no choice. “I won’t mention any names.â€� So we will. For instance, Bethpage Black, which hosted last week’s PGA Championship? “I’m not going to say anything,â€� Na smiled. “You can look up my record. It’s not good.â€� For the record, Na has played three events at Bethpage Black – the PGA and two FedExCup Playoffs events. He’s missed the cut each time. Unlike Bethpage, Na’s record is pretty good at the Charles Schwab Challenge. In his last 11 starts, he’s made 10 cuts and has four top-10 finishes – his best being a solo fourth last year. Three of his last six rounds at Colonial have been among the most impressive of his PGA TOUR career. It was in the first round a year ago that Na shot 62, tying for the lowest opening score in tournament history. On that Sunday, he tied the tournament record with a 61 – the lowest score of his career. Now this week. After opening with an even-par 70 in difficult afternoon scoring conditions, Na again torched Colonial on Friday – a bogey-free 62 that left him at 8 under, just one shot behind leader Jonas Blixt. Na now has five rounds of 62 or better since 2015, and three of those have been at Colonial. “Last year when I shot 61, I felt like I made everything,â€� Na said. “Kind of almost had that feeling today. With a few holes to go, I felt like I had a chance to challenge my own course record.â€� Na made 164 feet, 1 inch of putts on Friday, but he needed less than 3 feet on his opening hole of the day. Na’s second shot at the par-5 first finished inside 3 feet, leaving him with an easy eagle putt. From there, he relied on the flatstick. A 14-foot birdie putt at the third. A 31-footer at the sixth. A 38-1/2 footer at the ninth. And another 31-footer at the 13th. Na entered this week ranked 129th on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting, but you wouldn’t know it this week. His birdie putt  from 36 feet late in Thursday’s opening round was a foreshadow of his Friday performance. “Golf seems a lot more fun and a lot easier when you’re making putts,â€� Na said. It also seems a lot more fun when you’re playing on a course you like. Last year after his low rounds, Na did his interviews while attending to his young daughter Sophia. He kept the tradition going Friday. “She’s my good-luck charm,â€� Na said.

Click here to read the full article…