THE NORTHERN TRUST, Round 3: Leaderboard, tee times, TV times

Each week during the fall, PGATOUR.COM will highlight one of the rookies playing on the PGA TOUR during the 2019-20 season. This week: Matthew NeSmith, who’s in this week’s field at this week’s Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Age: 25 Birthplace: North Augusta, South Carolina Resides: Columbia, South Carolina College: University of South Carolina TOUR card gained by: Finishing 1st in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. TOUR starts/Best finish: 8/missed all eight cuts, but missed by only one shot at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier. MEET THE ROOKIES: Bo Hoag | Michael Gellerman | Nelson Ledesma Pro highlights: Started Sunday three back but shot 64 to beat Viktor Hovland by one at the Albertsons Boise Open presented by Kraft Nabisco, for his first Korn Ferry Tour title. … Top-10s at Ellie Mae Classic at TPC Stonebrae (led through 36 and 54 holes but finished T8), Nashville Golf Open Benefitting the Snedeker Foundation (T6), and The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay (T9). …  Finished runner-up at 2016 Mackenzie Tour PGA TOUR Canada Q School … Shot a bogey-free 6-under 66 in the opening round of the Safeway Open, leaving him just one shot off the 18-hole lead, but shot 77 in Round 2 to miss the cut. Amateur highlights: As a senior at South Carolina, he became first Gamecock to win twice in less than one week (five days), and first to earn PING First Team All-America honors. … Is the school’s all-time leader in top-10 finishes (25) and scoring average (71.65). … As a junior golfer in 2012, won AJGA’s Rolex Tournament of Champions and FootJoy Invitational, the latter event, at Sedgefield Country Club, earning him a start at 2012 Wyndham Championship (MC). Interesting tidbits: Does not look at leaderboards and did not know the 15-footer at the last was for the win in Boise. (He made it.) … Proposed to his wife, Abigail, on the 18th green at Harbour Town Golf Links. … Has volunteered to build bikes for needy families at Christmas. … Has been involved with Curing Kids Cancer, where wife has worked. … Brother is a celebrity photojournalist in New York City.   NeSmith says (after winning Albertsons Boise Open): “It was time to do something. I had kind of been hanging around mini tours for a couple of years and Canada, and I finally got out here. I’ve played solid all year-round. I just never really could figure it out, and then I started playing well at the end of the year and got in the Finals … and then anything can happen.� For more on Matthew NeSmith, click here.

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Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen were named as competitors in this year’s version of Capital One’s The Match, a 12-hole golf exhibition that will take place on June 1 in Las Vegas.

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Welcome to Numbers to Know, where we'll take a closer look at Bryson DeChambeau's U.S. Open victory. Here's the key stats to remember from a groundbreaking week. 1. UNPRECEDENTED: Is DeChambeau ushering in a new era of golf? That is up for debate, but there's no debating that he won the U.S. Open in a manner that's never been done before. He had the highest driving-distance average, and the lowest driving-accuracy percentage, ever recorded by a U.S. Open champion (since hole-by-hole data became available starting in 1983). DeChambeau, who finished seventh in driving distance at Winged Foot, is the fifth consecutive U.S. Open champion to finish in the top seven in driving distance. DeChambeau is just the second U.S. Open winner since 1983 to hit less than half his fairways. Angel Cabrera also did it in 2007. 2. LONG BALL: Let’s not oversimplify things. You need to be highly-skilled in several facets of the game to win any golf tournament, let alone a major. That’s especially true when the USGA sets up one of the game’s classic courses in its traditionally tough manner. But having high clubhead speed is a major advantage in these instances, and we’ve seen it in the past five U.S. Opens. Four of the last five U.S. Open winners ranked in the top 10 in driving distance in the season that they won. Even if they miss more fairways, hitting it farther allows a player to have shorter clubs from the rough and their high clubhead speed helps them power it out of the thick stuff. 3. THE EAGLE HAS LANDED: DeChambeau’s incredible distance came in especially handy at the par-5 ninth hole. He eagled it twice, in the second and fourth rounds. He hit pa short-iron both times. On Friday, he hit a pitching wedge from 179 yards to 6 feet. He had just 182 yards to the hole Sunday and hit that shot to 40 feet. He’s the first U.S. Open champion since Tiger Woods in 2008 to make multiple eagles. Woods and DeChambeau are the only U.S. Open winners since 1983 to make multiple eagles. DeChambeau was the only player this week to make more than one eagle. 4. LINE OF DEMARCATION: DeChambeau’s transformation has received major validation. His win at the U.S. Open was preceded by a fourth-place finish at the PGA Championship. He’d never had a top-10 in a major before this year. 5. X MARKS THE SPOT: Xander Schauffele finished fifth at the U.S. Open. It was another high finish in one of the four Grand Slam events. He’s finished in the top 10 in seven of his 13 career major starts. That includes five top-5 finishes. It’s the second-most top-fives in majors since 2017, trailing only Brooks Koepka. All Schauffele needs now is a win. Dustin Johnson (T6), Rory McIlroy (T8) and Tony Finau (T8) all finished in the top 10 at Winged Foot, as well, continuing their strong play at the majors.

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