Thomas takes Bridgestone lead; McIlroy 3 back

PONTE VEDRA BEACH – The youth explosion in golf has hit new heights with the top five ranked players in the world all under 30 for the first time in the history of the game. RELATED: WiretoWire: Inside Scheffler’s hot run at Bay Hill Scottie Scheffler’s win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, not far removed from his maiden PGA TOUR win at the WM Phoenix Open, pushed the 25-year-old to fifth in the official world golf rankings. The American now joins fellow youngsters Jon Rahm (27), Collin Morikawa (25), Viktor Hovland (24) and Patrick Cantlay (29) at the pointy end of the standings in the lead up to a highly anticipated PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass this week. Over the last eight years or so there has been a significant shift in the depth of young stars on the PGA TOUR and across the globe. In both 2015 and 2017 the TOUR saw a run of seven consecutive tournament wins by players in their 20s as the likes of Jordan Spieth (12 TOUR wins), Jason Day (12 TOUR wins), Bryson DeChambeau (eight TOUR wins) and Justin Thomas (14 TOUR wins) came of age. They were just the start. Current world No. 1 Rahm has six TOUR victories to his name, including the 2021 U.S. Open. Then came Morikawa and Hovland leading a new wave that included Scheffler plus others like South Korean Sungjae Im, Chile’s Joaquin Niemann and fellow American Sam Burns who all have two TOUR wins apiece. Already this PGA TOUR season, 11 of 19 wins have been by 20-somethings (although Hideki Matsuyama has celebrated his 30th birthday since his two wins). Morikawa has five PGA TOUR wins including two majors and another DP World Tour title. Hovland has three TOUR wins, two DP World Tour wins and an unofficial TOUR win at the Hero World Challenge late last year. Scheffler grabbed his first two TOUR wins in a 21-day stretch. Cantlay is the elder statesmen of the record setting youth set. But if he is to add to his six TOUR wins and a FedExCup title in his 20s, he’ll need to salute at TPC Sawgrass this week. Cantlay turns 30 on March 17. World No. 6 Rory McIlroy and No. 9 Dustin Johnson are the only 30-somethings in the current world top 10 at 32 and 37 years old respectively with Xander Schauffele (28, four TOUR wins), defending PLAYERS champion Thomas (28) and Australian Cameron Smith (28, four TOUR wins) all also in the top 10. In fact, 15 of the current top 25 players in the world are in their 20s.

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More than two dozen PGA TOUR pros reside in the Golden Isles area of Georgia, the site of this week’s The RSM Classic. Included in that group is tournament host Davis Love III, who was instrumental in helping bring a PGA TOUR event to his community. The tournament, which will be played on two courses – Seaside and Plantation — at Sea Island Golf Club, is the last event of the fall portion of the 2017-18 TOUR schedule. After a six-week break, the next official TOUR event will be the Sentry Tournament of Champions in the first week of January. Here’s a look at the featured groups in the first two rounds (current FedExCup ranking in parentheses). All times ET. Patton Kizzire (1), Kevin Kisner (N/A), Mac Hughes (N/A) – Kizzire, one of the players who lives in the area, comes off his first TOUR win at last week’s OHL Classic at Mayakoba. He’s playing with two guys who know how to win at Sea Island – 2015 winner Kisner and defending champ Hughes, who last year became the 13th Canadian to win a PGA TOUR event.  Tee times: Round 1 – 11 a.m. off No. 1 tee (Seaside); Round 2 – 9:50 a.m. off No. 10 tee (Plantation). Matt Kuchar (T-139), Luke Donald (147), Brandt Snedeker (N/A) – Snedeker has been sidelined since June with a rib injury, so he may be a bit rusty. Kuchar – a Sea Island resident – and Donald have each made one start this season, with Kuchar finishing T-31 at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions, and Donald finishing T-32 at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.  Tee times: Round 1 – 11:10 a.m. off No. 1 tee (Seaside); Round 2 – 10 a.m. off No. 10 tee (Plantation). Brian Harman (30), Hudson Swafford (110), Bubba Watson (T-169) – If you’re a fan of the University of Georgia, you’ll like this group. All three players are former Bulldogs stars. Harman – another Sea Island resident — has two top-10 finishes this season and seems to be building on his breakthrough 2016-17 campaign. Swafford also won last season. Watson is making his first start in this event.  Tee times: Round 1 – 10 a.m. off No. 10 tee (Plantation); Round 2 – 11 a.m. off No. 1 tee (Seaside). Zach Johnson (60), Webb Simpson (77), Davis Love III (T-136) – Plenty of star power in this group. Combine their four major wins, and it’s a Grand Slam group (Johnson with the Masters and Open Championship, Simpson with the U.S. Open, and Love with the PGA).  But in 19 cumulative starts in this event, none of the three have won at Sea Island. Simpson came closest as the runner-up in 2011. Love tied for fourth in 2012 but has missed the cut three times in seven starts. Johnson’s best finish in his seven starts was a T-12 in 2010.  Tee times: Round 1 – 10:10 a.m. off No. 10 tee (Plantation); Round 2 – 11:10 a.m. off No. 1 tee (Seaside).

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Following an opening-round 1-over 72, Tiger Woods carded eight bogeys during a second-round 76 that left him four strokes off the projected cut line at the Genesis Open on Friday.

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