Three tied for lead, Kevin Chappell cards 59 at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier

The PGA TOUR makes its final Texas stop of the season, visiting historic Colonial Country Club for the Charles Schwab Challenge. FedExCup leader – and native Texan – Scottie Scheffler headlines the field that features five of the world’s top 10. FIELD NOTES: After a missed cut at the PGA Championship, Scheffler, who has won four times this season, is back in action… Bryson DeChambeau is listed in the field. He tried to give it a go at the PGA Championship but withdrew on the eve of the tournament because his hand wasn’t fully recovered from surgery in April… Collin Morikawa will tee it up in Fort Worth. He finished T14 a year ago and lost to Daniel Berger in a playoff in 2020… Jason Kokrak returns to defend his title from 2021. Kokrak, a three-time TOUR winner, won twice last year, and both titles came in Texas with former Longhorns finishing runner-up. He beat Jordan Spieth at Colonial and Scottie Scheffler was runner-up (along with Kevin Tway) to Kokrak at the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open… This year’s Champions Choice selections are Stephan Jaeger and Min Woo Lee… Sponsor exemptions include Erik Compton, John Pak and the past two U.S. Amateur champions, James Piot and Tyler Strafaci. Pak won last year’s Hogan Award, which is awarded at Colonial, as the top player in college and amateur golf. He also finished atop last year’s PGA TOUR University Velocity Global Ranking. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: Colonial Country Club, par 70, 7,209 yards. The PGA TOUR heads to the Perry Maxwell and John Bredemus design in Fort Worth, Texas, for the 77th time. It’s the longest-running non-major on TOUR to be contested on the same course. Many of the TOUR’s best who teed it up at the PGA Championship will be treated to a double dose of Maxwell, as the Oklahoma designer was the chief behind Southern Hills Country Club as well. Shot-making and accuracy will be the keys to success once again at Colonial. The course hosted the U.S. Open in 1941, the U.S. Women’s Open in 1991, and the second edition of THE PLAYERS. Like Southern Hills, Colonial is another Maxwell design that is set to undergo a Gil Hanse renovation. It was scheduled for this year but due to supply chain issues, the process will begin after the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge. STORYLINES: Jordan Spieth is hoping he’ll continue his fine play around Colonial. Spieth, who moved to eighth in the FedExCup after his win at the RBC Heritage and his runner-up at the AT&T Byron Nelson, has three runners-up in Fort Worth plus a victory in 2016… Only one golfer has ever defended his title in Fort Worth. Ben Hogan did it twice, one reason that Colonial came to be known as Hogan’s Alley… Scottie Scheffler leads the FedExCup by nearly twice as many points as Sam Burns (who is also teeing it up at the Charles Schwab Challenge) but comes to Fort Worth after his first missed cut since last October… K.H. Lee is looking for his own Texas two-step. Lee successfully defended the AT&T Byron Nelson the week prior to the PGA, winning by one over Spieth… Viktor Hovland is the other world top-10 player in the field alongside Scheffler, Morikawa, Spieth, and Justin Thomas… The winner of the Charles Schwab Challenge will once again get a restored sports car (Kevin Na got a 1973 Dodge Challenger in 2019 while Jason Kokrak got a 1946 Schwab Power Wagon). This year’s winner will get a 1979 Pontiac Firebird, which tournament organizers have nicknamed the “Schwab Firebird.” 72-HOLE RECORD: 259, Zach Johnson (2010). 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, Keith Clearwater (2nd round, 1993), Lee Janzen (4th round, 1993), Greg Kraft (3rd round, 1999), Kenny Perry (3rd round, 2003), Justin Leonard (4th round, 2003), Chad Campbell (3rd round, 2004), Kevin Na (4th round, 2018). LAST TIME: Jason Kokrak’s even-par 70 in the final round of last year’s Charles Schwab Challenge was enough, as Jordan Spieth struggled to a 3-over 73 and finished two shots back of Kokrak. It was Kokrak’s second career TOUR title. Spieth, the clear rooting favorite of the partisan Texas crowds, was still in the mix after making the turn on Sunday, but two late bogeys – including one on the 72nd hole after he hit his approach into the water – derailed his chances. Kokrak made five bogeys Sunday but offset each of them with five birdies. For Spieth, it was his third runner-up finish at Colonial. Charley Hoffman’s 5-under 65 was tied for the low round of the day Sunday, and that helped him move into a tie for third alongside Patton Kizzire, Sebastian Munoz, and Ian Poulter. That foursome finished at 10 under, four shots back of Kokrak’s winning score. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 4 p.m.-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 2 p.m.-5:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m. (CBS). Sunday, 1 p.m.-2 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2 p.m.-6:30 p.m. (CBS). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m.–7 p.m. ET. Saturday, 2 p.m.-7 p.m. Sunday, 1 p.m.-6:30 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio) For outside of the U.S., click here for GOLFTV powered by the PGA TOUR PGA TOUR LIVE PGA TOUR Live is available exclusively on ESPN+ • Main Feed: primary tournament-coverage featuring the best action from across the course • Marquee Group: new “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group • Featured Groups: traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups • Featured Holes: a combination of par-3s and iconic or pivotal holes

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ORLANDO, Fla. – Should we really be surprised? After all he has done since shaking hands with Mike Douglas on national television at age 2, since playing an exhibition with Sam Snead at 5, and teeing it up at the old L.A. Open at 16, Tiger Woods always has delivered something special, has he not? His six consecutive U.S. Golf Association championships, 12-shot Masters win at age 21, 15-shot U.S. Open victory and 15 major titles among his 82 PGA TOUR victories … as Maximus asked his crowd inside the fight arena in “Gladiator,” Are you not entertained? To question Woods or his talents – perhaps once-in-a-lifetime talents, says Padraig Harrington – that’s not on Tiger. That’s on us. The calendar shows that winter is close, but December in central Florida brought unseasonably warm temperatures last week at the PNC Championship. Then Tiger Woods stepped in and dialed up the true heat, as only he does. The shots that he hit – the shaping of his drives, the towering irons that landed so softly, the dead-center makes on putts from inside 15 feet – it all was vintage material. No, this wasn’t Augusta National in April, but it was more than a dismissive “hit and giggle” as Woods stepped back into the spotlight at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club. He didn’t know what to expect, nor did we. Tiger being Tiger, he delivered. Are we surprised? He showed us that the golf portion of the exam he faces in the coming months looked to be in pretty good shape for a man who’d taken a year off from the game. World No. 7 Justin Thomas may have had 30 yards on him at times off the tee, but despite his self-deprecating jokes, Woods isn’t exactly short as he tries to build up his speed. Now he must wait for a badly damaged right leg, ankle and foot to get healthy enough to meet an often overlooked requirement of being a professional golfer – the walking of the courses. Pros hoof it over six or seven miles a day, and when Woods eschewed his cart and walked the final few hundred yards to the 18th green Sunday, perhaps making a statement, it looked like arduous labor. The road ahead for Woods, competitively, is the great unknown. He wisely deflects all questions about a return to the life he has led as a professional golfer. He’s quick to state he never again expects to play a full schedule. If he is to pick and choose, as Ben Hogan once did, when and where will he play? When will he be healthy enough to compete at hilly Augusta National, where he won in 2019? Could he be ready in May for the PGA Championship at Southern Hills, another difficult walk but a venue where he won Major No. 13 in 2007? Will a visit to Scotland’s Old Course at St. Andrews – he’s won there twice – for the 150th Open Championship in July deliver a larger main course than the Champions Dinner? Absent a Tiger appearance at those events, could we not see him inside the ropes again until next year’s PNC, when Charlie will be 13 and even stronger? These are all hypotheticals, and Woods is too patient, and smart, to indulge in any conjecture. Friend Matt Kuchar – who with his oldest son, Cameron, 14, was grouped with Team Woods on Sunday – was impressed and surprised by the state of Woods’ game. “Seeing what he can do just swinging a golf club makes me think that he will figure the other part out,” Kuchar said. “I think he’s got the hard part down.” Woods laughed off Kuchar’s suggestion that he appeared to be TOUR ready. “No, no, no, no,” Woods said. “I totally disagree. I’m not – I’m not at that level. I can’t compete against these guys right now, no. It’s going to take a lot of work to get to where I feel like I can compete with these guys and be at a high level.” Be that as it may, his PNC return was all about Tiger enjoying a few days of low-key golf with his son, Charlie, who, for a second consecutive year shined brightly. They wanted to have fun and avoid bogeys. Done and done. With Team Woods contending late Sunday, Charlie saved some of his best for last, hitting two superb iron shots into the 16th and 17th holes to set up their 10th and 11th straight birdies, respectively. You think that didn’t fill Pops with pride? As much as missing the competition in and of itself – his driving force for all of his nearly 46 years – Woods mostly has missed afternoons with Charlie playing golf at The Medalist. It’s where the two banter playfully and father teaches son to compete, just as his father, Earl, a tough Green Beret, once got young Tiger primed, jangling change during putts and ripping the Velcro of his golf glove during Tiger’s swings. Team Daly won, of course – John and his son, John Jr., who plays on the golf team at Arkansas – and they are a nice story unto themselves. We’ve watched the younger Daly grow up at the PNC, and at 18, his talent reached a level that it is he, not his father, batting second in the lineup on all the critical shots and putts. The elder Daly has battled cancer and remains one of golf’s fan favorites, but Tiger was here, and he casts a shadow longer than the tallest sequoia in the forest. If anything, the PNC shook us by the collar after a Tiger-less 2021, reminding us why we watch. Ian Poulter and his young son, Josh, followed Tiger and Charlie on Saturday. Baseball’s Ken Griffey Jr. walked with Tiger and Charlie on Sunday. “It’s incredible,” Padraig Harrington said Sunday afternoon. “I suppose it’s occasions like this that people on the ‘inside’ see how big Tiger really is. We’re on the inside. I played with him all these years, and you get somewhat used to it. I remember when he came back at Tampa (2018 Valspar Championship), and there was just a different noise, a different crowd. None of the younger guys would have seen that. “He completely upped it at the Masters,” Harrington continued, “and the TOUR Championship (which he won in late 2018), and he comes out here and there is a different excitement. … It’s amazing. Last year was the Charlie Woods Show, and Tiger figured a way to make it the Tiger Woods Show this year.” But not only did Woods show up, he delivered, too, as he always seems to do. Team Woods finished second, two shots back. Many chuckled when Woods turned up to the Masters as an amateur in 1995 and told anyone who would listen that he was there to win. Cute, we thought. But that was his mindset, we’d learn, and always has been. Woods used the word “thankful” several times last week. Thankful to be here after his harrowing SUV crash. Thankful to have his right leg, and not be learning to walk on a prosthetic. Thankful to be alongside his only son, competing as a team. The fans who watched? Well, Tiger was back, and they were thankful, too. They may have to wait for months to see him compete again. Maybe longer. Those are the new rules of where he is, and what he is capable of doing physically. We can wait. “I always think that golf is in a really good place, regardless of who’s around,” said Kuchar, 43, who is in his 22nd season on TOUR. “There’s a great crop of young kids who are really doing well. But look, we all know the Tiger Effect is real. It’s a massive needle mover. Just to see this event, the excitement, the buzz, it’s huge. Everywhere he goes, it follows him.” Where the spotlight follows him next, that’s a question for another day. For a weekend, anyway, golf was just happy to have Tiger Woods back. And he delivered, as he always does. Were you really surprised?

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KING ABDULLAH ECONOMIC CITY, Saudi Arabia — Top-ranked Dustin Johnson won the Saudi International for the second time in three years on Sunday after shooting a 2-under 68 in the final round to finish two strokes clear of Justin Rose and Tony Finau. The reigning FedExCup champ, who was also runner-up in 2020, recorded his highest scoring round of the tournament at Royal Greens Golf Club but still finished top of the leaderboard on 15-under overall. Scotland’s Calum Hill eagled the par-five 18th to finish in a tie for fourth with France’s Victor Perez. Johnson took a two-shot lead into the final round but the Masters champion struggled on the greens and was caught by Finau when his fellow American made a hat-trick of birdies from the 11th. However, Johnson edged back in front with a birdie on the 13th and was given some welcome breathing space when Finau dropped shots on the 16th and 17th and Perez double-bogeyed the 16th. Johnson also dropped a shot on the 16th to see his lead cut to one, but responded in style with a massive tee shot on the next and a pitch to two feet to set up a decisive birdie. “I saw the leaderboard a little bit, the guys were playing well but I kept giving myself a lot of chances,” Johnson told Sky Sports. “I didn’t hole many of them but finally holed a really nice putt on 13. “Seventeen was a really nice birdie, hit a great drive there and a nice little chip but it was tough all day today. “I don’t get to play around the world as much as I’d like to but it’s definitely nice to get a win not on my tour and after Augusta, to get my first win again, obviously the game is still in really good form and I’m really excited about the rest of the year.” Rasmus Hojgaard, Ryan Fox, Viktor Hovland and Tyrrell Hatton finished in a four-way tie for sixth on 11 under. The Saudi International is the last of three events in the “Gulf Swing” that launches 2021 on the European Tour.

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