Tiger and Rory vs. Spieth and JT: Live updates from The Match

A quick look at Sunday’s final round of THE PLAYERS Championship. THE DRAMA At one point in Sunday’s final round the list of potential champions was longer than a Rory McIlroy drive … the 2019 PLAYERS Championship was certainly one of the most dramatic in the events history. While McIlroy eventually had the relatively “easyâ€� task of two-putting from 12 feet to win, it came after an afternoon where multiple challengers put their hands up as serious contenders. From overnight leader Jon Rahm and his fellow final group member Tommy Fleetwood. To upstarts Ollie Schniederjans and Abraham Ancer and familiar names like Hideki Matsuyama, Dustin Johnson, Jason Day and Brandt Snedeker. To 48-year-old Jim Furyk – who wound back the clock with an incredible performance – and to a pair of headline seekers in Eddie Pepperell and Jhonattan Vegas who will forever be inked in PLAYERS history after heroics at 17. All of them, and more, contributed to a blockbuster finish. One that won’t soon be forgotten. In fact it was the cacophony reverberating around TPC Sawgrass that was the hardest for McIlroy to deal with. Particularly given he’d had five top-6 finishes in 2019 without winning leading into this week. “The toughest part is seeing yourself up there, whatever score you’re on, and seeing 10 or 11 guys with a chance,â€� the now 15-time PGA TOUR winner said. “But there’s been a few times where I’ve been in positions like that, and I’ve taken the tournament by the scruff of the neck.â€� What McIlroy saw throughout the day was enough to make anyone’s head spin. First it was the likes of Mexico’s Ancer and young American Schniederjans making moves. Three birdies for Ollie and two for Abraham in the opening six holes had them thrust into the spotlight. The American seemingly dropped out of it with a double bogey on the 10th. Ancer was gone with bogeys on 12 and 13. Attention turned to Matsuyama next. Previously out of sight an eagle on the par-5 16th introduced the Japanese star to the mix. When he failed to birdie either of the final two holes he had the clubhouse lead at 12 under, but you figured it wouldn’t be enough. And you knew it wouldn’t be when England’s Pepperell got red hot. A closing 5-under 31, including an incredible double breaking 49-foot birdie on 17, took the mark to 14 under. Just as the echoes of Pepperell’s out of this world putt had subsided around TPC Sawgrass, Vegas stepped up and made one from 70-feet on the Island Green. It was the longest ever made in the ShotLink era (since 2003). Now the Venezuelan was the man. Especially after his approach to the 18th green stopped at six feet. But he failed to roll it in, settling for a tie with Pepperell. Johnson and Snedeker were making small moves at this point, but their challenge took a back seat to 48-year-old Furyk – his exploits ahead of them would force their hands and they would come up short. The local favorite Furyk had been hanging around all day, including hitting the lead when he was four under on his round through 11 holes. But he was almost dismissed when he bogeyed the 15th hole … frayed nerves they said. Birdie on 16 returned the old guy to center stage. Nerves? What nerves. He took dead aim at 17 and hit it to 14-feet. The birdie putt looked in the whole way but somehow stayed out. Never mind that though. Furyk took a deadly aggressive line off the 18th tee and then stiffed his approach to near tap in range. 15-under. Take that. Overnight leader Rahm had dropped three shots in four holes to give up the lead early on, but he bounced back with two birdies before the turn to stay in the mix. Despite a mental error on the 11th the Spaniard’s birdie on the 13th hole kept him alive. But he played the final four holes 3 over par, including a water ball on the par-3 17th. Fleetwood three-putted the opening hole and then got stuck on the treadmill going nowhere through the turn. A water ball on the par-5 11th and a bogey on the 15th seemingly took out the Englishman. That was until a stunning second shot on the par-5 16th set up an eagle. But as quick as he was back, he was gone, as his tee ball on the 17th bounced odd the railroad ties and into the drink. And so it left McIlroy. “I thought back to Crooked Stick in 2012, BMW Championship there,â€� he said of the chaos all around. “There was a lot of guys up around the lead, and I made a really good run on the back nine, was able to pull that off. I don’t know why it popped into my head, but I guess all these experiences are so helpful to draw on. “The hardest thing was just getting yourself to the point mentally where you say, well, why not me; this is my tournament, I’m going to finish it off.â€� Finish it off he did. Birdie on 15. Birdie on 16 (almost eagle). And a couple clutch pars on the closing holes, including a ripping drive down the last. Just as Pete Dye drew it up in his head all those years ago … a drama filled Sunday for us all. ODDS AND ENDS Stunning Stuff on 17: Fans around the amphitheater that is the par-3 17th were certainly given a treat. Eddie Pepperell’s 49-foot, seven-inch birdie on the Island Green was downright filthy good. “What can I say, it was pretty awesome, to be fair,â€� he smiled when recounting the double breaker up and over the rise from the front of the green to the back corner. But almost before the fans could even sit down after a standing ovation as Pepperell left the green Jhonattan Vegas decided to one up him. Vegas found a way to make the longest recorded putt ever on the green – a whopper from 69-feet, seven-inches. It beat out Bernhard Langer’s 59-foot, seven-inch effort from 2008’s second round. “Absolutely mind blowing, simple as that,â€� Vegas said. “It never crossed my mind that I was going to make such a long putt on such a phenomenal hole. But it’s one of those things, that’s kind of what you play golf for, to be in those kind of situations. Playing the 17th hole at THE PLAYERS with that crowd, it just doesn’t get any better. Obviously, the type of memories that last a lifetime and something that I’ll remember for forever.â€� Furyk falls just short: Jim Furyk claimed his second runner up finish at THE PLAYERS, lighting up his local fans with a great late charge. It is his 31st career second place, tying him with Tiger Woods for second all-time. Phil Mickelson has 36. You can read more on his efforts here. Johnson gets mini PLAYERS milestone: Coming into the week world No. 1 Dustin Johnson was without a top-10 finish in 10 starts at THE PLAYERS. But the move to March agreed with the 20-time PGA TOUR winner as he finished T5. Johnson (69-68-69-69) became the first player since Steve Elkington in 1997 to record all four rounds in the 60s at THE PLAYERS. Rahm’s regret: Overnight leader Jon Rahm would end the day with a tough 76, the pivotal moment being pinned to his approach to the par-5 11th green. Rahm drove the ball into the left fairway bunker and a path to the green was seemingly blocked out by trees – not to mention the water he would have to clear. When playing partner Tommy Fleetwood found water from the fairway Rahm’s caddie Adam Hayes worked at convincing his player to lay up to safety and try to make birdie with his wedge game. Instead the Spaniard was convinced he could hook the ball up and around the trouble. “Based on the way it was lying, with the lines  of the bunker going towards the hole, I was trying to hit a big draw,â€� Rahm said. “It was easier to take it than try to hit a wedge shot toward the fairway. It was a sand wedge. It might’ve been 80 yards tops but the ball from the angle was settled down, so I didn’t like it. Adam was trying to convince me to go right.â€� Rahm’s attempt was a poor one that got wet and had no chance of making land. It would eventually result in a bogey. “When I first got to the ball, I was really sure I could do it. If you give me 10 balls, besides that one, I’d hit the other nine on land,â€� he said. NOTABLES TIGER WOODS (69/6 under) – Best round of the week for the two-time PLAYERS Champion. Will play the World Golf Championships – Dell Technologies Match Play as his next start. ADAM SCOTT (70/11 under) – Former champ bogeyed both back nine par-5s to take some gloss off. JUSTIN ROSE (68/12 under) – The FedExCup champion secured a third top-10 of the season to move to 12th in the standings. JASON DAY (72/12 under) – The 2016 PLAYERS Champion just couldn’t get his putter hot, settling for his fourth top-10 this season. RICKIE FOWLER (76/3 under) – Illness he battled all week finally caught up with the 2015 PLAYERS Champion. PATRICK REED (78/3 under) – Front nine 41 took away any faint hope the Masters champion started with … BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU (71/9 under) – Three front nine birdies had some thinking he might charge into the mix. But two bogeys off the turn killed him off. WEBB SIMPSON (68/8 under) – The defending champ posted his best round of the week despite a one-shot penalty when his putter got caught in his clothing and accidentally hit his ball on the fringe at 14. FRANCESCO MOLINARI (72/2 under) – Last week’s winner at Bay Hill finished well back. BROOKS KOEPKA (70/2 under) – Was 4 under on his round through 16 holes with two birdies and an eagle before finding the water at 17. SERGIO GARCIA (67/8 under) – Great finish for the former champion. WORTH WATCHING 49-foot birdie putt by Eddie Pepperell on No. 17 Laser approach by Jim Furyk on No. 18 Stunning drive at No. 18 by Rory McIlroy Bunker hole-out on 3 by Tiger Woods THEY SAID IT It still stings. I mean, I’m a competitor, and I want to win, and it pisses me off I didn’t. I was hitting the golf ball well and I’m frustrated at lipping more putts out than I think I have in a very long time. I play golf because I love the game and I know that I have a talent for it and I want to make the most of it. So I’m just satisfied that I’ve added another great tournament to my CV, and it puts me in a great spot going forward. It was just a matter of time; it was going to happen. BY THE NUMBERS 3 – Number of players who have won a FedExCup, THE PLAYERS, a major and a World Golf Championship. Rory McIlroy joined Tiger Woods and Henrik Stenson 6 – Number of consecutive top-10s for McIlroy. The best streak of his career. 23 – Birdies by Abraham Ancer and Brandt Snedeker this week. Most in the field. 24 – Number of rounds in the 60s at THE PLAYERS for Sergio Garcia. The most ever. Adam Scott has 23. 7 – The highest score at the Island Green par-3 17th this week. Shared by Tiger Woods, Sam Ryder and Paul Casey. SUPERLATIVES STROKES GAINED LEADERS: Off-the-tee (Adam Scott, 2.003); Tee-to-Green (Dustin Johnson, 4.277); Approach-the-Green (Nick Taylor, 4.055); Around-the-Green (Eddie Pepperell, 3.709); Putting (Thorbjorn Olesen, 3.882); Total (Eddie Pepperell, Emiliano Grillo, Jhonattan Vegas, 5.260). LONGEST DRIVE: 356 yards – Luke List on 14. LONGEST PUTT: 69-feet, 7 inches. Jhonattan Vegas drilled a miracle birdie on the par-3 17th. LONGEST HOLE-OUT: 47 yards – Thorbjorn Olesen. MOST BIRDIES: 7 – Francesco Molinari (72), Thorbjorn Olesen (69), Eddie Pepperell (66), Nick Taylor (67), Jimmy Walker (71). BOGEY-FREE ROUNDS: Jhonattan Vegas (66), J.T.Poston (70) HARDEST HOLE: Par-4 18th. Played 4.288. Just nine birdies.

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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The Fourth of July now has a new significance for Brandt Snedeker. The holiday also marks when he was struck down by the pain that has sidelined him for the past seven months. “We were going to play golf. I went out there on the range and I couldn’t hit about five balls and I couldn’t breathe,� Snedeker said Monday on the practice putting green at Sea Island Golf Club, where he’ll make his first PGA TOUR since June. He decided last week to play the RSM Classic, which begins Thursday, to discern the status of his recovery from the sternum joint injury. He also is scheduled to play with Bubba Watson at the QBE Shootout on Dec. 8-10. “We got to the point where the doctors were like, ‘We need to figure out if we have this licked or if we need to do something different,’� said Snedeker, the 2012 FedExCup champion. “I’ve been playing at home, but there’s only so much I can do at home before I can see if I can handle five days in a row, uneven lies, rough, bunkers. I can do it fine at home, but out here it’s always a little bit different.� Snedeker is trying to avoid surgery, so he has spent the past seven months visiting doctors and trying a myriad of therapies to relieve the pain coming from his sternum, where a bone spur is pushing on his manubriosternal joint, which connects the upper and lower halves of the sternum. “I have a bone spur that has kind of caused the joint to separate and become unstable,� he said. “It makes me feel like I have a broken sternum.� He hasn’t played since finishing ninth in the U.S. Open and T14 in the following week’s Travelers Championship. He tried to play two of his favorite events, The Open Championship and Wyndham Championship, but had to withdraw from both. He didn’t touch a club for nearly 10 weeks after withdrawing from the Wyndham, where he earned his first TOUR title in 2007, in August. Rest was the first step in his recovery. He also has changed his workouts, his swing and his diet. He has tried to strengthen his chest and core to give the joint more stability. Working with instructor John Tillery, who may be best known for helping Kevin Kisner become a two-time TOUR winner, Snedeker has changed his address position and his pivot in order to take pressure off the joint. He also has eliminated sugar and carbohydrates as part of an anti-inflammatory diet, which he has called “miserable.� “I have some arthritis and inflammation in (the joint),� he said. “Anyone who has ever had arthritis or inflammation in a joint that you use knows it can be nagging and awful because the more you use it, the worse it gets. Unfortunately, that’s where mine has gotten to.� Snedeker said sternum joint injuries are often caused by high-impact sports like football and motocross. “They’d never seen one in a golfer,� he added. The injury doesn’t inhibit his daily activities, but the vibrations from hitting a golf ball cause pain. He said he feels pain before and after he plays, but that it subsides after he has warmed up. He played golf several days last week, but those were quick rounds played in a cart. He is curious to see how the joint will hold up during the slower pace of competitive rounds, when there is a longer wait between shots. If all goes well this week, Snedeker is hopeful that he can make his first start of 2018 at the CareerBuilder Challenge in La Quinta, California.

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The Ryder Cup is finally here. After days of pomp and circumstance, the matches get underway from France at 8:10 a.m. local time Friday. The United States brought the Cup with it across the Atlantic after a dominant victory two years ago at Hazeltine. The visitors will have to buck a trend if they want to take the trophy back home, though. The U.S. hasn’t won on foreign soil since 1993. It’s also been a quarter-century since the U.S. scored back-to-back wins in the Ryder Cup. This young American team arrives in France on a three-year winning streak that dates back to the 2015 Presidents Cup. The U.S. team beat those three opponents by a whopping 51.5-36.5 margin. The U.S. will have its hands full with the home team, though. Le Golf National is an annual stop on the European Tour, giving Team Europe a marked home-course advantage. The last two French Opens at Le Golf National were won by members of this year’s team. The course emphasizes accuracy over distance, negating the United States’ power advantage. All of those statistics and history go out the window once Friday’s morning Four-Balls session gets underway, though. Pairings/matchups: Friday morning Four-Balls session Brooks Koepka-Tony Finau (USA) vs. Justin Rose-Jon Rahm (Europe), 2:10 a.m. ET The FedExCup champion will square off against the likely PGA TOUR Player of the Year in the opening match of the Ryder Cup. They’ll each be joined by a rookie in this Four-Ball match. Rose and Rahm rank second and third on TOUR in birdie average, respectively. Koepka and Finau both rank in the top 11 of that statistic, as well. Brooks Koepka FedExCup ranking: 9 Ryder Cup record: 3-1-0 Four-Balls: 1-1-0 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 9th Strokes Gained: Approach: 93rd Strokes Gained: Putting: 113th Tony Finau FedExCup ranking: 6 Rookie Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 19th Strokes Gained: Approach: 24th Strokes Gained: Putting: 65th Justin Rose FedExCup: 1 Ryder Cup Record: 11-6-2 Four-Balls: 4-3-0 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 14th Strokes Gained: Approach: 29th Strokes Gained: Putting: 17th Jon Rahm FedExCup: 23 Rookie Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 3rd Strokes Gained: Approach: 80th Strokes Gained: Putting: 135th Dustin Johnson-Rickie Fowler (USA) vs. Rory McIlroy-Thorbjorn Olesen (Europe), 2:25 a.m. ET Johnson leads the PGA TOUR in birdie average (4.7). The No. 1 player in the world ranking heads a strong team that is looking to turn around its fortunes in this format. Johnson and Fowler are a combined 2-5-2 in this format. McIlroy will be responsible to take pressure off Olesen, the only rookie in this match. Dustin Johnson FedExCup ranking: 4 Ryder Cup record: 6-5-0 Four-Balls: 2-4-0 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 1st Strokes Gained: Approach: 5th Strokes Gained: Putting: 30th Rickie Fowler FedExCup ranking: 17 Ryder Cup record: 2-4-5 Four-Balls: 0-1-2 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 52nd Strokes Gained: Approach: 30th Strokes Gained: Putting: 40th Rory McIlroy FedExCup: 13 Ryder Cup Record: 9-6-4 Four-Balls: 3-2-2 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 6th Strokes Gained: Approach: 50th Strokes Gained: Putting: 85th Thorbjorn Olesen FedExCup: NR Rookie Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: +0.13 Strokes Gained: Approach: +0.35 Strokes Gained: Putting: +0.33 * – didn’t play enough rounds to be ranked in PGA TOUR statistics Jordan Spieth-Justin Thomas (USA) vs. Paul Casey-Tyrrell Hatton (Europe), 2:40 a.m. ET The good friends first represented the United States in France when they were 14. Now they’re doing it at the Ryder Cup. Thomas will have the comfort of making his Ryder Cup debut with Spieth by his side. Thomas performed admirably in his first professional team competition, going 3-1 at last year’s Presidents Cup. The European side also features one veteran, Casey, and a rookie in Hatton. Jordan Spieth FedExCup: 31 Ryder Cup Record: 4-3-2 Four-Balls: 3-1-0 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 54th Strokes Gained: Approach: 26th Strokes Gained: Putting: 136th Justin Thomas FedExCup: 7 Rookie Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 30th Strokes Gained: Approach: 3rd Strokes Gained: Putting: 44th Paul Casey FedExCup: 25 Ryder Cup Record: 3-2-4 Four-Balls: 1-0-3 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 77th Strokes Gained: Approach: 13th Strokes Gained: Putting: 89th Tyrrell Hatton FedExCup: 54 Rookie Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 73rd Strokes Gained: Approach: 77th Strokes Gained: Putting: 47th Patrick Reed-Tiger Woods (USA) vs. Francesco Molinari-Tommy Fleetwood (Europe), 2:55 a.m. ET They both wear red and black. They’re both Masters champions. And they will carry the anchor for the United States team in the opening session. The Ryder Cup brings out Reed’s best. Now he gets to play alongside his idol, who is coming off a win in the TOUR Championship. They’ll face a European side that has had much success at Le Golf National. Fleetwood won the 2017 French Open here, while Molinari has twice been a runner-up at Le Golf National. Patrick Reed FedExCup: 22 Ryder Cup Record: 6-1-2 Four-Balls: 3-1-0 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 107th Strokes Gained: Approach: 84th Strokes Gained: Putting: 76th Tiger Woods FedExCup: 2 Ryder Cup Record: 13-17-3 Four-Balls: 5-8-0 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 104th Strokes Gained: Approach: 1st Strokes Gained: Putting: 39th Francesco Molinari FedExCup: 17 Ryder Cup Record: 0-3-2 Four-Balls: 0-1-1 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 7th Strokes Gained: Approach: 12th Strokes Gained: Putting: 181st Tommy Fleetwood FedExCup: 19 Rookie Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 17th Strokes Gained: Approach: 49th Strokes Gained: Putting: 50th

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