Tiger, facing one last hurdle, stands just seven holes away from history

BROOKLINE, Mass. – After winning the 2013 U.S. Amateur at The Country Club, Matt Fitzpatrick sent a thank-you email to his standard bearer. Malcolm Herbert was that standard bearer. Herbert was on-site Sunday to support Fitzpatrick as the Englishman secured a one-stroke victory at the U.S. Open at The Country Club, his first PGA TOUR title and first major championship title. Herbert walked inside the ropes as standard bearer for Fitzpatrick’s final match in 2013, a 4-and-3 victory over Oliver Goss. Fitzpatrick drained a winning 5-footer for par on the 33rd hole. Herbert, who hails from nearby Milton, Massachusetts, grew emotional upon watching Fitzpatrick make par on the 72nd hole Sunday for a one-stroke victory over Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler at 6-under total. The positive experience with Fitzpatrick nine years prior had inspired Herbert to pursue college golf. He played at Tufts University, and although he wasn’t a starter on the team, he was a co-captain as a senior. He recently graduated with a degree in psychology and has plans to work in the golf industry. Being inside the ropes for Fitzpatrick’s first win at Brookline made him a fan for life. This week, that fandom came full circle. “it’s been a while since 2013, but we’ve been Fitzpatrick fans ever since,” said Herbert on Sunday evening. “He’s an amazing player and an even better dude. If I hadn’t seen high-level golf up close as a 13-year-old, I wouldn’t have played high school golf, definitely wouldn’t have played college golf, and wouldn’t be working in the golf world next year. “I owe a lot of the best moments of the last eight years to Matt for inspiring me to take after the game with a passion and work hard. It’s a true full-circle event to see him win.” For the record, Herbert wasn’t surprised to see Fitzpatrick prevail once again at The Country Club, joining Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win a U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open at the same course. (Nicklaus won the 1961 U.S. Amateur and 1972 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links.) “He rises to the occasion every time the golf course gets tough,” Herbert said. On a traditional, demanding test at Brookline – where he was one of two players to card four rounds of par or better – Fitzpatrick did just that.

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Answer: This golf tournament, while traditionally contested in April, was shifted to November for the first time in 84 editions. Question: What is the 2020 Masters? The playful tribute to the late Alex Trebek, the long-time host of "Jeopardy!," aside, the Masters really is a tradition unlike any other, and especially amid a pandemic. Not only are there two editions during the 2020-21 PGA TOUR super season, they will occur consecutively as it concerns the six majors. For more on the when the field was determined, a review of the weather, how Tiger Woods prevailed and other information, scroll past the projected contenders. RELATED: The First Look | Inside the Field | Nine things to know: Augusta National POWER RANKINGS: MASTERS TOURNAMENT Tuesday's Fantasy Insider will include 2015 champ Jordan Spieth, Francesco Molinari, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler and first-timers Collin Morikawa and Matthew Wolff among the notables. The construct of the field for the 2020 Masters was announced months ago but it's timely to revisit it once more. The qualifiers for the tournament were set as if it had been staged in its usual slot in April. Winners of eligible tournaments since play resumed in June qualified only for the 2021 Masters. With the recent withdrawals of Joaquin Niemann and Sergio Garcia, both due to COVID-19, the field stands at 92 as of Monday afternoon. Twenty-six (or 28 percent) are first-time participants, a not-so-insignificant fact given the documented value of course knowledge at Augusta National Golf Club. Because the par 72 is so consistent over time, the golfers aren't just playing the course, they're playing against relative experience of others. It's as close to a home-course advantage as a veteran can get at what technically is a neutral site. The variable that's new to all is the weather, at least as it concerns the seasons. However, with traces of summertime heat and humidity hanging on, it's possible if not probable that only the reduction of daylight hours will feel different to everyone who has traveled to Augusta, Georgia, in early April. Daytime highs will eclipse 70 degrees and even flirt with 80 during the first two rounds. Winds will be light, but rain is all but guaranteed thanks in part to the encroachment of what's left of Tropical Storm Eta that made landfall in southern Florida late on Sunday night. Suffice it to say that the SubAir system has been oiled and will be engaged. Advance forecasts were suggesting much cooler air. The compromise is that it'll likely be warm enough for fewer hours every day, but the impact on the distance the ball flies won't be as substantial as previously considered. Even so, because Augusta National is a second-shot test and favors placement off the tee over length, the conditions could influence roll on the fairways and the greens. Because of the unprecedented transition to the fall, comparisons to the last edition in 2019 should be left to the record only, but there's still a curiosity for how Augusta National will stack up against it this week. With a scoring average of 71.865, the 2019 field was the first to break par since 1992. The average driving distance of 296.5 yards was much longer than usual (although only holes 1 and 2 are measured) as driving accuracy also rose. Those two statistics rarely evolve with a direct relationship, but all other facets of completing a round also were easier. Defending champion Tiger Woods navigated a scintillating finale to prevail and he led the tournament in greens in regulation. That's job one for anyone who intends for him to slip the green jacket over his shoulders come Sunday. ShotLink isn't utilized at Augusta National, but it's not dumbing down the recap by attaching other analytics to his performance. Woods ranked 10th in converting GIR into par breakers, 14th in putts per GIR and T10 in bogey avoidance. On the whole, it was just enough to escape with a one-stroke victory, his 15th in a major. For the second consecutive edition, Augusta National tips at 7,475 yards. The addition of 40 yards to the par-4 fifth hole last year yielded a scoring average of 4.336. Not only was it the hardest hole on the course, but it also was the 10th-hardest of 522 par 4s in all of 2018-19. That's notable because as recently as 2016, it wasn't inside the top-half hardest holes on the course. In addition to a new format that will send groupings off split tees in the first two rounds, the 36-hole cut has been modified to low 50 and ties. The previous provision of including all within 10 strokes of the lead has been eliminated. Included in a series of spoils, the champion will receive a lifetime exemption into the Masters, five-year exemptions into the other three majors and a five-year membership exemption on the PGA TOUR. ROB BOLTON'S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM's Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Fantasy Insider * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM's Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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SUN CITY, South Africa — Tommy Fleetwood saved his best for last with a final-round 67 to come from behind and retain his title at the Nedbank Golf Challenge on Sunday as he ended a three-year winless drought. The Englishman moved up from a tie for seventh overnight to finish 11 under par overall and win by a stroke from New Zealand’s Ryan Fox (68), who was hoping to go top of the season rankings with a victory in Sun City but just missed out after making a bogey on the last. Fleetwood won in Sun City in 2019 but was the defending champion after the 2020 and 2021 tournaments were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He kept his nerve when others around him faded on the final day, making four birdies on his opening nine and rebounding from a bogey on No. 12 with an incredible eagle on the par-5 No. 14 when he holed out from a bunker. He made pars the rest of the way home to become the first player since compatriot Lee Westwood in 2011 to win back-to-back titles at the Nedbank. Fox was the first-round leader after opening with a superb 64, raising his hopes that he could win in Sun City and overtake Rory McIlroy at the top of the European rankings ahead of the season-ending World Tour Championship in Dubai next week. He would have had a chance if not for the bogey five on No. 18 — his only bogey of the round — that allowed Fleetwood to win. Fox stays second in the season standings behind McIlroy, while Fleetwood is fourth heading to Dubai. McIlroy wasn’t playing at the Nedbank Challenge. Shubhankar Sharma (69) was third. Rasmus Hojgaard and Thomas Detry had shared the third-round lead but couldn’t hold on through a final day that was interrupted by rain. Hojgaard carded a 4-over 76 to finish tied for eighth while Detry’s final-round 77 saw him tumble to a share of 13th. European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald was another man in with a chance at the halfway point but his search for a first European or PGA TOUR title in a decade came undone over the weekend as he shot 73 and 75 in his final two rounds to be one of those tied with Detry in 13th place.

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