Tiger: My kids ‘absolutely love’ Mac Daddy Santa

SILVIS, Ill. – Michael Kim obliterated TPC Deere Run, shooting a final-round 66 to win the John Deere Classic by eight shots over Francesco Molinari (64), Joel Dahmen (65), Sam Ryder (66) and Bronson Burgoon (69), and breaking the tournament record at 27 under par. But the first time Max Homa saw his new, younger teammate at Cal, there was no shock and awe. Confusion was more like it. This was the recruit everyone said was so good? “There was a little bit of trash talk,� Homa said, recalling a practice round involving himself, Kim and another teammate, Michael Weaver, at the Western Amateur in Chicago. The ribbing revolved around Kim’s lack of distance; specifically, Weaver wondered aloud, how was Kim going to compete despite being two to three clubs shorter than his teammates? “Michael just looked Weaver in the eye and said, ‘I’m going to hit my 5-iron inside your 8-iron,’� Homa said. “That’s when I thought to myself: This kid is gonna be good.� With the win, Kim moved from 161st to 56th in the FedExCup. In addition to hoisting his first PGA TOUR trophy, he also secured the lone Open Championship berth on offer at the Deere. He’s headed to Carnoustie, and he’ll be on the Deere charter with, among others, his older brother, Richard, and mom and dad, Yun and Sun, who took the red-eye from San Diego, arrived in Chicago at 4:30 a.m. Sunday, and surprised Michael when they appeared on the video board on 18. “He had a big smile on his face,� Richard said. “It was good.� Kim also tied the largest margin of victory on TOUR this season. This, despite not being able to sleep before the final round. He looked at the clock in his room, tried to quiet his heartbeat, watched Wimbledon. “I ran through a million different scenarios of how this day was going to pan out,� he said. Starting the day with a five-shot lead over Burgoon, Kim, a lesser-known member of golf’s vaunted high school Class of 2011, merely birdied the first three holes to extend his lead even further. After his only bad shot, a bunkered tee ball at the par-3 seventh, he increased his lead from seven to eight when he got up and down for par and Burgoon bogeyed. As the latter said afterward, it was time to start thinking about the race for second place. Homa, who used to room with Kim when the Golden Bears were on the road, saw in Kim a quiet confidence. It came through whether the younger player was on the course, stitching together his staggeringly consistent 2013 college player of the year season, or off it. “The first time I met Justin Thomas,� Homa said, “I saw the same thing.� Kim’s confidence bubbled over after he buried a 21-foot birdie at the par-3 16th hole at TPC Deere Run. He was 27 under and eight ahead of his nearest pursuer, and he cupped his hand to his ear, exhorting the gallery of polite Midwesterners to let him hear it. “I don’t know what that was,� he said later, laughing. That confidence, though, had been tested. For one thing, Kim’s fellow Class of 2011 members, guys like Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Daniel Berger and Xander Schauffele, were crushing it as professionals. These were guys Kim had held his own against as an amateur. “You can’t help but feel you’re getting left behind,� he said. What’s more, Kim rolled into the Quad Cities on the heels of three straight missed cuts and at 161st in the FedExCup. Even to those who knew him, his play was something of an enigma. Zach Johnson, a mentor to Kim, with whom he shares a management agency and a trainer, said the Korean’s enviable talent and inconsistent results seemed to be at odds. “He’s very, very, very good,� Johnson said. He wasn’t the only one who was perplexed. “Michael really struggled this past year,� said Andrew Gundersen, Kim’s caddie for the last four-plus years. “Mainly off the tee. He just needed a different set of eyes, a new coach who was going to show him something he wasn’t seeing.� It was not an easy decision. Kim had been with his old coach, James Oh, for eight years, and when asked about the coaching switch after his epic win, Kim’s eyes welled up with tears. He explained it was a hard thing to talk about, and that a lot of work had gone into his performance at TPC Deere Run, and Oh was as vital a cog as anyone else on his team. John Tillery, Director of Instruction at Georgia’s Cuscowilla Golf Club, was the new set of eyes. He came on board to Team Kim not even a month ago, and the transformation didn’t take long. “I wasn’t real familiar with his game or anything,� Tillery said, “but what was related to me was that the driver was killing him. He mostly had a big right miss. He had some inefficiencies there, but we’ve started to address those and he’s obviously gained some confidence from seeing the ball go where he’s looking. He’s got the pedigree. “We’re just starting,� Tillery added. “He’s got a lot more gas than he showed even this week.� OBSERVATIONS STRICKER WEARS FAN HAT: Steve Stricker, 51, wasn’t sure of his immediate plans after he birdied the last three holes for a final-round 67 to finish 10 under overall. A three-time winner of this event, he was tired and admitted that the stifling heat probably got to him. He was uncertain whether he would play the RBC Canadian Open in two weeks, or immediately rejoin the PGA TOUR Champions, where he’s already a two-time winner this season. The only sure thing, he said, was to go to Chicago to watch his oldest daughter, a rising junior at Wisconsin, play in the Illinois Open for the first time starting Monday. “We’re going to go over and watch her play for three days,� Stricker said. “I get to put a different hat on and watch and not have to play. I get to critique her for a change.� Bobbi certainly has golf in the genes. Steve is a 12-time TOUR winner, and her mom, Nicki, was a four-time letter-winner for the Badgers who took fourth in the 1991 Big Ten Championship. Bobbi’s grandfather, Dennis Tiziani, has coached Wisconsin’s men and women. Bobbi’s strength? Papa Stricker smiled. “She can putt.� MOLINARI’S CAREER YEAR CONTINUES: Two weeks after crushing the field at the Quicken Loans National, Italy’s Francesco Molinari, 35, continued his career season with a final-round 64 and a T2 at the Deere. He moved from 43rd to 27th in the FedExCup. “I couldn’t dream of doing much better than this,� said Molinari, a world player who decided to play the Deere because he needed to add a new event to his schedule on this side of the Atlantic. “I’m in a much stronger position now heading into the summer, and then The Playoffs, and so I need to keep it going. Obviously, I would really like to make it to the TOUR Championship. I missed it by, I think, one shot last year, so I will do my best to be there in Atlanta.� NOTABLES ZACH JOHNSON – Former Deere winner and tournament ambassador shot a final-round 64 for a T16 finish and a boost of confidence heading to The Open Championship. HAROLD VARNER III – One week after contending at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, HV3 shot a final-round 68 to tie for sixth, moving up to 104th in the FedExCup. STEVE WHEATCROFT – First-round leader finished with a 68 for a T12 finish, his best of the season, to move up to 185th in the FedExCup. QUOTABLES Going into the back nine, unless he had an absolutely torrential meltdown, which he wasn’t going to, we were all playing for second.Not that great. SUPERLATIVES Low round: 64, by Zach Johnson and Francesco Molinari Longest drive: 352 yards, by Keith Mitchell (67, T7), 14th hole Longest putt: 55 feet, 3 inches by Joel Dahmen, 6th hole Fewest putts: 23, by Ryan Moore (67, T55) Easiest hole: The 565-yard, par-5 second played to a 4.408 stroke average. Hardest hole: The 482-yard, par-4 18th played to a 4.239 average. CALL OF THE DAY SHOT OF THE DAY

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A second collegiate star has turned pro in the middle of the season, adding another name to the list of prospects who will be seeking sponsor exemptions once the PGA TOUR season resumes in January. Wake Forest senior Will Zalatoris, the 2017 ACC Player of the Year, announced Thursday that he will turn pro and forego his final semester of collegiate golf. “I wanted to give myself the best chance to have a TOUR card for 2018 and 2019,� Zalatoris told PGATOUR.COM. “I want to give myself the best opportunity to set myself up for the future, so I wanted to have these extra six months to play in a few more events and build my routine.� Zalatoris finished his Wake Forest career with a 70.44 scoring average, breaking the school record of former FedExCup champ Bill Haas. Zalatoris won four collegiate titles, as well as the 2014 U.S. Junior Amateur. His announcement came shortly after his Walker Cup teammate, Cameron Champ, made the leap to the pro ranks. Champ was in the middle of his senior season at Texas A&M. This is believed to be the first time in recent history that two collegiate players of such high profile have turned pro in the middle of the same season. “I think turning pro (in the middle of the season) will become a little bit more popular in the years to come, mainly because of the schedule,� Zalatoris said. “You get a full six months back of playing pro events. I was one of the kids who said, ‘You have four years of college and the rest of your life to play golf,’ but talking to some guys on TOUR, they mentioned how important that first year was.� Champ finished T16 at last week’s Web.com Tour Q-School to secure status for the upcoming season. Zalatoris failed to advance out of second stage, so he will have to rely on sponsor exemptions and Monday qualifiers for starts on the PGA TOUR and Web.com Tour. He has just 21 hours remaining toward his psychology degree, and is currently taking nine hours online. Being so close to completing his degree made it easier to leave school early, he said. He is planning to graduate in 2018. Zalatoris isn’t the first U.S. Junior champion from Texas to turn pro after failing to advance out of Q-School’s second stage. Jordan Spieth took that path in 2013, winning that year’s John Deere Classic and qualifying for the TOUR Championship. Spieth and Zalatoris also share a swing coach, Cameron McCormick. Turning pro early gives Zalatoris time to play both the PGA TOUR and Web.com Tour in his quest to earn a TOUR card. The Wyndham Championship, the final PGA TOUR event before the FedExCup Playoffs and Web.com Tour Finals, is the only start he has confirmed on his schedule, he said. Zalatoris is the third member of this year’s victorious U.S. Walker Cup team to turn pro, after Champ and Maverick McNealy. The U.S. defeated Great Britain & Ireland, 19-7, in September at Los Angeles Country Club. Joaquin Niemann, the world’s top-ranked amateur, also is expected to turn pro in early 2018. McNealy, who graduated from Stanford with a degree in Management Science and Engineering, made his pro debut at the Safeway Open (T52). He also has sponsor exemptions into three PGA TOUR events in California (CareerBuilder Challenge, Farmers Insurance Open and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am) and two in Texas (AT&T Byron Nelson, DEAN & DELUCA Invitational). He also has full Web.com Tour status for next year after finishing T10 at Q-School. McNealy and Niemann are the past two winners of the Mark H. McCormack Medal, given to the world’s top-ranked amateur. Spieth and Peter Uihlein are previous collegiate standouts to turn pro in December. Uihlein did so in 2011, forgoing his final semester at Oklahoma State to pursue starts on the European Tour. Uihlein, the 2010 U.S. Amateur champion, won on that circuit in 2013 and is in the midst of his first season as a PGA TOUR member after winning the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, the first event of this year’s Web.com Tour Finals. Uihlein, 28, is 40th in the current FedExCup standings. Spieth turned pro in December 2012, halfway through his sophomore season at Texas.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – The PGA TOUR and its tournaments generated more than $180 million for charitable causes in 2017, surpassing last year’s record amount by approximately $14 million. This total includes donations made by tournaments on the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Web.com Tour, Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica and PGA TOUR-China.   The announcement brings the all-time total generated for charity by the PGA TOUR to $2.65 billion. The TOUR surpassed $1 billion in 2005 and $2 billion at the beginning of 2014. “The entire PGA TOUR family takes tremendous pride in the positive impact that we continue to make each year through the millions of dollars that are raised for very deserving charitable organizations,� said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “As we often note, beyond the sheer dollar amount, the real story is in the hundreds of thousands of lives that benefit from these contributions every year. Thank you to all of the tournaments, players, sponsors, volunteers and fans who make all of this possible.� In 2017, five PGA TOUR events raised more than $10 million for charity – the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Valero Texas Open, DEAN & DELUCA Invitational, the John Deere Classic and the Waste Management Phoenix Open. In addition to those tournaments, the biennial Presidents Cup announced a record donation of more than $10.7 million as a result of the 2017 event held at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, New Jersey. The PGA TOUR’s flagship event, THE PLAYERS Championship, generated $8.7 million in 2017, a large portion of which benefits local children’s charities as part of the tournament’s commitment to generate $50 million for youth-related charities over 10 years. Since that commitment was made in April of 2011, $45 million has been raised toward that goal. Six PGA TOUR Champions events generated more than $1 million to charity in 2017, with the Shaw Charity Classic leading the way at more than $6 million. Three Web.com Tour events generated more than $1 million, led by the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship at more than $2.1 million. Unlike other professional sports organizations, the PGA TOUR relies on more than 100,000 volunteers annually to run its tournaments, and the vast majority of its tournaments are structured as non-profit organizations designed to donate 100 percent of net proceeds to charity. Community beneficiaries include a broad range of organizations such as hospitals and shelters; youth development programs; food banks; groups that support the military and their families; organizations that support senior citizens; those that help abused women and children, and growth-of-the-game initiatives.

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