Tiger on brink of PGA Tour win record as play suspended in Japan

NOTE: If you play PGA TOUR Champions One & Done presented by SERVPRO, the Shaw Charity Classic begins on Friday. For my recommendations among notables in the field, scroll to the bottom of the page. I think I know Ben Everill well enough now that he’s not necessarily bursting with virtues, but patience is one of them. Gotta tip my visor to the rookie’s beginner’s luck and every worthy gamer who sat on Dustin Johnson long enough to connect with DJ’s victory at THE NORTHERN TRUST. Every FedExCup Playoffs event awards its winner a season-high 2,000 points. Ben will be holding his breath after the coup, but he deserves at least this week to chirp. Don’t be surprised if he tweets about it, too. Suffice it to say that Johnson is no longer bothered by a sore back or any bad habits he picked up since his spill on the Wednesday of Masters week. I’ve been saving him for the TOUR Championship, but it’s tempting to ride his wave right now, particularly since a golfer has prevailed in consecutive tournaments five times in FedExCup Playoffs history. (Billy Horschel was the last to join the club in 2014.) However, because I’m still within range of Ben’s lead, there’s no need to deviate from the grand plan. Before we review the field for usual suspects, it’s incumbent upon me to review who Ben and Jonathan still have available as they are in my crosshairs. Only a league championship matters, so I’m not concerned with the guys in the rearview mirror. Unfortunately, I’m settling for a push with Ben at the Dell Technologies Championship where both of us have had Rory McIlroy slotted for months. The compelling story in the mainstream is that McIlroy is competing at all given his comments after the PGA Championship about possibly disappearing until 2018, but all gamers really care to know is if he’s committed. As the defending champion and in pursuit of becoming the first to successfully defend a FedExCup title, he remains a strong option. Ben will likely conclude the FedExCup Playoffs with Jason Day at the BMW Championship and Jordan Spieth at the TOUR Championship, neither of whom is available to me. Likewise, I have Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson as my probables, respectively, neither of whom is available to Ben. Among the most notable, only Day remains available to Jonathan. So, short of the Aussie capturing victory at Conway Farms in two weeks, I fully expect to challenge only Ben for my own title defense of our little league. I lay out the basics of my permutations as an example for you and yours. You have to get the lay of the land to adjust your short list. If you’re the front-runner, look at the most logical stymies but also decide which philosophy suits you better. Do you empty the chamber now and hope for the best later? Or do you sit on a heavyweight to anchor the season? I prefer the latter because your competition still needs to execute in the interim. Insurance is never a bad thing as long as you don’t have too much of it. That can make an infinitesimal offseason feel a lot longer than the 10 days it is. If you’re chasing, the less you think about it, the better. With only two more events after the DTC, there’s less about which to think, anyway. DJ, McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Paul Casey, Patrick Reed, Louis Oosthuizen and Adam Scott all make sense at TPC Boston. Short of those cornerstones, Webb Simpson and Charley Hoffman could be timely bridges. Jon Rahm remains a dynamic wild card. Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama, Brooks Koepka and Justin Rose are likely to make more sense next time. I can only imagine the chicken scratch two-man gamers have scribbled on their legal pads by now. If possible, finally burn Chez Reavie, will ya? Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Jason Kokrak also deserve attention. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2016-17. All are pending golfer commitment. Daniel Berger … BMW Keegan Bradley … Dell Technologies Paul Casey … TOUR Championship Kevin Chappell … Dell Technologies Jason Day … Dell Technologies; BMW; TOUR Championship Jason Dufner … TOUR Championship Rickie Fowler … BMW Sergio Garcia … TOUR Championship Billy Horschel … TOUR Championship Dustin Johnson … BMW (defending on a different course); TOUR Championship Zach Johnson … BMW; TOUR Championship Russell Knox … Dell Technologies Hideki Matsuyama … BMW Rory McIlroy … BMW; TOUR Championship (defending) Ryan Moore … TOUR Championship Louis Oosthuizen … Dell Technologies Patrick Reed … Dell Technologies Justin Rose … TOUR Championship Charl Schwartzel … BMW Adam Scott … Dell Technologies; TOUR Championship Jordan Spieth … TOUR Championship Bubba Watson … TOUR Championship Gary Woodland … Dell Technologies; TOUR Championship CHAMPIONS ONE & DONE NOTABLES Shaw Charity Classic Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club in Calgary has been the only host of the tournament since it debuted on the PGA TOUR Champions in 2013. After playing as a par 71 for its inaugural edition, the 7,086-yard track has been a par 70 with five par 3s and three par 5s since. Golfers listed alphabetically. Rob’s serious considerations in bold. Stephen Ames … Impressive season continued at Snoqualmie with a T13. It gave him six top 20s in his last seven starts. Just one top 50 at Canyon Meadows in three tries, though, a T5 in 2015. Billy Andrade … Lost in a playoff in his debut here in 2014, but didn’t land inside the top 35 in both return trips. Up-and-down 2017 warrants future use, so hold tight for another week. Woody Austin … Horse for a course, but his form has been erratic. Not that it hasn’t glistened at times, but you’d be leaning almost entirely on a 6th-T10-T19 slate at Canyon Meadows since 2014. Fred Couples … Disappointing T20 outside his native Seattle last week. It was his first finish outside the top 15 in 10 starts this year. Winner here in 2014. T10 in 2013 and a T5 in 2015. Joe Durant … A splendid find for gamers who somehow haven’t yet burned him. Twelve top 20s this season, including in seven of his last eight starts. Two top 20s in three tries at Canyon Meadows. Bob Estes … Since he didn’t qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs, he can focus on taking on guys his own age. Last week’s T33 was his first of four results outside a top 25 on the PGA TOUR Champions in 2017. Steve Flesch … Strides in with six consecutive top 20s and Canyon Meadows is a good fit for the lefty. Not eligible to be ranked officially in the stats, but the results speak for themselves. Carlos Franco … Defending champion. Canyon Meadows is the site of his only victory in individual competition on the PGA TOUR Champions. He hasn’t logged a top 30 on another in five months. Fred Funk … Continue to holster for the PURE Insurance Championship, but hope that he flips his form. Paul Goydos … Bridge. He’s traded top 20s (including a win at the 3M) with results outside the top 25 in his last six starts. T7 at the Shaw in 2014, but a T68 last year. Lee Janzen … Streak of seven straight top 20s came to an end with a T39 at the Boeing. Making his third appearance at the Shaw and still chasing his first top 35. Miguel Angel Jiménez … Sustaining a phenomenal season. All of his 15 starts have resulted in a top 25; eight have gone for a top 10. T12 in his first look at Canyon Meadows last year. Brandt Jobe … Shared 14th in his debut here last year. He’d take another after finishing outside the top 30 in his last two starts after a torrid couple of months. Still a wild card for us. Jerry Kelly … Beaming off his breakthrough title at the Boeing Classic. It was only a matter of time. Now 11th on the money list, it’s a good time to let the rookie go this one alone. Scott McCarron … Answered victory at the DICK’S with a season-worst T41 at the Boeing. Didn’t crack the top 10 in either prior visit to Canyon Meadows. Colin Montgomerie … Strong converging trends with progressively improving results in his last three starts, culminating in a solo fifth at the Boeing. Runner-up here in 2015 and T6 last year. Corey Pavin … Rested since a T20 at the DICK’S. Top 20s in four of his last six starts. T15 (2014) and T22 (2015) in his trips to the Shaw. Tom Pernice, Jr. … Two top 10s and another two top 25s at Canyon Meadows, but only one top 25 in his last 10 starts. Kenny Perry … Making his first appearance. Ranks third on the money list but he’s been inconsistent. Very much worth a shot if you’re chasing. Gene Sauers … Played up to his billing at the Boeing with a T10, his fifth consecutive top 25. Mixed bag at Canyon Meadows, however, with only two top 40 in four tries, and both were but T19s. Vijay Singh … Tournament debut. Settled for a T29 at last week’s Boeing. Twelfth on the money list but hasn’t logged enough rounds to qualify for official rankings. Kevin Sutherland … If there’s a spot where you’d consider taking a pass, Canyon Meadows might be it. No better than a T9 (2014) in three appearances. David Toms … T6 at the Boeing where fellow rookie Jerry Kelly broke through. Four top 10s and another six top 25s this season. Kirk Triplett … Top 20s in three of the four editions. His T71 at last week’s Boeing ended a string of four straight top 25s. Scott Verplank … The tour’s leader in putting has recorded top 10s in four of his last six events, but he’s making his tournament debut. Duffy Waldorf … The wait is over. It’s time to give him a look. He finished a respective T3, T15, T22 and T6 in this event. Trending nicely with a T7 and a pair of T20s in his last three starts.

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GREENSBORO, N.C. - There was a lot on the line at this week's Wyndham Championship, with the top 125 in the FedExCup standings advancing to the Playoffs and the finale of the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 competition. Here's a quick look at each one after Sunday's final round at Sedgefield Country Club. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Herman picks up 3rd TOUR win FedExCup Update Three players earned a spot in the FedExCup Playoffs thanks to their performance this week. The biggest leap was made by Jim Herman, who came into the week ranked No. 192. He will head to THE NORTHERN TRUST ranked No. 54 thanks to his one-stroke victory on Sunday - the biggest move in the regular season finale since Davis Love III won the Wyndham Championship in 2015 and went from No. 186 to 76. It will be Herman's fourth appearance in the Playoffs and his first since 2017. … Zach Johnson and Shane Lowry were the other two players to book a trip to TPC Boston. Johnson came in ranked 129th and finished No. 104. Lowry came in No. 131 and finished 122nd. … The three players who dropped out of the top 125 were Fabian Gomez, Russell Knox and Charl Schwartzel. Gomez, who missed the cut, dropped four spots to No. 126 while Knox fell four spots to No. 127 with his tie for 72nd. Schwartzel, who came to Greensboro as the bubble boy, also missed the cut and finished No. 128. Zach Johnson: A year ago, Zach Johnson missed the Playoffs for just the second time since the FedExCup began in 2007. On Sunday, he battled down to the wire - in fact, there were only 10 players left on the golf course when he signed for a 65 to tie for seventh and jump 25 spots to No. 104, booking his trip to THE NORTHERN TRUST. … "I don’t like missing cuts, I don’t like missing the FedExCup, I don’t like not being a part of it," Johnson said. "When there’s events that you’re not qualified for, which has kind of been new to me in the last year or two, it’s frustrating. I say that, it’s also motivating. "If anything, it highlights the beauty of this game. I mean, the complete beauty of this game in the fact that you get what you earn. Any given week, any given stretch, you play well, you get your reward. you don’t play well, you get what you deserve. Johnson, who shot 61 in the second round, said he felt like he was on a "slight upward trend. I know it was only two days, but I’ve been feeling this for a while, it just hasn’t showed up. Hopefully, I can maintain it." Shane Lowry: Lowry thought he'd put himself in a good position to make the FedExCup Playoffs after he shot 63 on Friday to move well inside the bubble from No. 131 to 99th. As it turns out, though, Lowry fell back outside the 125 after shooting even par 70 in the third round and then had some anxious moments down the stretch on Sunday when he bogeyed No. 16 and was projected as the bubble boy. When all was done at Sedgefield, though, Lowry clocked in at No. 122 and will head to Boston for the second straight year. "You look at what I’ve achieved in the last year or two, stuff like that shouldn’t really be as stressful as it was, but it was," said the reigning Open champion. "It’s a big deal. We all know if we can make it to Boston that a good week there, you know, can do big things. … "Obviously, the goal next week would be to make Chicago. Then the goal from there is to make it to East Lake, but that would be a hell of a three weeks. I need to do something very special." Lowry, who tied for 22nd at Sedgefield, gave himself a shot at the Playoffs when he shared sixth at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational two weeks ago. He needs to move into the top 70 to play in the BMW Championship and the top 30 to make the field for the finale in Atlanta at the TOUR Championship. "I feel like I’m playing good golf," said Lowry, who originally had a golf trip to Rhode Island scheduled with his buddies next week. "To be honest, I feel like all that outside stuff got in my way a little bit over this weekend. I felt like I was in a great position heading into the weekend, I just struggled yesterday. Then today I got off to a great start and it was going lovely. Then the last few holes, it was almost like, you know, you’re playing on the cut mark. It was strange." Wyndham Rewards Top 10 At stake: The top 10 spots in the FedExCup standings and its bonus pool money of $10 million. Justin Thomas already had wrapped up the top prize of $2 million. For the fourth straight day there was no movement into or out of the Wyndham Rewards Top 10. And none of the four players ranked inside the top 10 at the start of the Wyndham Championship moved up or down. Webb Simpson, who has two wins this season, finished third in the bonus pool after tying for fourth at the Wyndham Championship. Sungjae Im, who tied for ninth on Sunday, finished No. 5 in the Wyndham Rewards. One spot below is Patrick Reed, who won the Wyndham Championship in 2013 and joined Im in the tie for ninth this year. Brendon Todd, another two-time winner this year, missed the cut at Sedgefield but held onto the No. 9 spot in the Wyndham Rewards Top 10.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Given that THE PLAYERS Championship is “our Super Bowl,� said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan, the decision to cancel the event Thursday night was not made lightly. But Monahan said on Friday that he has no doubt it was the proper call, as the world deals with the coronavirus pandemic. The PGA TOUR not only canceled THE PLAYERS Championship (which had played one round), it also canceled the next three events on the schedule: the Valspar Championship, the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, and the Valero Texas Open. Events on other tours also were canceled. RELATED: Official statement from TOUR | FAQ for PLAYERS ticket refunds | The Masters postponed “Our goal now is to focus on a plan for the near and long-term and maintain the strength we’ve built through our organization over the past 51 years, and I’m confident we’ll do exactly that,� Monahan said in a Friday morning news conference. Here are a few more topics the Commissioner touched on: WHAT PROMPTED THE DECISION? There were several factors, including two big ones. Some players after finishing their rounds Thursday had questions, particularly the international players in regard to the travel bans announced by President Trump. “A lot of uncertainly, trying to figure out what they do with their family, how they get home, how they get their families here,� Monahan said, adding, “There were some players that were concerned. That’s something that we took into consideration and took very seriously.� Various feedback from other players, including defending champion Rory McIlroy, also voiced concern that maybe it was not the right time to play. “The fact that everybody is questioning, or asking questions like that, is something you have to take very seriously, and we did,� Monahan said. The news that Walt Disney World and Universal theme parks in Orlando, Florida – approximately 150 miles from TPC Sawgrass – are temporarily shutting down became the final straw. “That was the final thing that we had heard that said, you know what, even though we feel like we have a safe environment and we’ve done all the right things, we can’t proceed, and it’s not right to proceed,� Monahan said.  “And when you’re doing the right thing as the litmus test, to me … those two things together were really the things that drove the decision.� Earlier in the day, the TOUR had announced it would not allow fans into TPC Sawgrass for the final three rounds but “as the situation continued to escalate and there seemed to be more unknowns, it ultimately became a matter of when, and not if, we would need to call it a day,� Monahan said. HOW DID THE TITLE SPONSORS RESPOND? “They’re fully supportive of the decision we made,� Monahan said. “They had proper input into the decision we made. And now it’s on to, how do we address and help the communities that we vacated? Hold us accountable to that because we’re going to do some great things.� One thing already being worked on at TPC Sawgrass was utilizing the food supplies for the tournament in a proper manner. The tournament is working with former FedExCup champ and local resident Billy Horschel, who is an ambassador for Feeding Northeast Florida, to put those supplies to use locally. “That’s something we’re going to do immediately,� Monahan said. WHEN WILL PLAY RESUME? That’s one of the big questions, of course. With the PGA TOUR suspending play through the Valero Texas Open, that left the Masters as the next tournament on the schedule. On Friday, Augusta National announced it would postpone the Masters until “some later date,� according to club chairman Fred Ridley. That leaves the next event on the schedule as the RBC Heritage starting the week of April 12, followed by the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and its unique team-event format. Given how fluid things are unfolding, the TOUR will continue to monitor the situation, work with necessary health and local officials, and adjust if necessary. “We need to continue to understand what’s happening on the ground in the markets where we would be returning to play, continue to work with our partners in those markets, continue to understand what’s happening with the CDC and the World Health Organization, and then ultimately that will guide our decision. We’re going to make sure that we protect the safety and well-being of all of our constituents as we make that decision.� HAVE ANY PLAYERS, CADDIES OR STAFFERS TESTED OR CONTRACTED THE VIRUS? No, said Monahan, who noted that the PGA TOUR has a business unit specifically focusing on the issue. “Right now there aren’t enough tests out there,� Monahan said. “And so the responsible things to do is to make certain that the tests are being used appropriately, and if we wanted to test everybody out here … we might be taking away from that. … “If anybody in our ecosystem – our players, our employees – anybody is feeling like they’re in any way compromised, we’d certainly recommend and help them do anything we can to help them get tested. But right now, that’s certainly not the case.� WILL THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP BE RESCHEDULED? Said Monahan: “It’s not a possibility. As you look into the rest of the season, tournaments in every market are well on their way towards playing their events, to fundraising. You’ve got charities just like we have here that are counting on those events. … We’re going to continue to go forward with the schedule that we’ve outlined and hopefully we can get back and play as soon as possible.� WILL THE FIELD RECEIVE PRIZE MONEY? Yes. PGA TOUR regulations stipulate that “if you complete one round of a championship, we pay 50% of the purse,� said Monahan. Although four players had yet to complete the first round, the TOUR will pay the 50%, equally distributed among the players. That means a half purse of $7.5 million for 144 players, or $52,083.33 per player. The earnings will be considered unofficial. Per rule, any player withdrawing prior to teeing off is not considered part of the field and will not be paid. WILL STATISTICS FROM THURSDAY’S FIRST ROUND BE COUNTED? No. All results will be wiped out of the record books and from players’ statistics. For instance, Hideki Matsuyama will not be credited with a course-record tying 63. THE NEXT MONTH. Even though there are no TOUR events to attend or follow, Monahan hopes that fans who play the sport will continue to be active. “Golf is the greatest game on the planet,� Monahan said. “There are a lot of people that are in this business, in this industry that make their living through this game, and I hope that everybody as they go through this uncertain time gets an opportunity to get out, play golf, be outside, support their PGA of America profession, support this game, be inspired by this game. “Of course, everybody needs to think about what’s happening in their local marketplace, but I want to make sure that not only are we inspiring the communities where we play, but hopefully people are inspired to continue to use this game to get through a challenging time, and that’s what we’re going to encourage people to do.� For more on the coronavirus disease, please visit the Center for Disease Control’s information page.

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