Tiger shoots 76, misses cut at Genesis Open

Old Westbury, New York – As attendees stroll the fairways at THE NORTHERN TRUST, the first event in the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup Playoffs, they will be able to taste a slice of New York, as the tournament announced today that Junior’s Cheesecake will be served onsite, along with some of its other famous items. Served at the tournament’s Taste NY Marketplace, an upgraded concession and fan destination, Junior’s is one of several new food venues meant to capture the unique, world-class food culture of Manhattan. Featuring fashion, food and do-or-die drama as the top 125 players in the FedExCup compete on a world stage, THE NORTHERN TRUST will be played at the prestigious Glen Oaks Club in Old Westbury, New York, from August 22-27, 2017. Founded by Harry Rosen in 1950 in Brooklyn, Junior’s landmark restaurant is known as the home of New York’s best cheesecake. Today, Junior’s has several locations, from the original on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, to the theater district on Broadway in Times Square, and even at the Fox Tower Hotel at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. This August, Junior’s will add a new location during tournament week at THE NORTHERN TRUST, giving players and fans the chance to experience one of New York’s favorite traditions. “We look forward to showing PGA TOUR players and professional eaters from around the country what New Yorkers have known for over 67 years,â€� said Alan Rosen, third-generation owner of Junior’s Restaurant & Bakery. “We look forward to serving some of our signature items like Reuben’s, corned beef, pastrami and of course cheesecake at THE NORTHERN TRUST.” The recipe for Junior’s Cheesecake remains unchanged, featuring only the finest ingredients like premium cream cheese, fresh heavy cream, eggs and a touch of vanilla. In 1973, New York Magazine conducted a blind taste test and rated Junior’s the best cheesecake in New York, and since then, it has won several accolades and awards including the “Best Overall Mail-order Cheesecakeâ€� from the Wall Street Journal and “Best Food Gift NYâ€� from People Magazine. Junior’s will also be serving other items, like its famous Reubens, onsite. Junior’s will be available at THE NORTHERN TRUST in the Taste NY Marketplace as part of a partnership with New York State. Located in a shaded area adjacent to the 16th fairway of the Glen Oaks Club, Taste NY will sponsor the venue and feature menu items from various iconic New York restaurants that will be announced in the lead-up to the event. The area also features various other enhancements and is open to all fans onsite. New York State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball said, “We are proud to sponsor the Taste NY Marketplace and highlight all of the great New York restaurants and businesses who make some of the best food and beverages in the world. The Taste NY Marketplace will be an exciting destination for THE NORTHERN TRUST fans and spectators who are looking to sample locally made products and unique dishes from iconic New York restaurants.  We look forward to connecting even more consumers to New York agriculture and cuisine.â€�  THE NORTHERN TRUST will kick off the FedExCup Playoffs at the Glen Oaks Club in Old Westbury, New York, August 22-27, 2017. For more information and a behind-the-scenes look at the tournament, visit thenortherntrust.com or follow the tournament on Twitter and Instagram @TheNTGolf, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheNTGolf. To purchase tickets, please visit www.thenortherntrust.com or call 844-868-7465.

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The PGA TOUR and Autograph, the web3 brand co-founded by Tom Brady, today announce a long-term deal to create a comprehensive “digital collectibles” NFT platform, revolutionizing golf fandom by allowing fans to celebrate their love of the game by owning a token of its storied history. The PGA TOUR will work with Autograph to create a digital collectibles platform that pulls from TOUR competition video, data, imagery and other competition-related components. Golf fans will have the opportunity to own and collect NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) featuring the best PGA TOUR golfers in the world as well as some of their favorite moments from the archives and the current FedExCup Season. Additionally, collectors will have a chance to earn rewards with a wide range of utility, including access to exclusive digital, in-person and onsite experiences, along with other program benefits. “The PGA TOUR is excited to work with Autograph to offer digital collectibles that highlight the most talented golfers in the world and their role in the sport’s history,” said Len Brown, PGA TOUR Chief Legal Officer, and EVP, Licensing. “The TOUR is continuously looking for innovative ways to engage fans to bring them closer to the game and their favorite players, so we’re thrilled to start building the future of golf fandom with the Autograph team.” “We are thrilled to expand our roster of iconic partners with the addition of the PGA TOUR as our first professional league,” said Richard Rosenblatt, co-founder and co-chairman of the board at Autograph. “Over the last year, we have defined the future of fandom by leveraging NFT technology to bring fans closer to the icons they love across sports, music and entertainment and each other. We look forward to unlocking new potential and offering our community exclusive access to the PGA TOUR team through this partnership.” “I’m very excited to be a part of this next chapter with Autograph and the PGA TOUR,” said Tiger Woods, who sits on Autograph’s Board of Advisors. “Enhancing the golf world with NFTs will create a connection between us as players and the fans.” The TOUR’s exclusive NFT Digital Collectibles platform with Autograph will launch in early 2023. To learn more and sign up for news and updates, visit autograph.io/pgatour.

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This week, the U.S. Open returns to Torrey Pines, site of one of golf’s most memorable major championship showdowns. The on-course heroics of Tiger Woods that week in 2008 are forever ingrained in the minds of golf fans worldwide. Perhaps the bigger surprise came from Rocco Mediate, an unlikely foil who took Woods to the absolute limit that week in California. Thirteen years later, the story is no less enthralling, no less remarkable, than it was in real time. RELATED: 21st Group | Schauffele witnessed Tiger’s famous putt in 2008 Untouchable Tiger In order to best paint the picture of this David and Goliath matchup, you have to fully appreciate how dominant Woods was at this point in his career. Tiger wasn’t just the No. 1 player in the world, he was the unquestioned relentless force in the sport for a decade running. After a runner-up finish at the 2008 Masters, Woods had an Official World Golf Ranking points average of 21.19. Phil Mickelson was second, at 9.62. This meant that there was a larger gap between Woods and Mickelson (11.57 average points) than Phil and the bottom of the Ranking. Woods entered the week having won five of his previous 13 major starts. In his professional career, he had played in 45 majors, winning 13 of them – an absurd 29% clip. From 1997 through the 2008 Masters, there were 111 players with 50 or more rounds in major championships. Woods, at 125 under par in that span, was 198 shots better in relation to par than any other player (Ernie Els, +73). In fact, Els and Phil Mickelson (+74) were the only players within 200 shots of Woods in relation to par during that span in majors. Despite his knee injury, Woods was playing some of the most dominant golf of his entire illustrious career. Entering the 2008 U.S. Open, Woods had played in 11 tournaments worldwide since August of the previous year. He won eight times, with three of his victories being by eight strokes or more. He didn’t finish worse than fifth and posted a scoring average of 67.6 in that span. During that run of eleven tournaments, the combined total of opponents in those fields was 1,227. Woods was beat by six of them. Now consider how dominant Woods had been at Torrey Pines. In 11 starts at the Farmers Insurance Open from 1998 through 2008, Woods had won six times and never finished worse than tied for tenth. Woods was a combined 158 under par at the event during that stretch, 85 strokes better than any other player in that span (Mickelson was second, at 73 under). Only two players were within 100 shots of Woods in relation to par at Torrey Pines in those eleven combined tournaments. Woods won all five tournaments he played at Torrey Pines from 2005-08. Definition of an Underdog Rocco Mediate was 158th in the Official World Golf Ranking the week of the 2008 U.S. Open. At 45 years old, he was more than six years removed from his previous PGA TOUR win, in April of 2002. Woods had won 33 times on TOUR – including each of the four major championships (six majors in all) – since Mediate’s last victory. Mediate had missed the cut at Torrey Pines earlier that year in his first start there in a decade, one of seven missed cuts in his first nine starts that season. To that point in his career, Woods had missed just four cuts as a professional on the PGA TOUR. It had been six years since Mediate finished a PGA TOUR season ranked inside the top 40 in scoring average. Mediate had, however, come off his best finish of the season, a tie for sixth at the Memorial Tournament. He ranked fifth in the field that week in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and 11th in Strokes Gained: Approach, both high-water marks for his 2008 campaign to date. Mediate had found some previous success in the U.S. Open, finishing fourth in 2001 and tied for sixth in 2005. Statistical Profiles that Week Over the years, Torrey Pines has been kind to players who are a little wild off the tee. Over the last forty years, more PGA TOUR winners at the venue have ranked outside the top-50 that week in driving accuracy (15) than inside the top-10 (seven). Woods was part of that wilder group: at the 2008 U.S. Open, he hit just 54% of the fairways for the week, ranking tied for 56th in the field. Nobody would hit fewer fairways on their path to a U.S. Open victory until Bryson DeChambeau did in 2020 at Winged Foot (41.1%). Woods was rewarded, however, for hitting some more accurate tee shots on par-5s. On the twelve par five holes Woods played in regulation, he hit the fairway with his tee shot nine times. In turn, he led the tournament in par-5 scoring average, carding three eagles and four birdies on Nos. 9, 13 and 18. For the week, Mediate was outdriven by Woods on average by 37.5 yards. Still, he led the field in par four scoring average (4.0), par-4 birdie-or-better percentage (22.7%) and front-nine scoring (34.3). While the field scrambled at a clip of just 44.4% for the tournament, Mediate got up-and-down 61.5% of the time, the fifth-best rate of any player. His greenside magic helped him avoid the big number, as he made only one double bogey through 72 holes. The Playoff As Woods took a three-shot lead through 10 holes, it looked as if Mediate’s dream run had come to an end. But Rocco rallied, making three consecutive birdies on the back nine to take a one-stroke lead. In regulation, only two players had birdie streaks all week longer than what Mediate put together in that do-or-die situation against Woods. For the second day in a row, Tiger needed to birdie the 18th hole to force a playoff with Mediate. Of course, he did, and would win with par on the first hole of sudden death. The win was his 14th professional major, getting there more than three years younger than Jack Nicklaus was when he won his 14th, the 1975 PGA Championship. Woods remained perfect (14-for-14) when holding the 54-hole lead or co-lead in a major championship, a streak that ended at the following year’s PGA. Had Mediate won, he would have shattered the record for lowest world ranking by a U.S. Open champion, at 158th. To this day, that mark is held by Steve Jones, who was ranked 99th in the OWGR when he won in 1996. In the twelve U.S. Opens since, none have been decided by playoff, the longest streak without one in this championship’s history.

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