Tiger Woods on verge of historic 82nd win at ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP

NORTON, Mass. - Difficult as it may be in these unprecedented times of spectator-less arenas to generate spontaneous electricity, Dustin Johnson came close late in Friday's second round of THE NORTHERN TRUST at a TPC Boston golf course enveloped in pulsating warmth. He said he tried to birdie every hole and, good gracious, for the better part of his round he succeeded. If the birdie, eagle, birdie, eagle, birdie start wasn't enough of an attention-grabber, there were two more birdies to make the turn in 9-under 27. Then, to put your interest in a headlock, Johnson birdied the par-4 10th and par-3 11th. It was officially silly, wildly impressive, and seriously historic stuff in the making. To be 11-under through 11 holes and using just 13 putts to cover a whopping 128 feet was taking this game to a level that it had never been. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Scheffler cards 59 at THE NORTHERN TRUST So, when Johnson rode home in seven consecutive pars to shoot 60 and push to 15-under 127 and into a two-stroke lead, he was asked "condolences or congratulations?" No surprise, given his ability to shake things off is on a world-class level equal to his uncanny ball-striking skills, but Johnson smiled, then laughed. Well aware of what had transpired earlier in the day with Scottie Scheffler posting the 12th 59 in PGA TOUR history, Johnson said of bid to match him: "I don't really care. It's a good score. I'm happy with it." Honestly, playing competitor Marc Leishman nailed it when he said that Johnson produced the "easiest 11-under through 11 that you could think of." Yes, there was the 41-foot eagle putt at the 542-yard, par-5 second, and a 20-footer for birdie at the 208-yard, par-3 third. But the eagle putt at the 298-yard, par-4 fourth was from 5 feet, but the other birdie rolls - at Nos. 1, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 11 - well, they were all done the old-fashioned stripe-show way. "I was striking it really well," said Johnson, offering a potential understatement of the year, "just giving myself really good looks." Having teed off at 12:44 p.m., Johnson was early in his round when he saw that Scheffler had birdied the par-5 18th for his 59. "Good round," Johnson said to himself. Then he told himself to go lower. He wasn't alone in that sentiment. "We were pulling for him," said Leishman. "Fifty-nine didn't even seem like a question there for a while. (I was) wondering what the lowest score ever anyone had shot." On the PGA TOUR it's 58, by Jim Furyk in Round 4 of the Travelers Championship in 2016, but if the people who were following Johnson along the back nine at TPC Boston would be honest, there didn't appear to be any doubt that Johnson would surpass that. Not when he managed to two-putt from 48 feet at the course's most difficult hole, the 510-yard, par-4 12th. And not when he striped drives at 13 and 14 to give himself birdie tries from 12 and 20 feet. But when those putts leaked wide, you could sense the roll slipping away from. Driving it wide right into thick rough at the 15th, Johnson could do no better than a two-putt par from more than 50-feet. Long and left into a stiff wind at the par-3 16th, it was another lengthy two-putt, this time from 43 feet. So, going lower than 58 was out of reach. But surely, matching Scheffler at 59 appeared a safe bet, given that the par-4 17th and par-5 18th are birdie holes. (They rank as fifth easiest and easiest, respectively.) Ah, but just when you take this game for granted, golf happens. So brilliant with the putter all day, Johnson at the 397-yard 17th missed a 10-footer. He was stuck at 11-under and needed birdie at 18 to shoot 59. He knew what was at stake and didn't run from the challenge. "I wanted to shoot 59. I've never done it." Never? As in ever, even in a fun, recreational round? "I don't think so," he said. "Not that I remember, and I think I'd remember that." Likely what he will remember is a decision that he promptly regretted - he hit driver at the 18th. It's roughly 325 to a swale that runs in the middle of the fairway, a grass bunker, if you will, and Johnson reached it. It necessitated a lay-up, which led to an 83-yard wedge shot that left him a 26-foot putt for birdie. As he had done consistently since the 11th hole, he missed. Johnson confirmed that driver was the wrong club, that he likely could have hit 3-wood and a 6-iron to reach the green in two. But a go-to money shot for him is a "chip driver," a weapon that he uses effectively time and time again, like earlier in the round when he drove the green at No. 4. This time, the shot failed him. That is, if you could say anything failed him on a day when he shot a career low . . . on a day when he pushed to 15-under 127 through 36 holes to seize a two-shot lead over Scheffler and unheralded Aussie Cameron Davis (65) . . . on a day when he made a case for 60 being better than 59 . . . on a day when he did the impossible and plugged excitement into an arena without fans.

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ATLANTA – The road to the FedExCup title began with Starting Strokes, with No. 1 seed Patrick Cantlay staked to an early lead at the 30-man TOUR Championship. RELATED: Final leaderboard | What’s in Cantlay’s bag? But really, the road to the FedExCup began earlier than that. Much earlier. In fact, Cantlay (final-round 69, 21 under total) began mapping out his one-shot victory over Jon Rahm (68) years ago, at Virginia Country Club in Long Beach, California. Already an accomplished junior, he would study the older, more accomplished players like Paul Goydos and John Cook. What did they do well? What could he learn? That maturation process has now gone into overdrive, first with Cantlay’s lights-out putting and overtime victory over Bryson DeChambeau at the BMW Championship – earning a new moniker, “Patty Ice” – and now with his wire-to-wire victory at the TOUR Championship, where he lived into the new nickname to win the FedExCup. “You know, as good as it felt to feel like I slept on the lead for two straight weeks darned near, it feels good to not necessarily have the lead anymore and be done and closed out,” he said. “It was a long year … just a ton of golf and a ton of pressure golf. “But I’m very grateful and happy to be here,” he continued, “and I’m really proud of myself for staying in the moment and delivering when it counted.” Oddly, the nickname, which was emblazoned on the back of an Atlanta Falcons jersey for this week, was a factor. It wasn’t the name itself; it was the feeling behind it. “It could have been a different nickname, but he really appreciated that the fans got behind him,” said Matt Minister, Cantlay’s caddie for the last four and a half years. “Because up until last week, everybody else was being cheered for, and then they really started cheering for him. That’s what made the difference, that they got behind him.” Cantlay’s old nickname? “Sheldon, from ‘Big Bang Theory,’” Jamie Mulligan, his coach, said with a laugh. Let the record show that your new FedExCup champ has traveled a long road that was by turns predictable and ghastly. Through it all, though, he has held tight to perhaps his greatest strength: knowing precisely what to let soak in, and what to let slide by. An old soul, Cantlay is 29 going on 84, according to his coach. “He hasn’t probably ever listened to a full song that was written after 1979,” Mulligan said. “He’s listening to Led Zeppelin, Jackson Browne, Cream.” He reads biographies about influential figures much older than that. Then again, Cantlay isn’t entirely swayed by the wisdom of his elders. His parents went to USC; he went to UCLA, where he won the Fred Haskins and Jack Nicklaus awards. He shot a second-round 60 at the 2011 Travelers Championship, the first 60 or better by an amateur in PGA TOUR history, announcing his arrival as a force. Cantlay turned pro after his sophomore year in June, 2012. He played the Korn Ferry Tour, took the odd sponsor’s exemption on the big TOUR. It was all going according to plan. Then it wasn’t. Cantlay was at Colonial Country Club in Texas, warming up for the second round of the Charles Schwab Challenge, when it felt like someone had knifed him in the back. He WD’d, but his nightmarish odyssey was just beginning. After a seven-month break, his back still wasn’t right. Cantlay struggled in 2014, sat out 2015 entirely, and still wasn’t feeling well at the outset of 2016. Then came tragedy. Cantlay and his best friend, Chris Roth, had drawn up plans back at Servite High School in Anaheim: Cantlay would play the TOUR, Roth would be his caddie. But those plans were cut short. Out one night, out with Cantlay, Roth was hit by a car and killed while crossing the street on the way to a restaurant in Newport Beach. “Just a freak, one-in-a-million type deal,” Cantlay later called it. He spent the rest of 2016 rebuilding emotionally and physically. He returned in 2017, and in limited action out of concern for his L5 vertebrae, fulfilled his Major Medical Extension in just his second start. The turning point came seemingly out of nowhere: a runner-up finish to Adam Hadwin at the Valspar Championship. “I think the biggest thing is it’s given me great perspective,” Cantlay said Sunday of his trials. “I think for a long time, everything just went great. Growing up, I felt like I got better and better in golf and life got better and better, and then it got as bad as it could have been. I felt as low as it could have been for a little while. “Coming out on the other side of that, I feel like I am a better person having gone through those dark days,” he continued. “But it gives me great perspective and it makes me very grateful to be in the position I’m in today, because it wasn’t always a sure thing. I was very close to going back to school and putting golf behind me.” He got his first win at the 2018 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He moved to South Florida, where he could be around peers like Justin Thomas. His maturation gathered even more momentum when he had a chance to win the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide but finished fourth. He sought the counsel of Jack Nicklaus and was told to look up and enjoy himself the next time he was in such a situation. He won the Memorial the next year (2019). “First off, the way his body has matured,” Minister said, when asked to run down the changes he’s seen in his boss. “When I first met him, he was around 180 pounds. Now he’s 200 pounds. He’s bulked up and turned into a man. He’s so much stronger. He hits the ball not as far as some of the long hitters, but he can hold his own.” As his turnaround at the Memorial suggests, the change has been more than physical. “With each passing year, he’s been better in these situations, better dealing with the crowds, better in the media,” Minister said. “His interviews are fantastic; you see it with each passing year, his maturity and how comfortable he is being out here.” Staked to a lead over the rest of the 30-man field at the TOUR Championship, Cantlay got perhaps the greatest test of mental stamina of his career. He passed with flying colors, making no worse than bogey and refusing to help the chase pack. The scariest moment came at the 17th hole Sunday, but Rahm missed his 11-foot birdie putt, and Cantlay, out of position after missing his drive and approach right, and a duffed chip, made from six feet for bogey, limiting the damage to a shot. When it was over, all the lessons at the knees of his elders, the hard times, the move to South Florida, the newly won “Patty Ice” handle – Cantlay had soaked up and lived into every ounce of whatever could help him. And he’d let slide the rest. The old soul was a man in full, a complete player, and a FedExCup champion.

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FedEx is joining forces with Heart to Heart International to donate $100,000 towards their ongoing COVID-19 relief efforts. They'll do so this week by starting off the FedExCup Playoffs at THE NORTHERN TRUST with a birdie challenge between two PGA TOUR players. Justin Thomas - the 2017 FedExCup Champion, who enters this year's Playoffs ranked No. 1 in the FedExCup - and his close friend and fellow University of Alabama golf product, Bud Cauley (No. 80), will compete to donate the $100,000 to Heart to Heart International in their name. The player that makes the most birdies, or better, at the end of the tournament will ultimately win that right. "We are incredibly thankful for our relationship with FedEx and for this donation. Through this kind of generosity, we are better positioned to fight COVID-19 and work to stop the transmission of the virus," said Kim Carroll, CEO of Heart to Heart International. "That is why Heart to Heart International was founded, and we are so grateful to our supporters and partners for making it possible." "This birdie challenge at the first event of the FedExCup Playoffs is a great way to bring visibility to Heart to Heart International and provide them additional financial support," said Jenny Robertson, SVP of Integrated Marketing and Communications at FedEx. In support of the positive impact that FedEx and Heart to Heart International have on their communities, Thomas and Cauley will be wearing special shoes during THE NORTHERN TRUST that highlight the relief efforts of the two organizations. The shoes were designed by Roly Padron at Nomad Customs. "Nomad Customs does an unbelievable job, whether it's a simple or complex design," Thomas said. "I wore the shoes they did in Memphis, and I'm hoping these shoes will bring some more good vibes for an even better cause." The shoes have been designed in red and purple, for Heart to Heart International and FedEx, respectively, to both represent the partnership and FedEx Cares' global community engagement program. That relationship between FedEx and Heart to Heart International has been instrumental throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, the partners have helped to deliver a vast amount of PPE (personal protection equipment) to communities in need. Even further, the relationship, which started in 1995 between FedEx and Heart to Heart International, began so they could work together to respond to disasters around the world, delivering more than $2 billion worth of medicines and supplies to 131 countries. This collaboration strengthens communities through improving access to healthcare, providing humanitarian development and administering crisis relief worldwide. Based on identified need, Heart to Heart International delivers shipments of essential relief supplies and deploys experienced and self-sufficient teams of credentialed health care practitioners, disaster response personnel and logisticians to facilitate the provision of direct patient care. From the beginning of the pandemic, Heart to Heart International has relied on FedEx to ship masks from China over to their distribution center in Kansas. With the partnership, + International has been able to distribute more than 170,000 medical masks to healthcare workers in Kansas City. Other local areas in Kansas have also been helped with the distribution of these masks, along with a few towns in the neighboring state of Missouri. "FedEx is proud to work with Heart to Heart International year-round in support of their humanitarian relief efforts," Robertson said. "By making our powerful global logistics and distribution network available to them, we increase their capacity to serve people in need."

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