Tiger Woods planned summer around Open at St Andrews

Tiger Woods wanted to win his 15th major. Pretty much everyone at Bellerive wanted the same thing. That he didn’t wasn’t so bad when you consider what he has done in the past two majors.

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THE OVERVIEW The Old White TPC is the rare PGA TOUR venue that concludes with a par-3, but the unique finishing hole has produced its fair share of dramatics. It started with the first edition of The Greenbrier Classic, and has continued on an annual basis. Stuart Appleby sank an 11-foot birdie putt on the final hole of the 2010 tournament to shoot 59, and he needed every single stroke to squeeze out a one-shot win over Jeff Overton. Appleby was just the second PGA TOUR winner to shoot a 59 in the final round (David Duval, 1999 Bob Hope Classic). Four men were tied after 72 holes at the most recent Greenbrier Classic, in 2015. Danny Lee emerged victorious after a two-hole playoff. Half of the six playings of the PGA TOUR’s visit to West Virginia have ended in a sudden-death playoff. No one has won The Greenbrier by more than two shots. The 175-yard, par-3 18th, and its unique “Thumbprintâ€� green, gives players the opportunity to author an exciting finish, as they stand on the final tee with just a mid- or short-iron in hand. In the past two Greenbrier Classics, three players (Justin Thomas, Bud Cauley and George McNeill) have aced the 18th. The Old White TPC had the second-closest proximity to the hole (30 feet, 8 inches) in the 2014-15 season. Coupled with the par-5 17th, players have an opportunity to make a move on the closing holes, and many have. In 2011, Scott Stallings birdied both the 72nd hole and the first hole of a sudden-death playoff. Ted Potter Jr. won the following year, finishing eagle-birdie to overcome a four-shot deficit with four holes to play. He completed the comeback with a 4-foot birdie putt on the last hole. Robert Streb sank a 6-foot birdie putt – with his sand wedge – to join the playoff in 2015. He had to use the club after his putter broke. The Greenbrier Classic has seen its share of excitement in its brief history, thanks in large part to its historic venue. The Old White TPC, the first 18-hole golf course at The Greenbrier, was designed by Charles Blair Macdonald and opened for play in 1914. The course was named for the well-known Old White Hotel, which stood on the grounds from 1858 through 1922. Macdonald, the father of American golf course architecture, modeled several holes after some of the most famous throughout the British Isles. And now it’s a venue that allows the players of the PGA TOUR to display their skills. He’ll be making his first start since he and his longtime caddie, Jim “Bonesâ€� Mackay, split up. The 2012 champion is back on the Web.com Tour this season as he continues his comeback from an ankle injury, but he ranks fourth on that circuit’s money list. This year’s NCAA champion is making his second PGA TOUR start. How’d he fare in his first? He finished T4 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. THREE PLAYERS TO PONDER Rank PLAYER COMMENT THE FLYOVER A closer look at the 616-yard, par-5 17th hole, which played as The Old White TPC’s second-easiest hole in 2015. The field averaged 4.82 on the hole, as 20 percent of players went for the green in two. THE LANDING ZONE The 444-yard, par-4 16th, which features a large lake right of the fairway, was the second-most difficult hole on The Old White TPC last year. Players hit the fairway just 65 percent of the time in 2015, and only hit it about half the time in the final round. Those who bail out in the left rough are still faced with a difficult approach. Players hit the green just 54.5 percent of the time from the left rough, compared to 80 percent of the time from the fairway. WEATHER CHECK TEMPS: Lows will be in the 60s during the week, and sneak into the 50s over the weekend. The high temperature may sneak over 80 degrees a couple days. RAIN: There is a 50 percent chance of rain on both Thursday and Friday, but the threat of precipitation lessens over the weekend. WINDS: It should be relatively calm all week, with wind barely topping 10 mph. ODDS AND ENDS 1. DANNY’S DEFENSE: Danny Lee won The Greenbrier Classic two years ago, but he is the tournament’s de facto defending champion after last year’s tournament was canceled by the fatal flooding that hit West Virginia. Lee’s win at The Greenbrier helped him qualify for that year’s Presidents Cup in his native South Korea and his first TOUR Championship. He finished ninth in the 2015 FedExCup, but fell to 92nd in last year’s standings. “I know I was struggling a little bit late in the last year and early this year. I was just testing some stuff and switching coaches and off the golf course I had a little bit of problem with it,â€� Lee said. “Everything is all settled in and I’m in a good place right now. I’m just ready to play some good golf.â€� He’s 48th in the current FedExCup standings thanks to three top-six finishes in his past six starts. “it’s definitely getting better. I feel more comfortable with my game. Right now I feel very comfortable about it. Especially my putting and my iron game has been really good,â€� Lee said. 2. OPEN DOOR: The Greenbrier Classic is the second PGA TOUR event that is part of this year’s Open Qualifying Series, which offers spots in the upcoming Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. The top four finishers this week who are not already exempt into The Open (and who finish among the top 12 at The Greenbrier) will earn spots into the year’s third major. Last week, Kyle Stanley, Charles Howell III, Martin Laird and Sung Kang earned spots in The Open with their finishes at the Quicken Loans National. One final spot will be available at next week’s John Deere Classic. 3. AMATEUR HOUR: Thornberry isn’t the only amateur in the field this week. Joaquin Niemann, the world’s top-ranked amateur, also received a sponsor exemption. He will be playing his second PGA TOUR event. Niemann missed the cut at the U.S. Open at Erin Hills. The Chilean will start his freshman year at the University of South Florida later this year. Curtis Luck, last year’s U.S. Amateur champion, turned pro after this year’s Masters (T46), but he deserves a mention for earning his way into The Greenbrier Classic with his T5 at last week’s Quicken Loans National. It was his first top-25 in six PGA TOUR starts as a pro. He has earned 112 non-member FedExCup this season. That would have finished 200th on last year’s FedExCup points list. He’ll need to match No. 200 from this season’s FedExCup points list to qualify for this year’s Web.com Tour Finals.

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AVONDALE, La. – Based on their previous history at TPC Louisiana, neither Peter Malnati nor Billy Hurley III should be among the contenders at this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Malnati had made three starts in this event. He’s missed the cut each time. Hurley has made four starts here. He’s also missed the cut three times. The one time he did make the cut, he finished T-80 and failed to get past the second cut into Sunday. No surprise that a year ago, in their first time as partners in the team format, they did not reach the weekend. “In general, I don’t think either of us would say this was the greatest course for us,â€� Hurley said. And yet here they are, at the end of play on Friday, atop the leaderboard at 14 under, having followed their morning 9-under 63 in Foursomes with a 5-under 67 in afternoon Fourballs. Yes, the second round has yet to be completed. There’s still plenty of golf left. But it’s evident through their 36 bogey-free holes that neither Malnati nor Hurley are letting the frustration of past outcomes determine how they will fare this week. “You’re right, my record here is terrible,â€� Malnati said. “I’ve never seen Saturday here, and I don’t think he’s ever seen Sunday. I didn’t come into this week thinking, ‘Oh, man, oh, man, it’s such a hard course.’ I just came in thinking, ‘Oh, man, I’ve played lousy here every year but I’m not going to this year. “I’m ready. I think I was due – and we were collectively due.â€� Credit goes to a different team mindset this year. Last year, they took the attitude of simply doing their own thing, just like they do for every other event on the PGA TOUR schedule. “We do this 51 weeks a year,â€� Malnati explained. “Let’s not change too much. I’ll work with my caddie, you work with your caddie.â€� It obviously didn’t work. So they’ve now embraced the team concept. They talk about shots together. They game-plan their strategy together. They’re trying to operate as a single entity. Related: Tee times | The secret ingredient to success in New Orleans | How International partners fared in Round 1 | Sabbatini, Gay find right formula “Anytime two players can talk about a shot, you’re going to come up with a better solution than just one player,â€� said Hurley, who is making just his fifth start of the season while playing out of the Past Champion category. There was a moment early in Friday’s Four-balls that stood out for them. Malnati’s sand wedge into the first green hit the pin and shot back 36 feet from the pin. Hurley’s approach, however, landed 7 feet away. But after reading the putt together, the ball did not break as expected, and they settled for par. On the par-5 second, each had birdie putts inside 15 feet. Malnati missed his, but Hurley followed by draining his 13-footer. It was the first of nine team birdies in a 12-hole stretch. “If we come out of the first two holes as good as shots as we had hit and didn’t have a birdie, I think we would’ve been like, oh, geez,â€� Malnati said. “For him to make that putt – I was so glad I had a partner. I was so glad he made that putt, and I think that got our day going.â€� The question now is: Can they keep it going? After all, they’re entering the weekend in unchartered territory at TPC Louisiana. A late tee time in the Four-balls third round. Certainly they’ll tee off in contention, if not leading, once the second round is completed Saturday morning. The pressure will increase. They’ll need to keep leaning on each other. “It’s so much fun,â€� Malnati said. “One week a year we’re actually rooting for someone else out here other than just ourselves.â€�

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