Tiger Woods pleased as Charlie shines in runner-up finish at PNC

The field list that day in 2013 in South Florida included the world’s 32nd-ranked player, Welshman Jamie Donaldson, who would earn an automatic spot on the Ryder Cup the following year. It also included another future European Ryder Cupper, Alex Noren, ranked 59th in the world. And another top-100 player, Shane Lowry, who later than year represented Ireland in the World Cup. Lowry, of course, was still several years away from claiming the 2019 Open Championship, but a couple of his fellow competitors – Lee Janzen and Rich Beem — already had major titles to their names back then. Now add a few multi-time PGA TOUR winners in Billy Mayfair, Chris DiMarco and Vaughn Taylor, and the field suddenly had serious credentials. You might not be surprised to learn that it was the week of The Honda Classic, the annual PGA TOUR stop in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. You might be surprised that it was Monday of tournament week. RELATED: Who Monday qualified this year? | Knox’s win after Monday qualifying | Go low or go home But really, you shouldn’t be surprised. The Honda Classic has the deepest field of all Monday qualifiers for any regular PGA TOUR event. It’s the Super Bowl of Monday qualifiers, with more notable names and more high-end resumes than other qualifiers throughout the season. Perhaps its closest rival are the sectional qualifiers for the U.S. Open, especially the one held near the PGA TOUR event completed the day before, as non-qualified TOUR pros take one last shot at getting into the field. Some of the names that appeared in that sectional qualifier last year in Columbus, Ohio, can be found in this week’s Monday qualifier field at The Honda Classic. The Honda’s 2013 Monday qualifier was indicative of the strength of field, and other Monday qualifiers have included the likes of Steve Stricker, Jason Dufner and Ryan Palmer and European starts such as Thomas Levet, Robert Karlsson and Jesper Parnevik. Year after year, the Monday qualifier has numerous players in the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), major champions, and multiple PGA TOUR winners. Names you expect to see on Sunday, not Monday. Take a look at the 2019 Monday qualifier at The Honda Classic: 24 players with at least one TOUR win; 11 players with more than one; a combined 47 total TOUR wins. Two players had made more than 500 career TOUR starts; three others had more than 400; and 11 had more than 200. From a career earnings standpoint, three players had made more than $20 million; six had made more than $10 million; and 13 made more than $5 million. This year was no different. Thirteen different PGA TOUR winners were in the field at Banyan Cay, along with a combined 23 European Tour wins, and 41 total Korn Ferry wins.  The field’s total PGA TOUR earnings was in excess of $212 million. Along with the United States, a dozen other countries were represented. Some of the names you might recognize – TOUR winners Jonathan Byrd, David Lingmerth and Arjun Atwal; veteran Australians John Senden and Robert Allenby; 2016 Olympian Seamus Power of Ireland; and Arnold Palmer’s grandson Sam Saunders. That’s a lot of horsepower for an event that you must play just for the opportunity to play the regular event three days later. (Of the names above, only Atwal was among the four qualifiers to earn spots; click here for full story.) “It’s a great litmus test of where you stand,â€� said Blayne Barber, who shot a 66 at Banyan Bay to get through in 2019. “Knowing you beat a bunch of players that are basically in middle of their PGA TOUR season is a great feeling.” But a deep qualifying field like the week of The Honda Classic also comes with a dose of reality. “Expectations are low in any Monday,â€� said Aron Price, who successfully qualified in 2010. “They are even lower in the Honda Monday.â€� Why does The Honda Classic have the premium Monday qualifier of the TOUR season? It’s a confluence of several reasons. The tournament itself often has an exceptional field, filled with many of the top players in the world.  The strong field leaves a lot of players with world-class resumes on the outside, looking in. Meanwhile, sponsor exemptions aren’t as easy to come by for players that in some other events might get one. This is especially true for European Tour members that aren’t members of the PGA TOUR.  In some other TOUR events, they would often be able to grab one of the sponsor exemptions, but without securing an exemption, the last resort is the Monday. The Honda is also one of the few events that attracts one of the best fields of the year and has a Monday qualifier. For instance, there are no Monday qualifiers for THE PLAYERS Championship, the four majors, the World Golf Championships events, the FedExCup Playoffs or the three elevated events — The Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. Those fields annually have premium fields. It’s also the first Monday qualifier to start the Florida swing, making it the closest Monday qualifier in the new calendar year for European players. The Honda’s move to PGA National in 2007 also is a significant factor, according to Geoff Lofstead, Executive Director of the South Florida PGA section, who runs the Honda Classic Monday qualifier. “The move to PGA National really moved the event to elite status and therefore helped make the Monday qualifier such a quality field,â€� Lofstead said. The same year the event moved to PGA National, the South Florida PGA section began holding pre-qualifiers. Before that, they limited the Monday Qualifier field to 312 players (two courses, two spots at each). The pre-qualifiers gave the opportunity to move the Monday to one course and try to limit the field size to finish on Monday. The reason for the schedule adjustment was simple. “Darkness has always been our biggest enemy,â€� said Brett Graf, tournament director for the South Florida PGA. The pre-qualifiers not only helped ensure an actual finish on Monday, it also increased the number of participants. This year, a total of 458 players teed it up for the four pre-qualifiers and Monday qualifier. Geography also plays a massive role in the qualifier being such a high-caliber field. According to a Golf.com story in 2018, 35 PGA TOUR pros live in the Jupiter, Florida area, about 15 miles away from PGA National. The most celebrated local pro, of course, is Tiger Woods and he’s joined by other big names such as Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka and Rickie Fowler. Of course, those guys don’t have to worry about Monday qualifying, but for the local pros still grinding and seeking better TOUR status, being able to Monday qualify without worrying about travel demands is huge. Veterans that might otherwise not chase qualifiers and instead wait to get into events based on their status, will choose to play the Honda Monday because of its proximity to their home. Consider Ryan Armour, who moved to Jupiter in 2003. He attempted to Monday qualify for The Honda Classic nine times before finally getting through in 2017, shooting a 67 at Mayacoo Lakes Country Club. “It wasn’t just another Monday,â€� said Armour, who later that year broke through with his first PGA TOUR victory at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Florida also is home to a large portion of the nation’s developmental tours, and the Monday qualifier creates an opportunity for developmental tour players to fight for one of the four spots in the Honda Classic without the expenses of traveling. One of those tours is the Minor League Golf Tour, based in Stuart, Florida, about 30 minutes away from PGA National. Armour, in fact, was one of those MLGT veterans, having won eight times on that TOUR. This year, of the 338 players who participated in the pre-qualifiers, 28 of those were MLGT players. Seventeen qualified to play in the Monday qualifier. Going to a pre-qualifier and a Monday qualifier for a player with no status can cost upwards of $1,500.  With the event in their backyard and minimal travel costs, many players sign up for the opportunity to rub elbows with the best golfers in the world. “Why not take a chance?â€� said developmental tour player Joseph Gunerman. “It’s not often you are 36 (pre-q and Mon q) holes away from playing in a great event for millions of dollars. “That is the reason we are all playing mini-tours anyway, to get to the big tour. When it was in my backyard, I thought I had to try.” Since 2013, there has been no Korn Ferry Tour event the same week as The Honda Classic, allowing many of those players to try gaining entry through Monday qualifier during an off-week. Plus, Korn Ferry members pay just $100 for the entry fee and don’t have to play in pre-qualifiers. In 2015, then-Korn Ferry Tour member Mark Silvers was one of the four qualifiers to get through to the Honda Classic. He called it “the ultimate badge of honor.â€� This year’s schedule is different, though, with the Korn Ferry Tour playing in Mexico this week. But what’s not different is the depth of field for the Honda Monday qualifier. Playing well enough to gain a tee time on Thursday is an accomplishment in itself. After all, the Super Bowl comes around only once a year.

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The PNC Championship may be a warm-hearted exhibition that highlights the familial bond, but Tiger Woods isn’t just using the event as an opportunity to play alongside his son. He’s also testing equipment during this 36-hole scramble at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Florida. Woods announced earlier this week on Twitter that he’ll be using a prototype Bridgestone ball this weekend. When he showed up Friday for the PNC’s pro-am, he also was seen using TaylorMade’s Stealth Plus driver. The USGA and R&A added the Stealth and Stealth Plus drivers to their lists of conforming drivers just days ago, opening the door for the clubs to be used in competition. Woods may have said at the Hero World Challenge that his future is as a part-time player, but the fact that he’s testing equipment seems to imply that he’s preparing to play more than just exhibitions. “It’s about right. Right on par,” Justin Thomas said with a laugh when asked what Woods’ testing this week reveals about his obsession with the game. It should be noted that Justin’s father Mike played recently with Woods and was surprised by how hard he was swinging. “He’s got some speed,” Mike Thomas said. “He’s got some length.” The Stealth and Stealth Plus have the word ‘carbonwood’ printed on the sole. The face is listed as ‘60X Carbon Twist Face’ on the USGA’s List of Conforming Driver Heads. Carbon-composite materials are often used in driver designs to remove weight from the head, especially in the sole and crown, and reposition it elsewhere to impact spin, launch and stability. Companies have shied away from using the material in the driver’s face, however, after attempts in the early 2000s failed to gain traction. Titanium is still the material of choice for driver faces, but TaylorMade appears to have solved the issues that plagued past carbon-composite faces. The aerodynamic sole of the Stealth and Stealth Plus drivers are similar to TaylorMade’s SIM line, including a speed pocket behind the face. The Stealth Plus also features a weight track on the bottom of the head to alter shot shape.

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WHITE SULPHER SPRINGS, W.Va. – Expect the unexpected… The Greenbrier Classic always likes to throw us some curveballs. From Stuart Appleby’s 59, to surprise winners like Ted Potter Jr. to flash floods that cancel the entire event! But after a monumental restoration effort we are back at The Old White TPC and continuing the final surge towards the FedExCup Playoffs. This week’s PGA TOUR LIVE coverage gives us the first look at Phil Mickelson without Jim “Bones� McKay on his bag along with the always entertaining Bubba Watson and multiple previous PGA TOUR winners. PGA TOUR LIVE will broadcast between 7 a.m. Eastern and 6:00 p.m. on both Thursday and Friday. The coverage will switch to Featured Holes at 3:00 p.m. Featured Hole Coverage consists of the 15th (Par-3) and 17th (Par-5) on Thursday and Friday.
 PGA TOUR LIVE also will be available on Twitter for approximately 90 minutes, beginning at 7 a.m. Here’s a look at this week’s Featured Groups. Click here to subscribe to PGA TOUR LIVE. Related links: Tee times | Field | Course (Note: FedExCup rankings in parentheses) THURSDAY Russell Henley (19), Hudson Swafford (30), Bill Haas (25): Former FedExCup champion Bill Haas, who has pushed his way to an impressive 25th in this year’s standings without winning, gets two former University of Georgia teammates in Henley and Swafford. The latter pair both have victories this season and are looking to take their game all the way to the TOUR Championship to try to join Haas as FedExCup champs. Tee time: 7:50 a.m. Eastern off 10th tee. Jonas Blixt (52), Patrick Reed (50), Charles Howell III (18): Captain America playing in the week we celebrate America… surely it is going to be a big week for Patrick Reed. Having moved inside the top 50 on the FedExCup race Reed wants to kick start things further with a victory. He is joined by Blixt, a winner at the Zurich Classic earlier this season and a former Greenbrier Classic champion. And then there is Howell III who returned from a rib injury last week in style, finishing second after losing a sudden death playoff. Tee time: 8:00 a.m. Eastern off 10th tee. FRIDAY Kevin Kisner (8), Si Woo Kim (29), Mackenzie Hughes (23): Kisner enters as the man to beat according to our fantasy golf guru Rob Bolton, topping the power rankings. Along for the ride is THE PLAYERS Champion Si Woo Kim who is hoping for a bounce back week after missing the cut last week. Hughes, a winner early in the season, is hoping to add a second title and push his name into Presidents Cup contention. Tee time: 7:50 a.m. Eastern off 10th tee. Bubba Watson (115), Phil Mickelson (40), Danny Lee (48): A new era begins with Phil Mickelson playing without “Bones� on his bag. It has not been the season Bubba Watson wanted but the Greenbrier resident has no better place than home to get things going in the right direction. Instrumental in helping the area recover from last year’s floods. And then there is Lee, who is the defending champion from 2015 and who has found his game of late. His win two yesrs ago catapulted him into the Presidents Cup International Team and he’s gunning for the same again this year. Tee time: 8:00 a.m. Eastern off 10th tee.

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