Tiger Woods winning the TOUR Championship would be a fitting end to the TOUR season

There are 27 rookies on the PGA TOUR in 2021-22. This page provides a subjective ranking updated weekly. The Arnold Palmer Award winner is determined in a vote by PGA TOUR members who make at least 15 starts. The Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup and the Olympic Games count as one of the 15. Entering The Genesis Invitational, Cameron Young owned the best finish by a rookie this season – a co-runner-up at the Sanderson Farms Championship. You’re forgiven if you don’t remember. It was the just the second event of the season and the United States still was celebrating its Ryder Cup romp at Whistling Straits. Yes, there was that, but you know the old saying about never remembering who finishes second, well, unless it’s the Ryder Cup. (Sam Burns prevailed at the SFC.) Young went relatively quiet after that podium finish, too. In his next six starts, he cashed four times but only once for a top 25 (T20, Farmers). Furthermore, as the only rookie who recorded multiple top 10s in the fall, Hayden Buckley was the rabbit for the Rookie of the Year award. He also opened with a T12 at the Sony Open in Hawaii, so Buckley’s body of work had overshadowed Young’s close call. Sahith Theegala then elevated into the top spot in the Rookie Ranking with a close call of his own at the WM Phoenix Open, where he finished T3. That was just a week ago, but when you look for him below, you’ll see him slotted second … beneath Young. It was another week to remember, not just for Young but also for golf fans. With a field that the Official World Golf Ranking valued stronger than every tournament that wasn’t a major, a FedExCup Playoffs event, a World Golf Championship and THE PLAYERS Championship in 2021, Young belonged among the stars. Boosted by a tournament-low 62 in the second round, the 24-year-old recorded another co-runner-up finish, this time checking up two strokes short of Joaquin Niemann’s wire-to-wire performance. In addition to pacing all rookies in the FedExCup standings and having the top-two finishes of the season, he also co-leads in top 10s and low-rookie performances. Nine rookies competed at Riviera Country Club last week, including Alex Smalley. He was a last-minute last man in for Matt Fitzpatrick, who withdrew due to an illness. Smalley didn’t waste what always is a bonus for any rookie to crash this elite field. He opened with 69 and finished 72nd (of 75 who survived the cut). Elsewhere, six rookies teed it up at the Korn Ferry Tour’s LECOM Suncoast Classic in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. Of the four who made the cut, Justin Lower was best with an eight-way T6. It was the first KFT event of 2022 in which any PGA TOUR rookies played. Typically, only those who have started slow want or need the playing time, but Chad Ramey didn’t balk. While it’s mildly unusual given his current FedExCup position of 121st, he made it count with a T28. As the PGA TOUR crosses the country for the start of the Florida Swing, this will be the first time in FedExCup history that every rookie will have gained entry in the field of The Honda Classic on merit. Because the tournament reserves tee times for only 144, the cutoff to play always has fallen in the graduate reshuffle category. Of the 27 rookies only Theegala is choosing to rest. LOW ROOKIE: Cameron Young, T2. Second time (T2=Sanderson Farms). CAREER-BEST FINISHES (AND TIES): Cameron Young, T2. Second time (T2=Sanderson Farms). * – In the field at The Honda Classic as of Feb. 20. NOTE: A player’s rookie season (“Rookie Year”) is defined as the season in which he becomes a PGA TOUR member (including Special Temporary Members) and plays in 10 or more events as a member or finishes in the Top 125 on the Official FedExCup Points List or qualifies as a Top 125 non-member, whichever occurs first. Further, for purposes of this definition, a new member (including Special Temporary Members) shall not be eligible to be a rookie if he has previously played in more than seven (7) Official PGA TOUR Money events as a professional in any prior season.

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NAPA, Calif. — Slow starts plagued Adam Scott last season, a prime reason he was winless despite solid overall numbers. After taking a brief break, the 39-year-old Australian is back and emphasizing quicker, more aggressive starts. Andrew Landry is just looking for a jump-start after missing the cuts in the first two events of the PGA TOUR this season. Scott and Landry shot 7-under 65 on Thursday to share the first-round lead at the Safeway Open. Francesco Molinari and Matthew NeSmith were a stroke back. Cameron Champ, Adam Long and Chris Baker shot 67. Playing in the morning pairings at Silverado Country Club, Scott had six birdies and an eagle to make up for an early bogey. Landry teed off 4 1/2 hours later and played bogey-free with seven birdies. “This is a nice way to start,” Scott said. “I would like to have a lead going into Sunday and see what I can produce, to be honest. I’ve been four and five back. It’s a lot to ask all the time when you’re as far behind as I kind of was.” Scott hasn’t won on the PGA TOUR since taking the Honda Classic and World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship in consecutive weeks in 2016. Since then he has been up and down the scoreboard, frequently scurrying to catch up in the latter rounds after getting off to sluggish starts. That wasn’t the case in Scott’s season debut. Despite having only played two rounds previously at the picturesque, 7,166-yard course, he had four birdies on the front nine to compensate for a bogey on No. 13. After birdying two of the first three on the back nine, Scott drained a 53-foot putt for eagle on the 566-yard, par-5 fifth. “Fun to kind of keep the momentum going and get the most out of the round,” Scott said. “If I had complaints about last season, I didn’t get the most out of my good rounds or my good weeks. Today felt like I kind of got the most out of myself.” Scott saved par after his drive went into a green-side bunker on No. 7, made another par on No. 8, then narrowly missed a birdie and three-putted for par on No. 9 to close out his day. Landry had five birdies on the front nine. The Valero Texas Open winner last year, he saved par after going into the bunker on the second hole of the back nine, then birdied Nos. 5 and 8 to get to 7 under. “I was rolling the ball so well that I just figured, hey, I can make a lot of putts right now,” Landry said. “That’s kind of what I did all day. Ball-striking wasn’t as good as I wanted but the putting was there and made up for it.” Former NFL quarterback and current CBS analyst Tony Romo opened with a 70. Romo is playing on a sponsor exemption. If he makes the cut, he will skip Sunday’s NFL broadcast in Chicago between the Bears and Minnesota Vikings. Defending tournament champion Kevin Tway, Justin Thomas and FedExCup points leader Sebastian Munoz were in the group at 71. Munoz three-putted two par 3s to offset three birdies. Phil Mickelson shot 75, making a quadruple-bogey 9 on the par-5 fifth. Jim Furyk also had a 75.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Notes and observations from the third round of the FedEx St. Jude Classic, where Rafa Cabrera Bello (65), Ben Crane (68) and Stewart Cink (69) are tied at the top at 9 under. Luke List and Chad Campbell each shot 66 and were just a shot behind, and 21 players are within four of the lead at 5 under or better going into Sunday.    For more coverage from TPC Southwind, click here for the Daily Wrap-up. CRANE RIDES POSITIVITY WAVE Ben Crane, 41, is a five-time TOUR winner but came into this week well down the list at 161st in the FedExCup and 461st in the Official World Golf Ranking. He couldn’t have looked happier Saturday. He kept his ball on the fairways at TPC Southwind; chatted with good friend Stewart Cink, who was also playing well; saw friends and family in the gallery; and had a thoughtful discussion about golf course architecture as he wondered if there was anywhere else he’d rather be. All the while, the Oregonian turned Texan turned Tennessean (his current home) was shooting a bogey-free 68 to get into position for his latest career highlight. His round was one of only two on the day without a bogey, along with Scott Stallings (65). “It’s great to be here so close to home,â€� Crane said. “We live right down the road in Nashville and so many great friends and a lot of family out here as well. “… I love this golf course. I love the routing of it. I think it’s one of the best courses. Stewart and I were mentioning walking up, ‘Is this the best golf course on TOUR?’ It’s certainly in the top five. It’s just really well thought out. I couldn’t love it any more.â€� It loved him back as Crane won the 2014 FedEx St. Jude Classic, the last time he held a 54-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR. He would become the sixth multiple winner here after Dave Hill (four), Lee Trevino (three), Nick Price (two), David Toms (two) and Justin Leonard (two.) CAMPBELL MAKES MOVE Cink, 44, and Crane, 41, aren’t the only ones rolling back the odometers at TPC Southwind. Chad Campbell, 43, got to 9 under but dropped a shot at the 17th hole and signed for a 66, getting himself in prime position for his first win since the 2007 Viking Classic. A decade ago, Campbell was a gracing magazine covers, beating Padraig Harrington in Ryder Cup singles (in Team USA’s winning effort in 2008), and racking up four TOUR titles when he wasn’t contending in majors. He came into this week 88th in the FedExCup standings after a solid two weeks in his native Texas, where he registered a T13 at the AT&T Byron Nelson and a T34 at the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational. MICKELSON FADES AT FINISH For the second straight day, Phil Mickelson dropped multiple shots on the closing holes, but his 69 left him tied for 13th and just four shots off the lead at 5 under par. This time, his par putt horseshoed out of the hole at the 17th hole, and he hit his tee shot into the water hazard and double-bogeyed the 18th hole to leave a sour taste. The most under-par player at the FedEx St. Jude over the last five years, Mickelson is still looking for his first victory since the 2013 Open Championship. He also has unfinished business at TPC Southwind after finishing second in 2013 and 2016, T3 in 2015, and T11 in 2014.  CABRERA BELLO EYES FIRST WIN Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello chipped in at the third and fourth holes and took just nine putts over his first eight holes as he surged into contention. He shot 65 to get to 9 under par, in prime position for his first PGA TOUR victory at age 33. A two-time winner on the European Tour, Cabrera-Bello is 91st in FedExCup points and 30th in the Official World Golf Ranking, but is in position to improve both of those numbers.  “It got me in a good mood,â€� Cabrera Bello said of the consecutive chip-ins. “And that’s probably why it helped me play better throughout the day.â€� His 65 was tied for the low round of the day with Scott Stallings and Tyrone Van Aswegen. Cabrera Bello’s co-leaders Cink and Crane each have multiple TOUR wins. “To be fair, today it’s been like playing a new course,â€� Cabrera Bello said. “I really felt like it was much firmer, much faster. I’ve been pretty much hitting driver everyone on the course these past few days, including practice rounds, just because the ball was rolling nowhere. “Today was a bit different.â€� CALL OF THE DAY Free play-by-play coverage of the final round streams from 1-6 p.m. ET Sunday on PGATOUR.COM. SHOT OF THE DAY ODDS AND ENDS Cink is calling this his hometown tournament. He grew up in Florence, Alabama, about a 2-and-a-half-hour drive east of Memphis, and said he is seeing familiar faces in the crowd, primarily the faces of “old golf buddies I grew up playing against.â€� He is one of four players in the FedEx St. Jude field whose most recent victory came at the Open Championship (2009). The others: David Duval (won the 2001 Open, shot 78-73 at TPC Southwind to miss the cut), Ernie Els (2012, 74 Saturday, T61) and Phil Mickelson (2013, 69, T13). … Vijay Singh, Hunter Mahan, Peter Uihlein, Ryan Palmer and Chris Kirk were among 15 players who missed the Saturday cut, which rendered players at 3 over or higher MDF. … Fabian Gomez and Daniel Berger, who won the FedEx St. Jude Classic in 2015 and ’16, respectively, were in the same threesome and played their way back into contention. Berger shot 66 to finish at 6 under. Gomez had a 67 to finish at 5 under. “Honestly, the way I’ve struck the ball the last few days, I’m underachieving at 6 under right now,â€� Berger said. … Whee Kim, who eagled the par-5 16th hole on the way to a 69 to get to 6 under par, lost a playoff for the final two spots out of the U.S. Open sectional at nearby Germantown Country Club on Tuesday morning, but as first alternate he’s expected to get in nevertheless. …  Coming into Saturday, TPC Southwind’s par-4 12th hole, with water down the left side, had collected the most errant shots since 2003 with 878. It claimed another victim on Saturday, twice, as Chris Kirk hit his approach shot into the drink, took a drop and a penalty stroke, hit his next one into the water hazard, too, and eventually tapped in for a quadruple-bogey 8.  BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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