Tom Brady the golfer gave us a hint at what’s coming with Tom Brady the football player

FedExCup leader Hideki Matsuyama is joined by six of the top 10 golfers in the world at this week’s Farmers Insurance Open. Patrick Reed, who won by five shots last season – the widest margin of victory in his career – returns to defend. FIELD NOTES: World No. 1 Jon Rahm returns to his haven that is Torrey Pines. Rahm won the Farmers Insurance Open in 2017, was runner-up in 2020, finished T7 last year and won the U.S. Open at Torrey in 2021… Other golfers inside the top 10 in the world in the field include Justin Thomas, San Diego native Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau, and Hideki Matsuyama, the TOUR’s only two-time winner this season… DeChambeau returns to Torrey Pines for the first time since 2018. He added the Farmers Insurance Open to his schedule after withdrawing from the Sony Open, citing soreness in his left wrist… There’s plenty of firepower at Torrey Pines this year with notables also including two-time Farmers winner Jason Day, Brooks Koepka, and former FedExCup winners Justin Rose (who won at Torrey Pines in 2019), Billy Horschel and Jordan Spieth… Long-time San Diego resident Phil Mickelson – who acted as tournament host at The American Express – is back in the field. He is a three-time Farmers Insurance Open champion… Kamaiu Johnson gets another chance at the Farmers Insurance Open. The APGA Tour star was set to make his TOUR debut in 2021 but tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the event. He’s back as a sponsor exemption this year and is one of two APGA players in the field. Ryan Alford also was given a sponsor’s exemption. … Will Zalatoris, who finished T7 as a sponsor exemption last year, is back at Torrey as a full-fledged TOUR member this year… Other 2022 sponsor exemptions include Taylor Montgomery and former Arizona State standout Kevin Yu, who was fourth in PGA TOUR University’s Class of 2021. He had two top-5 finishes in eight Korn Ferry Tour starts last year. COURSE: Torrey Pines GC (South), 7,765 yards, par-72. Torrey Pines GC (North), 7,258 yards, par-72. Golfers will play one round apiece on the South and North courses before the 36-hole cut. The final two rounds will be played on the South Course. Torrey Pines South has hosted the 2008 and 2021 U.S. Opens, won by Tiger Woods and Jon Rahm, respectively. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. STORYLINES: This week marks the return of Dustin Johnson. The former FedExCup champion hasn’t teed it up on the PGA TOUR since THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT… The tournament will get started on Wednesday and goes until Saturday. This avoids a conflict with the NFL’s conference championship games… Fans will be permitted at Torrey Pines this year after a fan-less affair in 2021… Reed looks to become just the fourth repeat winner in event history. The last to do it was Tiger Woods, who won four straight at Torrey Pines from 2005-2008. 72-HOLE RECORD: 266, George Burns (1987), Tiger Woods (1999). 18-HOLE RECORD: North Course record: 61, Mark Brooks (2nd round, 1990), Brandt Snedeker (1st round, 2007). Redesigned North Course record: 62, Jon Rahm (1st round, 2019), Ryan Palmer (2nd round, 2020). South Course record: 62, Tiger Woods (3rd round, 1999) LAST TIME: Patrick Reed won for the ninth time on TOUR at the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open, and the margin of victory – five shots – was the biggest in his career. Reed closed with a 4-under 68. He held the 18-hole lead after Thursday and took the victory across the finish line on Sunday. Reed was never challenged on Sunday – especially after co-54-hole leader Carlos Ortiz was 2-over through four holes and finished with a 6-over 78. There was a five-way tie for second between Tony Finau, Henrik Norlander, Ryan Palmer, Schauffele, and Viktor Hovland. HOW TO FOLLOW: Television: Wednesday, 12:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Thursday, 3 p.m.-7 p.m. (Golf Channel). Friday, 3 p.m.-5 p.m. (Golf Channel), 5 p.m.-8 p.m. (CBS). Saturday, 2:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 4:30 p.m.-8 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: PGA TOUR LIVE is available exclusively on ESPN+ • Main Feed: Primary tournament coverage featuring the best action from across the course • Marquee Group: New “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group • Featured Groups: Traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups • Featured Holes: A combination of par-3s and iconic or pivotal holes

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AVONDALE, La. — Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele are a good team even when they’re playing for cash and not just a flag. Cantlay holed a 25-foot eagle putt early and chipped in from 40 feet for birdie late, while Schauffele contributed six birdies of his own, and their three straight birdies to close gave them a 13-under 59 in fourballs Thursday to lead the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. It set a tournament record since the Zurich Classic switched to team play in 2017, and the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup partners were willing to claim a piece of golf’s magic number. “I haven’t done it before. I don’t think Pat has, either. I’ll count it in my book,” Schauffele said. They had a one-shot lead over the team of Matthew NeSmith and Taylor Moore. The group at 61 included Robert Garrigus and Tommy Gainey, and Aaron Rai and David Lipsky. Masters champion Scottie Scheffler and Ryan Palmer were five shots behind at 64. The second round moves to foursomes, and while alternate shot is the more difficult of the format, Cantlay and Schauffele have put together a 4-0 mark in their partnerships at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne and he 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. “It’s just the first quarter. We’re only one ahead,” Cantlay said. “But we are going into a format on Friday that we really like — I think Xander and I really like alternate shot. It’s one of our strengths for the week, and we’re really looking forward to it.” Moore was lucky to have much strength at all. He was in the emergency room Wednesday morning from food poisoning, got some fluids and nausea medicine and finally was able to keep some food down Thursday morning. “Just tried to finish every hole,” Moore said. “That was kind of a win within its own right.” Lipsky avoided the hospital, though he was involved in a car accident earlier in the week. Turns out there was a car in front of him that had broken down, and as Lipsky went to change lanes he said the driver behind him slammed on the brakes and hit him. “I’m all right. I think the other two drivers were fine,” Lipsky said. “Yeah, I was a little bit of a hectic beginning to the week.” Cantlay and Schauffele — who have gone on vacations together when they weren’t representing their country in the cups — were extremely effective on the greens. Only three of their 11 sub-par holes were from putts inside 10 feet. “We played really well, made a lot of putts today on a day that was a little tricky with the wind and didn’t birdie a lot of the same holes,” Cantlay said. “When you do that in this format, that’s really the key.” Equally impressive was the father-son duo of Jay and Bill Haas. The 68-year-old father had four of their seven birdies, three of them from the 15-foot range, in their 65.

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Just last month, as the shadows were creeping over the Manhattan skyline, Peter Malnati took his little boy Hatcher out on the empty putting green at Liberty National. The almost-2-year-old struggled to hold his dad’s putter, which is taller than he is. Together, the two managed to sink a few putts, but when they didn’t the toddler took matters into his own hands, literally, and dropped the little white sphere to the cup. “I put ball in hole, I put ball in hole,” an excited Hatcher told his daddy, and it was hard to tell who was having the most fun. Malnati knows how fortunate he and his wife Alicia are to have a healthy son. He has done numerous visits to children’s hospitals across the country that benefit from the proceeds of PGA TOUR events and gotten to know families whose kids are patients in those facilities. That’s why Malnati was quick to say yes when asked to become an Ambassador for Play Yellow, a campaign by the Children’s Miracle Network – supported by Jack and Barbara Nicklaus – that is trying to raise $100 million to help the 10 million kids treated in hospitals each year. “We’ve dealt with little viruses and a fever here and there, but never anything that’s been serious with our little guy,” Malnati says. “But the dreadful thought of having a child be sick and needed to be hospitalized, I would want to know that every research dollar, every resource possible, was available if that was my son in the hospital. “So, to be able to be a very, very small part of contributing to that body of work that’s going into helping to keep our little ones safe and healthy and give them the best treatment possible; yes, that has taken on a whole new meaning for me since seeing how much my world really does revolve around that little guy.” Children’s of Mississippi in Jackson, where the Sanderson Farms Championship is being played this week, is one of those hospitals in the Children’s Miracle Network. The tournament is hosting a Yellow Out on Sunday where the iconic ceramic chicken tee markers will be painted yellow, and all fans and volunteers are asked to wear the same color. Yellow is the color Nicklaus used to wear on Sundays to honor Craig Smith, the young son of the minister at Barbara’s church who died at 13 after battling Ewing’s sarcoma. The teenager once told Nicklaus that he won a tournament because Craig was wearing his lucky yellow shirt. Malnati, who picked up his first PGA TOUR victory at the Country Club on Jackson in 2016, already has his shirt picked out for Sunday’s final round. But he laughs when asked if he plans to go head-to-toe in yellow – “No, no Rickie Fowler for me,” he says with a laugh. The 34-year-old Malnati first became aware of Children’s of Mississippi, which is the only all-pediatric facility in the state, early in his career when his wife attended a PGA TOUR Wives Association event there and helped patients paint the colorful tee markers. Seeing the kids had an impact on her and the couple has visited several times since, including when he was defending champion, and Malnati says his association with Play Yellow will be a “family affair.” “It’s a no brainer to be involved with something that just kind of furthers that impact that golf is able to have in the communities where we play,” Malnati says. In truth, though, Malnati has been preparing for this role since 2013 when he played in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in Columbus, Ohio. Prior to the start of the tournament, he was asked to do a junior clinic for some patient ambassadors at the hospital. Malnati, of course, said yes. He had basically locked up his TOUR card in the previous two-and-a-half months, starting with no status to winning the News-Sentinel Open presented by Pilot and eventually making the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. As he pointed out, Malnati was now in a “really good place. “The game of golf to me, it’s given me so much,” Malnati explains. “It’s just something that I so enjoy. So doing the junior clinic with children from the children’s hospital — it’s not about teaching them skills of golf, it’s about just sharing my love of golf with them. “And so that’s what I did.” Malnati was particularly drawn that day to one little girl who had what he calls an “infectious smile. “You could just see she was genuinely happy and appreciated being there,” he says. “And I felt like her smile kind of reflected the way that the way that I feel about just the fact that I get to go play golf and call it a job to see her be so happy.” He found out later that her name was Madeline Richardson and that she had missed her last two years of school while battling neuroblastoma. Her dad Craig has become one of Malnati’s closest friends, and the pro stays with Craig, his wife Carol and Madeline and her younger sister Elena whenever he plays in the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday. Madeline is a teenager now and doing well, and Malnati says her parents give all credit to the care she received at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “So that’s a pretty powerful endorsement of the good that I’m hoping to be a part of,” Malnati says. Madeline was also selected to hit the opening tee shot at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in 2013. Malnati happened to be teeing off No. 10 at the same time and was able to run over and watch. The entire experience that week moved him. “So that’s where I first even got the idea that this organization that I was about to be a part of — the PGA TOUR — is actually doing real good and having a real impact in the communities where we played,” Malnati says. “And so that was cool. “It was something that interested me then, and now to kind of take that interest farther and join the Play Yellow initiative is something that I’m really excited about.”

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