Tony Finau looks to force Tiger’s hand, earn Presidents Cup pick

Two-time FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy and defending champion Webb Simpson lead a star-studded field seeking some valuable early-season FedExCup points at TPC Scottsdale in this year's Waste Management Phoenix Open. FIELD NOTES: McIlroy will tee it up in Phoenix for the first time in his career. It's part of a busy stretch for the two-time FedExCup winner, who is in the midst of playing nine events in 12 weeks... Fellow FedExCup winner Justin Thomas is looking to improve on his T3 finish in Phoenix from 2020... Simpson is one of four PLAYERS champions in the field, along with McIlroy, Si Woo Kim (who recently won The American Express) and former WMPO champion Rickie Fowler... Arizona State alum Jon Rahm is looking to keep his stretch of solid play going. Rahm has notched three straight top-10 finishes on TOUR and was T2 heading into the weekend at the Farmers Insurance Open... A trio of promising young players received sponsor exemptions. Zalatoris, who has already earned special temporary membership on the PGA TOUR, has three top-10s this season, including a T6 at the U.S. Open. He also leads the Korn Ferry Tour's Regular Season Points List. Davis Riley is No. 3 in the KFT's rankings after winning twice in 2020. John Augenstein, the 2019 U.S. Amateur runner-up, will be making his second pro start after missing the cut at The American Express. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: TPC Scottsdale (Stadium), 7,261 yards, par 71 (yardage subject to change). Due to COVID-19 safety protocols, one of the most well-attended events on the PGA TOUR will reduce its capacity to just 5,000 fans per day. The Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish design opened in 1986 and every Phoenix Open since 1987 has been played at the par-71 layout just northeast of downtown Phoenix. STORYLINES: Long-time participants at the Waste Management Phoenix Open will likely have to adjust to the lack of noise in 2021, especially around the par-3 16th hole... One notable absentee for 2021 is three-time winner and one of Arizona's most famous sons, Phil Mickelson. A fourth victory would make Mickelson the winningest champion in the tournament's history... Simpson looks to defend a TOUR title for the first time in his career... Brooks Koepka looks to break his streak of three straight missed cuts on the PGA TOUR... Can Tony Finau capture his second TOUR victory? Finau shared the 54-hole lead at The American Express earlier this month and lost in a playoff last year at TPC Scottsdale. 72-HOLE RECORD: 256, Mark Calcavecchia (2001), Phil Mickelson (2013). 18-HOLE RECORD: 60, Grant Waite (4th round, 1996), Mark Calcavecchia (2nd round, 2001), Phil Mickelson (2nd round, 2005, and 1st round, 2013). LAST TIME: Despite a bogey on the par-5 15th, Simpson made two birdies in a row on the 71st and 72nd to slide into a playoff with Finau. Simpson rolled in a 17-footer for a birdie on the final hole of regulation to tie Finau — who had a one-shot lead entering Sunday after a sizzling 62 on Saturday — at 17 under before adding in one more birdie on the first playoff hole. It was Simpson's seventh PGA TOUR title, and first of two in 2020. Thomas, who shot a Sunday 65 (the round of the day) finished T3 alongside Bubba Watson and Nate Lashley. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel/PGA TOUR Live). Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (NBC). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 9:15 a.m.-7 p.m. (Featured Groups). Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m.-7 p.m. ET. Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

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ORLANDO, Fla. – Tiger Woods didn’t always pour in putts on Bay Hill’s 18th green. But those previous misses paid off when he was trying to hold off Phil Mickelson in the final round of the 2001 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. They were the top two players in the world and tied atop the leaderboard. Mickelson already had signed his scorecard, while Woods was facing a finishing hole that was playing a half-stroke over par. Just five players had birdied the 18th hole all day. After hitting a 5-iron onto the green, Woods faced a curling 15-footer for his second win at Mr. Palmer’s place. He figured the putt would break a foot to the right. He’d missed it low before, though, so he added a couple inches to his read. “I hit the putt just the way I wanted to and it took its time breaking,â€� Woods said. “But once it started snapping, it went sideways and caught the hole.â€� Now it feels like it’s impossible for players to miss on Bay Hill’s final green. Left-to-right putts are supposed to be anathema for right-handers, but it has become an annual tradition for the champion at Bay Hill to cap off his win by curling in one last birdie putt on the 72nd hole. Woods has done it three times, as have the past two winners. Since ShotLink started measuring shots in 2003, the winners of the Arnold Palmer Invitational have holed 168 feet of putts on the 72nd hole. That’s more than any other event. This despite a traditional Sunday hole location that’s tucked behind water and cut on a steep slope. Richie Hunt, a statistical consultant for several TOUR players, says that players make about 5% fewer putts from 15-20 feet to that hole location than the TOUR average. Woods’ influence cannot be understated, though. He’s made a hard putt look easy, and everyone, including TOUR players, has seen the highlights on repeat. “Every player has seen Tiger make all those putts on that green, so they know it can be done,â€� said NBC analyst Gary Koch, who won at Bay Hill in 1984. Woods spiked his hat after sinking a 24-footer in 2008. It was almost dark when he made one from 16 feet the following year. Both birdie putts were necessary for one-stroke victories. Five years ago, Matt Every sank a 17-foot birdie putt on 18 to win his second straight Arnold Palmer Invitational. He beat Henrik Stenson by one. Rory McIlroy and Francesco Molinari won by larger margins, but their final putts completed dramatic Sunday charges. Two years ago, McIlroy was trailing by two strokes at the start of the final round. He made birdie on five of the final six holes – including a 25-footer on the final green – to win by three.  McIlroy’s 64 was the low round of the day by three shots. Molinari shot the same score in last year’s final round to go from five behind to a winner by two shots. He capped it off with a 43-foot putt on the final hole. It’s the fourth-longest putt holed by a winner on the 72nd hole in the ShotLink era (since 2003). “You know it’s definitely not breaking right-to-left from there,â€� Molinari said. The tournament’s namesake would be proud of what has transpired in his tournament. He is the one, after all, who said, “You must play boldly to win.â€� Bay Hill’s final hole requires bravery to birdie. “It’s a daunting shot. It looks like there’s no green there. From the fairway, all you see is rocks and bunker on that entire right-hand side,â€� said longtime TOUR caddie Paul Tesori. “Long is a bogey. Short is a double. It’s one of the most intimidating shots on the PGA TOUR, but it’s also given us some of the best drama.â€� Tesori has had a front-row seat for that drama. Sean O’Hair played with Woods in the final round in both 2008 and 2009. Tesori was on his bag. O’Hair was one of five 54-hole leaders, along with Woods, in 2008. O’Hair was two back when he reached the final hole, though. That eased the sting of Woods’ final blow. The next year, O’Hair took a five-shot lead into the final round. He and Woods were tied entering 18. Even though O’Hair had blown his large lead, he still had a chance to win. Zach Johnson, the third member of the final threesome, knew how this story was going to end, though. “We’re standing on the fringe and Zach said, ‘Paulie, I’m sorry but he’s going to make this,’â€� Tesori recalls. “I said, ‘Absolutely not.’ It was pretty dark. I just didn’t think he was going to do it that time. He’d already made it twice in the past. He’d already used those up.â€� Of course, Tesori was wrong. “All those putts went in with perfect speed,â€� he said. “I feel like they could have fit in a thimble. They go in exactly where they’re supposed to go in, in that 7:30 area of the hole.â€� And now they just keep pouring them in on Bay Hill’s 18th green.

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JACKSON, Miss. - Ignorance was bliss for Cameron Davis when he won the 2017 Australian Open. He figured he'd shot himself out of the tournament and didn't even bother looking at the leaderboards in the final round. Someone had to tell him afterward that he'd won. That won't be the case at the Sanderson Farms Championship on Sunday, because after making five straight birdies and shooting a 9-under 63 in the third round, Davis will go into the final round tied at the top at 14 under with Sergio Garcia (66) and J.T. Poston (69). Davis, 25, would be the tournament's seventh straight first-time winner. "It’s a different story when you know you’re in the lead or near the lead," he said. Well, yes. He's never entered the final round of a PGA TOUR event higher than T6. His best result in 51 TOUR starts is a T8 at The Honda Classic earlier this year. He's in uncharted territory. Poston cooled off with the putter Saturday but made a 13-foot par putt on the last hole to retain a piece of the lead. "Three guys tied for the lead and a bunch of guys right behind us," he said, "so I think you’re going to have to go shoot something pretty low because out of that group somebody is going to shoot probably 6-, 7-under I would guess, maybe even lower." Garcia is putting with his eyes closed in an effort to revive his career. A 10-time TOUR winner, he hasn't won since the 2017 Masters. He's fallen out of the world top 50 and is coming off a season in which he recorded just one top-25 finish, a T5 at the RBC Heritage, in 12 starts. To put that in perspective, he had never recorded fewer than four top-25s in 21 previous TOUR seasons, and he missed the Playoffs for just the second time in the FedExCup era. "Obviously Sunday it’s always a little bit more difficult," said Garcia, who is making his first start at the Sanderson, "but I’ve got to go out there and go through the same routine and just go with it, even if you stumble a little bit early on or something like that, just believe that what you’re doing is right, and that’s what I’m going to try to do." The no-look putting is working; he's gaining over a stroke on the field on the greens. Eight players are within two shots of the lead. Kristoffer Ventura (68, 13 under, one back) is 11 for 11 in shooting par or better rounds this season, and also would be a first-time winner. He's tied with 2012 FedExCup champion Brandt Snedeker (67), who is 11 under for his last 36 holes and seeking his 10th victory. "Probably as excited and confident as I’ve been about my golf game in a long time," Snedeker said. "I’m talking years. I’m really excited to see how it holds up tomorrow." No player, though, will go into Sunday with as much momentum as Davis. After buying a home in his U.S. base of Seattle earlier this year, he and longtime girlfriend Jonika Melcher got married on Sept. 5. Now he's flattening out the peaks and valleys of his career. His 63 was the lowest round of his TOUR career and was just one off the tournament course record. In retrospect, winning the Australian Open win at 22 may have been a mixed blessing. He announced himself as a force to be reckoned with, beating stars like Jason Day and Jordan Spieth, but the flip side was he had created huge expectations and struggled to meet them. "I felt like I tried way too hard," he said. "But I knew I had enough game to be out here, and this last season (while finishing 84th in the FedExCup, I knew it) a lot more. ... I feel like I can compete out here. It’s just putting four rounds together for me now." Having experimented with the driver the first two rounds, Davis went back to a stock shot and improved Saturday, hitting 10 of 14 fairways. He missed just two greens, saving par both times, and needed just 26 putts. As for the streak of six first-time winners, he said, "I don’t know why it’s come down to every single one being a first-timer, but hopefully there’s another one." There's still plenty of work left to do.

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