Top 30 Players to Watch in 2019: No. 2 Brooks Koepka

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Gary Woodland will have to hold off the game’s best players if he wants to win on one of the game’s iconic venues. There isn’t a better way to win a major. Woodland has a one-shot lead over Justin Rose entering the final round of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. It is his first 54-hole lead in a major. Related: Leaderboard | Tough day for Woods, Mickelson “My game is in a great spot,â€� Woodland said. “I’m at a beautiful golf course. I came here to win, and that’s what we’re going out to do tomorrow.â€� He’s made just two bogeys this week, the fewest in the field. He’s bogey-free in three trips around Pebble Beach’s back nine, too. Woodland is in the top 15 in both Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Approach-the-Green, hitting 74% of the fairways and 69% of the greens. The putter has been the most impressive important club in the bag, though. He is third in that statistic. “Gary, when he’s on, makes golf look easy,â€� said Matt Kuchar, who won a World Cup with Woodland and sits six shots back. Winning a major is never a simple task, though, especially when your closest pursuers form a roster as strong as the 1927 Yankees. Of the next five names on the leaderboard, four have won major championships. That list includes Rose, the reigning FedExCup champion. Woodland has some space over the rest of the field – Rose is the only player within three shots of him – but his pursuers all have impressive resumes and have proven themselves in the game’s biggest events. “I know if I play my game and play like the way I’ve been playing, the guys from behind me are going to have to do something really, really special,â€� Woodland said. “So I’m going to go out, stay within myself, stick to my game plan and try to extend that lead more than anything.â€� Brooks Koepka, the most intimidating man in majors since Tiger Woods, is in third place, just four behind. He’s tied with Chez Reavie. His success in these championships diminish the size of his deficit. Confidence may be the most important attribute in golf, and Koepka is brimming with it. That’s what happens when you’ve won the past two U.S. Opens and PGA Championships. “I don’t need to go out and chase,â€� Koepka said. “I don’t need to do much.â€� Louis Oosthuizen won his Open Championship at the Home of Golf. If he were to win a U.S. Open, it would be fitting, then, to do it at this championship’s most historic venue. And then there’s Rory McIlroy, who, like Koepka, owns four majors and has every reason to be confident. The final round falls one week after he shot a final-round 61 to win the RBC Canadian Open. Woodland has never been better than third entering the final round of a major. That was at last year’s PGA Championship, when he shot a final-round 69 that was overshadowed by the duel between Koepka and Tiger Woods. Woodland was paired with Woods on that final day. He struggled with the chaos that surrounded Woods’ pursuit of his first major in a decade, but gained valuable experience. “I don’t know if I enjoyed it to start the round, I think there was a lot of moving pieces going on, and I think I kind of got caught up in it a little bit,â€� Woodland said. “Once I settled in, … I was back to being myself. And that’s what I’ve learned from that situation, is I can’t control everybody else. I can control my attitude, and I can control my game. And that’s what I’m out here to do.â€� Woodland finished sixth, his best finish in 30 majors. He may face unprecedented pressure, but nothing will match the chaos that surrounds a final-round pairing with Woods when he is in contention. His game has continued to progress under Pete Cowen, though. The former college basketball player now has a more complete game. He isn’t just relying on athleticism. “I feel very comfortable on this golf course,â€� he said. “(Swing coach) Pete Cowen has got me comfortable working the ball both ways if I need to. And that just frees me up a little bit. I have a short game now I can rely on.â€� Rose, a former U.S. Open champion, can be an intimidating opponent, but he’s also a friendly face. They met in 2008, when Woodland joined Lake Nona just before heading to the final stage of Q-School. Rose introduced himself and gave advice about the challenge ahead. Woodland went on to get his card. Woodland is ninth in the FedExCup this season, the highest-ranked player without a win. He has seven top-10s, including two runners-up, in 17 starts. The most recent of his three PGA TOUR wins came at last year’s Waste Management Phoenix Open. Pebble Beach’s inviting holes allow Woodland’s closest pursuers to apply pressure early. They are among the easiest on the course. Pebble Beach is firming up, though. After a week full of red numbers, the course is starting to offer a more traditional U.S. Open test. That means players will have to be selective about when to be aggressive. “The golf course is firming up. It’s not as receptive as it was early in the week,â€� Woodland said. “Hopefully I can go out and control myself.â€� If he does, a trophy will be waiting for him in one of golf’s most beautiful spots. He’ll have to earn it, though.

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Just as we expected, a multiple major winner and his PGA TOUR-hopeful son won the PNC Championship. It just so happened that duo was John Daly and John Daly II. Two groups behind John and John on Sunday, Tiger and Charlie Woods charged from behind and almost caught the leaders. It’s the holiday season, not majors season, but you wouldn’t have known that based on the fan enthusiasm and social-media buzz as the Daly, Woods, Thomas and Cink families dueled at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Orlando. This unofficial event delivered high-level competition, comedy and even a visit from the North Pole. Tiger and Charlie roar to runner-up finish After shooting 62 on Saturday, Tiger and Charlie Woods found themselves three strokes back of the lead at the mid-way point. The father and son in red and black knew they would have to go low on Sunday, and they did. Team Woods started birdie-birdie-eagle before three disappointing pars in the scramble format. But then the magic began. From No. 7 to No. 17, Tiger and Charlie made 11 straight birdies, and some of them were absolute beauties. Tiger nearly holed out for eagle on No. 7. There was a fist pump on No. 8 before Charlie’s putt even dropped. And Charlie brought out a Tiger-esque club twirl on the par-3 12th hole. But perhaps Charlie’s most impressive stretch came in the clutch. On No. 16, from 124 yards out and with water on the right, he shaped a beautiful fade into just a few feet for birdie. On the par-3 17th, from 169 yards, Charlie went pin-seeking again, hitting the best tee shot of the day on the hole. Needing an eagle on 18, Tiger missed a chip-in by just an inch, but the aggressiveness left a tester coming back for birdie. Both Charlie and Tiger narrowly missed and the duo settled for par and a final-round 57. For what it’s worth, birdie still would have lost by one, but eagle would have forced a playoff. “The fact that I’m able to have this opportunity this year, even a couple weeks ago we didn’t really know whether or not I would be doing this, but here we are,” Tiger said. “And we had just the best time ever. I just wish I could have walked down the fairways with him and been side-by-side with him the entire time like we were last year.” Just 10 months after Tiger’s Los Angeles car accident, the PNC Championship was his first appearance back in competitive golf. And while he may have had a golf cart and a teammate, it was an impressive 36 holes as we head into 2022. John Daly and John Daly II deliver merry win Dress codes are more of a suggestion than a requirement for John Daly. While most pros and their teammates arrived in formalwear for the PNC Championship banquet on Friday night, Daly delivered some holiday cheer by dressing as Santa Claus. And with Long John’s current long beard, he really brought the costume to life. In the previous editions of the PNC Championship – when he was known as “Little John” – Daly II might have worn an elf costume, but the Arkansas Razorbacks freshman went with a red jacket and black shirt and tie beside Santa this year. But if any competitors thought the Daly duo were just in it for laughs, they were quickly proven wrong. Team Daly came out firing on Saturday behind a stellar performance by John II, shooting a 60, one stroke behind the Cink family. On Sunday, John and John II picked up the pace, firing a 57 to tie Team Woods for the low score of the day. Perhaps the shot of the day came from John II, who from 224 yards in the bunker on No. 3 set up an early eagle for the eventual victors. John II anchored the team, hitting second for much of the weekend, and now goes back to Arkansas, hoping to help contribute to the Razorbacks Golf Team and continue his journey, perhaps toward a professional golf career. Nelly Korda gets her Tiger Woods photo Nelly Korda is the No. 1 women’s golfer in the world. Just 23, she won four times on the LPGA Tour in 2021, including her first major victory at the Women’s PGA Championship in June. She also added a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. But that did not stop her from feeling the nerves while asking Tiger Woods for a photo after his round Saturday. “I didn’t want to bother you right now, but I really wanted a photo,” Korda said to the former World No. 1. She also requested a photo for her playing partner, her dad Petr, the former world No. 2 tennis player and winner of the 1998 Australian Open, and his caddie, Nelly’s brother Sebastian, the current world No. 39 in tennis who won his first ATP Tour singles title in 2021. Rounding out the Korda family are Regina, another tennis player who reached her own career-best ranking of No. 45 in the world, and Jessica, the current world No. 22 in women’s golf. Nelly and Petr went 63-64 at the PNC Championship to finish 17 under in 12th place. Nelly should remember the pressure she felt with Tiger. As her career continues to blossom, she is going to be on the other side of most of these nervous photo interactions. Karl Stenson is comedy’s newest star While Saturday Night Live went on without a studio audience this weekend, Karl Stenson gave the world all the laughs it needed with his roast of dad Henrik at the PNC Championship. On Friday night, while the players were innocently enjoying their dinner, Peter Jacobsen had Henrik and Karl on stage for a Q&A. “So you’re the youngest player in PNC Championship history. Do you know that?” Jacobsen asked 11-year-old Karl. “Well, my dad told me about it in the car ride here,” the Orlando-area resident responded in perfect deadpan fashion. He was just warming up. “I think you guys have a shot this year, I really do,” Jacobsen said. “Not with the way he’s playing,” Karl responded, looking directly over at Henrik. The room burst into laughter (and maybe some tears). Henrik, who has six PGA TOUR wins, including an Open Championship and a PLAYERS Championship title, took the quips in stride. After all, Stenson, now 45, has missed his last five cuts on the PGA TOUR. Team Stenson opened with a 10-under 62 on Saturday, putting them in the mix through 18 holes. “Eh, it was OK for both of us,” Karl said. “None of us played pretty good. There’s always some room to improve on the weekend, but pretty fun.” Team Stenson came back with a 63 on Sunday to finish T8. We already knew Henrik Stenson had to deal with Ian Poulter’s pranks and ribbing. Now it appears Karl, too, might be a force in that department. Justin Thomas bellies up to the kids’ table At 28, Justin Thomas is no longer a kid on TOUR, but at the PNC Championship, with tweens like Charlie Woods and Karl Stenson running around, Thomas can feel like a kid again – at least at the buffet. “One of my favorite things about the PNC Championship is the ‘kids’ side in dining,” he tweeted Thursday. “Chicken fingers and fries for lunch every day!!!” In case anyone thought he was joking, he followed up with a post on Instagram on Friday, showing off his lunch of chicken fingers, French fries and peanut butter and jelly sandwich bites. Not everyone was impressed. “A lot of beige in that box come on JT you’re an athlete,” Rory McIlroy commented. “Get something green pro!” Golden State Warriors forward and avid golfer Andre Iguodala added. Despite the lighthearted jabs, the fuel almost came through for Justin and dad Mike, the defending champions, who played with (and ate chicken fingers with) the Woods family on Saturday. Team Thomas went 60-60, finishing T3. It was also revealed that after their victory last year they wore their championship belts to Tiger’s house for Christmas dinner. Tiger and Charlie were close to getting their own belts this year, but unless the Daly family drops in for Christmas (stranger things have happened), no belts will make an appearance this holiday season for Team Woods or Team Thomas. There will, however, be plenty of good stories about the 2021 PNC. And, perhaps, chicken fingers. COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10 The Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 highlights and rewards the extraordinary level of play required to earn a spot in the TOP 10 at the conclusion of the FedExCup Regular Season as determined by the FedExCup standings. The competition recognizes and awards the most elite in golf.

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