Top LPGA Tour rookies reflect on emotional season

How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. Each lineup consists of four starters and two bench players that can be rotated after each round. Adding to the challenge is that every golfer can be used only three times per each of four Segments. The first fantasy golf game to utilize live ShotLink data, PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf allows you to see scores update live during competition. Aside from the experts below, Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard in this week’s edition of the Power Rankings. For more fantasy, check out Rookie Watch, Qualifiers and Reshuffle. THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN OUR EXPERTS? The PGA TOUR Experts league is once again open to the public. You can play our free fantasy game and see how you measure up against our experts below. Joining the league is simple. Just click here to sign up or log in. Once you create your team, click the “Leagues” tab and search for “PGA TOUR Experts.” After that? Pick your players and start talking smack. Want to represent the fans against our experts? SEASON SEGMENT

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AUGUSTA, Ga. - Matt Wallace won the Par-3 Contest at Augusta National by acing the eighth hole and winning a three-hole playoff with 61-year-old Sandy Lyle. Wallace’s hole-in-one was one of four in Wednesday’s family-friendly event that precedes the Masters, leaving him tied with Lyle at 5-under 22. The playoff rotated between Nos. 8 and 9, with both players making par on the first two holes. That took them back to the eighth, where Wallace nearly made another hole-it-one, plopping his tee shot less than a foot from the cup. Lyle knocked his shot in the water, handing the victory to the 28-year-old Englishman playing in his first Masters. He is the ninth player — and the first since 2013 — to win the Par-3 Contest on his initial try. But also worth noting: No winner of the par-3 has gone on to capture the green jacket. Lyle, the 1988 champion, is playing in his 38th Masters. It was initially thought he had won the par-3 tournament, but officials discovered a scoring error that forced the playoff. In all, there were four aces on the day, including Shane Lowry at No. 2, Mark O’Meara on No. 5 and Devon Bling at No. 7. Wallace’s hole-in-one was the 100th since the contest began in 1960.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - The PGA TOUR announced today the four featured groupings for the opening rounds of the 2020 Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. For the first time in tournament history, the event will offer full FedExCup points (500), after being postponed to September as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will be featured twice in the 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season, with the tournament being played again in March. To watch the featured groupings on Thursday-Friday, fans in the United States can tune into the Golf Channel telecast (3-6 p.m. ET). Live audio coverage is also available on SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio (Sirius 208, XM 92), and streams free via PGATOUR.COM (pgatour.com/liveaudio) as well as the TOUR's official iPhone, iPad and Android apps. Featured Groups Graeme McDowell, Henrik Stenson, Corey Conners • McDowell seeks to successfully defend his title, having collected his fourth career PGA TOUR victory at the 2019 Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship (first win on TOUR since 2015) • Stenson, winner of the FedExCup in 2013, will make his tournament debut in Punta Cana and is the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 43 in the Official World Golf Ranking • In 2019-20, Conners advanced to the BMW Championship for the second consecutive season and finished No. 53 in the FedExCup standings with 10 top-25 finishes Mackenzie Hughes, Adam Long, Keith Mitchell • Hughes, who finished runner-up at the event in 2019, advanced to the TOUR Championship last season for the first time in his career after making a five-foot putt on the 72nd hole of the BMW Championship; had the best finish in the 2019-20 FedExCup standings of any player in the field (No. 14) • On the strength of two runner-up finishes in the 2019-20 season, Long advanced to the BMW Championship and finished No. 31 in the FedExCup standings, less than three points out of the TOUR Championship • Mitchell finished solo-second at the 2018 Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, which is among eight top-ten finishes in his 77 career starts on the PGA TOUR Emiliano Grillo, Jhonattan Vegas, Charley Hoffman • 2016 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year and Puntacana Resort & Club ambassador Grillo finished the 2019-20 season No. 93 in the FedExCup standings, advancing to the FedExCup Playoffs for the fifth time in as many seasons as a member • A three-time PGA TOUR winner, Vegas is set to make his second tournament start (T26/2019) after concluding the 2019-20 season No. 139 in the standings • Making his second start of the 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season, Hoffman is one of ten players in the field with four or more TOUR victories Pat Perez, Kevin Chappell, Charles Howell III Notable: Combining for seven PGA TOUR victories, all three players are set to make their tournament debuts at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship • Perez opened the 2020-21 season with a T9 showing at the Safeway Open, carding four rounds in the 60s for the first time since the 2019 Mayakoba Golf Classic • Chappell became the 10th player in TOUR history (11th instance) with a sub-60 round after carding a 59 in the second round of A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier in 2019 • Playing in his 12th U.S. Open, Howell finished 30th at Winged Foot Golf Club last week for his ninth made cut in the event

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