Visitors to the Trump Golf Links in the Bronx dropped 11 percent through mid-September in 2017 when compared to 2016.
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THE OVERVIEW NORTON, Mass. — Be careful when you say it can’t be done — about the suggestion, that is, of someone sweeping all four FedExCup Playoff tournaments. Impossible? You might want to tell that to the great Jack Burke Jr., a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and a notable name in the PGA TOUR record book: The last player to win four consecutive tournaments in a single year. Now, it was your grandfather’s world back then, the winter of 1952 (Feb. 17 to March 9, to be exact) when Burke manhandled fields in the Texas Open, Houston Open and St. Petersburg Open (average margin of victory, 6.67 strokes), and mixed in a triumph (via playoff) in Baton Rouge. But Burke proved you can win four straight out here. And just so you don’t go emphatically stating that such a feat won’t come to fruition again, let the record show that the only guy this year who can pull off four consecutive FedExCup playoff wins is one Dustin Hunter Johnson, who earlier this year won three straight starts, albeit over a six-tournament stretch. “Quite honestly, in my book, that was way tougher what Dustin did,â€� Billy Horschel said. “To win, take time off, come back and win, stop, win again. You don’t ride the momentum.â€� Horschel knows a thing or two about getting hot in the FedExCup Playoffs. He was T-2 here at the Dell Technologies Championship in 2014, then won the BMW Championship and TOUR Championship. “It was just about making sure I didn’t lose momentum,â€� he said. Eight times in 10 editions of the FedExCup Playoffs, a player has won twice. Rory McIlroy did it in 2012 and ’16. Six other players have done it once – Horschel, Tiger Woods (’07), Vijay Singh and Camilo Villegas (’08), Henrik Stenson (’13), and Jason Day (’15). Horschel and Woods came closest to winning three straight; Tiger also was T-2 at TPC Boston before winning the last two events in claiming the inaugural FedExCup title. Why so many multiple winners in the short history of the Playoffs? You could argue diminishing field size, for one. Start with 125, then 100, then 70, then the final 30 at East Lake. That’s a total of 325 competitors over the four events. Burke, by comparison, won his four straight in a combined field size of 356 players. If you’re wondering about Johnson’s three straight earlier this year – the cumulative field size was 284, although one of his wins was the World Golf Championships-Dell Match Play. In essence, that meant he needed to beat seven different players. Still, no one has won three Playoff events in a single year, and sweeping all four is perhaps unthinkable. “Truthfully, only a handful of guys could do it,â€� Horschel said. Like Johnson, winner of last week’s THE NORTHERN TRUST? Horschel agreed that the FedExCup leader and world No. 1 possesses the firepower to do it. Johnson seeks to take the second step this week at TPC Boston. But Horschel doesn’t see the sweep happening. “I’m on the record, Dustin’s not winning the next three events,â€� said Horschel, offering not so much a slight to Johnson as a testament to the depth of talent on the PGA TOUR. “It’s that difficult (out here). It’s such a fine line from winning to finishing top 20, top 10, or top 5. It’s all about who can carry the momentum from week-to-week and honestly, I don’t think there are a lot of guys who have that ability.â€� – Jim McCabe THREE PLAYERS TO PONDER Coughing up a five-shot lead is tough, but Spieth has no need to dwell on last Sunday. As he said, he didn’t lose it; DJ won it. His results coming into this week are eerily similar to his results going into last year’s event at TPC Boston. Might be a good sign considering the result. A past champ at TPC Boston, he’s the bubble boy in the U.S. Presidents Cup standings. A tie for 14th likely secures his first national team spot. PLAYER COMMENT NO. THE FLYOVER The 530-yard par-5 18th ranked as the second-easiest hole on the course last year, playing to a stroke average of 4.672 (the fourth hole below as the easiest). Nine different players made eagles last year, and Dustin Johnson had the longest drive of any player at 18, hitting his tee shot 332 yards in the final round (sound familiar?). Here’s a closer look at TPC Boston’s closing hole. THE LANDING ZONE Last season, there were 534 par-4 holes played on the PGA TOUR. The fourth hole at TPC Boston ranked as the 532nd most difficult – or, more to the point, the third easiest of all par 4s, playing to a stroke average of 3.627. Although listed at 353 yards on the scorecard, the hole played between 278 to 300 yards in the four rounds last year, with the back tee going unused. Players attempted to drive the green 96.4 percent of the time, and there were nearly as many birdies made (147) as pars (162). In essence, if you make par here, you’re losing a half-stroke to the field. Here’s a look at where all tee shots landed last year.  WEATHER CHECK Cool temperatures and mostly dry conditions are expected at TPC Boston. PGA TOUR meteorologist Stewart Williams said remnants of Hurricane Harvey could result in isolated thunderstorms on Saturday night through the day during Sunday’s third round. Expect shifting winds, with gusts forecast to 20 mph on Sunday. Click here for the latest weather conditions from Norton, Massachusetts. SOUND CHECK TPC Boston has been a great place for me in the past, a place I feel very comfortable at and the kind of golf course I’ve played well on, and to get that win last year was awesome … I play the golf course very well. ODDS AND ENDS 1. COURSE CHANGES. Two par-4 holes are significantly different than last year – the 12th and 13th, with golf architect Gil Hanse making the design changes. The 12th is now 510 yards (it was 461), with Hanse installing new tees, two fairway bunkers, a split-level fairway and relocating the green. It’s expected to make the 12th play tougher this year. The left side of the 13th fairway has been recontoured to provide more generous tee shot options. Hanse also relocated and reshaped the green. 2. TARGET SCORE. If you’re looking to predict this week’s winning score, you should probably start at 15-under 269. That’s been the winning score the last three years by Rory McIlroy (2016), Rickie Fowler (2014) and Chris Kirk (2014). 3. LAUNCHPAD TO FEDEXCUP. Three of the past 10 winners at TPC Boston have gone on to win the FedExCup – McIlroy last year, Henrik Stenson in 2013 and Vijay Singh in 2008. 4. THE MISSING FOUR. Four players are not in the field this week – Henrik Stenson, Brandt Snedeker, J.B. Holmes and Scott Piercy. Holmes and Piercy are outside the top 70 and are now eliminated from the Playoffs. The injured Snedeker, ranked 68th, is sitting out the Playoffs. Stenson is safe at 22.
After a week off for the men’s Olympic golf competition, the PGA TOUR schedule resumes with the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Olympian Justin Thomas will look to defend his title from 2020 while 2019 winner, Brooks Koepka, is coming into the week with four top-6 finishes in his last five TOUR events. FIELD NOTES: World No.1 Jon Rahm will not be in the field after testing positive for COVID-19 and withdrawing from the Olympic competition… FedExCup leader and recent Open Championship winner Collin Morikawa will look to add another WGC to his trophy case. He won the WGC-Workday Championship earlier this year… There will be 66 players competing in Memphis including 48 of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings… There are two spots open for a golfer who wins the gold medal at the Olympics (if not already in the field) and if they move inside the top-50 in the OWGR when the next edition of the ranking is released on Aug. 2… Fifteen countries will be represented… The only other golfer inside the top 50 in the world who is not teeing it up in Memphis is Christiaan Bezuidenhout. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 550 FedExCup points COURSE: TPC Southwind, par 70, 7,233 yards. The long-time PGA TOUR host club was elevated to WGC status for 2019. Designed by Ron Prichard (with TOUR players Fuzzy Zoeller and Hubert Green as consultants) the most recent update came in 2004 under the eye of TOUR winner Loren Roberts. The course is a solid test with nearly 100 bunkers and 10 water hazards and undulating zoysia fairways. STORYLINES: With some of golf’s top names, including the defending champion Justin Thomas, competing in the Olympics, one thing to keep an eye on will be the fatigue factor of those who played in Tokyo and then traveled back to the United States… This is the final WGC event of the season. The previous winners included Collin Morikawa (WGC-Workday) and Billy Horschel (WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play)… Previous success at TPC Southwind has already been an indicator of comfort at the WGC contested at the same course. Daniel Berger, a two-time winner of the FedEx St. Jude Classic finished T2 last year, while Dustin Johnson (a two-time FedEx St. Jude Classic winner and six-time WGC winner) finished T12… Nine of the top-10 golfers in the FedExCup standings are teeing it up in Memphis, with the notable exception being Rahm. Bryson DeChambeau, who also tested positive for COVID-19 and withdrew from the Olympic competition, is back in action. 72-HOLE RECORD: 264, Brooks Koepka (2019) 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, Tom Lewis (third round, 2020) LAST TIME: Justin Thomas won by three shots – the same margin of victory as Brooks Koepka the year prior – over a foursome of golfers including Koepka himself, Daniel Berger, Tom Lewis, and Phil Mickelson who finished tied for second. Thomas fired a final-round 65 that included two birdies in his final four holes en route to winning his third PGA TOUR title of the season. This marked Thomas’ 13th career TOUR title and he became the third-youngest to ever reach that mark – the others being Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Lewis’ T2 was his best-career TOUR result and came thanks to shooting a 9-under 61 on Saturday, which matched the course record at TPC Southwind. HOW TO FOLLOW (All times ET) TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-5 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday 12 p.m.-2 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday 7:45 a.m.-6:30 p.m. (Featured Groups). Saturday-Sunday, 7:45 a.m.-3 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Brandt Snedeker couldn’t block out the buzz that surrounded his first-round 11-under 59 at the Wyndham Championship. He refocused just in time to reclaim the lead. Snedeker followed his historic opening score with a 67 on Friday to take a two-stroke lead into the weekend at the Wyndham Championship. A day after becoming the 10th player in PGA TOUR history to break 60, Snedeker moved to 14-under 126 halfway through the final PGA TOUR event before the FedExCup Playoffs. “You hear people telling you every two seconds, `Mr. 59,’ or saying how cool it was to watch it,” Snedeker said. “So, yes, totally on your mind.” D.A. Points shot a 64 to reach 12 under — one stroke ahead of C.T. Pan, who also had a 64. David Hearn, Peter Malnati, Keith Mitchell, Harris English, Brett Stegmaier and Sergio Garcia were 9 under. Snedeker, the 2012 FedExCup champion, won this tournament in 2007 before it moved across town to the par-70 Sedgefield Country Club. He had the tour’s first 59 of the year during the first round. But it wasn’t easy to follow a score like that. Of the nine previous players who have broken 60 on the TOUR, six had to play the next day and only one has shot better than 65 in that round: Justin Thomas, who had a 64 in the second round of last year’s Sony Open. “You can’t ignore it, you can’t try to forget about it,” Snedeker said. “Hardest thing is trying to get back into a rhythm. … Now I’m better equipped for the next time I shoot 59 and play the next day.” By the time Snedeker teed off Friday afternoon, that low score had held up for a one-stroke lead. It temporarily slipped away when he had three bogeys on the front nine. He reclaimed the lead late in his round with some nifty putting. He sank two putts longer than 30 feet, one for eagle on the par-5 15th and another for birdie on the par-4 16th, and wrapped up with the best two-round score at this tournament since Carl Pettersson’s 125 a decade ago. “When I finally convinced myself to hit a few putts, they started going in,” Snedeker said. “Over 72 holes, you’re going to have stretches where balls don’t go in the hole, you’ve got to be able to kind of overcome, be patient, wait for the long ones to fall, and luckily I made a couple coming down the stretch.” Points, who has made only one cut since January and failed to reach the weekend in 19 of his 24 tournaments this season, had a strong front nine with three birdies and an eagle on the par-5 fifth hole, where he sank a 40-foot putt. He has finished in the top 20 at this tournament twice since 2014, and after starting far off the bubble at No. 214 on the points list, could play his way into the FedExCup Playoffs this weekend. “Basically, I know this is possibly my last event of the year, so I haven’t been grinding really hard,” Points said. “It seems to be paying off.” Pan, a 26-year-old from Taiwan, had birdies on three of his final four holes to climb the leaderboard. He sank a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 17 and an 8-footer on the 18th to match the best round of his young career. He also shot 64s last year at the Travelers Championship and The RSM Classic. “I love this course,” Pan said, adding that his “trajectory tends to be lower than compared to other guys, so I think I have an advantage here.” Among the other highlights: Brian Gay had the day’s best round, a 63 tarnished only by a bogey on his final hole on which he missed a 4-foot par putt. And Mitchell opened with five consecutive birdies to briefly raise the possibility of a second sub-60 score in two days, before slipping back later in his round. “It’s definitely a different feeling,” Mitchell said. “But it’s a feeling you try to get comfortable with because you want to be in that zone.” A key subplot at Sedgefield every year is the push by bubble players to earn postseason spots. The top 125 players on the points list make the field for THE NORTHERN TRUST in New Jersey, and everyone from No. 122 to No. 132 is playing this weekend. Bill Haas, who at No. 150 is in danger of missing the FedExCup Playoffs for the first time, made the cut at 3 under. Garcia, at No. 131, also is trying to make it for the 12th straight year. Johnathan Byrd — who at No. 183 probably needs to win or finish alone in second place to earn enough points to qualify — remains in the mix at 8 under. “It’s kind of an easy mentality in a sense,” Byrd said. “Just got to play amazing or go home, or go to the (Web.com Tour) finals.”
