What we learned this fall on PGA Tour

One of the oldest tournaments on the PGA TOUR that honors a legend who once won 11 tournaments in a row. A return to Trinity Forest for just the second time … the links looking course that actually is virtually treeless provides a great change of style in this middle period of the season. A local boy looking to burst out of a slump and a football hero continuing his new journey … welcome to the AT&T Byron Nelson. THE FLYOVER As you come towards the finish at Trinity Forest Golf Club you are acutely aware the final hole can be one tough cookie to crack. In fact last season the par-4 18th played over par and was the second hardest hole all week. With that in mind, if you need to make a late birdie, perhaps you need to target the par-3 17th. It is a deceptive hole which forces a player to play smart, away from pins, in order to use the contours of the terrain to get a good look at birdie. It is not as simple as taking dead aim as former U.S. Open winner Geoff Ogilvy describes in the following video. Importantly champion Aaron Wise played the hole in two under over the four rounds. LANDING ZONE One of the early chances to get after Trinity Forest is the drivable 315-yard par-4 5th hole. Players have to decide to either load up and have a go at the green or lay back near a couple of bunkers. Last season the hole ranked 16th in the tournament, playing to a 3.620 average. There were seven eagles. Here’s a look at how the field attacked the hole. WEATHER CHECK From PGA TOUR meteorologist Joe Halvorson: “A cold front will move through the region on Thursday, but the coverage of thunderstorms will be limited as it is forecast to move through during the morning hours. Dry condition are then anticipated Thursday afternoon. This boundary will stall over Central Texas, with the potential for scattered showers and a few storms to drift back north on Friday. An upper level disturbance will bring likely chances for rain and a scattered coverage of embedded T-storms Friday night and Saturday. Rain will be heavy at times Friday night and Saturday, with 0.50- 0.75â€� forecast. Isolated showers and thunderstorms may linger early Sunday before dry conditions return. Thunderstorms are not expected to be severe Thursday through Sunday.â€� For the latest weather news from Dallas, Texas, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK Last year it was really firm, really fast, you really had to kind of position your ball around the course … and this week looks like it’s going to be a little wetter and softer. This year might be a lot more driver being sent around the golf course. BY THE NUMBERS 26 – The number of PGA TOUR starts it took for Aaron Wise to win. His three-shot win at Trinity Forest last season was the catalyst towards Rookie of the Year honors. He was the second youngest to ever win the tournament (21 years, 10 months, 29 days) behind Tiger Woods (21 years, 4 months, 18 days). 2,288 – FedExCup points won by Jordan Spieth in Texas since 2010. He is third on the list in that timeframe in the Lonestar state behind Matt Kuchar (2,534) and Charley Hoffman (2,387). 7 – Seven of the 12 AT&T Byron Nelson champions in the FedExCup era (2007+) have gone on to make the TOUR Championship, including six of the last nine. All 12 have made it to the BMW Championship. 1,916 – Number of birdies at Trinity Forest last year. Only one course on the PGA TOUR last season yielded more birdies than Trinity Forest Golf Club (Glen Abbey GC). SCATTERSHOTS Can’t miss – Last season the field found the fairway off the tee 79.50 percent of the time at Trinity Forest, marking the easiest fairways to hit on the PGA TOUR. Most players enjoyed success getting the ball on to the greens as well with the putting surfaces being the second easiest to hit on the PGA TOUR last season at 76.82 percent. But it was on the greens where the course tried to fight back. The field made 85.61 percent of putts from inside 10 feet, marking the lowest Putting Percentage from this range of any non-major course. Unhappy home – In his career Jordan Spieth has finished inside the top 10 in 35.19 percent of his starts on the PGA TOUR (57 of 162). However, the AT&T Byron Nelson is one of three TOUR events where Spieth has made multiple starts without recoding a top-10 finish (WGC-Mexico Championship & Farmers Insurance Open). In his eight previous starts at this event his best result is T16 in 2010. Romo hoping for members bounce – Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current NFL on CBS analyst Tony Romo accepted his third sponsor exemption on TOUR, following invites at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship over the last two seasons. While he missed the cut in both previous starts Romo is a member at Trinity Forest and as such hopeful of a better performance.

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Torrey Pines specialist Jason Day is in danger of missing the U.S. Open at the iconic coastal venue and could leave next week’s PGA Championship, or this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson, at any stage for the birth of his fourth child. The Australian has always put family first and said wife Ellie is due in early June but hits full term on her pregnancy this Friday, leaving him on call for an early departure as he looks to recapture past success in Texas. The last time he missed a major – the 2012 Open Championship – was for the birth of Dash, the couple’s first child. “If I’m playing golf, whatever, it doesn’t matter. I just want to make sure that I see the birth of our fourth child … I could get a call this week or next week. Ellie’s two to three centimeters dilated and 15% effaced, and her belly has already dropped. In the next four weeks it can come,” Day said. “If it happens to be on Sunday at a major championship where I’m in contention, it happens. You got to do it. I’m not going to miss it because I’m in contention. It would be nice to win, but family is forever.” The former Dallas resident claimed the first of his 12 PGA TOUR wins at the 2010 AT&T Byron Nelson and has four top-10s from his five tournament appearances – the sort of success he desperately needs if he’s to find his way into the field for June’s U.S. Open. While the PGA Championship comes sooner, Day circled the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines on the calendar as soon as it was announced in 2014 – a year before he would win the first of his two Farmers Insurance Open’s at the San Diego venue. He had finished runner-up at Torrey just a few months earlier and having won a Junior World title there as a kid the former world No. 1 had always loved the venue. His passion grew over time, particularly as he watched Tiger Woods win time and time again on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, including his epic triumph at the 2008 U.S. Open. But despite finishing inside the top five in half of his 10 U.S. Open appearances, the 33-year-old is yet to be exempt for the tournament and at 62nd in the world rankings sits on the outside looking in as key qualifying dates approach. Day must find a way inside the world top 60 on either May 24 (after the PGA Championship) or June 7 (after the Memorial Tournament Presented by Nationwide) to qualify as he’s already stated he does not intend to join sectional qualifying in his hometown Columbus because of a sponsor conflict. “I haven’t even thought about missing a major championship in a very long time. I’m obviously on the border of missing (Torrey). I’ve got to play well in the next two weeks,” Day said. “Obviously I would love to play the Torrey Pines U.S. Open because I’ve had a lot of success around that golf course.” His 2021 has been far from stellar thus far and he suits up in Texas off two straight missed cuts and with just one top-10 (T7, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am). Day admits his confidence has taken a hit as distractions puncture his game and his once dominant putting prowess has waned. The 33-year-old has returned to work with former mental coach Jason Goldsmith, who was with him during his near year-long stint as world No. 1 in 2015-16, as he looks to rediscover some old swagger. First step is getting through the moments of doubt and finding love in the grind again. “I’m just trying to build that confidence. I feel like my game is starting to come around nicely and I’m starting to feel good about it,” Day said. “I know I’ve got to keep persisting. If I don’t do it, it’s not going to be enjoyable for me. If it’s not enjoyable for me, I may as well retire. I can’t play the way that I’m going and beat my head against a wall, essentially. “But, then on the other hand I’m like, ‘No, you can’t quit. You got to keep pushing, stay persistent, stay positive, patient, keep moving forward,’ and it’ll come back. Right now I’m trying to do that.”

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