Why Fleetwood will join Rahm in the final group Sunday

Former PGA TOUR winner Arjun Atwal was among the four players to qualify Sunday for the FedEx St. Jude Classic. He’ll try to repeat his feat at the 2010 Wyndham Championship, where he Monday qualified for the event and then hoisted the trophy Sunday. He was the first qualifier in 24 years to win a PGA TOUR event. Atwal, 44, shot 4-under 66 on Monday at Windyke Country Club in Memphis, Tennessee, to share medalist honors with Jordan Russell. Chip Deason and Garrett Osborn grabbed the final two spots in a 6-for-2 playoff after firing 67. Former PGA TOUR winners Heath Slocum and Brendon Todd also took part in that playoff, as did Ben Wood and 56-year-old Jay Delsing. The FedEx St. Jude Classic’s qualifier was conducted Sunday because of Monday’s U.S. Open sectional qualifying. Atwal collected his last official victory at the 2014 Dubai Open on the Asian Tour. He has won on the PGA TOUR, Web.com Tour, European Tour and Asian Tour. Russell is a former Texas A&M golfer who was a semifinalist at the 2011 U.S. Amateur at Erin Hills, site of next week’s U.S. Open. Russell has competed on both the Web.com Tour and PGA TOUR Latinoamerica, but has not played an event offering Official World Golf Ranking points since 2015. This will be his PGA TOUR debut. Osborn, 32, has one top-10 in seven career PGA TOUR starts. He finished T9 at the 2014 Sanderson Farms Championship after Monday qualifying for that event. The Alabama-Birmingham alum also has played in 88 Web.com Tour events, posting two third-place finishes. He has played just 10 events on that circuit since the end of 2010, though. Deason, 42, has played in five career PGA TOUR events. His best finish is T54 at the 2008 Ginn sur Mer Classic. Deason, an Alabama alum, also has played in 20 Web.com Tour events, making three cuts. 2016-17 Monday qualifiers Qualifiers: 63 Made cut: 18 (28.6%) Top-25s: 4 (6.3%) Top-10s: 0 Best finish: T11, Keith Mitchell at Valspar Championship AT&T Byron Nelson qualifiers T66. Alex Moon, 74-66-72-73 MC. Sean Kelly, 74-71 MC. Y.E. Yang, 74-72 MC. Benjamin Polland, 75-75

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ATLANTA – Justin Thomas stands on the precipice of history at the TOUR Championship. Tiger Woods, the only two-time winner of the FedExCup, never won it back-to-back. And nine of 11 FedExCup champions haven’t even come close, failing to advance to the season-ending TOUR Championship at East Lake one year after hoisting the FedExCup trophy. “Yeah, I’m excited to have an opportunity to do something that no one has ever done, which is pretty cool,â€� said Thomas, who is nursing what he calls a minor wrist injury and wasn’t feeling his best Tuesday, when he curtailed his range work in the stifling heat. “I’m not sure if it was true or not, but I heard that no one had been in the top 5 (entering the TOUR Championship) after winning the FedExCup, so I take a lot of pride and a lot of honor in that.â€� It is true. Of the two FedExCup champions who made it back to the TOUR Championship the next year, Brandt Snedeker (won in ’12) finished 12th in the FedExCup in ’13, and Jordan Spieth (won in ’15) got back to Atlanta in ’16, finishing 9th in the FedExCup. Two for 11 is not very good, and while that statistic is partly the result of Woods’ injuries, not even Snedeker or Spieth came to the TOUR Championship looking as good as Thomas. At No. 5 in the FedExCup, he controls his own destiny — the top 5 automatically win the FedExCup with a win at the TOUR Championship — and is in the best shape of any FedExCup winner to repeat. “I don’t have as many wins and I didn’t win a major,â€� Thomas said of this season, “but statistically I think I’ve improved in about every category, which is huge.â€� Indeed, he’s gone from five wins to three, most recently at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, but Thomas has improved in almost all statistical categories. He’s gone from 6th to 3rd in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green; 45th to 38th in Strokes Gained: Putting; and 5th to 3rd in Strokes Gained: Total. He has held the top spot in the FedExCup for eight weeks, and apart from the first week of the season, he’s never dropped below ninth. Now he’s got to finish it off at the TOUR Championship a year after he finished second to Xander Schauffele by a shot. Thomas has said more than once that the tournament loss still rankles him, and when asked if he could have any shot back from that week, he doesn’t hesitate. “Yeah, my tee shot on 18, for sure,â€� he said. “I thought I hit the fairway there. I’m probably not going to make worse than birdie (if I hit the fairway).â€� Five back going into the final round, Thomas nearly came all the way back, his 25-foot birdie try on 18 curling across the front edge of the hole and barely staying out. He signed for a 66. Schauffele, playing well behind him, nearly reached the 18th green in two and birdied the hole when his three-foot birdie putt barely caught the edge of the cup and tumbled in. “Yeah, it still bothers me—18 is not a very hard par-5,â€� Thomas said. “And I hit such a great putt on 18 that I still don’t know how it didn’t go in. The par-5s are something that I’m able to use my strength and my advantage with my length, and to not birdie a par-5 to close a tournament when I had a chance to win was and still is upsetting. “But yeah, at the end of the day, winning the FedExCup is a huge deal and a life-changer,â€� he added, “but to have six wins in a season would have been pretty sweet.â€� Adding to the intrigue this week, Thomas did his pre-tournament press conference with his right wrist wrapped in medical tape. He said he injured it while hitting a shot on the 13th hole of the final round of the BMW Championship at Aronimink, where he finished T12. “I’d never had an injury before,â€� he said. “… I took last week off, didn’t hit a ball. I chipped and putted a lot, so my short game feels pretty good.â€� Never had an injury? Well, OK. Thomas is making history already. As for making FedExCup history, time will tell.

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LAS VEGAS – Phil Mickelson is a shadow of his former self. Weight wise that is. The 44-time PGA TOUR winner has been shedding pounds and changing his lifestyle over the last few months – a move that seemed to coincide with poor results on the golf course. But on Thursday at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, the 49-year-old Hall of Famer showed some glimpses of his best on the way to a 6-under 65. RELATED: Leaderboard | Tee times After winning the 2019 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, Mickelson has failed to produce another top 10 in 17 starts. In fact, his best finish was a T18 at the Masters in that stretch – and since leaving Augusta National in April, his best result was a lowly T48 at the BMW Championship. Mickelson has turned his health philosophies around and is confident the hard work will pay off in all aspects of his life. “I’ve had an awful six months on and off the course, but things are great now and I’m excited to play good golf. It takes a lot less energy, stress to perform well,â€� Mickelson said. “I’m going to continue to make it a lifestyle change. I’m going to continue to eat better, eat less, work out more, just stay committed to it.â€� Given everything he has achieved in the game and his age, the dramatic shift in thinking to change his shape came as a surprise to many. But Mickelson says the desire to compete for years and years to come, helped drive him the change. “I have the greatest job in the world. I love playing the TOUR. I love the guys out here. I love the challenge of beating the guys out here,â€� he added. “The challenge of playing golf at the highest level brings out the best in me. Meaning, it forces me to get it the best shape, forces me to work hard and to focus on something positive, improving my game. It gives me a direction, and it’s been a big part of my life and I love it.â€� Mickelson won’t divulge exactly how much more he wants to lose, but he claims his slenderer frame won’t affect him hitting the “bombsâ€� he’s been talking up over the last 12 months. In recent years, Mickelson actually increased his swing speed and distance. “When I first lost 25, 30 pounds I ended up not being as strong, but I’ve been in the gym now for the last quite a few weeks. The amount that I lift is now significantly more than it was before,â€� he said in response to a question about losing his power. “Eating and working out and life-styles are very personal and everybody needs to find what’s works for them. It’s taken me a little while. Ultimately we all need to be accountable for our own health, and I haven’t done a great job of that throughout my career. I wish I had done better. It’s not too late. I’m getting after it now. “I have a bunch more energy. Actually eating less has helped me have more energy. I find the more I eat the more lethargic I get. It’s helped create a little bit better focus to finish the rounds off, so it’s been a big part of it. But more than that, it just allows me to be my best and practice a little bit harder.â€�

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