Win probabilities: Sanderson Farms Championship

ORLANDO, Fla. – Twenty years have passed since Padraig Harrington first faced Tiger Woods on the weekend at a major, and the Irishman has kept a close watch ever since. He doesn’t think Woods is finished. Harrington believes Woods can win another major if he can just get to the final nine holes. “You’d never run Tiger off,” Harrington said, drawing from the two hours he watched Woods play in a 10-hole made-for-TV exhibition last weekend. “But I actually think he might be in a better place than I had thought.” Never mind that the 15-time major champion turns 47 at the end of the month, or that Woods has had as many — if not more — surgeries than he has won majors. Plantar fasciitis in his right foot kept Woods from playing the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas two weeks ago, and he wouldn’t be playing with his 13-year-old son in the PNC Championship this weekend if not for carts being allowed. No matter. “There’s two things that make a golfer — how talented they are and how resilient they are,” Harrington said Thursday after storms washed out the PNC Championship pro-am. “Usually you get very talented, not very resilient; or you get very resilient and not very talented. Tiger, through his whole career, has both of those, which is very unusual. “So I would never doubt.” His views were contrary to Colin Montgomerie saying earlier this week on a podcast he doesn’t think Woods can win again. “Listen, yes, he’s great,” Montgomerie said. “But Tiger doesn’t have to now just get back to the standard he was performing at then. He has to improve it. The standard is improving all the time, and there’s not one or two guys that can beat him now. There’s 22 guys that can beat him. So, it’s Tiger trying to get not back to where he was but to get to a standard he’s never been at before and I don’t think that’s possible. “I can’t see that happening. I’d love it to happen because it’s great for the game. I would love him to win. But I just can’t see it happening.” Woods has played all of 172 holes this year in tournaments — 162 while walking. He tied for 48th in the Masters, withdrew after the third round of the PGA Championship on a cold day at Southern Hills and he missed the cut at St. Andrews. He was in a cart for the team match last Saturday with Rory McIlroy as his partner. Woods said in the Bahamas that “I don’t have much left in this leg,” referring to the right leg that was shattered in a February 2021 car crash in Los Angeles. Harrington and Woods first squared off in the third round of the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black in 2002 — Woods won his second straight major — and they have been friends since then, with Woods having respect for the Irishman’s work ethic. Harrington used to say his goal was to see where he stood through 63 holes, and then show what he has on the final nine. He won three majors in 2007 and 2008. What inspired him from watching 10 holes in the match last week was the speed Woods showed in his swing, which he thought was enough power to keep up with today’s generation and to at least get him to the back nine. “The little bit of extra speed will help him because in the first 63 holes … you know, who would want to be coming down the stretch against Tiger?” Harrington said. “You know he’s capable of doing anything at that stage. I think he’s in a better position to get himself into that last nine holes.” It only takes 27 holes to get to the last nine at the PNC Championship, which Woods is playing for the third time. Woods and Charlie, now 13, finished one shot behind John Daly and his son a year ago. The competition can be serious at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Orlando, though this is mostly about time spent among fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. With Woods involved, everything always feels bigger, however much time he has left. “I would say we are never really going to know how much is in there because he just continues to do more than we thought he would ever be able to do,” Stewart Cink said. “He continues to defy really all conceivability.”

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Patrick Cantlay will start with a two-stroke lead over his closest pursuer as the FedExCup is decided once again at the TOUR Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club starting Thursday. As the oldest course in Atlanta, East Lake has provided plenty of excitement over the years. But its proud history began well before it started hosting the PGA TOUR’s season finale. Here are five things to know about East Lake Golf Club. 1. It was originally part of Atlanta Athletic Club. The Atlanta Athletic Club (AAC) was formed in 1898. The club was dedicated to several sporting endeavors, but it initially had no golf course. John Heisman, the Georgia Tech football coach for whom the famed Heisman Trophy was later named, directed the club’s athletic program of swimming, tennis, basketball and track. In 1904, it acquired property in the Atlanta suburbs to create a country club. Tom Bendelow was tasked with laying out the course. East Lake is the oldest golf course in Atlanta. The course was completely reworked by Donald Ross nine years later. That layout survives as the basic design today. The Atlanta Athletic Club sold the course in the 1960s to relocate to its new home in Duluth (where it held the 2011 PGA Championship and 1976 U.S. Open). As the area around East Lake began to decay, the original course and clubhouse were saved by a group of 25 members who purchased them and began operation as the newly-formed East Lake Country Club in 1968. The course failed to thrive until 1993, when a local charitable foundation purchased East Lake with the intent to restore it as a tribute to Bobby Jones and the club’s other great amateur golfers. The East Lake Foundation has used the renovation as a catalyst for revitalizing the surrounding community. In 1994, Rees Jones, son of famed golf course architect Robert Trent Jones, restored Donald Ross’s original golf course design at East Lake to its current layout today. 2. It is the home of Bobby Jones. World Golf Hall of Famer Bobby Jones, widely known as one of the greatest golfers of all time, learned his craft at East Lake. He was there at the age of 6 when the course held its grand opening in 1908. Jones turned the golf world on its head in his time as an amateur. Jones won 13 national championships from 1923 to 1930: four U.S. Opens, five U.S. Amateurs, three Open Championships, and one British Amateur. He won the Grand Slam in 1930, claiming all four of those championships in the same calendar year. He would then go on to help found Augusta National and the Masters tournament. 3. It took the arrival of the FedExCup for Tiger Woods to thrive at East Lake. Hal Sutton was the first player to win a TOUR Championship at East Lake when he took out Vijay Singh in a playoff. Woods was 20th that year in his first TOUR start at the course. Two years later, Woods already had nine wins in the 2000 season when he came to East Lake. So, when he shared the 54-hole lead with Singh, Woods was the hot favorite to win. But rival Phil Mickelson had other ideas and a final-round 66 helped him overtake Woods. Two years later, Woods had the chance to be a final-round conqueror, but a Sunday 70 left him in seventh spot behind Singh. His East Lake woes did not stop there. In 2004, when the TOUR Championship returned again, Woods again seized the 54-hole lead, tied with Jay Haas and four clear of the rest of the field. Surely this time … Nope. His 72 on Sunday relegated him to second behind Retief Goosen. A year later, Woods sat third with a round to go, one back of Goosen and four back of surprise leader Bart Bryant. Alas, Bryant continued his hot week and won by six shots. And so it came to 2007, the opening season of the FedExCup and the new $10 million bonus for the season-long champion. Woods led the regular-season points and still held the top spot when he arrived in Atlanta. Woods was determined to put his past East Lake issues behind him. An opening 64 had him in third place, but he backed it up with a 63 to take control. He turned a three-shot buffer through 54 holes into a dominant eight-shot win to exorcise any demons. In 2009, Woods shot a final-round 70 to finish second to Mickelson’s 65, but Woods still claimed his second FedExCup. He and Rory McIlroy are the only two-time winners of the season-long championship. Which brings us to 2018. Who could forget Woods coming down the 18th hole on Sunday? The crowds burst through the ropes to create one of the greatest scenes sport has ever witnessed. It was Woods’ 80th PGA TOUR title and came more than five years after his last victory. It was one that certainly helped erase any previous pain at the course. 4. It is part of the successful East Lake Foundation. East Lake Golf Club has played a central role in the remarkable transformation of the East Lake community. With the motto “Golf with a Purpose,” it joins organizations like the Charlie Yates Golf Course, The First Tee of East Lake, the Charles R. Drew Charter School, the YMCA and of course the PGA TOUR and its TOUR Championship in contributing to the success of the project in a different way. The East Lake Foundation was formed to revitalize a suffering inner-city neighborhood and turn it into a vibrant community where all residents can thrive. Over the last two decades, the Foundation has proven that working with residents and public and private partners, while providing the right combination of comprehensive programs and services, is transformative for the community. The East Lake Foundation works with many partners to deliver and support a wide range of programs, including early childhood education; supplemental enrichment at Drew Charter School; college and career readiness and scholarships; entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy training for adults; golf and life skills instruction; and healthcare access and education. 5. It has played host to some incredible shots. Every shot matters for a winner, but there were two moments at East Lake in the FedExCup era that will make highlight reels for the rest of time. In 2016, Rory McIlroy needed something to happen fast. Three shots behind with three holes to play at the TOUR Championship, McIlroy holed a pitching wedge from 137 yards for eagle that gave him the spark he needed to close with a 6-under 64 and join a three-way playoff with the FedExCup title riding on the outcome. He drilled a 15-foot putt on the same hole to win it all. In 2011, Bill Haas and Hunter Mahan needed a playoff to decide the FedExCup champion. On the second playoff hole, Haas pulled his approach into the water. A dry summer left the water level lower than usual, allowing Haas to still see part of his ball. His recovery shot from the hazard spun to within a few feet of the hole. A par on the next hole was enough to hand Haas the title. “You play it like a bunker shot, for those of you that want to know, if there’s a little bit of water, if you don’t mind getting your feet dirty, and then blast it out of there. It came out perfect. Lucky,” Haas said.

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Rory McIlroy hopes his strong finish Friday at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship is a good sign. The top-ranked McIlroy, who leads the Race to Dubai standings, went birdie-birdie-eagle on this final three holes for a 4-under 68 that left him seven shots back of co-leaders Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton. “It was nice to finish with a flourish there and put myself a little closer to the guys going into the weekend,” said McIlroy, who is bidding to be the DP World Tour’s leading player for the fourth time in his career. Fitzpatrick’s 67 puts him at 12-under 132 overall to not only share a three-shot lead with Hatton after two rounds but also keep him out in front in the Race to Dubai. “I’ve played two good rounds to start with to put myself in position,” the U.S. Open champion said. “Just keep doing more of the same and see where it gets me come Sunday.” Fitzpatrick would clinch a first Race to Dubai title with a third win at the DP World Tour Championship, provided McIlroy or Ryan Fox don’t finish the event in second. A second-place finish would also be good enough for Fitzpatrick if McIlroy finishes lower than seventh. Fitzpatrick had six birdies and a bogey at the 12th hole on the Earth Course, where he is a two-time winner. Hatton’s 67 included eight birdies and three bogeys. Fox, who is second in the points table to McIlroy, shot a 72 and was in 37th place after two rounds. McIlroy’s brilliant approach shot set up his eagle on the par-5 18th. He described his first 33 holes as “very mediocre golf” but said “something sort of clicked.” He’s not sure what. “I’m not sure, but whatever it is I need to bottle it for the weekend,” the Northern Irishman said. “You never know, that finish here on Friday could be key to something that happens over the next 36 holes.” McIlroy is trying to win the FedExCup and Race to Dubai in the same year for the first time, having won each event on three occasions. His last Race to Dubai title came in 2015, having also won it in 2012 and 2014.

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