Woods-Manning prevail in star-studded match, raised $20m for charity

HOW THEY QUALIFIED Winner — PGA/U.S. Open Championship Jason Day Brooks Koepka Rory McIlroy Jordan Spieth Justin Thomas Winner — THE PLAYERS Championship Si Woo Kim Webb Simpson Winner — The Masters Tournament Patrick Reed Bubba Watson Winner — the Open Championship Zach Johnson Winner — TOUR Championship Xander Schauffele Winner — WGC Event Russell Knox Winner — Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Memorial Matt Every Marc Leishman Bryson DeChambeau David Lingmerth William McGirt Winner — FedExCup Billy Horschel Tournament winner in the past two seasons Ryan Armour Aaron Baddeley Daniel Berger Jonas Blixt Wesley Bryan Patrick Cantlay Paul Casey Greg Chalmers Austin Cook Brice Garnett Fabian Gomez Emiliano Grillo Adam Hadwin James Hahn Brian Harman Russell Henley Charley Hoffman Mackenzie Hughes Billy Hurley III Smylie Kaufman Patton Kizzire Satoshi Kodaira Andrew Landry Peter Malnati Graeme McDowell Ryan Moore Rod Pampling Pat Perez D.A. Points Ted Potter Jr. Brandt Snedeker Kyle Stanley  Brendan Steele Chris Stroud Brian Stuard Vaughn Taylor Jhonattan Vegas Career Money Exemption Retief Goosen Sponsors Exemptions — Members not otherwise exempt Jim Furyk Padraig Harrington Sponsors Exemptions — Unrestricted Doug Ghim Nick Hardy Hunter Mahan Dylan Meyer PGA Section Champion/Player of the Year Adam D’Amario Past Champions Ken Duke  Kevin Streelman Top 125 on last season’s FedExCup Points List Louis Oosthuizen Bill Haas Chez Reavie Keegan Bradley Luke List Anirban Lahiri Stewart Cink Scott Brown Martin Laird Jamie Lovemark Sung Kang Ollie Schniederjans Robert Streb Kevin Tway Danny Lee Kelly Kraft Jason Kokrak Patrick Rodgers Chad Campbell Cheng Tsung Pan Harold Varner III Nick Taylor J.B. Holmes J.J. Spaun Michael Kim Scott Stallings  Martin Flores Richy Werenski Ryan Blaum Geoff Ogilby Robert Garrigus Derek Fathauer Tyrone Van Aswegen Harris English Dominic Bozzelli Nick Watney John Huh Blayne Barber Ben Martin Rory Sabbatini J.J. Henry Major Medical Extension Ryan Palmer Jon Curran Bob Estes Steve Marino Leading Money Winner from Web.com Tour & Web.com Tour Finals Chesson Hadley Top 10 and Ties from previous event Andrew Putnam Trey Mullinax Top Finishers from Web.com Tour last season Beau Hossler Tom Hoge Keith Mitchell Brandon Harkins Alex Cejka Martin Piller Abraham Ancer Corey Conners Tyler Duncan Seamus Power Talor Gooch Nicholas Lindheim Troy Merritt Sam Saunders Joel Dahmen Ben Silverman Denny McCarthy Tom Lovelady Adam Schenk Shawn Stefani Xinjun Zhang Nate Lashely Sam Ryder Bronson Burgoon Jonathan Randolph Matt Jones Rob Oppenheim Ethan Tracy Roberto Diaz Jonathan Byrd Lanto Griffin Cameron Tringale Brett Stegmaier Conrad Shindler Matt Atkins Steve Wheatcroft Zecheng Dou

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ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Rory McIlroy let himself dream. He couldn’t help it. The enormous yellow scoreboard that stood stories above St. Andrews’ final hole stared back at him whenever he looked out the window of his hotel room. He imagined his name in the black, block letters standing atop the list, the same image he surely thought about countless times as a kid. The dream came true a day early. His name occupied the top space Saturday night, after a 66 that put him into a tie for The Open’s lead with Viktor Hovland. McIlroy spoke that evening about his “cocoon,” the place where he could divorce his process from the pressure. But each time he peered out his hotel-room window, he allowed himself to imagine what could have been the most important victory of his career. “You’ve got to let yourself dream,” McIlroy said. “You’ve got to let yourself think about it and what it would be like, but once I was on the golf course it was just task at hand and trying to play the best golf I possibly could.” Only Hovland was McIlroy’s equal over the first 54 holes of The 150th Open. They both shot 16-under 200, including matching 66s in Saturday’s second-to-last group to earn Sunday’s last tee time. They were four clear of the players in third place, Cameron Smith and Cameron Young. McIlroy wasn’t the only one dreaming of him winning in the Home of Golf. A win by Great Britain’s great hope in the game’s spiritual center made too much sense. It had been 12 years since he last played an Open at the Old Course, and eight years since his last major win. The greatest player of his generation, and one of the greatest Europeans of all time, McIlroy had endured close calls in majors earlier this year, finishing in the top 10 in each of the first three. Then on Friday, as he was starting his second round, he crossed paths with Tiger Woods as Woods’ career at St. Andrews likely came to a close. Woods was touched by McIlroy tipping his cap in respect as they walked past each other. Woods’ last Open at St. Andrews, where he won twice, could have concluded with the first win at St. Andrews for the best player since Woods. McIlroy was trying to join Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Europe’s two best of the modern era, Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros, by winning at the Old Course, a setting that carries extra significance. A win would have tied Ballesteros with five major triumphs and leave him one short of Faldo’s record for most majors by a European player since World War I. McIlroy is the player in today’s game who gives the most consideration to context. His legacy is his priority at this point in his career, and only a victory at Augusta National would do more for it. Like Jordan Spieth seven years earlier, the sentimental favorite didn’t win at St. Andrews, however. McIlroy was bogey-free Sunday but made just two birdies. His 70 left him in third place, two strokes behind winner Cameron Smith. Smith birdied the first five holes of the back nine and closed with 30 en route to a Sunday 64. TOUR rookie Cameron Young, who played with Smith in the second-to-last group, shot 65 to finish second. McIlroy led most of the day but fell behind after Smith birdied 14. McIlroy could only muster pars on the final holes, however. “I knew that I needed to respond,” McIlroy said. “I just couldn’t find the shots or the putts to do that.” It was a day that was relatively stress-free. He drove it well and didn’t make a bogey, but also couldn’t hit his approach shots close enough or take advantage of the Old Course’s drivable par-4s. This the first time in his career that McIlroy has finished in the top 10 in all four majors. He’s third in the world ranking and fifth in the FedExCup with two wins this season. He spoke this week about the trust he has in his game, and the freedom it has produced. He reunited with longtime swing coach Michael Bannon and won last month’s RBC Canadian Open while his caddie, Harry Diamond, was home with his wife and newborn child. It required him to make more decisions on the course and rely less on his longtime looper. “I’m in more control of my swing and my game,” he said. He left last month’s U.S Open saying he was “closer than I’ve been in a while.” But on Sunday, McIlroy struggled to trust his reads on St. Andrews’ slow greens and watched several birdie putts slide by the hole. While Smith was in the midst of his birdie streak, McIlroy couldn’t capitalize on two of St. Andrews’ drivable par-4s, Nos. 9 and 12, and parred the par-5 14th when a birdie would have pulled him even with Smith. McIlroy missed long birdie putts on 15 and 16, as well, and a 20-footer on the difficult 17th after Smith had two-putted from behind the Road Bunker. Smith’s birdie on the final hole meant McIlroy needed to make eagle on 18. It was over when his second shot ran past the hole. “There were a lot of putts today where I couldn’t just trust myself to start it inside the hole,” he said. “I was always starting it on the edge or just outside thinking it was going to move. More times than not, they just sort of stayed there.” McIlroy focused on the positives in his post-round press conference and tried to place the result in its proper perspective – “It’s not life or death,” he said – but the scene after he stepped away from the microphone painted a fuller picture. A golf cart waited to whisk McIlroy to the locker room. He sat down next to his wife, Erica, and rested his head face-down on her shoulder. He had no more energy to expend. The fight was over. The Old Course is a romantic setting for those with a deep connection to the game. A round on the historic grounds elicits a variety of emotions. Including heartbreak.

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KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Buckle up. This could be a wild ride. The PGA Championship returns to Kiawah Island this week but there’s one big difference from 2012. Nine years ago, this event was held in August. That means a much different challenge awaits this year’s field. RELATED: Nine things to know about Kiawah Island | Morikawa’s shot ‘heard round the world’ | Spieth eyes career Grand Slam When Rory McIlroy destroyed the field with his eight-shot win in 2012 he was aided by summer storms that softened up the Ocean Course significantly over the weekend. There was also a searing swampy heat well into the 90s that felt like triple digits. And the winds never blew at full strength. Weather forecasts are fickle, of course, but on the eve of this PGA Championship there is a 0% percent chance of rain, the temperatures are expected to be in the high 70s most of the week and the wind is due to sit around 15 mph with gusts towards the mid 20s. The wind will start the tournament out of the east and move to the northeast before flipping for the final round. The Ocean Course is laid out in two nine-hole loops like a figure-eight. The first four holes head east before turning back toward the clubhouse. On the back nine, Nos. 10-13 continue west before turning back toward the clubhouse for the final five holes. The par-3 fifth is the only hole that moves south. The forecast for the first three days predicts players will have a tough start and finish to their rounds. Nos. 1-4 and 14-18 play predominantly into the wind. The eight holes in the middle will be downwind. But that will flip around come Sunday. At 7,867 yards, the course is the longest in major history but it won’t play to that yardage. Each hole’s yardage can change dramatically from day to day. Because of the high winds and their changing direction, Pete Dye built a variety of tees on each hole. “It’ll totally depend on Mother Nature. We’ll make that decision each morning as we set it up. Hopefully, it’ll be fun and fair,” setup guru Kerry Haigh said. Current PLAYERS champion and 2017 PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas says there’s no chance they can see the yardage top out with the wind forecast. “I noticed it last week when someone sent me a scorecard and I saw that the back nine was 4,000 yards, and I think I actually laughed out loud when I saw it because I was looking at the numbers,” Thomas said. Because there is no prevailing wind at Kiawah Island, a downwind hole can play into the wind the next day. During a practice round, Thomas hit 8-iron for his second shot on the 590-yard, par-5 seventh hole when it played downwind. “The 590 yards can play 500 or 490 yards when you get that much wind,” Thomas said. “They can’t play 14, that par-3, from the back (tees) if you have this wind. … Guys are going to be literally hitting driver on that hole. Unless the PGA wants seven-hour rounds, I wouldn’t advise it.” Jon Rahm played a practice round with two-time major winner Zach Johnson and said the American pulled headcover for almost every approach shot that played into the wind. Rahm called Kiawah’s breezes a “heavy wind,” one that plays more severe than the speed might suggest. The par-3 17th, at 223 yards, is another brute if the wind is up. Cameron Champ, a known long-ball hitter, tried unsuccessfully to get his 4-iron and 3-hybrid to the green in Tuesday practice, instead ending up in water. He will look to add a 2-iron to his bag now. Dye’s design is, as usual, one that gives the player who figures out the optimum strategy, and is able to execute that strategy, the advantage. While length is always an advantage, much like Dye’s TPC Sawgrass, it isn’t the overriding factor. You have to miss in the right spots or face terror. “There’s plenty of room, it’s very fair, but the consequence of a miss is huge around here, especially when you get into these outer sandy areas where the lies are very unpredictable,” Adam Scott says. “Just getting it back in play, … sometimes you can’t even manage to do that. If the wind blows this way for the rest of the week, it’s going to be a battle to just get in the clubhouse.” The new date also will impact the paspalum grass and what players do face when they miss greens. Because of the wind, Dye built large greens at Kiawah Island but the field hit just 56% of them in 2012. They were the fifth-hardest greens to hit that season. “It’s not going to be as easy around the greens,” McIlroy said. “Last time in August it was hot, humid, the paspalum was … really strong and dense and lush. The ball would just sit right up on top and it was so easy to just get your lob wedge out, clip it, spin it. “This year they’re a little more bare, a touch links-y in places, especially with the wind and the dry weather. I don’t think it’s going to be quite as simple as it was around the greens like last time. That’s what I did so well. I chipped and putted so well that week. That’s what won me the tournament. I scrambled well, and if the wind keeps up like this again this week, that’s what you’re going to have do well.” Being beachside also means plenty of sand. The PGA of America had decided that all of those sandy areas at the Ocean Course are not being treated as bunkers. They are waste areas, instead, so players can take practice swings and ground their club. A day at the beach is normally a reason to smile. That may not be the case at Kiawah Island.

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