Woods, Stricker will be Ryder Cup vice captains

Never before has so much attention been devoted to the cutoff for qualification into any PGA TOUR event via the Official World Golf Ranking. But never before has Tiger Woods been the focal point of that hope. By one one-hundredth of one point, Woods wedged into the limited field at this week’s World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational at the deadline. And let’s face it, because he’s an eight-time champion on Firestone Country Club’s South Course, we’d be engaging in an entirely different conversation without him in attendance, exponentially more so than usual. All 73 who qualified are committed. More on what Firestone presents, how Hideki Matsuyama prevailed last year and what’s in store beginning next year, scroll past the ranking. Barely broke a sweat at Glen Abbey … or maybe he didn’t. Out front in numerous statistical measurements on the PGA TOUR. Winner at Firestone in 2016 despite a third-round 73. He was the only golfer at Carnoustie with four red numbers and he finished T2, but he’s an even better fit at Firestone where his 2014 title is one of top 10s in seven appearances. Thriving in his prime. In position to win almost every time he laces it up. Second on TOUR in adjusted scoring. In 12 appearances at Firestone, he has a T2, a T3, a T4 and a T5. Ignore his lackluster track record at Firestone. He’s scaled into previous unchartered territory in the last two months. Due to his experience, there’s zero reason to expect a letdown now. Oh, how the stars have aligned for this opportunity. Where else better right now to chase down his next victory? It’d also be a storyline conclusion for Firestone, but he’ll need to adjust off the tee. With four consecutive top 10s at Firestone and recurring appearances on leaderboards throughout this season, he’s a constant threat. Currently 11th on the PGA TOUR in adjusted scoring. Remains as consistently strong as anyone. T7 at the European Open was 11th top 20 in 14 starts in 2018. Three straight top 20s at Firestone; T5 last year. Ranks seventh in adjusted scoring. Proving that class is permanent, coasted to a T6 in his debut at Glen Abbey on the heels of a T12 at Carnoustie. Will need to downshift a bit from his aggressive style at Firestone. What could have been if not for a second-round 77 in debut here last year (T28). Five top fives since the Masters, including a win in native Spain. Sits 15th in GIR and third in birdies-or-better percentage. Statistically as balanced as ever. T20 in adjusted scoring. Enters with top 20s in each of his last four starts. Runner-up finish at Firestone last year the best of five top 10s. Grazed his elevated expectations at Carnoustie, for a while at least. Backpedaled to T9 with a closing 76, but it was his first top 20 since the Masters. Three straight top 15s at Firestone. Easy to forget he’s won twice this season, but he also arrives with top 20s in his last two starts and he’s still the rabbit in strokes gained: putting. T12-T3-T24 at Firestone since 2015. Continues to build one big block at a time. Unflappable and fearless. T6-T2 in last two majors. Placed T13 in Firestone debut last year; ranked T2 in proximity for the tournament. Given his skill set as a tee-to-green monster and value as the defending champion, he gets benefit of the doubt upon arrival. After three straight top 20s, he went 0-for-2 in Scotland. The benefit of the missed cut at Glen Abbey is a couple of extra days of rest after getting beat up at Carnoustie (T39). T6 (2015) and T17 (2017) at Firestone. Fourteenth in adjusted scoring. Drifted from his objective to be more consistent, but that early-season success yielded the opportunity to relax, including after becoming No. 1 in the OWGR for a time. Second in FedExCup points. The streaky Dane is on another upswing. Since winning in Italy in early June, he’s added three top 15s, including a T12 at Carnoustie. Also placed T10 at Firestone last year. Making his tournament debut if you can believe it, so his only weakness at Firestone is inexperience. Seven top 10s this season, 17th in strokes gained: tee-to-green and 12th in adjusted scoring. Slides back on the horse at Firestone where he finished second in 2015 and added top 20s in the last two editions. It’s all about the comfort level for the three-time winner in 2017-18. With ongoing struggles with putting, he’s evolved into a plucky fit with a semi-regular record of top 20s in 2018. Since 2010 at Firestone, he has six top 15s, including the 2011 title. POWER RANKINGS: WGC-BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONAL RANK PLAYER COMMENTS Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson, Webb Simpson, Alex Noren, Matt Kuchar and Patrick Reed will be among the notables reviewed in Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider. There may not be a fairer test than Firestone Country Club. Because of its predictability, it’s both the kind of track on which a returning participant can rely on finding his game as well as how it stacks up in real time against the best in the world. With no cut, the mindset is simplified to perform over 72 holes. The stock par 70 tilts at 7,400 yards for the 12th consecutive edition. Large bentgrass greens will run as fast as 12-and-a-half feet on the Stimpmeter, although if the forecast for early-week rainfall holds true, surfaces could be a touch slower. Primary rough is allowed to grow to three inches. Last year’s field of 76 averaged 70.497 on the scorecard, which just about hits the historical bull’s-eye. Hideki Matsuyama equaled the course record of 61 in the final round for a come-from-behind, five-stroke runaway. There’s a perception that Firestone is long even by today’s standards. However, the par-5 16th that tips at a TOUR-long 667 yards boosts the overall yardage disproportionately. The 10 par 4s average just shy of 449 yards. Furthermore, accuracy off the tee is more important than distance, but neither of those two components are as important as hitting the greens in regulation and putting. Nine of the 12 who finished inside the top 10 here last year ranked inside the top 15 in GIR for the week. Seven slotted inside the top 15 in strokes gained: putting. Comparatively, only three who finished inside the top 15 in distance of all drives and just four inside the top 15 in fairways hit were among the top 10 on the leaderboard. This isn’t to say that length is irrelevant; rather, Firestone is a second-shot track where length is bonus at times. Matsuyama finished outside the top 20 in both distance of all drives and accuracy off the tee, but he co-led in greens hit, ranked T2 in proximity and paced the field in strokes gained: tee-to-green (surprise, surprise). The pursuit for the Gary Player Cup will occur in warm and humid conditions. Daytime highs will rise into the upper 80s on the weekend. There is a reasonable chance for rain and storms on Friday. Wind is likely to be a non-factor. Once the last stroke is made, it’ll signify the end of an era for Firestone in its recurring role as host of a PGA TOUR stop. In April, it was announced that the tournament will be relocated to TPC Southwind in 2019. However, as part of a four-year agreement with the PGA TOUR Champions, Firestone will transition into host of the Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship next year. Just in case you were wondering, Woods becomes eligible for the 50-and-older circuit in 2026. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton reviews and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Power Rankings (WGC-Bridgestone) TUESDAY*: Power Rankings (Barracuda), Sleepers (WGC-Bridgestone), Facebook Live, Fantasy Insider WEDNESDAY: One & Done (WGC-Bridgestone), One & Done (Barracuda) THURSDAY: Champions One & Done * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO, which also publishes on Tuesdays.

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At 2, Talor Gooch rigged his Power Wheels Jeep so it could carry his plastic golf clubs. He accompanied his father to the course at 3, occasionally hitting a few shots from the fairway. As a 6-year-old, he made an albatross and broke 80. He was already driving it 150 yards. He was a world champion three years later, claiming the second U.S. Kids Golf World Championship. Gooch’s exploits quickly earned attention in Midwest City, an Oklahoma City suburb with a population of approximately 50,000. By the time he graduated from Carl Albert High School – where he won 19 of his 40 tournaments, including a state individual title – he was good enough to sign with Oklahoma State, one of the nation’s premiere golf programs. Even the Cowboys’ longtime football coach, Mike Gundy, who also grew up in Midwest City, knew about Gooch. “I’ve heard about you. You’re a hometown legend,” said Gundy, according to the Cowboys’ former golf coach, Mike McGraw. Now the ‘hometown legend’ is a PGA TOUR winner and the FedExCup leader entering the first event of the calendar year. Gooch’s victory came in November, a few days after he celebrated his 30th birthday. He played a sterling Sunday round after starting the final round of The RSM Classic with the first 54-hole lead of his career. He hit 16 greens and didn’t make a bogey, becoming just the seventh player in the last four seasons to hold a 54-hole lead and then shoot 64 or lower to win. The others? Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Webb Simpson, Joaquin Niemann and Si Woo Kim. That’s a group that features three former World No. 1s. All but one of those players has won either a major or THE PLAYERS. The PGA TOUR’s 2022 season resumes this week with the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Gooch had to cancel his annual buddies’ trip because of his debut at Kapalua. Not that he minds. This has the makings of a breakout season for the former phenom. He finished 11th or better in all but one of his six starts in the fall portion of the schedule. With 852 FedExCup points, he holds a 122-point lead over second-ranked Sam Burns. That success — along with winning RSM’s Birdies Fore Love, which awards $300,000 for charity to the player who makes the most birdies or better in the fall — has allowed Gooch to start the Talor Gooch Foundation, which will benefit children’s causes. It wasn’t always this easy. Then again, it’s often not. We can forget that the Morikawas and Hovlands are the exception. But Gooch was prepared for the trials inherent to so many pro-golf careers. He grew up around athletes, starting with his father, Ron, who played in the Texas Rangers’ organization, and knew self-belief was key to success, especially during the struggles. “Any athlete will tell you if you don’t believe in yourself, nobody else will,” said Kelsey Cline, Gooch’s mentor and a former University of Oklahoma golfer. “Golf gets complicated, and we all make it tough. The two most important things are self-belief and ball control. Everything else will take care of itself.” Growing up in the winds of Oklahoma helped him develop the latter. He’s one of the best iron players on TOUR and his low “stinger” tee shots were key on blustery days at The RSM. The former has been steeled by experiences earlier in his career. He had to endure two seasons on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada and a scare at Q-School’s second stage – which left him wondering if he’d need to work at Best Buy to fund his career — before making it to the PGA TOUR. His rookie season in 2018 was interrupted by the removal of his appendix. Instead of seeking a medical extension, he tried to tough it out and keep playing. He secured conditional status for the following season, and in that second TOUR campaign he shared a leaderboard with some of the game’s biggest stars at Torrey Pines to prove he belonged. “A takeaway from my dad, all these great athletes that I’ve been fortunate to spend time with, is don’t get down, don’t let anyone see you’re down,” Gooch said. “You can get a little frustrated, but get right back up and dust yourself off and get going.” Ron Gooch played minor league baseball in the Texas Rangers’ organization, amassing a .271 batting average in more than 1,600 plate appearances. He hit .293 in more than 100 games at Triple A but never made it to the majors. Through his friendship with Cline, Talor played childhood rounds with Sam Bradford while the Heisman Trophy winner was starring at Oklahoma. J.T. Realmuto, the Philadelphia Phillies’ All-Star catcher, attended Carl Albert at the same time as Gooch, and the two remain close today. Gooch’s former Oklahoma State teammate, Wyndham Clark, calls him “a gamer” because of his toughness and ability to get the ball in the hole. In high school, Gooch won a tournament less than 48 hours after his clubs were stolen from his car; he used a backup set and a driver borrowed from his coach to shoot 68. Charles Howell III, another former Cowboy, says Gooch possesses a quiet confidence. His decision to attended Oklahoma State is testament to that. He knew some questioned if he’d crack the Cowboys’ starting lineup, which featured three first-team All-Americans (two reached No. 1 in the world amateur ranking, while another was the son of a major champion). Gooch started every event as a freshman. “If you don’t have that little bit of grit to go prove people wrong,” he said, “you’re not going to make it long.” In his second TOUR season, with just conditional status, Gooch finished third in the Farmers Insurance Open. Only Justin Rose – the No. 1 player in the world and reigning FedExCup champion — and Adam Scott beat Gooch. He tied Hideki Matsuyama, while Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, and Jason Day finished directly behind him on the leaderboard. Gooch was fifth at this year’s PLAYERS, the tournament with the game’s strongest field, behind only Justin Thomas, Lee Westwood, Bryson DeChambeau and Brian Harman. And in October, he shot a final-round 62 in THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT to get in the mix with McIlroy, Collin Morikawa and his fellow Oklahoma State alum, Rickie Fowler. “I want to be the best and I want to compete against the best,” Gooch said. He’ll have more opportunities this year. His RSM win moved him to a career-best 32nd in the world ranking. He’ll make his Masters debut in April and, thanks to his incredible haul in the fall, likely will qualify for his first TOUR Championship. A coaching change in March has helped Gooch’s game reach a new level. He started working with Boyd Summerhays, best known as Tony Finau’s instructor, at THE PLAYERS. Gooch has been fifth in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green since (behind only Daniel Berger, Collin Morikawa, Paul Casey and Justin Thomas). Summerhays’ schedule at TPC Sawgrass was full because of his commitments to his other TOUR students, but he was told by a caddie that he shouldn’t pass on the opportunity to work with Gooch. “Everything I had heard about him being a competitor, a dog, having that fight, I saw from the beginning,” said Summerhays, a fellow Oklahoma State alum. “I had a caddie, when he heard Gooch may come to see me, say trust me, Talor has the ‘it factor.’ I didn’t question it. I trust my friend’s judgement.” Summerhays couldn’t meet with Gooch until late on the eve of THE PLAYERS, however. He texted Gooch at 4:30 p.m., inquiring if it was too late for him, but Gooch didn’t hesitate to show up. They worked until 7 p.m. on the eve of one of the year’s biggest events. Late afternoons at the course are nothing new for Gooch. Golf became his father’s passion after his baseball career ended. Talor soon asked if he could come to the course, as well. “I wanted to play golf, but I didn’t want to leave him out of anything,” Ron said in a 1988 story in The Daily Oklahoman about his 6-year-old prodigy. “You can feel guilty, or you can take him and make your handicap go up.” Ron chose the latter, and Talor quickly started garnering attention, which is why he was featured in the local paper at such an early age. Talor would tee it up from 150 yards on the par-4s and 175 yards on the par-5s. He made 2 on the par-5 16th at John Conrad Regional Golf Course after hitting his drive about 30 yards from the green and holing out with an 8-iron. “Yes!” he shouted and sprinted after his ball, the newspaper reported. Conrad became like a second home. “I may go eat a sandwich at Conrad, and he’ll go hit two buckets of balls,” Ron told the Oklahoman. Talor calls Conrad “your typical muni,” with flat fairways and shaggy greens. The modest beginnings molded him. In junior golf, his family would often spend up to 15 hours in the car traveling to tournaments and scrambled to make ends meet. “So much of my makeup starts from where I started from, not having the best of everything … and having to make the most of what I’ve got,” Gooch told the Talk of the TOUR podcast. “I wanted for nothing, but I had to go work to get everything I wanted.” That includes a PGA TOUR win and a spot among the game’s elite this week at Kapalua. Talor Gooch’s perseverance allowed him to make good on his promise.

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