Woods, Thomas, McIlroy and Rose headline ‘Payne's Valley Cup'

AVONDALE, La. – It was cold and windy for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans pro-am on Wednesday, but Cameron Champ and Tony Finau launched absurdly long tee shots down the middle of the fairway at the par-5 second hole at TPC Louisiana. Champ has a flatter, missile-like trajectory shot while Finau – who may be slightly longer but admits he can’t always control it – gets a bit more air under his drives. They are Team #SendIt, hitting drives that are the envy of others, even other PGA TOUR pros. But to get a better idea of what makes this team great, you have to get beyond that. “It’s what they represent – the diversity that’s out here and how they’ve been bold to stand up on what’s going on in the world,” said Earl Cooper, a Black golfer and PGA pro from Wilmington, Delaware, who played with them in the pro-am. “They’ve taken on the responsibility.” Cooper and Olajuwon Ajanaku, another Black pro in the pro-am who hopes to make it as a touring professional, run Eastside Golf, an apparel company that seeks “to build awareness to the youth and non-golfers how cool golf is.” Their logo: A man with blue jeans and a chain necklace swinging a club. “It’s just saying, you know, you can be yourself,” Cooper said. Last year they sent a hat to Champ through a mutual friend in Detroit. It was a bit of a longshot, but lo and behold they were scrolling through Instagram one day when they came across Champ – wearing his black Eastside Golf hat. Cooper and Ajanaku were ecstatic. Surprising? Not really. The connective tissue of Team #SendIt has less to do with big drives than their shared desire to make a difference. Whether they’re joining with SAP to donate tens of thousands of dollars to Black-owned business (Champ) or supporting underprivileged kids in Utah (Finau), the longest-hitting team in New Orleans subscribes to the ethos that a rising tide can and should lift all boats. “Obviously Tony is not African‑American but he is a man of color, and especially being in Utah,” says Champ, who shares an agent with his teammate. “We have very similar backgrounds of how we got brought up in the game and how we got … to the TOUR. “I have mad respect for Tony and his family and what they’ve done back home in Utah.” Says Finau, “Well, as far as Cameron, I admire his courage and his bravery to be outspoken about what he stands for. Not a lot of athletes are willing to take the forefront. But as one of the very few African‑Americans on the PGA TOUR, he’s taken that stance to what he feels like is right for equality and for what he stands for. I’m happy to be his friend and support him in that.” Champ’s father is Black, while Finau is the first TOUR pro of Tongan and Samoan descent. Both have been open about having experienced racism, and both took to social media last summer after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd’s neck, killing him. “Silence is not a position I will take,” Finau wrote. “It is time to add greater understanding to our perspectives. It is time for all of us to build a future together that treats everyone with the dignity, fairness, respect and equality that they deserve. I stand with you. #BlackLivesMatter” Champ pointedly wore one black shoe and one white one during the BMW Championship in the FedExCup Playoffs. And he still has “EQUALITY” stamped on the side of his hat. They are part of a wave of athletes – Colin Kaepernick, LeBron James, Naomi Osaka – whose athleticism fuels their activism. And it’s spreading. Michelle Wie West has spearheaded a project in which proceeds from the sale of limited-edition golf hoodies will fund the LPGA Renee Powell Fund and the Clearview Legacy Foundation. She has sent hoodies to several TOUR pros. During Black History Month in February, Champ and corporate partner SAP contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Black-owned businesses at various TOUR stops, be they eateries or a barber shop frequented by Champ himself in Houston. He even put their logs on his bag. At the end of last year, in partnership with Chevron, his foundation created two Mack Champ Scholarships for the men’s and women’s golf programs at HBCU Prairie View A&M University, an initiative toward which to TOUR contributed an additional $100,000. As a kid, Finau did not have access to golf – he smashed balls into an old mattress his father hung in the garage – so he’s working to change that for kids today. “My foundation is a big deal to me,” he says. “I love supporting my foundation and under-privileged kids and those that don’t have as much of an opportunity.” Asked to name his favorite athlete from other sports, Champ mentions James. “What he’s done back home with the high school he built – that’s the stuff that needs to happen,” he says. “Change is not cheap, especially in this modern day, either. We have to do as much as we can as far as fundraising and doing things like that to be able to help the next generation.” Finau cites Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz. “I see what he does in our community in Utah,” he says. “He’s not shy about being out in public and going to elementary schools and talking to kids. It’s great to see. He’s a very humble kid. He’s young, but obviously an amazing talent, and I love what he does in our community. “He’s a great person, and a great image for Utah and for kids to look up to.” For Finau, and for Champ, it takes one to know one.

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For practical purposes, additional events on the PGA TOUR present playing time for the rank and file who don’t qualify for the marquee events contested concurrently – four World Golf Championships and The Open Championship to be precise. The Puerto Rico Open specifically opens the third phase for Korn Ferry Tour graduates who were reordered at the conclusion of The Genesis Invitational. Those near the bottom of the category will struggle procuring tee times regularly for a couple of months. Baked into all if it is the mainstream understanding of opportunity. In fact, that’s the billing for all five of these tournaments. And turn back the clock no further than the last one when Brendon Todd emerged from career darkness to raise the trophy in the sunshine at the Bermuda Championship. He parlayed the form into victory in his next start at the Mayakoba Golf Classic. His early season’s body of work then yielded a return to the country for this week’s WGC-Mexico Championship. He’s the story of 2019-20 thus far. A field of 120 has gathered at Coco Beach Golf & Country Club for the 12th edition of the Puerto Rico Open. More on the course and what it takes to succeed on it can be found beneath the ranking of projected contenders. POWER RANKINGS: PUERTO RICO OPEN OTHERS TO CONSIDER • Tom Lewis … In a sense, his season begins now. The Englishman opened 0-for-3, and then fulfilled his obligation on the European Tour where he’s done very well, including a T3 in Dubai four weeks ago. This week’s field in Puerto Rico is similarly as strong as the field that he took down to win the Korn Ferry Tour Championship. • D.J. Trahan … He’s shown enough signs of life to suggest that serendipity is in the salty air. Last year on Past Champion status, the renown ball-striker placed T16 without his A-game tee to green. • Chris Couch … While he’s a regular in opposite events via Past Champion status, he’s enjoyed a fruitful year since a T66 in his debut at Coco Beach. All told, he’s won nearly three dozen times on the Open Golf America Tour. Nothing like a PGA TOUR start to see how his game truly stacks up. Before digging into the details, a subtext of the tournament is that PGA TOUR rookie Rafael Campos is not competing for the first time in its history. The native of Puerto Rico is sidelined indefinitely with soreness in his left elbow. Campos’ experience at Coco Beach will have to come in handy another time, but it’s not a prerequisite for success. Three of the last five winners were first-timers in the tournament. (The event was canceled in 2018 due to the destruction caused by Hurricane Maria.) That is more of a by-product of the construct of the field that turns over considerably every year than it is the customary narrative attached to sites impacted by the wind. Hard against the ocean on the northeastern shore of the island, there is no shelter from the elements. Martin Trainer prevailed by three strokes last year with an aggregate of 15-under 273, and he did so in steady breezes of 20 mph with gusts touching 25-30 mph. Overall, the course surrendered a scoring average of 71.966, slotting it one-tenth of one stroke harder than Augusta National Golf Club where par also is 72 but also where 15-under 273 would’ve won eight of the last nine Masters. The wind is forecast to challenge similarly in the opening round this week, but it might abate for the remainder. Hitting the sizeable targets will be the premium, but paying off the scoring opportunities will be just as valuable. En route to his breakthrough title, Trainer ranked fourth in greens in regulation (75 percent) and second in putts per GIR. He also slotted third in putting: birdies-or-better, first in par breakers (23 birdies) and co-led the field in par-5 scoring. Coco Beach remains unchanged as it preps for the conditions. The paspalum greens on the 7,506-yard test are governed to run no longer than 11 feet on the Stimpmeter. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Power Rankings (WGC-Mexico) TUESDAY*: Power Rankings (Puerto Rico), Sleepers (WGC-Mexico), Fantasy Insider * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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Retief Goosen & Tyrone Van Aswegen … No matter how many years it’s been since any of Goosen’s seven PGA TOUR victories, it’s like cutting a corner when a two-time U.S. Open champion lands on this page. However, he’s resorted to burning a career earnings exemption this season in advance of his 50th birthday next February, so consider granting a dispensation. He and his fellow South African tied for 14th place at last year’s Zurich with a field-low-tying 60 in alternate shot in the second round. Goosen was perfect on his own ball from 2013-2017 with a pair of T21s at TPC Louisiana and struts in on a confidence-building T20 at the Valero Texas Open where he recorded progressively lower rounds throughout the tournament. The 36-year-old TVA has been one of the busiest PGA TOUR members over the last two-and-a-half seasons, and he’s made his starts count in going 57-for-80 since 2015-16. En route to a T23 at Harbour Town two weeks ago, he ranked T9 in proximity to the hole on those tiny greens and led the field in scrambling. Seamus Power & David Hearn … The Irishman is no fool. He’s plucked a partner in Hearn who finished T22 (with fellow Canuck and currently sidelined Graham DeLaet) last year and went 7-for-7 with four top 25s in individual competition at TPC Louisiana prior to that. Hearn is weaving his way through 2017-18 on conditional status, but he’s connected for two top 20s, including a T16 on Sunday in San Antonio where he ranked T4 in proximity and T2 in par-5 scoring. Power has made only six of 14 cuts this season, only three of which went for a top 40 but all were top 20s. His T5 at Corales a month ago is a career-best. Hearn’s game off the tee sets the table, while Power’s short game gives them a chance. The expanse of TPC Louisiana helps mitigate their reverse weaknesses in alternate shot. J.J. Spaun & Sam Ryder … Unlike international team competition in which the captain can elect to modify his lineup for every session, teammates at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans are stuck with each other for both best-ball and alternate-shot formats. Partnerships usually fall into one of two categories – the quintessential blend of strength off the tee and finesse around and on greens, or the alignment of skill sets that caters to a seamless and arguably more valuable transition in alternate shot. These two present a blend of both. They’ll be vying for the field’s lead in greens in regulation and proximity to the hole, a potent combination in any shootout. Spaun is the better scorer, while Ryder is still coming into his own as a rookie. However, when he placed outright fifth at the Houston Open just four weeks ago, Ryder led the field in strokes gained: putting and ranked fourth in birdies-or-better percentage on the greens.

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