World Golf Hall of Fame announces Tiger Woods as finalist for 2021 induction class

SILVIS, Ill. – After tying for second and watching friend Matthew Wolff capture his first PGA TOUR title at the 3M Open in Minnesota, Collin Morikawa came to the John Deere Classic more certain than ever that he could win. After shooting a bogey-free 65 on Saturday to reach 12-under-par and get within shouting distance of the leaders with just 18 holes remaining, he is close to turning those feelings of readiness into reality. “I know Matt pretty well,â€� Morikawa said coming into the Deere. “I know Cameron Champ pretty well. Obviously, (they) won pretty quickly. I think it does help to know that we can go and our games have translated, but I think I’ve already proven to myself that I can come out here and play with these guys.â€� Morikawa, who spent three weeks as the world’s No. 1-ranked amateur in 2018, is making just his sixth TOUR start as a pro. He has now shot in the 60s in 10 of his last 12 rounds, and under par in 11 of his last 12. He earned Special Temporary Membership on TOUR with his T2 at the 3M, meaning he can accept unlimited sponsor exemptions, but is still trying to secure his full status. “I mean, it’s a cool feeling being a part-time PGA TOUR member,â€� he said. “But, obviously, the goal coming into this summer was to earn a full card for next year. We’re almost there.â€� As with Wolff, Morikawa turned pro with big expectations. He was only 19 and still an amateur when he contended in the 2016 Air Capital Classic on the Korn Ferry Tour, dazzling with rounds of 63-63 on the weekend. So far, his play on the PGA TOUR has been more of the same. He finished T14 at the RBC Canadian Open, T35 at the U.S. Open, and T36 at the Travelers Championship before his near-miss at the 3M, where he birdied six holes on his inward nine on Sunday. The former Cal Bears golfer has enjoyed another great ball-striking week at TPC Deere Run, and was third in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green as the leaders toured the course Saturday afternoon. Only his short game has held him back in the Quad Cities; he was 68th in SG: Putting. “It’s been like that kind of throughout this entire summer,â€� Morikawa said after his third round. “I’m still kind of working on some putting things, but I’m hitting some good lines on my putts, and obviously when I get them close, I’m able to drop a few, so we’ve just got to keep that up for tomorrow and, obviously, (get) a few more drop outside of that.â€�

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DETROIT – It’s not like he needed to take out his phone and call up the GPS. But Kevin Kisner did have to turn to playing competitor and tournament host Rickie Fowler Thursday morning after playing his ninth hole at Detroit Golf Club, the par-4 18th, and ask, “How do you get to the first tee?� Fowler, who is surely in demand here at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, smiled, then nodded, as if to say, “follow me.� Kisner laughed, but no apologies were necessary. Like virtually every other competitor in the 156-player field, Kisner had never seen Detroit Golf Club before this week, but extenuating circumstances kept him from a full practice look. He played Monday in Rhode Island at the CVS Charity Classic and “I felt like I needed a little more rest this week after two long weeks (U.S. Open and Travelers Championship) in a row.� He took Tuesday off, played just the back side in his nine-hole practice round Wednesday, then started on the back nine Thursday morning. Was Kisner worried as he took his 4-under score to foreign territory, Detroit GC’s front nine? Not at all. The man’s a trained professional, after all, and he had a pair of aces up his sleeve. “A good caddie (Duane Bock) who has seen the golf course and great yardage books that pretty much tell the story before you get there.� Wouldn’t you know it, Kisner’s introduction to the front nine started birdie-birdie-birdie. Quality stuff, for sure, but on this warm and sun-splashed day, the PGA TOUR’s first-ever tournament in Motown provided local fans with a parade of low scores and birdies by the buckets. It was a daytime fireworks display led by Nate Lashley, who didn’t find out he was officially in the tournament until Wednesday at noon. He took advantage, for sure, peppering Detroit GC with five birdies over the final six holes to post the lowest score (9-under 63) in his brief TOUR career (33rd tournament, 96th round). When you one-putt nine of the 13 greens you hit in regulation and require just 23 overall, it’s a very good day, so Lashley, who is currently 132nd in the FedExCup standings, was obviously content. But this figures to be a shoot-out and no pairing demonstrated that quite like the marquee draw of Kisner, Fowler and Charles Howell III. They combined for three eagles (two for Howell, one for Fowler), 14 birdies, and 17-under and when the red numbers were finalized, Howell’s 65 put him just off of Lashley’s morning pace, Kisner was at 66, and Fowler’s 68 left him thinking he had to step it up Friday. That Howell and Kisner scored beautifully made for an intriguing study, for their 2018-19 seasons have been eerily similar. Drift back to late November, the RSM Classic in Sea Island, Ga., where Howell won for the first time since 2007 and Kisner was joint seventh. Productive stuff for both and each carried it over into the early months of 2019, Howell with two more top 10s, Kisner with a win at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. But while neither can complain about their FedExCup standing (Howell is 15th, Kisner 17th), each concedes that the results the last three months haven’t been as impressive as they were early on. “The TOUR has gotten so good, it doesn’t take much out here,� said Howell, trying to explain why he piled up all four of his top 10s in his first nine starts, but hasn’t had any in his last 11. He looks like he’s still 20, jokes that “I feel 100,� but the kid from Augusta, Ga., recently turned 40 and is in his 20th season, playing his 546th TOUR tournament this week. OK, so he might not stretch back to hickory, but Howell knows what it was like out here with balata balls and fields not quite as deep as they are in this era. “It’s why you see guys working so hard out here, hiring coaches to help them. It feels like’s it’s a razor’s edge,� said Howell. “If you can get even one percent better or a slight advantage, because everyone’s so dang good out here, it’s important to push yourself and push the limit to find ways to get better.� Kisner’s only top 10 in a stroke-play event this far this year remains that RSM start in November (he won in match play and was joint fifth with Scott Brown in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event), but insists that’s not a true reflection of his overall play. “The consistency of my game has probably been as good as anytime in my career,� said Kisner. “I just haven’t been able to put it all together. The momentum hasn’t carried through an entire week.� Maybe it will this week, especially now that he’s actually played all 18 holes? Kisner smiled. “No time like the present,� he said.

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Despite two majors, a World Golf Championship and a pair of beefed-up FedExCup Playoffs events scattered among the first 12 tournaments in Segment 4, the board illustrating the highest ownership percentages for the BMW Championship is covered in chalk. Only Patrick Cantlay at No. 9 starts the week outside the top 17 in the FedExCup standings. He’s 41st in points. (The top 21 in every edition of the Playoffs has advanced. The format since 2015 is the third iteration.) The dispersion qualifies as empirical data to characterize the depth on the PGA TOUR. While gamers are influenced by factors such as momentum, course history and course fit, there’s so much value to go around in a six-man format like PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO that we’ve been able to sustain strength during the most challenging segment of the season. PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO NOTE: Rob’s Rating refers to where our Fantasy Insider slotted a golfer in his Power Rankings (“PR”) and other preview material. Owned Rank  Player  Percentage  Rob’s Rating 1st  Justin Thomas  59.0%  PR1 2nd  Jon Rahm  49.5%  PR7 3rd  Paul Casey  42.6%  PR5 4th  Dustin Johnson (defending champion)  38.9%  PR3 5th  Jordan Spieth  34.9%  PR2 6th  Hideki Matsuyama  28.9%  PR4 7th  Justin Rose  25.8%  PR9 8th  Rickie Fowler  24.0%  PR6 9th  Patrick Cantlay  23.5%  PR14 10th  Brooks Koepka  22.9%  PR17 Golfers in the Power Rankings and outside the top 10 in most owned Power Ranking  Player  Owned Rank  Percentage 8  Patrick Reed  18th  12.8% 10  Henrik Stenson  16th  14.7% 11  Marc Leishman  11th  22.4% 12  Jason Day  13th  22.0% 13  Rory McIlroy  12th  22.3% 15  Matt Kuchar  14th  18.3% 16  Daniel Berger  21st  8.3% 18  Zach Johnson  26th  4.1% 19  Kevin Na  31st  2.0% 20  Bill Haas  47th  0.9% Wild Card  Louis Oosthuizen  19th  11.1% Other notables Owned Rank  Player  Percentage 15th  Sergio Garcia  17.2% 17th  Phil Mickelson  12.9% 22nd  Charley Hoffman  8.2% 24th  Jason Dufner  7.0% 25th  Keegan Bradley  4.4% 37th  Charl Schwartzel  1.2% PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO We gamers can be as disloyal as golf is fickle. In the results-based business of fantasy sports, the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately component varies more than any other, so our reaction to it is almost always directly proportional. This explains the support for Marc Leishman at No. 2 among One & Doners at the BMW Championship, he placed solo third at the Dell Technologies Championship. If you’ve submitted a pick for all of the first 38 events, latching onto a proven talent like that this late is akin to capturing a nugget when panning for gold. If you’re not convinced that his performance at TPC Boston persuaded probably all of his investors in its afterglow, consider that he missed the cut at THE NORTHERN TRUST and finished T39 in his only appearance at Conway Farms four years ago. Because the TOUR Championship concludes the season, next week’s final installment of ownership percentages will be the most compelling, but of the notables outside this week’s top 10 and projected to advance, only Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler spring off the screen as horses at East Lake. This is to say that, on average, gamers are playing aggressively for the now. Since the majority are in pursuit, that approach is spot on. Owned Rank  Player  Percentage 1st  Dustin Johnson (defending champion)  7.9% 2nd  Marc Leishman  7.7% 3rd  Justin Thomas  7.3% 4th  Jason Day  6.6% 5th  Paul Casey  5.8% 6th  Jordan Spieth  5.0% 7th  Jon Rahm  4.6% 8th  Patrick Cantlay  4.4% 9th  Henrik Stenson  4.3% 10th  Hideki Matsuyama  3.9% Other notables Owned Rank  Player  Percentage 13th  Justin Rose  2.6% 15th  Rickie Fowler  2.3% 16th  Brooks Koepka  2.2% 17th  Patrick Reed  2.1% 18th  Rory McIlroy  1.8% 19th  Charley Hoffman  1.6% 20th  Matt Kuchar  1.6% T21  Zach Johnson  1.3% 26th  Phil Mickelson  1.1%

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