Yin shares 3rd-round lead at LPGA Shanghai

Just four weeks and six events are left in the regular season, and the race for the top 125 qualifiers for the FedExCup Playoffs is changing dramatically every week. Each week for the rest of the 2017-18 season, PGATOUR.COM will provide an update on the various moves being made in the FedExCup standings. Winners’ Moves Francesco Molinari, winner of The Open Championship, earned 600 points for his first major title and moved from 27th to 7th in the standings. Merritt, who earned 300 points for capturing the Barbasol Championship in a Monday finish, moved from 131st to 65th. (Only a year ago he had to return to the Web.com Tour Finals after finishing 151st.) Each has won the Quicken Loans National, Molinari this season and Merritt in 2015. Top 125 Watch The top 125 players in the standings after the Wyndham Championship (Aug. 19) advance to the FedExCup Playoffs. Here are the players who moved in and out last week at the John Deere. MOVING IN Troy Merritt. Won his second TOUR title to move from 131st to 65th. MOVING OUT Corey Conners. Missed the cut at Barbasol to move from 123 to 126. Biggest Movers The five players at The Open and the Barbasol Championship who made the biggest moves in the FedExCup standings. Looking ahead • Dustin Johnson, the headliner at this week’s RBC Canadian Open, remains No. 1 after The Open, where seven players had a mathematical shot at overtaking him. Bubba Watson, who was passed by Justin Rose at Carnoustie and falls into the fourth spot, is the other big headliner at Glen Abbey and the only three-time winner on the PGA TOUR this season. • Five of the last six RBC Canadian Open champions have advanced all the way to the season-ending TOUR Championship at East Lake. Jhonattan Vegas, the two-time defending champion at the RBC, who would become the first to threepeat on TOUR since Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic (2009 to 2011), has slipped to 121st in the FedExCup. • Four former FedExCup champions are in the field at Glen Abbey: Billy Horschel (2014), Brandt Snedeker (’12), Bill Haas (’11) and Jim Furyk (’10). • Francesco Molinari, who has never made the TOUR Championship, was 123rd before the Quicken Loans National. With a win, a T2, and a win in his last three starts, he’s 7th. • William McGirt was the Bubble Boy at 125, but with a T12 at the Barbasol is up to 121. Tyrone Van Aswegen, who missed the cut at the Barbasol, slipped from 122nd into the 125th spot.

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The Season-Long Race for the FedExCup Returns, Including All Three Events and Host Courses of the FedExCup Playoffs in Lifelike High-Fidelity Integration of PGA TOUR Data via ShotLink To Enhance Player Experiences at Game’s Launch REDWOOD CITY, California – Today, Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) and the PGA TOUR announced upcoming enhancements and additions available at the launch of EA SPORTS™ PGA TOUR™ via their long-term partnership. This includes news that the FedExCup, including the Playoffs, will be returning to the game in a grand way through ultra-realistic additions of all three FedExCup Playoffs events and host courses, implementation of the FedExCup Playoffs into career mode and select challenges, and enhanced PGA TOUR golfer authenticity via real-life golf data integrated into the development of the game, which is launching in spring 2022. “The PGA TOUR is excited that our fans will be able to experience the FedExCup Playoffs and ShotLink powered by CDW on EA SPORTS PGA TOUR,” said Len Brown, PGA TOUR Chief Legal Officer and Executive Vice President, Licensing and Merchandising. “EA SPORTS ensures an authentic and realistic experience as players accumulate points for their chance to compete in their own virtual FedExCup Playoffs.” All three events that make up the FedExCup Playoffs in 2022 will be playable at launch in EA SPORTS PGA TOUR, which will feature the host courses of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, BMW Championship and TOUR Championship – TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee; Wilmington Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware; and East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. PGA TOUR golfers will be authentically replicated in EA SPORTS PGA TOUR like never before with ShotLink® powered by CDW, the PGA TOUR’s proprietary real-time scoring system. ShotLink offers revolutionary data capture technology from every golfer’s shot – measuring digital information from PGA TOUR players and comparing the data with fans playing the video game. EA SPORTS PGA TOUR is the first-ever golf video game to incorporate ShotLink data, which will provide extensive amounts of data that will be integrated into the game’s development, resulting in accurate player ratings and skills and magnified true-to-life in-game events. TrackMan measurement solution’s data is also being incorporated into the game to add an additional layer of authenticity by allowing EA’s game designers to perfect gameplay and numerous stats such as club tuning. “Getting my first PGA TOUR win at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational was a culmination of years of hard work and training, and it’s exciting to know that EA SPORTS PGA TOUR players can feel the same thrill that I did winning at TPC Southwind,” said Abraham Ancer, who secured his first PGA TOUR win at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in early August. “Getting the chance to compete against the best golfers in the world in the FedExCup is a dream experience, and it is incredibly exciting to know that EA SPORTS PGA TOUR players will get to feel the intensity of the tournament on all three authentic host courses.” True to the real-life PGA TOUR season, players will be able to earn FedExCup points throughout the in-game Career Mode for a chance to make the FedExCup Playoffs, with the top golfers at the end of the year given the opportunity to win the FedExCup. Career mode will also see the return of the Korn Ferry Tour, adding another layer of depth to the game that will allow players to hone their skills before joining the PGA TOUR. The Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA TOUR’s developmental tour, will be a key part of a player’s journey to becoming an expert on EA SPORTS PGA TOUR. EA SPORTS PGA TOUR is the exclusive home of all four of golf’s major championships: Masters Tournament, PGA Championship™, U.S. Open Championship, and The Open. In addition to playing the major championships, golf fans can build a legendary career as they authentically compete at THE PLAYERS Championship in addition to the FedExCup Playoffs, while experiencing the unique atmosphere and venues of each tournament. Players will also be able to compete at The Amundi Evian Championship, one of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour’s five major championships and will have the opportunity to play as several female athletes as well as create a female golfer of their own in the newly overhauled Create-A-Player feature.

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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – U.S. Captain Davis Love III foresees Tiger Woods playing an important role in next year’s Presidents Cup. Woods’ duties are to be determined, however. “His role is whatever his role wants to be,” Love said Tuesday from the tournament he hosts, The RSM Classic. Woods’ future, especially as it pertains to his playing career, remains uncertain after his February car accident that caused major leg injuries. After his success as a playing captain in the previous Presidents Cup, Woods was a candidate to assume the role again at Quail Hollow in 2022. He turned it down, however, because he wanted to focus on his game. “It would have been a great captaincy for Tiger to continue on,” Love said. “At the time we were discussing it, he said, ‘No, I’m playing really good. I’m gonna make the team, and I enjoyed Australia being playing captain, but I want to be a player on the team.’ So his role is whatever his role wants to be. If Tiger calls me up and says, ‘Hey, you’re kicked out, I’m taking over,’ that’s Tiger’s role. If he wants to be an assistant, you know, I would hope that he comes back and starts playing and can make that a goal, to be on the team.” Woods was an assistant under Love III in the 2016 Ryder Cup and served a similar role for Steve Stricker at the 2017 Presidents Cup. Then Woods returned to his winning ways and played on the next two U.S. teams. He was unable to travel to this year’s Ryder Cup but stayed in communication with the team and aided with decisions. As for Phil Mickelson, Love thinks he may be at Quail Hollow as a player after missing the last two U.S. teams. Mickelson played on every U.S. squad from 1994 to 2018, but that streak came to an unceremonious end at the Ryder Cup in Paris. Mickelson went 0-2 as the U.S. was roundly defeated. He won this year’s PGA Championship, becoming the oldest major winner in history, but admitted in the months before Whistling Straits that his game was not good enough to qualify for the U.S. team. He made his debut as a vice captain, instead, entertaining the team with his banter on the walkie-talkies. Mickelson has dominated PGA TOUR Champions with four wins in six starts, however, and has a strong record at Quail Hollow, finishing in the top 10 in 10 of 16 starts in the Wells Fargo Championship at the Charlotte course. “I would look at Phil right now more getting ready to play. I think he can have a big year on the PGA TOUR,” Love said Tuesday. “I would look for Phil as a player right now, yes, more than anything.”

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