McKINNEY – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Taylor Pendrith of Canada birdied the par-5 18th hole to beat Ben Kohles and win the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in a dramatic finish on Sunday at TPC Craig Ranch on the outskirts of Dallas.

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Pendrith was stuck on 22 under for five straight holes, parring Nos. 13-17 while playing partner Kohles made impressive birdies at the 16th and 17th greens to tie and then pass him for the lead.

But, with the tournament on the line, Kohles missed the 18th fairway and came up short of the green, landing between two bunkers. He couldn’t get his third shot up onto the green, and once he finally did, he missed a 5-foot par save. That reopened the door for Pendrith, whose lag putt from 41 feet left him 3 feet for the winning birdie and his first career PGA Tour victory.

Pendrith posted a final-round 67 to go 23-under 261 for the week. Kohles’ 66 powered him to the runner-up finish, and Swedish veteran Alex Noren placed third at 21 under after a Sunday 65.

–Field Level Media

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McKINNEY (Texas) – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Caddie Mike “Fluff” Cowan and Jim Furyk have parted ways amicably after 25 years together. Cowan, who was on the bag for Tiger Woods in the late 1990s, is returning to the PGA Tour.

Cowan is working with Taiwanese pro C.T. Pan at this week’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson in Texas.

“It’s hard to part ways after 25 years,” Cowan said, per USA Today’s Golfweek. “Sometimes the right thing to do is staring you right in the face and you’ve got to have the guys to do it.”

Furyk, 53, and Cowan have worked together since the 1999 Masters.

The timing of the move for Cowan is based on simple economics, as Furyk has been sidelined with injuries over the past two years. His best finish in three starts on the Champions Tour this season is a T33 at the Hoag Classic in March.

“We play for $2 million. They play for $8, $20, $25 million,” Furyk wrote in a text to Golfweek. “I knew it was a good opportunity for him, and C.T. has been playing pretty good. (Fluff) was hesitant. Because he’s a great person at heart. But I pushed and we both knew it was best for him and his family.”

Pan, 32, has earned $674,187 so far this season, compared to $19,464 for Furyk.

Furyk’s son, Tanner, is scheduled to caddie for the 2003 U.S. Open champion at three to four events this summer.

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McKINNEY, TEXAS – PGA TOUR rookie Jake Knapp shot (64-64) over the opening two rounds, becoming the third player to shoot 64 or better in first two rounds of THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson. The others? Scottie Scheffler/64-64/2023, Tiger Woods/64-64/1997). Pretty good company to keep.

Knapp, the 2024 Mexico Open at Vidanta winner, seeks to become the first rookie to win twice on TOUR in the same season since Xander Schauffele(2017 Greenbrier Classic, 2017 TOUR Championship).

After equaling his career low round on TOUR with a bogey-free 8-under (63), 18-hole leader Matt Wallace (T2/-13) carded a 5-under (66). The 2023 Corales Puntacana Championship winner and four-time winner on the DP World Tour is making his second start at this event (MC/73-73/2022).

At 16 years, 7 months, 3 days, Kris Kim (T36/-7) became the youngest player to make a cut on the PGA TOUR since Kyle Suppa at the 2015 Sony Open in Hawaii and youngest in tournament history with the previous being Jordan Spieth in 2010.

The top five FedEx Cup points earners from the Corales Puntacana Championship, Zurich Classic of New Orleans, and THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson will earn spots in the Wells Fargo Championship via the Aon Swing 5, while the Top 10 players in the FedEx Cup standings not otherwise exempt through THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson will qualify via the Aon Next 10.

Aon Swing 5:

1. Billy Horschel — 300.000
2. Matt Wallace T2 247.85
3. Troy Merritt T2 247.116
4. Chad Ramey MC 167.167
5. Kelly Kraft 4 165.531

Spieth, the world No. 20 and Dallas native (MC/-4), missed the cut for the second time in 12 appearances (MC/2017). Other notables to miss the cut (at -6) include: Thomas Detry, Matt Kuchar, Robert McIntyre and Kevin Eisner.

CJ CUP Byron Nelson Leaderboard | Round 2

1 Jake Knapp 64 64 128 (-14)

T2 Troy Merritt 67 62 129 (-13)

T2 Matt Wallace 63 66 129 (-13)

4 Kelly Kraft 64 66 130 (-12)

Full Leaderboard: (link)

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CHARLOTTE – (Wire Service Report) – Britain’s Peter Oosterhuis, whose voice became synonymous with the finishing holes at The Masters, died on Thursday, one day shy of his 76th birthday.

A force in Ryder Cup play and two-time runner-up at The Open Championship, Oosterhuis was more recently a broadcasting mainstay in CBS’ coverage of The Masters’ 17th hole. He was part of televised Masters coverage from 1997-2014 following roles as golf director at Riviera Country Club near Los Angeles and Forsgate Country Club in New Jersey.

Oosterhuis ranked No. 1 in Europe for four years during a prolific rise to prominence that eventually brought him to the PGA Tour.

The London-born Oosterhuis was DP World Tour Rookie of the Year in 1969 and on the top player award on tour for four consecutive seasons (1971-74). In addition to three Southern Africa Tour titles he won seven DP World Tour titles and became a full-time PGA Tour participant in 1975 as one of the first international players to assume a spot on the US-based tour.

Oosterhuis won 20 tournaments around the globe and never declined an invitation to represent Great Britain.

He remains tied for the all-time lead in singles victories in Ryder Cup play with six. He participated in the Ryder Cup six times.

Among his near-misses at majors were a one-shot defeat to Tom Watson at the Open Championship in Royal Troon in 1982 and a tied for third at the Masters in 1973 after leading for the first three rounds. The final round was played Monday due to weather issues and Tommy Arnold claimed his only major title, beating J.C. Snead by one shot.

His breakthrough PGA Tour win was the 1981 Canadian Open, a one-shot victory in Toronto over runners up Bruce Lietzke, Andy North and Jack Nicklaus. His Masters tie in ’73 included Nicklaus.

Oosterhuis announced his retirement from broadcasting in the summer of 2014 due to the diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s.

–Field Level Media

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NEW ORLEANS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Irish eyes smiled upon TPC Louisiana this weekend as Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry prevailed in a playoff to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in McIlroy’s debut at the team tournament in Louisiana.

McIlroy, the four-time major champ from Northern Ireland, and Lowry, his Irish friend, fellow major winner and onetime Ryder Cup teammate, put the Zurich on their schedule hoping to jump up the FedEx Cup standings. They’ll each receive 400 FedEx Cup points after defeating Chad Ramey and France’s Martin Trainer on the first playoff hole.

After starting the day seven shots off the lead, Ramey and Trainer fired a 9-under 63 in Sunday’s round of foursomes (alternate shot) to head to the clubhouse at 25-under 263. Other teams in the 25-under range soon wobbled and fell back — including McIlroy and Lowry, for a brief time, before they rebounded from a bogey at No. 17 with a birdie at the par-5 18th hole to force the playoff.

They returned to the 18th tee to begin the playoff, and Ramey’s second shot hooked left over the gallery. Trainer couldn’t hit his third shot hard enough onto the green. Meanwhile, Lowry put his team in the bunker on the second shot but McIlroy made a nice recovery shot — similar to his pitch shot on the 72nd hole to set up Lowry’s 5-foot birdie that forced the playoff.

Lowry’s birdie try in the playoff came to rest inches right of the cup, but Trainer pushed his short par putt that would have extended the playoff.

It marked McIlroy’s 25th PGA Tour win and Lowry’s third. Lowry had not won on U.S. soil since August 2015.

Ryan Brehm and Mark Hubbard shot a 69 and finished one shot out of the playoff after finishing with four straight pars. Brehm missed a must-have birdie at No. 18.

–Field Level Media

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The No. 1 player in the world won his second Masters in three years on Sunday in Augusta, Ga., by firing a final-round 68 to finish the week at 11-under 271.

Six of Scheffler’s seven birdies came over his final 11 holes at Augusta National as he pulled away for a four-stroke win over Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, who posted a 69. Collin Morikawa struggled to a 74, tying Englishman Tommy Fleetwood (69) and Max Homa (73) for third at 4 under.

It marks Scheffler’s second major victory and his 10th win on the PGA Tour in the past 26 months. He has won three tournaments in his last four starts

After a short birdie putt at No. 3, Scheffler suffered bogeys at Nos. 4 and 7 to drop to 6 under with Morikawa, whom he led by one after 54 holes. Aberg and Homa soon joined them for a four-way share of the lead, but Scheffler and Morikawa each birdied the par-5 eighth to sneak ahead to 7 under.

But after Scheffler’s approach at No. 9 spun back and narrowly missed the cup, setting up a birdie, each of his three competitors carded a double bogey to drop down the board. First was Morikawa, who failed to get out of a greenside bunker on his third shot at No. 9 before two-putting.

Aberg’s misstep came at the par-4 11th, where his approach landed well short of the green and hit the water. And Homa went backwards at the par-3 12th after his tee shot over the green bounced into bushes and forced him to take an unplayable lie.

Scheffler made it three birdies in a row at No. 10, absorbed a missed par putt at No. 11 and rebounded with consecutive birdies at Nos. 13 and 14. The latter was the final nail in the coffin, as his approach shot landed on the green’s back ridge and slowly rolled to 2 feet of the cup.

–Field Level Media

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AUGUSTA – Max Homa’s impressive performance in windy conditions Friday marks his fourth career 36-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR and first-ever in a major championship. On Tour, he’s one-for-three converting to victory (Won/2022 Fortinet Championship, 2nd/2023 Genesis Invitational, T5/2023 BMW Championship). Both Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler share the lead.

For Scheffler, this is his 13th career 36-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR, the most of any player since he joined the TOUR at the start of the 2019-20 season. (The second-most is eight by Patrick Cantlay).

Scheffler is three-for-12 to date converting to victory with wins at the 2022 Masters Tournament, 2023 WM Phoenix Open, 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. … It’s his third career 36-hole lead/co-lead in majors; one-for-two to date converting to victory (Won/2022 Masters Tournament, T2/2023 PGA Championship).

With a win, Scheffler can become the fourth-youngest player to win the Masters multiple times, behind Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Seve Ballesteros.

For Homa, as noted, this is his fourth career 36-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR but first in a major championship. His previous-best 36-hole position in a major: T11, 2023 Open Championship when he finished T10.

Tiger Woods stole the headlines for the day, extending his streak of consecutive made cuts at The Masters to 24, and breaking a tie with Gary Player and Fred Couples for the longest streak in tournament history.

For Woods, the streak began with his win in 1997, but note, he did not play in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2021.

Woods is an 82-time PGA TOUR winner and five-time Masters Tournament champion.

The conditions took the field average in the second round to 75.079, the highest in a single round at the Masters since the third round in 2016 (75.719). The 6-over is the highest 36-hole cut relative to par on TOUR since the 2020 U.S. Open (+6) and highest at the Masters since 2017 (+6).

Notables who missed the cut include, Justin Thomas, Sungai Im, rookie Nick Dunlap, Sergio Garcia (who was playing well on the LIV Tour), Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland, Jordan Spieth, Sam Burns, Bubba Watson and Dustin Johnson.

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AUGUSTA – (PGATourBrunch) – The 2024 Masters Tournament is the first major championship of the ‘24 professional golf season. Scottie Scheffler enters the Masters as the No. 1 player in the FedEx Cup standings and No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking for the second time in the last three years. Scheffler has two victories this season, winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and THE PLAYERS Championship in consecutive weeks.

This is the third consecutive year that Scheffler is entering the Masters with multiple wins on TOUR since January 1, the longest such streak since Tiger Woods did so from 2005-2008 (four straight). Scheffler is the only multiple winner on TOUR this season has finished in the top 10 in seven of his eight starts this season, the most of any player on TOUR. He led the TOUR in that category with 17 last season.

The Big News: Living Legend and 82-time PGA TOUR winner and five-time Masters Tournament champion Tiger Woods is making his second start of the season and first since The Genesis Invitational, where he withdrew during the second round due to illness.

Woods made the cut at the 2023 Masters and withdrew during the third round due to injury. He tied Gary Player and Fred Couples for most consecutive starts making the cut at the Masters with 23, and would break the tie with a made cut in 2024. With a win, Woods would break a tie with Sam Snead for most PGA TOUR wins in history and tie Jack Nicklaus for most wins at the Masters (6). This is Woods’ seventh start on TOUR since his February 2021 car accident and third at the Masters. He has three WDs in the previous six starts (2022 PGA Championship, 2023 Masters Tournament, 2024 Genesis Invitational), with his best result in that span coming at the 2023 Genesis Invitational (T45).

There are 89 players in the field, including 20 players making their tournament debut. Among the 20 first-timers in the field, 16 are PGA TOUR members and four are amateurs. Two of the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are making their first start at the Masters Tournament: No. 4 Wyndham Clark and No. 9 Ludvig Åberg.

Clark, who earned his first major title at the 2023 U.S. Open, has won three times on TOUR in the last 12 months, most recently winning the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He is making his ninth career start in a major (3 PGA Championship, three U.S. Open, two Open Championship). Åberg, who turned professional in June of 2023 and joined the PGA TOUR as the No. 1 player in the 2023 PGA TOUR University Ranking, is making his first career start in a major.

In 19 starts on TOUR since turning professional, Åberg has recorded a win (2023 RSM Classic) and six additional Top-10s, including a runner-up to Clark at the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He has finished in the top 25 in each of his last six starts.

At No. 5 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Xander Schauffele is the highest-ranked player that has not won a major. Schauffele has six top-10s on TOUR this season, the second-most of any player (7, Scottie Scheffler).

Schauffele has 19 Top 25s in majors since joining the PGA TOUR at the start of the 2016-17 season, the most of any player in that span.

Akshay Bhatia defeated Denny McCarthy in a playoff to win last week’s Valero Texas Open, earning the final spot in the Masters. The last player to win a major after winning on TOUR the week prior was Rory McIlroy in 2014 (WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, PGA Championship) and the last to do so at the Masters was Phil Mickelson in 2006 (BellSouth Classic).

McCarthy is also making his tournament debut. The last player to lose in a playoff on TOUR and win the following week was Patrick Cantlay, who lost in a playoff at the 2022 RBC Heritage and then won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with partner Xander Schauffele.

The last player to lose in a playoff on TOUR and win a major the following week was Jordan Spieth in 2015 (lost in a playoff at the Texas Children’s Houston Open and won the Masters the following week).

2021 Masters Tournament winner Hideki Matsuyama has finished T12 or better in each of his last four starts, including a win at The Genesis Invitational. Matsuyama is one of only two players, along with World No. 1 and FedEx Cup leader Scottie Scheffler, that has finished in the top 20 in each of the last four years at the Masters.

2023 Open Championship winner Brian Harman is making his sixth start at the Masters (best result: T12/2021) and first as a major champion. The last player to win consecutive majors was Jordan Spieth, who won the Masters and the U.S. Open in 2015. The last reigning Open Championship winner to win the Masters was Tiger Woods in 2001.

Stephan Jaeger won the Texas Children’s Houston Open in his most recent start, earning his first PGA TOUR title in his 135th start. In the first 128 starts, Jaeger’s best finish was solo-fifth at the 2022 Rocket Mortgage Classic. But, in his last seven, he has recorded three finishes of T3 or better (T3/Farmers Insurance Open, T3/Mexico Open at Vidanta, Won/Texas Children’s Houston Open). He is making his fifth career start in a major and first at the Masters.

TOUR rookie Nick Dunlap is making his third career start in a major (MC/2022 U.S. Open, MC/2023 U.S. Open) and first at the Masters. Dunlap won The American Express in January, becoming the first amateur to win on TOUR since Phil Mickelson in 1991.

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Adrenaline prevented Akshay Bhatia from getting much rest as he traveled from San Antonio, Texas to Augusta, Georgia. He’s had a busy couple of days, after all.

Bhatia secured a wire-to-wire victory at the Valero Texas Open on Sunday, which earned him an invitation to the Masters, his second career major start.

The way Bhatia won Sunday is what’s perhaps most impressive. He had to defeat a red-hot Denny McCarthy in a playoff after McCarthy carded a back-nine 28 to shoot up the leaderboard and catch Bhatia. And Bhatia had to play through a dislocated left shoulder — it popped out when he celebrated after making a birdie putt at No. 18 to force the playoff.

Bhatia, 22, had his shoulder taped up before playing his third shot of the par-5 playoff hole. Now that he’s in the Masters field, he’ll be closely monitoring how the shoulder feels.

“It’s going to be a work in progress, for sure,” Bhatia said. “I’ve had it happen two, three times. I had a full disk location playing pickleball a couple years ago, and I had — it kind of subluxed in Bermuda … in 2021. I played through that week. I think I finished 15th or 16th.

“So it’s nothing new to me. It’s a weird, weird experience because I had so much adrenaline so I had no pain kind of in that playoff. But it’s definitely something we’re going to have to work towards, and I have a lot of trust in my team that we can tee it up on Thursday.”

After arriving in Augusta on Monday, Bhatia did not have time to play a practice round, though rest and recovery was more important anyway.

“I’m just taking it easy. I’m going to get some physio work, just make sure my body’s good and rested,” Bhatia said. “This is seven weeks in a row for me, so it’s a lot of golf, but I also have a ton of adrenaline so it kind of balances out.

“I know for sure Wednesday I’ll play the Par-3 Contest and, but, yeah, just going to kind of sit down with the team and figure out what the best game plan is. I’m hoping my shoulder should be good, but I might be a little scared to hit some shots, and we just got to find out (Tuesday).”

Bhatia is the first person who participated in the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals at Augusta National as a kid and went on to make a Masters field. He competed at Augusta for the first time as a 12-year-old in 2014.

“(To) have that opportunity, you know, that first time at the Drive, Chip & Putt is pretty surreal as a kid,” Bhatia said. “You just don’t realize how lucky we are to have that opportunity. And for everyone to be so gracious to let some kids hit some golf balls on the range, hit some putts on the 18th green, it was unreal.”

–Field Level Media

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HOUSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The PGA Tour shifts from its Florida Swing to Texas for this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open, which begins today at Memorial Park Golf Course.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler seeks his third consecutive victory against a solid field. Our golf experts preview the event and provide their favorite prop picks along with best bets to win this week.

TEXAS CHILDREN’S OPEN
Location: Houston, March 28-31
Course: Memorial Park Golf Course (Par 70, 7,435 yards)
Purse: $9.1M (Winner: $1.638M)
Defending Champion: Tony Finau (2022)
FedEx Cup Leader: Scottie Scheffler

HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 1-3:30 p.m. (GC), 3:30-6 p.m. (NBC); Sunday, 1-2:30 p.m. (GC), 2:30-6 p.m. (NBC)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday, 8:15 a.m.-7 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
X: @TXHouOpen

PROP PICKS
–The Field vs. Scottie Scheffler (-400 at BetMGM): There is little question that Scheffler is the best — and hottest — golfer on the planet. There’s also a good reason why it has been seven years since anyone has won three consecutive starts on tour — it’s really hard to do. It’s certainly not the strongest field of the year, but there is enough talent lurking around Memorial Park to believe Scheffler will have a difficult time making it three straight ahead of the Masters.

–Si Woo Kim to Beat Tony Finau (-110 at DraftKings): Kim is coming off a T6 at the Players in his most recent start and has a pair of other top-15 results in his past five starts overall. Finau is the defending champion, but that came in the Fall of 2022 on a much firmer golf course. He believes his hard work off the course will translate into quality results soon, but his recent track record includes a missed cut last week after a T45 at the Players.

–Wyndham Clark Top 10 (+130 at BetMGM): The only player better than Clark in each of his past two starts has been Scheffler, and he also won at Pebble Beach earlier this year. A career-best fourth in the world rankings, Clark is in excellent form and knows Memorial Park well from his T16 in the Fall of ’22.

2024 Prop Picks Record: 18-17-1

BEST BETS
–Scottie Scheffler (+275 at BetMGM) is trying to become the first player to win three consecutive events on tour since Dustin Johnson in 2017. He has a T2 and a T9 in Houston the past two seasons. He opened at +300, but those odds have shortened slightly with Scheffler third in both total bets (7.0 percent) and money (19.5 percent) backing him to win this week.
–Wyndham Clark (+1200) has finished runner-up to Scheffler in each of his past two events. He’s the second biggest liability at BetMGM, where Clark is second with 18 percent of the money supporting him to win. A caution flkag, as Clark is battling an injured back, suffered Monday when he was lifting weights.
–Sahith Theegala (+1600) is a Spring, Texas resident and has consecutive top-10s entering the week. Those factors have contributed to Theegala being the book’s biggest liability as he leads the field with 19.5 percent of the total money backing him since opening at +2200.
–Will Zalatoris (+1800) makes his tournament debut while coming off consecutive top-5s in his past two starts. He’s the third biggest liability at the book this week.
–Tony Finau (+2500) won by four shots in 2022 but has a lone top-10 in eight starts this season.

NOTES
–The event returns to a spring date after being contested in the fall each of the past four seasons. It was not played in the 2023 calendar year.
–This is the fourth playing at Memorial Park, which first hosted the tournament in 2020.
–The top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking after this event will qualify for the Masters if not already exempt. The highest-ranked players in this week’s field who are not yet exempt are No. 57 Tom Hoge, No. 63 Mackenzie Hughes and No. 66 Alex Noren.
–Padraig Harrington, who won on the Champions Tour last week, is in the field on a sponsor exemption.

–Field Level Media

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