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By TERRY LYONS
Wells Fargo Championship | Final Round
CHARLOTTE – In search of his first career PGA Tour victory, Wyndham Clark leads by two strokes over World No. 5 Xander Schauffele. Clark carded a season-low (63) for low round of the tournament.
PGA Tour Brunch
PGA Tour: Fleetwood Leads Wells Fargo
CHARLOTTE – Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood carded a 6-under 65 and holds a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Wells Fargo Championship. Fleetwood holds the 18-hole lead/co-lead for the third time on Tour and second time this season (The PLAYERS Championship).
World No. 5 Xander Schauffele cards a 5-under 66, his lowest score in 13 rounds at the Wells Fargo Championship
K.H. Lee carded a first-round (66) at the Wells Fargo Championship for the third consecutive year (won the AT&T Byron Nelson Classic the following week in 2021 and 2022).
Three-time Wells Fargo Champion Rory McIlroy recorded a 3-under (68) on his 34th birthday and stands T-6.
Defending champion and two-time Wells Fargo Championship winner Max Homa opens with a 1-under 70 and stands T36
Wells Fargo Championship | After 18 holes
Tommy Fleetwood 65 (-6)
Kevin Streelman 66 (-5)
K.H. Lee 66 (-5)
Taylor Moore 66 (-5)
Xander Schauffele 66 (-5)
Ryan Palmer 66 (-5)
Full Leaderboard: (link)
Tour Turns to “The Green Mile”
CHARLOTTE – The Wells Fargo Championship is the 29th event of the 2022-23 PGA TOUR Season and seventh designated event, featuring six of the Top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (33 of top 50), 25 of the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings and 19 of the 23 players that have won on TOUR this season.
Prize money is a lofty $20m with the winner getting $3.6 million from the bank’s coffers.
Finau Takes Mexico Open at Vidanta
By TERRY LYONS
VALLARTA, México – PGA Tour veteran Tony Finau won his sixth PGA Tour title and fourth in his last 18 starts. He earned multiple victories in back-to-back seasons for the first time in his career.
Rahm Seeking to Defend in Mexico
VALLARTA, México – World No. 1 and current FedEx Cup leader Jon Rahm returns to the Mexico Open at Vidanta after winning the inaugural event in 2022. Rahm has four wins this season, including the Masters, and with a win, would become the first player to win five times in a PGA Tour season since Justin Thomas in 2016-17.
With $13,623,540 in Official Money this season, Rahm is the second player in PGA Tour history to earn $13 million or more in a single season. In 2021-22, Scottie Scheffler set the Tour record for most Official Money earned in a single season with $14,046,910.
Rahm has made six prior starts as the defending champion on Tour. He has not successfully defended a title, but led by six strokes after the third round of the 2021 Memorial Tournament presented by Workday before being forced to withdraw (COVID-19). Rahm has successfully defended one title on the DP World Tour, winning the Open de España in 2018 and 2019.
Tony Finau finished T-2 at the 2022 Mexico Open, which was his first Top-10 of that season. That runner-up result began a stretch of 15 starts for Finau that included three wins (3M Open, Rocket Mortgage Classic, Cadence Bank Houston Open) and three other top-five finishes. With his win at the Cadence Bank Houston Open, Finau is one of four players in the field that has won on Tour this season.
Mexico Open | Tournament Facts
COURSE: Vidanta Vallarta in Vallarta, México
ARCHITECT: Greg Norman (2015)
YARDS/PAR: 7,456 yards/Par 71
PRIZE Money/First Place Winnings: $7,700,000/$1,386,000
DEFENDING CHAMPION: Jon Rahm
FEDEx CUP Points to Winner: 500
SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @MexicoOpenGolf 🇲🇽
PGA Tour: Preview of the Zurich Classic
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NEW ORLEANS – This is the sixth year that the Zurich Classic of New Orleans will be played with the two-man team format, the concept introduced in 2017 but interrupted/canceled in 2020 during pandemic. The tournament format calls for teams of two PGA Tour pros to play Four-ball in the first and third rounds, and Foursomes in the second and final rounds.
Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay will defend their title after winning in wire-to-wire fashion in 2022.
Five of the top six players on the final leaderboard at last week’s RBC Heritage are in the this week’s field, including RBC champion Matt Fitzpatrick, who is competing with his brother, Alex. The younger Fitzpatrick is making his second career start on Tour and first since the 2022 Valspar Championship (MC). The defending champions finished third (Cantlay) and fourth (Schauffele), while the two players that tied for fifth are also making the trip to New Orleans: Hayden Buckley is paired with 2022 Valero Texas Open champion J.J. Spaun and Sahith Theegala is teaming up with 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year Justin Suh.
Fitzpatrick Takes RBC in Playoff
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By TERRY LYONS
HILTON HEAD – Reigning U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick defeated defending champion Jordan Spieth in a multi-hole playoff to win the RBC Heritage at Harbor Town.
The playoff between Fitzpatrick and Spieth was the first on Tour featuring multiple players that had previously won a major championship since the 2020 Sentry Tournament of Champions (Justin Thomas* def. Patrick Reed* and Xander Schauffele). Spieth became the first defending champion to lose in a playoff since Schauffele at that same tournament.
Spieth now has 18 runner-up finishes on Tour since the start of the 2013 season, four more than any other player in that span.
Fitzpatrick is the third player from England to win on Tour this season, tying the most in a single season on record (1983-present).
RBC Heritage | Final Leaderboard
P-1 Matt Fitzpatrick 66 70 63 68 267 (-17) 1-0
P-2 Jordan Spieth 68 67 66 66 267 (-17) 5-4
3 Patrick Cantlay 69 65 66 68 268 (-16)
4 Xander Schauffele 67 66 70 66 269 (-15)
T-5 Sahith Theegala 70 68 67 65 270 (-14)
T-5 Hayden Buckley 69 68 66 67 270 (-14)
PGA Tour Heads to Harbor Town
By TERRY LYONS
HILTON HEAD – The RBC Heritage tees-it-up this morning and features a strong field including seven of the Top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking and 38 of the Top 50). As the Tour turns towards the warmer weather months, 28 of the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings and 19 of the 20 players that have won on Tour this season are playing the old school Harbor Town golf course.
World No. 2 and reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler is making his tournament debut. Scheffler has eight Top-10s in 11 starts this season, including four as the defending champion in a nine-week stretch. Scheffler successfully defended his title during the first opportunity (WM Phoenix Open), then finished T-4 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and fourth at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. He concluded his fourth title defense attempt with a T-10 at last week’s Masters Tournament.
World No. 4 Patrick Cantlay has only finished outside the Top 10 once in five starts at the RBC Heritage (T-3/2017, T-7/2018, T-3/2019, MC/2021, P-2/2022). Cantlay, the 2021 FedEx Cup Champion, fell to 2015 FedEx Cup Champion Jordan Spieth on the first extra hole (No. 18) of the 2022 RBC Heritage, marking the first playoff in the FedExCup era (est. 2007) between two FedExCup champs. The last player to win a tournament a season after losing it in a playoff was Ryuji Imada at the 2008 AT&T Classic (Zach Johnson def. Imada in 2007).
Preview | The RBC
COURSE: Harbor Town Golf Links, Hilton Head, South Carolina
ARCHITECT: Pete Dye
YARDS/PAR: 7,213 yards/Par 71
PRIZE Money/First Place Winnings: $20,000,000/$3,600,000
DEFENDING CHAMPION: Jordan Spieth
PAST RESULTS: (link)
PAST CHAMPIONS: (link)
FEDEx CUP Points to Winner: 500
SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @RBC_Heritage #PLAIDNATION
The 2023 Masters Tournament Preview
By TERRY LYONS
AUGUSTA – The 2023 Masters Tournament is the first major championship of the 2023 pro golf season and second event that offers 600 FedEx Cup points to the winner. In 2022, Scottie Scheffler earned his first career major championship title and fourth win of the 2021-22 season with a three-stroke victory over Rory McIlroy. Scheffler went on to win the Jack Nicklaus Award as PGA TOUR Player of the Year while McIlroy captured his third career FedEx Cup title. They enter this year’s Masters as the two highest-ranked players in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Scheffler has two wins this season, including THE PLAYERS Championship.
Three players have successfully defended a title at the Masters Tournament: Jack Nicklaus (1966), Nick Faldo (1990) and Tiger Woods (2002). Scheffler is 1-for-3 in title defenses on Tour this season, with a victory at the WM Phoenix Open and Top-5 finishes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (T4) and WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play (4th).
The only player to win THE PLAYERS and the Masters in the same year is Tiger Woods in 2001. Woods is also the last player to successfully defend multiple titles in the same season, doing so four times in 2007.
The Masters 2023 | Special Discount | Best offer of the PGA Tour Season
Preview | The Masters
COURSE: Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia
ARCHITECT: Dr. Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones Jr.; Perry Maxwell in 1937
YARDS/PAR: 7,475 yards/Par 72
2023 PRIZE Money/First Place Winnings: At least $15,000,000/$2,700,000
DEFENDING CHAMPION: Scottie Scheffler
PAST RESULTS: (link)
PAST CHAMPIONS: (link)
FEDEx CUP Points to Winner: 600
SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @The Masters
TV COVERAGE: Special coverage of the Par Three Tournament today from 12:00 Noon (ET) on The Masters site. ESPN will provide tournament preview coverage 3:00pm to 5:00pm (ET).
Tournament Info and How to Watch/Stream The Masters: (NBC Boston)
How to Watch Par 3: In case of changes, visit: (Masters.com)
The Basics:
Tournament site: The Masters
The Masters – Tee Times start Thursday at 8:00am (ET) and go to 2:00pm (ET).
Weather: Thursday’s forecast is for cloudy skies. Temperatures range from 67-to-84 degrees with a 17% chance of rain. Winds at 8mph. Weekend forecast is calling for rain with a 64% chance of rain on Friday, a 96% chance on Saturday and 79% chance on Sunday.
Notes:
Three-time FedEx Cup Champion Rory McIlroy will try to become the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam with a win, joining Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen. McIlroy was the only player to finish in the Top 10 at all four Majors in 2022 (2nd/Masters, 8th/PGA Championship, T-5/U.S. Open, 3rd/The Open).
2015 Masters winner Jordan Spieth holds the lowest scoring average of any player in tournament history (min. 25 rounds) at an average of 70.71 (Others: Second-lowest: Tiger Woods, 71.05). Spieth also holds the tournament records for low opening 36-hole score (130, 2015) and low opening 54-hole score (200, 2015; tied with Dustin Johnson, 2020). Spieth has three top-10s on the season, highlighted by a T3 at the Valspar Championship.
Six players have six or more PGA TOUR wins in the last five seasons, including Patrick Cantlay (seven wins in that span) and Max Homa (six) are the only two among the group that have not won a Major championship in their careers. At No. 4 (Cantlay) and No. 5 (Homa) in the Official World Golf Ranking, they are also the two highest-ranked players in the world without a win in a major. Cantlay has made six starts at the Masters and earned low-amateur honors in 2012 (T47) while Homa is making his fourth appearance after making the cut for the first time in 2022 (T48).
Although they went to great lengths to avoid controversy during Masters Week, the LIV Golf tour and the PGA Tour managed to make some waves when Augusta National decided against inviting former multi-time Majors winner and Masters runner-up Greg Norman to the tournament. Norman is currently serving as Commissioner of LIV Golf. (link)
The PLAYERS to Scottie Scheffler
By TERRY LYONS
PONTE VEDRA BEACH – Reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler won The PLAYERS Championship, earning his sixth career PGA Tour title overall and second of the season. All six of Scheffler’s victories have come in his last 27 starts.
Scheffler returned to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking with the victory as he became the ninth player to win The PLAYERS and the Masters Tournament and only the third to hold both titles at the same time, joining Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
Tyrrell Hatton (2nd) birdied the final five holes and tied the back-nine scoring record at TPC Sawgrass (29).
Tom Hoge (T-3) became the first player to record a (78) or higher in the first round of a PGA Tour event and finish in the Top Five since Jose Maria Olazabal at the 2007 PLAYERS Championship.
The PLAYERS | Final Leaderboard
Scottie Scheffler 68-69-65-69—271 (-17)
Tyrrell Hatton 72-71-68-65—276 (-12)
Viktor Hovland 69-71-70-68—278 (-10)
Tom Hoge 78-68-62-70—278 (-10)
Hideki Matsuyama 74-70-67-68—279 (-9)