PGA Tour Brunch

PGA Tour: First Look at RBC Heritage

April 14, 2021 by Terry Lyons

Welcome to PGA Tour Brunch Coverage of the RBC Heritage

The RBC Heritage returns to its traditional date after being the second tournament played following the PGA Tour’s COVID-19 shutdown in 2020. Webb Simpson is returning for title defense after setting RBC Heritage 72-hole tournament record in 2020.

The RBC Heritage is the 29th of 50 events in the 2020-21 PGA Tour season.

This is the 53rd RBC Heritage, regarded as one of the TOUR’s most popular stops. One of Pete Dye’s signature designs is annually ranked among the country’s top courses and has produced a winner’s roster including inaugural winner Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Hale Irwin, Fuzzy Zoeller, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo, Davis Love III, Greg Norman and Nick Price.

A strong field will consist of 15 of the top 30 in the FedExCup standings, led by No. 4 Patrick Cantlay and No. 8 Dustin Johnson and 28 of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking, including five of the top 10 (No. 1 Dustin Johnson, No. 4 Collin Morikawa, No. 8 Tyrrell Hatton, No. 9 Webb Simpson, No. 10 Patrick Cantlay.

Tournament Tee Times begin Thursday at 7:00am (EDT) through 1:51pm (EDT).

Weather: Forecast calls for a cold front to move through the area during the early afternoon Wednesday to Thursday, bringing a chance for showers before the front moves to the southeast and stalls across Florida for late in the week. Thursday has a 40% chance of rain and 10-15 mph winds with gusts up to 20 mph. Drier and cooler conditions return Friday with highs around 70 degrees. Unsettled weather may return this weekend as a weak low-pressure system may develop along the stalled front pushing showers northward into region.

PGATourBrunch will be posting before 7am (EDT) early tee times from Thursday through Sunday.

Next Week: The Zurich Classic at New Orleans

Field Updates:

Glen Day (OUT)

Charl Schwartzel (OUT)

Steve Stricker (OUT)

Bryson DeChambeau (OUT)

Note: Alternates are not added until the field falls below 132 players

Japan’s Matsuyama Wins His First Major and It’s Historic at The Masters

April 12, 2021 by Digital Sports Desk

AUGUSTA – Hideki Matsuyama won the 2021 Masters Tournament to become the first male pro tour major championship winner from Japan. Matsuyama claimed his first major championship title and sixth win overall on the PGA Tour. He became just the eighth champion (nine instances) with an over-par final-round score.

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Special temporary member/PGA Tour rookie Will Zalatoris finished a career-best runner-up and has six Top 10s and 11 Top 25 finishes in 15 starts this season.

Jordan Spieth, the first player in Masters history to birdie No. 10 all four rounds, finished inside the top three for the fifth time in eight appearances at the Masters.

Xander Schauffele’s triple bogey on No. 16 was his first in 1,042 holes in a major championship. Despite the major set-back, he registered his second Top 3 finish at the Masters.

With a bogey-free 6-under (66), (the second bogey-free round of the week), Jon Rahm picked up his fourth consecutive Top 10 finish at the Masters (4/2018, T9/2019, T7/2020, T5/2021). Rahm now has 15 consecutive par-or-better rounds at the Masters.

Final Leaderboard from the 2021 Masters

Hideki Matsuyama 69-71-65-73—278 (-10)

Will Zalatoris 70-68-71-70—279 (-9)

Jordan Spieth 71-68-72-70—281 (-7)

Xander Schauffele 72-69-68-72—281 (-7)

Jon Rahm 72-72-72-66—282 (-6)

Marc Leishman 72-67-70-73—282 (-6)

Rose Holds Slim Lead After 36 Holes at The Masters

April 10, 2021 by PGA Tour Brunch

PGA Tour Brunch Coverage of the Weekend at The Masters

By TERRY LYONS

AUGUSTA – England’s Justin Rose will attempt to become the first wire-to-wire winner at the Masters since Jordan Spieth (2015). Rose followed up his opening round (65) with a hard-fought par (72) on Friday. Rose has nine birdies on the back nine through two rounds, tied for the most at the Masters in the last 30 years.

Will Zalatoris birdied his final three holes for a 4-under (68), which moved him within one stroke of Rose, the 36-hole leader. Zalatoris is seeking to become the first player to win in his debut Masters appearance since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.

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Jordan Spieth (T-4) at five under (-5) leads the field with 30 greens hit in regulation, his most through two rounds at the Masters, including his 2015 tournament when he won the Green Jacket.

Bryson DeChambeau (T-17) followed his first round (76) with a 5-under (67) for a nine-stroke turnaround – his largest in a major championship between rounds one and two.

Brian Harman (T-2) at six under (138) is the only player in the field to shoot sub-70s with 69-69.

Matthew Wolff shot 76-79 (155) but was DQ’d. The Statement from Masters Tournament HQ: Following his second round, Matthew Wolff returned a scorecard with a hole score lower than he actually made on hole 17. He was subsequently disqualified under Rule 3.3b(3).

Early tournament leader Hudson Swafford at (-2 after four holes), MTC with 73-83 (156).

Defending Masters champion Dustin Johnson missed the cut after shooting 74-75. Other “big names” to MTC included: Georgia native Matt Kuchar, past Masters champion Sergio Garcia, Daniel Berger, Brooks Koepka, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, Jason Day, and Sungjae Im.

Masters Leaderboard After Second Round:

Justin Rose 65-72—137 (-7)

Will Zalatoris 70-68—138 (-6)

Brian Harman 69-69—138 (-6)

Marc Leishman 72-67—139 (-5)

Jordan Spieth 71-68—139 (-5)

Full Leaderboard: (link)

36-hole cut: 54 professionals at 3-over (147) from a field of 85 professionals and three amateurs. An amateur failed to advance to the weekend for the first time at the Masters since 2015.

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Jordan Spieth Wins Valero Texas Open

April 5, 2021 by Terry Lyons

Spieth Back in Winners’ Circle After 3-Year Drought

SAN ANTONIO – Jordan Spieth earned his 12th PGA Tour title in his 83rd start since winning The 2017 Open Championship, a span of 1,351 days. Spieth joined a list of five players in the last 40 years who reached 12 wins before turning 28 years old: Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Justin Thomas

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Spieth became the 92nd player in PGA Tour history to reach 12 wins and moved into a tie for 82nd on the all-time wins list while he improved to 10-for-19 in his PGA TOUR career to win after holding a 54-hole lead/co-lead.

Charley Hoffman finished solo-second for the second consecutive time at the Valero Texas Open, as he finished runner-up to Corey Conners in 2019. Since 2006, Hoffman leads all players at the Valero Texas Open in Top-fives (5), Top-10s (7), Top-25s (12), Cuts Made (15) and score to par (-105).

With a solo-third, Matt Wallace (-14) recorded his career-best result on the PGA TOUR (previous: T3/2019 PGA Championship)

Rickie Fowler (T-17) needed a win to qualify for the Masters Tournamentand will miss a major championship for the first time since the 2010 U.S. Open.

Final Leaderboard at Valero Texas Open 2021:

Jordan Spieth 67-70-67-66—270 (-18)

Charley Hoffman 75-66-65-66—272 (-16)

Matt Wallace 69-68-67-70—274 (-14)

Lucas Glover 73-67-70-66—276 (-12)

Anirban Lahiri 71-69-69-69—278 (-10)

Moving Day at Valero Texas Open

April 3, 2021 by Terry Lyons

SAN ANTONIO – Cameron Tringale tied his career-long birdie streak and holds two-stroke lead over Jordan Spieth and Mike Wallace after 36 holes. Triangle made five consecutive birdies (Nos. 13-17), to tie the longest birdie streak of his PGA Tour career (fourth instance; most recent: R-4/2020 The RSM Classic).

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Tringale is making his 297th start on the Tour since the start of the 2009 season, the most of any player without a win in that span.

Jordan Spieth (T-2) is in the top 10 after 36 holes for the fifth time in his last six stroke-play events on the PGA Tour.

Kevin Stadler (T-4) made the cut for the second time in his last 24 starts on Tour and is striving for his first Top-10 since the 2014 Masters Tournament.

Rickie Fowler’s bogey-free (68) was his first bogey-free score in his last 86 rounds.

A win at the Valero Texas Open is the final opportunity to earn a spot for next week’s Masters Tournament.

First Round Leaderboard:

Cameron Tringale 66-69—135 (-9)

Matt Wallace 69-68—137 (-7)

Jordan Spieth 67-70—137 (-7)

Kevin Stadler 69-70—139 (-5)

Kyle Stanley 71-68—139 (-5)

Erik van Rooyen 71-68—139 (-5)

Brandt Snedeker 72-67—139 (-5)

78 players at 2-over (146) from a field of 141 professionals and three amateurs

PGA Tour: Valero Texas Open Tee-Off

April 1, 2021 by Terry Lyons

Valero Texas Open Preview and Notebook:

SAN ANTONIO – (PGA Tour Brunch) – The Valero Texas Open features four of the Top 30 in the FedExCup standings, led by No. 9 Tony Finau and eight of the Top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking, also led by Finau (No. 13).

The Valero Texas Open is the 27th of 50 events in the 2020-21 PGA Tour season.

Eight past champions are playing this week, including: Zach Johnson (2008, 2009), Brendan Steele (2011), Martin Laird (2013), Jimmy Walker (2015), Charley Hoffman (2016), Kevin Chappell (2017), Andrew Landry (2018) and Corey Conners (2019).

Scottie Scheffler is coming off a runner-up finish in last week’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, his best career finish on the Tour. He lost, 2 and 1 to Billy Horschel in the championship match. Finau-Jordan Spieth-Scheffler are the favorites this weekend. Both Spieth and Scheffler hail from Dallas, Texas.

Spieth, a former University of Texas player, seeks a 12th career PGA Tour title but first since The Open Championship in 2017.

A win at the Valero Texas Open is the final opportunity to earn a spot for next week’s Masters Tournament. The Texas Open is being contested the week before the Masters for only the third time in the last nine years (2013, 2019, 2021).

THIS WEEK on the PGA TOUR: Valero Texas Open: 4/1-4/4

COURSE: TPC San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas

ARCHITECTS: Pete Dye and Greg Norman

YARDS/PAR: 7,492 yards/Par 72

PRIZE Money/First Place Winnings: $7,700,000/$1,386,000

DEFENDING Champion (2019) Corey Conners – (Leaderboard link)

PAST RESULTS: (link)

PAST CHAMPIONS of Event: (link)

FEDEx CUP Points Available/Winner Share: 2,989/500

SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedEXCup #ValeroTexasOpen

TV COVERAGE: Today, April 1 and Friday, April 2: 4:00pm to 7:00pm (EDT) on Golf Channel. Saturday, April 3 – Early coverage on Golf Channel from 1:00pm to 3:30pm and the switch to NBC for 3:30pm to 6:00pm (EDT) on Saturday and then Sunday, April 4 Golf Channel coverage from 1:00pm to 2:30pm EDT then the switch to NBC for 2:30pm to 6:00pm EDT.

STREAMING: PGA Tour Live will offer streaming coverage of Featured Groups today and Friday from 8:15am to 7:00pm (EDT). Twitter will offer free coverage both days from 8:15am (EDT) to 9:30am.

PGA TOUR RADIO COVERAGE: Today – Friday – 1:00pm to 7:00pm (EDT); then Saturday and Sunday, 1:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT)) on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. PGA Tour Radio is available on Sirius 208/XM 92) or online on PGATour.com.

World Golf Champ – Dell Technologies Match Play

March 25, 2021 by Terry Lyons

AUSTIN – The 64-player WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play field is divided into 16 four-player groups. Each group will play roundrobin matches within their group on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Players receive one point for a victory, ½ point for a tie and zero points for a loss.

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The player with the best record in each of the four-player groups advances to the Round of 16 for single-elimination match play. In the event two players are tied in points following the completion of group play, those players will have a suddendeath hole-by-hole-playoff starting on No. 1. If three or more players are involved, it will be a stroke-play hole-by-hole playoff.

The Round of 16 will be played Saturday morning, followed by the Quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon. The Semifinals will be Sunday morning, followed by the Championship Match and Consolation Match(third place) on Sunday afternoon.

The top seed for each of the 16 four-player groups are the top 16 players in order of their position in the Official World Golf Ranking. The remaining three players in each group were determined by a blind draw from each of the three pools depending on their standing in the world rankings.

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WGC Opening Round Notes:

On Wednesday, the top-16 group seeds went 6-6-4 in the first round. The top-seeded player to lose was Justin Thomas (No. 2) while Dylan Frittelli, seeded (No. 64), won his opening match.

Of the 22 players making their first appearance at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, 13 went on to claim at least a ½ point in their opening match. Geoff Ogilvy (2006) was the last player to win the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in his first event.

In his bid for a seventh World Golf Championships title, reigning FedExCup champion and No. 1 seed Dustin Johnson defeated Adam Long, 2-up while defending champion Kevin Kisner defeated Louis Oosthuizen, 2 and 1.

2010 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play winner Ian Poulter won five consecutive holes (Nos. 9-13) to defeat Rory McIlroy, 6 and 5, in his 30th match in 15 starts of the match play event. Wednesday’s round also marked the fourth occasion in 12 starts that McIlroy, the 2015 champion, has lost an opening match (2013, 2017, 2018 and 2021). McIlroy’s biggest loss in any match was 8 and 7 to Ben Crane in round two of 2011.

Match Play Recaps:

All of Wednesday’s opening round matches recapped: (link)

Tournament Site: (link)

THIS WEEK on the PGA TOUR: World Golf Championship

COURSE: Austin Country Club, Austin, Texas

SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedEXCup @DellMatchPlay

TV COVERAGE: Thursday, March 25 and Friday, March 26: 2:00pm to 8:00pm (EDT) on Golf Channel. Saturday, March 27 and Sunday, March 28 – Early coverage on Golf Channel from 10:00am to 2:00pm and the switch to NBC for 2:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT) on Saturday and 3:00pm to 7:00pm EDT on Sunday.

STREAMING: PGA Tour Live will offer streaming coverage of Featured Groups on Thursday and Friday from 10:15am to 8:00pm (EDT); Saturday from (8:30am-2:00pm (EDT) only.

PGA TOUR RADIO COVERAGE: Thursday – Friday – 2:00pm to 8:00pm (EDT); then Saturday, March 27 from 10:00am to 6:00pm EDT and Sunday, March 28: (11:00am to 7:00pm (EDT)) on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. PGA Tour Radio is available on Sirius 208/XM 92) or online on PGATour.com.

PGA Tour: The Honda Classic Review

March 22, 2021 by Terry Lyons

The Honda Classic: Review and Notes

THE YEAR of the 40s: Matt Jones won his second PGA Tour title in his 330th start and became the fourth winner in his 40s this season. He also became the sixth player this season to win more than six years after his previous victory.

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Jones converted his 54-hole lead/co-lead for first time on Tour, and finished with a five-stroke win which ties the largest margin of victory in tournament history.

Brandon Hagy earned his best career PGA Tour result on his 30th birthday, and in doing so, he moved up 101 spots in the FedExCup standings.

Sam Ryder played the famed “Bear Trap” in 3-under for the week, the best of any player who made the cut.

Chase Seiffert (T-3) at (-6) closed with 6-under (64), matching his career low (64/R4) at the 2018 Travelers Championship). He moved from T-41 to T-3 and carded his fourth score of 65 or better this season.

Brendan Steele (T-3) at (-6) recorded his second consecutive top-10 result at The Honda Classic (T-4) in 2020 and has five Top 15 finishes in last six starts at The Honda Classic.