By TERRY LYONS
La JOLLA – In search of his first PGA TOUR title, Sam Ryder made par on his final 12 holes and holds the 54-hole lead/co-lead for the first time in his career, in his 147th PGA Tour start.
PGA Tour
McIlroy, Rahm in Familiar Places
RIDGEWOOD (SC) – Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy made two eagles and carded his second consecutive (67) to take the 17th career 54-hole lead/co-lead of his career. In today’s final round, McIlroy will attempt to reclaim World No. 1 and earn the second successful title defense of his career.
Rahm Shoots (62), Shares Lead at CJ
RIDGEWOOD (SC) – Jon Rahm of Spain set the course-record (62) at Congaree Golf Club and holds 36-hole lead/co-lead for seventh time in his career. Making first start of 2022-23 season, Rahm shot a 9-under and holed 10 birdies before making bogey at No. 18.
Kurt Kitayama earned his first career 36-hole lead/co-lead on Tour and now seeks his maiden PGA Tour victory.
Defending champion Rory McIlroy is two shots back in search of the second successful title defense of his career. Following a 1-over (37) on the front nine, McIlroy (5th/-9) closed with a 5-under 30 for 67. He leads the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (3.614) after 36 holes. The other title defense in his career was at the 2022 RBC Canadian Open.
Australian Cam Davis (T3/-10) recorded six birdies in R-2, including four in his last seven holes, for his second consecutive (66). He owns 10 Top-10 finishes in 104 career Tour starts including one victory coming at the 2021 Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Leaderboard After 36 Holes
Kurt Kitayama 66-65–131 (-11)
Jon Rahm 69-62–131 (-11)
Cam Davis 66-66–132 (-10)
Aaron Wise 66-66–132 (-10)
Rory McIlroy 66-67–133 (-9)
Full Leaderboard: (link)
Mullinex, Woodland Lead at CJ Cup
RIDGEWOOD (SC) – In first-round action at The CJ Cup, Trey Mullinax earned his third career 18-hole lead/co-lead on Tour with an opening 6-under (65) while Gary Woodland birdied his final two holes to share the lead in search of his first Top-10 since the 2022 U.S. Open.
Rory McIlroy opened his 2022-23 season with a bogey-free (66) and is seeking the second successful title defense of his career. Playing together for the first time on Tour, McIlroy and Tom Kim combined to shoot 10-under and sit T-3.
Of the 13 Korean players in the field, Tom Kim sits highest on the leaderboard after 18 holes.
Congaree Golf club has hosted one other PGA TOUR event, the 2021 Palmetto Championship at Congaree, won by Garrick Higgo (not in the field this weekend). Of the 19 players in this week’s field who competed at Congaree in 2021, Tyrrell Hatton, Sungjae Im and Seamus Power all shot (67) and sit T-9. Hatton, Im and Power finished T-2, T-35 and T-19, respectively, at the 2021 Palmetto Championship.
Leaderboard After 18 Holes
Trey Mullinax 65 (-6)
Gary Woodland – 65 (-6)
Aaron Wise – 66 (-5)
Wyndham Clark – 66 (-5)
Tom Kim – 66 (-5)
Rory McIlroy – 66 (-5)
Cam Davis – 66 (-5)
Kurt Kitayama – 66 (-5)
Full Leaderboard: (link)
PGA Tour Sports Desk: CJ Cup
RIDGELAND, South Carolina – At 8:15am (ET) this morning, 21 of the top 30 golfers in the Official World Golf Rankings will tee-it-up at The CJ Cup in South Carolina. The venue, the Congaree Golf Club, will be the fourth golf course to host the event, the third in the United States. From 2017-to-2019, the event was played at Nine Bridges in South Korea. In the USA, the location was at Shadow Creek (2020) and Summit Club (2021) in Las Vegas.
There are 13 players (second most of tournament) from Korea playing this week, including Sungjae Im and Tom Kim, two frequent residents of the PGA Tour’s leaderboards. The USA has 45 players competing and England – third most this week – has four golfers.
Reigning FedEx Cup and 2021 CJ Cup champion Rory McIlroy is making his debut since winning at the TOUR Championship in August. Jon Rahm of Spain is making his season debut as well. Rahm finished T-5th in the 2021-22 FedEx Cup standings.
Rickie Fowler, who finished as runner-up last weekend at the ZOZO Championship in Japan, now has two Top 10s in three starts this Fall. Fowler finished T-3 in the 2021 CJ Cup as he makes his 300th start on Tour today. Keegan Bradley won the ZOZO last weekend.
The CJ Cup in South Carolina | Tournament Facts
COURSE: Congaree Golf Club, Ridgewood, South Carolina
YARDS/PAR: 7,655 yards/Par 71
ARCHITECT: Tom Fazio (2018)
PRIZE Money – Purse: $10,500,000/$1,890,000
DEFENDING CHAMPION: Rory McIlroy
PAST HISTORY: (link)
PAST RESULTS: (link)
FEDEx CUP Points to Winner: 500
SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup
PGA Tour Battling vs. LIV Golf
BOLTON – As the LIV Golf players teed-off in the third and final round shotgun start Sunday in the western suburbs of Boston, the PGA Tour tossed another major hurdle at the players, via a memo leaked to Sports Illustrated and reported by SI and FOX News.
“The Tour cannot enter into a membership agreement with a player when, as here, it reasonably anticipates the player will not perform the material obligations under that agreement,” said the letter to former PGA Tour pros now on the LIV Tour. “Accordingly, your PGA Tour membership cannot and will not be renewed for the 2022-2023 PGA Tour season.”
Taylor Gooch (-12), Joaquin Nieman (-11) and Dustin Johnson (-10) were busy competing for a $4 million/ $2.125 million or $1.5 million first through third prize at The International, a course set in the woods of Worcester County, Massachusetts – about 45 miles from where the PGA Tour used to play the DeutschBank Championship – a round of its FedEx Playoffs – every Labor Day weekend.
The LIV Golf venture joined an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour that was initially filed by select LIV golfers such as Pat Perez, Carlos Oritiz, Abraham Ancer and Jason Kokrak were among the players filing who dropped their lawsuits against the PGA Tour. Outspoken veteran PGA Tour pro Phil Mickelson was among those that first filed suit in August, claiming suspensions from the Tour were aimed at hurting their careers.
Others pro golfers filed temporary restraining orders to compete in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, claiming they qualified for the PGA Tour postseason playoffs prior to joining LIV Golf. A federal judge in California denied that injunction.
Drama Builds at TOUR Championship
ATLANTA – FedEx Cup leader Scottie Scheffler carded his fifth round of (66) or better in his 10th round at East Lake Golf Club as the No. 1 seed is attempting to win and match each of the last two year’s winners in (Dustin Johnson/2020, Patrick Cantlay/2021)
However, it will not be an easy run for Scheffler as Xander Schauffele shot (63) for his lowest career round at East Lake Golf Club, highlighted by a closing eagle on the par-5 18th hole. Xander is two back.
Jon Rahm added a (63) of his own in search of his fourth Top-5 finish in the FedEx Cup in six seasons.
Max Homa’s (62) marked the lowest round at the TOUR Championship since 2007.
TOUR Championship | Leaderboard After 36 Holes
1 Scottie Scheffler -10 65-66 (-9) -19
2 Xander Schauffele -6 66-63 (-11) -17
3 Jon Rahm -3 67-63 (-10) -13
T-4 Patrick Cantlay -8 70-66 (-4) -12
T-4 Sungjae Im -4 67-65 (-8) -12
Scheffler Leads at TOUR Championship
ATLANTA – FedExCup leader Scottie Scheffler leads by five strokes, tying the largest lead after any round since the “Starting Strokes” concept was implemented in 2019 (5/Dustin Johnson/2020/R-3).
The No. 1 seed has gone on to win each of the last two years (Dustin Johnson/2020, Patrick Cantlay/2021).
Xander Schauffele has been inside the Top 10 of the leaderboard at the TOUR Championship in 18 of 21 rounds.
U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick (3rd/-9) leads contingent of nine first-time participants with bogey-free 64, tied for low round of the day, with the other being Joaquin Niemann.
2021 FedEx Cup Champion Patrick Cantlay, who started the day at -8, eagled the par-5 18th hole for even-par (70). No player has ever won back-to-back FedExCup titles, something Cantlay is trying to do this weekend.
Second-round Tee Times run from 11:35am to 1:55pm (ET) today.
TOUR Championship | Leaderboard After 18 Holes
1 Scottie Scheffler -10 65 (-5) -15
2 Xander Schauffele -6 66 (-4) -10
3 Matt Fitzpatrick -3 64 (-6) -9
T4 Joaquin Niemann -2 64 (-6) -8
T4 Patrick Cantlay -8 70 (E) -8
TOUR Championship: Preview
ATLANTA – Sports fans sometimes complain that “the regular season doesn’t matter.” That can not be said of the PGA Tour season as the regular season efforts of Scottie Scheffler will start his TOUR Championship at (-10) in comparison to the likes of K.H. Lee, J.T. Poston, Sahith Theegala, Adam Scott, and Aaron Wise who will all begin their pursuit of the FedEx Cup at (even) par when the players tee-off (tomorrow) Thursday, August 24 at East Lake Golf Club.
Yes, the 47-event 2021-22 PGA TOUR Season will conclude at the TOUR Championship this weekend, where the FedEx Cup Champion will be crowned. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, the Tour leader in wins this season with four, enters the TOUR Championship at No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings and will begin the tournament at 10-under via FedEx Cup Starting Strokes. Scheffler is making his third consecutive appearance in the TOUR Championship, finishing No. 5 in 2019-20 and No. 22 in 2020-21. Scheffler, who won his first major championship title earlier this season at the Masters Tournament, looks to become the second player to win the Masters and the FedEx Cup in the same season (Jordan Spieth, 2014-15).
If he wins the 2022 FedEx Cup, Rory McIlroy would become the first player to win the FedEx Cup three times. When McIlroy won his second title in 2019, he joined Tiger Woods as the only two players to win the season-long race twice.
Xander Schauffele, who enters the weekend at No. 3 in the FedEx Cup standings, has advanced to the TOUR Championship in all six seasons on the Tour. Schauffele won the TOUR Championship as a rookie and has finished in the top 10 in all five starts, tied with Justin Thomas for the longest active streak on Tour.
Sam Burns is making his second consecutive appearance at the TOUR Championship, finishing 18th in 2021. Burns is one of four players who has three or more victories this season, collecting titles at the Sanderson Farms Championship, Valspar Championship and Charles Schwab Challenge (others with 3+ victories: Scottie Scheffler/4, Cameron Smith/3, Xander Schauffele/3).
Cameron Smith has three wins this season, including THE PLAYERS Championship and The Open Championship. Smith withdrew prior to the start of last week’s BMW Championship and fell from No. 3 to No. 5 in the FedEx Cup standings. With a win, Smith would become the second player to win THE PLAYERS Championship and the FedEx Cup in the same season, joining McIlroy (2018-19), and the first to win The Open and the FedEx Cup in the same season.
Scott Stallings finished runner-up at last week’s BMW Championship to move to No. 12 in the FedEx Cup standings and qualify for the TOUR Championship for the first time in his 12-year PGA TOUR career. Stallings has a career-high seven Top-10s this season (five in last nine starts).
J.T. Poston is making his first start in the TOUR Championship. Poston was No. 112 in the FedEx Cup standings after the U.S. Open and earned a runner-up (Travelers Championship) and a win (John Deere Classic) the following two weeks, becoming the only player outside the Top 75 after the U.S. Open to qualify for the TOUR Championship.
Will Zalatoris withdrew from the tournament due to a back injury. As a result of his WD, if all 29 players finish 72 holes, Zalatoris will finish 30th in the FedEx Cup, receiving $500,000 in FedExCup bonus money.
Starting Strokes for the remaining 29 players are unaffected.
The Way They’ll Start at TOUR Championship
- Scottie Scheffler -10
- Patrick Cantlay -8
- Xander Schauffele -6
- Sam Burns -5
- Cameron Smith -4
- Rory McIlroy -4
- Tony Finau -4
- Sepp Straka -4
- Sungjae Im -4
- Jon Rahm -3
- Scott Stallings -3
- Justin Thomas -3
- Cameron Young -3
- Matt Fitzpatrick -3
- Max Homa -2
- Hideki Matsuyama -2
- Jordan Spieth -2
- Joaquin Niemann -2
- Viktor Hovland -2
- Collin Morikawa -1
- Billy Horschel -1
- Tom Hoge -1
- Corey Conners -1
- Brian Harman -1
- K.H. Lee Even
- J.T. Poston Even
- Sahith Theegala Even
- Adam Scott Even
- Aaron Wise Even
Adam Scott Tops Busy Leaders at BMW
WILMINGTON – Fourteen-time PGA Tour winner Adam Scott holds a one-stroke lead after the second round of the BMW Championship, his 17th 36-hole lead/co-lead on the PGA Tour.
Three Masters Tournament winners that’ve been or currently are ranked No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking are T-2 or better: Scott (1st), Scottie Scheffler (T-2) and Jordan Spieth (T-2). Scott and Spieth rank Nos. 3 and 4 in career PGA Tour wins among players that qualified for the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
PGA Tour rookie Cameron Young (T-2) has five runner-up finishes this season and is the highest-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking without a win.