2021 American Express – Page 2

The American Express Saturday tee times, TV and streaming info

Check out third round tee times and viewing information for the American Express.

The PGA Tour is back on the mainland for the American Express at PGA West in La Quinta, California. The first two rounds of the tournament are split between the Stadium Course and the Nicklaus Tournament Course. After the cut, the remainder of the event will be played at the Stadium Course.

Sungjae Im leads through 36 holes at 11 under after firing 7-under 65 on Friday. Nick Taylor, Tony Finau, Abraham Ancer, Si Woo Kim and Brandon Hagy sit T-2 at 10 under. Francesco Molinari, Emiliano Grillo and Doug Ghim are T-7 at 9 under. A group of eight golfers including Brendan Steele are T-10 at 8 under.

Among those to miss the cut were Akshay Bhatia, Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson, who parred every hole in his round on Friday for the first time ever.

Check out Saturday’s third round groupings and tee times below, as well as this week’s complete TV and online streaming schedule.

All times are listed in Eastern.

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Tee times

Stadium Course – 1st tee

Tee time	Players
12:20 p.m.	Austin Cook, Matt Jones, Adam Hadwin
12:30 p.m.	Ben Martin, Byeong Hun An, Adam Long
12:40 p.m.	Kyle Stanley, Alex Noren, Gary Woodland
12:50 p.m.	Richy Werenski, Cameron Davis, Chris Kirk
1:00 p.m.	Sam Ryder, Josh Teater, Paul Casey
1:10 p.m.	Ryan Armour, James Hahn, Luke List
1:20 p.m.	Brian Harman, Adam Schenk, Rory Sabbatini
1:30 p.m.	Andrew Putnam, Charley Hoffman, Roger Sloan
1:40 p.m.	John Huh, Brendan Steele, Max Homa
1:50 p.m.	Emiliano Grillo, Francesco Molinari, Doug Ghim
2:00 p.m.	Abraham Ancer, Si Woo Kim, Brandon Hagy
2:10 p.m.	Sungjae Im, Nick Taylor, Tony Finau

Stadium Course – 10th tee

Tee time	Players
12:20 p.m.	David Hearn, Bronson Burgoon, Henrik Norlander
12:30 p.m.	Russell Knox, Andrew Landry, Matthew Wolff
12:40 p.m.	Jamie Lovemark, Charl Schwartzel, Michael Thompson
12:50 p.m.	Tyler Duncan, Jimmy Walker, Patton Kizzire
1:00 p.m.	Rickie Fowler, Kyoung-Hoon Lee, Erik van Rooyen
1:10 p.m.	Brian Stuard, Tyler McCumber, Kramer Hickok
1:20 p.m.	Chase Seiffert, Bo Hoag, Talor Gooch
1:30 p.m.	Martin Laird, Cameron Tringale, Vaughn Taylor
1:40 p.m.	Sebastian Cappelen, Harry Hall, Hank Lebioda
1:50 p.m.	Nelson Ledesma, Doc Redman, Will Gordon
2:00 p.m.	Wyndham Clark, Zach Johnson, Patrick Cantlay
2:10 p.m.	Maverick McNealy, Rhein Gibson, Rob Oppenheim

TV, radio info

Saturday, Jan. 23

TV

Golf Channel (watch for free on fuboTV): 3-7 p.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 2-7 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 24

TV

Golf Channel (watch for free on fuboTV): 3-7 p.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 2-7 p.m.

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Dark days behind him, Chris Kirk’s path back from alcoholism to PGA Tour should be a model for other sports

Chris Kirk teed off Thursday in The American Express golf tournament in La Quinta after fighting his way back to PGA Tour success.

LA QUINTA, Calif. – One thing that many sports fans forget on a regular basis is that the athletes they cheer for, or cheer against as the case may be, are human beings. They aren’t just soulless gladiators entering into the stadium, and they aren’t all living the glamorous life that fans sometimes believe sports stars lead.

Athletes have spouses and children and parents and move into new homes and new states. They deal with injuries and issues at work just like every day human beings.

And sometimes that means dealing with the darker issues that life can hand out, including alcoholism.

As Chris Kirk teed off Thursday in The American Express golf tournament in La Quinta, he did so having overcome the demands of a major medical exemption from the tour in order to secure a full exemption for the rest of this season. But it wasn’t a torn ligament or a broken bone that kept Kirk off the tour for six months in 2019. It was his own acceptance of his abuse of alcohol and that he had to change his life.

“Oh, there’s a lot of things that I can’t believe I did, and most of them I don’t really want to talk about to be honest with you,” Kirk said. “But I would say the big thing is just how delusional my mind became for a while there and how I let my kind of anxiety run rampant, which was fueled by the lifestyle that I was living and just completely irrational thoughts that I got to that felt very, very real and reasonable to me.”

The American Express: Leaderboard | Tee times, TV | Photos

So Kirk, a four-time winner on the PGA Tour, left the tour in May of 2019. And the PGA Tour, to its credit, gave Kirk the time to deal with his issue and a path to come back to the tour after his absence.

When Kirk returned to the tour at the end of the 2019 calendar year, he did so on an exemption that gave him a specified number of tournaments to earn enough FedEx Cup playoff points to regain the full exempt status he had when he left the tour.

It’s an approach that every sports organization should follow. Treating alcoholism and depression and other issues just like a surgically repaired shoulder. Treating the athlete like a human being who needs help and support rather than treating the alcoholism as just the athlete throwing his talent and career away.

Rally back from the brink

More than a year and a half after leaving the tour because he was trying to figure out how much he could drink the night before a round and still be a competitive player, Kirk is a different person with a different outlook these days. Not about golf, but about life.

“That’s one of the best gifts of sobriety and recovery is that I can kind of, I’m able to see things for what they are now, which is great and gives me a great sense of peace that no matter what comes my way, as long as I stay sober and stay in my program and do things the right way, then I can deal with whatever,” Kirk said.

As for the major medical exemption, it was coming to an end last week at the Sony Open. Kirk needed no worse than a two-way tie for third at the Hawaiian event to regain that full exemption. Kirk shot 65 each of the four days of the event and tied for second, just enough to be exempt for the rest of the 2020-21 season.

“It certainly felt like a win to me. It just totally kind of changed my year to say the least,” Kirk said. “To go from, I mean I was about to sign up for some Monday qualifiers and definitely had already looked at the Korn Ferry schedule when I would be playing out there and going from that to now being where I’ll most likely get into Bay Hill and going to be able to play the Players and just a completely kind of back to the schedule that I’ve enjoyed the last 10 years is pretty nice. I certainly won’t be taking it for granted, that’s for sure.”

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Meaning just as much as the good finish for Kirk was the support from his fellow players when he finished the Sony Open.

“It’s kind of become a great support group and these are people that care a lot about me personally probably moreso than professionally,” Kirk said. “So to kind of see that on Sunday, when you know it’s there. I mean obviously Brendon (Todd) and I have been really close for a long, long time and have kind of seen the ups and downs of both of our careers, but just to see how genuine that caring was from them is something that’s really special.”

In this day and age when we see athletes in other major sports seemingly acting against their own best interests for no reason, sabotaging their careers or just disappearing from their teams or their sports, the story of Chris Kirk and the PGA Tour and his return to competitiveness only after his return to sobriety is a blueprint that other athletes and other sports ought to follow.

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Rickie Fowler looks to put behind him ‘by far the worst year that I had,’ starting at the American Express

Rickie Fowler hasn’t recorded a top-10 finish on the PGA Tour since last year’s American Express.

LA QUINTA, Calif. – Rickie Fowler showed up at the American Express with a new look and a new attitude. The look was something close to a full beard.

“Still can’t grow sideburns,” he said.

It only seems like he’s been growing it since last year’s tournament here, where he had the 36-hole lead before the birdies stopped falling and he settled for a T-10 finish. Believe it or not, Fowler hasn’t recorded a top-10 finish since.

That drought may continue as Fowler posted an uneven round of 1-over 73 at PGA West’s Nicklaus Tournament Course, which means he’ll have his work cut out just to make the cut when he plays on Friday at the more difficult Stadium Course at PGA West. Count Fowler among those who were ready to turn the calendar and say so long to a forgettable season.

“By far the worst year that I had,” he said. “A lot of people want to get rid of 2020 and that’s my outlook.”

The American Express: Leaderboard | Tee times, TV | Photos

Fowler, 32, started revamping his swing in September 2019 with instructor John Tillery and it remains a work in progress. He conceded that the Tour’s three-month break due to the global pandemic didn’t serve him well.

“It’s been a battle,” he said. “But it’s part of golf. There’s going to be setbacks, there’s going to be tough times, and I think it’s more about how you deal with those tough times and come out on the back end.”

Fowler has tumbled to No. 60 in the Official World Golf Ranking, down from No. 25 a year ago and No. 10 at the 2019 Masters. He currently isn’t qualified for the 2021 Masters and hasn’t made reservations to be there yet, though he isn’t losing sleep over it just yet.

“I need to play well and get myself in there,” he said. “In a way, I feel like I’ve performed well when my back is against the wall.”

Fowler said he’s made progress working on his game at home. His putting, always a strong suit, slipped last season, but he inserted a mallet putter in the bag last fall in Las Vegas and noticed an improvement in starting his putts on line. For proof, he poured in a couple of long-range bombs on the inward nine Thursday, including a 50-footer at his last hole, No. 9.

“It’s more mental than anything,” Fowler said of getting used to the changes he’s made to his swing. “It’s like getting used to wearing a mask.”

In the opening round, his driver let him down as he hit only 9 of 14 fairways.

“I thought that was the least of my worries,” he said. “But that’s golf. Once you feel like one thing is in the right spot or heading the right way, it kicks you in the nuts.”

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The American Express Friday tee times, TV and streaming info

From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for the first round of the 2021 American Express.

A trio of former Cal players are near the top of the leaderboard after Round 1 as Brandon Hagy has a one-shot lead at 8 under, Byeong Hun An is right behind him and Max Homa is part of a tie for third at 6 under.

Check out Friday’s first round groupings and tee times below, as well as this week’s complete TV and online streaming schedule.

All times are listed in Eastern.

RSM Classic: Fantasy rankings | Betting odds | Photos

Tee times

Nicklaus Tournament Course – 1st tee

Tee time	Players
12:10 p.m.	Fabian Gomez, Rory Sabbatini, David Hearn
12:20 p.m.	Russell Henley, Patrick Rodgers, Talor Gooch
12:30 p.m.	Sung Kang, Grayson Murray, Steve Stricker
12:40 p.m.	Jim Herman, Lanto Griffin, Scott Piercy
12:50 p.m.	Vaughn Taylor, Ben Martin, Cameron Percy
1:00 p.m.	Hank Lebioda, Joseph Bramlett, Akshay Bhatia
1:10 p.m.	Ryan Moore, Camilo Villegas, Wyndham Clark
1:20 p.m.	Josh Teater, Kelly Kraft, Xinjun Zhang
1:30 p.m.	C.T. Pan, Francesco Molinari, Martin Trainer
1:40 p.m.	Nate Lashley, Ted Potter, Jr., Si Woo Kim
1:50 p.m.	Steve Jones, Anirban Lahiri, Scott Harrington
2:00 p.m.	Brian Stuard, Matt Jones, Doug Ghim
2:10 p.m.	Kramer Hickok, Chase Seiffert, John Augenstein