Brooks Koepka was among six golfers who fired golf balls on to a Formula 1 race track in the Middle East on Tuesday.
World No. 1 Brooks Koepka said his left knee still isn’t 100 percent, but it’s good enough to start playing again.
He was among six golfers who participated in a contest where they fired golf balls on to a Formula 1 race track in the Middle East on Tuesday.
Koepka underwent a stem-cell procedure last fall for a partially torn patella tendon in his left knee, which had been bugging him since last March.
He was joined by Louis Oosthuizen, Danny Willett, Bernd Wiesberger, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Viktor Hovland in the Hero Challenge (not to be confused Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge, held in the Bahamas last month).
Tuesday’s event was at the Yas Marina Circuit to promote the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in the United Arab Emirates. This Hero did not have any waste bunkers (insert Patrick Reed joke here) but did feature some pretty great shot-making:
Each of the golfers fired balls from a mat high up on a platform. It was like they were hitting off a cliff to a target down below that was 100 yards away.
An extra challenge was making sure not to plunk a Formula 1 car parked right in front the target.
Brooks Koepka at the Hero Challenge ahead of the 2020 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
Your winner? Viktor Hovland, who called it “My first professional win.”
Hovland faced off against Louis Oosthuizen in the final round. Wearing blue jeans, Hovland won by a score of 190-55 and through three rounds, never missed the target.
Brooks Koepka started hitting golf balls before Christmas after reinjuring his left knee in South Korea in November.
World No. 1 Brooks Koepka makes his return to competitive golf at this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on the European Tour.
He’ll do so without “excruciating” pain in his left knee that forced him to withdraw from the CJ Cup in South Korea in November, pull out of the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in China and the Presidents Cup in Australia in December.
Koepka said his knee started bothering him last March and he had stem cell treatment just after the Tour Championship in August. He came back at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas in October and missed the cut. He reinjured his left knee slipping on concrete during the CJ Cup.
“I re-tore (the patella tendon) and the kneecap had moved into the fat pad,” Koepka said at Abu Dhabi Golf Club ahead of Thursday’s start of his 2020 debut. “That’s excruciating. It’s a lot of pain. It’s not fun.”
Koepka began hitting golf balls again just before Christmas. He said his left knee still isn’t 100 percent, but it’s good enough to start playing again.
“It probably won’t for a while, but it does feel stable,” he said. “’Leaving Korea and all the way up to about a month ago and a half ago, it just didn’t feel stable. It felt like it could either way. It could go left, out, back.
“Even when I got the green light (to practice), I just didn’t know whether it was going to feel right, whether you’re going to be the same, how it is going to feel. Everything felt good. Speed was the same. We were hitting on TrackMan and my numbers were exactly what they were the day I left, which is always nice.
“After a couple of days of hitting balls and not feeling pain, it was OK, I could get back here and do this and finally play.”
Last year, Koepka won the PGA Championship for the second consecutive year and captured his first WGC title at the FedEx St. Jude Invitational. After this week, he’s scheduled to play in the Saudi International in two weeks. He is set to make his first start of the year on the PGA Tour at the Genesis Invitational north of Los Angeles in February.
“I’m just excited to hit balls,” Koepka said. “Last year, there wasn’t much practice. I just couldn’t do it with my knee. I couldn’t get on my left side. Couldn’t squat down in a bunker. I struggled to get down and read a putt.
The 2020 portion of the current PGA Tour wrap-around schedule tees off this week. Yep, after two weeks off since the Presidents Cup, we get back to the action. The calendar year tees off with the Sentry Tournament of Champions, Jan. 2-5 at Kapalua …
The 2020 portion of the current PGA Tour wrap-around schedule tees off this week.
Yep, after two weeks off since the Presidents Cup, we get back to the action.
The calendar year tees off with the Sentry Tournament of Champions, Jan. 2-5 at Kapalua Plantation Course in Maui. The tournament, which started in 1953, has had many names over the years. To gain entry, you had to have won a PGA Tour event the previous year.
The best part of the event for all golf fans stateside? The late afternoon/evening/prime-time TV window.
Let’s take a look at some key players and where we may see them teeing it up in the early parts of 2020.
Tiger Woods
We can all look at the golf calendar and make reasonable guesses as to where we’ll see Woods play next.
Tiger was eligible for the winners-only Tournament of Champions in Maui Jan. 2-5, but he opted to skip it for the second straight year and hasn’t appeared at Kapalua since 2005.
His 2020 debut is likely to be at his usual starting spot, the Farmers Insurance Open (Jan. 23-26) in San Diego, where he’s won eight times at Torrey Pines, including the 2008 U.S. Open.
Beyond that, the only event we officially know he’s going to play is the Genesis Invitational, which benefits his TGR Foundation, Feb. 13-16 at Riviera Country Club.
Woods will serve as tournament host for the third time in 2020. The event has gained elevated status, meaning a smaller, elite field, a larger purse and a longer exemption for winners. That places Tiger’s event on a par with Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial Tournament and the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Beyond that? We shall see.
Brooks Koepka
Like Woods, Koepka passed up the Sentry Tournament of Champions, which suggests he’s still rehabbing his injured left knee.
Koepka underwent stem-cell treatment to repair a partially-torn patella tendon shortly after the Tour Championship. He attempted to defend his title at the CJ Cup, but had to pull out and missed the Presidents Cup.
Koepka committed to play the European Tour’s Saudi International, which is the same week as the PGA Tour’s Waste Management Phoenix Open. Chances are Koepka will make his U.S. debut a week earlier at the Farmers Insurance Open, if his knee is fully healed.
Looking farther ahead, as of now, he is listed among the early commitments to the Valspar Championship on Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course, March 19-22.
Justin Thomas
Thomas will open the 2020 season at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii after winning in 2017. He did the Hawaiian double in 2017 when he won Sentry and Sony. He shot 59 in first round in that 2017 Sony.
We know Mickelson’s schedule early on in 2020, where he is set to play at least four straight weeks starting at The American Express in Palm Desert. Mickelson loves the West Coast Swing and will make his debut as tournament host Jan. 16-19. He’s then set to tee it up at Torrey Pines for the Farmers Insurance Open, Jan. 23-26, where he is a past champion (1993, 2000-01), before heading over to the Saudi International – and forgoing the Waste Management Phoenix Open for the first time in 30 years.
To cap off the busy stretch, Mickelson will be back as defending champion of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Lefty got “one for the thumb” in 2019, tying Mark O’Meara for the most victories at the annual Pebble Tour stop, and will try for a six-pack of titles, Feb. 6-9.
There’s a good chance that Mickelson will play a fifth straight week at the Genesis Invitational. He’s a past champion, has played at Riviera the past three seasons and usually commutes from his home in Rancho Santa Fe via jet. He has yet to announce a commitment so stay tuned.
Patrick Reed
Reed, winner of the Northern Trust, will be in the field at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, the first PGA Tour event of 2020. He won the event in 2015. Presumably caddie/brother-in-law Kessler Karain, who was barred from working the final day of competition at the Presidents Cup, will be alongside Reed.
The 2018 Masters champion played the Sony Open last year, but skipped the American Express, where he is a past champion (2014). Reed typically plays the Farmers Insurance and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but he’ll be absent from Phoenix this year as he already has committed to play the Saudi International.
Rory McIlroy
As a three-time PGA Tour winner in 2018-19, McIlroy was eligible for the Tournament of Champions, but passed on Maui. He announced on his podcast that his first tournament in 2020 will be the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, where he finished T-5 last season. He called it “a good litmus test to see where my game is at.” McIlroy has traditionally played at the Genesis Invitational, where he finished T-4. Expect a return engagement in 2020.
Dustin Johnson
Johnson will open 2020 season at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii after winning in 2018. He is committed to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Feb. 6-9, one of his favorite hunting grounds (winner in 2009, ’10; runner-up in 2014, ’18).
Johnson is scheduled to defend his title at the Saudi International, and looking down the road he is on the early commit lost for the Valspar Championship on Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course March 16-22, after finishing sixth last year.
He's back! @DJohnsonPGA, currently ranked 3rd in OWGR, has committed to the 2020 Valspar Championship. He's won 11 times since the 2016 U.S. Open and was 6th in @ValsparChamp in '19. OWGR #1 Brooks Koepka also has committed. pic.twitter.com/6W4MYGAReh
Tiger Woods’ late-season resurgence makes 2020 all the more tantalizing, but there are subplots on the PGA Tour to keep things interesting.
The denouement of a decade invariably means drawing together disparate threads to weave a onesie that provides everyone a warm, comforting feeling about the future. In a year like 2019, when Tiger Woods reasserted himself, that onesie feels like cashmere. At other times, it is fashioned from a burlap sack.
Such was the case in 2009, when the first decade of the 21st century drew to a close with a season of major winners whose dreariness didn’t diminish their deservedness.
At the Masters, Angel Cabrera’s translator was about as compelling in the Butler Cabin interview than anything we might have heard from either man who lost that playoff, Kenny Perry or Chad Campbell. Lucas Glover won a sodden U.S. Open at Bethpage Black — supposedly golf’s toughest major on its toughest course — by going 6 iron-9 iron up the 18th. Tom Watson was within a putt of winning the Open Championship but left us all with that Cinking feeling. Y.E. Yang downed Woods at the PGA Championship, which at least provides him an eye-catching opening sentence when writing sponsors exemption requests for the PGA Tour Champions in a couple of years.
That decade ended with Woods’s car accident, which imploded his marriage, his image and, for a time, his career. All in all, an ignominious end to an inglorious year.
If the second chapter of this century opened with Woods’s fall, it closes with his resurrection. As Greeks like to say at Easter, Christos anesti. It was the now 44-year-old Woods who ensured ’19 was a standout year and whose late-season resurgence makes ’20 all the more tantalizing. This was a year that promises a coming rich bounty compared to the fallowness of a decade ago.
Consider the principal players. Woods is again the Tour’s alpha silverback, no matter how much Brooks Koepka tweaks his peers. Rory McIlroy is mining a rich seam of form and with Koepka has created golf’s first rivalry since the days when Greg Norman was known more for losing his nerve than his drawers, a duel that is only heightened by Koepka’s denial that it exists. Jordan Spieth’s crash landing from that early supernova status makes him the most interesting man in the game, from the neck up.
Phil Mickelson is continuing to find ways to keep himself at least on the undercard as the wins have become more sparse, from money matches to dress shirts to hitting moving balls to cute Instagram videos (perhaps he’ll post a funny from one of Saudi Arabia’s roughly 150 annual beheadings when he’s there next month on a cash grab).
Other players have administered a fatal dose of sodium pentothal to a marketing image that had long been on life support: that every golfer is honorable and part of one happy Tour family. Both Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau dispensed with the latter artifice — Brooks by trash-talking his rivals while never letting his heart rate get above Hannibal Lecter levels, the Scientist with a screw y’all defense of his slow play. At last Bryson’s reputation is one that can be shaken.
The parable of the honorable golfer was laid bare by Sergio Garcia and Patrick Reed. Clearly, their offenses weren’t of similar gravity — at least Sergio’s unprofessional dislodging of sand in a bunker came after his ball had been struck — but both have given golf fans the option long enjoyed by those in other sports, that of rooting for or against the morally ambiguous antihero. The pashas in Ponte Vedra may squirm at the notion, but the PGA Tour will only benefit from the presence of villains, and will suffer only if its custodians attempt to gaslight fans with an alternate reality.
From the aching disappointment that was 2009, this decade draws to a close with a season that instead teases the halcyon era we’ve ached for since, well, since Tiger’s first reign ended 10 years ago.
Analyzing Brooks Koepka’s chances and betting odds of winning another major championship during the 2020 PGA Tour season.
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Will World No. 1Brooks Koepka win a PGA Tour major championship in 2020? Based off BetMGM‘s golf betting odds, I analyze Koepka’s best opportunities to win along with some of the best potential golf betting lines to cash in on his play this year. This piece is part of a new SportsbookWire series, which will look at the PGA Tour’s biggest names and their chances of winning a major championship in 2020.
Brooks Koepka’s 2019 PGA Tour Highlights
T-2 The Honda Classic
T-2 Masters Tournament
4th AT&T Byron Nelson
Won PGA Championship
2nd US Open
T-4 Open Championship
Won WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational
T-3 Tour Championship
PGA Tour odds to win a major in 2020
Name
Official World Golf Ranking
Odds
Last PGA Tour win (Solo)
Last major
Brooks Koepka
1
+200
July 2019
2019 PGA Championship
Rory McIlroy
2
+250
Nov. 2019
2014 PGA Championship
Jon Rahm
3
+350
Jan. 2018
NA
Justin Thomas
4
+450
Oct. 2019
2017 PGA Championship
Dustin Johnson
5
+200
Feb. 2019
2016 US Open
Tiger Woods
6
+400
Oct. 2019
2019 Masters
Patrick Cantlay
7
+500
June 2019
NA
Justin Rose
8
+400
Jan. 2019
2013 US Open
Xander Schauffele
9
+500
Jan. 2019
NA
Tommy Fleetwood
10
+600
NA
NA
Koepka is rightfully a favorite to win at least one major in 2020 after winning a total of four over the last three seasons and finishing no worse than T-4 in all four majors in 2019. Like Tiger, he tailors his schedule around the majors.
He’s the safest bet on the board, just be prepared to make a significant investment for a worthwhile return. A $10 bet will fetch a modest profit of $20.
Where is Brooks Koepka’s best chance of winning a major in 2020?
Event
2020 Venue
Best career result
Odds
Masters
Augusta National
T-2 (2019)
+900
PGA Championship
TPC Harding Park
Won (2018, 2019)
+800
US Open
Winged Foot
Won (2017, 2018)
+800
Open Championship
Royal St. George’s
T-4 (2019)
+1000
Koepka is the favorite to win the year’s final three majors, while he trails only McIlroy (+800) at the Masters. His best odds are at the two majors he has each won twice before. He’s a slightly better value at the Masters, which hosts the smallest field of the four majors.
Will Brooks Koepka win a major in 2020?
Yes.
Instead of laying a large wager on Koepka to win “a major,” bet him with smaller amounts at each of the four. My best play is to parlay victories at both the US Open and PGA Championship, where a $10 bet will fetch a profit of $800 with +8000 odds.
Adding the Masters to the mix for a three-leg parlay would profit $8,090 on a $10 wager.
Get some PGA Tour betting action by signing up and betting at BetMGM. If you’re looking for more sports betting picks and tips, access all of our content at SportsbookWire.com.
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Tiger Woods completed his comeback over the last few years, but two PGA Tour stars notched 18 victories in the last decade.
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The first decade of the 21st century was dominated by Tiger Woods.
He won 56 PGA Tour titles and 12 major championships. He was named the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year eight times. And his sustained brilliance and dominance continued to elevate the sport’s exposure – as well as its purses.
His star power was so lit that people wondered if the sport would survive if he ever went away. Well, Woods didn’t go away despite a public scandal and numerous battles with his back and left knee when the calendar turned to 2010. And joined by a stellar cast of gifted golfers, the game marched on in the next decade.
A new crop of stars, many inspired by Woods, included Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Jason Day, took the stage. Established stars, with Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, helped the game flourish.
Here are the top 10 players of the decade who authored so many flashes of stardom.
Lefty began the decade with an emotional victory at the Masters as his wife, Amy, successfully battled cancer. It was his third green jacket. In 2013, he won the British Open for the first time, his fifth major. While the U.S. Open remains elusive, he finished second in 2013 for his record sixth runner-up in the national open. He went nearly five years without a victory but then won the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship in 2018, which he followed with his 44th Tour title the following year at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at age 48. He won seven PGA Tour titles and also played in every Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup except one during the decade.
9. Bubba Watson
The big-hitting, creative lefty from tiny Bagdad, Florida, began the decade with zero wins. He ended the decade with 12 victories, the third-most by a player in the decade. Two of those wins came in the Masters, two others in World Golf Championships. While he wowed galleries everywhere with his pink driver and prodigious firepower, he was one of the best on and around the greens.
8. Justin Rose
After beginning his career by missing the cut in his first 21 tournaments, Rose became a force in this decade. He won 10 PGA Tour titles. He won the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion, won the 2018 FedExCup at 38. He draped the gold medal around his neck when golf returned to the Olympics in 2016. He reached No. 1 in the world.
7. Jason Day
Through numerous ailments – especially to his back – Day won 12 times in the decade, including his lone major title at the 2015 PGA Championship. He won the Players, two World Golf Championships and two titles during the FedExCup Playoffs. His run from 2015-16, when he won seven of 17 titles, was one of the best in the decade. He also became No. 1 in the world.
After joining the PGA Tour in 2014-15 season, it didn’t take long for Thomas to establish himself as one of the game’s elite. In 2019, he became just the fifth player in the past 60 years to win 11 Tour titles before turning 27. The others? Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth. His 2017 was one of the decade’s best years, as he won his maiden major at the PGA Championship, captured five titles in all and won the FedExCup. He also reached No. 1. He heads into the next decade coming off a 2019 in which he won twice, including a tournament in the FedExCup Playoffs.
5. Tiger Woods
The game’s biggest star kept coming back. After a public scandal kicked off his decade, he added three Tour titles to his haul in 2012 and five more in 2013, when he was named the PGA Tour Player of the Year by his peers and became No. 1 again. Then his back went out and Woods wondered if his playing career was over. But four surgeries to his back – the most recent a spinal fusion – gave him back his way of life. Then he overcame an addiction to prescription painkillers. After a five-year winless drought, he won the 2018 Tour Championship. Seven months later, he marked his comeback with a remarkable victory at the Masters, his fifth green jacket, 15th major and first in 11 years. In his last PGA Tour start of the decade, he won the Zozo Championship in Japan for his record-tying 82nd PGA Tour victory.
Tiger Woods celebrates after making a putt on the 18th green to win the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. (Photo: Rob Schumacher, USA TODAY Sports)
4. Jordan Spieth
He was in high school when the decade started. He used sponsor’s exemptions to kick off his career and won his first PGA Tour title as a teenager. He won 10 more times in the decade, with his creativity, bulldog attitude and electrifying putters among his numerous weapons. In 2015, he posted the decade’s best year and flirted with the Grand Slam as he won the Masters and U.S. Open, finished in a tie for fourth in the British Open (one stroke out of a playoff) and second in the PGA. He also won the FedExCup and became No. 1. His third major title came at the 2017 British Open. That was his most recent victory, but he’s confident his elite form will return in the coming decade.
3. Brooks Koepka
He began his professional career in the remote areas of the European Tour’s developmental circuit but finally touched down in the U.S. with a victory in the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open. Then he became a major force, both with his power, demeanor and touch on and around the greens. From 2017-19, he won his four majors and became the first player ever to go back-to-back in the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. In 2019, he won the PGA, finished second in the U.S. Open, tied for second in the Masters and was fourth in the British Open. He will begin the new decade as the top-ranked player in the world and the game’s most feared player in the four major championships.
2. Dustin Johnson
He tied for the most victories in the decade with 18, among them his lone major at the 2016 U.S. Open, six World Golf Championships and four wins in the FedExCup Playoffs. He also had the most top-5s in the decade (58) and most top-10s (88). He won at least one PGA Tour tournament every year. He also finished runner-up in three majors, including twice in 2019 at the Masters and PGA Championship. While his power is matched by few others, he worked hard to become one of the game’s best from 150 yards and in.
1. Rory McIlroy
The boy wonder became the man in golf this decade. He won 18 times on the PGA Tour and added six more titles on the European Tour. He became the heart and soul of the European Ryder Cup team. With his eight-shot romps in the 2011 U.S. Open and 2012 PGA Championship, he joined Tiger Woods as the only players to win multiple majors by at least eight shots. With his FedExCup titles in 2016 and 2019, he joined Woods as the only two-time winners of the lucrative postseason. McIlroy won four majors, tying Koepka for the most in the decade, and three PGA Tour Player of the Year awards, the most in the decade. In 2019, won four PGA Tour titles, including the Tour Championship and the Players. He won the decade’s last World Golf Championship. He was the best player of the decade.
Jason Day has withdrawn from the Presidents Cup International Team and captain Ernie Els has chosen Byeong Hun An as replacement.
Presidents Cup captain Ernie Els has chosen Byeong Hun An to replace an injured Jason Day on the International Team, the Presidents Cup announced Friday.
Day, who has a 5-11-4 Presidents Cup record, withdrew from the Dec. 9-15 event at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club due to a back injury. The event would have been the Australian’s fifth Presidents Cup appearance.
In a statement released Friday, Day said he hopes to return to Australia to play soon, but in the meantime, wishes all Presidents Cup competitors luck.
Day also withdrew from the Australian Open, Dec. 5-8.
“I’m quite disappointed I won’t be coming home to play in either the Australian Open in Sydney or the Presidents Cup the following week in Melbourne,” Day said. “I was quite looking forward to both events. I had been prepping all week in Palm Springs when I was injured.
“Frustratingly, I’ve been through back problems before and my medical team decided it best to shut down all practice and play. Therefore, I wanted to inform Golf Australia as well as provide Ernie as much time as possible to best prepare our International Team for Royal Melbourne.”
“We wish Jason well and hope his back recovers quickly. We were eager to have Jason as part of the team at Royal Melbourne and his experience will be missed,” Els said in a statement. “The good news is that there were a number of strong and qualified players available to choose from when I made my captain’s selections. To have someone as steady and talented as Ben An puts us in a great position to succeed. Ben played extremely well this fall and throughout the year and he will fit in nicely on this team.”
The 28-year-old An competed in 22 PGA Tour events last season and had three top 10 finishes with his best coming from a third-place finish at Wyndham Championship. An also earned $1,990,033 in 2019.
With the addition of An, who will compete in his first Presidents Cup, the International Team will feature two Korean players. An joins Sungjae Im, the 2019 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.
“I’m sorry to hear that Jason has been forced to withdraw from the International Team and I wish him a speedy recovery. It was a huge surprise to receive a call from Ernie who told me that I was in the team,” An said in a statement. “It has been a goal of mine all season to be on the International Team and I am honored to play in my first Presidents Cup. I’m looking forward to joining Ernie and the rest of the team in Melbourne and, more importantly, contribute to the International Team’s goal to win the Cup.”
The International Team move follows Brooks Koepka’s withdrawal from the U.S. Team due to a lagging left knee injury. Team captain Tiger Woods selected Rickie Fowler as a replacement on Nov. 20.
First and foremost, Eamon Lynch is giving thanks for Tiger Woods for his win at the Masters and all that it means for the game.
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There was a lot to be grateful for in golf in 2019, and now is the time of year that we get to give thanks for it.
First and foremost, Eamon Lynch is giving thanks for Tiger Woods for his win at the Masters and all that it means for the game. There’s also Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy, who have given golf fans the first taste of a legitimate PGA Tour rivalry in more than two decades.
Lynch’s list spans the villains of golf, the up-and-comers of golf and even the turkeys of golf.
There is indeed a lot to be thankful for this year.
Watch the video at the top of the page to see the latest edition of Eamon’s Corner.
Fowler was the expected choice. He’s a force in the team room, a solid, experienced player in the matches, a guy who finished 11th in the points race to be one of the eight automatic qualifiers. Fowler was Woods’ fifth pick – he earlier selected himself, Tony Finau, Gary Woodland and Patrick Reed.
But Fowler hasn’t played since August, as he got married in October and then got sick at the end of his honeymoon with an intestinal bacterial infection.
Meanwhile, Todd has gone bonkers.
He’s won the Bermuda Championship and the Mayakoba Golf Classic and will take a two-shot lead into Sunday’s final round of the RSM Classic at Sea Island Golf Club. With a bogey-free, 8-under-par 62 in Saturday’s third round, Todd got two clear of Webb Simpson and Sebastian Munoz, is three clear of D.J. Trahan and four ahead of three other players.
Todd missed just one green in regulation on the Seaside Course and hit every fairway in regulation. While he made birdie putts from 20, 12, 6, 2, 28, 18, 2 and 9 feet, he also lipped out four other birdie putts.
“Like my caddie said, it was like a video game out there today,” Todd said. “Just thrilled with the way I’m hitting it and feeling out there. That was about as good as I could ask for in the circumstances.
“I just expect certain areas of my game to perform at a certain level right now. So when they do, the scores come and then you just kind of take them and move through the round and try to shoot as low as you can.”
Todd’s remarkable run could lead him to winning three consecutive events on the PGA Tour. The last player to do that? Woods, in 2006.
It’s a stunning about-face. Todd nearly quit the game and considered opening a pizza franchise when he missed 37-of-41 cuts and went more than two years without breaking 70 on the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour from 2016-18.
Now he’s posted 12 consecutive round in the 60s, signing for 66-68-63-67-62-63-68-65-68-66-66-62. Folks, that’s a whopping 68-under par.
But he has no ill will toward Woods for not picking him.
“If there was any inkling at all, Davis (Love III) or Zach (Johnson) or one of the assistant captains might have mentioned it to me. Obviously Tiger had Rickie in mind a long time ago, as he should have, and I’m fine with that,” Todd said.
Todd also isn’t complaining about the final group on Sunday, where he’ll go out with Simpson and Munoz. Todd and Simpson played junior golf against each other and they’ve remained friends ever since. In times of struggle, each has consoled in the other. On Sunday, they will play on the PGA Tour together for the first time since being grouped in the first two rounds at Colonial in 2016.
“We’ve been able to talk to each other on the phone and help each other out,” Simpson said. “I’ve been so proud of him for hanging in there. I mean, I think besides the Player of the Year, I mean, his story could be the biggest story of the year. To come back just proves what kind of guts he has inside of him to not give up or throw in the towel.”
But Simpson won’t question Woods’ decision to take Fowler.
“It’s funny, Brendon texted me after he won (in Mayakoba) and he said, ‘Captain’s pick?’” Simpson said. “But now it’s like he’s playing as good as anybody in the world. But I think the team’s set, but he definitely gave it a good try.”
That’s all Todd will do in the final round, for he’s not going to change anything.
“I just want to get into my little zone and attack the golf course like I’m trying to go shoot nothing because that’s been my mindset every day for the last three events and there’s really no reason to change it just because I’m (in) the lead,” Todd said. “And whether it happens or not, you know, I’m not going to change my game plan, I’m not going to feel good or bad about myself, I’m just going to keep attacking.”
It’s worked pretty well for three consecutive tournaments.
As was expected, Brooks Koepka has not recovered from his knee injury in time to play in the Presidents Cup, giving Rickie Fowler an in.
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Brooks Koepka is out of the Presidents Cup; Rickie Fowler is in.
Koepka, ranked No. 1 in the world, announced on Wednesday that he has been forced to withdraw from the 2019 competition due to a knee injury. U.S. Team Playing Captain Tiger Woods used the additional selection afforded to him by Koepka’s withdrawal to select Fowler.
“I notified Captain Tiger Woods that despite constant medical care and rehab, I am not able to play golf at this time. I consider it to be a high honor to be part of the 2019 team and I regret not being able to compete,” Koepka said in a statement. “Since my injury in Korea, I have been in constant contact with Tiger and assured him that I was making every effort to be 100 percent in time for the Presidents Cup in Australia. However, I need more time to heal.”
Tiger Woods and Rickie Fowler on the 12th tee during the second round of The 2018 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. Photo: John David Mercer/USA TODAY Sports
Koepka qualified as the No. 1-ranked player for the U.S. Presidents Cup Team in the points standing. December’s event would have been Koepka’s second Presidents Cup appearance after making his debut in 2017 and compiling a 2-2-0 record.
“Brooks and I talked, and he’s disappointed that he won’t be able to compete,” Woods said. “I told him to get well soon, and that we’re sorry he won’t be with us in Australia. He would clearly be an asset both on the course and in the team room.”
“Anytime you lose the No. 1 player in the world, that’s a huge loss,” said Charles Howell III, the defending champion at this week’s RSM Classic. “And Brooks, like his mentality, the way he is, I mean, he seems made for match play, so I do think it’s a big loss. But you’re replacing him with Rickie Fowler, who’s obviously a phenomenal player.”
Fowler will now play for the third time on the U.S. Team following a strong showing in 2017 at Liberty National where he was undefeated with a 3-0-1 record. Fowler, who was 11th in the Presidents Cup points standings, hasn’t played since finishing T-19 at the Tour Championship in late August. He was expected to play at the Mayakoba Golf Classic last week, but withdrew due to an intestinal bacterial infection.
Former two-time U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III supported the selection of Fowler. He thought back to 2010, when Fowler was a rookie under consideration for Captain Corey Pavin’s final pick.
“When I called Bob Tway, he pointedly said, ‘He should be your first pick,’ and Rickie proved that over in Wales. He played like a veteran,” Love said. “Rickie loves the stage. A lot like a Phil Mickelson or now hanging around Kevin Kisner, there’s some guys that like to walk out on the final green and make that putt, they want the ball with no time on the clock and Rickie’s that guy. Rickie’s a guy you want on your side. It’s unfortunate for Brooks, but I think they picked up an all‑around team guy both playing and in the team room, so I’m excited for him.”
Kisner, who won the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play in March and had success at the 2017 Presidents Cup, has struggled the past few months. He and hot hands Kevin Na and Brendon Todd were among the names being bandied about as a replacement pick for Koepka along with old standbys Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth,
“No one else really stepped up and did much from our vantage point,” said Zach Johnson, one of team USA’s assistant captains. “I think you side with experience, camaraderie and chemistry.”
“Rickie has played on a couple Presidents Cup teams, was someone seriously considered for a pick and is well respected and liked by his teammates,” Woods said. “I know he’s going to do a great job for us. We’re all excited about this year’s event. The course is outstanding, the fans will be loud and we’re playing against great competitors. We’re ready to go.”
“When I heard Brooks wasn’t going to be ready to play, I was bummed for him and the team,” Fowler said. “Then I got a call from both Brooks and Tiger. I was humbled and excited to be given the chance. These team events have been some of the most memorable weeks of my career.
“To be picked by Tiger to compete with him and the rest of the team is very special. It is impossible to replace the world’s No. 1, but I can assure my teammates and American golf fans that I will be prepared and ready to do my part to bring home the Presidents Cup.”
The Presidents Cup will return to Melbourne, Australia and The Royal Melbourne Golf Club for the third time Dec. 9-15.
Florida, began the decade with zero wins. He ended the decade with 12 victories, the third-most by a player in the decade. Two of those wins came in the Masters, two others in World Golf Championships. While he wowed galleries everywhere with his pink driver and prodigious firepower, he was one of the best on and around the greens.
