C.T. Pan leaves the Players Championship: ‘Not going to play’

The PGA Tour’s flagship event is on at TPC Sawgrass but one player has decided he will not be a part of it.

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The PGA Tour’s flagship event, the Players Championship, is on, with the first round underway at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

But one player in particular has decided he will not be a part of it.

C.T. Pan, scheduled to tee off at 2:02 p.m. ET on the 10th hole alongside Adam Long and Si Woo Kim, tweeted on Thursday morning that he had “left hours ago. Not going to play.”

For a few hours, he was still listed on the leaderboard on the PGA Tour’s website, only to be removed and replaced by Brendan Steele, who was the first alternate.

There has been mass cancellations of sporting events and other large gatherings of people across the country due to the coronavirus, but the Tour announced just after midnight on Thursday that golf will resume as planned.

PLAYERS: Tee times, TV | Scores

Then, about 12 hours later, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announced that starting Friday, fans will not be allowed at Tour events through the Valero Texas Open, which starts April 2.

But it appears Pan didn’t want to take any chances.

Presidents Cup: Patrick Reed hears it from fans, goes down to defeat

MELBOURNE, Australia – When Patrick Reed arrived at the first tee at Royal Melbourne, the partisan crowd pelted him with catcalls that referenced his recent rules infraction for improving his lie in a waste bunker at the Hero World Challenge. “Are …

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MELBOURNE, Australia – When Patrick Reed arrived at the first tee at Royal Melbourne, the partisan crowd pelted him with catcalls that referenced his recent rules infraction for improving his lie in a waste bunker at the Hero World Challenge.

“Are you really going to make your caddie carry 14 clubs and a shovel?” one shouted.

That one even made Reed crack a smile.

Standing near the first tee as an observer on Day One was American Matt Kuchar, who said he expected the jeers to fire up Reed.

“I think he really enjoys that,” Kuchar said. “I saw that as being a thing where, man, this is going to get Patrick in the state he wants to be in; he needs to be in; plays better in that state. When I heard it, I thought, ‘Can’t wait to see how he does. This is his element.’ ”

But Reed didn’t shush the crowd as he had done at the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles. Nor did it lead to inspired play. He and partner Webb Simpson never led in their Four-ball match and lost 1 up to Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and C.T. Pan of Chinese Taipei. It was Reed’s first loss in four Presidents Cup Four-ball matches.

PRESIDENTS CUP: Scores | Viewer’s guide | Photos

Reed received a chorus of boos when his name was announced, the only player to receive such a welcome. Two days after a fan dubbed him “The Excavator,” Reed stepped to the first tee and belted his tee shot down the right side and watched in disgust as it rolled into a bunker. The crowd erupted in cheers.

“I’ll have the shovel, thanks,” one fan said.

From the you can’t make this up department: Reed hit into bunkers on the first three holes. There were catcalls of “get in the bunker” and “stay out of the bunker.” Seemingly every hole, a spectator or two made some crack but it was rarely over the top.

When Reed drove into the hay right of the seventh fairway, a spectator declared it a bad lie and joked, “Go ahead and fix it. Take a foot wedge.”

Reed was heckled with “Mr. Sandman,” and there were a few cries of “cheat,” most vocally from a boozy group of fans holding Heinekens in a chalet bordering the 10th hole.

“It’s exactly what I expected,” Reed later said.

“Undeserved,” Simpson said. “Undeserved.”

But overall, the fan reaction was subdued and while it likely will continue throughout the event, it didn’t seem to impact Reed negatively. If anything, it failed to provide Reed with the boost that Kuchar expected.

The Internationals came out punching, as Matsuyama and Pan combined to birdie Nos. 2-5 and take an early 2-up lead. Reed drove the sixth green, but it was Simpson who canned the birdie putt to win the hole. That was the only hole they won on the first nine. They fell 2-down when the American team both drove into trouble on No. 9 and made bogey to lose the hole.

“That hole alone, you know, is the difference of being all-square than down,” Reed said. “You know, in a format like this, you just can’t make bogeys and unfortunately neither of us was able to convert.”

Reed didn’t go down without a fight. He cut the deficit in half at No. 12 by knocking a short iron from 134 yards to inside 4 feet. At 16, with Captain Tiger Woods looking on, Reed holed an 11-foot birdie putt to tie the match and yelled, “Come on!”

That was the closest we came to seeing the fist pumps and hijinks that earned Reed the nickname “Captain America” other than a supporter at the first tee dressed in a Captain America onesie.

But one hole later, Matsuyama buried a 27-foot birdie putt to regain the lead and that proved to be the difference.

“How good was that putt?” Pan said later.

Reed had one last chance to make birdie and salvage half a point but his putt didn’t even scare the hole.

“We brought it back,” Simpson said. “But we just didn’t get it done.”

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2019 Presidents Cup odds, lines, picks and best bets: Which side wins at Royal Melbourne?

Previewing the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, with golf betting odds and picks for outright winner and the best props.

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The 2019 Presidents Cup takes place this week at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Twelve of the top golfers from the United States tee off against 12 of the best from outside of Europe. Below, we analyze the tournament odds and prop bets, with golf betting picks and tips.

The first round will start Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 5:30 p.m. ET.


Looking to place a bet on this tournament? Get some action on it at BetMGM. Sign up and bet at BetMGM now!


Presidents Cup Teams

Captains Tiger Woods (USA) and Ernie Els (International) selected the following teams:

Team USA International Team
Dustin JohnsonJustin Thomas Hideki MatsuyamaAdam Scott
Matt KucharXander Schauffele Louis OosthuizenMarc Leishman
Webb SimpsonPatrick Cantlay Abraham AncerHaotong Li
Bryson DeChambeauTiger Woods C.T. PanCameron Smith
Gary WoodlandTony Finau Joaquin NiemannAdam Hadwin
Patrick ReedRickie Fowler Sungjae ImByeong Hun An

The entire US team ranks in the top 25 of the Official World Golf Ranking, while only three members of the International side are in the top 25.

Presidents Cup Tournament Winner

Odds provided by BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Monday at 1 p.m. ET.

Team USA has won the past seven Presidents Cups and leads the all-time series against the International side at 10-1-1. Fortunately for the global squad, which is led by three Australians, its only Presidents Cup victory was at this venue in 1998.

The INTERNATIONALS are getting juicy +250 odds for the tournament victory. Team USA is a -250 favorite. Look for Adam Scott (No. 18), Marc Leishman (No. 28) and Cameron Smith (No. 52) to lead the Internationals to victory on home soil.

Presidents Cup Prop Bets

Internationals +3.5 Points (-125)

After losing 19-11 in 2017, look for the Internationals to keep it closer this time out. Their previous two losses in 2015 and ’13, were decided by one and three points, respectively.

Top Combined Points Scorer: Adam Scott (+1200)

Scott will have the crowd behind him as the top golfer from the host nation. He didn’t play in 1998 (when the Internationals got their lone win in the event, also in Melbourne), but he has won both the Australian Open and Australian PGA Championship and has spoken highly of wanting to win at the famed Royal Melbourne as a potential career highlight.

Who will score the most points for the USA? Patrick Reed (+900)

Expect the best from Reed, who has excelled in the Ryder Cup format against Europe, and in the 2017 Presidents Cup. He’s coming off another controversy at last week’s Hero World Challenge in which he was penalized two strokes for improving his line of play in a waste bunker.

Get some action on this tournament 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.

Follow @EstenMcLaren and @SportsbookWire on Twitter.

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