Tag: PGA Tour 2019-20

Tiger Woods goes from contention to cut line after rough Friday at Genesis Invitational

Tiger Woods just couldn’t find a rhythm despite a hot start once again on Friday at the Genesis Invitational.

After another solid start on his opening hole, Tiger Woods went from contention to cut line, wasting opportunities along the way on Friday morning.

Starting on the famed, driveable par-4 10th hole, the tournament host of the Genesis Invitational made an opening birdie and proceeded to ho-hum his way around Riviera Country Club en route to a 2-over 73. Woods walked off the course at even par for the tournament, just one shot off the then-projected cut line of 1 over.

Whether he was in the fairway or rough, Woods’ approach shots largely fell short, and his touch on the greens wasn’t much better.

Genesis Invitational: Best photos | Leaderboard

Despite nuking a 335-yard drive on the par-4 15th, Woods flat-out blew this approach from 144 yards out from the center of the fairway, leaving an awkward lie in a greenside bunker. His out rolled off the green, and his chip from the fringe rolled past the cup, leaving a six-footer for bogey. It was a testy downhill putt that didn’t fall, leading to a crippling double-bogey.

Woods then went on a bogey stretch on holes 3, 4 and 6, bringing the fluctuating cut line into play. A trio of scrambled pars put an end to a largely forgettable round.

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Tracker: Follow Tiger Woods’ Friday round at Genesis Invitational, shot-by-shot

Follow Tiger Woods’ Friday round at the Genesis Invitational with shot-by-shot analysis.

Tiger Woods is on the prowl once again this week, hunting down that record-breaking 83rd PGA Tour victory.

The 15-time major champion is back where it all started in 1992 when he made his Tour debut at Riviera Country Club at just 16 years old. Flash-forward to 2020 and the 44-year-old Woods is now hosting his own Tour event, the Genesis Invitational. Despite his success on the West coast, Woods has never won at Riviera.

Woods started hot but simmered late on Thursday en route to a 2-under 69. The Big Cat tees off alongside Justin Thomas and Steve Stricker Friday morning at 10:16 a.m. ET. Follow along for shot-by-shot updates of his second round.

GENESIS: Photos | Scores | Updates | Tee times, TV info

Hole 10 – Par 4

Showtime. The boys start today on the driveable par-4 10th. After a wayward drive went left of left yesterday, Tiger lays up today (booooooooringgggg) in the fairway. Nifty little wedge shot from the fairway runs about 10 feet past the cup and checks up on a dime before reaching the fringe. He and JT were within a few feet of each other in the fairway and they’re within inches on the green. Beautiful stroke here from Tiger, canning the birdie putt to make an early move, just like yesterday.

TIGER ON THE DAY: 1 under thru 1 (3 under overall).

Pre-round

Watch Tiger get warmed up (he needs to, bit chilly this morning at Riv).

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Tiger Woods simmers after strong start to Genesis Invitational

Tiger Woods shot a 2-under 69 on Thursday at the Genesis Invitational to begin his quest for a record-breaking 83rd PGA Tour title.

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The quest for record-breaking PGA Tour win No. 83 is on and Tiger Woods is in position.

Playing and hosting this week at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club, Woods began the first round with an eagle, ultimately carding a 2-under 69 on Thursday afternoon. The 15-time major champion walked off the course T-16.

Woods began the round with an eagle on the par-5 opening hole and cruised to a 4-under 31 on the front nine thanks to birdies on Nos. 5 and 8. At the turn, Woods was just three shots off the lead after hitting six of seven fairways and six of eight greens in regulation.

GENESIS INVITATIONAL: Photos | Scores | Updates

On the par-4 10th, known for being one of the best driveable par 4s in golf, Woods went for the green and missed left behind a cluster of trees lining the rough. His pitch came up short of the green but Woods was able to scramble for a par and keep a bogey-free round alive.

Then came the 12th hole.

Woods hit the fairway but missed with his approach off the green and left. From the fringe he lagged a chip to six feet and just missed the edge with his par putt for a bogey. He continued to grind out pars for the rest of the round until an untimely bogey on the 18th, finishing the back nine at 2-over 38.

Woods, Justin Thomas and Steve Stricker tee off once again on Friday morning at 10:16 a.m. ET off the iconic 10th hole.

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Tracker: Tiger Woods Thursday round at Genesis Invitational, shot-by-shot

Follow Tiger Woods’ Thursday round at the Genesis Invitational with shot-by-shot updates.

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Tiger Woods is on the prowl once again this week, hunting down that record-breaking 83rd PGA Tour victory.

The 15-time major champion is back where it all started in 1992 when he made his Tour debut at Riviera Country Club at just 16 years old. Flash-forward to 2020 and the 44-year-old Woods is now hosting his own Tour event, the Genesis Invitational. Despite his success on the West coast, Woods has never won at Riviera.

Woods will tee off alongside Justin Thomas (for the third consecutive year at Riviera) and Steve Stricker at 2:41 p.m. ET. Follow along for shot-by-shot updates from his opening round.

GENESIS INVITATIONAL: Photos | Scores | Updates

Pre-round

I prefer backwards-hat Tiger, but hey, this words, too.

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Rory McIlroy unpacks on his return to golf’s No. 1 spot, excitement for Genesis Invitational

McIlroy says his work has only started as he replaces Brooks Koepka as golf’s No. 1 player in the world.

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Nine of the top 10 players in the world are competing this week at Los Angeles’ Riviera Country Club at the Genesis Invitational.

“I mean, what’s not to like?” asked Rory McIlroy at his news conference on Wednesday afternoon before Thursday’s opening round.

What’s not to like, indeed.

Life has been going well for McIlroy as of late. The reigning FedEx Cup champion and PGA Tour Player of the Year will tee it up as the world No. 1 for the first time since 2015 this week, a fact he can’t quite get away from.

“Yeah, everyone keeps saying congratulations,” McIlroy said of his regained status as golf’s best. “I said the work’s only started, staying there is the hard part.”

The 30-year-old was peppered with questions about his ranking, and in true Rory-fashion, he answered them all thoughtfully. One point was present in each answer, though. Consistency.

Genesis Invitational: Tee times | Fantasy rankings | Best bets, odds

“The mathematics add up that I’m the top of the list right now and obviously I have a chance to stay there this week, but I’ve always said it’s a by product of doing the right things week in, week out, playing well, shooting good scores, trying to win tournaments,” said the 18-time winner on the PGA Tour.

Last season McIlroy led the Tour with 14 top-10 finishes in addition to his trio of victories at the Players Championship, RBC Canadian Open and the season-finale Tour Championship.

“You have to be an eternal optimist in this game. I’m very proud of my top-10 ratio,” explained McIlroy. “I think it just speaks to consistency and being up there week in, week out … I always feel in golf and winning there’s quite a randomness to it. Some weeks you get the right bounces, some weeks you don’t, but at the end of the year it all sort of evens out.”

Staying with consistency, McIlroy has been the poster child for the word this season. So far on his 2019-20 PGA Tour season, McIlroy hasn’t finished worse than third. In October he started with a T-3 at the inaugural Zozo Championship, won by Tiger Woods, then won the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions the following week. After finishing fourth in a European Tour event in Dubai, he tied for third again late last month at the Farmers Insurance Open.

Column: Tiger seeks career first at course filled with memories
New looper: Phil Mickelson to have new caddie this week

“I rarely set myself goals of ‘I want to win this’ and ‘I want to win that’ because all of those goals are just a by‑product of doing the little things right and I’m a big believer in that,” said McIlroy. “If you get the little things right day after day after day and you practice good habits and those habits become completely ingrained in what you do, the rest will follow.”

In addition to questions about how he spend his free time – McIlroy loves Quentin Tarantino and especially liked the director’s most-recent film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – McIlroy addressed the Twitter-driven storyline of a potential rivalry, for lack of a better word, with former world No. 1 Brooks Koepka.

“It feels like it’s been a one way (rivalry),” said McIlroy, adding he didn’t take any satisfaction from overtaking Koepka as No. 1.

“I keep saying golf isn’t about the other people, golf is about yourself and golf’s about getting the best out of what you have,” said McIlroy. “If you keep doing that and you keep that mindset, everything else will fall into place.”

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Phil Mickelson to have new caddie this week at Genesis Invitational

Phil Mickelson’s brother Tim won’t be on the bag this week for Lefty at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club.

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Phil Mickelson will have a different caddie on the bag this week at Riviera Country Club for the Genesis Invitational.

Lefty’s brother Tim, a former agent at Lagardère Sports and college golf coach at San Diego and Arizona State, took over the looping duties in 2017 when Phil’s longtime caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay joined NBC and the Golf Channel as an on-course commentator.

On Wednesday afternoon Tim took to Twitter to reveal he was dealing with “a couple lingering injuries” and needed to take the week off to recover. This week at the Genesis Invitational Phil will have Andrew Getson on the bag.

Getson, a star junior golfer as a child and former professional on the Asian, Australian and then-Nationwide Tour (now Korn Ferry Tour) resides in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is a golf instructor.

Phil finished third while attempting to defend his AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am title last week at Pebble Beach Golf Links and will compete in his fifth consecutive event this week. He previously missed the cut at both the American Express and Farmers Insurance Open before heading to the European Tour’s Saudi International, where he finished T-3 the first week of February.

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Rory McIlroy opens up on whether he’s too passive, philosophical

Rory McIlroy’s wide-ranging interview in the Irish Independent continued on the topic of whether he is too passive and philosophical.

An extremely successful career in professional golf, one that will take him to the No. 1 position in the Official World Golf Ranking this week, has not turned Rory McIlroy into a machine. That’s perhaps the biggest revelation from Part II of a wide-ranging interview McIlroy gave to the Irish Independent.

The four-time major champion sat down with journalist Paul Kimmage at McIlroy’s home in Holywood, Northern Ireland, where “no question was off limits.” In the segment posted Sunday, Kimmage covered ground ranging from the self-help books McIlroy has read recently to dealing with an opening-hole implosion at the 2019 British Open at Portrush to, perhaps most interestingly, questions about whether McIlroy has the intimidation factor necessary to continue to rise in this sport.

The full interview can be found here.

Upon dissecting McIlroy’s missed cut at Royal Portrush, where local Northern Ireland crowds rallied around him (considering he is one of their own), Kimmage moved on to McIlroy’s level of competitiveness.

As McIlroy was on a plane back to his Florida home that Sunday in July, his killer instinct was a subject of debate on a radio show. Specifically, Kimmage explains to McIlroy in the interview, the hosts were reacting to a piece in the Sunday Independent written by Dermot Gilleece. The subheading read, “The lack of a competitive edge means Rory’s rivals simply don’t fear him.”

“He’s not a fear­some opponent. He’s a glorious player and he’s swashbuckling, but he’s not a fearsome opponent,” one critic says.

“I think he’s overly reflective, overly philosophical. I think that can be corrosive at times,” another adds.

McIlroy had spent the first part of the interview talking about books that have helped him deal with the highs and the lows that come with being in the public spotlight, among them “Digital Minimalism,” “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” and “The Obstacle is the Way.” He also revealed that he fills pages and pages of a journal – perhaps as many as 10 on the flight home from Portrush – with self-reflective writing.

But whether all that’s too philosophical?

“You can become too passive, and that’s no good either,” McIlroy said. “But they’re talking about fire and anger. What’s anger ever done? It’s not about getting angry. ‘Oh, he doesn’t stand on the tee and intimidate people.’ I couldn’t give a shit if I don’t intimidate people! That’s not what it’s about! I’m not Novak Djokovic looking at Roger Federer on the other side of the net. I’m not trying to intimidate Brooks. I’m focused on me. It’s about getting the best out of myself. In the past – and it’s a criticism I’ve had of myself – I was overly emotional and impulsive and reactive and . . .”

In the interview, McIlroy calls that emotion “competitive drive” rather than anger. He answers the question on philosophy by referencing the past year as one of the best of his career.

“There’s a balance to be struck,” McIlroy tells Kimmage. “I’m not going to be this angry, competitive, uncompassionate (machine). Yeah, winning Majors and being successful is important to me, but it’s also important for me to know that I can go and have dinner with my mum and dad after shooting a bad score, and they’re still going to love me.”

The series will continue in next week’s Independent.

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Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers highlight best celebrity shots at AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers are two of the six quarterbacks in the field this week, and the Super Bowl champions brought their A-game.

Pebble Beach Golf Links can humble the best players in the world (see David Duval’s scorecard from Friday), but this year at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am the celebrity amateurs in the field have brought their A-game.

From athletes like future National Football League Hall of Famers Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers and arguably the greatest hockey player of all-time, Wayne Gretzky, to artists like country music star Jake Owen, we’ve seen some truly impressive shots that even Tour players can be jealous of.

Check out the best celebrity amateur shots from the PGA Tour’s annual trip to the Monterey Peninsula.

PEBBLE BEACH: Photos | Scores | Updates

Aaron Rodgers, NFL quarterback

First round. Par-3 5th hole.

Jake Owen, country music star

Second round. Par-3 11th.

First round. 10th and 13th holes.

Peyton Manning, former NFL QB

Second round. Par-5 10th hole.

First round. Practice green. 

Wayne Gretzky, NHL Hall of Famer

Second round. Second hole.

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Tom Brady roasts, compliments Peyton Manning at AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Tom Brady had some fun at Peyton Manning’s expense while also complimenting his game on Friday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

The date is February 7, 2020, and Tom Brady is still bullying Peyton Manning.

Except now, it’s off the field.

Manning, a future Hall of Famer and one of the best to ever play in the NFL, is participating in this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and he’s playing pretty well. The former Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos quarterback is T-37 at 11 under with professional partner and former World No. 1 Luke Donald.

Manning hit a beauty of a shot on the par-5 10th hole which came to rest in tap-in range for a birdie. The shot led to a tweet from the Fore Play Podcast, claiming Brady would’ve holed-out.

PEBBLE BEACH PRO-AM: Photos | Celebrities | Scores | Updates

If you’re an avid golf fan and don’t care much for football, I’ll explain. Manning retired on March 7, 2016 after 18 seasons in the NFL at 39 years old. Tom Brady is 42 years old, entering his 21st season in the NFL.

A back-handed compliment is a compliment nonetheless, but today was just another win of many for Brady.

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How much each golfer won at the Waste Management Phoenix Open

Check out how much each golfer won this weekend at the PGA Tour’s Waste Management Phoenix Open.

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The Waste Management Phoenix Open went to a playoff for the fourth time in the last five years on Sunday at TPC Scottsdale.

Webb Simpson rallied from two strokes down with two to go with birdies on Nos. 17 and 18 to catch Tony Finau and force the extra action.

Simpson then birdied the first playoff hole to win it, his sixth PGA Tour victory and first since the 2018 Players Championship. He’s now 2-5 in playoffs.

Simpson will take home a first-place check for $1,314,000.

MORE: Scores | Photos | Trophies | Money | Winner’s bag

Check out what the rest of the field earned.

Position Player To Par Earnings
1 Webb Simpson -17 $1,314,000
2 Tony Finau -17 $795,700
T-3 Justin Thomas -14 $386,900
T-3 Bubba Watson -14 $386,900
T-3 Nate Lashley -14 $386,900
T-6 Max Homa -13 $255,500
T-6 Scott Piercy -13 $255,500
8 Adam Long -12 $228,125
T-9 Daniel Berger -11 $170,767
T-9 Billy Horschel -11 $170,767
T-9 Branden Grace -11 $170,767
T-9 Jon Rahm -11 $170,767
T-9 Mark Hubbard -11 $170,767
T-9 Byeong Hun An -11 $170,767
T-9 Hudson Swafford -11 $170,767
T-16 Patrick Rodgers -10 $97,211
T-16 Hideki Matsuyama -10 $97,211
T-16 Brandon Hagy -10 $97,211
T-16 Keith Mitchell -10 $97,211
T-16 Matt Kuchar -10 $97,211
T-16 Harris English -10 $97,211
T-16 Russell Knox -10 $97,211
T-16 J.B. Holmes -10 $97,211
T-16 Xander Schauffele -10 $97,211
T-25 Bud Cauley -9 $52,600
T-25 Carlos Ortiz -9 $52,600
T-25 Danny Lee -9 $52,600
T-25 Harry Higgs -9 $52,600
T-25 James Hahn -9 $52,600
T-25 Xinjun Zhang -9 $52,600
T-25 Collin Morikawa -9 $52,600
T-25 Luke List -9 $52,600
T-25 Tom Hoge -9 $52,600
T-34 Doc Redman -8 $39,785
T-34 Sungjae Im -8 $39,785
T-34 Wyndham Clark -8 $39,785
T-37 Kevin Tway -7 $34,675
T-37 Rickie Fowler -7 $34,675
T-37 J.T. Poston -7 $34,675
T-40 Gary Woodland -6 $28,835
T-40 Adam Hadwin -6 $28,835
T-40 Charley Hoffman -6 $28,835
T-40 Aaron Baddeley -6 $28,835
T-40 John Huh -6 $28,835
T-45 Andrew Landry -5 $23,725
T-45 Corey Conners -5 $23,725
T-47 J.J. Spaun -4 $20,951
T-47 Sebastian Munoz -4 $20,951
T-49 Brian Harman -3 $18,809
T-49 Keegan Bradley -3 $18,809
T-49 Nick Taylor -3 $18,809
T-52 Sung Kang -2 $17,593
T-52 Bryson DeChambeau -2 $17,593
T-52 Brice Garnett -2 $17,593
T-55 Grayson Murray -1 $16,936
T-55 Sam Ryder -1 $16,936
T-55 Martin Laird -1 $16,936
T-55 K.J. Choi -1 $16,936
T-59 Chesson Hadley E $16,498
T-59 Denny McCarthy E $16,498
T-61 Talor Gooch 1 $16,206
T-61 Patton Kizzire 1 $16,206
T-63 Jimmy Walker 3 $15,841
T-63 C.T. Pan 3 $15,841
T-63 Dylan Frittelli 3 $15,841
66 Beau Hossler 5 $15,841

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