Darren Clarke ended a nine-year victory drought last November. Now, he’s won two straight on the PGA Tour Champions.
Darren Clarke made his debut in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship on the PGA Tour Champions this year and took to the course right away, posting a 63 in Thursday’s opening round at Hualalai Golf Course in Hawaii.
He was really good in Saturday’s final round, too, torching the back nine with six birdies en route to a 64. He stuffed his approach on 16 to about two feet, setting up a birdie, and then drained a 50-foot putt on 17 for another birdie which opened up a two-shot lead over Retief Goosen.
When Goosen later parred the 18th hole, Clarke could cruise home. He tapped in for par on the last to win by two shots.
Clarke’s win last November in the TimberTech Championship in Boca Raton, Florida, was his first anywhere since the 2011 Open Championship. But visa issues meant he had to be out the U.S. three days later so was unable to travel to the Phoenix Country Club for the final event of 2020, the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
So Clarke went home for the holidays for an extended break and now, after that nine-year victory drought, has two wins in his last two starts.
Bernhard Langer finished tied for 17th and maintains his lead in the Charles Schwab Cup points race. Miguel Angel Jimenez, the event’s defending champion, finished tied for 17th. Hale Irwin, who made his 25th start at Hualalai, finished last in the 42-man field.
The PGA Tour Champions kicked off the 2021 portion of its schedule at the Four Seasons Resort along the Kona-Kohala coast. The 24-year-old Jack Nicklaus-designed course recently underwent a significant renovation but the venue kept a streak alive: Hualalai became the first course to host a Champions event 25 consecutive years.
The PGA Tour kicks off Jan. 7-10 in Hawaii. Three weeks later, the LPGA, PGA Tour Champions and European Tour get their 2021 seasons going.
It’s time. We have finally put 2020 in our rearview mirrors and turned the calendar to 2021.
After a few weeks off, golf returns to action this week.
For the PGA Tour, it’s the continuation of its super season of 50 events, which will include six major championships. For the PGA Tour Champions, it’s the second half of a combined season. There was no 2020 Charles Schwab Cup champion after the tour decided to merge ’20 and ’21 into one season. For the LPGA, a brand new season will start in 2021.
Over the next few months, many college golf programs are likely to return to action after a hit-and-miss fall where some teams played and some teams â and even some whole conferences, like the ACC, Big 10 and Pac-12 â didn’t.
The American Junior Golf Association managed to stage more than 100 events in 2020 and has already released its 2021 schedule (though COVID protocols remain in place for the time being).
Here’s a closer look at when tournament play, on all levels, will return in 2021.
Padraig Harrington becomes eligible for PGA Tour Champions when he turns 50 on Aug. 31, but his focus is on retaining the Ryder Cup.
ORLANDO â Not long ago, Ireland’s Padraig Harrington sat down with his business manager to discuss a busy year ahead. In the past, his schedule always included three columns â one for PGA Tour events, one for European Tour events and one for personal appearances and charitable events. This year, there was a fourth column â PGA Tour Champions.
Harrington, who turns 50 on August 31, less than a month before he leads Team Europe’s effort to retain the Ryder Cup in the 43rd playing of the biennial competition against the United States, September 24-26.
“If you want to be successful on the Champions Tour, you have to do it when youâre young and once you go, you canât go back,” he said.
But in the lead up to turning the big 5-0, Harrington’s focus is squarely on the Ryder Cup. He plans to play a full schedule, bouncing between the European Tour, where he expects to start the season in the Middle East, and the PGA Tour, where he was announced as the first sponsor invite to play the Waste Management Phoenix Open, February 4-7.
Steve Stricker, 2020 Ryder Cup U.S. team captain, and Padraig Harrington, 2020 Ryder Cup European team captain, share a laugh as they hold the Ryder Cup trophy at Whistling Straits on Oct. 1, 2019. Photo: Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via USA TODAY Sports
“Early year Iâm going to play some golf myself. I need to build relationships with my players, not so much the senior players that I know,” he said. “Try to show my face and build relationships so I have the trust of the players, especially the young players.”
Harrington, who won a total of three majors in 2007 and 2008 and collected six PGA Tour titles and another 15 on the European Tour, isn’t quite ready to sail off into the sunset. He said he’ll evaluate his game over the next eight months before making a decision about where to play the bulk of his golf.
“If I think I can only finish 15th in a regular event, Iâm not turning up. I want to compete and to win,” he said.
But Harrington didn’t sound confident he could follow in the footsteps of major winners Jim Furyk and Phil Mickelson, who made a seamless transition this year winning in their senior circuit debut. “I donât think my strengths are that well suited for the Champions Tour,” Harrington said. “Youâve got to be 20 under par for three rounds.”
As for the Ryder Cup, Harrington is convinced that the right decision was made to postpone the competition for a year, giving him an extra year at the helm of Team Europe.
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“Back in March-April we put in place the best estimates of trying to get ready for the Ryder Cup and we put a lot of work into it behind the scenes,” he said. “By the end of April, start of May you could see that it really wasnât a possibility. It was impossible. In hindsight, it has shown to be the right decision. Weâre all happy to wait for a year. Iâm looking for some rookies to have an extra year. I think it will be a benefit for my team.”
Harrington has spoken often that he believes Whistling Straits, site of the 43rd Ryder Cup in Wisconsin, is a links-style venue that the European side may feel right at home playing as he attempts to become just the fifth European captain to lead his squad to victory on American soil.
If the Official World Golf Ranking is any indication, the U.S. squad should field the more talented team â Americans currently count 12 of the top 20, compared to just six Europeans. But the Ryder Cup has proven time and again to be much like a matchup of bitter arch-rivals where records are thrown out the door and anything can happen.
“It would be incredibly disadvantageous to play at Hazeltine (2016 site) or Valhalla (2008 host),” Harrington said. It is a big advantage for Americans to play a traditional U.S. golf course â big, fast, wider â Hazeltine you have to make eight-nine birdies a round. Weâd struggle to win in those conditions. Thatâs why it was called ‘the Miracle at Medinah (2012).’ I think Whistling Straits is a more neutral site.”
Time will tell if Harrington can assemble a winning side and if he can make one more run at his first PGA Tour win in more than five years. He still believes he has the game to do so.
“I’m hitting it farther and straighter than I ever have,” Harrington said.
The PGA Tour Champions released its 2021 schedule Monday, and the Chubb Classic will move from Feb. 8-14 to April 12-18.
For the first time in its history, the PGA Tour Champions event in Naples, Florida, won’t be played in February.
The PGA Tour Champions released its 2021 schedule Monday, and the Chubb Classic Presented by SERVPRO will move from Feb. 8-14 to April 12-18.
The event will still be played on the Black Course at TiburĂłn Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, as was announced last month. That agreement is for one year.
The tournament has been played in February since its inception as the Aetna Classic in 1988 at The Club Pelican Bay.
Since the move of Boca Raton’s Champions Tour event from a usual February start to the fall and into the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs in 2020, there is no other Florida event that will be affected by the Chubb Classic’s move.
The PGA Tour Champions will start Jan. 18-24 with the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in Hawaii, then the Cologuard Classic in Tucson, Arizona, from Feb. 22-28, and the Hoag Classic from March 1-7 in Newport Beach, California.
Then the tour will visit Naples. The next event after that will be the Insperity Invitational in The Woodlands, Texas, from April 26-May 2.
âIâm very proud of how PGA Tour Champions players, partners, staff and all our constituents worked together to complete a successful 2020, and Iâm looking forward to carrying that momentum into 2021,â PGA Tour Champions President Miller Brady said. âWeâre excited to return to communities that embrace PGA Tour Champions so our legendary players can re-connect with fans and help generate charitable dollars.â
The Chubb Classic will once again feature tour players competing over 54 holes for a share of $1.6 million. Scott Parel pulled away from Bernhard Langer and Fred Couples to win at The Classics at Lely Resort in February.
Chubb, which was previously known as ACE Group before a merger with that company taking on the Chubb name, has been the title sponsor since 1999. For 2021, Eiger Marketing is replacing Octagon as the tournament owner and manager.
It’s been such a woebegone year that one might think the only part of 2020 for which we can be thankful is that its end is nigh. Yet the grim realities of the pandemic and the attendant economic hangover suggest that at least part of ’21 won’t be …
Itâs been such a woebegone year that one might think the only part of 2020 for which we can be thankful is that its end is nigh. Yet the grim realities of the pandemic and the attendant economic hangover suggest that at least part of â21 wonât be much better, so perhaps its more important than ever amid our shared gloominess to spare a moment to recognize the things we are thankful for. Hereâs my list:
For Bryson DeChambeau, who single-handedly filled the long, dark days of summer with antics sufficient to fuel social media for an age. Blessed be his talent, his success, his work ethic and his stupendous absence of self-awareness. The PGA Tour and its fans are richer for all of the above.
Bryson DeChambeau looks over his putt on the first green with his caddie Tim Tucker during the final round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Winged Foot Golf Club – West. Mandatory Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
For Brooks Koepka, whose most noteworthy shot during this truncated major season came at the PGA Championship, when he grazed his ex-pal Dustin Johnson in a Saturday night drive-by press conference. He also freely admitted that he wouldnât share a protein shake with DeChambeau and that heâs not out to make friends on Tour, solidifying his reputation as a straight-shooter unafraid to flavor golfâs vanilla-centric menu.
For Patrick Reed. See above, minus the straight shooting.
For the USGA, the PGA of America and Augusta National Golf Clubâthree organizations often mocked as antiquated (sometimes fairly), but whose painstakingly meticulous approach to affairs saved three of the four planets around which the sport orbits. Call it karma that each was rewarded with a worthy champion.
For Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commish, who quickly and publicly reversed himself by canceling the Players Championship in March just hours after saying it would go ahead, then working assiduously to salvage a season that seemed destined to be lost, despite a chorus of naysayers griping that the restart was a wrong move. There may be five families in golf, but Monahan is the primus inter pares, and this year proved it.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan at the PGA Championship on Aug. 5, 2020, at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
For Cameron Champ and Kirk Triplett, two men of disparate backgrounds who each took high-profile and principled stances in support of the Black Lives Matter cause. They were a noble and necessary reminder that there are thoughtful, diverse voices in the professional ranks, no matter how many of their peers retweet lunacy as gospel on a daily basis.
For Rory McIlroy, who made it explicit that his rejection of the proposed Premier Golf League wasnât just about an independent contractor preferring to control his own schedule but rather a matter of conscience. âI didnât really like where the money was coming from.â With that comment, McIlroy chose not to enlist himself in the Saudi governmentâs effort to use golf to sportswash its wretched human rights record.
For the PGA Tour Champions, the only stage on which Phil Mickelson was able to steal a show in â20. Made-for-TV matches aside, the Viagra circuit is Philâs only plausible path to victory, so hereâs hoping they see a lot more of each other in â21.
For Mike Clayton, the eminence grise of the equipment rollback movement. Amid a debate marked by flim-flam and petty grievances, the Australian architect and former player remains the most eloquent and measured voice making the case to preserve the integrity and relevance of golfâs greatest courses.
For the many Golf Channel employees leaving the network this year as it shifts operations from Florida to Connecticut, and from whom I learned more than they know.
For Brady Riggs, Brad Faxon, Pete Cowen, Denis Pugh, Parker McLachlin, James Ridyard, Paul Azinger, Jim Lusk and the countless other pros who offered some form of swing counsel in â20. All of them failed me, but itâs the effort that counts.
And finally, for the many correspondents who reach out, even if only to suggest I stick to golf or to make orificial comparisons.
My list is entirely subjective, of course, a thoroughly personal accounting designed to remind myself of one thing: that thereâs more for which to be thankful than to regret. In this year, thatâs not nothing.
The longest playoff in Charles Schwab Cup Championship history needed a Monday finish to determine the winner.
PHOENIX â Kevin Sutherland loves him some playoff.
Sutherland won the 2020 Charles Schwab Cup Championship in a Monday finish on the ninth playoff hole over Paul Broadhurst. His last three wins on PGA Tour Champions have now come in extra time.
The 54-hole event ended up needing 63 holes before things were settled, including 24 on Sunday between Sutherland, the 2017 Charles Schwab Cup Championship winner, and Broadhurst. It’s the second year in a row that the PGA Tour Champions season-ending event went to a playoff at Phoenix Country Club.
Sunday’s playoff was a race against darkness but neither golfer could get the upper hand, as they both parred all six playoff holes. They returned at 8 a.m. local time and resumed the playoff on No. 17 with the temperature at about 50 degrees.
They both parred the 17th and then they both birdied the par-5 18th. Back to 17 they went for the fifth time in the playoff. Sutherland stuffed his approach to about four feet, while Broadhurst came up short of the green. Broadhurst’s chip missed right and was deep and he was still out on the opposite side of the hole from Sutherland.
Broadhurst continued his technique of looking at the hole and not down at his ball and he drained the par putt. Sutherland then made his putt for birdie to finally end the tournament. Sutherland will take home the $375,000 first-place prize.
The Phoenix Country Club members, many of whom were allowed on the grounds to watch the tournament this week, then took to the course for a 10 a.m. shotgun event.
The longest previous Schwab playoff was five holes. The longest playoff in Champions tour history is 10. The Rapiscan Systems Classic in March of 2019 was the last tour event that needed a Monday finish to settle a playoff. That one involved Sutherland, who beat Scott Parel in seven holes. Sutherland also beat Parel in the 2019 Principal Charity Classic in a playoff.
At the Schwab, Woody Austin birdied the 18th to get to 12 under to finish solo third. Wes Short, Jr., was solo fourth at 10 under. Bernhard Langer, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els, Fred Couples and Glen Day were all T-5 at 9 under.
Langer maintains his lead in the points race.
John Daly withdrew on the ninth hole. He got last-place money along with Mark Calcavecchia and Tom Byrum, who each withdrew on Saturday.
Up next
The next Champions tour event isn’t for 11 weeks.
The 2021 season opens Jan. 21-23 at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai on the island of Hawai’i. The complete 2021 PGA Tour Champions schedule is still being finalized.
The 2021 Charles Schwab Cup Championship will be back at Phoenix Country Club Nov. 11-14. After being a 54-hole event this year, it will return to its 72-hole format in 2021. The club is scheduled to host the event through 2027.
Paul Broadhurst and Kevin Sutherland are going to a Monday finish at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
PHOENIX â The Charles Schwab Cup Championship was scheduled to be a 54-hole event. They played 60 and still didn’t have a winner by Sunday night.
For the second straight year, the PGA Tour Champions season-ending event went to a playoff at Phoenix Country Club but this time, they’ll need a Monday finish between Kevin Sutherland and Paul Broadhurst.
It became a race to beat the setting sun. Both golfers parred the first four holes and on the fifth playoff hole, after they each teed off, rules officials started using golf carts to get them quickly to their next shots.
Sutherland could’ve won it on the fifth extra hole but watched his putt lip out. After a quick chat with rules official Joe Terry, the two agreed to play on to a sixth. After both parred the par-5 18th for a third time in the playoff, it was simply too dark to continue.
“I did this once before and had to come back the next day. I prefer to get it done on Sunday, but coming back the next day is not so bad,” said Sutherland, who admitted he didn’t plan on staying another night in Phoenix. “I’ve got to go find a hotel, that’s next on the agenda.”
Paul Broadhurst hits his tee shot on the third hole during the final round of the 2020 Charles Schwab Cup Championship at the Phoenix Country Club in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo: Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
Broadhurst, who has his rental house till Monday, noted the pace definitely picked up in an effort to finish.
“As quick as I’ve ever played six holes. I didn’t dream we’d get six holes in.”
The longest previous Schwab playoff was five holes. The longest playoff in Champions tour history is 10. The Rapiscan Systems Classic in March 2019 is the last tour event that needed a Monday finish to settle a playoff. That one also involved Kevin Sutherland, who beat Scott Parel.
The golfers will be back on the course at 8 a.m. MT (10 a.m. ET). They’ll head to No. 17 and continue to alternate between 17 and 18 until someone claims the $375,000 first-place prize.
Broadhurst shot the best round of the week, a 63, on Sunday, but he missed a short birdie putt on 18 that would’ve sealed his first win since he won three times in 2018.
Sutherland, the 2017 Charles Schwab Cup Championship winner, later drained a 30-footer on 18 to force the playoff, which might have seemed unlikely at the start of day, as he lead the field by five, and Broadhurst by six, after he shot a second-round 64.
Kevin Sutherland hits his tee shot on the sixth hole during the final round of the 2020 Charles Schwab Cup Championship at the Phoenix Country Club in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo: Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
Woody Austin birdied the 18th to get to 12 under to finish solo third. Wes Short, Jr. was solo fourth at 10 under. Bernhard Langer, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els, Fred Couples and Glen Day were all T-5 at 9 under.
John Daly withdrew on the ninth hole. He’ll get last-place money along with Mark Calcavecchia and Tom Byrum, who each withdrew on Saturday.
Season rolls on
Normally the Charles Schwab Cup Championship is a celebration to cap the season, the culmination of a year’s worth of hard work.
Due to the schedule shakeup in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no Cup trophy being handed out. This is still the final event of the calendar year but the PGA Tour Champions is combining the 2020 and 2021 seasons, so the points race continues.
This came in the wake of 14 PGA Tour Champions events getting canceled, although two new ones were added last-minute in August. Four of the five senior majors were lost this year.
The next Champions tour event isn’t for 11 weeks at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai on the island of Hawai’i, Jan. 21-23, 2021. The full 2021 PGA Tour Champions schedule is still being finalized but the 2021 Charles Schwab Cup Championship will be back at Phoenix Country Club Nov. 11-14. The club is scheduled to host the event through 2027.
Off to Augusta
From here, golfers will scatter. There are eight former Masters champions in the field in Phoenix and they’re all planning to travel to Augusta National. Fred Couples says he’s got a Monday tee time with Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas.
“I’ve been trying to stay COVID free because Augusta is my favorite tournament of the year and as I got closer to it, I really started to not do anything but maybe practice a little bit,” Couples said.
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Mark O’Meara said he’s going but only to mingle. He stopped playing in 2018.
“I’m actually going to drive back to Vegas on Sunday night and I’m on a Monday morning flight to Atlanta and drive over Tuesday mid morning, get tested, then go to the dinner on Tuesday night,” O’Meara said. “Then Tuesday night straight back to the Atlanta airport and then Wednesday morning, back to Las Vegas, watching the guys on TV.”
Saturday’s scoring average was nearly 2 strokes higher than Friday’s. The cumulative score on Friday was 99 under. On Saturday? 60 over.
From a record high of 99 degrees on Thursday, to perfect conditions without a hint of a breeze on Friday, to mid-70s with gusts up to 30 mph on Saturday, the weather has been a bit of a factor at Phoenix Country Club for the PGA Tour Champions Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
The course is playing at 6,763 yards, and last season, it was the easiest course on tour. Because of the conditions, the scoring average on Saturday was nearly two strokes higher than Friday. The cumulative score on Friday was 99-under par. On Saturday? It was 60 over.
The wind was affecting everyone’s shots and even many putts but also, believe it or not, teed up balls.
“I tell you, my ball was wobbling on the tee on 16,” said Kevin Sutherland a few minutes after he birdied the 18th to get to 13-under par. “It was a little disconcerting watching the ball kind of wobble a little bit as you’re getting ready to hit it.”
Sutherland, 56, was among those who powered through the wind. His second-round 64 pushed his lead to five shots over Wes Short, Jr., who sits at 8 under. Sutherland’s lead is the largest on tour heading into the final round this season.
Tom Lehman and Paul Broadhurst are T-3 at 7 under. Corey Pavin, Jim Furyk, Woody Austin and Mike Weir are T-5 at 6 under.
Other notables: Ernie Els and Fred Couples are T-13 at 4 under; defending champion Jeff Maggert is T-19 at 3 under; Charles Schwab Cup points leader Bernhard Langer is T-28 at 2 under; John Daly is T-54 at 1 over; and Rich Beem is T-56. He opened with a 67 but shot 78 on Saturday. Mark Calcavecchia withdrew after 16 holes.
Sutherland, who says he’s never taken a lead this large into a final round, won the Cup the first year it was held at Phoenix Country Club in 2017 and would love to cap 2020 with another one.
“It’s hard to believe that was three years ago that I won here and I won the Schwab Cup, so this place has great memories for me and every time I come here I get a good feeling about how things are going to go,” he said. “So far, so good this week. This place is great to me.”
Old stomping grounds
Local favorite Billy Mayfair is among a group of golfers eight shots back.
“I love this golf course, I love playing here in the valley, I love playing in front of my hometown,” he said.
Mayfair went to nearby Camelback High School in Phoenix and later played at Arizona State. He birdied the 18th to shoot a 70 on Saturday. Mayfair, 54, has never won on the PGA Tour Champions but being at Phoenix Country Club brings everything full circle. In junior high and high school in the early 80s, Mayfair volunteered as a standard bearer when the Phoenix Open was played there.
“I carried the sign for Jerry Pate a lot,” Mayfair said. “He had the orange golf ball, I loved playing the old ProStaff orange ball and all that stuff.
“Every day after school we’d come right down here and I’d be out here watching guys hit balls until dark. I can remember watching Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player and all those guys out here practicing, hitting balls, so it’s kind of neat to be back here on the same turf.”
The weather will continue to change. Sunday’s high is expected to be even cooler with a high of 67 and there’s a chance of rain, although it’s likely to come late in the day.
On TV
The final round will be live on Golf Channel from 4 – 6:30 p.m. ET.
The Charles Schwab Cup Championship has 81 fathers and husbands competing this week at Phoenix Country Club.
The Charles Schwab Cup Championship has 81 fathers and husbands competing this week at Phoenix Country Club.
Many of them have their sons, daughters or wives working alongside them as caddies.
There are nine such pairings, in fact, with five sons, two wives and two daughters on the bag.
Dudley Hart is playing this week with his daughter, Rachel, caddying for him for the first time.
“It was very interesting. I don’t know how to rake the bunker, still don’t know, but it was fun,” she said.
She’s one of three triplets and the second of his kids to caddie for her father. Rachel said she’s not a golfer but did say she really enjoyed her time with her dad on the golf course.
“We had a good time,” Dudley said. “She’s a freshman at the University of Tampa and I haven’t seen much of her this fall so it’s nice to have her sneak out and hang out with me, let her experience what I’ve done for 30 plus years now, get an up-close look at it.”
Tom Lehman’s son, Thomas, is caddying this week. Thomas is on his high school team at Notre Dame Prep in Scottsdale and has caddied for his dad countless times. He estimated it’s been 20 rounds.
“I had a great caddie. He didn’t misread a putt all day and if I simply was good enough to hit them where he said to hit them, I would have scored a lot better,” Lehman said after his round of 68 on Thursday. “We had a good time.”
Tom Lehman and his son Thomas at the 2020 Charles Schwab Cup Championship. Photo by Elise Tallent/PGA Tour Champions
Being a golfer, Thomas said he learns a lot about the game watching his dad in tournaments but also from watching the other pros.
“Oh, yeah, definitely, definitely learn a lot caddying. Being able to watch him just go around the course,” Thomas said.
“And the other guys, too,” Tom added. “Watching Lee Janzen hit wedges or chip or putt, for example, or Langer, the way he manages his game, it’s a good learning experience.”
Paul Goydos and Brandt Jobe took advantage of perfect conditions on Friday in Phoenix at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
Record-high temperatures on Thursday gave way to cooler weather on Friday at Phoenix Country Club, where Michael Allen hit the first tee shot to open the 2020 Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
It was 99 on Thursday, the hottest day Phoenix has ever had in November. When the 81-man field hit the course for the first round on Friday, the group was greeted by overcast skies, no wind and a great golf course.
Paul Goydos and Brandt Jobe took advantage of the conditions, each firing bogey-free 7-under 64s. Both of them birdied the 527-yard par-5 18th and will take a one-shot lead over Mark Brooks, K.J. Choi and Kevin Sutherland into Saturday.
“I kind of got off to I wouldn’t say a slow start but maybe not the most confident start,” said Goydos. “I hit a sprinkler head or something on 3 and it caught a good break and it kicked somewhere I could get up and down, and hit a poor shot. Then I chipped in on 4 for birdie, which kind of got the thing started.”
Goydos has now led or been the co-leader in tournaments on the PGA Tour Champions six times. Four of those came in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. He won the event in 2016, the final time it was played at Desert Mountain Golf Club in Scottsdale. In 12 rounds at Phoenix Country Club, Goydos has nine rounds in the 60s and a 67.17 average.
Jobe has four top 10s this year. He is seeking his third PGA Tour Champions victory.
On Thursday, he was one of three golfers who wore microphones during the round, joining Billy Andrade and Tim Herron. Along the way, the group talked about dinner and the Dodgers winning the World Series but things got interesting on the 7th hole.
Brandt Jobe hits his tee shot on the sixth hole during the first round of the 2020 Charles Schwab Cup Championship on November 6, 2020 in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images
“Billy hits a 3-wood, pretty good shot, kind of right where he’s aiming and we couldn’t find it,” Jobe said. “So finally someone goes, ‘There’s a ball up in the tree.’ So a guy in the gallery takes his shoe off and we start throwing the shoe at the ball. Billy’s throw wasn’t real good though, but (PGA Tour Champions VP of Rules, Competition and Administration) Brian Claar hit it on like the second or third try.”
Andrade had to take an unplayable lie but he saved himself about 250 yards. He ended up taking bogey on the hole. He’s T-50 after his first-round 71.
About those greens
The putting surfaces at Phoenix Country Club have dominated the discussion so far this week. Players, caddies and tournament officials are all raving about the greens.
“The greens are embarrassingly good,” Goydos said. “If you miss a putt, you either misread or mis-hit it, there’s no way it’s not going to roll on the line that you hit it on. It might be the best Bermuda greens I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Phoenix Country Club golf course superintendent Charlie Costello has a lot of fans this week.
“Boy, the greens are so good,” Jobe said with a big smile on his face. “I’ve got to take my hat off to them, these greens are really good. They’re fast, they roll incredible. And when you have greens that good, if you get some opportunities, you’re going to make some putts.”
