For some golfers, each birdie putt was a jolt of adrenaline while every bogey was a kick to the gut.
The season-ending Tour Championship features an exclusive field of the top-30 players on the FedEx Cup points list.
For those PGA Tour golfers hugging that top-30 cutline this week at the BMW Championship, getting to the season-finale at East Lake was stressful, with each birdie putt providing a jolt of adrenaline and every bogey feeling like a kick to the gut.
Sunday was once again a rollercoaster of emotions for those players angling for one of those coveted tee times at the 2023 Tour Championship, where the winning prize is $18 million in bonus money.
It made for a fascinating few hours of television on CBS.
Fans enjoyed watching Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick and Max Homa battle for the win while also keeping tabs on the likes of Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Sahith Theegala and Sepp Straka, who were all battling to extend their seasons.
Here’s a closer look at the race to East Lake, where ultimately just one golfer played his way into the top 30 but several others walked a tightrope over the final 18 holes at Olympia Fields outside Chicago.
The second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs is the 2023 BMW Championship this week at Olympia Fields Country Club near Chicago, with the top 50 from last week’s field of 70 having advanced.
Sunday night, there will be but 30 golfers moving on to the 2023 Tour Championship, the season finale at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
All 50 players who reached the BMW earned a guaranteed spot in the 2024 signature events, but they’re also eyeing a huge potential payday next week, as the 2023 FedEx Cup champion will bag $18 million in bonus money.
Guys like Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are all in prime position to advance but there’s a few golfers right near the top-30 cutline who have to make sure they don’t slip, just as there are some who need to make a move in the upward direction.
Here’s a look at Nos. 26-30, trying to hold serve, and those in Nos. 31-35, who need a big week. The PGA Tour’s projected standings will be updated during play starting Thursday and finalized Sunday night for next week.
Position
Golfer
26
Tyrrell Hatton
27
Jordan Spieth
28
Sungjae Im
29
Chris Kirk
30
Sam Burns
31
Sahith Theegala
32
Justin Rose
33
Kurt Kitayama
34
Denny McCarthy
35
Seamus Power
The Tour Championship will once again use the Starting Strokes format, with the golfer in the top slot starting at 10 under, the No. 2 guy will be at 8 under and so on. Golfers in the 26th through 30th slots next week will start at even par.
The winner takes home $18 million. Last place is good for $500,000.
The next designated event on the PGA Tour schedule is here as the best players in the world are in Cromwell, Connecticut, for the 2023 Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands.
The best field in tournament history is set to battle for a $20 million purse with $3.6 million going to the winner. World No. 6 Xander Schauffele, fresh off a T-10 at the U.S. Open, is the defending champion thanks to his two-shot win over J.T. Poston and Sahith Theegala last season.
Scottie Scheffler is the betting favorite +600, followed by Jon Rahm and Patrick Cantlay at +1100 and Rory McIlroy at +1200.
Despite the plethora of superstar power in the field, there are a few names to keep an eye on further down the odds list.
Here are five sleeper picks for the 2023 Travelers Championship.
The field at this week’s Memorial Tournament is stacked. The top five players in the Official World Golf Ranking — Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele — are all set to tee it up come Thursday morning.
Rahm won this event in 2020 while Cantlay has claimed the title twice, 2021 and 2019. Billy Horschel is the defending champion thanks to his four-shot win over Aaron Wise last season.
Scheffler is the betting favorite at +600 followed by Rahm at +750 and Cantlay at +1000.
[pickup_prop id=”33667″]
Although big names will be all over the leaderboard this week, we wanted to take a look at five sleeper picks with a shot to win come Sunday.
Max Homa tied for 13th at Southern Hills last year.
Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, is in the spotlight this week as the game’s best players are in town for the 2023 PGA Championship.
The PGA has delivered dramatic finishes for several years running, including Justin Thomas’ playoff win over Will Zalatoris at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last year. It was Thomas’ second major win and second Wanamaker Trophy.
Scottie Scheffler, fresh off a top-five finish at the AT&T Byron Nelson, is the betting favorite at +700 followed closely by world No. 1 Jon Rahm (+750).
Here are five prop bets and position plays for the 2023 PGA Championship, starting with Max Homa to finish inside the top 20.
Tiger Woods holds the Tour’s all-time mark for consecutive cuts made with 142.
Xander Schauffele hasn’t missed a cut since the 2022 Masters.
Last weekend at the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship, Schauffele made his 24th consecutive cut en route to a solo second-place finish behind Wyndham Clark. Schauffele’s 24th in a row is the longest active cuts made streak on the PGA tour.
Schauffele has 13 starts this season out of 14 events entered. He WD’d in January at the Sony Open. Of note: the last time he missed a cut, he won his next time out, at the 2022 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
Here’s a closer look at the current top 10 through the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship.
Moving Day at Quail Hollow didn’t disappoint, especially in the afternoon.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Moving Day at the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship did not disappoint.
Shortly after the final pairing of Tyrrell Hatton and Nate Lashley teed off at Quail Hollow Club on Saturday there was an 11-way tie atop the leaderboard, and no, that’s not a typo.
The standings were bunched for the early part of the afternoon before Wyndham Clark and Xander Schauffele eventually separated from the pack. Paired together in the penultimate group, Clark fired the low round of the week with a bogey-free 8-under 63 to take the lead at 16 under, while Schauffele was just one shot worse with a 7-under 64 to sit solo second at 14 under.
Fans also saw a Monday qualifier step into the spotlight, a five-time winner become a snake charmer and a left-handed shot you have to see to believe. Here’s what we learned from Saturday’s third round at the Wells Fargo Championship.
Sahith Theegala used to intentionally shank shots on the range.
No, seriously. When he was in college at Pepperdine, Theegala would shank shots warming up next to his playing partners for the day to get in their heads. Then he would go and leave them in the dust on the course.
However, it’s hard to imagine Theegala has practiced the shot he pulled off Saturday during the third round of the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club.
On the 11th hole, his tee shot ended up left of the fairway on the pine straw. He wasn’t able to take a normal stance because of a tree, so he went lefty, flipped his club over and swung away.
The recovery shot almost paid off, however, after Theegala pitched his shot to 13 feet, he was unable to make the par putt. Nevertheless, it was still an incredible recovery shot.
Theegala shot an even-par 71 in his third round and sits at 1 under for the tournament.
Which prop or position play are you adding to your card?
The biggest stars on the PGA Tour have made their way to Charlotte, North Carolina, for the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club. The top two players in the world, Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler, have decided to take this week off.
Max Homa returns as the defending champion, although he won at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm after the event was moved to accommodate the Presidents Cup being held at QHC later in the year.
Rory McIlroy, who is making his first start since missing the cut at the Masters, is the last player to win at Quail Hollow. McIlroy has won this event three times, including in 2012 for his first win on Tour.
If you’re looking for a few plays to add to your card for the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship, here are five of our favorite prop bets and position plays.
The brilliance of the 17th hole is that players can make anywhere from eagle to double bogey and flip the script.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – In the final round of last year’s WM Phoenix Open, Sahith Theegala arrived at the tee of the 332-yard par-4 17th hole at TPC Scottsdale with a share of the lead.
Shadowed on both sides by the imposing hospitality structures – the Bay Club and The Cove – the rookie took aim at the green and thought he was about to be rewarded for his derring-do. He struck what he later tabbed a “perfect” shot until his ball bounced left and was gobbled up by the water, which rings the left side and back of the peninsula green. And just like that, his hopes of winning his first PGA Tour title sunk with it.
“As long as it’s another yard right, I think that’s perfect. If it kicks straight, it’s good. Kicked left into the water there,” he said in the aftermath of finishing in a tie for third, one stroke out of a playoff eventually won by Scottie Scheffler.
Theegala has had a year to digest how close his tee sot came to perhaps joining 65 others that kicked on to the putting surface at 17 in 2022, marking the sixth consecutive season with more than 60 tee shots finding the green. Instead, his was the final of 62 balls in last year’s tournament that ended up swimming with the fish. What is it they say about time healing all wounds?
“I don’t think it’s something you ever get over,” Theegala said of his unlucky bounce at 17. “I don’t actively think about it but it’s always going to hurt. I hit a good shot, it just wasn’t the right shot I suppose.”
Theegala isn’t the only one to stand on the 17th tee and realize its make-or-break time with the title on the line. And that’s the brilliance of the hole – players can make anywhere from eagle to double bogey and flip the script. While the par-3 16th hole has become iconic for good reason, the 17th lives in its shadow and is grossly under appreciated.
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From Kyle Stanley recovering from a prickly lie to hold on for the title in 2012 to Rickie Fowler losing the tournament with water balls in 2016 to Brooks Koepka pitching in from a brutal lie 45 yards right of the green, it’s 17 that has become pivotal to determining who hoists the trophy on Sunday.
It also has its place in history as home to Andrew Magee’s hole-in-one, which remains the only ace on a par 4 in Tour history. In case anyone dares to forget it, there is a plaque recognizing the feat.
A marker near the 17th tee box at TPC Scottsdale honors the first-ever hole-in-one on a par-4 in PGA Tour history, made by Andrew Magee in 2001. (Photo by Golfweek)
On Thursday morning, the Thunderbirds will host a ceremony at the 17th tee to celebrate Tom Weiskopf, a 16-time winner on the Tour, including the 1973 British Open, and TPC Scottsdale course architect, who died in August at age 79 from pancreatic cancer. A second plaque will be installed in the ground at the tee box, where Weiskopf made the drivable par 4 fashionable again. Since building the 17th hole here in 1986, Weiskopf went on to include at least one on all 74 courses he designed, and five of them have one on each nine.
“I feel every great golf course should have a reachable par 4,” the plaque reads, and below that it says, “Welcome to the 17th hole.”
He said The Old Course at St. Andrews was the source of his inspiration, noting there are four drivable par 4s – Nos. 9, 10, 12 and 18 – but never on the same day, depending on the wind.
“They are hard to build,” Weiskopf told Golfweek in 2020. “I always looked at it as two par 3s in the length of what you’re playing. You have to challenge the layup as much as the tee shot. That’s the hard balance. I think only maybe a third of the time they came out proper with good strategy.”
Weiskopf, indeed, got this one right. Koepka, who won the WM Phoenix Open twice before he departed for LIV Golf, went so far as to call 17 at TPC Scottsdale the best drivable par-4 on Tour.
“It can be very difficult. You’ll see guys make double, no problem,” he said. “I’m a big fan of that hole. I love it.”
Weiskopf’s plan to build 17 as a drivable par 4 nearly was overruled by then-PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman, who opposed the concept.
“The only time we got into a verbal confrontation was over 17. I said, ‘I don’t care what you say I’m going to be right.’ He didn’t think the players would like the hole at all,” Weiskopf recalled.
Xander Schauffele reacts to his tee shot on the 17th hole during the third round of the 2022 WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo: Patrick Breen/USA TODAY Sports)
Last season, there were 533 par-4s played on Tour and the 17th at TPC Scottsdale had the 59th easiest scoring average (3.847).
Since 2003, Keegan Bradley has found the putting surface 13 times off the tee, most of any player in the last 20 years, while Rickie Fowler has found the water a tournament-high 11 times. For Fowler, it’s been a love-hate relationship. He hit not one but two tee shots in the water – the first long in regulation and the second left in a playoff – at 17 to lose to Hideki Matsuyama in 2016.
“In regulation, it sucked because I hit the shot I wanted to and it happened to catch the down side of the one little knob. Long wasn’t in play unless it landed on the ski slope, but that’s what happened. Just a bad break at the wrong time,” he said. “In the playoff, I ended up turning a 3-wood over a bit too much.”
But he got his revenge in 2019, playing the hole in 4 under, tying for the best performance on the hole by a winner, on his way to victory.
Water left often forces players to bail out to the right, but if they get too close to the bunker, the next shot, a downhill chip running towards the water, is no picnic.
“I like that you have to think where the pin is located,” said Tony Finau, noting that the back-left hole location is one of toughest the pros face all year.
17th hole at TPC Scottsdale (ShotLink era)
• 8,161 total tee shots
• 948 ended up on the green (11.6 percent)
• 685 ended up in the water (8.4 percent)
• 38.54 percent: chance of making par or better after hitting a tee shot in the water
Finau held a two-stroke lead with two holes to play in 2020, but chunked his 3-wood off the tee into a bunker, made par and got caught by Webb Simpson, who birdied the final two holes to force a playoff and won with a birdie on the first extra hole.
“As soon as you say 17, I’m like, ‘ooh, I wish I could have that one back,’ ” Finau said. “I’d like to have a chance to win there and hit it on the green this time. Hopefully it can happen this year.”
