The World Champions Cup was scheduled for Dec. 5-8, 2024.
One of the newest team events in golf is going to have to wait a bit longer to have its second competition.
The World Champions Cup features players from the PGA Tour Champions and debuted last year at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida. It’s being postponed until 2025, however, with the news coming on the heels of two hurricanes, Helene and Milton, ravaging the Florida gulf coast and other areas of the United States.
“Our goal with the World Champions Cup is to provide a first-class experience for all our partners and fans,” PGA Tour Champions, The Concession Golf Club, Manatee County and Intersport said in a joint statement. “We are pleased that the Bradenton area sustained minimal damage, but given the timing of the tournament in relation to the recent storms, we believe that focusing our efforts on the future is in the best interests of everyone involved.
“Last year, the fourth global team competition renewed decades-old rivalries among many of the world’s best golfers in its inaugural playing, providing drama and entertainment to golf fans. We are excited to welcome back our fans and continue to build the event’s legacy in 2025.”
The World Champions Cup debuted in 2023. It’s a the three-day PGA Tour Champions competition involving three teams: Team USA, Team Europe and Team International.
In January, the event agreed to a multi-year extension to return to The Concession in 2024, 2025, and 2028. Host courses for the 2026 and 2027 tournaments will be announced at a later date.
The World Champions Cup was scheduled for Dec. 5-8, 2024. Team USA won the inaugural competition.
Which top courses are open, which are still closed after Hurricane Milton?
Hurricane Milton had different impacts on various golf courses along its path across the Florida Peninsula last Wednesday and Thursday, and some courses have reopened fully while others are waiting for water to drain before welcoming players.
Many people are still suffering mightily after the storm, with more than 400,000 Florida residents still without power. Food and water are in short supply in the worst-hit areas, lines are out of hand at some gas stations and federal agencies are trying to help as thousands of electric crews race to turn back on the lights, refrigerators and air conditioners.
It can seem like a weird time to think about a game, but golf is big business in Florida, and many people’s livelihoods depend on golf as the state begins its recovery. The National Golf Foundation reports there are more than 1,200 courses in Florida that serve nearly 1.6 million players, with an economic impact of $8.2 billion in 2022. More than 132,000 people work in Florida’s golf industry.
The biggest problem for most golf courses wasn’t Milton’s winds so much as its water. Some places in Florida received nearly two feet of rainfall overnight, and several courses are still under water in places. It can take weeks for that much water to recede from a low-lying course. It was especially damaging as Milton struck just two weeks in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which inundated Florida’s western coast with storm surge and dumped huge volumes of rain across the peninsula before hammering into Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee.
Flooding waters from Hurricane Milton surround the par-3 16th green at Forest Lake in Ocoee, Florida, near Orlando. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
As an example of water damage, this author received a close-up look at storm water Sunday on a round at the daily-fee Forest Lake Golf Club in Ocoee near Orlando. The course had standing water on many holes, deep enough to resemble ponds more than puddling. Course operators had cobbled together a new layout, playing one par 4 and one par 5 as par 3s to avoid saturated areas in fairways while they clean up after the storm and await water to recede. One par 3 across a pond was closed entirely as water had risen to surround the green like a moat and covered two-thirds of the putting surface. Players should expect to find such conditions at many courses across Florida as grounds crews work to restore normal playing conditions.
Hundreds of courses stretch along the path of Hurricane Milton. For a sampling of how those courses are doing after the storm, we checked on the layouts that appear in Golfweek’s Best rankings of public-access courses. These vary from daily-fee operations to huge resorts. Some have reopened with negligible effects from the storm, while others remain closed. At the bottom of this story is an update on several highly ranked private clubs, too.
Streamsong
Streamsong Red in Florida (Courtesy of Streamsong/Evan Schiller)
Home to three highly ranked courses – the Red by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, the Blue by Tom Doak, and the Black by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner – Streamsong received no major damage in the storm. The resort will reopen Tuesday after having been closed for several days as power was restored. The three courses on a former mining site feature very few trees to have blown down, and they were built atop huge piles of sand that expedited drainage. The Red is ranked by Golfweek’s Best as the No. 2 public-access course in Florida and ties for No. 37 among all modern courses in the U.S. The Blue is No. 3 in Florida and ties for No. 53 among modern courses, and the Black is No. 4 in Florida and ties for No. 67 among modern courses.
Bay Hill Club and Lodge
No. 17 at Bay Hill Club and Lodge (Gabe Gudgel/Golfweek)
Longtime home to the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Bay Hill in Orlando is still closed as it deals with flooding after Hurricane Milton. The club is waiting for water to recede – notably on the around-the-pond par-5 sixth hole and the downhill over-the-pond 17th – before announcing a reopening plan. The facility also suffered tree damage. Bay Hill ranks No. 6 among public-access courses in Florida. Bay Hill hopes to have its 9-hole course, The Challenger, opened in the next several days.
Innisbrook
The Copperhead (Courtesy of Innisbrook Resort)
The home of the Copperhead Course – longtime site of the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship – is in Palm Harbor, just west of Tampa and closer to the Gulf of Mexico. The resort has posted on its website that limited dining options have reopened. The resort features four golf courses: Copperhead, Island, North and South. Of those four, nine holes reopened Monday. Those nine are a compilation of holes on the North and South courses. The Copperhead – ranked No. 9 among all public-access courses in Florida – has not reopened, and a timeframe is not mentioned on the resort’s website.
Southern Dunes
Southern Dunes (Courtesy of Southern Dunes)
The Steve Smyers layout southwest of Orlando in Haines City lost a few trees, but the course reopened Saturday with minimal damage. Southern Dunes sits on rolling sand dunes, which helps tremendously with drainage. Southern Dunes ranks No. 14 among all public-access courses in Florida.
PGA Golf Club
PGA Golf Club’s Dye Course (Montana Pritchard/The PGA of America)
PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie on Florida’s eastern coast – home to three courses ranked among the top 30 public-access layouts in the state – has reopened two of those courses, Dye (ranked No. 17) and Ryder (No. 30). The resort’s Wannamaker course (ranked No. 18) was closed well before the storm for a renovation, and it is scheduled to reopen in November as planned. A handful of holes on the two open courses are cart-path-only as the facility continues to dry out.
Orange County National
Panther Lake at Orange County National in Florida (Courtesy of Orange County National)
Home to two courses among the top 30 in the state, Panther Lake (No. 23) and Crooked Cat (tied for No. 27), this Winter Garden facility just west of Orlando reopened Friday after the storm. The property’s massive circular driving range was humming with business Saturday, as usual.
Celebration
Celebration Golf Club (Courtesy of Celebration)
Ranked No. 29 among public-access courses in Florida, this course southwest of Orlando is still closed after Milton. The club has posted on social media that it hopes to reopen Wednesday, as water continues to drain. Golfers can check the club’s Facebook page for more information and updates.
Grand Cypress
A longtime Central Florida golf icon, Grand Cypress is home to two courses – the Cypress and the Links – at the new Evermore resort southwest of Orlando next to Disney World. The Cypress is open for play now, while the Links is slated to reopen Tuesday as stormwater recedes. Formerly known as the New Course, the renamed Links ties for No. 30 among all public-access courses in Florida.
Private clubs
Belleair near Tampa shortly after a restoration of the Donald Ross-designed course by Jason Straka (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
Calls to several top-rated private courses in especially hard-hit areas, such as Mountain Lake in Lake Wales and The Concession in Bradenton, went unanswered. Belleair, just west of Tampa along the Intracoastal Waterway, lost dozens of trees on its two courses, and its recently restored West Course reopened Monday while its East Course will take a few more days. Nearby, Pelican Golf Club – home to the LPGA’s The Annika Driven by Gainbridge scheduled for Nov. 14-17 – plans to reopen Wednesday.
Since the PGA Championship moved from August to May, the state of Florida has become much more palatablen.
The PGA of America has the majority of its PGA Championships scheduled out through the next decade, but there are still empty holes in the docket. And since the major tournament moved from August to May, the state of Florida has become much more palatable as a destination.
As the sites for 2031, 2032 and 2033 are still to be determined, a group from the Sarasota, Florida, area is hoping to put together an attractive bid that could persuade the powers that be to give the Sunshine State just its third PGA Championship in history. Jack Nicklaus won at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens during the 1971 season while Larry Nelson won on the same course in 1987.
Sarasota County Commissioners on Tuesday voted to direct county staffers to return on Sept. 26 with funding options for a $3 million sponsorship of The PGA Championship. If the location were to be selected, the event would be played at The Concession Golf Club in Lakewood Ranch in May of 2031 or 2033.
In two weeks, commissioners would likely be briefed on where the money could be found through the Tourist Development Tax fund, which draws revenue from short-term rentals and hotel rooms in Sarasota County. A vote to move ahead could follow.
County Administrator Jonathan Lewis told commissioners on Tuesday that Manatee County is proceeding with a primary sponsorship package of $6 million, if the location is chosen. According to a letter to commissioners from Virginia Haley, president of Visit Sarasota County, the PGA of America’s board is expected to make a decision on the tournament location in November.
“This is a massive opportunity,’’ Commissioner Mike Moran said. “It cannot be ignored the economic driver and stimulus it can create for a community. I hope we’re sending a strong, hard message that we’re in full support of this.’’
Haley wrote that 2023 PGA Championship, played in Rochester, N.Y., was responsible for a $190 million economic impact. Greater Rochester Enterprise estimated 225,000 spectators attended, with about 39% arriving from more than 100 miles away.
Collin Morikawa celebrates with the Gene Sarazen Cup during the trophy ceremony after winning the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession on February 28, 2021, in Bradenton, Florida. (Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
Concession hosted the WGC-Workday Championship in 2021. Normally held in Mexico and named the WGC-Mexico Championship, that year’s event had a new title and location due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Concession, designed by Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin, was aptly named for Nicklaus’ famous concession of the final putt that Jacklin faced in their singles match in the 1969 Ryder Cup.
Billy Horschel on Concession: “This is a great golf course. I’ve always been a big fan of a course that, as I say, you can’t fake it.”
BRADENTON, Florida – Players at the first World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession Golf Club scored birdies, pars and bogeys. A few carded double and triple bogeys during the four-day event, but only one ace, on the par-3 sixth hole.
But the most impressive ace was reserved for The Concession itself, and anyone involved with the tournament’s production who helped make Ty Votaw one happy PGA head honcho.
According to the executive vice president of the International PGA Tour, with just 45 days to prepare for an event just below a Major, The Concession, in the parlance of baseball, hit it out of the park.
Ty Votaw, executive vice president of the International PGA Tour. (Doug Fernandes/Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
“It was an amazing week relative to what was able to be done, in a short amount of time, with a dedicated club in The Concession,” Votaw said. “I think the feedback from everybody … is it’s been a wonderful week. I think people of the Sarasota-Bradenton area who knew of The Concession, those people who have played The Concession, knew it was a gem.
“And now the rest of the world does, too, because of the worldwide television coverage that we enjoyed and how you’ve got a golf course that gives up birdies and eagles in bunches, and you’ve got a golf course that can jump up and grab you and give you a double, triple, quad.”
While a course record was set during the four days and more than 10 players finished at minus-10 or better, 32 players ended the tourney at even or in plus territory.
“All the way through the leaderboard,” Votaw said. “(The course) is a test. You want a golf course that tests you. You want a golf course that helps (you) score, but also you can’t be complacent. The people who are watching around the world are looking at this and seeing what the best players in the world are doing to it. Some are struggling, some are doing great.”
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COVID-19 forced the event formerly known as the Mexico Championship to be relocated to The Concession. With a shortage of time to prepare, Votaw said the necessary infrastructure of food vendors, restrooms, security and volunteers wasn’t in place to allow more fans. Initially, it was thought no spectators would be allowed to attend, but tickets were made available to members, each costing $400, a price tag Votaw defended.
“These are the best players in the world,” he said. “Forty-eight of the top 50 players in the world, and it’s really a question of what the market will bear. Even with the number of fans that we had here, it’s been a success.”
With more time to prepare, Votaw said, a tournament buzz could have been created within the Sarasota-Bradenton area.
“More time to market the sale of tickets and create that momentum,” he said. Concession president Bruce Cassidy said he’d like his club to host a PGA event similar to the Workday Championship every few years.
For that, the course may have to be expanded to accommodate more fans and vehicles. “You’d have to make some adjustments,” Votaw said. “(Cut some) trees down. The good thing is, 10,000 people out here would look like 20,000 to some degree.”
So, Votaw will head back to his bosses at PGA Tour headquarters with a glowing report on The Concession and its first foray into hosting a major professional tournament.
“If there was a negative, I didn’t hear it.”
So what was the reaction from players?
Rory McIlroy walks the second green during the final round of World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession on February 28, 2021 in Bradenton, Florida. (Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
What Rory McIlroy said about Concession
“It’s a great golf course. It’s sort of a typical Florida layout. It sort of reminds me a little bit of the Bear’s Club. I guess Jack had a hand in this with Tony Jacklin. Sort of generous off the tees, but if you start missing fairways, not much rough and you sort of get into trouble in the brush and the trees,” Rory McIlroy said after playing his practice round.
“It’s a big golf course, undulating greens, and I think that’s sort of the defense … you know, they can tuck some pins away here and put them in some difficult spots.
“I think this course has been really well received this week. Maybe there was a couple of greens that are a little severe, a couple of pin placements anyway over the weekend that were maybe a touch severe, but I think when we come back again that the guys who set the golf course up will know that. Yeah, I liked it, I think it’s convenient for a lot of guys and I think everyone enjoyed it.”
Jon Rahm plays his shot from the 15th tee during the second round of World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession on February 26, 2021 in Bradenton, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
What Jon Rahm said about Concession
“It’s a great golf course. It’s a challenging golf course tee to green, difficult. Greens are difficult.
“This golf course right here, you’ve got a lot of like tabletop areas, right, where you hit a shot into the green and everything just runs away from the pin. A great example is the seventh hole, everything on the back right area, everything just goes away from the pin … if you can put the ball in the right spot, you’re going to be able to make some putts. It’s not easy. They’re tricky, they’re very difficult. Wouldn’t be surprised if statistically they play as some of the hardest ones all year.”
Billy Horschel plays his shot from the eighth tee during the second round of World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession on February 26, 2021 in Bradenton, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
What Billy Horschel said about Concession
“I think this is a great golf course. I’ve always been a big fan of a course that, as I say, you can’t fake it. Maybe you can fake it one or two days, but you can’t fake it for four days. And this is one of those courses. You’ve got to hit the ball great every day, you got to hit it solid. You’ve got to have control of your golf ball from tee to green.
“You have to have control of distance, direction. You’ve got to think about where you’re hitting the shots into the greens or maybe even off tees. I think this is a great golf course. I think our rules staff did an unbelievable job this week of setting it up. I think they could have I think the superintendent would have loved to have seen the greens be a little firmer, a little faster. I’m sure he wasn’t happy 18 under won, but it’s such a fine line of maybe a foot faster or a little bit firmer and some of these pin locations become pretty stupid, and we look pretty stupid. And you don’t want to make us look stupid when we hit good golf shots.
“You’ve seen when that happens at a certain major and we don’t need to do that on the PGA Tour.”
Collin Morikawa is looking for his first win since winning the PGA Championship at The Concession headed into Sunday.
BRADENTON, Fla. – The rest of the field was getting a headache looking at the scoreboards during the third round of the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship.
At the top was Collin Morikawa, who was giving The Concession Golf Club a concussion. The reigning PGA champ was battering the diabolical course that drives most players batty with eight birdies in his first 12 holes and headed to the 13th tee with a five-shot lead.
But Morikawa limped home with two bogeys and was forced to make two gut-check par putts to remain in the lead. Thus, heads have cleared and Sunday’s final-round no longer looks to have the makings of a runaway.
Morikawa, who made nine birdies in his second round, still signed for a 5-under-par 67 and his once imposing lead is down to two through 54 holes.
At 15 under, Morikawa is two shots clear of Billy Horschel (69) and Brooks Koepka (70), who battled through a neck injury to remain in contention.
Webb Simpson (69) is three back and Rory McIlroy (66) and Patrick Reed (69) will start four behind. Four others are at 10 under.
“Got off to a really good start and just kept rolling birdie after birdie, really didn’t think about it, game was playing really boring, playing simple, hitting fairways and hitting greens,” Morikawa said.
But he three-putted for bogey on the par-5 13th and he never got it going again.
“I just kind of psyched myself out and in my head it was going to be a tough hole, but that doesn’t mean I should be three‑putting, doesn’t mean I should leave my putt five feet short,” Morikawa said. “Tomorrow I’m just going to stay committed for every hole, every shot I hit and we’ll see what happens.
“There’s so many positives to take from those first 12, but I have a lot to learn from those last six. I didn’t play great the last six, but a lot to learn from heading into tomorrow. Just to kind of clear my head to get ready for the 18‑hole grind.”
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Koepka hopes his neck feels better in the final round.
“It sucks,” he said of the injury. “Doesn’t feel any better. Just one of those things, I’ve had it for a long time, so I’m ready for an off week next week. Go get some treatment here now and get worked on in the morning, and from there just hope for the best. Hopefully it loosens up.
“Have to go through a whole bottle of Aleve and Advil just trying to make it for two days. It’s annoying because I spotted a few shots just to the field, but it is what it is.”
A few shots can disappear quickly at The Concession. McIlroy said the course yields a lot of birdies but it can bite you very quickly even without doing much wrong. Or as Reed said, it’s definitely a course where no lead is big enough.
McIlroy gave himself an outside chance despite his swing still being a work in progress as he tries to win for the first time since the fall of 2019.
“I’m getting it around, put it that way,” McIlroy said. “I don’t feel like I’m flushing it by any means, but it’s a work in progress and I’m seeing some good signs, which I guess is encouraging.
“After I made birdies on 7 and 8 and I got to 6 under for the tournament, I said to Harry (Diamond, his caddie), ‘Let’s get to 10 by the end of the day and let’s see where that leaves us.’”
Rory McIlroy during the third round of the 2021 World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
McIlroy made four birdies and an eagle coming home.
“I shot one better than that,” he said. “I think if you’re within three or four, you still feel like you’ve got a reasonable chance.”
Morikawa has his best chance of winning for the first time since the PGA.
He had been scuffling a tad since leaving TPC Harding Park in San Francisco with the Wanamaker Trophy. While he’s still the No. 6 player in the world, he had nearly as many missed cuts – three – as top-10s – four in 13 starts since the PGA Championship. He also had four other finishes north of 40th.
This led Morikawa to chance to a saw putting grip, especially seeing as the stats showed he was in the 200s on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting. The move didn’t work in last week’s Genesis Invitational but it’s doing just fine this week.
And he got a chipping lesson from Paul Azinger that has helped his confidence.
“I’m feeling well with my irons, I’m feeling good, but when I do miss, I’m able to make up‑and‑downs and that’s kind of the best feeling you want to have when you’re staying aggressive with 18 more,” Morikawa said.
As for his putting, he said he’ll likely make more adjustment but right now he loves his new stroke. As far as the lead, he knows it’s not very big.
“Anything can happen,” he said. “I know all the guys behind me, they’re very capable of going low. That’s why I’ve got to be ready from hole 1 and be ready all the way through the round tomorrow.
“You’ve got to have a mind of a goldfish, right? You’ve got to be able to forget and forgive. So come tomorrow I’m sure there’s going to be a couple wayward shots or a bad shot here or there, but I’ve got to know that I’m still putting one foot forward in front of the other and trying to close out the tournament.”
Check out Sunday tee times and streaming information for the 2021 WGC-Workday Championship.
The PGA Tour’s West Coast swing has come and gone, with all the attention shifting to South Florida for the first World Golf Championships event of the year.
A field of quite literally the world’s best players is on hand this week at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida, with the top 18 players in the Golfweek/Sagarin Pro Rankings all teeing it up.
Collin Morikawa heads into Sunday with a two-shot lead after carding 5-under 67 in the third round. Tied for second are Billy Horschel and Brooks Koepka at 13 under. Webb Simpson sits in solo fourth at 12 under while Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed round out the top 5 at 11 under.
Check out Sunday’s tee times, TV and streaming info for the final round of the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship below.
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Check out Saturday tee times and streaming information for the PGA Tour’s WGC-Workday Championship.
The PGA Tour’s West Coast swing has come and gone, with all the attention shifting to South Florida for the first World Golf Championships event of the year.
A field of quite literally the world’s best players is on hand this week at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida, with the top 18 players in the Golfweek/Sagarin Pro Rankings all teeing it up.
After a second round 6-under 66, Brooks Koepka leads by one shot at 11 under. Cameron Smith, Billy Horschel and Collin Morikawa are T-2 at 10 under. Tony Finau, Webb Simpson and Matthew Fitzpatrick are T-5 at 9 under.
Other notable names in the top 20 are Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas who are T-13 at 5 under and Bryson DeChambeau T-20 at 3 under.
Check out Saturday’s tee times, TV and streaming info for the third round of the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship below.
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Brooks Koepka has recovered from his knee and hip-related injuries from last season and has the 36-hole lead at the WGC-Workday Championship
BRADENTON, Fla. – It hasn’t taken Brooks Koepka very long to feel right at home at The Concession.
Try one day, two tops.
While Koepka and the lion’s share of the field had never seen the golf course before this week’s World Golf Championships-Workday Championship, he wasn’t thrown a bit. The former world No. 1 and four-time major champion tacked on a 6-under-par 66 Friday to his opening 67 and took a one-stroke lead through 36 holes at 11 under.
“It’s just a typical south Florida golf course,” said Koepka, comparing it to The Bear’s Club, The Medalist, The Floridian, the courses he plays near his home. “Those little run‑off areas around the green, every Florida course seems to have them. You can get out of position real quick and kind of short‑side yourself and you’re not far off a good shot. All the courses are kind of the same.
“I feel like if I’ve had good numbers this week, ball‑striking it really well where I feel like I can get it close and can take advantage of those good numbers. I’ve had a good game plan. Doesn’t matter what the wind is, you can still kind of put it in the same spot. I don’t hit that many drivers around here, a lot of 3‑woods and just try to put it in the fairway.”
Koepka leads a trio of golfers at 10 under – Cameron Smith (66), Billy Horschel (67) and Collin Morikawa (64).
Tony Finau, who has 37 top-10s since he won his lone PGA Tour title in 2016, shot 67 to move to 9 under, where he’s joined by Webb Simpson (69) and Matthew Fitzpatrick (69).
Defending champion Patrick Reed (68) and Kevin Kisner (69) are at 8 under.
While Koepka made 112 feet of putts in the first round, he canned 67 feet worth of putts in the second round. That’s because he was hitting the ball closer to the hole, especially in a three-hole stretch where he scored from seven feet on the 15th, five feet on the 16th and four feet on the 17th.
“To get real technical, just taking it a little more what feels inside and then kind of releasing the putter head as the downswing starts,” Koepka said of the tweaks he’s made to his putting stroke. “If it goes straight back, it gets a little shut.
“The change has been good and I like where it’s at.”
He likes how his body is feeling, too. Koepka is healthy again after spending much of the fall of 2019 and most of 2020 battling knee and hip injuries, and he won earlier this year in the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
“Once my body was right, it was only a matter of time before my swing kind of came into, I don’t know, came into a groove I guess you could say,” he said. “In December it finally was like it started to click, so I put in the work, it’s just now I’m starting to see it.”
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Morikawa, the reigning PGA champ, saw nine birdies on his scorecard as he and Bryson DeChambeau have shot the lowest round – 64 – of the week.
“I just made some putts,” Morikawa said. “I worked a lot on my chipping, talked to Paul Azinger a little bit before this week and that feels really good and that’s what’s kind of kept me back, that’s what made me have a bunch of six, eight‑footers. And to finally feel confident if I do miss a green that I can get up and down, it’s a lot of confidence.
“My putting has never felt this good and whether I make or miss putts, knowing that my stroke is good, line‑wise, tempo, that’s all that matters.”
While Finau has yet to earn win No. 2 on the PGA Tour, he’s not discouraged about all his near misses. He’s finished runner-up in his last three starts.
“Every year I just try and get better and I feel like I’ve done that again this year,” Finau said. “I think experience has been my biggest life teacher and I’ve been able to just use some of those experiences of just falling short to just keep me hungry and keep working. I’ve worked extremely hard on my game and it’s nice to see some success early in the year.”
The top wasn’t the only weird occurrence during Patrick Reed’s odd round. The defending champion also hit two balls into water hazards.
BRADENTON, Fla. – What the hell?
That’s what Patrick Reed instantly said Friday after his second shot on the par-5 third hole at The Concession during the second round of the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship left the face of his 3-wood.
In this rare instance, his ball barely got airborne and instead of taking flight, it took the low road and scampered down the fairway all of 122 yards and came to rest in a bunker.
Embarrassing? Yes. Infuriating? A tad. Baffling? Bingo.
“With having that tree in front of me, I tried to really knock that thing down and hit like a low cut,” Reed said. “I think that’s the first time I ever actually probably had enough shaft lean and enough body in front of the golf ball where I actually hit that ball on the center of the face and it had to have just literally hit right in the ground in front and it went forward.”
But the ball ended up at a perfect number to the green for Reed – 142 yards – and he hit a brilliant shot from the bunker to 5 feet and made birdie. So, yes, while even pros top shots, pros can rebound with birdies.
That wasn’t the only weird occurrence during Reed’s odd round. The defending champion also hit two balls into water hazards – one with his tee shot on the par-4 fifth and one when he spun his wedge from 103 yards off the green at the par-4 eighth. Both led to bogeys.
“The first one in the water on 5, literally, right on the middle of the downswing with driver, my back foot slipped behind me and I pulled it left,” Reed said. “The second one, I’m still shocked with how that ball ended up in the water. I took a club that not only was going to get over the tree but was going to fly past the hole.
“If anything, we’re bringing long into play, not short. When I hit it and I saw it in the air, I’m sitting there thinking this is going to fly 10, 15 feet past and it might spin. It flew short. Still can’t believe it.”
But on this latest day of a year that has been anything but humdrum, Reed rebounded with six birdies and posted his second consecutive 4-under-par 68 and will start the third round three shots behind leader Brooks Koepka.
Reed just doesn’t do normal. Noise travels with the 2018 Masters champion as he plays around the globe and this year has been no different. But he brushes whatever static lands on him and moves forward.
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Just as he did after the rules controversy during the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open that sparked outrage on social media. It was declared he had acted properly in receiving penalty-free relief from an embedded ball on the 10th hole and the next day he overwhelmed the field en route to victory.
His weird year also included weathering the storm that brought Texas to its knees. Reed’s home can be warmed and lit by generators, and he had friends and family over so they could escape the hazardous cold. The storm also gave Reed a chance to build snowmen with his two children.
So a topped shot and two water balls isn’t going to knock Reed down.
“I basically just kind of reset,” Reed said. “I felt like I’m still making some good golf swings and putting myself in spots that you need to in order to attack this golf course. There towards the end, it was just kind of a couple head-scratchers.
From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for the second round of the WGC-Workday Championship.
The PGA Tour’s West Coast swing has come and gone, with all the attention shifting to South Florida for the first World Golf Championships event of the year.
A field of quite literally the world’s best players is on hand this week at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida, with the top 18 players in the Golfweek/Sagarin Pro Rankings all teeing it up.
Check out Friday’s tee times, TV and streaming info for the second round of the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship below.
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