For the sixth time since 2012, Rory McIlroy entered Sunday’s final round of the Tour Championship at East Lake with an opportunity to take home a nice trophy and an exorbitant check. McIlroy converted just one of his first chances, a .200 batting average that placed him squarely on baseball’s Mendoza line, a benchmark for light hitting utility infielders. Three times he shot … [Read more...]
Scoring System Altered for Tour Championship to Guarantee One Winner
Since the PGA Tour introduced the FedExCup Playoffs in 2007, tour officials have strived to find the best format for determining a season-long champion. Over the past dozen years, the tour has made several changes to the Playoffs points system after the first one was found to have a serious problem in terms of having the FedExCup champion determined in the season-ending Tour … [Read more...]
Woods Rallies for First Time in a Major to Take Fifth Masters Title
While he was winning 14 majors between 1997 and 2008, Tiger Woods established a 100 percent predictable model for divining whether he was going to win a Grand Slam event going to the final round. When leading or sharing the lead after 54 holes, Woods was 14-0 in Grand Sam events. When he was trailing going to the final round, he was 0-for-everything else. His spotless … [Read more...]
Masters preview: McIlroy the Favorite, No Green Jacket for Tiger or Phil
The list of potential 2019 Masters champions is long, with a clear but not overwhelming favorite who comes into the tournament as the game’s hottest player, but who does not have the best relationship with Augusta National. Everything points to a Rory McIlroy victory in Augusta next week. He has finished sixth or better in each of his six starts in PGA Tour stroke play … [Read more...]
Georgians Fill Leader Boards on PGA, Web.com Tours
Golfers with Georgia ties were all over the leader boards on both the PGA and Web.com Tours this past weekend, combining for six top-10 finishes, with three others placing among the top 15. Charles Howell, Michael Thompson and Vaughn Taylor posted top 10s on the PGA Tour in Los Angeles , with Luke List and Bubba Watson both coming up one shot shots of a top-10 showing. J.T. … [Read more...]
Weaver, Whaley Second in Web.com Events; Kuchar Second in FedExCup Standings
Two Atlanta area residents playing on the Web.com Tour this season recorded runner-up finishes in the tour’s two most recent events, putting them in good position to earn their PGA Tour cards for 2019-20. Atlanta’s Drew Weaver finished second in this past week’s tournament in Colombia, while Fayetteville’s Vince Whaley, a recent member of the Georgia Tech golf team, … [Read more...]
Kuchar Wins in Hawaii for Second Victory of Young Season
After eight consecutive outstanding seasons on the PGA Tour from 2010 to ’17, Matt Kuchar turned 40 in the summer of 2018 and did not have much to celebrate about on the golf course. Kuchar’s 2017-18 season was his least successful in almost a decade, and resulted in a lot more misses than hits on his annual to-do list. He failed to qualify for the Ryder Cup team, the … [Read more...]
PGA Tour Preview: Significant Changes Highlight 2019 Schedule
The 2019 portion of the PGA Tour schedule began with two events in Hawaii, and will be followed by four annual stops in California and one in Arizona, the same as it has for the past two decades. After that, the usually standard sequence of tournaments has been significantly shuffled, along with a number of rules changes that are slightly confusing but not overly impactful. … [Read more...]
Kisner Ties for 2nd in British Open; Held or Shared Lead After First 3 Rounds
For the second straight year, former Georgia Bulldog Kevin Kisner made a strong run at capturing a major championship before falling back in the final round. Kisner, a lifelong resident of Aiken, S.C., just across the Savannah River from Augusta, had at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds in the British Open, winding up in a tie for second behind … [Read more...]