By Daniel Rapaport
They obliterated the golf course. Now, they wait.

The best players in the world dissected a defenceless Liberty National on Saturday, when the average score at the Northern Trust was just a hair over three-under 68. Doug Ghim became the first player to break 30 on nine holes here, then Corey Conners matched his front-nine 29, then Cameron Smith missed a 12-footer for 60. (Still the course record, though. By two). At 16 under, Smith is joined on top of this leaderboard by the man on top of world golf, Jon Rahm, who played sloppily and still shot 67. Erik van Rooyen is alone in third at 15 under, with Justin Thomas and Tony Finau a shot farther back.

A rainy and humid week has this place playing pillow-soft, and that, coupled with a lack of wind and pure greens, is always going to result in birdies. Many, many birdies. The good news for a battered and beaten Liberty National: It’ll now get a breather, if you can call it that. Hurricane Henri is set to make landfall in Long Island sometime soon, and while northern New Jersey should avoid the brunt of the storm, the PGA Tour still deemed it unwise to even attempt holding the final round on Sunday. Instead, it’ll be the first Monday finish since the 2019 Zozo Championship.

At least, that’s the plan. There is, of course, the possibility that the Hurricane changes course—they’re not known for rule-following—and Liberty gets hit worse than expected, rendering the track unplayable even for Monday. Or the cell could linger longer than it’s supposed to. That’s what happened 20 miles west of here at the 2011 Northern Trust, which was shortened to 54 holes as Hurricane Irene passed through Plainfield Country Club.

The PGA Tour can shorten this event to 54 holes up until the point that more than half the field has finished their final round. With Smith and Rahm knotted at the top, however, there’s guaranteed to be at least one more hole of playoff golf played. One cannot win a PGA Tour event by way of a card-off. (Smith would’ve won it).

MORE: How Erik van Rooyen bounced back from his embarrassing tantrum at the PGA Championship

“I always think it’s hard to back up a really good round,” Smith said, “so maybe the day off will help me out. Yeah, I don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow. I’ve never been in this situation. Probably just a little bit of a rest. A round like this usually takes it out of you a little bit, the adrenaline, the highs and the lows. Sleep in. Maybe a little bit of gym and come out Monday firing.”

That seems to be the consensus as far as Sunday’s plans go: a light gym sesh, and chilling. It’s not dissimilar from a Lazy Sunday you or I would enjoy. You know, when the weather outside is frightful, and you feel zero pressure at all to leave the couch.

“I’ll probably stay inside so I don’t blow away from the storms that are coming in tomorrow,” said Viktor Hovland, who’s three back after a 65. “But try to get a workout in and just watch a couple movies, talk to a couple buddies. I’ve got no problem wasting time.”

Finau, however, hopes to be a little more active despite knowing Liberty National will be closed. He said he’ll consider finding a different course at which to practice, weather permitting. If the storm keeps him inside, he’ll find a way to get some reps in. Such is the determination of a frustrated golfer, which Finau was after a poor putting performance (-2.48 strokes gained) hindered what was an excellent ball striking day (2.773 strokes gained).

“I’ve got a nice smooth piece of carpet that I can roll on,” he said. “It’s more common than you guys would think, guys putting in their room. I’ve done it many times.”

What about chipping?

“Not as much,” he said. “I think hallways games, that’s probably more like in the hallway where you can chip to things. But for sure, the putter is going home with me tonight.”

Rahm has plenty of experience killing time inside. The 26-year-old tested positive for COVID-19 while leading the Memorial by six, then tested positive again shortly before the Olympics.

“If COVID quarantine has taught us anything, it’s what to do the whole day cooped up in a room,” the World No. 1 said. “We’re at a hotel, so instead of me getting up to get food, I can room service the food and hopefully the fitness centre and spa and some of the amenities at the hotel are open and we can take advantage of it. At the same time we have a four-month-old in the room that needs a lot of attention. Take a lot of walks around the hotel, I don’t know, but it’s definitely going to be a fun family day.

“If I had a one-shot lead at 17 under, would hope the hurricane comes and stays for two days and we don’t have to play again.”

Justin Thomas didn’t seem totally thrilled with the tour’s decision to postpone the round at around 1 p.m. on Saturday—which came after it chose not to try to squeeze in 36 holes on Saturday.

“I’m not sure what that decision was,” Thomas said after his 67. “Weather changes all the time and weathermen are wrong all the time. We’re going to look pretty stupid if it’s pretty nice tomorrow and we’re all sitting in our hotel room, but it looks like the decision was already made. I guess there was obviously a lot more decisions that went into it than just that. I’m going to have to figure out what to do because I’ve never had an off-day in the middle of the tournament. Probably a lot of putting in my room and a lot of eating and a lot of TV watching.

“Everyone’s going to have to go through it. It’s going to be weird for everybody, but once we get out here and start hitting some balls, chips and putts, we’ll get back into it.”

Weather permitting, of course.

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By Daniel Rapaport
The final round of the Northern Trust has been postponed to Monday, as Hurricane Henri is forecasted to bring rain and wind to northern New Jersey and render Liberty National unplayable on Sunday.

“Based on the projected path of Tropical Storm Henri and the Tropical Storm Warning that has been issued by the National Hurricane Center for the area where the Northern Trust is located, there will be no play on Sunday, August 22nd,” the PGA Tour said in a statement. “Round 4 will be played on Monday, August 23rd. Tee times and groupings for Round 4 will be published on Sunday afternoon, with play on Monday slated to begin no earlier than 7:30 a.m.”

This is not an unexpected development; the tour issued a statement warning of such a possibility on Friday and noted that Henri was not expected to impact Monday’s forecast, an early sign that the tour was indeed eyeing a Monday finish.

The most severe storm conditions are projected to impact Long Island, eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island. Those areas are officially on Hurricane Warning, while most of the metropolitan New York City area—including Liberty National—is on a Tropical Storm Warning.

PGA Tour official John Mutch said in an interview with Golf Channel that the strom was expected to bring two to four inches of rain at Liberty National, with winds gusting at 35 mph. He added that the wind could reach 60 mph “if we get the worst of this.”

Mutch said anything moveable on the golf course would be secured, including the lowering of scoreboards.

Mutch said he has been told by a tour meteorologist that they should be able to complete the tournament on Monday. “It may be wet,” he said, “but we’re fortunate to have a golf course built on sand, and they’re used to this kind of thing.”

If at least half the weekend field cannot complete the 72-hole tournament on Monday, then the full final round is scrapped, including what’s been completed. The winner would be the 54-hole leader, unless play is extended to Tuesday.

The 2011 Northern Trust, then known as the Barclays, was shortened to 54 holes as Hurricane Irene swept thorugh the Northeast and left the golf course unplayable even on Monday. Henri is not projected to be as destructive as Irene—there’s only a few inches of rain in Jersey City’s forecast for Sunday—and the tour expects the first FedEx Cup Playoffs event to run its full 72 holes.

Only the top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings after the Northern Trust will advance to next week’s BMW Championship, which will be held at Caves Valley outside Baltimore for the first time.

There has not been an unscheduled Monday finish on the PGA Tour since the 2019 Zozo Championship, won by Tiger Woods.

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By Daniel Rapaport
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — It’s not quite Sunday at the Wyndham or Sunday at the BMW, but Friday at the Northern Trust brings some nervousness indeed. For players who entered the FedEx Cup Playoffs anywhere near the magic number of 70—that’s the benchmark guaranteed to make it to next week’s BMW Championship—making the weekend at Liberty National is an absolute must.

A number of guys near that bubble are doing exactly what they need to—like Harold Varner III, who entered No. 72, but being T-6 at the halfway point has him projected to move all the way up to No. 44. Erik van Rooyen, who won two weeks ago at the Barracuda Championship, opened with 69-67, good enough to bump him from No. 76 to a projected No. 65. Not out of the woods yet, but he essentially controls his own destiny as far as keeping his season alive.

On the other hand, some big names—and some with a massive tournament in their future—will be refreshing their PGA Tour apps rather fervently throughout the weekend. Here are some guys who missed the weekend at Liberty National, and might come next.

Phil Mickelson
Lefty’s post-Kiawah struggles continued in New Jersey, where he’ll miss the cut by four shots after an uninspired 73-72 performance. He now has just one finish inside the top 60 since that remarkable week at the PGA Championship, and his once-promising chances to make a 13th consecutive Ryder Cup appear to be in shambles. In more positive news, he’s projected to barely make the BMW at No. 68. Barring anything crazy, he’ll be there at Caves Valley, hoping to recapture the form that saw him win a major championship out of virtually nowhere.

Tyrrell Hatton
It wasn’t so long ago that Hatton was the No. 5 player in the world, hot off a big victory at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship event to begin the year. He’s dropped to No. 13 since then despite a T-2 at the Palmetto Championship—that came against a very weak field by PGA Tour standards—and will almost certainly see his season end after missing the cut by three at Liberty National. Hatton sits at No. 73 in the projections, one spot behind fellow Brit Matt Fitzpatrick, who also missed the cut, meaning Fitz would have to finish no worse than No. 69 in order for Hatton to stay alive. Per Data Golf, the odds are under 20 percent.

Hatton has, however, essentially locked up a spot on this year’s Ryder Cup team. He’ll likely take the next two weeks off before playing in the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour, which falls one week after the Tour Championship and two weeks before the Ryder Cup begins at Whistling Straits.

Matt Fitzpatrick
Fitzpatrick missed the cut at the Northern Trust for the second straight year, but unlike 12 months ago at TPC Boston, his pre-playoff ranking wasn’t high enough to guarantee him a spot at the BMW. The Englishman made the turn in four over for the event, needing a back-nine 31 in order to get to the weekend and give himself a chance to make up some ground. He fought valiantly but could only manage a 33, and now must wait in limbo for the next couple days. He’s currently projected to finish No. 72 and miss the BMW, but Data Golf actually gives him a 52-percent chance to sneak in by the (non-existent) hair on his chinny chin chin.

Fitzpatrick has also essentially clinched a Ryder Cup spot, and he too will play the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. The question is whether he’ll had any of the next two European Tour events—the Omega European Masters in Switzerland, where he has won twice, and the Italian Open, where he finished runner-up in 2019—to his schedule.

Tracy Wilcox
Matthew Wolff hits his tee shot at the 16th hole during the first round of the Northern Trust.

Matthew Wolff
Wolff played alongside Fitzpatrick and looked positively distraught throughout the back-nine, frequently banging his driver against the turf while walking up the fairway and seemingly trying to finish as quickly as possible. It’s been an emotionally draining season for the 22-year-old, who began the wraparound campaign with back-to-back runner-up finishes at the U.S. Open and Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, but has struggled since, both with his game and his mental state—he took two months away from the game between the Masters and U.S. Open to prioritize his happiness. He’s played six times since with unspectacular results, and he’s projected to be the last guy into the BMW at No. 70. Whether he makes the trip down to Baltimore or not is a different story.

Adam Scott
There’s no leader board-watching required here; Scott’s season is over after following an opening 67 with a four-over 75 to miss the cut by a single shot. It’s also been a strange year for the Aussie, who has not been able to return home due to COVID restrictions. The golf hasn’t been awful by any stretch, as he’s made the cut in all but one of his 18 starts, but he had just two top-10 finishes. One of those came at last week’s Wyndham, where he missed a four-footer to win the tournament on the first playoff hole. Had he made that … different story, of course, But he didn’t, and now he has some freedom in his schedule should he desire a return home to Australia.

Bubba Watson
It’s not quite fair to pinpoint one nine-hole stretch when judging a whole season, but it’s hard not to think of the back-nine at the Travelers Championship a few months back when reviewing Watson’s campaign. The two-time Masters champion played his last five holes in six over par to tumble from contention to a T-19, and after missing the cut at Liberty, he will not advance to the BMW for the second time in three years.

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“He’s going to have to put up with the scrub caddie this week,” LaCava joked.

Tiger Woods’ caddie has picked up a substitute gig in Patrick Cantlay for this week’s Northern Trust, the first of three FedEx Cup playoff events. It’s a temporary gig for one week only as Cantlay’s full-time looper, Matt Minister, is out after testing positive for COVID-19.

Tiger’s caddie Joe LaCava is on the bag for Patrick Cantlay at the Northern Trust this week.

Just a fill-in gig as Cantlay’s full time looper, Matt Minister, is out with COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/4E8Xk53EaU

— Daniel Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) August 17, 2021

LaCava resides in Connecticut, which made the drive down to northern New Jersey rather manageable. He’s staying close to the Meadowlands, home of his beloved New York Giants.

“It’s getting me pumped for the season, that’s for sure.”

Woods, of course, remains sidelined as he rehabs from traumatic leg injuries sustained during a Feb. 23 car accident near Los Angeles. There is no timetable for when Woods might be able to begin swinging a golf club again. LaCava did say he recently visited Woods in South Florida.

Woods and Cantlay have grown close, with both holding memberships at Medalist Golf Club in South Florida. Woods also captained Cantlay during the 2019 Presidents Cup.

It’s not the first time LaCava has picked up work since Woods has beeen out with injury. In June, he worked for his former boss, Fred Couples, at the Principal Charity Classic on the PGA Tour Champions. Couples finished tied for sixth.

Cantlay, the No. 9 in the World Ranking, enters this week in third place in the FedEx Cup points standings on the strength of two victories this season: the Zozo Championship last fall and the Memorial in June, when he beat Collin Morikawa in a playoff after 54-hole leader Jon Rahm was forced to withdraw due to testing positive for COVID-19.

There’s no word yet as to how much of the $15 million grand prize LaCava would get should Cantlay catch a heater this week and go on to win the FedEx Cup. They’ll cross that bridge if they come to it—and they’d love to come to it.

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By Alex Myers
During the second round of the 2019 Northern Trust, Bryson DeChambeau took an astonishing two minutes and 20 seconds before attempting an eight-foot putt. It’s the kind of thing you have to see to believe. It’s also the kind of thing you probably won’t see from DeChambeau—or anyone else—at next month’s Masters.

That’s not because the Masters cracks down on slow play more than other tournaments—although, Tianlang Guan might beg to differ—but rather, because officials at Augusta National Golf Club don’t allow the detailed green-reading books that have become so prevalent on the PGA Tour.

Here’s how DeChambeau described that infamous moment, if you can call something that took 140 seconds a moment:

“Five percent, where we looked at it, it was a very difficult read. It was on a bit of a crown, trying to read it, best of my ability. Couldn’t figure out a way to play it four inches out because that’s what the book said. That’s what it looked, or that’s what it said in the book. Didn’t look like that to my eyes. We walked around, took a little bit of time. I was ready to hit. My caddie pulled me off because he saw something different. That’s just what’s going to happen every once in a while. You have guys that sometimes that does happen. Is that every time? No. That’s one—probably 1 percent of the time that I take over two minutes.”

After all of that, Dechambeau still missed the putt, by the way. Not that making it would have made the situation any better, in particular to his playing partners, Justin Thomas and Tommy Fleetwood, who didn’t appear particularly pleased.

To be fair to DeChambeau, the reigning U.S. Open champ and current Masters favourite, he’s certainly not the only tour pro taking advantage of modern-day green-reading tools—not to mention the leniency of rules officials when it comes to enforcing pace-of-play rules. Most tour pros and caddies rely on the laser-measured guides available at most every other tour stop. And in defending their use from those who say they negatively impact pace of play, Phil Mickelson went as far as declaring, “For anyone to say they slow up play is idiotic.” Hmm. You have to wonder if he would feel differently if he was paired with DeChambeau that day.

Golf’s governing bodies proposed greatly limiting the amount of data found in these books in 2018 before ultimately deciding to only limit their scale and size. But at Augusta National, which has always played by its own set of rules, the topographical maps that plot putting surfaces down to the tenth of a degree of slope are not allowed. Instead, all Masters competitors are provided with yardage books that only show the location and direction of major slopes in the greens.

“It makes it harder. All I can do out here is judge with my eyes,” DeChambeau told Golf.com in 2019. “Is it as precise as the greens books? Absolutely not.”

At last year’s Masters, three-time champion Gary Player expressed his support of Augusta National’s decision to prohibit the high-tech books along with his dislike of these modern playing aides.

“Bobby Locke was the best putter that ever lived, and Tiger Woods was the best putter and so on. I never saw him take out a book to read the damn green,” Player said. “To read the green, you’ve got to look at a book? Well, if you can’t read a green, you should be selling beans. It’s part of the game. Where are we going? Everything is so artificial.”

Without his pinpoint green-reading book, Bryson DeChambeau will have to go more by feel to figure out the break on Augusta National’s putting surfaces. Andrew Redington

Of course, everyone will be playing by Augusta National’s rules again next month. So a player like Mickelson, who has nearly three decades of taking hand-written notes on the course’s famed greens (yes, that’s allowed), would seem to have an edge over someone like DeChambeau, who will be playing in just his fourth Masters.

But does the analytical—and yes, deliberate—DeChambeau also lose an edge from not having so much info at his disposal? In those three previous Masters starts, his best finish was a T-21 in 2016 as an amateur. And while DeChambeau’s driving prowess is the main reason he’s currently an 8-to-1 favourite to slip on the green jacket, finishing 10th on tour in strokes gained/putting last season was also critical to his ascension into the top five in the Official World Golf Ranking.

The lack of a detailed green-reading book in his back pocket may not make a huge difference in his putting performance at the Masters, but if you’re backing the game’s most data-driven player, wouldn’t you prefer him to have all the data that he’s used to incorporating into his play? In any event, DeChambeau is taking a month off before attempting to win a second consecutive major. He’d probably be wise to use part of that time studying up on Augusta National’s putting surfaces.

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By Daniel Rapaport
Tiger Woods has committed to next week’s BMW Championship at Olympia Fields outside Chicago, the second of three FedEx Cup playoff events, setting up the possibility of playing back-to-back-to-back weeks for the first time since September 2018.

Woods made the announcement on Wednesday, a day before he’ll tee it up in the Northern Trust at TPC Boston, where he’s had success in the past. Woods won the 2006 Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston and finished second there in 2004 and 2007.

He enters the week ranked No. 49 in the FedEx Cup standings, meaning he will almost certainly qualify for the BMW, which will feature the top 70. But Woods has some work to do to get into the top 30 and qualify for the Tour Championship. Should he do enough this week to guarantee a spot in the Tour Championship—it’d require a very high finish—he could withdraw from the BMW to steal an extra week of rest.

But if Woods does indeed need the BMW to get to Atlanta for the Tour Championship, and if he does accomplish that at the BMW, he’ll almost certainly play four times in five weeks, as the U.S. Open starts at Winged Foot just 11 days after the season wraps up in Atlanta. That he’s feeling well enough to even consider such an undertaking speaks volumes about how good Woods’ body feels.

“It’s gonna be a challenge,” Woods said. “I haven’t done it in a very long time. It’s part of the playoffs, and then we have the U.S. Open at the back end of it. So it’s a long stretch of golf for all of us.”

At TPC Boston, Woods will be making just his sixth official start of the season. He played three times before the COVID-19 hiatus, including picking up his record-tying 82nd PGA Tour victory at the Zozo Championship, and just twice since—a T-40 at the Memorial and a T-37 at the PGA Championship.

After an unremarkable showing at the PGA, where a cold putter hamstrung any chance of contending, Woods returned to Florida for a week of training.

“I didn’t really work on golf a lot,” Woods said. “It was more on training, making sure that everything stayed strong. Ate a lot—I mean a lot—that’s something I’ve always struggled with, losing weight. So, trying to make sur my weight stays up. I do feel it’s up, and I have more endurance. So I’m working on that, and making sure I’m fresh come Thursday.”

Woods did, however, sneak at least one full round of golf in—at Winged Foot, where he and Justin Thomas played a practice round on Monday before heading to the Boston area.

“Winged Foot played long,” Woods said. He has played two tournaments at the Mamaroneck, N.Y. layout before—a T-29 at the 1998 PGA Championship and his first missed major cut as a professional golfer at the 2006 U.S Open, played shortly after the death of his father.

“They’ve got a lot of new tees. All the greens are different. They’ve obviously redone everything. Gil (Hanse) has done a great job of adding length but not changing the character of the golf course. Some of the clubs we hit off the tees are long gone. It’s no longer 2 iron or 3 iron off these tees. Lot of par 4s that are 470 or more. The game has changed a lot. It’s been 14 years since we’ve been there. But Gil’s done a fantastic job to altering the golf course so it’s up to modern standards.”

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By Joel Beall
The PGA Tour’s three playoff events announced Monday they will be conducted without fans.

In three separate statements, the Northern Trust, BMW Championship and season-finale Tour Championship confirmed the 2020 postseason will go forward sans spectators. The Wyndham Championship, which serves as the regular-season finale, also announced fans will not be allowed on its grounds.

“As we have said from the start, our No. 1 priority remains the health and safety of everyone in the communities where we are invited guests each week,” said PGA Tour chief tournaments and competitions officer Andy Pazder with the BMW’s decision. Added Allison Fillmore, executive director of the Tour Championship: “These decisions are never easy, and we would like to thank the city of Atlanta and PGA Tour headquarters for their extensive collaboration as we arrived at what was the best decision for all involved with the TOUR Championship and the community.”

When the tour announced its return from the coronavirus pandemic, only the first four events—the Charles Schwab Challenge, RBC Heritage, Travelers Championship and Rocket Mortgage Classic—were prohibited from having galleries. That grew to five when the John Deere Classic was canceled and replaced by the Workday Charity Open. This week’s event, the Memorial, was supposed to be the tour’s welcome back for its fans.

However, due to the ongoing spike in COVID-19 cases, tournament officials at Muirfield Village decided to switch course last week and continue with the trend of fan-less competitions. Additionally, the 2020 Ryder Cup was postponed, as players and tournament officials believed the exhibition wasn’t worth playing if fans couldn’t attend.

The focus now turns to the 2020 U.S. Open. USGA officials have not ruled out fans attending the proceedings at Winged Foot, beginning on Sept. 17.

The tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs begin Aug. 20 at TPC Boston.

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Roks was so into the event that he bought a Wake Forest golf shirt to match the one he knew I was bringing. And he drained the last five putts he looked at and we danced around the 18th green as we had just hit the lottery. Good times. Anyway, with a heavy heart, let’s turn to everything else happening in the world of golf.

WE’RE BUYING

J.T. Poston: What a performance by Poston, who is winning the Wyndham Championship matched Lee Trevino at the 1974 Greater New Orleans Open (now the Zurich Classic) by not making a single bogey for 72 holes and winning a PGA Tour event. Remarkable.

Streeter Lecka

A couple of weeks ago, a newspaper spelt his name wrong when he was leading the Barbasol Championship. And just a couple of years ago, Poston tweeted that he was mistaken for a valet at the Honda Classic and that he needed to play better. Now he’s hash-tagging tweets with “playED” better.

All I can say is WOW!! @PGATOUR winner!! What an unbelievable week in my backyard in NC!! Absolutely loved playing in front of so many familiar faces and to go 72 holes without a bogey. Don’t think I can dream it up any better than that #playedbetter

— J.T. Poston (@JT_ThePostman) August 5, 2019

Well played. By the way, J.T. Poston has a win this season while JT (Justin Thomas) remains winless. Golf is a crazy sport, huh?

Hinako Shibuno: Speaking of crazy, how about this 20-year-old Japanese golfer’s debut outside of her home country at the AIG Women’s British Open? A closing 20-foot birdie gave her a one-shot win over Lizette Salas at England’s Woburn Golf Club. And it’s a good thing it went in because it might have rolled to Scotland if it hadn’t hit the hole:

BANG ?

Hinako Shibuno, " The Smiling Cinderella" drills the back of the cup for birdie to win the 2019 @AIGWBO!

??? pic.twitter.com/2TztfpPT0p

— LPGA (@LPGA) August 4, 2019

Too bad Mike Breen wasn’t on the call … BANG! In addition to her superb play, Shibuno, who became just the second Japanese golfer to win a major championship, was praised for her pace of play and attitude. She’s nicknamed “the Smiling Cinderella,” and we are looking forward to seeing more of her in years to come.

“The Hovland Rule”: First of all, I’m buying Viktor Hovland, who continued his impressive play since turning pro after the U.S. Open with a fourth-place finish in Greensboro. But second, I’m into the new USGA rule clearly made with him in mind that will allow the reigning U.S. Amateur champ to turn pro and still keep his exemption into the U.S. Open the following year. Had Hovland’s T-13 at Pebble Beach counted toward his PGA Tour earnings, he would have still just missed wrapping up his card for next season (he is eligible to play in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals), but at least he would be roughly $250,000 richer. Hopefully, the Masters will allow its amateur qualifiers to turn pro as well, but it’s the Masters, and the people there do whatever they want, so they probably won’t. And again, it’s too bad the Hovland Rule won’t actually help Hovland.

WE’RE SELLING

Dumb penalties: Brendan Steele was docked two strokes for using an alignment stick during a round. This is dumb, A) Because alignment sticks are dumb in general and he could have just used a club or a regular stick instead, and B) Because how did he not realize instantly that using an alignment stick during a round is a penalty? Then there was Josh Teater, who picked up his ball in the fairway because lift, clean and place were used the first two rounds. More understandable, but again, dumb. Not that I should say anything like someone who once just scooped a ball up during a stroke-play event. Unfortunately for Steele and Teater, neither were able to climb into the top 125 and get into the FedEx Cup Playoffs. If they decide to play in the Korn Ferry Finals, we’re betting they won’t commit either of these infractions again.

Jordan Spieth: Seriously, what is going on? A 77 after putting himself in contention heading into the weekend? At the Wyndham Championship?! Why is Jordan Spieth even playing in the Wyndham Championship?!

Tyler Lecka

In any event, the struggle is real.

The Women’s British Open venue: I’m sure Woburn Golf Club is a fantastic track, but it seemed odd seeing a British Open being played on a course that looked like it was in central New York.

Richard Heathcote

Boring.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour’s top 125 head to Liberty National, AKA that place with the views of the Statue of Liberty, for the Northern Trust, the first of three FedEx Cup Playoff events. Yep, that’s three instead of the usual four. Another tweak? That bonus has been bumped up to $15 MILLION. For more about the postseason, check out this postseason preview from GolfDigest.com’s newest hire, Greg Gottfried.

Random tournament fact: Liberty National’s 13th hole was the site of Tiger Woods’ famously falling to his knees in pain at the 2013 (Is that enough 13s for you?) Barclays. It’s also the site of his ominous, “Yeah, definitely,” press conference at the 2017 Presidents Cup when he was asked if he could see a scenario in which he didn’t return to professional golf. Fingers crossed that he has a more positive outlook when he plays for the first time since saying, “I just want to go home,” after missing the cut at the Open last month. And in 2009, he missed a short birdie on the 72nd hole to lose to Heath Slocum, the No. 124 player in the FedEx Cup standings. In other words, this isn’t Tiger’s favourite place in the world.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0rTQAODPPW/?utm_source=ig_embed

What a year for the Woodlands.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (YOUNG STUDS DIVISION)

How about Matthew Wolff going full Sergio Garcia on this incredible approach shot?

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0yn3OuHm7V/?utm_source=ig_embed

To clarify, that’s going full GOOD Sergio Garcia. Not the videos of the Spaniard destroying golf courses and throwing golf clubs that have been going viral of late …

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (YOUNGER STUDS DIVISION)

https://twitter.com/Max_Marcovitch/status/1156232679450431493

SIX-foot-EIGHT at 14?! Good lord, what a beast this guy is going to be.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (EVEN YOUNGER STUDS DIVISION)

?HOLE-IN-ONE ALERT?

Congratulations to Kevin Zhang (10) from Clemmons, NC who made his very first hole-in-one during his very first PGA Jr. League match!! ?? pic.twitter.com/14OvaBuHV5

— PGA Jr. League (@PGAJrLeague) August 5, 2019

A hole-in-one at 10?! And I’m still waiting for my first? Must be nice, kid.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (OLD STUDS DIVISION)

Bernhard Langer has more trophies than you:

He also has a very understanding wife to let him just toss those trophies all over the house.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

J.T. Poston’s caddie, Aaron Flener, when learning his man is paired with Tiger Woods this week:

I’m having a little trouble breathing right now. pic.twitter.com/SMOLGetxih

— Aaron Flener (@AaronFlener) August 5, 2019

THIS WEEK IN PHIL BEING PHIL

I know I need to let go of the past, but when you crush the past like this it can be hard to let go of it. pic.twitter.com/6jxJFL7KgV

— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) August 4, 2019

Admittedly, I thought this was Dick Fowler, P.I., when I first saw it. But nope, it’s Phil. Wow. Just … wow.

THIS WEEK IN DUSTIN JOHNSON-PAULINA GRETZKY BROOKS KOEPKA-JENA SIMS PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION SORCERY

Remember those white pants Jena ruined last week? Well, apparently, one of her friends saved them somehow:

Amazing.

THIS AND THAT

Congrats to NHL referee Garrett Rank, who won the prestigious Western Amateur. Rank also qualified for the 2018 U.S. Open. Talk about having some serious street cred at the next hockey game he officiates. … Congrats to Jake Beber-Frankel, the son of Oscar-winning director David Frankel, who broke Akshay Bhatia’s scoring record at the Junior PGA Championship. And now 6-foot-8 Tommy Morrison is coming for them. … Long Drive champ Maurice Allen hit one across Niagara Falls 14 years after John Daly failed to do so. To summarize: John Daly hits it hard, but Maurice Allen hits it harder. … And finally, one more shout-out to my fallen friend by looking back to when he won his second green jacket at the 2013 HGGA Championship:

Of course, that was the year he showed up to Myrtle Beach as a “16” handicap. The rest of us had no chance.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Which golfer has the biggest trophy collection?

Can Jena’s friend work on a couple of my golf shirts?

Do sandbaggers go to heaven? (Kidding, Roks. RIP buddy.)

The post A new rule comes too late, Matthew Wolff channels (good) Sergio Garcia, and Phil Mickelson’s groovy photo appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Tiger Woods will be greeted by a surreal sight Thursday morning at the Northern Trust. And we’re not referring to the Manhattan skyline.

On Wednesday afternoon a vicious storm rolled through the New York metropolitan area, with a tornado touching down just miles from Liberty National, site of this week’s FedEx Cup Playoff event. The course did not receive the brunt of the weather, although failed to escape unscathed.

Due to heavy rain and winds up to 60 mph, stands, hospitality venues, signage, tents, and fences were damaged. Andy Vasquez of the New Jersey Record also captured steal gates laying on the hoods of several courtesy cars:

Also, not a great day for a couple of courtesy cars. pic.twitter.com/apTKjaaAfd

— Andy Vasquez (@andy_vasquez) August 7, 2019

PGA Tour and tournament officials confirmed Wednesday night that no one was hurt. However, fans won’t be allowed onto Liberty National until 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, as maintenance crews race to repair damage to the course.

The tournament, though, will still begin the first round its scheduled time at 7:10 a.m., meaning half the field—including Woods, who tees off at 7:43 a.m.—will complete most, if not all, of their front nines without spectators.

“We’re an outdoor sport, so Mother Nature is bound to show up and change our well-laid plans on occasion,” said Julie Tyson, executive director of the Northern Trust. “We look forward to welcoming the world’s best players—and all of the fans who have been waiting for this event all year long—to the kickoff of the FedExCup Playoffs tomorrow.”

Luckily for players, galleries and tournament officials, the weekend forecast calls for temperatures in the mid-80s with a minimal chance of rain.

The post Tiger Woods, field to begin Northern Trust on empty course as storm damage forces organizers to delay fan entrance Thursday appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.