By Ryan Herrington
It wasn’t relief in Rory McIlroy’s voice, but something akin to it. After a frustrating start to the Zozo Championship on Thursday—as evidence by a very visible club snap en route to a one-over 73—the final three days at Sherwood Country Club had been more to the Northern Irishman’s liking.

Matching 67s on Friday and Saturday were followed by a Sunday 66 that including a run of five birdies in six holes to start the back nine. It also offered enough evidence that McIlroy’s swing was in good enough shape that his plan to make Zozo the last competitive appearance before next month’s Masters still made sense.

“Look, game’s there, hitting plenty of good shots, giving myself plenty of chances,” McIlroy said after finishing T-17, eight strokes back of winner Patrick Cantlay. “Obviously it’s a pretty easy golf course as the scores suggest this week, but I felt like I played pretty good the last three days. Game is definitely feeling better more than it did when I headed out here.”

Indeed, McIlroy made 29 birdies on the week, his career-best in a PGA Tour start. And he was very aware of that fact, as evidence by his disappointment with missing a 43-footer on the final hole that would have given him an even 30.

More importantly, by Sunday, the big numbers that offset those birdies had seemed to fade. “I think it’s easier to eradicate bogeys than it is to find birdies,” he said.

McIlroy says that will be the focus—limiting the mistakes—over the next two weeks as he makes his final preparations for his 12th career appearance at Augusta National. He says that he intends to make at least one visit to the club, likely staying overnight, ahead of the tournament to get the lay of the land as he joins his peers in trying to prep for a Masters unlike anything anyone has experienced.

In an ordinary year, the build-up to Augusta is unhindered, anticipation bubbling over weeks and months as winter turns into spring and a nine-month wait for the next major makes everyone restless. But in 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic throwing the schedule asunder and the most recent major only a month removed, the expectancy is different. And the newness of it all is something McIlroy seems to have come to embrace.

“I like this more,” he said. “There’s not as much hype, not as much, yeah, just noise. I sort of like this better, yeah.”

Mind you, the run-up to the Masters is always something that McIlroy will view differently than others. He arrives each year at Augusta under unique circumstances given that a victory would complete the career Grand Slam. With less time to focus—or dwell on—the historic significance of the event, perhaps it will free up McIlroy, who has had four top-10 finishes in the event since 2015, the first year a win would have capped the Slam.

Where McIlroy is more like his peers is seeing the upcoming Masters as the cumulation of the craziest year of their professional lives.

“Everyone’s just trying to end their year on a high note and take a bit of time off, enjoy the holidays and come back in the new year.”

A new year in which McIlroy hopes he doesn’t have to face an old question when the Masters rolls around again next April.

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By Brian Wacker
Jon Rahm reached No. 1 in the world for the first time in his career in August. His reign lasted just two weeks, though, with Justin Thomas unseating him following a victory at the WGC-St. Jude Invitational.

Sunday at the Zozo Championship, Rahm had a chance to reclaim the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking and replace current No. 1 Dustin Johnson. All he had to do was win or finish second alone.

Instead, Thomas got in the way. Again.

Trailing Thomas by a stroke at the start of the final round at Sherwood Country Club, Rahm arrived at the 72nd hole one behind clubhouse leader Patrick Cantlay. Needing to make birdie on the par-4 home hole to force a playoff with Cantlay, Rahm split the fairway and hit his approach to inside 20 feet.

But the birdie putt peeled off, never touching the hole, and Rahm settled for par to finish one back.

The salt in the wound didn’t end there, though, for the 25-year-old Spaniard.

Thomas, who played alongside Rahm in the day’s final group, had stuck his approach on the final hole to four feet, thus setting up an easy birdie that meant he’d grab a share of second. So on top of not winning, Rahm also won’t be moving back to No. 1 in the world, either.

At least not this week.

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By Brian Wacker
Just when it looked like the golf fans would be treated to a mano-a-mano duel between World Nos. 2 and 3 Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas on Sunday, in sneaks Patrick Cantlay.

Sure, Rahm and Thomas both did their part, and each kicked away a victory at the Zozo Championship, but Cantlay’s final-round seven-under 65 to post 23 under was large. So was the torrid stretch of golf he played from the 11th to 15th holes on his way to what is now his third career victory on the PGA Tour.

Here are four takeaways from Sunday at Sherwood Country Club.

Harry How

Cantlay can’t miss

As much as this tournament was lost by Rahm and Thomas, Cantlay also won it, reeling off four birdies in a five-hole stretch beginning on the par-5 11th.

Then came another at the par-5 13th, where he did a terrific job of controlling a fairway wood from 266 yards out to get his ball to stop open the green and set up a two-putt birdie.

But the money shots were on the par-4 14th and par-3 15th—the sixth and third-toughest holes on the course. On 14, Cantlay drained a 15-footer, then he nearly aced the 176-yard 15th before rolling in a 10-footer.

Throughout the day Cantlay rode a hot putter, gaining more than three strokes on the field in the final round. Two things that helped, he said: Switching to a slightly heavier putter a few weeks ago, which helps him hit at the ball less and brings the long rhythmic motion back to his stroke, and getting his hands a bit more forward at address.

The result on Sunday: A career-best nine birdies.

Ezra Shaw

JT’s and Rahm’s errors

In Justin Thomas’ words, it was “unacceptable” to play the par-5s at Sherwood in a combined one under for the day. He’s not wrong.

“I think if I birdie 16, I win the golf tournament,” he said.

Maybe. Instead, he left the face open on his iron and his second shot sailed right and into a creek.

“That’s just pathetic,” Thomas said when he hit the shot.

Thomas was also indecisive a hole earlier and that proved costly, too. With the wind dancing on the par-3 15th he backed off three times before sticking with 8-iron. The shot came up short. The ball was playable from the hazard but Thomas still made bogey.

Rahm, meanwhile, made a bogey on the par-3 12th after missing the green left and being forced into an awkward stance with his feet in a bunker and the ball well above him, then inexplicably bogeyed the part-5 13th after leaving his second 40 yards short of the green and in the sand.

The yin and yang of Rory

Rory McIlroy was humming along on Sunday, making seven birdies through his first 15 holes. Then he made a mess of the par-5 16th, hitting his second into a creek before leaving his fourth shot on the hole in a bunker and eventually knocking in a seven-footer for bogey.

It was only one hole, and McIlroy did card a final-round 66, but it was also a moment emblematic of how things go wrong for the Northern Irishman. He made a career-best 29 birdies over four days but eight bogeys and three doubles took him out of contention.

“After two days I had made seven [birdies] the first day, eight the second day, so I made 15 birdies after two days and was not in the top 40, so I was pretty proud of that,” McIlroy said. “I kept saying to [caddie Harry Diamond] every time I made a birdie, ‘23, 24, 25.’ He said, ‘That’s not a good thing. You’re 20th in the tournament and you made so many birdies.’”

Up next for McIlroy: The Masters in three weeks. He’ll make at least one trip, possibly two, to Augusta National before tournament week. After that, he said he likely won’t play again until the Farmers Insurance Open in late January.

John McCoy

Tiger, Phil fall flat

Usually, a Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson pairing is drool-worthy.

Not so much on a Sunday when the game’s two biggest stars of the last two decades started the final round near the bottom of the leaderboard. Things didn’t get any better as the day wore on, either.

Woods shot 74 and Mickelson 78 and they finished T-72 and 76th, respectively, in the 78-player field. They also got outplayed by the third member of the group, Adam Long, who showed a good dose of self-deprecating humour when he found out that he would be paired with them, tweeting on Saturday night, “Not sure exactly how many combined wins in this group but it’s a lot, plus one.”

Indeed, Woods has 82 wins, Mickelson 44 and Long just one, at the 2019 Desert Classic, where he birdied the final hole to win by one over—of course—Mickelson.

Now he’s got another one over Phil, and one on Tiger, too.

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By Christopher Powers
Justin Thomas vs. Jon Rahm on Sunday. Other than world peace, the Monday after the Super Bowl becoming a holiday and endless riches, what more could you possibly ask for?

That’s what the 2020 Zozo Championship at Sherwood Country Club has given us, World No. 2 vs. World No. 3 in the final group with 18 holes to play. Sure, there are a number of other guys in contention worth watching and discussing, but JT-Rahm is a main event if there ever was one. Sunday will be a two-TV type of day for the avid golf fan who also has a bunch of fantasy football players to follow.

Here are our takeaways from Day 3 at Sherwood.

Jon Rahm makes his presence felt

There are “moves” and then there are nine-under 63s. The former usually just barely gets you into contention. The latter usually vaults you all the way to the top of the board, depending on how far back you were to start.

Rahm was five back entering Saturday’s third round, and his nine-under 63 jumped him 20 spots up the leader board. Incredibly, he’s still one off the lead, but he will be in the final group with leader Thomas, setting up an epic duel between two of the top three players in the world.

With a win or a solo second, Rahm would take over the No. 1 spot in the world, according to OWGR Twitter guru Nosferatu. That is, of course, unless Thomas wins. This duo would simply swap spots, and Dustin Johnson, who has been out two weeks due to his COVID-19 diagnosis, would remain No. 1. Just a few important things on the line for these two on Sunday. Clear your evening schedules.

Justin Thomas putts on the fourth green during the third round of the Zozo Championship. Ezra Shaw

Nobody scrapes rounds together like Justin Thomas

Perhaps the most impressive thing about peak Tiger Woods (among many impressive things) was the way he put good rounds together without his A game. Like an ace pitcher, Woods would somehow find a way to go seven innings strong without his best stuff more often than not. Thomas has that same “scrape it together by any means necessary” gene, and it’s probably a big part of the reason he’s already racked up 13 PGA Tour victories before turning 28. When your’e bad rounds are still good, you’re going to win a lot.

It’s hard to call a five-under 67 “bad,” but Thomas’ third round certainly wasn’t his best. He lost strokes on approach, had his worst day of the week around the greens and hit just nine of 13 fairways and only 13 of 18 greens. Despite the so-so numbers, he still made six birdies against just one bogey. If that was his “bad” day, he should grab win No. 14 with ease on Sunday.

Tony Finau plays his shot from the first tee during the third round of the Zozo Championship. Ezra Shaw

Why Tony, why?

It would be completely unfair to expect anything out of Tony Finau this week. The man just had COVID-19, and, by the sound of it, the virus hit him hard. He was certainly not asymptomatic, and from what we know about the virus’ lingering effects, Finau probably still isn’t close to 100 percent.

And yet, for 49 holes, Finau looked like his normal, top-20-player-in-the-world self. After posting rounds of 69 and 64, Finau went out in 31 on Saturday, then made a wildly impressive eagle at the par-5 11th to reach 17 under:

Perfectly played. ?@tonyfinaugolf with an eagle on 11 for a share of the lead.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/NIoqmdDA5V

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 24, 2020

Two holes later, he birdied the par-5 13th, giving him a share of the lead at 18 under. Yes, there was still a ton of golf to play, but for a brief moment it felt like it was finally shaping up to be Finau’s week.

He then proceeded to absolutely mangle his scorecard with a triple-bogey 7 at the par-4 14th, having badly pulled his drive and then hitting his second into a penalty area. With a chance to get a shot back at the par-5 16th, he made bogey. Finau played his final five holes in three over, finishing with a three under 69 that puts him five back of Thomas. Had he played them in even, he’d be in the second-to-last group, two off the lead. It shouldn’t be another “what if” week for him, because just getting through four rounds would have been impressive enough. But it could turn into his latest and greatest “close call,” which he’s got too many of already.

Patrick Cantlay plays his second shot on the ninth hole during the third round of the Zozo Championship. Harry How

Patrick Cantlay is pitching a perfect game

Sorry for two baseball references, but the World Series is on. Just being festive.

As the scores have shown, it’s another birdie-fest on the PGA Tour this week at Sherwood. That said, there is still a ton of trouble lurking at every corner of this Jack Nicklaus design. The par 3s are impossibly hard, and the rough is ankle deep. There are a ton of birdies out there, but there are plenty of bogeys too, just ask Finau.

Patrick Cantlay didn’t get this memo, as he’s made ZERO bogeys through 54 holes. Cantlay has shot rounds of 67, 65 and 68, putting him at 16 under, three back of Thomas. You’re not supposed to talk about a perfect game as it’s happening, but we had to point this out. Should he go on to win AND not make a bogey on Sunday, he’d pull off the rare feat of winning a tournament while going bogey-free. J.T. Poston just accomplished it last season, but he was the first to do it since Lee Trevino pulled it off back in 1974.

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By Daniel Rapaport
If Thursday’s 76 was terrible and Friday’s 66 was terrific, Saturday was … meh.

Tiger Woods trudged his way to a one-under 71 on Saturday at Sherwood Country Club, a round that did not see him gain much ground at the Zozo Championship, where birdies seem to be just as common as pars.

“It wasn’t very good,” Woods said. “I hit a lot of balls left today and made the round a lot harder than it should have been. The golf course is playing a little bit harder, but jeez, it’s still gettable. Obviously, there’s a lot of low rounds and I wasn’t one of them.”

At three-under 213 for the tournament, Woods will not come anywhere close to repeating as a winner here, albeit last year’s victory came a good 5,400 miles away in Japan. And he will not add another victory at Sherwood, where he won his foundation’s event five times between 2000-2013.

Woods began Saturday’s round at the 10th, one of the easiest holes on the PGA Tour, and made bogey for the second straight day. A birdie at 11 had him back to even for the round, and he added another at the par-5 13th, the product of a perfect spinny pitch and an eight-footer right in the centre. A birdie on 8 got him to two under for the round and a second straight round in the 60s appeared likely. But Woods could not muster another birdie the rest of the round, and a chunked chip at 3 led to his lone bogey on the backside.

They say trees are 90% air…@TigerWoods put that theory to the test.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/WwTbjP3geR

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 24, 2020

On the very next hole, Woods hit one of the best short-game shots of the year. Golf is funny in that way. He tugged his approach well left on the fourth hole, his ball finishing in heavy rough behind the low-hanging tree that guards the left side of the green. In other words: dead.

Nah. Woods made a full swing with the lob wedge, sent it over one branch and under another, landing it on the very edge of the green and eventually tapping in for a wild par.

“It all worked out great and had a simple tap-in, easy 4,” Woods said with a smile.

Sunday’s final round will offer little more than an opportunity to iron out some of his ball-striking woes—Woods struggled with a pull all day on Saturday, particularly strange because he was blocking shots on Thursday—ahead of the Masters, which inches closer with each passing day. Despite Woods leaving open the chance he could play in Houston the week before Augusta, he hasn’t competed immediately before the Masters in 20 starts as a pro.

“I think obviously I’m not even close to even getting in the top 10, but if I can just play well shot for shot and build on what I had yesterday,” Woods said. “You know, if I can do something similar to what I did yesterday, I’ll have a lot of positives. As I said, I flushed it today, the ball was just starting left.”

That, and a tee time with his greatest rival: Phil Mickelson.

Woods and Mickelson are both at three-under 213 for the tournament, and even if both shot 59, they still might not finish in the top 10. But that won’t damper the excitement much. Anytime the two legends—with 20 combined majors and 94 combined years on this earth—tee it up together at this stage of their careers … well, a fan can’t ask for much more.

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By Tod Leonard
Hit an iron off the cart path or from a bed of small leaves? You figure that most golfers would choose the latter. Heck, even caddie/broadcaster Jim (Bones) Mackay would have made that call for the man he loops for part-time when he’s not holding a microphone.

Mackay happened to be the on-course reporter on Saturday at the Zozo Championship when Justin Thomas found himself in a tough spot with a wayward drive on the par-5 13th hole at Sherwood Country Club. With the TV compound affecting his shot line, Thomas got word from an official that he could take a drop to the left, but he’d be on the cart path.

“I don’t think he’s going to take relief,” Mackay said, noting that the cart path slope was a bit steep and slippery. “I think he’s ultimately play it from where the ball lies.”

Bones doesn’t misjudge much, but seconds later Thomas decided to drop on the cart path, getting to pick his exact spot to place the ball. He then lined up and—with viewers expecting to see sparks fly—hit one of the nicest clips off concrete you’ll ever seen, rifling the ball 184 yards and back into the fairway.

The Golf Channel replay of the shot was great. The closeup showed Thomas’ 7-iron never touching the ground as he caught the ball perfectly. (That’s how good these guys are.) Even better, they came back from a break and showed Thomas gleefully showing a laughing Mackay that there wasn’t a scratch on the club.

Unfortunately for Thomas, he couldn’t back up a tremendous shot with just a good one. He flared his approach to the green and could only make par to remain one shot off the leaders.

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By Alex Myers
Taking advantage of par 5s has been a staple of Tiger Woods’ legendary career, but on Thursday they got the best of him in a way we’ve never seen before.

Woods made bogey or worse on all three of Sherwood Country Club’s back-nine par 5s to begin his title defence at the 2020 Zozo Championship. That included an “or worse” double bogey on No. 13, which put him at four over for three holes he’d usually expect to feast on.

Although Woods hasn’t dominated longer holes as much as he used to do in his prime, the 15-time major champ getting tripped up so often on what are typically scoring opportunities was a first. According to the PGA Tour, it’s the only time Tiger has made bogey or worse on three par 5s in the same round.

That stat spans 367 starts going all the way back to his PGA Tour debut as an amateur at the 1992 Nissan Open. Of course, not every course he’s played in that time has three or more par 5s.

But what makes this statistical oddity even odder is that Woods only needed the first three par 5s (of Sherwoods’ five) to do it. Moreover, it happened at a course where he’s had so much success, winning the World Challenge event his foundation put on there five times.

While seeing Woods struggle so much on the par 5s was a shock, it’s no surprise his early struggles on those holes—and a 39 on his first nine—have him well back in his attempt to defend his Zozo Championship title and earn a record-breaking 83rd career PGA Tour win. Even with a birdie on his fourth par 5 of the day, Woods remained near the bottom of the 78-man field.

And with a par on his fifth and final par 5 of the day, Woods wound up at three-over for those holes to match his worst score ever in relation to par on par 5s in a single round. Rough. On the bright side, the overwhelming odds say Woods should fare better on Friday.

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After recording a bogey and a double bogey on the first two par 5s he faced at Sherwood Country Club on Thursday, Woods reached the front fringe of the par-4 14th—his fifth hole of the day—in two shots. Then, he did this:

There's only one reaction for these types of putts. ?

A birdie ? from @TigerWoods. pic.twitter.com/MsFP5rxwci

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 22, 2020

It doesn’t matter if you’re arguably the greatest golfer of all time. It doesn’t matter if you’re basically playing bogey golf. If you drain an 87-footer for birdie, you’re going to laugh about it.

Unfortunately for Tiger, the birdie bomb didn’t signal the end of his troubles. He bogeyed his next par five as well to fall back to three over, which put him in a tie for dead last in the 78-man field.

Woods has played sporadically—and poorly—in 2020. Following a T-9 at Torrey Pines to begin the year, he has finished 68th, T-40, T-37, T-58, T-51, and missed cut in his past six starts, the last of which came at the U.S. Open last month.

Putting has been the area in which Woods has struggled the most this year. Had he played enough rounds to qualify last season, his strokes gained: putting of -.634 would have ranked 183rd on tour. Normally, holing an 87-foot putt would help those numbers, but sadly, that will count toward his strokes gained: around-the-green because it came from the fringe.

Woods is attempting to win a record-breaking 83rd career PGA Tour title, which would move him out of a tie with Sam Snead. The soon-to-be 45-year-old is the defending champ this week, although he won last year’s event in Japan. Woods has won his own event, the Hero World Challenge, five times at Sherwood, but hasn’t played at the California course since 2013, when he lost in a playoff to Zach Johnson.

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By Tod Leonard
Tiger Woods will be on familiar and successful ground when he defends his Zozo Championship in October. As was anticipated, the PGA Tour and Zozo Inc. announced on Monday that the tournament is being moved from Japan to Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif., because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Sherwood was the site of the Woods-hosted World Challenge from 2000-2013, and Woods captured the limited-field tournament five times. He also played and beat David Duval in the primetime televised “Shootout at Sherwood” in 1999.

Last October, Woods won the Zozo Championship—the first official PGA Tour event played in Japan—by shooting 19 under and beating Hideki Matsuyama by three shots to tie Sam Snead’s all-time tour victory mark of 82. This year, the tournament will be played Oct. 22-25 as part of a western swing in the first portion of the 2020-21 season. Preceding it will be two events in Las Vegas—the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at TPC Summerlin and the CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek [Oct. 15-18). The latter was moved from South Korea for this year because of COVID-19.

“Considering Zozo Inc.’s main business is in Japan, the decision to hold its event in the U.S. underscores their commitment and support towards our sport, communities where we play and the PGA Tour,” said Ty Votaw, the tour’s executive vice president for international events.

The Zozo field will be 78 players, including those from the 2019-20 FedEx Cup points list, players designated by the Japan Golf Tour Organization and sponsor’s exemptions. The purse is $8 million and Zozo said it is planning various charity activities to fund programs working to halt the spread of the coronavirus.

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