Early in the round it was shaping up to be another Brooks Koepka victory lap, as the four-time major winner scrambled for five straight pars to start his day and then made birdie at the sixth to open up his lead. But a hooked drive at the seventh led to a disastrous double bogey, and even after a bounce-back birdie at the seventh, Koepka continued to struggle off the tee for much of the day.

Koepka’s off-the-tee woes, plus a little bit of luck, allowed McIlroy to grab the solo lead, and only Xander Schauffele was able to apply any real pressure the rest of the way. A birdie at the 12th from Schauffele made things somewhat interesting, but a bogey at 14 put an end to any comeback.

Even after back-to-back bogeys at 15 and 16, McIlroy was still able to cruise home, slamming the door at the 17th with a birdie and adding one more for good measure at 18 to win by four.

The post Rory McIlroy outlasts Brooks Koepka, Xander Schauffele to win his second FedEx Cup title at East Lake appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

To be fair, the Tour Championship is not your normal tour event. Despite the financial incentives tied to the proceedings, there’s a palpable last-day-of-school nonchalance. It’s a long, long year, the tour season, and though the next one technically starts in two weeks, most in Atlanta won’t tee it up at an official event for another month. They are in desperate need of a respite; some, between the ears, are already on vacation. The 30-player field makes it feel closer to the Hero World Challenge than the CareerBuilder Challenge, adding to the relaxed spirit. Same could be said for the galleries come the weekend. They are respectful and show up in numbers, but also give the impression they were going for a walk and came upon a golf tournament.

So, yes, this setting on Tuesday was not the type of picture Grantland Rice would paint. But here’s the thing about Tiger Woods, something he’s done throughout his career that’s especially true now: He has a penchant for making the unremarkable remarkable.

• • •

Much has been written about Woods’ comeback campaign, which is not surprising. He was the most discussed athlete in the game during his exile the past few years. Likewise during his struggles the seasons before that. Unfortunately, because people still wanted to talk about Tiger but there was no golf to discuss, he operated on the same level as a celebutante. “Hey, Tiger dressed up as Santa Claus!” “Look at the HUGE fish he caught!” “Woods makes an appearance to watch Roger Federer!” “Is Tiger dating someone new?”

It was, to put it kindly, fluff, distracting us from a reality that seemed inescapable: It appeared Tiger was never going to play again. He had missed two years’ worth of majors, hadn’t contended at one in five. The surgeries racked up, to say nothing of the seeming cry for help that was his Memorial Day arrest. The man said it himself, just 11 months ago: “I may be done.” Only diehards or the delusional, which are often one in the same when it comes to sports fandom, could envision Woods back inside the ropes.

“I didn’t think I’d ever play again,” Woods reiterated again on Wednesday at East Lake. “When I was laying on the ground and couldn’t move for a number of months, golf is the furthest thing from my mind.”

But he is back, and every step of his return has been covered to the nth degree. The good, the rust. The driving issues, putting woes, the phenomenal iron play and his ungodly grinding ability. The surges at Innisbrook, Bay Hill, Carnoustie; the back-nine stumbles that followed. A so-so start at Augusta National, a no-show at Shinnecock and the spectacular in St. Louis.

You know what putter is in his bag and how many times he’s changed it. That his playing partners mostly look at him as a mentor instead of adversary, that he’s now a business partner with former frenemy Phil Mickelson.

You know all of this, to the point of nausea.

However, here we are, in Atlanta. And Tiger Woods, the guy who thought he’d never play again, is among the 30 best players on the PGA Tour. Also, one of the 12 best Americans, as evidenced by his inclusion in next week’s Ryder Cup. These are two prospects that seemed laughable when Woods made his return to golf last December in the Bahamas.

“I think the season itself has been amazing, to be able to have played this well after coming off of what I came off of,” Woods said. “I didn’t know how many tournaments I’d play in, and next thing you know, here I am.”

He has four rounds on the docket in Atlanta, followed by next week’s clash in Paris. Then he’s likely done for the year, save for a Thanksgiving excursion with Mickelson. His comeback campaign, one for the books, officially wrapped up.

Keyur Khamar

There’s a chance Woods improves this offseason, works out the kinks in the short game, enhances his conditioning and lights the world on fire again for years to come. Someone even asked Woods about competing at the 2020 Olympics.

“I need to keep my game at the level it is and maybe refine it a little bit more and then stay healthy for that long,” Woods said. “It’s something that I haven’t done in a number of years, and this is a good starting point.”

East Lake, perhaps, gives Woods his best chance at his first win since 2013. He’s enjoyed success here before, it’s a limited field, and his game is as rounded as its been all year.

“This golf course is a ball-striker’s course,” Woods said. “I mean, you’ve got to hit your golf ball well. You’ve got to drive it well, place your irons correctly. But it really does set up for a good ball striker. For most of my career, that’s basically what I’ve done.”

That applies to this year as well, as Woods ranks first in strokes gained/approach. The Tour Championship could be the springboard he, and golf, have desperately waited for.

Conversely, he will turn 43 this winter. Woods insists his back feels fine from his latest surgery, and his performance attests to as much. But backs, as Woods knows all too well, are fickle things. And though Phil is putting up a brilliant counter, Father Time always wins out.

There’s a chance, for myriad reasons, we won’t see better than this from the 14-time major winner. This could be it.

So Woods hitting iron shot after iron shot into the Georgia heat Tuesday afternoon was, all things being equal, as conventional as it comes. But life is not without context. Where Tiger was, the depths he sank, how far he’s come … the scene was pretty damn remarkable.

The post Tiger Woods and the power of making the unremarkable remarkable appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Bradley won for the first time in six years in his last start, the BMW Championship, to make it to East Lake. Finau was just picked to be on his first Ryder Cup team. DeChambeau won the first two Playoffs events and is No. 1 in the points standings. Johnson is the now former No. 1 in the world and fourth in the FedEx. Schauffele is the tournament’s defending champ, Thomas the reigning FedEx Cup champ. Rose is No. 1 in the world for the first time in his career. Tiger is Tiger, and he’s back at the Tour Championship for the first time since 2013.

Conspicuously absent from the list, however, was the man most believe will be the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year. Instead, Brooks Koepka was out practicing in the heat of an abnormally warm Wednesday afternoon, having never been asked to come in.

“Are you surprised?” Koepka’s coach, Claude Harmon, said with more than a tinge of bemusement. “You can say he and DJ [another player Harmon works with] don’t talk that much, but we continue to find it surprising. We’ll make jokes about it. [Brooks is] the most under-the-radar three-time major winner of all time.”

Two of those majors came this year, at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, where the 28-year-old became the first player in three decades to successfully defend that title, and at the PGA Championship at Bellerive, where he shot a pair of 66s on the weekend to set a 72-hole PGA scoring record on his way to holding off Woods by two strokes. Koepka also had four other top-10s and missed just two cuts in 15 starts, despite having sat out three months early in the year, including the Masters, with a wrist injury. All of which explains why Thomas tweeted, “Give BK the trophy! #majorstrumpall” in response to a PGA Tour video last week that inanely suggested the POY race was far from over.

What doesn’t appear to be ending anytime soon are Koepka’s feelings of being overlooked and underappreciated.

“[The media] has their guys they wanna talk to,” Koepka said when tracked down on the course. “I’m not one of them and that’s fine.”

Interview sessions with the broader media in golf basically work two ways: Someone is widely requested, or the PGA Tour communications staff is tasked with putting together a logical lineup of candidates that will fit the media’s needs and/or pedal the organization’s own agenda.

When Jordan Spieth won his first of three career majors at the 2015 Masters, he did 75 scheduled interviews the rest of that year, according to ASAP, the transcription service the tour uses most weeks [there were a few more handled by other services]. Koepka has done 37, according to ASAP numbers, since his major breakthrough at the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, a smaller time period compared to Spieth but still a disproportionate representation.

As for this week’s Tour Championship (of which Spieth did not qualify), Koepka was somewhat amused that he was neither requested by the media nor asked by the tour to come in to the media center for a pre-tourney rap session. So the second-ranked player in the world went about his business inside the ropes at East Lake, where he has a chance to move to No. 1 for the first time in his career with a good finish in the 30-man field. At seventh in the FedEx Cup points standings, he also has a very good chance to win the year-long title for the first time this week.

The lack of attention came as little surprise to Koepka. “We don’t get asked to do many interviews, so I’m not gonna go out of my way to do one,” he said. “I don’t really care.”

The latter is debatable—why else would Koepka keep mentioning how “dissed” he feels—but the sizable chip on his broad shoulders is not.

“You’ve got guys who will kiss up, and I’m not gonna kiss up,” Koepka said. “I don’t need to kiss anyone’s butt. I’m here to play golf. I’m not here to do anything else. A lot of guys are known for the stuff they do off the golf course and who they like to hang around. It’s pretty obvious who’s doing that and who isn’t. I don’t need to bend over backwards to be friends with anyone [in the media], but certain guys do that because they want their names written. I’d rather be written about because of my play.

“Sometimes it does suck, but I’ve started to care less. Come Sunday, I won’t forget it when everyone wants to talk to me because I just won. I don’t forget things.”

The post More motivation for Brooks Koepka: he wasn’t asked to meet the media at East Lake (and he noticed) appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
People say there is no such thing as being over prepared. This is true for all walks of life, golf included. Leave it to Bryson DeChambeau to make us all rethink that age-old adage.

RELATED: Bryson DeChambeau continues going where no golfer has gone before

DeChambeau, who does things a little differently to say the least, took his preparation to a different level on Tuesday at East Lake ahead of this week’s Tour Championship. According to the PGA Tour’s Sean Martin, who was watching DeChambeau closely on the range, the Mad Scientist was spraying his golf balls with water to simulate morning dew, because of course he was:

Bryson is using two launch monitors. Hitting brand-new balls straight out of the box. Someone scrubs his clubface before every shot, then spritzes the ball with water to simulate morning dew.

Amazing. pic.twitter.com/xKFyyM2LYn

— Sean Martin (@PGATOURSMartin) September 18, 2018

This has lead many on social media to suggest that Bryson’s got a “dew guy,” which would be the most Bryson thing ever. Hey, who are we to tell him this is excessive? DeChambeau has reached No. 1 in the FedEx Cup rankings and No. 8 in the world this season by doing things his own way, and he’s showing no signs of stopping now. We won’t even mention the fact that he’s likely going to be teeing off well past noon in all four rounds this week. Nope, that’s irrelevant when the scientist is in the lab.

The post Bryson DeChambeau is now spraying water on his golf balls to simulate morning dew (Obviously) appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
ATLANTA—Justin Thomas is the reigning FedEx Cup champ, owning a good shot at defending his crown at East Lake. Moreover, despite making his Ryder Cup debut, the 25-year-old is viewed as one of the key components to an American victory in Paris next weekend.

So it was somewhat alarming that Thomas rolled into his press conference in Atlanta with a taped-up wrist.

“Yeah, I just kind of tweaked it on the back nine at BMW (Championship),” Thomas said.

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WATCH NOW: JUSTIN THOMAS’ CONTROLLED CUT

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According to Thomas, the injury occurred last Monday during the final round of the BMW Championship. “I’d never had an injury before, I’ve never had it happen. It just kind of popped up, and yeah, I took last week off, I didn’t hit a ball.”

Not exactly what Jim Furyk wants to hear. In terms of demoralising injuries, wrists are right up there with back woes for golfers. Fickle in nature, with the ability to plague a player for months.

However, Thomas downplayed the severity of the injury, saying it looked worse than it is.

“Just a little tightness,” Thomas asserted. “The two, three weeks coming up, just kind of more precautionary than anything.”

Thomas was still able to chip and putt during his off week, saying that his short game feels solid. In a certain perspective, he seemed thankful for the forced time off.

“You’re better off being mentally fresh than you are, I would say, having my game physically fresh,” Thomas said. “If I practiced a lot last week and I was grinding not only this week but most importantly next week, as well, I could have been kind of run into the ground. Getting that time off and getting some rest and just trying to get this thing healed up and feel good as soon as possible coming into Thursday was important.”

Thomas begins the week ranked fifth in the FedEx Cup standings, meaning he’s one of a chosen few that control their destiny at East Lake. He is looking to become the first player to go back-to-back at the FedEx Cup.

“I’m excited to have an opportunity to do something that no one has ever done, which is pretty cool,” Thomas said.

The post Justin Thomas injured his wrist during playoff run, but considers himself ready to go for Tour Championship, Ryder Cup appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Sam Smink of WPTV reports that papers were filled on September 12 in Palm Beach County. While Woods was on probation, he was not allowed to drink alcohol, and was subject to random drug screenings.

#UPDATE: The PBC State Attorney ends #TigerWoods‘ probation one month early, as of 9/12. Woods was in the first time DUI offender program. While in the program, Woods had random drug/alcohol testing and was not able to consume alcohol. @wptv #wptv https://t.co/bkt3jC3Pfe pic.twitter.com/XASPJFVQtx

— Sam Smink (@samsminkWPTV) September 18, 2018

Jupiter Police Department officers arrested Woods on May 28 last year after finding him asleep in his Mercedes-Benz. Woods was under the influence of prescription painkillers and sleeping medication.

Woods was entered in diversion program for first-time offenders when he plead guilty to reckless driving in October. The 42-year-old also completed a program to help deal with his dependence on pain medication.

The 14-time major winner is in this week’s Tour Championship field, and will represent the United States at the upcoming Ryder Cup.

The post Tiger Woods’ probation for reckless driving ends ahead of schedule appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
The PGA Tour season comes to a close this week at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Ga., site of the Tour Championship, the end of the season-long race for the FedEx Cup. This year’s winner at East Lake will take home $1.62 million, while the FedEx Cup winner will win the $10 million prize.

RELATED: Major changes for the 2019 FedEx Cup made official

While all 30 remaining players in the playoffs technically have a chance to win the FedEx Cup, those in the top five have the best opportunity, needing only to win the Tour Championship to also clinch the FedEx Cup. That means a win for Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Rose, Tony Finau, Dustin Johnson or Justin Thomas will also give them the cup. These five also have varying mathematical chances of still winning the FedEx Cup without winning the Tour Championship. For Thomas, he can win it back-to-back with a win at East Lake, which would make him only the second player to win the cup twice, Tiger Woods being the only other player to do so. A win for any other of the top four would be their first FedEx Cup title.

At 20th in the standings, Woods’ chances of claiming his third FedEx Cup are slim, but there is a convoluted way he can get it done. For Woods to even give himself a chance would mean he’d be in contention once again as he continues to get closer to an 80th career victory, which is an exciting proposition for the season’s final event.

TV Schedule
OSN Sports 3HD will carry live coverage in the UAE from 8pm on Thursday and Friday, from 7.30pm on Saturday and 7pm on Sunday.

Thursday Tee Times (all times ET). NOTE:  The UAE is 8 hours ahead of Atlanta, GA., time to ADD eight hours to the times below.
11:40 a.m. — Marc Leishman, Patton Kizzire
11:50 a.m. — Hideki Matsuyama, Gary Woodland
12 p.m. — Kyle Stanley, Paul Casey
12:10 p.m. — Rickie Fowler, Jon Rahm
12:20 p.m. — Aaron Wise, Kevin Na
12:30 p.m. — Tommy Fleetwood, Tiger Woods
12:40 p.m. — Rory McIlory, Xander Schauffele
12:50 p.m. — Patrick Reed, Patrick Cantlay
1 p.m. — Francesco Molinari, Phil Mickelson
1:10 p.m. — Webb Simpson, Jason Day
1:20 p.m. — Billy Horschel, Cameron Smith
1:30 p.m. — Brooks Koepka, Bubba Watson
1:40 p.m. — Justin Thomas, Keegan Bradley
1:50 p.m. — Tony Finau, Dustin Johnson
2 p.m. — Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Rose

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