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Could NFL playoff schedule changes create chaos for the PGA Tour's West Coast swing?

Could NFL playoff schedule changes create chaos for the PGA Tour's West Coast swing?

Golfsolutions March 04, 2021
Could NFL playoff schedule changes create chaos for the PGA Tour's West Coast swing? https://ift.tt/3uWZ5E7

How could a new television deal for the National Football League lead to a certain amount of chaos for the PGA Tour’s West Coast swing in 2022? Could such a television deal put CBS in a bind for its coverage of the Tour event in San Diego?

It’s all possible if some reports about the extension of the NFL season deeper into February are true. A change in NFL dates could impact The American Express, the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

If you look up the date of the next Super Bowl, practically every website in the world lists Feb. 6, 2022. Every website, that is, except the NFL’s own website, which does not have a schedule for the 2021 regular season or playoffs.

There might be a good reason for that, since reports indicate the NFL is on the verge of announcing new television rights deals in the next week or two, and that a little bonus in the announcement will be the addition of a 17th regular-season game for teams.

Rather than starting the season a week earlier on Labor Day weekend, the NFL will start the season as it normally does after the holiday weekend and just push back the end of the season and the playoffs. That means the Super Bowl would be on Feb. 13, not Feb. 6.

Somehow, that one extra week could scramble things on the PGA Tour’s West Coast swing, by possibly affecting the actual dates of events or at least impacting television broadcasts of those events.

The PGA Tour has not released dates for the 2021-22 season, of course. That will come much later in the year. But if you go to the websites of the individual tournaments, enough of them have 2022 dates posted to put together the schedule for next January and February. It is a schedule that has not changed from recent years.

Start with The American Express in La Quinta, which says it will be played Jan. 20-23 next year. The American Express has been saddled with a pretty tough television date on Golf Channel in recent years, with its final round coinciding with the day the AFC and NFC championship games are played. Those are the two games that decide who will play in the Super Bowl.

If the season is pushed back one week, that means The American Express will face two NFL divisional games on Saturday and two more on Sunday in 2022.

Conflicts from television, football

The following week, Jan. 27-30, will be the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego. That event has enjoyed the bye week in the lead up to the Super Bowl in recent years, and also is the kickoff event for golf coverage on CBS. But the San Diego event could have a problem being played on the same day as the AFC Championship game next year, not only because that game is also broadcast by CBS but because Jim Nantz is the lead football and golf announcer for the network and would definitely do play-by-play for the football game.

The Waste Management Phoenix Open has embraced its traditional date of Super Bowl Sunday because of the massive crowds that attend the Arizona tournament anyway. But if things stay the same, the Phoenix tournament would be played the open week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl.

That would then lead to the Super Bowl being played opposite, in all likelihood, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a tournament that hasn’t faced any NFL games (or NFL pregame shows) in recent years. The 2022 Super Bowl will be broadcast by NBC, so Nantz could still cover golf for CBS that week where he lives in Pebble Beach.

And if you think the Genesis Invitational won’t be impacted by the extended football schedule in 2022, remember that the Super Bowl will be played in Los Angeles next February, just one week before the Genesis event at Riviera Country Club.

So again, as is true in pretty much everything that includes the NFL, the NFL makes its own rules and everyone else must adjust. It is possible, of course, that the PGA Tour might look at changes by the NFL and make its own schedule adjustments in 2022, but the Tour has consistently said the flow of the West Coast swing – two events in Hawaii, then to La Quinta, San Diego, Scottsdale, Pebble Beach and Los Angeles – works very well for the Tour and its players.

The NFL will get its big-money deal, with a new home for Thursday Night Football – said to be Amazon Prime – and an extra regular-season game. The rest of the sports world, including the PGA Tour, will just have to live with that.

Larry Bohannan is golf writer at the Palm Springs Desert Sun, part of the USA Today Network. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @Larry_Bohannan.

from Golfweek https://ift.tt/3sTUIYR
Lynch: Brad Faxon's greatest success at Bay Hill came when Rory McIlroy won there

Lynch: Brad Faxon's greatest success at Bay Hill came when Rory McIlroy won there

Golfsolutions March 04, 2021
Lynch: Brad Faxon's greatest success at Bay Hill came when Rory McIlroy won there https://ift.tt/3pDaplR

ORLANDO, Fla. — Brad Faxon competed in the Arnold Palmer Invitational 24 times and banked more than $600,000 at the tournament, but his greatest success at Bay Hill came in a year when he didn’t play, didn’t even come to the course, and lost $1,800.

That was in 2018, when Rory McIlroy ended an 18-month winless spell at the API with the most dominant putting display of his career. Just six days earlier, McIlroy had started working with Faxon, one of the most celebrated putters in PGA Tour history.

“Look, I think I had a little bit to do with it but I didn’t have a lot to do with it. He’s so talented, just letting him be more like himself is a big part of it,” the self-effacing veteran said Wednesday at Bay Hill, where he twice finished runner-up.

Three years ago, Faxon had been playing a PGA Tour Champions event in Newport Beach, California, when he got a text on Saturday night from McIlroy asking if they could meet two days later at the Bear’s Club in Jupiter, Florida. “I had booked a flight to come home Monday morning out of LAX and it was JetBlue with the big lie-down chairs. I got it for like $300,” Faxon said, still laughing at the memory. “I had to go online to American Airlines and change my ticket. It cost me, like, $1,800.”

He texted his wife, Dory, to tell her he’d be home early on the redeye. “So you like Rory McIlroy more than you like me?” she texted back.

“Right now, yes,” he replied, with an impressive mix of courage and foolhardiness.

Eamon Lynch

Eamon Lynch

Their scheduled hour on the Bear’s Club putting green that March 12 morning turned into three before McIlroy flew up to Orlando. Victory came six days later and since then McIlroy has added wins at the Players Championship, a WGC and the FedEx Cup. He credits his putting guru with helping him to those wins.

“We all get into this mindset out here that you need to do everything absolutely perfectly, and you don’t,” McIlroy said. “That’s one of the big things. That mindset of not trying to get to perfection sort of frees you up. That’s what he’s given me. Any time I spend time with him I feel like I have a little more freedom, or there’s not as much pressure on me to hit perfect shots.”

“I went away from that at Riviera because I was thinking so much about my swing and trying to be perfect. And I was like, ‘Well, that doesn’t work!”

The World No. 8 missed the cut at that Genesis Invitational, his first weekend off since the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush. He begins his latest effort at Arnie’s place coming off another top-six finish at last week’s WGC-Workday Championship. McIlroy is nearing the end of a stretch where he will have played seven events in eight weeks, so Faxon drove up from his home in Palm Beach Gardens Wednesday morning to walk along during the pro-am.

“It’s the whole approach to things, you know?” McIlroy explained when asked what they discussed along the way at Bay Hill. “There’s times when you need to work on technique and focus on that aspect, but sometimes you just need to visualize things and feel it. I went down a path with my putting that was a little more technical, and he’s just brought a little more feel back into it. And that sort of can bleed through the rest of my game, which is nice.”

Faxon admitted that he was apprehensive during that first session with McIlroy. “Rory’s not an intimidating person as far as personality goes. He’s an easy guy to like and to get to know, but I was extremely nervous because I take what I do very seriously,” he said. “I know how good a player he is and how good he wants to be. I didn’t want to screw up my first chance.”

Rory McIlroy, Brad Faxon

Rory McIlroy and Brad Faxon at a practice round ahead of the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links. (Photo: Warren Little/Getty Images)

He didn’t. McIlroy had just 100 putts for 72 holes that week. “Turned out better than I could have dreamed,” Faxon said, laughing. Their relationship today is one of relaxed comfort.

“As I’ve gotten to know him, I can say things that I would have been afraid to say at first. I can throw my opinion out there. I can use my experience,” the coach said. Faxon’s career success—he won eight times on Tour—means that work conversations between he and McIlroy differ from those of a typical putting coach.

“We talk very little about mechanics, about things like path and face rotation,” Faxon said. “We talk more about situations.”

The two play together occasionally at home in Palm Beach Gardens. “I played with him recently at the Grove,” the short-hitting senior said with a wry smile. “Same tee. There were times he didn’t outdrive me by more than 30 or 40 yards.”

He paused for a beat. “There were some that were 60 yards.”

Now nearing 60, Faxon won’t be emulating his student’s prodigious distance. But nor will McIlroy mirror Faxon’s infamous pursuit of a better swing, a quixotic career-long quest that led to him seeing dozens of instructors over the years.

“I do love the fact that he has a curious mind and he’s not afraid to try things,” McIlroy said. Then he added with a grin: “But he’s never gone to see anyone about his putting.”

from Golfweek https://ift.tt/30c7i9s
The 20 highest single-hole scores in PGA Tour history

The 20 highest single-hole scores in PGA Tour history

Golfsolutions March 04, 2021
The 20 highest single-hole scores in PGA Tour history https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

You think that snowman that just went on your scorecard looks bad?

There have been far worse scores posted – even from the professionals on the PGA Tour.

This list takes a closer look at the highest numbers ever posted in official events. Some of the names may surprise you, some may be golfers you’ve never heard of and some of these are likely to make you say ‘Oh, yea. I remember that.’

This list is based on data from the PGA Tour. Without further adieu, these are the 20 highest single-hole scores in history and names of the pros who own them.

from Golfweek https://ift.tt/3e2UytY
Garett Reband loses PGA Tour start, but propels Oklahoma to Cabo team title

Garett Reband loses PGA Tour start, but propels Oklahoma to Cabo team title

Golfsolutions March 03, 2021
Garett Reband loses PGA Tour start, but propels Oklahoma to Cabo team title https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

SAN ANTONIO — There’s not one, but if they gave out an award for fortitude at the collegiate golf level, Oklahoma’s Garett Reband would be a shoo-in.

During the final round of the 11th Annual Cabo Collegiate, Reband held a two-stroke lead, needing only to close out on the back nine to earn an automatic PGA Tour exemption into April’s Valero Texas Open.

While he played well, Reband burned the edges on a few putts and saw Texas A&M’s Sam Bennett pass him with a birdie on the 17th hole. Knowing he needed to make up a stroke, Reband put everything into his drive on the par-5 18th at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course, and pulled his ball left into an unplayable lie.

For Oklahoma coach Ryan Hybl, that’s where Reband’s story of courage starts.

Reband had to set aside a missed opportunity to play on the PGA Tour and focus on the task at hand — the Sooners needed him to finish strong to take the prestigious team title, and likely maintain their stranglehold on the top spot in the Golfweek/Sagarin team rankings.

The senior from Fort Worth, Texas, swallowed his pride, knocked a ball back in the middle of the fairway, stuck his approach and buried a five-footer to give the Sooners the team title.

Oklahoma, which completed the three-day event at 4 under, finished a stroke ahead of Florida State and three in front of Texas A&M.

Hybl was thrilled to see his senior star’s selfless attitude after a devastating blow.

“I’m so happy and excited or his finish. He wasn’t in a great spot and had to take an unplayable. No matter how you cut it, he did that for our golf team. And we ended up winning by a shot,” Hybl said. “I know he wanted to win the golf tournament as well or the PGA Tour start, but it’s a huge thing for him to not give one away at the very end. I’m excited for him.”

OU had three players finish in the top 10, impressive considering the event’s stacked field. Reband’s 68 on Wednesday put him at 4 under for the event while Jonathan Brightwell (-2) finished tied for fifth and Patrick Welch was ninth. Oklahoma State finished sixth with Austin Eckroat (T-5) leading the way for the Cowboys.

“We played really, really well in the first round, The conditions were about as tough as you’d find. Our guys came out here and shot under par, and that really helped,” Hybl said of the Sooners. “We didn’t finish as well as maybe we would have liked, but overall, heck when you can come win a tournament like that with a stacked field on a big-time golf course, that’s special.”

Hybl’s team had just one other start under its belt this spring, a third-place finish at the Seminole Intercollegiate in Tallahassee on February 19th. This event, which was forced away from its typical Cabo San Lucas home due to COVID, was just what the Sooners needed as the season ramps up.

“This is a confidence booster for us. We’re trying to figure out where all of our guys are at. Heck, we’ve been in ice and snow for the last month. It’s just nice to get down here, get some great weather on a great golf course, and try to figure out how to keep getting better,” Hybl said.

“The beautiful thing is a couple of my guys didn’t play great this week and they’ll be really irritated, but we’ll all get back together and go to work.”

from Golfweek https://ift.tt/3c2ZWdZ
From cow pasture to PGA Tour exemption: Texas A&M's Sam Bennett takes Cabo Collegiate

From cow pasture to PGA Tour exemption: Texas A&M's Sam Bennett takes Cabo Collegiate

Golfsolutions March 03, 2021
From cow pasture to PGA Tour exemption: Texas A&M's Sam Bennett takes Cabo Collegiate https://ift.tt/3uSqdV2

SAN ANTONIO — The joke goes that the golf course Texas A&M star Sam Bennett grew up playing in the tiny town of Madisonville, Texas, is nothing but a cow pasture.

Or as one family friend following and rooting for Bennett during Wednesday’s final round of the Cabo Collegiate at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course insisted, “that might be giving cow pastures a bad name.”

Bennett need not worry about the conditions of the courses he’s playing these days. Thanks to a huge birdie on the 17th hole of the third and final round, the junior won the biggest tournament of his life, and with it he’ll earn an exemption into next month’s Texas Valero Open on the PGA Tour.

Bennett smiled and shook hands after holding off Oklahoma’s Garett Reband, using smart play on the back nine to finish with a 67 to earn the Tour bid. He finished the three-day event, which boasted one of the strongest fields of the year, at 5 under.

“I’ll see you guys again in a few weeks,” he said with a smile.

Bennett said the chance to strut his stuff with the world’s best is an incredible opportunity.

“It’s a dream come true,” he said. “Ever since the day I was born, I’ve been wanting to play in a PGA Tour event.”

But unlike some of the others in attendance, Bennett’s past has some rural Texas flavor. The town he grew up in is well-known, but only for having a Buc-ee’s — a massive gas station/convenience store that has multiple locations throughout the state, usually midway between major cities.

Bennett’s town sits about 100 miles north of Houston and 150 southeast of Dallas, and has fewer than 5,000 residents, not to mention a lack of quality golf facilities.

“I grew up on a nine-hole course,” Bennett said. “You’re hitting off dirt, putting everything in the back of your stance. It was tough. Luckily that’s where I was able to learn the game.”

And the learning process continues. In fact, Bennett’s most recent lesson came at the 2021 Border Olympics in Laredo, Texas, just a week ago. Bennett led the event after two rounds, but a 76 on the final day dropped him out of contention. Interim Texas A&M head coach Brian Kortan said Bennett was itching to get another chance after letting that one slip away. His teammate, Dan Erickson, won the tournament and was subsequently named Golfweek’s Men’s College Golf Player of the Week.

“Sam had a chance to win that golf tournament and just made mistake after mistake. But he knew it,” Kortan said. “And he learned from it. I don’t think without that experience you’d have this one.”

Sam Bennett of Texas A&M fired a 67 in the final round to win the Cabo Collegiate and earn an exemption to the Valero Texas Open. (Photo: Darren Carroll/Cabo Collegiate)

Determined to avoid another blunder, Bennett lagged behind his group on two key holes in the late going — smartly laying up on the par-5 14th hole and then making a wise shot on the risk/reward No. 17 that proved to be the deciding hole.

“I was talking with coach on the par 5. I was a little too far to get there and I’d been hitting it good all day,” Bennett said. “My wedge game is my strength. Hitting a 3-wood 270 is not it.”

But don’t be fooled by Bennett’s course management. Kortan said it’s unfair to take Bennett’s heady play as a sign of passivity.

“That guy is ultra-competitive,” Kortan said. “He played all kinds of sports growing up and didn’t like to lose in any of them. He’s had a few chances to win on the bigger stages and hasn’t come through.

“But he’s learned. He’s matured. And today he handled himself great.”

from Golfweek https://ift.tt/3bedx2J
Duke, Erica Shepherd sweep Gamecock Intercollegiate

Duke, Erica Shepherd sweep Gamecock Intercollegiate

Golfsolutions March 03, 2021
Duke, Erica Shepherd sweep Gamecock Intercollegiate https://ift.tt/36CRPTo

After the 2020 season was canceled a year ago, it’s easy these days to forget who college golf’s defending champions are from 2019.

The Duke women are here to remind you. While just one player from the title team, junior Gina Kim, was in the lineup this week, the new crop of talent picked up where the champions left off.

The Blue Devils, starting two freshman and two sophomores alongside Kim, swept the Gamecock Intercollegiate at Columbia Country Club in Blythewood, South Carolina, on Wednesday, beating a field full of the nation’s best teams. In its second event of the spring, Duke claimed the team trophy at even par, three strokes ahead of runner-up Wake Forest – the lone team under par in the final round – and six clear of hosts South Carolina.

Sophomore Erica Shepherd, winner of last fall’s Golfweek Hoosier Amateur, topped the individual leaderboard at 7 under thanks to consistent rounds of 69-70-70. South Carolina’s Lois Kaye Go finished second at 4 under, with Duke’s Phoebe Brinker, LSU’s Ingrid Lindblad and Alabama’s Benedetta Moresco’s T-3 at 2 under.

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Women’s team | Women’s individual
College golf blog: The Road to Grayhawk

Inclement weather in the forecast forced teams to start the third round on Tuesday afternoon to make sure the entire 54 holes would be played. All teams had completed at least eight holes of the final round before play was called on Tuesday night and resumed Wednesday morning.

The Blue Devils finished third last week in their first event of the spring at the Palmetto Intercollegiate and will tee it up next in Augusta, Georgia at Forest Hills Golf Club for the Valspar Augusta Invitational, March 13-14.

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Morgan Pressel joins Golf Channel, NBC Sports broadcast team but isn't leaving the LPGA

Morgan Pressel joins Golf Channel, NBC Sports broadcast team but isn't leaving the LPGA

Golfsolutions March 03, 2021
Morgan Pressel joins Golf Channel, NBC Sports broadcast team but isn't leaving the LPGA https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Morgan Pressel could’ve competed in this week’s LPGA Drive On Championship but instead will be calling the action from the booth as lead analyst.

The 32-year-old LPGA veteran has joined Golf Channel and NBC as an analyst and on-course reporter for the 2021 season. While she will continue to compete on the LPGA – in as many as 15 events this season – she’ll also work in television for a number of tournaments including the U.S. Women’s Open, Amundi Evian Championship, Solheim Cup and the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic.

“It’s kind of a bit of a trial year, so to speak, if that makes sense,” said Pressel in a pre-tournament press conference.

“Just try it and see how it works, see if I even enjoy doing television, which I think that I will. But I guess you never know. And if I’m any good at it. That as well.”

A six-time Solheim Cup participant and two-time winner on the LPGA, Pressel became the then-youngest-ever winner of a modern major championship when she won the 2007 ANA Inspiration at age 18. Last week she tied for 31st at the Gainbridge LPGA at Lake Nona.

“It’s close,” said Pressel of her game. “I don’t know. Some days I feel like it’s so far away and some days I feel like it’s close.”

Pressel’s first on-air experience came at the 2015 U.S. Open for Fox Sports, calling the action for their digital coverage from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. That, she said, was “pretty intense.” She has also worked as a guest on-course reporter for LPGA coverage on Golf Channel and was an analyst for the U.S. Senior Women’s Open for Fox.

“I would say the one piece of advice that I’ve been given by just about everybody, including Judy (Rankin), is not to try to be somebody else,” said Pressel. “Just be myself. I think literally every person who has given me advice has told me to be myself. I don’t know what that means, but we’ll find out.”

Golf Channel’s live coverage of the LPGA Drive On at Golden Ocala (Florida) will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and 2:30 – 5:30 p.m. over the weekend.

from Golfweek https://ift.tt/3sGm706
Another sign the gap is closing in college golf? Dallas Baptist just topped a 41-team DI field.

Another sign the gap is closing in college golf? Dallas Baptist just topped a 41-team DI field.

Golfsolutions March 03, 2021
Another sign the gap is closing in college golf? Dallas Baptist just topped a 41-team DI field. https://ift.tt/36CRPTo

A week ago, Dallas Baptist landed on the top of the NCAA Division II women’s golf coaches poll after receiving 13 first-place votes. Division II opponents clearly know what to expect out of Kenny Trapp’s program. Forty other Division I programs know it now, too.

DBU finished 27 shots better than the next-best team in the Kiawah Island Classic this week, a Division I college tournament notable for its monster-sized field. There are so many teams that it takes two golf courses to play the 54-hole event, which created an interesting wrinkle in DBU’s monumental win.

The Patriots were in second place after 18 holes on Kiawah Island’s Cougar Point course, and blindly took that game to the Oak Point course. DBU had never seen that golf course before, but the team went 11 under and effectively put 18 shots between themselves and the rest of the field that day before finishing it of the next day at Cougar Point. DBU was 1 over for the tournament.

“The girls started well, so I thought that was important with a big lead – to make sure we got off to a good start so it kind of left no doubt that no one had a chance to catch us,” DBU head coach Kenny Trapp said of the final round. “On the back nine, we just stayed with it, just shot to shot.”

Scores: Kiawah Island Classic

The gap is narrowing between the divisions in college golf. A Division II team winning a Division I tournament is not unheard of. Indianapolis, which won the 2015 and 2018 NCAA Division II national titles, did it in October at the Alabama-Birmingham-hosted Hoover Invitational and also won Ball State’s Cardinal Classic in the fall of 2018.

DBU has crossed the threshold between Division I and II in other ways, too. In 2018, now-fifth-year senior Evelyn Arguelles, who transferred to DBU after her freshman season at Baylor, played her way into the U.S. Women’s Open. In 2019, DBU sent then-senior Ann Parmerter to represent the U.S. in the Palmer Cup.

Typically, Trapp will send out a couple of emails each season searching for a Division I start. In 2018, DBU finished 10th in SMU’s Trinity Forest Invitational.

Trapp had never brought his players to the Kiawah event, hosted by College of Charleston, because it never fit in the schedule. In October, Trapp and his wife took an anniversary trip to Charleston, which included a drive to check out Kiawah Island.

“I said oh my gosh, what am I doing? Why have I missed this event?” Trapp said. “So I literally emailed (College of Charleston head coach Jamie Futrell) that day.”

There’s nothing to prove by entering D1 events, Trapp notes, except that golf is golf.

“When you tee it up, you don’t get extra shots for being a big-time recruit or being at a D1 or whatever, you still have to get it in the hole,” Trapp said. “As years have gone on, especially in the last five years or so, it’s getting closer and closer. There’s just so many players now, the game has just expanded so much that they don’t have a lot of places to go and people want to win.

“People want to have a chance to win a national title. There’s always going to be, now, the top 5 or 10 in D2 are going to be in that top 100 and a couple of us are top 50 even in that D1 arena.”

At Kiawah Island, some of Trapp’s players were competing against the very Division I teams that had recruited them in junior golf. Trapp’s recruiting theory revolves around three things: love golf, love to compete and buy into the DBU culture.

DBU’s recent history in women’s golf is remarkable as much for the recent success as for the whole picture. In 2018-19, DBU won a program-record 10 times, ending the year with a first-round loss in the medal-match play portion of the NCAA Division II Women’s Championship. In 2017, DBU had lost to Barry by a single stroke at the national championship.

DBU has advanced to the national finals each of the past four seasons. Trapp is quick with a reminder that the past few years of success came after DBU struggled to even crack an NCAA Regional field in the team’s first eight years of existence.

Now, victory at Kiawah amounts to DBU’s eighth straight tournament title, dating to the Rollins Legends Invitational in October 2019.

“We have eight girls who are eligible, two who will redshirt and then we have a lot of depth,” Trapp said. “That’s a good thing.”

DBU hardly needed to win this week for validation, but the title was still confidence boosting. Trapp thinks there may have been one other takeaway for his players, too: D2 was the right decision.

from Golfweek https://ift.tt/3e9O5gK
Jordan Spieth on the rebound heading into Arnold Palmer Invitational debut

Jordan Spieth on the rebound heading into Arnold Palmer Invitational debut

Golfsolutions March 03, 2021
Jordan Spieth on the rebound heading into Arnold Palmer Invitational debut https://ift.tt/3r9VIrm

ORLANDO – Jordan Spieth couldn’t wait to get back to work last week.

The former World No. 1 and three-time major champion had taken three major steps forward in his quest to regain residence in golf’s elite neighborhood after falling from the upper ranks at a steady – and alarming – rate the past three years.

His fall was so dramatic – he hasn’t won since the 2017 Open Championship – that he didn’t qualify for last week’s World Golf Championships-Workday Championship, the first WGC he wasn’t eligible for since 2013.

But having tied for fourth in the Waste Management Phoenix Open, finishing in a tie for third in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and notching a tie for 15th in the Genesis Invitational in three consecutive weeks, the 11-time winner on the PGA Tour went to the range with gusto. He also decided to add this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational to his playing schedule for the first time in an effort to keep his momentum humming.

API: Tee times, TV | Prop bets | Field by the rankings | Fantasy

“I didn’t feel rushed to try and get out and grind,” Spieth said Wednesday before his pro-am round at Bay Hill. “I was able to really take a couple days of rest without itching, like I had to go back and find something.

“Instead, I knew what I needed to do, knew what I needed to continue to work on, but I needed to go about the right process and rest and recover, which is as or more important than anything else.

“I feel good. I feel excited to go work on what I’m working on and continue to try and fine tune it and have kind of every tool in the toolbox.”

Spieth’s recent run vaulted him from 92nd in the World rankings just over a month ago, his lowest position since 2013, to 62nd. He held at least a share of the lead in Phoenix and Pebble and he no longer felt lost inside the ropes.

“Just feel a lot more comfortable on the golf course, settling into rounds, and getting more comfortable in contention,” he said.

Now he’s in a win-win situation at Arnie’s annual bash.

He loves Bermuda grass. Loves windy conditions. Loves tackling difficult courses. He’ll get all three at Bay Hill. And this could be the perfect prep for the PGA Tour’s flagship event next week.

“Honestly, I haven’t had much success at The Players Championship, so being able to get some reps and continue trying to work hard on the game leading into The Players could really help next week, as well,” he said.

But Arnie’s comes first and Spieth had to put in a crash course to learn the course while still concentrating on the work with his swing. The course is 7,466 yards of potential trouble, especially on eight holes where water comes into play. The rough is thick and healthy, the fairways thin.

“Just have to be patient on a very difficult golf course,” Spieth said. “Try and learn it as best I can. It seems like a course where course knowledge can go a long way, given the difficulty of it and especially on and around the greens.

“With a lot of risk reward and a lot of different ways to play holes, and with such a premium on hitting the ball in the fairway to be able to hold greens, I think you have really no choice but to just pick a shot, trust what you’re doing and if you pull it off you’re going to be in business and if you don’t, then that’s an execution error and you move on. If I can kind of just go about it really patiently this week, I think I’ll find that kind of blend that I still kind of need right now.”

from Golfweek https://ift.tt/3kHrB84