E-NOTES June 21, 2016 PGA TOUR Golf Channel Featured Groupings (all times local) Thursday, June 23 1:00 p.m., No. 1 tee K.J. Choi Troy Merritt Patrick Reed 1:12 p.m., No. 1 tee Rickie Fowler Justin Thomas Smylie Kaufman Friday, June 24 1:00 p.m., No. 1 tee Ernie Els Bill Haas Charley Hoffman 1:12 p.m., No. 1 tee Davis Love III Jim Furyk Keegan Bradley PGA TOUR LIVE Featured Groupings (all times local) Thursday, June 23 8:00 a.m., No. 10 tee Ernie Els Bill Haas Charley Hoffman 8:12 a.m., No. 10 tee Davis Love III Jim Furyk Keegan Bradley Friday, June 24 8:00 a.m., No. 10 tee K.J. Choi Troy Merritt Patrick Reed 8:12 a.m., No. 10 tee Rickie Fowler Justin Thomas Smylie Kaufman Dustin Johnson became the fifth player in the last 100 years to win the U.S. Open a year after finishing runner-up in the championship. Johnson joined Tiger Woods (2007-08), Payne Stewart (1998-99), Jack Nicklaus (1971-72) and Bobby Jones (three times). Lee Westwood has been paired with the eventual champion in the final round of each of this season s majors so far (Masters/Danny Willett, U.S. Open/Dustin Johnson. Westwood has the most starts in major championships without a victory (73). He also has the most top-three major finishes among active PGA TOUR players: Most top-three finishes in majors by active PGA TOUR players Second-place Third-place Total top-three Player finishes finishes finishes Lee 3 6 9 Westwood Sergio Garcia 4 2 6 Jim Furyk became the first player to finish runner-up twice at the same U.S. Open venue since Phil Mickelson finished runner-up at Bethpage Black in 2002 and 2009. Furyk was runner-up at Oakmont in 2007 and 2016. The runner-up finish was the 30 th of Furyk s career on the PGA TOUR.
Five players in the 2016 Quicken Loans National field competed in the 1997 U.S. Open at Congressional: Ernie Els (won), Jim Furyk (T5), Davis Love III (T16), Stuart Appleby (T36) and Vijay Singh (T77). Quicken Loans National defending champion Troy Merritt carded a 61 in last year s third round, his second 61 during the 2014-15 PGA TOUR Season, having shot a 61 in round two of the RBC Heritage. Merritt was just the fifth player since 1983 with multiple rounds of 61 or better in the same season and the first to do so since Ryan Moore in 2012. Of the seven players this season with 54-hole leads of three or more, Shane Lowry was the third who failed to carry that lead onto victory. Tournament Player 54-Hole Lead Result Tournament of Jordan Champions Spieth 5 strokes Won THE PLAYERS Jason Day 4 strokes Won U.S. Open Shane Lowry 4 strokes T2 THE RSM Classic Kevin Kisner 3 strokes Won Waste Management Phoenix Open Danny Lee 3 strokes 4 th WGC-Cadillac Rory Championship McIlroy 3 strokes T3 FedEx St. Jude Classic Daniel Berger 3 strokes Won Two players will make their professional debut on the PGA TOUR at the Quicken Loans National: Jon Rahm (Arizona State), who became the first collegiate player to win the Ben Hogan Award twice, was the only amateur to make the cut in last week s U.S. Open. Rahm has made five previous starts on the PGA TOUR, highlighted by his T5 finish at the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open to become the first amateur to finish in the top five of a PGA TOUR event since Chris Wood at the 2008 Open Championship (5 th ). Jordan Niebrugge (Oklahoma State) made history in 2015 when he finished T6 at The Open Championship, marking the lowest total score by an amateur at The Open Championship and the first top-10 finish by an amateur at The Open Championship since Chris Wood (5th, 2008) and Justin Rose (4th, 1998). The 2015 Open Championship was one of three PGA TOUR starts for Niebrugge. He previously competed in the 2014 Masters Tournament (MC) and 2014 John Deere Classic (T27). The Quicken Loans National began the same year as the FedExCup in 2007.
Since the inception of the FedExCup, eight of the nine Quicken Loans National winners has advanced to the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola. Tiger Woods won the 2009 Quicken Loans National en route to his second FedExCup title. PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS After a one-week hiatus from tournament play, PGA TOUR Champions returns this week with the inaugural American Family Insurance Championship, to be contested at University Ridge Golf Course in Madison, Wis. The tournament, which is hosted by U.S. Presidents Cup team captain Steve Stricker, features eight of the top-10 players in the current Charles Schwab Cup standings, including 28-time PGA TOUR Champions winner Bernhard Langer, who sits atop the standings with $1,520,050 in earnings. The American Family Insurance Championship will mark the PGA TOUR's return to the state of Wisconsin for the first time since 2009, when the U.S. Bank Championship ended a 42-year run at Brown Deer Park Golf Course in Milwaukee. Eight former winners of the event are in the field this week in Madison, including Jeff Sluman, Jay Haas, Loren Roberts, Kenny Perry, Mark Brooks, Carlos Franco, Scott Hoch and Gary Hallberg. Charles Schwab Cup standings through the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship: 1. Bernhard Langer $1,520,050 Three wins 2. Woody Austin $807,820 Three wins 3. Billy Andrade $738,691 Six top-10 finishes 4. Miguel Angel Jimenez $724,950 One win, four top-5 finishes 5. Duffy Waldorf $713,685 One win, six top-10 finishes Billy Andrade enters this week's American Family Insurance Championship as the highest ranked player in the Charles Schwab Cup standings without a win in 2016. Andrade, who sits at No. 3 with $738,691 in earnings, has recorded six top-10 finishes in 12 starts, including three top-three efforts. The four-time PGA TOUR winner lost a playoff to Esteban Toledo at the Allianz Championship in February and finished one shot back of winner Scott McCarron at the Principal Charity Classic earlier this month. The 52-year-old won three times on PGA TOUR Champions in 2015, recording two wins in his last six starts of the year - including the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship. The three victories mark his only wins in three years on Tour, where he has collected four runner-up finishes. WEB.COM TOUR After opening the year with seven missed cuts in his first 10 starts on the Web.com Tour, James Driscoll rebounded at the inaugural Nashville Golf Open on Sunday, posting a 19-under 269 total for a three-shot victory over
Brian Campbell en route to earning the event's $99,000 first-place prize. The win moved Driscoll from No. 144 to No. 17 on the money list with $106,499 in season-long earnings. Andrew Landry, who won the Web.com Tour's Servientrega Championship presented by Efecty in 2015, held the opening-round lead in the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club, eventually playing his way into Sunday's final twosome before finishing T15 after a final-round 78. Landry, who toiled on mini-tours for five years out of college, secured his 2015 Web.com Tour card via a runner-up finish at Q-School in December of 2014. The former Arkansas Razorback picked up the Servientrega win in his third start of the year, eventually finishing 21st on the Regular Season money list to lock up his 2015-16 PGA TOUR card. The win was his only top-10 effort in 2015. Landry's T15 at Oakmont marked a career-best on the PGA TOUR, bettering a prior effort posted the week before at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, where he wound up T41 at TPC Southwind. At the conclusion of the WinCo Foods Portland Open presented by Kraft- Heinz in August, the top 25 players on the 2016 Web.com Tour money list will earn their PGA TOUR cards for the 2016-17 season. Here s a look at Nos. 23 through 27 on the money list through 12 events: 23. Tag Ridings $82,200 24. Andrew Putnam $81,278 25. Josh Teater $80,452 26. Adam Schenk $80,095 27. Mark Anderson $79,957 One solo-third; four top-25s Two top-10s; 9 of 12 cuts made One T2; 8 of 12 cuts made One runner-up; three top-25s One T3; 8 of 9 cuts made University of Arkansas Pepperdine University Morehead State Purdue University South Carolina The Web.com Tour heads to Wichita, Kan. for the Air Capital Classic presented by Aetna this week, to be contested at Crestview Country Club. The tournament is one of the four original stops on the Web.com Tour from the 1990 season, joining Boise, Idaho (Albertsons Boise Open), Springfield, Mo. (Price Cutter Charity Championship) and Knoxville, Tenn. (News Sentinel Open). The event annually produces some of the closest finishes on Tour, with the champion claiming the title by one shot or less in 19 of the tournament's 26 years, including five playoffs. The 2015 Air Capital Classic was a key turning point in Rob Oppenheim's 2015 season. The journeyman pro, who had yet to reach the PGA TOUR in 13 years as a professional, entered last year's event in Wichita without a top- 10 to his name, but posted a 13-under 267 total to clip Andy Winnings by one shot for his first Web.com Tour win. The victory was Oppenheim's only top-10 of the year, and propelled him into the Web.com Tour Finals, where he earned the 25th and final PGA TOUR card by $101 over Eric Axley. The
36-year-old TOUR rookie has just one top-25 this year (T20, Arnold Palmer Invitational), but finished T37 at last week's U.S. Open. PGA TOUR CHINA Thailand s Gunn Charoenkul, winner of the 2014 Yulongwan Yunnan Open, traveled to his homeland of Thailand during PGA TOUR China s off week last week and enjoyed his best Asian Tour performance. Charoenkul and eventual-winner Scott Hend were the only two players in the field to shoot four rounds in the 60s, with Hend defeating Charoenkul by a shot. Charoenkul settled for a second-place finish and a giant leap in the Official World Golf Ranking, from No. 824 to No. 480. In 2016, Gunn Charoenkul has played in three PGA TOUR China tournaments, a tie for 12th at the season-opening Henan Open his best performance. This week at the European Tour s BMW International Open in Germany, PGA TOUR China alums Haotong Li and Jeunghun Wang will be playing the first two rounds together. They are grouped with Andrew Johnston. Wang won the Series inaugural tournament the 2014 Mission Hills Haikou Open while Li was the 2014 Player of the Year, with three victories on his resume. Wang is the 72nd-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking. Li is No. 135. The Ping An Bank China Tour PGA TOUR China Series resumes play this week with its fifth tournament of the season, the Sunning Estate Nanjing Zhongshan Open. MACKENZIE TOUR PGA TOUR CANADA The Mackenzie Tour season resumes this week at the SIGA Dakota Dunes Open at Dakota Dunes Golf Links, just south of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Following his second win in three starts to begin the Mackenzie Tour season, Order of Merit leader Dan McCarthy looks to continue his unprecedented pace to start the year this week in Saskatoon. The Syracuse, New York native leads the Order of Merit by $35,053 over No. 2 Adam Cornelson, representing the largest lead through three events in Tour history. Starting this season, the SIGA Dakota Dunes Open has partnered with the Graham and Ruby DeLaet Foundation. With PGA TOUR player and Saskatchewan native Graham DeLaet and his foundation as the driving force, the event will raise funds for local charitable initiatives while integrating a community-centric focus, helping give back to the community that helped DeLaet begin his journey toward reaching the PGA TOUR. Former University of Alabama standout Bobby Wyatt will make his first career Mackenzie Tour start this week, having earned exempt status through the first four events of the season at Q-School earlier this year. The 24-yearold made waves earlier this year by sharing the lead late in the final round before finishing solo fourth at the PGA TOUR s Zurich Classic of New Orleans on a sponsor exemption.