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JON RAHM: “If anybody should be rested, it should be me.”

Jon Rahm finishes T3 at the 2021 Northern Trust, first event of the FedEx Cup Play Offs

THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 23, 2021

Jon Rahm

Jersey City, New Jersey, USA

Liberty National Golf Club
Quick Quotes

Q. How would you characterize the day?

JON RAHM: I haven’t been able to digest it. My son put a smile on my face so at least I’m not in a terrible mood.

You know, I think it’s going to be very easy to focus on maybe 15 on. Even though I was I did not make a putt all day. I did what I had to do tee-to-green and it could have been a lot better than what it was. I felt like I could have had a bigger lead and that wasn’t the case.

The putts on 9 and 10, they were good putts. Speed of the greens was a little different today and I couldn’t quite get to it.

And then, you know 15, it’s the one I keep going to. I hit every single one of those five shots the way I wanted to, and that’s the unfortunate part. That bunker, the wind didn’t push the ball the way I thought, and I think that was the difference.

Q. I know it’s hard to focus on not winning today but there are a lot of positives out of the week. How do you take the short turnaround, how do you look at the positives and take it into the BMW next week?

JON RAHM: If anybody should be rested, it should be me. I just haven’t thought about it too much. You know, I played great golf and I’ve played only what four holes all week over par, and usually if I do that, I probably would have been a lot more under par.

I don’t know, it just hurts to think about it a little bit too much. It’s the second time I’m going into contention in the back nine, and the same bunker, same hole screws me over again. Similar tee shot, different wind conditions but similar tee shot. That’s the upsetting part, come up short when I had a good chance.

And then 17 and 18, I didn’t make my best swings. But like you said, you know, short turnaround, one more week next week to finish as high as possible for the FedExCup for Atlanta, which is the goal.

Interview transcrpt by ASAP Sports

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European Tour Live Panorama PGA Tour Top Tours

FedEx Cup Rankings: Collin Morikawa ahead, this week's updates

Collin Morikawa is on the lead for the week of the FedEx Cup Ranking
Weekly analysis from Golf Post of the FedEx Cup Rankings. With Collin Morikawa still at number one, find out what else is happening on the European Tour this week.

Top 5 FedEx Cup Leaderboard

# Name Nationality Points Total Points Gained Events
1 Collin Morikawa USA 2171 xxx 20
2 Jordan Spieth USA 2139 xxx 22
3 Patrick Cantlay USA 2056 xxx 21
4 Harris English USA 2039 xxx 23
5 Jon Rahm ESP 2003 xxx 19
Collin Morikawa leads in the most recent FedEx Cup ranking table. The American’s points average is xxx. ‘s rank has not changed since the last count. ​ Ranked second is Jordan Spieth, with a points average of . The American has not changed positions in the rankings compared to last week. The American jumped from position 69 to 29, and now has a points average of xxx.
The No.1 Englishman in the FedEx Cup rankings is currently Paul Casey, in place 45 and has remained unchanged since last week.
Of everyone playing this week, the biggest winner is Kevin Kisner. has managed to jump 40 places in the ranking list.
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PGA Tour

Update: Ian Poulter and his new Tee Time!

JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY - AUGUST 20: Ian Poulter of England lines up a putt on the 15th green during the second round of THE NORTHERN TRUST, the first event of the FedExCup Playoffs, at Liberty National Golf Club on August 20, 2021 in Jersey City, New Jersey. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Ian Poulter has shared his updated Tee Time for the Norther Trust. The final round has been delayed due to rain and the players have been anxiously waiting to tee off for the final time for this PGA championship. Will this delay cause a disruption in Poulter’s performance? We are anxious to find out.

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PGA Tour Top Tours

Viktor Hovland: “I hit a lot of fairways, which out here is important if you want to get close to the pins.”

Viktor Hovland teeing off in hole 16th during the first round of the 2021 Northern Trust, in the Liberty National Golf Course, in New Jersey.

THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 19, 2021

Viktor Hovland

Jersey City, New Jersey, USA

Liberty National Golf Club
Quick Quotes

Q. Viktor, just talk about your round, just a recap?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, it was pretty solid, especially off the tee. I hit a lot of fairways, which out here is important if you want to get close to the pins.

Hit a lot of really nice iron shots. Couple not so good ones, but I was able to hit some good short game shots and make a couple putts.

So it was good day overall.

Q. What was the best recovery around the green for you today?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: I pulled a shot on No. 5 that looked like it was going to go in the water, but since I got a flier, it went over the water on the left side by kind of the trees, by the bridge, and it was right on the red line and my backswing was kind of up against a tree, so I had to take a very slow backswing.

I hit a flop shot that hit the side of the slope on the green and rolled to maybe four feet. Went from looking like having to fight for a bogey to making a par, so that was big for momentum.

Q. Is that a part of your game that really keeps getting better and better? How would you describe the progress you made there?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, I feel my technique has gotten a lot better, and in practice it’s way better than it is in tournaments.

I think for me it’s just kind of — I have some scar tissue in there, and just trusting kind of what I’m doing now. You know, I have a tendency of getting a little tentative on the chips out there, so I’ll hit good chips but they’re just eight, ten feet short because I just don’t hit it; whereas I feel like as soon as I get more of that confidence I can hit it harder to create more spin just because I know I’m going to clip it the way I want to.

Q. Is that Jeff you work with on that or someone else?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, Jeff.

Q. Okay. How old were you when you learned to speak English out of curiosity?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: I guess we started in first grade, so six, seven years old we started learning a couple words.

Q. Curious about the Ryder Cup. From here we are like, oh, yeah, Viktor is going to play on the Ryder Cup. Do you feel like you have added pressure? You’re literally the first person from your country who will have done that. Does that add something?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, I mean, that’s really cool, especially coming off the Olympics, just being a part of that. I felt like that kind of added some patriotism in just the way I go about playing golf over here. Representing my country, which is cool, but playing golf is uncharted territory for Norwegians, so…

Obviously it’s cool being the first Norwegian to play in it, but, yeah, our history is not very long in Norway.

Q. Growing up did you have a favorite Norwegian athlete? I know Bjorn Dahlie, a couple.

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, I used to watch a lot of biathlons, Ole Einar Bjorndalen. He was a stud. And, I mean, we had multiple cross country skiers and downhill skiers, so I used to watch that a lot.

But I grew up mainly watching golf, so Henrik Bjornstad was the only Norwegian TOUR play that played before me and Kris Ventura, so looked up to him when I was younger.

Q. What’s your earliest experience of watching the Ryder Cup, and get a little color of what time of day and how late you stayed up?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: The first one I actually watched and sat there and rooted for, it’s not like that long ago. I mean, Medina was kind of the first one that I sat and watched multiple days and multiple nights. It would’ve been nighttime and I wouldn’t have been that old, and I remember watching on the couch with my dad and going nuts in this apartment complex. I’m sure the neighbors above and below us were not too happy with us yelling.

Yeah, that was a cool moment.

Q. That round back home that you played where everyone followed you, I think you know you have a lot of support, but did that surprise you, the amount of interest and passion people have for your golf?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, that was pretty wild. I probably shouldn’t have had my buddies put my name on the online kind of portal that you put your names on to register for events or rounds, but I didn’t think too much of it.

When we show up there are 200, 300 people there. That was pretty nuts. I didn’t think that was going to be the case.

Q. Do you worry about the reaction at Stillwater if you beat the U.S. team too badly?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Let’s — yeah, let’s worry about that when that happens.

Q. How big did the gallery get that day?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: It was probably the biggest on the first hole actually, and then probably say most of it went out for a couple holes and then for the rest of the round I watched — the whole round was probably just over 100 people.

But people flying in from half the — the other side of country and driving eight hours. It was pretty wild.

Q. Would you have done that to watch anyone play golf growing up?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: No. (Laughter.)

Q. Tiger?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: That’s a little different. That’s a little different.

Interview Transcript by ASAP Sports

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PGA Tour

Dustin Johnson: “There’s definitely some trouble off the tees, but if you’re driving it well,you can definitely make some birdies.”

Dustin Johnson giving most responsibility to his tee shots for this week at the 2021 Northern Trust, in New Jersey

THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 18, 2021

Dustin Johnson

Jersey City, New Jersey, USA

Liberty National Golf Club
Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We’d like to welcome Dustin Johnson to the interview room here at the Northern Trust. Dustin, obviously, the defending champion winning at TPC Boston, but also the defending FedExCup champion.

Dustin, entering the playoffs 17th in the standings. Last year before your run, you entered 15th, so definitely in a similar position there. I guess just starting out how is the game feeling this year compared to this time last year when you made your run for the FedExCup?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Obviously, last year was a little bit different because a lot of golf tournaments leading right up into the playoffs. I feel like the game is starting to round into form. I’m starting to in the last couple of events definitely played a little bit better, played a little bit — it’s a lot closer to what it was last year.

Yeah, I’m looking forward to the playoffs. I feel like I’m in a good spot. Obviously, need a good couple of weeks here, first and foremost here at the Northern Trust, and then next week at the BMW just to improve my position going into Atlanta.

Q. Dustin, you just finished your Pro-Am from this morning and then obviously went right to the range. Just curious about how you think Liberty National is playing so far and what stood out to you so far.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: The golf course is in really good shape, perfect condition. Greens are really good. Fairways, everything. It’s in perfect shape. It’s one of those golf courses — you know, there’s definitely some trouble off the tees, but if you’re driving it well, you can get it in the fairway, you can definitely make some birdies. It kind of all depends on the wind.

It’s going to play fairly long because it’s soft. Last time we were here, it was so firm it played actually really short, but it’s pretty soft out there. So it played fairly long. Got to take advantage of the par-5s and got a couple short par-4s that you know you’ve got to get some good looks on.

I feel like the course all in all is in perfect condition and shaping up to be a good week.

Q. Just curious, are you completely healthy?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I am. I’m feeling good.

Q. As you look back to last year, could you have predicted the run you went on, which was nearly sweeping all three of them except for one monster putt. Could you have predicted that going into Northern Trust last year?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, but I don’t look that far ahead, so I would have never predicted it. I was playing well, so it wasn’t a surprise because I felt like I was playing good coming into it. Obviously, two different courses for Northern Trust was Olympia Fields. One was soft, the other was really firm and fast, but I was playing really good golf.

I liked all the courses, and then obviously Atlanta is very difficult. Yeah, I mean, definitely couldn’t have predicted that, but obviously I felt really good about the game.

Q. Didn’t shock you, in other words?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, it didn’t. Nothing really shocks me anymore.

Q. And I know you haven’t had a good answer to this before and I’m actually not expecting one now, but last year when you had the double rounds of 80s and another one in Minnesota and you withdraw, and then all of a sudden you come back and it’s like you’re a brand new person from the PGA and onward. Is it that easy for you to just flip the switch?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yes, it is. As far as why, I can’t tell you why. For me, obviously, I know I’m a good player. I’ve been a really good player for a long time. So playing a few bad rounds doesn’t really bother me too much. Obviously, I know I need to go work on some things, which is what I did.

Any time, no matter how bad I’m playing, it only takes one shot here or one shot there where I get a nice feel and it turns everything around.

Q. Dustin, you got qualified for your fifth Ryder Cup team. I’m curious, when you think of guys who have excelled in that kind of event, whether they be Europeans, Poulter or Sergio, or American guys, what are the qualities of players who seem to excel in the Ryder Cup? What does it take to play well that week?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Golf, as we all know, is a very frustrating and difficult game, but the Ryder Cup, it’s match play. It’s a lot different because you know you’re not out there just playing for yourself. You’re playing for, obviously, your teammates, your captains, your country. So it’s a little bit different of feelings out there.

But as far as why people play good and some don’t, it’s a golf tournament pretty much. So we’re out there playing golf. It’s whichever guys have their game that week are the ones that are going to play well and win their matches. You’ve got to get a little lucky too because sometimes if you’re playing every match or four matches, most likely you’re going to be a little bit off in one of them, and that’s the one where you need, obviously, a little help from the other side.

Q. You’ve played in every possible scenario that is possible in this game. How do the nerves of the 1st tee of a Ryder Cup compare to anything else in golf?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: It’s definitely different. My first Ryder Cup, I still remember the tee shot at Wales. It’s a completely different feeling. It’s something you’ve never felt before, at least something that I never felt before sitting on that 1st tee, especially the fans over there singing, and the it cold and wet, windy, wasn’t ideal conditions to hit a nice tee shot for your first Ryder Cup.

It’s a lot of fun, though. You’ve just got to embrace it and enjoy it and enjoy the week.

Q. What was your level of disappointment in not shooting 60 last year at the Northern Trust? Breaking 60, I mean.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: None really. Obviously, I wanted to shoot 59, but I’ll still take 60 any day of the week.

Q. Is that the best four rounds that you’ve ever strung together?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean four rounds in a row, I was pretty flawless golf for the most part. But, yeah, but four days in a row, yeah, it’s kind of hard to beat that for me.

Q. Question for you on Collin Morikawa. Can you remember the first time you played with him or heard about him that you thought this guy’s really legit?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I played with him — I saw him play a little bit, I guess it was two years ago. Obviously, didn’t play with him, I don’t think, until last year maybe, but he’s with TaylorMade so I got to see him a little bit, but obviously I knew he was a good player.

At the beginning, you can never really tell how good of a player someone is, but I knew he was a really good, young, talented player.

Q. Jordan Spieth isn’t locked in yet for the Ryder Cup team, but what difference does it make that probably a year ago, if they’d have had the Ryder Cup when it was originally scheduled, he would not have been on the team, and now he looks to be pretty much a lock?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: What’s the question?

Q. How big a difference is it to have him on the American side in this Ryder Cup?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Obviously, he’s playing really well this year, had a great season, turned it around a good bit. So, yeah, he’s obviously somebody we want on the team, especially when he’s playing as well as he is right now. Yeah, it’s definitely good to have Jordan on the team.

Q. Going to make the mistake of tapping your memory here. I’m curious, I was wondering when’s the last time you felt a sense of urgency for anything? By the way, you were, I think, 117 in FedExCup in 2008, your first year. Do you have any recollection of that?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I do.

Q. Oh, good.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I actually remember on the 36th hole, I had like about a four-footer to make the cut on the number, which would have gotten me into the next week. My card would have been — because that was back then it went to 125 for the second playoff event.

And I horseshoed it, and I missed the cut, obviously didn’t make it into the top 125. Back then, we also had the fall season to go where you could make 125 on the money list. So I had three weeks off and went home and worked on the game really hard and obviously came out and won the first event at Turning Stone.

Q. Back to kind of my original question, I guess, if there was one, do you recall the last time you had a sense of urgency about anything, about playing, about needing a good result or something like that?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I mean, yeah, I always need a good result. For me, every week I come here playing I want to put myself in position to win. Obviously, it’s the playoffs. It’s definitely a sense of urgency to play well and contend for the championship.

Q. If you’d have been told in January that we’re in August you and still haven’t won on the PGA TOUR, what would have been your reaction to that?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I would have said I was probably struggling (Laughter).

Q. Surprised? Disappointed? Anything?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, it just is what it is. It’s golf. It happens. Like I said, the game is definitely starting to take a turn for the better, starting to see a lot more consistency in the shots and in my game. So, yeah, I’m looking forward to the next few weeks.

Q. My question is a pretty simple one. You’ve been in a lot of Ryder Cups. How important is it for the team to get along and be friendly with each other while you’re there in terms of going out and playing well?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, all the guys out here, we’re all — especially it doesn’t matter what our differences are. When you get to the Ryder Cup and you’re on the team, it’s not just about you. So we’re all adults, and we gather as a team and as a whole for that week, so I don’t feel like there’s any issues with that.

Like I said, we’re not just playing for ourselves, we’re playing for our country. You’ve got other teammates, your captains, your family, all the fans that are there. It’s definitely important that everyone comes together and plays as a team.

Q. Do you think the American team has been good at that while you’ve been a player?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I think so. I think we’ve done a good job. This year I think it’s shaping up that we’re going to have a pretty stout team. So I’m looking forward to it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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Highlights Tours PGA Tour

Matthew Wolff wins the Aon Risk Reward Challenge, and speaks up about mental health: “Knowing that I had to get out of bed and just like not being able to.”

Matthew Wolff was named the 2020-2021 Aon Risk Reward Challenge winner

Jersey City, New Jersey, USA

Liberty National Golf Club
Press Conference

THE MODERATOR:We’re going to go ahead and kick things off. We’re going to do the first five to ten minutes recognizing your award as the Aon Risk Reward Challenge winner, and then we’ll get into the tournament press conference questions.

So we’re excited to make a big announcement for you today. You are the 2021 champion of the Aon Risk Reward Challenge with a $1 million prize for the PGA TOUR. To turn it over and welcome you and thank you and congratulate you, I’d like to introduce Eric Andersen, president of Aon, who’s joining us today.

ERIC ANDERSEN: Thanks, Laura. It’s great to be with you all today.

First off, Matthew, congratulations. We’re so happy to have you as our Aon Risk Reward Challenge champion. It’s been inspiring for all of our colleagues around the world to watch you compete on the challenge holes, especially as the competition got tight and started to really become very competitive as we went down the stretch.

Watching you play, seeing your strategy, using your team, how you put yourself in a position to make the decisions that really — it really speaks to what we’re also trying to do with our clients, and it’s incredible to see that your approach has paid off in the way that it has. So really congratulations. Really excited about it.

MATTHEW WOLFF: Yeah, first off, it’s nice meeting you, Eric. I appreciate you for what you do and for Aon and putting everything on and allowing me to do what I do and making the best decisions and getting rewarded for that. So I appreciate that, first and foremost.

Secondly, yeah, it’s an honor to be the 2020/2021 Aon Risk Reward Challenge champion. It’s a season long race and felt like a really long season this year. It was great. I just think, like you were saying, making the best decisions, and especially coming down on those holes. Those are the holes when usually they’re later in the round, and like the risk reward, it’s just you take on that risk and you can get rewarded, but it can also go the other way. I wouldn’t be sitting here if it went the other way. So I’m glad I got the reward along with the risk.

ERIC ANDERSEN: For sure.

THE MODERATOR: Matthew, your approach allowed you to birdie over 54 percent of the Aon Risk Reward Challenge holes. Your par-5 at over 45 percent. Go for the green success rate, 16 percent higher compared to the field. So many amazing stats throughout your season. Are there any Aon Risk Reward Challenge holes and specific decisions that stood out to you throughout the season?

MATTHEW WOLFF: I think one of my favorite Aon Risk Reward holes is 15 at Travelers. I just think it’s such a good hole. It’s coming down the stretch. What I love about it is I love those drivable par-4s that are those Aon Risk Reward holes because it’s just — it’s set up so perfectly to where, if you take on that risk, that you will get rewarded because par-4s are not supposed to be driven, but if you have the ability to and you’re willing to take on that risk and try to step up and hit that shot, you can get rewarded.

But I also feel like, if you don’t pull off that shot, it could definitely — you know, like it’s a break your round or maybe even tournament if you’re trying to go for the lead, and I think that’s what is so amazing about this hole — or this challenge is because it makes you really step up and hit the shot and commit and take on that risk.

It just shows that there’s much more to going about golf than just hitting the shot. It’s about preparing and looking at the statistics and seeing everything, where people make birdies from, where people make bogeys from, pulling all that together, and on top of that, just your feel of what you feel like you should be doing and putting all those factors together and making the best decision, it’s not always easy, but at the end of the year, it seems like I made the right ones.

THE MODERATOR: Absolutely you did. Players on the PGA TOUR obviously have very different approaches. Can you talk about how you build your strategy specifically to these challenge holes?

MATTHEW WOLFF: Yeah, I think I’m a very aggressive player. I feel like there’s a lot of times when I try to take on that risk. You’ll see that in a lot of players, such as Brooks Koepka, who I know was last year’s Aon Risk Reward Challenge winner. I think just being that aggressive mindset, knowing that you can pull of that shot, or feeling that confidence that you can pull off that shot, it really helps me when I get to these holes because, even though the shot may require a little more skill or a little more kind of thought going into it, I feel like at the end of the day I have that confidence and I have that ability to pull off those big shots when they’re not easy.

To me, it was just really knowing that I could — you know, having the confidence in myself and knowing that I could step up on those hard holes and take a risk and know that it was going to be — or I had a good chance of getting rewarded, which was don’t always feel that way, but it was a nice feeling.

THE MODERATOR: I have a last question, and that goes toward both of you. This is the third year of the Aon Risk Reward Challenge across the PGA TOUR and the LPGA TOUR. Eric, you launched this in 2018 and made the decision to support the challenge across both tours and anchored it with the $1 million for each winner.

Can you first tell us, Eric, about the significance of the program and gender equality in sports, and then, Matt, we’ll talk about what it means to you to have this challenge across both those tours as well.

ERIC ANDERSEN: Sure, Laura. Listen, the Aon Risk Reward Challenge for us, we really wanted to do something that really showed our commitment to what we were trying to do around inclusion and diversity both within our firm but also within our communities.

The winners of this Risk Reward Challenge, how they approach the shots, as Matt was saying before, really has nothing to do with gender. It’s around skill. It’s around preparation. It’s around working with your teams. It’s about using that right risk reward balance that’s so important to winning like you have.

For us, it was an easy decision that we wanted to back up our challenge with a financial commitment that was equal across both the women’s tour and the men’s tour. We’re really excited about it. We’ve gotten great feedback from it, not just from our own colleagues who were excited, but also our broader community. So we’re really excited about Matt for sure and also who’s going to join him in November with the LPGA TOUR winner.

THE MODERATOR: Matt, what does it mean to you to have this program launched across both the LPGA and the PGA TOUR?

MATTHEW WOLFF: Yeah, I think just kind of echoing what Eric just said, it’s more than just the gender or the skill that you have. It’s about the decision-making and the thought process going into it and also the hard work. No matter what gender you are, no matter what skill level you play at, at the end of the day, taking those extra steps and looking at the statistics and going out there and getting a feel for the hole is — that’s what an athlete does.

And being able to — you know, for Aon and everyone, just forget about gender and make everyone equal because, at the end of the day, I put in all the work that I do in order to make the best decisions and play the hole — not only the Aon Risk Reward holes, but every hole as well as I can, and they do the same thing. They put in just as much work. They put in just as much time. They go through the statistics and try to make that best decision, and they should be rewarded just the same as we are.

I think that it’s really important for other athletes, especially female, to see that and know that, you know, to keep working hard because people will realize that, and Aon is one of the first to do it.

I’m sure there are plenty of others that have the same rewards and stuff like that, but not many that I’ve heard of. So it’s really cool what Aon’s doing, and I’m excited as well to see who’s going to join me in November with that trophy.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Matthew. Thank you, Eric. We’re going to turn it over to our media here at the Northern Trust, but congratulations again on your award this year and all your hard work.

MATTHEW WOLFF: Thank you. Thanks again, Eric. I really appreciate it.

ERIC ANDERSEN: You got it. Well done.

Q. You’ve now played, I think, six times since you came back at the U.S. Open. Just wondering how are you doing mentally and personally? How are you handling life on TOUR differently than you were before?

MATTHEW WOLFF: Yeah, it’s still a grind. I’m doing a lot better. I am. I feel like I’m starting to feel like the results based — or the performance doesn’t so much affect the person that I am, and I can still be friendly to fans and talk to people and smile and have fun out there and enjoy all the hard work that I’ve put in to be where I am today.

Sometimes I definitely take that for granted, and it’s hard when you’re out there working really hard and feel like you’re ready for a tournament and then going out and not performing, it takes a toll on you, especially when you’re not playing well in that moment, and it might happen over and over again.

But I just feel like I’ve really got to stick to what I’ve been working on. I trust the people that are on my team, and it’s definitely getting better. You know, I can’t say by huge amounts really quickly, but I know incrementally the scores might not be better, but I’m feeling better. I’m happier. And I’ll look to keep on being happy.

Q. And with what happened with Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles, it does feel like there’s a momentum to addressing these mental health issues in sports. Do you feel like there’s momentum in that way, and did you notice support from other guys on TOUR for stepping away the way you did for a little while?

MATTHEW WOLFF: Absolutely. I feel like stuff is starting to go that way. What you said about Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles and stuff, I want to move that to what Rory said. He was at the Olympics, and they asked him about Naomi and Simone, and I think his quote on that was so powerful and so true. It was mental illness or not being happy, that’s an injury, and people don’t look at it as that. People look at it as, oh, you’re not happy, or you’re a little screwed up in the head or you’re just playing bad. It’s like get over it, keep on working.

But it’s more than that. It’s more than just how you play. It’s about enjoying yourself. There’s so many guys out here that have such good attitudes, and even when they’re not playing good, they’re going out there, having fun, talking, laughing. They’re enjoying themselves out there.

If you don’t feel right, if you don’t feel like you want to be out there and you feel like — some of the feelings that I had were like getting up in the morning knowing I had to get out of bed and just like not being able to, being like I don’t want to get out of bed. I just want to stay in my bed and not be in front of everyone and not screw up in front of everyone, and I think that what he said was really powerful because, if you don’t feel a hundred percent right, no matter if it’s physical or mental, it is an injury, and you should be able to rehab and take your time in order to get to a place where you need to be.

I feel like I had that time, and I’m looking forward to this off-season to working on it a little bit more.

Q. Hey, Matt, this is where you had your first playoff appearance two years ago. When you look back at two years ago, is there something you’re possibly trying to recapture or kind of those feelings you talk about? Did you have those in 2019? I guess how would you — what are the things that 2019 Matthew Wolff, you want to get back in 2021 Matthew Wolff?

MATTHEW WOLFF: Yeah, I think just how free I was. Obviously, I made the cut here, but I didn’t have that good of a tournament. I think just the aggressiveness and the go for it attitude and the everything — not everything’s going to be all right, but I’m taking on that risk, and if it doesn’t always happen the way I want it to, not getting frustrated because I know there’s going to be times when I do take on those risks or I play how I used to in 2019.

Just I would say more fearless if anything. It was going up and getting after every round and being like I’m going to go out and shoot 62 today and not being like I hope I shoot under par, and I just think that little mindset is something that I’ve been working on.

Yeah, playing here always helps even if it’s only one time. You see guys out here, they’ve been playing for 15, 20 years, and they show up on Wednesday morning or Tuesday night, and they just play the Pro-Am and they’re ready to go because they’ve seen it before.

It is nice knowing that I’ve seen this course before, and maybe subtle things on the greens or lines on tee shots that I can feel a little more confident with this time as opposed to the first time I played here. But I think at the end of the day, I’m just going to stick to my game plan and try to have a good time out there.

Q. With the fall, do you feel like you’ll use that as a time to step away again and work on the things you talked about? Or is that a time, because you had a break, you could maybe play a little more than you would have attended if you played the fall season? I guess how do you view what you possibly want to try to accomplish in the fall?

MATTHEW WOLFF: Yeah, I think that my fix or what I’m working on isn’t a quick thing to fix. It’s not something that is a choice. It’s not, oh, just be happy because if I’m working really hard and my results aren’t good, it’s hard to stay positive. The most important thing for me is to keep on working on it and make sure that negative results or bad days don’t take away from the overall product of what I’m trying to do.

I think that I’m definitely going to take as much time as I can off in the fall to work on that and work on my game as well as my mental side and just being happy, but I do think that I’m ready to go in the fall. I think I’ll have a couple months off, and that will be a good time to reset and work on what I need to work on. Or my bad, a couple weeks off, and then play the fall, and then I’ll have a couple months off.

It’s a long season. The PGA TOUR, they play a lot of tournaments, and just like any other professional athlete, you play a lot of games in any sport that you play, and any down time that you can get is really important, and I think that’s one thing that I’ve learned since I’ve been out here.

In junior golf and when you’re younger, you feel like your motor always goes. As soon as you get out here and travel week to week and play a bunch of weeks in a row, you feel like your motor kind of wears out quicker than it usually does. Rest is just as important as practice, in my opinion.

Press Release by ASAP Sports

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PGA Tour

Ian Poulter is literally on his way to the Play Offs

Ian Poulter makes it to the FedexCup Play Offs and he shares the excitement in social media.

Last weekend at the 2021 Wyndham Championship was stressful at the least for some remarkable players such as Rickie Fowler or Justin Rose, among others. However, the Britishman Ian Poulter was ranked 79th in the FedExCup ranking, within the Top 125 of the Northen Trust, making the cut for the Play Offs by a 189pts difference with Justin Rose, who goes first on the list of players that have missed the cut.

Ian Poulter has made three Top 10 during the 2021 season. He finished T3 at the Charles Schwab Challenge, T9 at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, and T10 at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, which played an important role to classify for the Play Offs.
Poulter initiated his professional golf career back in 1995, and him and his always colorful looks in the golf course do not think of hanging their spikes any time soon. The golfer Ian Poulter wants to continue achieving great things, and he shares such intentions with his fans in a funny way, always keeping his unbroken sense of humor.
HEAD-SUP
Ian Poulter makes it to the FedexCup Play Offs and he decided to get going already. Poulter is so exciting that just got in the car and he is now on his way to give it all. Stay Tuned!

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PGA Tour

Justin Rose is “gutted” over his PGA season being over

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - AUGUST 15: Justin Rose of England lines up a putt on the 18th green during the final round of the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club on August 15, 2021 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Despite his successful year, Rose failed to qualify for the FedEx Cup for the first time in his PGA career.

His current season highlights include finishing T8 at the PGA Championship, his second consecutive top-10 at the event and fifth in his career. Led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (2.932 per round). During the Masters, he shot a first-round 65 and took a four-stroke 18-hole lead before finishing solo-seventh.

The FedExCup is a season-long points competition which culminates with the FedExCup Playoffs, a series of three events to determine the FedExCup Champion. The top 125 players in the FedExCup standings are eligible for the FedExCup Playoffs with the three events featuring a progressive cut with fields of 125, 70 and 30. Justin Rose currently ranks at 126 which leaves him out of the running for this season’s championship. Despite missing out this year, Rose seems to be holding his head high for his fans.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Justin ROSE (@justinprose99)

Player’s Career Highlights from the official PGA website

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Knowledge PGA Tour Team UK Top Tours

Justin Rose is named the 2021 recipient of the Payne Stewart Award

Justin Rose named recipient of the 2021 Payne Stewart Award

Justin Rose, the englishman golfer who is a 11-time PGA winner, as well as the 2013 U.S. Open winner and 2016 Olympic gold medalist in Rio, was named the 2021 recipient of the Payne Stewart Award, which is presented annually by the PGA Tour to the golfer who best exemplifies character, charity and sportsmanship.

Stewart, a three-time major champion, perished in a 1999 plane crash as the reigning U.S. Open champion. A year after that fatal date, the PGA created this award to honor his name and character.
Rose, turned professional in ’98, a year before Payne died, and was able to have a few brief interactions with Payne long before Rose held a trophy in his honor. The 2021 recipient definitely remembers the kind words that Steward had with him at The Open Championship in ’98, when Rose was just hitting balls on the range and Payne stopped by to compliment his swing: “Oh, that’s how it’s done.”

The Payne Stewart Award is specially meaninful because it goes beyond the golfing skills, but instead this prize recognizes the characteristics that define a great role model for the rest of the world, without any descriminations.
Some of the most recognizable players have won this Award in the past as well, such as Ernie Els (2015), Gary Player (2006), Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer both in (2000).
It is a chance for the recipient to bring the world matters back to the spotlight and to create awarness through their actions or foundations. Justin Rose and his wife founded The Kate & Justin Rose Foundation in Florida, which helps members of the community with lack of sources and money to fulfill their plates and to enrich their minds, raising more than $3 million and providing “500,000 hunger-free weekends” and 300,000 books.

“Justin Rose embodies everything the Payne Stewart Award represents,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said. “Like Payne, he has been one of the premier players of his generation while using his platform to better the lives of those around him.”

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PGA Tour

Niall Horan confirmed for BMW PGA Championship Pro-Am

Niall Horan during the BMW PGA Championship Pro-Am at Wentworth Golf Club on September 18, 2019. (Photo: Getty Images)

Press Release

Niall Horan, who rose to global fame during his time as a member of boyband One Direction, is the first in a series of A-list celebrities to be confirmed for this year’s BMW PGA Championship Celebrity Pro-Am, taking place at the prestigious Wentworth Club on Wednesday, September 8.

The Irishman, who has since become a successful solo artist with his band, The Slow Hands, is no stranger to the star-studded Celebrity Pro-Am, the traditional curtain-raiser to the BMW PGA Championship, the European Tour’s third Rolex Series event of the 2021 Race to Dubai.

As a member of Wentworth Club, the 27-year-old is familiar with the challenging West Course. However, the hugely popular event attracts a considerable crowd and performing in front of thousands of fans on the golf course is very different to performing up on stage.

Horan, who plays off a handicap of nine, said: “I’ve sung in front of thousands of people; performed concerts all around the world, but when you hear your name called out on the first tee at Wentworth, and you step out in front of that crowd onto the tee box…it’s nerve wracking! We’ve done okay over the years though – I think we’ve won it twice – and it’s pretty cool getting to play with the pros. 

Niall Horan also states,

“It’s a proper family day out and a great atmosphere before the actual tournament and serious stuff kicks off. The celebrity turn out is amazing. You have all sorts of actors, singers, sports stars and TV personalities. I just love it. It’s my home club and it’s always a great day.”

The tournament itself gets underway on Thursday September 9, when Tyrrell Hatton will return to defend his BMW PGA Championship title. The Ryder Cup star leads a host of home hopefuls aiming to make it three English victories in a row at the Rolex Series event.

Hatton will be joined by fellow Ryder Cup stars Tommy Fleetwood, Ian Poulter and Justin Rose, as well as the 2020 Race to Dubai Champion Lee Westwood.

The 2019 BMW PGA Championship winner and 2016 Masters Tournament champion Danny Willett will also tee it up at the Surrey venue, as will World Number 22 Matt Fitzpatrick and four-time European Tour winner Matt Wallace.

They will all be hoping to impress in front of the home crowd at Wentworth Club, which will host some of the biggest stars of world golf in the final qualifying event for the European Ryder Cup team. Pádraig Harrington and his team will attempt to retain the famous trophy against the United States two weeks later at Whistling Straits, in Wisconsin.

Kit Gartrell, Championship Director of the BMW PGA Championship, said: “The BMW PGA Celebrity Pro-Am has become a real highlight of the week, offering fans the chance to see some of world golf’s biggest names tee it up alongside stars of the stage, screen and sport. The players receive a wonderful reception from the huge crowds that come to watch. It promises to be another fantastic day.

“With live concerts returning as well, there will be a real festival atmosphere to this year’s BMW PGA Championship. Rock trio Feeder will be performing on the Saturday, and then Global hitmakers Clean Bandit will headline on the Slingsby Show Stage on the Sunday.

“We cannot wait to welcome everyone back to Wentworth to enjoy five days of world-class golf and entertainment in a relaxed and fun environment.”

Tickets for the BMW PGA Celebrity Pro-Am Day start at £25 for adults (complimentary tickets for children aged 13 and under). Prices for the BMW PGA Championship start at £15 for Tuesday’s practice round. Concessions are available for OAPs and students.

Interview transcript by European Tour Communications