Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.
PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: Sanderson Farms Championship (Sam Burns)
THIS WEEK: Shriners Children’s Open, Las Vegas, Oct. 7-10
Course: TPC Summerlin (Par 71, 7,255 yards)
Purse: $7M (Winner: $1.26M)
Defending Champion: Martin Laird
FedEx Cup Leader: Sam Burns & Max Homa
TV: Thursday-Sunday, 5-8 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
NOTES: The field includes 26 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking, led by No. 8 Louis Oosthuizen and No. 9 Brooks Koepka. … Six players will tee it up for the first time since competing in the Ryder Cup last month: Koepka, Harris English and Scottie Scheffler from Team USA and Paul Casey, Viktor Hovland and Ian Poulter from Team Europe. … This week marks the 25th anniversary of Tiger Woods’ first PGA Tour victory, which came in Las Vegas in a playoff against Davis Love III. … The Shriners Children’s Open leads the PGA Tour with three sudden-death playoffs in the past four years. Laird beat Austin Cook and Matthew Wolff in last year’s playoff.
BEST BETS: Koepka (+1600 at DraftKings) has two top-5s in five previous starts at TPC Summerlin as he makes his season debut. … Oosthuizen (+1800) finished 19th in his first event appearance last year. He’s competing for the first time since the Tour Championship. … Abraham Ancer (+1800), also making his season debut, finished fourth in the event last year. … Sam Burns (+2500) is coming off his second career victory on tour. He led the field in strokes gained off the tee and tee-to-green. … English (+2500) is already a two-time winner in 2021. … Si Woo Kim (+4500) won The American Express earlier this year and is coming off a T11 and T8 in the first two events this season.
NEXT WEEK: The CJ Cup @ Summit
LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: ShopRite LPGA Classic (Celine Boutier)
THIS WEEK: Cognizant Founders Cup, West Caldwell, N.J., Oct. 7-10
Course: Mountain Ridge Country Club (Par 72, 6,656 yards)
Purse: $3 million ($450,000)
Defending Champion: Jin Young Ko
Race to the CME Globe leader: Nelly Korda
HOW TO WATCH
TV: Thursday, 2-5 p.m. ET; Friday-Sunday, 12-3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
NOTES: Korda is playing for the first time since the Solheim Cup early last month and said she used the three-week break to help heal a slight shoulder injury. … The event was played for the first nine years at Wildfire Golf Club in Phoenix, where it was sponsored by the Bank of Hope. It was not played last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. … Mountain Ridge is a Donald Ross design. … Marina Alex grew up less than 10 miles from the course in Wayne, N.J. … Second-ranked Ko enters with 10 consecutive rounds in the 60s, tied for the third-longest streak in tour history. Annika Sorenstam holds the all-time record of 14 set in 2005. … The tournament is a celebration of the 13 Founding Members of the LPGA Tour.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: BMW Ladies Championship, Busan, Republic of Korea, Oct. 21-24
Champions Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Pure Insurance Championship (K.J. Choi)
THIS WEEK: Constellation Furyk & Friends, Jacksonville, Fla., Oct. 8-10
Course: Timuquana Country Club (Par 72, 6,949 yards)
Purse: $2M (Winner: $300,000)
Defending Champion: Inaugural event
Charles Schwab Cup leader: Bernhard Langer
TV: Friday-Sunday, 3-5 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
NOTES: Two events remain before the start of the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs. This week’s field features 35 of the top 40 players in the standings, including tournament host Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Fred Couples. … Mickelson has won two of his first three Champions starts. … Team USA captain Steve Stricker and Team Europe captain Padraig Harrington will also tee it up for the first time since last month’s Ryder Cup. Harrington will be making his Champions debut after turning 50 on Aug. 31. … Timuquana is Furyk’s home course. His three wins are tied with Darren Clarke for the most in tour in the combined 2020-21 season.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: SAS Championship, Cary, N.C., Oct. 15-17.
–Field Level Media
