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Week No. 3 of the 2020-2021 season finds the TOUR heading back to the future. The Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship was scheduled for the week of 23 March, two weeks after THE PLAYERS, but has now moved to the beginning of the new season.
Tom Fazio’s 2010 design will welcome the professional ranks for a fifth consecutive season and third as a PGA TOUR event. Corales will stretch to almost 7,700 yards and play to a stock Par-72. The final challenge will include six holes along Corales Bay that will bring cliffs, winds and decision making into play. Sea Isle Paspalum covers the entire property and so do massive fairways and greens, designed for play in tropical breezes, and resort players. The rough on the resort track will only be two inches and the exposed, sloping greens shouldn’t run more than 11 feet on the Stimpmeter.
An (almost) full field of 144 golfers will enjoy the new stand-alone status of this event in the new season. This will also be the first time this event is played on either TOUR in September. The carrot for the winner will now include a trip to Augusta National Golf Club in spring of 2021 plus a visit to Kapalua to kick off the new year. The prize pool of $4 million will include $720k for the winner on top of 500 FedExCup points.
RELATED: Power Rankings | Preview the course, storylines | Expert Picks
Past Winners
2019: Graeme McDowell (-18, 270)
Closed out his 54-hole lead in late March after Chris Stroud (T2), who bogeyed the final two holes with a one-shot lead. … Led the field in Putting: Birdie or Better Percentage and 3-Putt Avoidance (0). … 27 birdies led the field. … Posted 64-64 after opening with 73. … Took advantage of his opportunities as he was T31 Fairways, T16 GIR and just T47 Scrambling. … Only player in the top 10 with a round above par. … Carded seven bogeys and a double. … Third consecutive winner in 30s (either TOUR). … MC 2018.
Notables: Mackenzie Hughes (T2) closed 66-66. … Jonathan Byrd (4th) posted three bogey-free rounds. … Kelly Kraft (T5) posted his second top five in two starts here. … Aaron Baddeley (T7) played in the penultimate group on Sunday. … George McNeill (T7) backed up his T13 from 2018. … DJ Trahan (T10) closed 68-66 while Kramer Hickok (T10) posted his last three rounds in the 60s. … Matt Jones (T18) led after 18 but made a quintuple bogey. … McNeill, Baddeley and Byrd trailed by one after 36. … Chip McDaniel (not entered) tied the course record with 62. … Cut 2-under.
2019 Top 25 (entered this week)
1 Graeme McDowell
2 Mackenzie Hughes
2 Chris Stroud
4 Jonathan Byrd
5 Kelly Kraft
7 Aaron Baddeley
7 George McNeill
10 Kramer Hickok
10 DJ Trahan
12 Sam Burns
12 Grayson Murray
18 David Hearn
18 Matt Jones
22 Jim Knaus
22 Peter Uihlein
2018: Brice Garnett (-18, 270)
Saved his worst round of the week (70) for Sunday but won by four shots to pick up his first TOUR victory. … Opened with 63, low round of the week, to go wire-to-wire. … Led by one after 36 holes. … Stretched his lead to six during Round 3 before taking a two-shot lead to Sunday. … Led the field in Putting: Birdie or Better Percentage, Par-3 Scoring and Birdies (23). … Only one 3-putt for the week. … T9 Bogey Avoidance. … Third winner on either TOUR to finish in the top three in Par-3 scoring.
Notables: Keith Mitchell (2nd) was just one back after 66-66 but 75 on Saturday stalled out his chase. Finished with 67 on Sunday. … Texan Kelly Kraft (3rd) posted all four rounds in the red. … Denny McCarthy (4th) only made four bogeys on the week. … Seamus Power and Xinjun Zhang shared T5. … Corey Conners (T13) opened with 64, signed for 67 on Saturday to play in the final group and counted up 76 of them on Sunday. … Rob Oppenheim (T35) circled 22 birdies. … Cut was 1-under.
2018 Top 25 (entered this week)
1 Brice Garnett
2 Keith Mitchell
3 Kelly Kraft
4 Denny McCarthy
5 Seamus Power
5 Xinjun Zhang
13 Corey Conners
13 Xinjun Zhang
13 George McNeill
13 Shawn Stefani
19 Tyler McCumber (Monday Qualifier)
22 Fabian Gomez
22 Patrick Rodgers
Key stat leaders
(* – previous success here, check above)
Top golfers in each statistic on the 2019-2020 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week.
Putting: Birdie or Better Percentage
1 *Dominic Bozzelli (2016 winner Korn Ferry Tour)
11 Kristoffer Ventura
12 *Seamus Power
14 *Denny McCarthy
15 Charley Hoffman
16 Grayson Murray
32 *Aaron Baddeley
33 Matt Every
36 Vince Whaley
42 Patton Kizzire
45 *Xinjun Zhang
48 Vaughn Taylor
49 Anirban Lahiri
50 *Sam Burns
Greens in Regulation
2 Kyle Stanley
4 Will Gordon
6 *Corey Conners
7 Josh Teater
7 Emiliano Grillo
13 Henrik Norlander
16 Pat Perez
16 Martin Laird
19 Jhonattan Vegas
22 Matthew NeSmith
24 Chris Baker
25 Joseph Bramlett
26 Bo Hoag
27 *Brice Garnett
30 Cameron Percy
32 Doug Ghim
33 Luke List
34 James Hahn
34 *Seamus Power
34 Bill Haas
Par-3 Scoring
5 Will Gordon
5 *Chris Stroud
5 Michael Gellerman
9 Ryan Armour
16 Ben Martin
19 *Mackenzie Hughes
19 Rhein Gibson
19 Matthew NeSmith
19 Chase Seiffert
28 *Seamus Power
28 Bo Hoag
28 Brian Stuard
28 *Brice Garnett
28 Brandon Hagy
28 Ryan Brehm
28 Ben Taylor
28 Mark Anderson (bogey-free at Safeway)
28 Vaughn Taylor
28 Sam Ryder
28 Pat Perez
2017 Korn Ferry Top 25 (entered this week)
1 Nate Lashley
3 Rafael Campos
8 Richard S Johnson
8 KH Lee
8 Adam Long
12 Sam Ryder
12 Adam Schenk
16 Eric Axley
16 Rhein Gibson
25 Scott Harrington
2016 Korn Ferry Top 25 (entered this week)
1 Dominic Bozzelli
2 Sam Ryder
7 Seamus Power
11 Josh Teater
11 Kevin Tway
19 Eric Axley
28 Scott Harrington (shot 62)
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Source: PGA tour
