World Number One Brooks Koepka Leads PGA Tour Asian Swing
16th October 2019
Koepka will be joined at Nine Bridges on picturesque Jeju Island by drawcards such Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth and Sergio Garcia who are all making their debut at the event, first held in 2017
- The US PGA Tour kicks off its new-look Asian Swing in South Korea on Thursday with the world's top golfers lured by megabucks in three tournaments with no cuts
- The swing concludes at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, which has seen its prize fund beefed up to $10.25 million, and the tournaments are a chance to rack up Fedex Cup points early in the season
- Next week in Japan all eyes will be on the health of Tiger Woods as he makes yet another comeback, this time from arthroscopic knee surgery, and will be joined by world number two and PGA Tour Player of the Year Rory McIlroy
JEJU, South Korea-
The US PGA Tour kicks off its new-look Asian Swing in South Korea on Thursday
with the world's top golfers lured by megabucks in three tournaments with no
cuts.
This week's $9.75 million CJ Cup, where four-time major
winner and world number one Brooks Koepka is defending champion, will be
followed by the Tour's first foray into Japan at the Zozo Championship next
week with an identical purse on offer.
The swing concludes at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai,
which has seen its prize fund beefed up to $10.25 million, and the tournaments
are a chance to rack up Fedex Cup points early in the season.
Koepka will be joined at Nine Bridges on picturesque Jeju
Island by drawcards such Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth and Sergio Garcia who
are all making their debut at the event, first held in 2017.
Fellow major champions Justin Thomas, the 2017 winner here,
Jason Day, Patrick Reed, Graeme McDowell, Danny Willett and Gary Woodland are
also among the world-class cast lifting the curtain on the three-week $29.75
million jaunt.
- Decision time for Woods -
Next week in Japan all eyes will be on the health of Tiger
Woods as he makes yet another comeback, this time from arthroscopic knee
surgery, and will be joined by world number two and PGA Tour Player of the Year
Rory McIlroy.
But it is also decision time for US Presidents Cup captain
Woods, who will pick his four US team wildcards for December's showdown with
the Internationals in Melbourne straight after the Zozo.
Should the 15-time major winner Woods be fit and firing in
Japan, he may nominate himself to be the first playing captain since Hale Irwin
at the inaugural Presidents Cup in 1994.
But that would reduce his options to just three picks from
the likes of Woodland, Tony Finau, Reed, Spieth, Mickelson, Rickie Fowler,
Bubba Watson and Kevin Kisner.
Although the out-of-form Mickelson has been a key member of
the US Team for an amazing 24 consecutive team events, it seems certain that
run will come to an end and he may be recruited by Woods as an additional
vice-captain.
US Open champion Woodland is looking to nail down his spot
having been runner-up here last year, while former number one Spieth and 2018
Masters champion Reed need a return to top form to spring them into contention.
- Spieth tries to sneak in -
"Unfortunately, I didn't secure my own spot, so I have
two weeks left to go out and prove that my game's in a good enough spot that I
deserve a pick," Woodland said Tuesday.
Spieth, languishing at 38th in the world, thinks he may have
a chance to sneak into Woods' thoughts with a couple of big weeks.
"Gary (Woodland) won the US Open and didn't get an
automatic pick and Tiger didn't get in having won the Masters so that's a
pretty competitive American environment," Spieth told AFP on Tuesday.
"But I think if I can really play well have a chance
and maybe grab a win that may be enough to sneak in."
International captain Ernie Els has also four to choose, and
Day, badly out of form in 2019, still looks a shoo-in to make it an Aussie
quartet in the 12-man team alongside Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman and Adam
Scott.
Korea have eight players in the field and the home charge
will be led by PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Im Sung-jae.
The 21-year-old knows the Jeju course this week better than
anyone having grown up playing Nine Bridges.