Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.
PGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Wells Fargo Championship (Max Homa)
THIS WEEK: AT&T Byron Nelson, McKinney, Texas, May 12-15
Course: TPC Craig Ranch (Par 72, 7,468 yards)
Purse: $9.1M (Winner: $1.638M)
Defending Champions: K.H. Lee
FedExCup Leader: Scottie Scheffler
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (CBS); Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (CBS)
PGA Tour Live: Daily feeds on ESPN+
Social Media: @ATTByronNelson (Twitter)
NOTES: The field includes nine of the top 20 players in the world rankings and 16 of the top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings. … The tournament will be played for the second time at TPC Craig Ranch, which will play host to the event for the next four years. The course led the PGA Tour with the most birdies made last season with 2,007. … Seung-Yul Noh is making his final start on his Major Medical Extension. He needs to finish in a two-way tie for second or better to remain in the category for the remainder of the season or solo-fifth or better to move into the 126-150 category. … Dallas native and 12-time PGA Tour winning Justin Leonard will make his first start on tour since the 2017 Valero Texas Open. He will be able to compete on the Champions Tour when he turns 50 on June 15. … Adam Scott is the only player to have completed the “Texas Slam” with wins at the Byron Nelson, Houston Open, Valero Texas Open and the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge.
BEST BETS: Texas native and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (+1000 at BetMGM) has won four of his past seven starts. … Justin Thomas (+1200) will make just his second start in the event (T55 in 2015). He holds the longest active streak on tour with 19 consecutive cuts made and has six top-10s in 11 starts this season. … Sam Burns (+2000) finished runner-up last year and is one of five players with multiple victories this season. His lowest round on tour last year was a 62 in the second round at TPC Craig Ranch. … Jordan Spieth (+2200) tees it up for the first time since winning the RBC Heritage last month. He leads the tour with 15 top-10 finishes in Texas since 2013. … Xander Schauffele (+2200) is making his debut at TPC Craig Ranch while coming off a victory with teammate Patrick Cantlay at the Zurich Classic. … Will Zalatoris (+2200) finished T17 last year and has five top-10s in 13 starts this season. … Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz (+15000) has missed four of his past five cuts but calls Dallas home and has lived in Texas for the past 13 years.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: PGA Championship, Tulsa, Okla., May 19-22
LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Palos Verdes Championship (Marina Alex)
THIS WEEK: Founders Cup, Clifton, N.J., May 12-15
Course: Upper Montclair Country Club (Par 72, 6,413 yards)
Purse: $3M
Defending Champion: Jin Young Ko
Race to the CME Globe leader: Danielle Kang
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 5-7 p.m. (Golf Channel); Sunday, 12-1 p.m. (Golf Channel), 1-3 p.m. (CBS)
Streaming: Thursday-Friday, 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. ET (NBC Sports App); Saturday, 4-7 p.m. (NBC Sports App); Sunday, 12-1 p.m. (NBC Sports App), 1-3 p.m. (Paramount+)
Social: @LPGAfounders (Twitter, Instagram)
NOTES: This is the first playing of a multi-year agreement for the Upper Montclair Country club to host the event. … The 144-player field is competing for the largest purse on tour outside of the majors and the CME Group Tour Championship. … Top-ranked Jin Young Ko leads a list of seven of the top-10 players in the field. The defending champion also won in 2019 and the event was not played in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The last player to win an event three consecutive times was Inbee Park at the KPMG Women’s PGA from 2013-15. … No. 2 Nelly Korda continues to recover from surgery for a blood clot in her arm. … Alex, who is from Wayne, N.J., won the most recent event at the Palos Verdes Championship. … There are 27 rookies in the field, led by first-time winner Atthaya Thitikul. … Sei Young Kim holds the tournament scoring record of 27-under 261 set in 2016. … Sponsors invites are 2022 ANWA champion Anna Davis and Lakareber Abe, the winner of The John Shippen Women’s Shootout presented by Cognizant. … Sarah Jane Smith and Mariah Stackhouse were the two Monday qualifiers. … Ayaka Furue leads the tour with 44 putts made of longer than 15 feet this season.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: LPGA Match-Play, Las Vegas, May 25-29
Champions Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Mitsubishi Electric Classic (Steve Flesch)
THIS WEEK: Regions Tradition, Birmingham, Ala., May 12-15
Course: Greystone Golf and Country Club (Par 72, 7,249 yards)
Purse: $2.5M (Winner: $375,000)
Defending Champion: Alex Cejka
Charles Schwab Cup leader: Steven Alker
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 1:30-4 p.m. ET; Saturday, 3-5 p.m.; Sunday, 3-6 p.m. (All times Golf Channel)
Social: @RegionsTrad
NOTES: This is the first of five majors this season and the final of four consecutive weeks of events on tour. … Fred Funk and Tom Lehman have each won the event twice. … Steve Stricker, the 2019 champion, returns after finishing runner-up to Cejka last year. … Padraig Harrington is competing in his first Champions major. He has two runner-ups in his past three starts. … Two-time event champion Bernhard Langer is not in the field. … Doug Tewell holds the 72-hole tournament scoring record of 265 set in 2001.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Senior PGA Championship, Benton Harbor, Mich., May 26-29
–Field Level Media