By Ryan Herrington

Branden Grace finished T-34 on Sunday at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, shooting a one-under 287 for the week at Leopard Creek Golf Club, but it was as good as a victory for the 30-year-old South African. The finish, 13 strokes back of winner David Lipsky, in the last European Tour event of 2018 will likely be enough to keep him at the No. 48 spot in the World Ranking when the year’s final list comes out in two weeks.

And with that he’ll be playing in the Masters in April.

All players in the top 50 in the year’s final ranking earn invitations to compete at Augusta National Golf Club. Grace is one of 13 golfers in the projected top 50 who hasn’t already qualified for the first major of 2019.

Here’s a look at the projected final ranking of the year:

View image on Twitter

And here’s a list of the others that are projected to qualify who weren’t in the field already:

Alex Noren
Tyrrell Hatton
Rafa Cabrera-Bello
Eddie Pepperell
Kiradech Aphibarnrat
Matthew Fitzpatrick
Ian Poulter
Li Haotong
Thorbjorn Olesen
Matt Wallace
Lucas Bjerregaard
Emiliano Grillo
Branden Grace

No. 51 on the projected final ranking is Aaron Wise, who already is going to Augusta by virtue of his AT&T Byron Nelson win in May. Of those between Nos. 51 and 60, seven must now find another way to earn a spot into the Masters.

52 Ben An
53. Shugo Imahira
54. Brian Harman
56. Abraham Ancer
57. Luke List
59. Alexander Bjork
60. Daniel Berger

Between January and April, winners of any PGA Tour event awarding full FedEx Cup points will earn a spot. Also players inside the top 50 in the World Ranking a week before the Masters will be added to the field.

To those still on the outside looking in, best of luck gentlemen. You’ve got your work cut out for you.

Source: www.golfdigest.com

Remember when we said Andy Sullivan may have pulled off the shot of the year on the European Tour? Yeah, that lasted all of 10 minutes.

Sullivan’s driver-off-the-deck was no doubt impressive, but Eddie Pepperell topped it and then some moments later with a hole-in-one that is almost too impossible to be real. See for yourself:

How?! The ball bounces off the flag stick, away from the hole, lands and bounces back into the cup, defying all logic, physics, etc. Here’s a GIF you can watch on repeat forever while simultaneously questioning how this actually happened:

https://twitter.com/EuropeanTour/status/1050390416221069312

https://twitter.com/EuropeanTour/status/1050392280761282561

The ace came at the par-3 ninth at Walton Heath Golf Club, and it netted $20,000 for charity. A Sky Sports reporter caught up with Pepperell following the wild shot, and he was in top form as usual:

"My eyesight's going so I wasn't sure exactly what happened!"@PepperellEddie on his hole-in-one. pic.twitter.com/SmHtWiyKKe

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 11, 2018

Pepperell has always been bluntly honest, so we wouldn’t be surprised if he really did wish there was a car to win instead, but we guess $20,000 to charity will do (we’re also kidding). How has the Englishman followed it up? How about with a birdie and an eagle to vault to the top of the leader board at six under:

Ace – Birdie – Eagle.

5 under in 3 holes. Pepperell leads. pic.twitter.com/Hbmqi8ck9b

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 11, 2018

That’ll do. The European Tour, so hot right now … the European Tour.

Source: golfdigest.com

Team USA is full to the gunwales with talent, but there’s something a little strange about how that talent is currently performing. It turns out, through a fluke of bad luck, that three of the biggest American stars from the last two Ryder Cups happen to be showing the worst form of anybody on the 2018 team. That presents a problem, and it’s a thorny one for U.S. captain Jim Furyk.

Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, and Jordan Spieth were three of the top five points-earners in the 2016 victory at Hazeltine, and three of the top four at Gleneagles two years earlier. Spieth and Reed weren’t around at Medinah in 2012, but Mickelson was, and he was once again one of the team’s stars, netting three points in a dynamic pairing with Keegan Bradley. It just so happens that as the Americans get ready to do battle in Paris, hoping to win their first Ryder Cup on foreign soil in 25 years, these three U.S. stalwarts are playing some pretty rough golf. Along with Bubba Watson, they are—without a doubt—slumping in a way that the other eight players are not.

U.S. captain Jim Furyk on the possible Tiger-Phil Ryder Cup pairing: ''I won't ever say it wouldn't happen, but it's probably not too likely" https://t.co/iGHb9EZuND

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) September 26, 2018

It had to be strange for Jim Furyk to see the bottom of the leaderboard at last weekend’s Tour Championship, where positions 28-30 in the 30-man field looked like this:

Patrick Reed: +9

Bubba Watson: +10

Phil Mickelson: +13

Spieth, whose troubles this year are well-chronicled, wasn’t even there—he’s made exactly one top ten since the Masters, and he didn’t qualify for the Tour Championship.

To add to the conundrum, Spieth and Reed are a famously strong pairing, having amassed a 4-1-2 record over the last two competitions. To break them up would be a dramatic, almost reactionary move, but keeping two ice-cold golfers together runs even greater risks. If they can’t re-discover their magic together, it’s like handing a free point to the Europeans.

As if the situation wasn’t tricky enough on its own, Thomas Bjorn made a very smart move by deciding to play four-ball in the Friday morning session. That means the alternate shot pairings will happen in the afternoon, and the last thing you want to do if you’re Jim Furyk is stick a struggling golfer out there in alternate shot, where he can’t be rescued by a hot partner and could potentially submarine an entire match.

This puts the stress squarely on Furyk’s shoulders. Assuming he’s trying to avoid playing his four coldest players in afternoon foursomes, it leaves two choices: He can either play Bubba, Phil, Spieth, and Reed in the morning, or sit them out for an entire day.

He can’t sit them for an entire day. It’s just not plausible, even if it’s arguably the smarter move on paper. As such, you can expect to see all four golfers on Friday morning. Judging by the Tuesday practice groups, Furyk may be planning to break up the band and have Spieth and Reed play with different partners—it may be that Spieth doesn’t want to play with him anymore, considering the “interesting” comments Reed has made this year, from the denied drop at Bay Hill (“I guess my name needs to be Jordan Spieth”) to the trash talk at the WGC-Match Play (“my back still hurts” from carrying Spieth at the Ryder Cup), all of which preceded Reed beating a frustrated Spieth at that WGC. Or maybe they’re completely fine. In any case, it’s easy to imagine Furyk seeing the benefit in giving himself other options if the two aren’t playing well on Friday morning.

But those other options carry a price, and that’s where diplomacy comes in. Patrick Reed wants to play all five sessions. The last time Phil Mickelson had an issue with playing time, he instigated a full mutiny and threw his captain to the wolves. Jordan Spieth is an immensely popular figure, to both his teammates and fans, and any attempt by Furyk to sideline him comes with risks. Of the four, only Bubba Watson—not a very popular figure, relatively speaking—is easily cast aside. Davis Love III felt no compunction at leaving him off the team in 2016, and Furyk can bench him without worrying about the consequences. Bubba even showed at Hazeltine in his vice captain role that he can be a team player under adverse circumstances.

When it comes to the other three, Furyk’s job gets tough. How do you manage those extremely large personalities? How do you disappoint them, in service of winning, and not risk a PR nightmare inside and outside the team room?

The answer comes down to personal management, of course, and there’s no way for anyone besides Jim Furyk to know exactly what notes to sing. Yet it’s an incredibly vital part of his job.

Paul McGinley had a terrific system in Gleneagles, when he paired Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell with rookies Jamie Donaldson and Victor Dubuisson, respectively, and cast the veterans as sherpas whose role was to win foursomes points with their young charges. It worked, but it may not be the perfect model for Furyk, because Mickelson and Bubba are not playing well, and Bubba in particular is not well suited to being anyone’s guide. It looks like he might try out the shepherd strategy with Mickelson and Finau, but it would likely have to come in morning four-ball. The ideal situation is that they win, sit for the afternoon, and play again on Saturday morning, but that assumes that Finau doesn’t crack under the Ryder Cup pressure, and that Mickelson is happy with playing just one session per day.

As for Reed and Spieth, Furyk is mostly reduced to hoping for the best. If they struggle, he’ll have to deliver the bitter news and hope they’re both mature enough to accept an unlikely demotion.

Furyk is the rare golfer who thinks deeply about every question he’s asked, and brings a curious mind to his sport. Journalists love him, players respect him. He’ll be the same as captain, and you can bet he’ll have considered almost every angle on the course. His greatest challenge, though, will be managing expectations and personalities off the course, particularly when his team hits the inevitable patch of adversity. If he can’t prepare his struggling stars for the prospect of sitting out a crucial session—or perhaps an entire Saturday—he’s in trouble. He must discover how to make them accept his decisions with equanimity while remaining supportive of the team and staying inspired for Sunday singles. Otherwise, his exacting preparation will crumble around him.

There are extremely strong players on Team USA, and they need to be playing in the crucial moments. Identifying them is the easy part. Keeping everyone happy while making the tough choice is where the road gets rocky, and Furyk’s ability to solve this riddle could define the outcome of the Paris Ryder Cup.

Source: golfdigest.com