AT&T Byron Nelson Preview 2018

2018 AT&T Byron Nelson Preview
Dates: May 14-20, 2018
Where: Trinity Forest Golf Club
Par/Yards: 36-35—71/7,380
Format: 72-hole stroke play; Field: 156
FedExCup: 500 points to winner; Purse: $7.7 million ($1,386,000 to the winner)
Defending Champion: Billy Horschel

PGA TOUR’s Annual Dallas stop set for first appearance at Trinity Forest Golf Club

• After 35 years in Irving, Texas, the 2018 AT&T Byron Nelson will take place at Trinity Forest Golf Club (a links- style course designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore), located just 10 minutes south of downtown Dallas.
• According to its website, Trinity Forest Golf Club resembles many of the great old courses of the Northeast and Great Britain, featuring a links style course on a rolling meadow with tall native grasses and dramatic bunkering and green complexes.
• The team of Coore and Crenshaw (Coore & Crenshaw, Inc.) designed both the championship golf course and the nine-hole “Horse Course”, with the design honoring classic golf courses with traditional, strategic golf and great artistry as the guiding philosophy.
• Trinity Forest, which was recently awarded Golf Digest’s 2018 Green Star award for outstanding environmental practices, is the “first golf course in the nation to be grassed wall-to-wall (except on the greens) with a newly-bred, fine-textured, dwarf variety of Zoysiagrass formerly known as L1F.” As a result, the grass was renamed Trinity Zoysia by its developer, David Doguet of Bladerunner Farms.

A look back at the 2017 AT&T Byron Nelson

• At the 2017 AT&T Byron Nelson, Billy Horschel birdied two of his final five holes of regulation to shoot a final-round 69 and match Jason Day at 12-under 268.
• He holed a 60-foot putt for birdie at No. 14 and two-putted the par-5 16th for birdie to earn the spot in the 21st playoff in tournament history.
• Horschel then won at the first hole of sudden death after making a regulation par and watching Day three-putt for bogey.
• The victory was the fourth of the 2014 FedExCup champion’s career: 2013 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, 2014 BMW Championship, 2014 TOUR Championship, 2017 AT&T Byron Nelson.
• He has since added a fifth victory, teaming with Scott Piercy to win the 2018 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

2017 Final-Round Leaderboard

1          Billy Horschel                 68-65-66-69—268 (-12)*
2          Jason Day                     68-69-63-68—268 (-12)
3          James Hahn                  64-70-64-71—269 (-11)
4          Jason Kokrak                 66-62-72-70—270 (-10)

*Won playoff with par at first extra hole

More on Billy Horschel and the AT&T Byron Nelson

• Horschel will attempt to become the first repeat AT&T Byron Nelson winner since Tom Watson (1978-80).
• The 2017 victory came in Horschel’s 166th TOUR start at the age of 30 years, 5 months and 14 days.
• Horschel won in his third start at the AT&T Byron Nelson, with missed cuts in his previous two starts (2011, 2012) at TPC Four Seasons Resort.

2015 FedExCup champion and AT&T Ambassador Jordan Spieth

• Dallas native and 2015 FedExCup champion returns to the event where he made his PGA TOUR debut at the age of 16 in 2010, finishing T16. The 24-year-old will be playing the AT&T Byron Nelson for the eighth time (T16-2010, T32-2011, T68-2013, T37-2014, T30-2015, T18-2016, MC-2017).
• Here’s a look at a few of his career highlights:
  • Youngest winner of the FedExCup and of the TOUR Championship (22 years, 2 months).
  • Owns 11 TOUR wins: 2013 John Deere Classic, 2015 Valspar Championship, 2015 Masters, 2015 U.S. Open, 2015 John Deere Classic, 2015 TOUR Championship, 2016 Sentry Tournament of Champions, 2016 Fort Worth Invitational, 2017 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, 2017 Travelers Championship, 2017 Open Championship
  • Most wins on TOUR by a player 22 and younger: Horton Smith (14), Jordan Spieth (8), Tiger Woods (7)
  • With his win at the 2013 John Deere Classic, became youngest PGA TOUR winner since 1931, winning less than two weeks before his 20th birthday.

FedExCup and the AT&T Byron Nelson

• Field includes the following FedExCup champions: Bill Haas (2011), Brandt Snedeker (2012), Billy Horschel (2014), Jordan Spieth (2015).
• Two of top 30 in the FedExCup: Scott Piercy (28), Jordan Spieth (30)
• Six of the 11 winners of the AT&T Byron Nelson in the FedExCup era since 2007 have qualified for the season- ending TOUR Championship. Most recently, 2017 champion Billy Horschel missed out on advancing to East Lake with a 42nd-place finish in the FedExCup standings.

A glance at the field

• Six of the top 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking: Jordan Spieth (3), Hideki Matsuyama (9), Sergio Garcia (14), Marc Leishman (16), Matt Kuchar (22), Satoshi Kodaira (29).
• Eight AT&T Byron Nelson champions (nine wins): Billy Horschel (2017), Sergio Garcia (2016, 2004), Steven Bowditch (2015), Brendon Todd (2014), Samgmoon Bae (2013), Rory Sabbatini (2009), Adam Scott (2008), Ernie Els (1995).
• Five players with 10 or more PGA TOUR victories: Ernie Els (19), Adam Scott (13), David Duval (13), Jordan Spieth (11), Sergio Garcia (10).
• Sponsor Exemptions: Noah Goodwin, Maverick McNealy, Joaquin Niemann, Carl Pettersson, John Rollins, D.J. Trahan, Will Zalatoris.

Additional Player Notes

• Sergio Garcia will make his 14th start at the AT&T Byron Nelson, highlighted by wins in 2004 and 2016 and a T3 finish in his first start as a professional in the United States in 1999.
• Matt Kuchar has yet to miss a cut in 10 starts at the AT&T Byron Nelson, with four top-10 finishes (T39-2007, T42-2008, T39-2009, T6-2011, T15-2012, T33-2013, T7-2014, T39-2015, 3-2016, T9-2017).
• Dallas resident Ryan Palmer is scheduled to make his 15th consecutive start at the AT&T Byron Nelson, dating to 2004. He missed the cut in six of his first seven starts (T73-2006) and has since finished runner-up (2011), T9 (2012), T33 (2013), T22 (2014), T10 (2015), MC (2016) and T27 (2017).
• 13-time PGA TOUR winner Adam Scott will return to the AT&T Byron Nelson for the first time since missing the cut in 2012. Highlighted by his win in 2008, this will mark his fifth start at the event (MC-2012, MC-2009, 1-2008, T3-2006).

Miscellaneous AT&T Byron Nelson Notes

• 11 players have claimed their first TOUR win at the AT&T Byron Nelson: Johnny Pott (1960), Charles Coody (1964), Mark Hayes (1976), Neal Lancaster (1994), Robert Damron (2001), Ted Purdy (2005), Brett Wetterich (2006), Jason Day (2010), Keegan Bradley (2011), Sangmoon Bae (2013), Brendon Todd (2014).
• Only two players have won the event in wire-to-wire fashion (no ties) – Mark Hayes/1976 and Tom Watson/1980. (Note: Complete first-round scores are not available for the inaugural event in 1944, won by Byron Nelson). Steven Bowditch, in 2015, is the most recent champion to hold at least a share of the lead each round.
• Dating to 2000, there have been 10 international winners, with Sergio Garcia performing the feat twice (2000- Jesper Parnevik, 2002-Shigeki Maruyama, 2003-Vijay Singh, 2004-Sergio Garcia, 2008-Adam Scott, 2009-Rory Sabbatini, 2010-Jason Day, 2013-Sangmoon Bae, 2015-Steven Bowditch, 2016-Garcia).
• The 54-hole leader/co-leader has won four times in the last 10 years at the AT&T Byron Nelson (Adam Scott/2008, Jason Dufner/2012, Brendon Todd/2014, Steven Bowditch/2015).

 “ DFW Double”

• Ben Hogan, in 1946, is the only player to win the AT&T Byron Nelson and Fort Worth Invitational in the same year. No player has performed the feat in back-to-back weeks.
• Fifteen players have won the “DFW Double” during their careers: Ben Crenshaw, Roberto De Vicenzo, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Bruce Devlin, Jack Nicklaus, Lanny Wadkins, Tom Watson, Bruce Lietzke, Nick Price, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Rory Sabbatini, Julius Boros and Adam Scott.

Third Event of the Traditional Four-Leg Texas Swing

• The AT&T Byron Nelson is the third of four legs of the traditional Texas Swing (not counting the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play) on the PGA TOUR, with Ian Poulter winning the Houston Open and Andrew Landry winning the Valero Texas Open.
• Adam Scott is the only player to win the Texas Grand Slam (2007 Houston Open, 2008 AT&T Byron Nelson, 2009 Valero Texas Open, 2014 Fort Worth Invitational). A number of other players, many of them Hall of Famers, have won three titles.
• Here are the players who have won three of the four events along with the missing link:

 

Player	Missing Tournament Victory
Bruce Crampton	AT&T Byron Nelson
Ben Crenshaw	Houston Open
Roberto De Vicenzo	Valero Texas Open
Bruce Devlin	Valero Texas Open
Ben Hogan	Houston Open
Gene Littler	AT&T Byron Nelson
Phil Mickelson	Valero Texas Open
Byron Nelson	Fort Worth Invitational
Corey Pavin	AT&T Byron Nelson
Arnold Palmer	AT&T Byron Nelson
Nick Price	Houston Open
Sam Snead	Houston Open
Mike Souchak	AT&T Byron Nelson

 

Remembering Byron Nelson

• The AT&T Byron Nelson celebrates the life and legacy of Byron Nelson. Above and beyond his accomplishments on the golf course, Nelson (who passed away in 2006) is universally regarded as one of the game’s most respected and revered individuals.
• Nelson reached the pinnacle of his golfing career in 1945, winning 18 tournaments, including a record 11- tournament winning streak that will likely stand the test of time.
• Throughout his relatively brief career, he won 54 times, including the 1939 U.S. Open, 1937 and 1942 Masters Tournaments, and the 1940 and 1945 PGA Championships.

The AT&T Byron Nelson i s on e of t h e T O UR’s lon g est -running events

• The AT&T Byron Nelson, the first PGA TOUR event to be named in honor of a professional golfer, has one of the richest golf traditions in the game.
• The tournament has been conducting TOUR events since 1944, making the event the TOUR’s ninth-oldest (see chart below).
• The only breaks came in 1947-55, 1963 and 1965.
• The inaugural tournament in 1944 was played at Lakewood Country Club, with Byron Nelson recording a phenomenal 10-stroke win over his nearest challenger Harold “Jud” McSpaden. Nelson’s victory that year was the beginning of a two-year stretch in which the Hall of Famer won 26 tournaments, including the amazing streak of 11 straight wins in 1945.

 

Rank	Event	Established
1.	BMW Championship	1899
2.	RBC Canadian Open	1904
3.	Valero Texas Open	1922
4.	Genesis Open	1926
5.	Waste Management Phoenix Open	1935
6.	AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am	1937
7.	Wyndham Championship	1938
	Zurich Classic of New Orleans	1938
9.	AT&T Byron Nelson	1944
10.	Fort Worth Invitational	1946
	Houston Open	1946

 

Charity

• With the PGA TOUR having well surpassed the $2 billion mark in charitable giving, the AT&T Byron Nelson has been a leader in that effort of giving back to communities.
• Salesmanship Club Charitable Golf of Dallas, host organization of the AT&T Byron Nelson, announced last August that the 2017 event raised a record $6.8 million, with the proceeds benefitting the Momentous Institute, the nonprofit owned and operated by the Salesmanship Club of Dallas. S
• ince its start in 1968, the tournament has raise $155 million and transformed 100,000 lives.