PGA TOUR FIELDS MAY GO FROM WHO'S WHO TO WHO'S THAT?

Kim made up his three-shot deficit in three holes he missed a 4-foot birdie on the par-3 fourth) against Hayden Buckley, and then the final 30 minutes was good theater. Buckley made a 15-foot...

Activity on the practice range at Waialae used to be predictable. Instead of standing behind players to watch their swings, the more common move was to stand to the side and try to inconspicuously look at the front of the golf bag to see whose name was on it. Such was the case this year at the Sony Open, even though it was the 11th tournament of the PGA Tour's final wraparound season. It was the first time the tour went from an elevated event (Sentry Tournament of Champions with a $15 million purse) to a regular event (Sony Open at $7.9 million). And it might have the first glimpse of the PGA Tour's future. While 19 of the 38 players who finished at Kapalua made the 22-minute flight from Maui to Honolulu, no one was among the top 10 in the world ranking. The four players from the top 20 — Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, Billy Horschel, and Sungjae Im — all missed the cut. This is what the PGA Tour could look like going forward. Its response to the threat of Saudi-funded LIV Golf is a schedule that brings together the biggest names as often as possible. No telling what that does to the rest of the tournaments on the schedule.