Living single at the TOUR Championship

ATLANTA – One is the loneliest number.

That’s especially true on the PGA TOUR, where if you’re playing as a single then you’re not just lonely but also most likely in last place. Congratulations.

The season-ending TOUR Championship at East Lake was a 30-man affair, but Will Zalatoris withdrew with two herniated discs in his back, making it 29. That means every day will feature 14 twosomes and one onesome. Or a “single” if you prefer, like a yellow square of Kraft cheese.

“I’ve never gone out by myself on the PGA TOUR,” said FedExCup No. 24 Corey Conners, who played with Brian Harman in the first round Thursday, “and I hope to keep it that way.”

Not that he hasn’t played as a single elsewhere. At the 2015 PC Financial Open at Point Gray Golf & Country Club in Vancouver, Conners’ first PGA TOUR Canada start as a pro, he was sent off as a single in the third round.

“I was so bored I stopped after 10 holes and chatted with some good friends who were warming up on the range for a half hour,” said Conners, whose best result this season was a solo third at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. “It was a funny setup; the 10th green was right by the range. There was no one behind me – when I finished, the next group was on 12 – so it wasn’t like I was holding anybody up. It was kind of tough to find the rhythm. It was an unusual day.”

Aaron Wise, 30th in the FedExCup, went out solo Thursday and shot 65 in 3 hours, 11 minutes. That got him to 5 under par for the tournament, within sight of the lead, ensuring he won’t have to go it alone in the second round Friday.

“I felt a little weird starting off the round,” said Wise, who was winless this season but finished second at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday.

As far as he could remember, he added, he had never played by himself on the PGA TOUR. Still, despite needing a few holes to find a rhythm, he settled in nicely and made five birdies, no bogeys on a course softened by copious rain.

“Definitely pros and cons to it,” Wise said, “because you don't get to see anyone else's shots, you don't get to see anyone else's putts or anything like that. Luckily I was having a good day, and just kind of stayed in my groove and stayed to myself, and it worked out well.”

In the old days Wise would have been given the option to play with a marker, perhaps a young college hotshot or the club champion, but Chief Referee Gary Young said the PGA TOUR no longer uses markers and in fact moved away from that years ago.

On the bright side, playing as a single means no forced conversations, or conversations of any kind. And it means no complicated math to determine who is away. The Wise group, if you can call it that, was made up of him and his caddie, the walking scorer, and the standard-bearer. His girlfriend and two honorary observers also came along for the walk.

Michael Greller, who caddies for Jordan Spieth, said the only time they’ve played without anyone else was in the third round of the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, after Justin Rose withdrew with a back injury on the fourth hole. Spieth had aced the second hole and Rose said, “I felt bad with Jordan having momentum to sort of change the vibe of the group.” Undeterred, Spieth shot 68 but fell back with a Sunday 75 (T4).

“Everything speeds up,” Greller said. “There are no distractions, and it’s just you and the player, mano a mano.”

Billy Andrade, the Payne Stewart Award recipient, was in last place at the Masters one year when he was given the option to play by himself or go with an amateur who’d missed the cut.

“I said, ‘I’ll take the amateur kid,’” Andrade said. “It was Justin Leonard. He was pretty good.”

Another time, Andrade had missed the cut at the Greater Milwaukee Open and was at a Brewers game with Brad Faxon. In last place and due to play as a single the next day, Faxon asked if Andrade wanted to join him as a non-competing marker.

I said, ‘Sure, I need a practice round,’” Andrade said. “Well, we got out there and we had the standard bearer kid put a red ‘18’ by my name, and people started to flock to our group going, ‘Hey, this guy came out of nowhere and he’s tearing it up!’” Andrade laughed. “Well, I didn’t come out of nowhere; I came from a Brewers game.”

After shooting a third-round 85 at the 2015 Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, Tiger Woods played his first solo round on TOUR and shot 74. He finished in just under three hours and said he’d tried as hard in last place as he would in first.

Joaquin Niemann took a different approach. He was in last at the 2021 TOUR Championship, set to play the final round as a single, when he and caddie Gary Matthews emptied the bag. They brought three balls instead of nine; one glove; five tees; no umbrella. Niemann played in a tournament-record 1:53 and shot 72, prompting merriment, and running, amongst his fans.

Wise said he was curious how fast he could get around Thursday, but played for score, instead.

As for who would play as a single in the second round Friday, the honor will fall to Conners. He shot 74 and is three-over for the tournament, in last place.