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Although the PGA Tour has moved away from its longtime slogan, "These Guys Are Good," it still perfectly describes the golfers who compete on the biggest stage in the sport.

That includes many of those the casual fan has probably never heard of before.

Case-in-point: Aaron Wise at last week's Wells Fargo Championship.

You can be forgiven if you've never heard of the 21-year-old, who was born in South Africa but now calls Las Vegas his home, as he's played in just 25 PGA Tour events. However, Wise nearly found the winner's circle Sunday at Wells Fargo in Charlotte, N.C., finishing just two shots back of eventual champion Jason Day.

It was his best-ever PGA Tour result, and thanks to three top-20 finishes, he's already earned more than $1.1 million in his rookie campaign.

Wise is just two seasons removed from winning on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada. He played a season in the developmental tour north of the American border after winning an individual and team title for Oregon at the NCAA championship.

He decided to pass on his final two years at Oregon since he already had Mackenzie Tour status, and after earning a Web.com Tour card thanks to his finish in Canada, he went on to win on the Web.com Tour the following year, earning his PGA Tour card after just one season.

He's climbing the ladder the way the PGA envisioned when it imagined this developmental Tour structure - not unlike minor-league baseball's system -versus the flash-in-the-pan brilliance of someone like Jordan Spieth.

However, at just 21, he's still got years to go in his professional career.

And, he's far from the only one who's making a splash on the PGA Tour in their first full season.

Here are four more rookies to watch for the balance of the PGA Tour season - names you won't be wondering about for much longer when they start repeatedly showing up on leaderboards.

Austin Cook

When Austin Cook was 24, he had no PGA Tour status - but that didn't stop him from still testing his mettle against the best in the world.

He "Monday qualified" into the Shell Houston Open and finished T11 that April after playing with Phil Mickelson in the third round. By the time the summer rolled around, he had qualified for a handful of events - including the Barbasol Championship where he finished T6. The result got him into the following week's RBC Canadian Open, where he finished T7.

Cook would spend the next two years on the Web.com Tour honing his craft, but after finishing 15th on the Web.com Tour money list in 2017 (he finished in the top 25 a respectable 15 times that season) he would earn PGA Tour status for the first time.

He won The RSM Classic last November, in just his fourth start as a full-fledged PGA Tour member, and made his Masters debut in April.

He's the leading contender for Rookie of the Year thanks to his victory and sits 103rd in the Official World Golf Ranking. He'll be in the field this week at The Players Championship.

Peter Uihlein

As Peter Uihlein was growing up, he was more famous for his last name in golf circles versus his full name and his accomplishments.

Uihlein, whose father Wally is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Acushnet Company (the parent company to well-known golf brands Titleist and FootJoy), broke through a year ago to win on the Web.com Tour and earned his PGA Tour card through the Web.com Tour Finals (a series of four tournaments where the Top 25 money-earners earn status on the PGA Tour for the following season).

He spent a few years on the European Tour - winning once, in 2013 - before coming back across the pond to the U.S., which is why his name isn't as familiar to golf fans as you'd think.

Uihlein has three top-10 finishes so far this season, including two T5 results, and is 55th in the Official World Golf Ranking, the second highest of any PGA Tour rookie.

Brandon Harkins

Longtime friend and fellow PGA Tour member Joel Dahmen was always left wondering why Harkins wasn't better. This year on Tour, Harkins has proved he belonged - even getting paired with Tiger Woods on Sunday at the Wells Fargo Championship.

Harkins, 31, earned his PGA Tour card via the Web.com Tour a year ago, and has been the steadiest rookie so far, making 13 cuts out of 18 events and notching seven top-25 finishes.

He sits fourth in the PGA Tour's Rookie Ranking and will be in the field at this week's Players Championship.

Keith Mitchell

If you find yourself at a PGA Tour event and are perusing the groups that may not include the biggest of names, find yourself when Keith Mitchell is teeing off and go watch him hit a few drivers, because it's a sight to behold.

Mitchell, who sits ninth on Tour in Driving Distance, has long been known as a tremendous driver of the golf ball. However, over the last few seasons on the Web.com Tour the rest of his game has caught up with his ball-smashing ability.

His final-round scoring average of 69.55 is 13th on the PGA Tour, and those final-round performances have helped him notch two top-10 finishes so far this season. He's 76th in the FedEx Cup standings, and has essentially earned his PGA Tour card already for next year.

Mitchell's best finish is a runner-up at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship.

Adam Stanley has written about golf since 2011 for PGATOUR.com, LPGA.com, and the Canadian Press, among other organizations. He's also a frequent contributor to The Globe and Mail. Find him on Twitter @adam_stanley.

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)

3b:T1d99,

Although the PGA Tour has moved away from its longtime slogan, "These Guys Are Good," it still perfectly describes the golfers who compete on the biggest stage in the sport.

That includes many of those the casual fan has probably never heard of before.

Case-in-point: Aaron Wise at last week's Wells Fargo Championship.

However, at just 21, he's still got years to go in his professional career.

And, he's far from the only one who's making a splash on the PGA Tour in their first full season.

Here are four more rookies to watch for the balance of the PGA Tour season - names you won't be wondering about for much longer when they start repeatedly showing up on leaderboards.

Austin Cook

When Austin Cook was 24, he had no PGA Tour status - but that didn't stop him from still testing his mettle against the best in the world.

He won The RSM Classic last November, in just his fourth start as a full-fledged PGA Tour member, and made his Masters debut in April.

He's the leading contender for Rookie of the Year thanks to his victory and sits 103rd in the Official World Golf Ranking. He'll be in the field this week at The Players Championship.

Peter Uihlein

As Peter Uihlein was growing up, he was more famous for his last name in golf circles versus his full name and his accomplishments.

He spent a few years on the European Tour - winning once, in 2013 - before coming back across the pond to the U.S., which is why his name isn't as familiar to golf fans as you'd think.

Uihlein has three top-10 finishes so far this season, including two T5 results, and is 55th in the Official World Golf Ranking, the second highest of any PGA Tour rookie.

Brandon Harkins

Harkins, 31, earned his PGA Tour card via the Web.com Tour a year ago, and has been the steadiest rookie so far, making 13 cuts out of 18 events and notching seven top-25 finishes.

He sits fourth in the PGA Tour's Rookie Ranking and will be in the field at this week's Players Championship.

Keith Mitchell

Mitchell's best finish is a runner-up at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship.

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)

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Halfway through the 2017-18 PGA Tour season, it's time to hand out some (imaginary) hardware.

Just a week removed from the first major of the year, golfers have already competed for 22 weeks out of the 44 on the Tour schedule, producing a cornucopia of winners, storylines, and more.

Golf is the most unpredictable of games - the exact same course at the exact same time could be played totally differently just 24 hours later - and that unpredictability has been at the forefront this season.

With three majors still to come, we’ve already seen some great finishes, surprise victors, and big-time performances.

Here are nine awards recognizing the remarkable showings from the front nine of the PGA Tour season.

Player of the Year: Justin Thomas

Thomas carried his momentum from last season into 2017-18, notching a victory at his second event (The CJ Cup) thanks to a tournament-opening 63. He captured the Honda Classic in February for his second win of the year before losing in a playoff to Phil Mickelson the following week at the WGC-Mexico Championship. Thomas hasn’t missed a cut this year (and his worst finish is a T22), he leads the FedEx Cup standings, and he's already earned more than $5.2 million. Not bad.

Rookie of the Year: Austin Cook

Talk about starting your PGA Tour career with a bang. In just his fourth start as a full-fledged Tour member, Cook shot rounds of 66-62-66-67 to capture the RSM Classic by four shots. He sits 22nd in the FedEx Cup standings with six top-25 finishes, leads the rookie rankings, and is the only official PGA Tour rookie to notch a win (Satoshi Kodaira, who won the RBC Heritage on Sunday, is not yet an official member).

Comeback of the Year: Tiger Woods

Were you expecting someone else? Woods returned to play the Hero World Challenge in December to much fanfare, then made his PGA Tour debut at the Farmer’s Insurance Open in January, tying for 23rd. He missed the cut at his next event, but finished 12-T2-T5 in the following three starts. Considering Woods is just over a year removed from major spinal fusion surgery, that's an impressive run. He has committed to the U.S. Open in June and will likely play at least twice more before then. Tiger Woods is officially back playing golf, and it’s great to see.

Surprise of the Year: Patton Kizzire

The easy-going Alabama native has proven he’s got game - in 2015, he won twice on the Web.com Tour among 12 top-10 finishes en route to finishing first on the money list and earning Player of the Year honors - but he'd been tepid on the PGA Tour until last fall. Kizzire broke through with a win at the OHL Classic and followed that up with a victory at the Sony Open. He’s second in the FedEx Cup standings and has jumped almost 70 spots in the Official World Golf Ranking over the past 12 months.

Tournament of the Year: WGC-Mexico Championship

As Thomas looked for his second win in a row, ageless wonder Mickelson spoiled the party. Thomas dunked his approach shot from the fairway on the 72nd hole, but Mickelson played well enough to force a playoff with Thomas, 23 years his junior. Thomas couldn’t get up-and-down to tie the 47-year-old and Mickelson nabbed his first victory in five years, becoming the oldest winner of a World Golf Championship event.

Finish of the Year: Ian Poulter, Houston Open

The last 18 months have been a wild ride for Ian Poulter. The Englishman struggled, falling to 207th in the world and almost losing his PGA Tour card - saved only by an oversight in the calculation of FedEx Cup points he'd earned a year ago. He's rebounded in a big way in 2018, however, and provided the best finish we've seen this season at the Houston Open.

Poulter opened the tournament with a 73 and admitted he had his bags packed Friday, ready to head home. He then made 21 birdies from Friday onward and beat young American Beau Hossler in a playoff for his first victory since 2010. A week prior, Poulter had been incorrectly told that a certain result at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play would get him into the Masters. He went out and won in Houston to earn a spot in the Masters anyway thanks to the biggest comeback on the PGA Tour in 35 years.

Shot of the Year: Dustin Johnson

It was perhaps a tad hyperbolic for analyst Brandel Chamblee to call Johnson's near-ace on the 433-yard 12th hole at the Tournament of Champions the greatest shot of all time - but there's no doubt it was a stunner. Johnson knocked his drive within inches of a hole-in-one on a par 4. He went on to win the tournament by eight shots.

Win of the Year: Ted Potter Jr., Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Potter wasn’t supposed to be holding the trophy after the final 18 holes of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. But in golf, anything can happen, and it usually does. Potter was just one year removed from having to re-qualify for the PGA Tour via the Web.com Tour, and after he was paired with world No. 1 Dustin Johnson for Sunday, most people thought it was a foregone conclusion that Johnson would win the tournament for a third time.

Instead, Potter shot a 3-under-par 69 to Johnson’s even-par 72 for his second PGA Tour win. Other chasers included Mickelson and former world no. 1 Jason Day.

Loss of the Year: Jordan Spieth, The Masters

Spieth earns this award not because he tumbled down the leaderboard or had a massive Sunday collapse, but because he lost so gloriously at Augusta National with an 8-under-par 64 in the final round. He tied the lead after draining a 33-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th hole and getting to 14-under, then bogeyed the 72nd hole after clipping a tree branch with his tee shot to drop out of contention. Spieth mounted a Sunday charge unlike any ever seen at Augusta National, and proved once again to never bet against him at the Masters. He lost, but what a loss it was.

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)

3d:T244b,

Halfway through the 2017-18 PGA Tour season, it's time to hand out some (imaginary) hardware.

Just a week removed from the first major of the year, golfers have already competed for 22 weeks out of the 44 on the Tour schedule, producing a cornucopia of winners, storylines, and more.

With three majors still to come, we’ve already seen some great finishes, surprise victors, and big-time performances.

Here are nine awards recognizing the remarkable showings from the front nine of the PGA Tour season.

Player of the Year: Justin Thomas

Rookie of the Year: Austin Cook

Comeback of the Year: Tiger Woods

Surprise of the Year: Patton Kizzire

Tournament of the Year: WGC-Mexico Championship

Finish of the Year: Ian Poulter, Houston Open

Shot of the Year: Dustin Johnson

Win of the Year: Ted Potter Jr., Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Instead, Potter shot a 3-under-par 69 to Johnson’s even-par 72 for his second PGA Tour win. Other chasers included Mickelson and former world no. 1 Jason Day.

Loss of the Year: Jordan Spieth, The Masters

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) As powerful as positive thinking can be at the highest level of golf, even the best have a tendency to recall the worst.

Justin Thomas didn't hesitate when asked for the worst shot he ever hit. It also was fairly recent.

''The first shot I hit in the playoffs last year,'' Thomas said. ''That was the worst shot I ever hit in my life, hands down.''

In his first appearance since winning the PGA Championship, he hit a duck-hook that barely went more than 200 yards when it clanged out of the trees and into the fairway. Most players had a wedge to the green at Glen Oaks. Thomas had to smoke a 2-iron and somehow managed to make par.

That was televised. Still fresh in his mind was a shot from college when Alabama played at Isleworth.

''I get the chunks sometimes,'' Thomas said. ''I hit a drive in college, a drop-kick off the toe on No. 8. I'll never forget it. I was talking to one of our assistant coaches. I was trying to decide if I could carry it 305 to 310 yards over a bunker because we had a helping wind. I took a huge divot. It landed like 15 yards in front of me and rolled down the hill. The coach looked over at me and was laughing. I said, `Coach, did that cover the bunker?'''

Dustin Johnson also went back to college.

''For some reason ... I won the tournament, but we were at Duke in college. It was the Duke Invitational,'' Johnson said. ''I was in the right side of the fairway at No. 1 after making the turn, and I hoseled a 5-iron into the trees.''

Does he remember his good shots as easily?

''Probably not,'' Johnson said. ''But I've hit a lot of good ones.''

Jordan Spieth didn't have to think hard when asked his worst shot of last year. He had a five-shot lead at the Northern Trust last year when he hit 8-iron into the water on the par-3 sixth. He wound up losing in a playoff to Johnson.

Was it a bad shot or bad timing? It only missed clearing the water by about a foot.

''It was a situation where I hit a club that was way too aggressive when I could have taken more and just faded it in,'' Spieth said. ''When I look back at last year, if I want one mulligan, that was my mulligan from last year.''

So the tee shot on the 13th hole at Royal Birkdale, so far right that he took a penalty drop on the practice range, maybe wasn't all that bad. Spieth laughed at the memory, pointing out (again) that there was water on the face of his driver, and it hit a spectator that sent it even farther to the right.

''It wasn't THAT bad,'' he said.

He said he had forgotten about the tee shot at the British Open when asked for his worst shot of last year, and then explained why.

''I'll never take back a shot at a tournament I won,'' he said.

---

GOLF AND HOOPS: The issue is not new with CBS broadcasts of the PGA Tour during the West Coast Swing, but it was brought to the surface Saturday when the Kentucky-Missouri basketball game stretched deep into the start of the third round at the Phoenix Open.

Golf fans could have streamed the action live on CBS' website. But if TV was their only option, they had to wait.

What helped on Sunday was that when another basketball game went longer than two hours, CBS allowed Golf Channel to simulcast the final round. That lasted just over six minutes until the game ended.

There has been a little progress.

CBS for years had a 30-minute gap from when Golf Channel ended its weekend coverage and CBS took over. That was to allow time to switch announcers and graphics. This year, the gap has been shortened to 15 minutes.

Also, CBS pushed back its Saturday coverage of the PGA Tour on the West Coast one hour so that it comes on from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. EST, instead of 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. That should have allowed for more leeway, except that the network also added an extra NCAA basketball game. And while there was a clock malfunction during the second basketball game that made it last even longer, it's becoming clear with close games and timeouts that college games rarely fit into a two-hour window.

The solution going forward might be for CBS, even though it streams the golf live, to allow Golf Channel to simulcast tournament coverage until basketball is over.

That might not be an option this weekend, however. Golf Channel's coverage Saturday from Pebble ends at 3:30 p.m., and then it goes to a PGA Tour Champions event.

---

MASTERS FIELD: Austin Cook earned a spot in the Masters by winning the final PGA Tour event of 2017. In the five PGA Tour events to start the new year, no one has been added to the field at Augusta National because all the winners already were exempt.

That leaves the field at 81 players.

At this rate, this could be the smallest field at the Masters in some two decades.

There's plenty of golf left - eight PGA Tour events that offer an invitation to the winner. Players also have until March 25 to get into the top 50 in the world. From this week's ranking, only two players - Satoshi Kodaira (37) and Dylan Frittelli (47) are not already exempt.

The next highest-ranked player not in the field is Cameron Smith at No. 57.

---

THE BATTLE FOR NO. 1: Dustin Johnson is two weeks away from rare territory in the world ranking.

Since the ranking began in 1986, only four players have gone an entire year at No. 1 - Greg Norman, Nick Faldo, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Woods twice held the top spot for more than five consecutive years.

Johnson reached No. 1 after winning at Riviera, where he defends his title next week.

Jon Rahm is the only one who can stop him. Rahm had a chance to reach No. 1 by winning at Torrey Pines two weeks ago, and he was in position until a 75-77 weekend. He could not have reached No. 1 last week in Phoenix (where he tied for 11th), but he has a mathematical chance if he were to win at Pebble Beach.

Johnson doesn't seem concerned, perhaps because he doesn't seem concerned about anything. He won at Kapalua and tied for ninth at Abu Dhabi. He has not played the last two weeks, and now is playing three of the next four.

''If I keep playing well and keep winning then, no, I'm going to stay No. 1,'' Johnson said. ''If I don't play well, there's a lot of really good players that are playing really well right now. So it's going to be tough for me to keep it. But if I keep playing like I am and how I should, then, yeah, I'll be there at the end of the year.''

---

DIVOTS: Michael Jordan has selected Bobby Weed Golf Design for the private golf course he is building in Hobe Sound, Florida, called Grove XXIII. The golf course is scheduled to be ready in 2019. ... Former PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem is in the field this week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. ... Mark Newell was elected to a one-year term as USGA president at the annual meeting last weekend in Miami. He succeeds Diana Murphy. ... The Canadian Golf Hall of Fame inductees for 2018 are LPGA player Gail Graham and the late A.V. Macan, a golf course architect.

---

STAT OF THE WEEK: The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am has at least one major champion from every year starting with 2000 through 2017.

---

FINAL WORD: ''It's time to move on. Nobody cares this week - I can guarantee you - that I won last week.'' - Phoenix Open winner Gary Woodland.

3f:T1d84,

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) As powerful as positive thinking can be at the highest level of golf, even the best have a tendency to recall the worst.

Justin Thomas didn't hesitate when asked for the worst shot he ever hit. It also was fairly recent.

''The first shot I hit in the playoffs last year,'' Thomas said. ''That was the worst shot I ever hit in my life, hands down.''

That was televised. Still fresh in his mind was a shot from college when Alabama played at Isleworth.

Dustin Johnson also went back to college.

Does he remember his good shots as easily?

''Probably not,'' Johnson said. ''But I've hit a lot of good ones.''

Was it a bad shot or bad timing? It only missed clearing the water by about a foot.

''It wasn't THAT bad,'' he said.

He said he had forgotten about the tee shot at the British Open when asked for his worst shot of last year, and then explained why.

''I'll never take back a shot at a tournament I won,'' he said.

---

Golf fans could have streamed the action live on CBS' website. But if TV was their only option, they had to wait.

What helped on Sunday was that when another basketball game went longer than two hours, CBS allowed Golf Channel to simulcast the final round. That lasted just over six minutes until the game ended.

There has been a little progress.

The solution going forward might be for CBS, even though it streams the golf live, to allow Golf Channel to simulcast tournament coverage until basketball is over.

That might not be an option this weekend, however. Golf Channel's coverage Saturday from Pebble ends at 3:30 p.m., and then it goes to a PGA Tour Champions event.

---

That leaves the field at 81 players.

At this rate, this could be the smallest field at the Masters in some two decades.

The next highest-ranked player not in the field is Cameron Smith at No. 57.

---

THE BATTLE FOR NO. 1: Dustin Johnson is two weeks away from rare territory in the world ranking.

Johnson reached No. 1 after winning at Riviera, where he defends his title next week.

---

STAT OF THE WEEK: The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am has at least one major champion from every year starting with 2000 through 2017.

---

FINAL WORD: ''It's time to move on. Nobody cares this week - I can guarantee you - that I won last week.'' - Phoenix Open winner Gary Woodland.

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PGA Notes: The worst shots can be easier to recall than the good ones