WEEDSPORT, N.Y. — It’s a simple fact that the best big-block modified racers in the world congregate every October during NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week at Oswego Speedway to celebrate the sport and its fans.

This year is no exception, with the 48th annual Super DIRTcar Series Billy Whittaker Cars 200 set to cap off the thrilling event on Sunday, Oct. 13.

Thanks to several events on the Super DIRTcar Series tour, seven drivers have locked in their position for the 200-lap finale, with two more guaranteed starts still up for grabs.

All Super DIRTcar Series races paying $10,000 or more to the winner come with a guaranteed starting spot at NAPA Super DIRT Week XLVIII.

Eight-time Super DIRTcar Series champion Matt Sheppard wasted no time in obtaining his guarantee. Sheppard opened the season at Can-Am Speedway with a roof dance in La Fargeville, N.Y., ahead of Mat Williamson and Billy Dunn.

Sheppard, the only driver to win Sportsman, 358 Modified and Big Block features during NAPA Super DIRT Week, is seeking his third Billy Whittaker Cars 200 crown.

Next up was Ontario’s Stewart Friesen, who took the checkered flag in The Big Show XI at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

The No. 44 crossed the finish line first in dramatic fashion, as he nipped legendary driver and Big Show promoter Brett Hearn in the final laps.

Friesen is attempting to tie Hearn’s mark of six wins in the sport’s most prestigious event.

The North Country’s first qualifier took place at Plattsburgh Airborne Speedway, where Lightning Larry Wight rode the rim to Victory Lane. Wight returns to Oswego Speedway as the defending NAPA Super DIRT Week Champion.

Will Wight repeat and go back-to-back? Since the event shifted to Oswego in 2016, there has yet to be a repeat winner.

Weedsport Speedway’s Hall of Fame 100 saw Series rivals Sheppard and Ransomville Speedway track champion Erick Rudolph go head-to-head for the win.

Sheppard bested Rudolph, but since Sheppard already had a guaranteed start, Rudolph became the recipient.

The next qualifier took place on the famous high-banked half-mile Eldora Speedway in Ohio. The series put on a fantastic show in front of a tremendous crowd with Rudolph driving to the win.

Billy Decker was on Rudolph’s tail across the finish line and gladly accepted the guaranteed start for himself and his Gypsum Racing team.

At the Orange County Fair Speedway, 69 drivers entered the $10,000-to-win Battle on the Midway 100 to kick off the speedway’s centennial celebration.

Sheppard took his No. 9s to the front once again, but rookie racer Ryan Godown finished a career-best runner-up and secured his berth in the Billy Whittaker Cars 200.

For the 14th time in his career, Kenny Tremont Jr. was crowned Lebanon Valley Speedway’s track champion. He capped off the season with a $25,500 check and his sixth Mr. DIRT Track USA title. Tremont is looking to ride that wave of momentum into Oswego.

Fulton and Brewerton Speedway regular Jason Occhino and his red No. 33 have the distinction of being the first driver to enter NAPA Super DIRT Week XLVIII in the big-block modified division.

He’s a dark horse in the 200, but is well worth keeping an eye on.

Alan Johnson, a living legend of dirt track racing in the Northeast, will once again make an attempt to take home the $50,000 grand prize in Oswego.

Johnson calls Land of Legends Raceway his home and finished third in track points, behind two of the best going right now in Sheppard and Rudolph. Johnson is a three-time winner in NAPA Super DIRT Week’s premier race, but he hasn’t won it since 2003.

Former NAPA Super DIRT Week Champion Billy Dunn is poised for another massive win. This time he’ll go for gold in the Graham Racing No. 49 Teo Pro Car. Dunn thrilled the massive crowd at Syracuse in 2013 for his lone NAPA Super DIRT Week 200-lap victory.

Then there’s Hearn and his 900-plus wins from Sussex, N.J. His six NAPA Super DIRT Week wins in the 200 remains untouched.

Hearn took the Orange County Fair Speedway  hampionship this year. Now he looks to add another $50,000 NAPA Super DIRT Week payday to the record books.

The old adage says it’s not how you start that matters but rather how you finish. In drag racing, though, a smart start does matter as it’s a key factor in how the pass ends.

Tommy Johnson Jr., experienced in both an NHRA Top Fuel dragster and a Funny Car, and Hector Arana Jr., a 15-time winner and perennial Pro Stock Motorcycle title contender, understand that. Here’s how they explain their starting-line routines.

Johnson said of his Funny Car paces, “Once (the engine) rolls over and they pull the wire, I put the fuel on. And from then on, it’s in their hands. We don’t have any instruments in the car. The gauges are up front, where the crew can see them. They set the fuel pressure, idle, everything. Once the body goes down, you do the burnout.

“Once I do a burnout and stop the car, the crew member will push on the (injector) blades to make sure the idle is back to normal. Sometimes if it’s idling too high, you can’t get it in reverse,” he continued. “My crew chief will flip up the hatch to let the smoke out. Then I start rolling back. I try to keep as much heat out of the clutch as I can.

“I’ll get it rolling and push the clutch pedal back in and bump it every now and then to keep a certain speed and watch where he wants me. (The backup person is) watching the guy behind the car. The crew chief will mark the track with chalk where he wants the rear tire. So he’s guiding me back to put the tire on that spot. They stop me and I put it in forward,” Johnson explained.

“Then they raise the body. Once the body goes up, I don’t do a lot. I watch to make sure they take the throttle stop off from the burnout. I look at the Christmas tree and look down the track. There’s somebody standing in front of me, so I can’t see straight down the track. When he nods and they pull the dash that has all the gauges out of there, it’s time for the body to come back down,” he said. “Once the body goes down, they roll me forward before they line me up. I take deep breaths. My crew chief reaches down and turns the idle screw, then it’s time to focus and roll it into the beams.”

Johnson says it’s key not to overthink the process.

“The less brainpower you can use on the starting line, the better off you’ll be,” he said. “The more thoughts in your head, the slower you’ll be. You need to be thinking about only one thing. You’re never going to think about only one thing, but you can think about three instead of six.”

It’s almost show time.

“Once they pull the wires on the starting line, I never hear a word,” Johnson explained. “I couldn’t tell you if there’s anybody in the stands. I couldn’t tell you the difference between a test run at the track on Monday with nobody there versus a packed grandstand. If you’re looking in the grandstands, you’re looking in the wrong place. You don’t have time to be looking up there.”

To continue reading, advance to the next page.

MONTEREY, Calif. – With two races yet to run in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, Action Express Racing is focused on defending its IMSA driver and team championships, as well as earning a sixth Michelin Endurance Cup title.

But the team is also looking ahead to the future, and as such has confirmed that Whelen Engineering will return as the title sponsor of the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R for the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

The iconic red and white Whelen Cadillac will be driven by drivers Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani for the full IMSA campaign in 2020, which will once again launch with the Rolex 24 at Daytona on Jan. 25-26.

Whelen Engineering first partnered with the team in 2015, taking victories at Detroit and Road America to set the stage for the team’s run to the 2016 IMSA Prototype title.

The Whelen Engineering team claimed a second IMSA Prototype title, as well as its first Michelin Endurance Cup, in 2018.

Nasr and Derani enter the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca event weekend second in the IMSA Prototype championship standings, having won this year’s Sebring 12 Hour and scored podiums in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Detroit Grand Prix.

“We’ve worked really hard to have a strong team, and being able to build on what we’ve learned each year is very important so I’m pleased to have Pipo and Felipe return to race for us again next year,” said Action Express Racing Team Manager Gary Nelson. “We plan to have a lot of familiar faces in our pit box and in the garage again next season.

“Chris Mitchum, Director of Operations; Iain Watt, Technical Director; Tim Keene, Performance Coordinator; and Bill Keuler, crew chief; along with many others, will continue in their current roles.”

Action Express Racing is working to finalize the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R driver roster for the Michelin Endurance Cup events at Daytona Int’l Speedway, Sebring Int’l Raceway, Watkins Glen Int’l, and season-ending Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

“Action Express is happy that we have been able to announce our 2020 plans for our Whelen Engineering No. 31, with Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani as full time drivers,” said team owner Bob Johnson. “We are still working on the 2020 plans for the No. 5 car but the 2020 sponsorship package is not yet complete.

“We expect to make an announcement with final details soon.”

The New Jersey Devils re-signed restricted free agent Pavel Zacha to a three-year, $6.75 million contract after chatter the center might sign to play in the KHL instead.

"We are happy to have finalized this three-year agreement as Pavel is an important part of our team," Devils general manager Ray Shero said in a statement. "He has established himself as someone who can play in any situation and we are looking forward to his continued growth as a player."

Shero had told The Associated Press that Zacha's agent had raised the possibility in a recent conversation that his client might sign to play in the KHL.

Shero told the AP that playing in the KHL was "not the advice I would give him,'' adding that "it's a long way back to the NHL'' if Zacha had decided to play in Russia.

Zacha, a 22-year-old native of the Czech Republic, scored a career-best 13 goals last season, his third with the Devils, and also tied his best points total with 25.

P.K. Subban doesn't want to give advice to all the unsigned young players around the NHL. He just vividly remembers his own experience as a restricted free agent.

Before he signed a short, so-called "bridge" contract, he took some motherly advice.

"My mom picked up the phone and called me and said: 'P.K., listen, you're young still. You have lots of time. If you're ready to go and play, go play,'" Subban recalled. "And I went and played and won the Norris Trophy."

Almost a dozen prominent restricted free agents remain unsigned on the eve of training camps around the league, and several situations threaten to linger into the season, like Subban in 2013 and Toronto's William Nylander a year ago. Maple Leafs teammate Mitch Marner, Tampa Bay's Brayden Point, Philadelphia's Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny, Colorado's Mikko Rantanen, Boston's Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo, and Winnipeg's Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor could all be conspicuously absent when camps open this week.

"Everybody's waiting on somebody to make a move," Toronto center Auston Matthews said. "I'm surprised there's lots of guys. It's not just (Marner). You've got a lot of really good players that aren't signed yet. I guess everybody's just kind of playing the waiting game."

Dominoes could start to fall after Columbus signed restricted free agent defenseman Zach Werenski to a $15 million, three-year deal and New Jersey gave forward Pavel Zacha $6.75 million over three years. The salary cap is a concern: Toronto will have to use long-term injury allowance to get Marner under contract, Tampa Bay has less than $9 million in cap space for Point, Boston is roughly $7 million under with McAvoy and Carlo unsigned, and Winnipeg has $15 million for both Laine and Connor.

"Everybody's got room to do what they need to do," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. "You're not looking at situations where the restricted free agents haven't been made substantial offers. It's they and their agents want more. I respect that."

NHLPA executive director Don Fehr said he would like all those players to have the contracts they want but acknowledged, "That's not probably the world we live in."

The ongoing contract stalemates have sparked plenty of questions about the lack of rights for restricted free agents and the trend toward younger players wanting to cash in on their second contracts.

"The team has you in a certain situation where you have no rights, so you don't have much of a say," Boston defenseman Torey Krug said. "That's how it's set up. Those guys will make their big bucks later on or whatever. It's just how it works."

Krug said, "If you just look at the star power, it's potentially damaging to some teams" if they can't get their restricted free agents signed in time for the start of the season. Nylander missed the first two months last season when contract talks were at an impasse. Things could also drag out with Marner and others.

"Every player just wants a deal that they think that they deserve," Nylander said. "There's always going back and forth, and sometimes there's no talking at all. ... It's always a tough process. In the end it'll work out for both sides."

It didn't work out between Edmonton and restricted free-agent forward Jesse Puljujarvi, who took his talents back to Finland for the season. Zacha was in talks to play in the KHL before signing with the Devils on Tuesday.

The overseas route is far more common for European players but is often considered a last resort. If Laine plays anywhere but Winnipeg or Connor stays home, it affects everything for the Jets.

"Everyone wants them back," forward Nikolaj Ehlers said. "If we don't have those two guys for the whole season, which I don't think is going to happen, then it does change our team a little bit because then we've lost a lot of players. As of right now, I obviously see them coming back, hopefully coming to camp, but coming back to our team and then it's looking good."

The Bruins without McAvoy and Carlo and the Flyers without Provorov and Konecny are in a similar spot. Boston could be without half of its top four on defense.

"It doesn't bother us," goaltender Tuukka Rask said. "I think it's more for the general managers and coaches that you don't know what's going to happen."

Based on his own experience, Krug said, he thinks it can be a distraction not to have key players in camp. He also believes that what players are doing in their downtime matters.

"Are they still training, or are they sitting there pouting and wondering, 'When am I going to sign and when do I actually have to get serious and ramp things up?'" he said. "It's a different circumstance for all players. (But) once you show up, the contract's over with and you just start playing."

Whenever that happens to be.

GLENEAGLES, Scotland – When it comes to predicting who will win the 16th Solheim Cup, oddsmakers are favoring the visiting U.S. side considerably.

That info almost made Team Europe’s Bronte Law fall out of her chair during Tuesday’s press conference at Gleneagles.

“I’d love to know who said that we weren’t the favorites,” she said. “But I think that’s interesting. We have our home-course advantage. I’d say we’ve seen the course before this week. We have a lot of players that are playing really good golf right now.

“So I'm not sure what sort of information they're getting.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Europeans were nearly 2/1 underdogs. Ladbrokes listed Europe at 9/5, the lowest odds across the betting board, and the U.S. at 8/15. William Hill has similar odds: Europe at 7/4; U.S. at 4/7. Unibet, 888sport and SpreadEx lean less toward the Americans, listing them at 4/6 with the Europeans at 6/4.

“As for the price, I think we're 2/1 outsiders, which I think is a good bet because I think our squad is really strong,” said European assistant captain Laura Davies. “The American team is incredibly good. But I think home soil, possibly a bit chillier, that evens it out a bit and hopefully our girls will step on – because it will come down to Sunday afternoon; it always does. And I think we've got the right players that can step up and do the job under the most extreme pressure. I think we've got a great chance.

“But they've got a great chance, too. That's why we're here, because no one actually knows.”

The U.S. leads the all-time Solheim Cup series, 10-5, and has won the past two editions. Europe has won both previous Cups in Scotland, in 1992 at Dalmahoy and in 2000 at Loch Lomond.

GLENEAGLES, Scotland – Stacy Lewis hurt her lower back at the Cambia Portland Classic in her last start nearly two weeks ago.

“It started bothering me there,” Lewis said Tuesday after withdrawing from the U.S. Solheim Cup team. “I had some tests and treatment last week, hoping it would go away, and it felt a little better for a while, but ...”

But Lewis knew her growing pain this week might jeopardize American chances, so she told U.S. captain Juli Inkster on Tuesday morning that she was out.

“I didn't want to have to make that decision, but it's what's best for the team,” Lewis said. “And what's best for me going forward, with my body.”

Ally McDonald, the first alternate, will step in and make her first Solheim Cup appearance. That gives Inkster a whopping six Solheim Cup rookies on her roster. That’s half her team. That’s the most rookies the Americans will field since the inaugural Solheim Cup in 1990.

McDonald just missed being one of the eight qualifiers who made the team on points, finishing ninth.

“Stacy's been very up front, very honest with me,” Inkster said. “She realizes it's a team event. She realizes we need 12 players. And she realizes also that Ally needs to get a feel for the golf course.”

Lewis called Inkster last Thursday to alert her there was an issue. Inkster immediately called McDonald, who was planning to wait until the middle of this week to make the trip to Scotland.

“I told Ally it was critical to get her butt here on Sunday with the rest of the team,” Inkster said.

Solheim Cup rules don’t permit an alternate to play the course. Lewis knew trying to play through the injury wouldn’t help the American cause.

“It’s just not fair to the teammates,” Lewis said. “I don’t want to put Juli and the girls in a situation where they’ve got 11 [players] on Sunday, because Sunday’s the most important day of the week.”

That happened in Ireland in 2011. Cristie Kerr started the week with wrist pain and tried to play through it. She ended up withdrawing Sunday morning, before singles play. The Americans conceded her match and a point and lost the cup, 15-13.

Lewis believes her injury may be musculature, but she isn’t sure. She has undergone a series of X-rays, MRIs and ultrasounds over the last week and doctors still aren’t certain what is causing her pain.

Lewis was born with scoliosis and underwent a complex surgery to remedy her issues coming out of high school, with doctors fixing a rod and five screws to her spine. Remarkably, she hasn’t missed a golf tournament because of back pain since college.

“When I'm walking around, it doesn't really hurt, but the rotation of the golf swing really just fires it up,” Lewis said of this new injury. “I think it's one of those things where it needs rest, more than anything.”

Inkster set Tuesday as the “drop-dead deadline” for Lewis to decide whether she could play.

“Because if Ally was going to have to play, she needed time to prepare,” Inkster said.

Lewis, who walked side by side with McDonald through most of Tuesday’s practice round, will stay the week, as a sort of unofficial assistant captain.

“I came in mentally prepared to step in as a player or even as a cheerleader,” McDonald said.

Update: 

Morgan Pressel tweeted that Angel Yin had been reunited with her clubs late on Tuesday. She tweeted a video of an elated Yin embracing her travel bag, which was lost over the weekend.

REUNITED!!! ? @angelyinlol @SolheimCupUSA pic.twitter.com/37GLItx7gK

— Morgan Pressel (@mpressel) September 10, 2019

Original story:

GLENEAGLES, Scotland – Angel Yin is already giving Team USA an early point at the Solheim Cup.

Each side began the week at Gleneagles with 12 players and 11 sets of golf clubs. Yin’s clubs failed to arrive with her on a connecting Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Edinburgh over the weekend, as did Jodi Ewart Shadoff's.

But while Ewart Shadoff was reunited with her sticks late Monday evening, Yin is still waiting.

“I’m currently the only one [without clubs], so I’ve won this race,” Yin said Tuesday afternoon. “This is a good sign for Team USA. Won this one. Victory. 1-0.”

Shadoff said her golf bag was among about 200 bags that were flown on a passenger-less flight from Dublin on Monday. When she got to the range Tuesday morning, she hugged her official Team Europe staff bag, which were now keeping her clubs safe.

“First time it’s happened with my clubs this year, and it just happened to be this week,” said Shadoff, who walked only the front nine Monday with loaner wedges from Ping. “Luckily, the weather was so bad yesterday that I didn’t really miss a whole lot. I was able to see the front nine and then played 18 today with my own clubs.”

Yin’s clubs were not on that bag-only flight from Dublin, though the 20-year-old has been informed that they could arrive Tuesday night. Yin, who is making her second Solheim Cup appearance this week, is preparing for the worst and staying shockingly calm.

While replicating her mixed bag is nearly impossible, Ping was able to build Yin, a powerful player who requires stiffer shafts, a set.

“If the clubs come, the clubs come,” said Yin, who also had her clubs lost at this year’s Evian Championship before receiving them in time for the event. “If not, I still have a set to go and play in the tournament.”

Yin has yet to practice with her replacement set, though, opting instead to walk the course Monday and Tuesday.

“When I get my clubs, I will be ready to go out and play a practice round, practice and do everything that I need to do to prepare for Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” Yin said.

Maybe she’ll get her socks by then, too. Yin’s personal suitcase was also lost in transit.

“I've been asking the staff, and staff has been giving me socks. It's nice,” Yin quipped. “I don't have to wash them every night in my sink with some soap.”

While Yin cracked jokes as way to keep her spirits up, U.S. captain Juli Inkster said deep down the situation has been hard on Yin.

“She wants to get out there. She's 20. She wants to be out there and be with her teammates,” Inkster said.

“It's a cluster, so I do feel for her because we've all been in that spot where we've lost our clubs.”

Nancy Lopez, one of the American assistants, recalled a story Tuesday where one year she flew to Springfield, Illinois, for an LPGA event and had accidentally left her gamers in her caddie’s motor home. Her caddie eventually arrived, but Lopez decided to use a new set and went on to win the tournament.

“I had a good experience with that,” Lopez said.

Yin and Ewart Shadoff are hoping for similar experiences this week, though obviously one will come at the expense of the other.

GLENEAGLES, Scotland – When Stacy Lewis notified U.S. Solheim Cup captain Juli Inkster last Thursday that her injured back might keep her from competing at Gleneagles, Inkster immediately picked up the phone and called Ally McDonald.

Inkster had already made the difficult decision to initially keep McDonald, the first player out in U.S. points, off the team and instead make her first alternate, but she also knew that the former Mississippi State standout was more than capable of stepping up if needed. She was pleased when McDonald agreed to fly to Scotland on Sunday instead of two days before the start of the event.

“She didn't hesitate,” Inkster said of McDonald. “She goes, ‘I'd love to go; I'd love to come. I know I'll be on more Solheim Cup's teams and I’d love to learn.’”

Added McDonald: “It was important to myself as well as everyone else to be here and be ready to go.”

McDonald, not allowed to practice as an alternate, walked with the team during Monday’s practice round, and after Lewis failed to get through the day without pain, McDonald was officially announced as Lewis’ replacement Tuesday morning – just in time for team photos, too.

“I came in mentally prepared to step in as a player or even as a cheerleader,” said McDonald, who will be one of six rookies on this year's U.S. team. “Obviously, I didn't want it this way, and hopefully Stacy gets better ASAP, but I'm excited to be part of the team and hopefully I can contribute a lot.”

McDonald, 26, was a two-time All-American in college and is now in her fourth season on the LPGA. She ranks 51^st in the Rolex Rankings and has eight top-25s this season, including a solo third at the ShopRite LPGA Classic and two top-10s in majors.

Her match-play experience is limited, though she did represent the U.S. at the 2014 Curtis Cup, going 2-0-2. She won her singles match against Annabel Dimmock, 4 and 3, and before that teamed with current Solheim Cupper Annie Park to beat Charlotte Thomas and current European Solheim Cupper Bronte Law, 4 and 3, in the opening fourball session.

She played Law, who went 7-4-1 in three Curtis Cups, twice that week, no losing either match.

“That's why I don't remember it,” Law said, stubbornly, when asked about those matches.

While Lewis’ experience will be missed (she was set to play in her fifth Solheim Cup), McDonald’s transition into this U.S. squad has been seamless. McDonald’s game and personality are similar to that of Lewis, which is why McDonald’s arrival didn’t force adjustments to Inkster’s pod system.

McDonald practiced Tuesday alongside Marina Alex, Angel Yin and veteran Morgan Pressel.

“Basically, I kind of just slid Ally right in there, and she's been great,” Inkster said. “So it actually hasn't been too much of a problem whatsoever.”

The only thing left is for McDonald to get her own nameplate on the range. She spent Tuesday afternoon hitting balls next to a sign bearing Lewis’ name.

Seventeen days after Rory McIlroy cashed in by winning the FedExCup, a new season begins at The Greenbrier.

That's nothing new.

A year ago, there were only 10 open days between the final putt in the Tour Championship (Tiger Woods) and the first shot of the next season (Nick Taylor). It was an even shorter turnaround when factoring in the Ryder Cup in France, which ended four days before the Safeway Open in California.

The biggest difference is the amount of golf in the fall - and the amount of streaming coverage.

''PGA Tour Live'' is adding weekday featured group coverage from seven tournaments in the fall, along with live streaming of featured matches all four days of the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in Australia.

It adds up to 140 extra hours of live content, bringing the total for subscribers to 1,100 hours over the new season. ''PGA Tour Live'' is available in the U.S. on NBC Sports Gold and Prime Video channels, and internationally on Discovery-owned Golf TV.

The other tournaments to get live streaming of featured groups are the Sanderson Farms Championship, the Safeway Open, the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas, the Houston Open and the RSM Classic at Sea Island.

There are 11 tournaments over 10 weeks in the fall portion of the PGA Tour schedule, which includes a new event in Bermuda held the same week as the World Golf Championships event in Shanghai. That also includes a three-week swing through Asia with limited fields and no cuts.

When the wraparound season began, there were six tournaments.

As for the value of the fall, six of the eight winners last fall reached the Tour Championship at East Lake.

SOLHEIM DATES

The PGA Tour ending its season before football has freed a popular date on the calendar for golf - the Solheim Cup.

Tickets have gone on sale for the next Solheim Cup in 2021 at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. It will be played Sept. 4-6, starting on a Saturday and ending on Labor Day for the first time.

Before the PGA Tour went to a more compact schedule - with only three FedExCup Playoff events - Labor Day was the final round of the playoff event outside Boston.

STRICKER LOOKS AHEAD

Steve Stricker used to have a short PGA Tour season even when it ended in late October. Even with a compact schedule, this one ended earlier than usual. He hasn't played since July 14, a sixth-place finish at Firestone in the Senior Players Championship.

Despite playing only nine events, he is No. 3 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings but still unsure how much he will play on the PGA Tour Champions the rest of the year. There is an elk hunting trip coming up in the fall.

Stricker also played seven times on the PGA Tour - his last appearance a tie for 22nd at the Memorial - and now the Ryder Cup captain is thinking about one more full season on the regular tour. He has taken his one-time exemption from being top 25 in career money on the PGA Tour. He is contemplating a tournament or two in the fall. And then next year figures to be plenty busy with the Ryder Cup.

''I'd like to get in those FedExCup Playoffs. Those looked pretty cool,'' Stricker said.

As a vice captain in the Presidents Cup in Australia, he is not likely to start next year with another long trip to Hawaii. But he figures to play more than seven times. And that includes two majors - the PGA Championship (as Ryder Cup captain) and the U.S. Open at Winged Foot from having won the Senior U.S. Open.

CELEBRATION OF THE KING

The King is gone but far from forgotten.

Arnold Palmer would have turned 90 on Tuesday, and his group of companies is celebrating with various activities from his hometown of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, to Orlando, Florida, and even the Empire State Building in New York.

It started with ceremonial tee shots at 7 a.m. from Bay Hill Club and Latrobe Country Club to commemorate the time he was born. Those hitting shots at 7 a.m. or throughout the day in his honor were encouraged to share video with the hashtag #LifeWellPlayed.

The colors from his signature umbrella logo - red, yellow, white and green - are being displayed on the 400-foot Ferris wheel in Orlando, while a choreographed display of 90 lit umbrellas will be at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.

Also at Bay Hill, 90 ticket packages were available that offer two passes to the Arnold Palmer Invitational for any day, along with a $50 gift card to a PGA Tour Superstore.

''My father's legacy is really one of inspiring people to do better and to look forward - he wasn't a fan of looking back, as he said - and so I'm thrilled to see his birthday used as an opportunity to do that, celebrating him and the impact he continues to make via the Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation,'' said his daughter, Amy Palmer Saunders, chairwoman of the Arnold Palmer companies and the Foundation.

The Empire State Building will be lit in his umbrella colors to cap off his birthday celebration. Palmer died Sept. 25, 2016, of complications from heart problems.

DIVOTS

PGA champions Davis Love III and Dave Marr II are among six people who will be inducted into the PGA of America Hall of Fame. Joining them in the Nov. 5 ceremony are Annika Sorenstam, LPGA co-founder Shirley Spork, former PGA of America President Derek Sprague and the late Karsten Solheim, who founded Ping Golf. The ceremony is part of the PGA's annual meeting in West Palm Beach, Florida. ... Viktor Hovland of Norway has received an exemption to play the BMW PGA Championship next week at Wentworth, the first event where European Tour members can earn Ryder Cup points. ... Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka have committed to play the Shriners Hospital for Children Open in Las Vegas on Oct. 3-6. For Mickelson, it will be his first appearance in the Las Vegas event since 2005. ... RSM and Davis Love III are expanding the ''RSM Birdies Fore Love'' charity program. The top three players who make the most birdies or better in the 11 fall events will earn $300,000, $150,000 and $50,000 for a children- or family-based charity of their choice. Players who record the most birdies or better from each tournament in the fall will get $50,000 for his charity. RSM and the Davis Love Foundation have generated more than $13 million for charities since the RSM Classic at Sea Island began in 2010.

STAT OF THE WEEK

The Americans have never won a Solheim Cup in Scotland, losing at Dalmahoy in 1992 and Loch Lomond in 2000.

FINAL WORD

''Everyone says we want a bit of rain for the Americans. No, we want beautiful weather so the galleries can get out there and enjoy themselves and just cheer us on and be the 13th man out there, because that's what the home-soil advantage gives you.'' - Laura Davies on the Solheim Cup in Scotland.