There is always something special about the intersection of America’s pastime and America’s birthday, with baseball serving as the backdrop for many a gathering of friends and family.
It’s that wondrous time of the season when we’re running dry on short-listers but elated when at least one of the usual suspects the unburned is out there contributing to his FedExCup points total. Independence, indeed. What’s hilarious, although as good as an indictment on my disappointing effort in the long-term as any, is that 11 of the 15 golfers in my Power Rankings at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier are still on my board. Seriously think about that. We’re at event No. 36 and I’m swimming in possibilities. Only Tony Finau (No. 1), Webb Simpson (No. 2), Phil Mickelson (No. 6) and Brian Harman (No. 9) are unavailable. I don’t suspect that you’re in similar waters because many of the guys at my disposal would have made sense – and were recommended in this space – earlier this season. Finau lines up well everywhere. He among the MVPs of the bridges to whom we turn at various points when converging trends and horses for courses are in short supply. Look no further if you can plug him in now. The same can be said of Russell Henley, who captures the attention of my brethren. No doubt that’s in part due to the fact that Finau is no longer available to any of us. Elsewhere, even if defending champion Xander Schauffele was contending regularly – he’s been hot and cold in recent weeks – the advice is to let him go about his first experience in that role alone and appreciate how rapidly he’s risen on our radar as a go-to in just his second season with a PGA TOUR card. If the Wyndham Championship wasn’t on the horizon (in mid-August), Webb Simpson would look tantalizing right now. However, if you’re chasing, burn him now. Done. Ever since Jimmy Walker reconnected with the kind of form that we expect without the challenge of Lyme disease, he’s been inside my circle for The Old White TPC. His superb record on the course warrants enough confidence and faith, but that’s multiplied given subscribers to recency bias might be dissuaded by uninspiring results as the largest images in the side-view mirror. That slots him as the perfect hired gun for those of us in pursuit. Then there’s Charles Howell III. How is it early July and we’re still talking about him! He just turned 39, but he’s playing as if he’s given strokes to Father Time. He’s not included in Future Possibilities below only because it doesn’t include the first half of 2018-19. I joked last week that two-man gamers should burn him already if he’s “somehow still on your board,” but lo and behold, I haven’t turned to him in my one-man format. Glance at my performance and realize quickly that the joke is on me. Two-man gamers should target J.B. Holmes, Andrew Putnam and Joaquin Niemann. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2017-18. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Kevin Chappell … WGC-Bridgestone (2); Dell Technologies (3) Tony Finau … Greenbrier (2); Canadian (4) Bill Haas … Wyndham (2) Brian Harman … John Deere (3) Russell Henley … Greenbrier (2) J.B. Holmes … Greenbrier (5) Kevin Kisner … Wyndham (6) Phil Mickelson … Open Championship (5) Ryan Moore … John Deere (3); TOUR Championship (6) Kevin Na … John Deere (9); Wyndham (3); THE NORTHERN TRUST (11) Scott Piercy … John Deere (6) Webb Simpson … Greenbrier (5); Wyndham (1) Brandt Snedeker … Canadian (3); Wyndham (4) Jimmy Walker … Greenbrier (8); Dell Technologies (7) Bubba Watson … Greenbrier (8); WGC-Bridgestone (1); TOUR Championship (4)
The Lakers won’t challenge for a championship in the short term with LeBron James and an unusual roster. But in the long term, their method could pay off.
The World Cup is a glorious, global event, a gathering of sport infused with diversity and cultural flair. Depending on where you are and what teams are around you, it can feel like you are in Mexico City or Buenos Aires, Lima or Paris, Seoul or Sydney. Maybe it is the off-the-ball moving screens being
A un año de ser objeto de las crÃticas por su papel en Ghost in the Shell, que la culpaban de blanqueamiento de personajes asiáticos, ahora la actriz vuelve a estar en el punto de mira por este papel transexual.
Why the NFL doesn’t have to worry about the threat of a superteam, why NFL players have reason to feel threatened by their NBA counterparts and why Jay Cutler still has the attention of front offices. All those questions answered and more in the latest 10-Point Stance… 1. NBA’s superteam concept
Following Wednesday’s news that Eric Boullier has resigned as McLaren’s racing director, the team’s CEO Zak Brown says he is taking the necessary measures to return the British outfit to winning ways.
A year ago, Bubba Watson was languishing at 115th in the FedExCup standings when he teed it up at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier at The Old White TPC in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Mired in a two-year win drought and fighting an undisclosed illness that saw him lose more than 20 pounds, he was at the lowest point in his career. Today, Bubba Golf is back. Watson is third in the FedExCup, the only three-time winner on the PGA TOUR this season, and one of the most dramatic turnaround stories of this season. “It’s been good,â€� Watson said in his press conference from the Greenbrier on Tuesday. “Looking back, I’m a golfer, so there’s always things I wish was better. It was a slow start to the year, missed a couple cuts. But I knew I was headed in the right direction.â€� Players are almost always trending in one direction or the other, up or down, with the exception of FedExCup No. 1 Dustin Johnson, who was also No. 1 a year ago at this time. With the start of the Playoffs seven weeks out, a snapshot of the current Top 30, who would get into the season-ending TOUR Championship if it started today, shows several dramatic upward trajectories. “If you make it to Atlanta, no matter how you play throughout the year, you’ve done something right,â€� said big mover Webb Simpson, who is 10th in the FedExCup (up from 33rd a year ago) after his big win at THE PLAYERS Championship, and is looking good for East Lake. Chesson Hadley, 19th in the FedExCup, has made the biggest leap; he was 224th a year ago. Ryan Armour, who is in the Greenbrier field and 30th in the FedExCup, has made the second biggest jump, from 185th. “I’m a different player over the last year,â€� Armour, 42, said recently, and as if to offer further proof, he finished second to runaway winner Francesco Molinari at the Quicken Loans National last week. Bryson DeChambeau, who will defend a TOUR title for the first time at next week’s John Deere Classic, is the third biggest mover over the last 12 months, having shot up from 128th position a year ago to 6th today. Whether you measure it with a calculator or a compass, that’s a huge improvement. Their transformations have been stark, as have those of TOUR winners Aaron Wise (FedExCup No. 23) and Austin Cook (No. 28), both of whom are playing the Greenbrier. They’re battling for Rookie of the Year honors, which begs the question: When you talk meteoric rises, do Cook and Wise get the nod over even Hadley? How do you measure the upward trajectory of a guy who wasn’t even on TOUR last year? Phil Mickelson, who is making his first start since a disappointing U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, has gone from 40th in the FedExCup a year ago to eighth today. Patton Kizzire, who also is playing the Greenbrier this week, has gone from 89th to ninth. No player, though, is enjoying as thrilling a run as Tony Finau. At No. 11 in the FedExCup, the soft-spoken, long-hitting Utahan is up 20 spots from a year ago. He has six top-10 finishes, including two at the season’s first two majors, and has proven just as adept at figuring out less brawny courses, like The Old White TPC (7,286 yards, par 70), as he is taming longer ones. “It’s been a great season for me,â€� said Finau, who is coming off a fifth-place U.S. Open finish in which he had a chance to win late Sunday. “Really solid season, and my best season thus far. I’ve played some really nice golf and I’ve learned a lot about myself both mentally and physically. I’ve been working really hard on my game, and I think it’s starting to show this year.â€� Finau is used to making big moves. After switching back to a conventional putting grip before the 2017 BMW Championship, he shot a final-round 64 at Conway Farms to tie for seventh and play his way into the TOUR Championship at East Lake, where he also finished T7 to finish 19th in the season-long race for the FedExCup. He’s kept that good run going in 2018. “I like the position I’m in,â€� Finau said. Being well inside the Top 30, he added, beats being on the outside looking in, as he was last year. But he’s loathe to take his eye off the ball at the Greenbrier and beyond. The same goes for Watson, Mickelson, Kizzire and Simpson. Late-bloomer Armour, in the 30th position, can’t afford much of a letdown if he wants to get to Atlanta for the first time. The biggest movers of 2018 have worked hard to get where they are, but plenty of work remains.
Eric Boullier has stepped down as McLaren’s racing director in the midst of the team’s recent struggles in Formula One.
Max Muncy went deep twice Tuesday night against the Pirates, upping his season total to 20 homers and prompting Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw to call him “the best hitter in baseball right now.”
