Matthew Wolff, among the most popular young players on the PGA Tour, is departing for the LIV Golf Invitational Series. Eugenio Chacarra and Carlos Ortiz will join LIV, too.
Matthew Wolff, among the most popular young players on the PGA Tour, is departing for the LIV Golf Invitational Series.
A closer look at the four Monday qualifiers for the John Deere Classic, including the college sophomore who shot a sizzling 62 to qualify for his first PGA TOUR event: Nathan Petronzio (62) Hometown: Bee Cave, Texas Alma mater: SMU PGA TOUR starts: Debut Notes: Had matching nines of 31 on Monday, making nine birdies, one eagle and one boey…Won 2022 American Athletic Conference Championship…2021 American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year…Had 72.3 scoring average in his sophomore season at SMU…Ranked 215th in world amateur golf ranking Preston Stanley (65) Age: 29 Hometown: Katy, Texas Alma mater: Houston Baptist PGA TOUR starts: Debut Notes: Made eight birdies and a single bogey, at the par-5 18th, on Monday…Finished T36 in his lone Korn Ferry Tour start, at last year’s Chitimacha Louisiana Open presented by MISTRAS…Missed the cut in two career PGA TOUR Canada starts…Former All-Southland Conference honoree…His wife Caitlyn won the 2020 and 2021 Greater Houston Women’s City Amateur. The two met in junior golf and both played at Houston Baptist…Named the 2011 Texas Junior Golf Tour Player of the Year. Chris Naegel (66) Age: 39 Hometown: Wildwood, Missouri Alma mater: Missouri Baptist/Mississippi PGA TOUR starts: 5 Cuts made: 3 Best PGA TOUR finish: T50, 2015 John Deere Classic Notes: Will be making his third appearance in the John Deere Classic, finishing T50 in 2015 and missing the cut in 2013…Played the U.S. Open in both 2018 and 2022, finishing T56 both times…Has four top-10s in 73 career starts on the Korn Ferry Tour, highlighted by a fourth-place finish at the 2019 WinCo Foods Portland Open. Charles Jahn (67; advanced in 6-for-1 playoff) Hometown: Sperry, Iowa Alma mater: Bradley/Iowa PGA TOUR starts: Debut Notes: Led Bradley with a 73.1 scoring average in his junior year…Made seven birdies and two bogeys on Monday before advancing out of a six-man playoff…Won the Iowa Amateur in 2021 and Iowa Masters in 2020…named Des Moines Register All-Iowa First Team in high school…
The Lakers are the only team known to be interested in acquiring Nets guard Kyrie Irving in a sign-and-trade deal, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Teams can execute such deals when free agency opens Thursday night.
Next up for the PGA TOUR is the John Deere Classic from Silvis, Illinois where opportunity exists for golfers and daily fantasy players alike. TPC Deere Run will play as a par 71, measuring 7,289 yards and be putt on bentgrass greens. The field is 156 players, with the cut coming at the top 65 and ties. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $800K Pitch + Putt [$200K to 1st] STRATEGY Webb Simpson ($10,600), Cam Davis ($8,400), Christiaan Bezuidenhout ($9,100) and Sahith Theegala ($10,100) will be looking to play well at TPC Deere Run, which is one of the lowest scoring courses on TOUR. Nine of the previous 13 winning scores have been more than 20-under par, with an average winning score of 21-22 under par over the past five events. The priority here is to make a ton of birdies and avoid any possibility of dropping strokes. Strokes Gained: Approach the Green is always a priority, but digging deeper, golfers who are strong with their wedges have fared well at this tournament before. Last season’s winner Lucas Glover ($8,300) mentioned, “I wedged it very nice today and putted well, which you have to do here, because you get a lot of opportunities, and distance control is pretty important … .” Other key stats to focus on are driving accuracy, par 4 scoring and par 5 scoring on holes between 550-600 yards, with all three on the scorecard falling in this distance range. Lineup construction can be a little tricky this week. Last season and 2019, the winners used the entire $50,000 salary cap. In 2018, the top lineup used just $49,000, with four golfers under $7,600. Based on the previous three years, there isn’t a daily fantasy lineup build that we should skew towards. Also, we shouldn’t see any outrageously high ownership on golfers this week, but the trends point to some dos and don’ts this week. When we look over the same timeframe as above, only one golfer in the winning lineup was roster over 16% (Patton Kizzire, 17.2%, 2021), but nine (50%) had double-digit roster percentages, meaning you don’t have to stay away from the chalk altogether this week. GOLFERS TO CONSIDER Adam Schenk ($7,700) TPC River Highlands is very similar to this week, and although Schenk missed the cut in Cromwell, Connecticut, he played much better on Friday than Thursday, gaining a stroke off the tee and nearly a stroke on approach. He hit 94% of his greens in regulation and almost 80% of his fairways in the second-round last week. He’s now gained strokes Tee to Green in his three previous starts and has tremendous finishes here of fourth (2021), where he ranked second in putting that week (+7.8), and sixth (2019), finishing second in strokes gained tee to green (+9.9). Schenk’s Midwest ties (born in Indiana) should make him feel comfortable playing in this part of the country, and hopefully, his putting success here last season can help with some of the recent troubles he’s encountered on the greens. John Huh ($7,800) also deserves a ton of consideration given how he’s playing, ranking top five in birdies or better gained and DKFP over the previous 12 rounds. Austin Smotherman ($7,000) Like Schenk, Smotherman could not make the cut last week but has put together an excellent resume in his rookie season, with three top-25 finishes and an 11th-place finish in 18 starts. He’s solid with his wedges, ranking 20th in proximity from 100 to 125 yards over the previous 24 rounds, and is scoring well, ranking 14th in birdies or better gained over the last dozen rounds. Smotherman racked up a win and three top 5s on the Korn Ferry Tour last season, so he’s used to playing in conditions where you need to make birdies in bunches. Some of my other favorite daily fantasy sleepers this week are Robert Streb ($6,600), who’s been inside the top 10 in par 5 scoring for the past 50 rounds, and Chris Stroud ($6,500), who’s only missed the cut once (2016), and has two top-5 finishes (2019, 2015) and a top 20 (2017) in his last five starts here. Stroud hasn’t played on TOUR since February, which is slightly alarming, but you don’t need to be heavily exposed to him at his price or projected roster percentage. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $800K Pitch + Putt [$200K to 1st] Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests. The contents contained in this article do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visit OPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), ConnexOntario 1-866-531-2600 (ONT), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA). 21+ (18+ NH/WY; 19+ ONT). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NH/NJ/NY/ONT/OR/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for full terms and conditions. DraftKings operates pursuant to an Operating Agreement with iGaming Ontario. Please play responsibly.
Jeff Borzello asked college basketball head coaches and assistants for their candid feelings on the 2022 draft results.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE EARNS SIXTH PGA TOUR WIN AT TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP The Travelers Championship seems to facilitate drama down the stretch on a yearly basis, and Sunday delivered once again at TPC River Highlands. Xander Schauffele led into the final round, seeking his first individual PGA TOUR victory since 2019. The reigning Olympic gold medalist led by three strokes early on the back nine but was caught and surpassed into the 72nd hole by TOUR rookie Sahith Theegala, seeking his first TOUR title. Theegala found a fairway bunker off the tee on the finishing hole, though, and left his second shot in the bunker en route to a devastating double bogey. Schauffele split the fairway and stuffed a wedge inside 4 feet for a closing birdie and two-stroke win over Theegala and J.T. Poston at 19-under total. With the victory, Schauffele moves from No. 20 to No. 8 on the FedExCup standings, 500 points accrued. It’s his sixth career TOUR title and second of the season; he won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April alongside good friend Patrick Cantlay, his playing partner Sunday in Connecticut. “It’s incredible,” remarked a beaming Schauffele after double fist-pumping on the 72nd green, the New England fans roaring in appreciation. EXCITING CHANGES COMING TO THE PGA TOUR The PGA TOUR will return to a calendar-year schedule in 2024, one of a series of changes announced Wednesday that also includes eight tournaments with greatly enhanced purses, revised field sizes for the FedExCup Playoffs and a reimagined fall including up to three no-cut, limited-field international events. Commissioner Jay Monahan announced the changes, made in conjunction with the Policy Board and Player Directors, in a press conference at the Travelers Championship. “While different than it’s been in the past, I think it’s going to be very exciting for fans and I think will create great energy in the fall,” said Monahan, who added that he expects the fall events to be “very consequential, very meaningful.” Click here for full details, including which events will offer significantly increased purses. MAKING THE TRIP TO THE JOHN DEERE CLASSIC Lucas Glover returns to defend his title from 2021 with major champions, TOUR winners, and plenty of up-and-comers in the field looking to find the winner’s circle at the John Deere Classic. Daniel Berger is the top-ranked golfer in the field, with past PLAYERS Championship winners Jason Day and Webb Simpson teeing it up. Glover will look to become the first player to defend his title at the John Deere Classic since Steve Stricker a decade ago. Davis Riley is the highest-ranked golfer in this season’s FedExCup standings teeing it up. TPC Deere Run is a D.A. Weibring design which offers plenty of birdie opportunities but risk-reward scenarios as well. There are three spots up for grabs for those who have not already earned a spot at St. Andrews for the 150th Open Championship. Five of the last 10 winners of the John Deere Classic were first-timer TOUR winners. The winner will receive 500 FedExCup points. VIDEO OF THE WEEK MIC CHECK “I think it’s not lost on me what PGA TOUR events can do for the communities that they’re played in. I think that’s not lost on the players that when they come and play PGA TOUR events they’re helping to do something really good in the community and I think that’s important.” – Two-time FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy reflected on the impact that the PGA TOUR has on the communities it plays in. BY THE NUMBERS 3 – Starts it took for Pierceson Coody to win his first event on the Korn Ferry Tour after claiming the Live and Work in Maine Open. 16 – Sir Nick Faldo, the six-time major champion and lead golf analyst for CBS, announced he will be retiring at the end of his 16th season covering the PGA TOUR for the network. 3 – Consecutive years a player has won the U.S. Senior Open in his first appearance after Padraig Harrington won on Sunday. The others were Steve Stricker (2019) and Jim Furyk (2021). There was no event in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10 The Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 highlights and rewards the extraordinary level of play required to earn a spot in the TOP 10 at the conclusion of the FedExCup Regular Season as determined by the FedExCup standings. The competition recognizes and awards the most elite in golf.
Our NFL Nation reporters picked the under-the-radar players who turned heads this offseason, including a few former top-50 draft picks.
The Red Sox-Yankees rivalry goes next-gen as Jaden Sheffield, Manny Ramirez Jr., Pedro Martinez Jr., D’Angelo Ortiz and Kade Foulke join forces.
The QB has shown a big arm and command of the offense, providing hope he can solidify a position that has been a revolving door for decades.
