Day: January 30, 2023

The PGA TOUR continues its California swing this week with the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Pebble Beach Golf Links will be the host, and we are back to both a three-course rotation and 54-hole cut this week. Golfers will each play one round at Pebble Beach, Monterey Peninsula and Spyglass Hill over the first three days, before returning to Pebble Beach for the final round. All three courses sit between 6,816 and 7,035 yards, while Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill are both par 72s. Monterey Peninsula will play as a par 71. All three courses feature poa greens. The field this week is headlined by Matt Fitzpatrick, Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $700K Pitch + Putt [$200K to 1st] GOLFERS TO CONSIDER Jordan Spieth ($10,600) Spieth boasts some great course history at the event having played each year over the last decade. Since 2013, Spieth hasn't missed the cut, while posting a win, five additional top-10 finishes and a pair of top 20s. It's not entirely surprising to see Spieth dominate here, considering how small the greens are at Pebble. Everyone is going to miss their fair share of greens in regulation, putting an emphasis on both short game and putting, which Spieth has generally done better than many over the years. Spieth is still smarting from going from first round leader to missing the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii, and he was T13 the week prior at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. The three-time major winner ranks No. 2 in SG: Tee-to-Green, seventh in SG: Ball-Striking and sixth in SG: Total over his past 48 rounds. Only Fitzpatrick has been better from tee-to-green than Spieth in that time frame. We have seen Spieth flip a proverbial switch when he gets to Pebble Beach every year, regardless of form, and I would expect nothing less this year. He makes for a great play in all formats. Nick Taylor ($8,000) Not quite to the extent of Spieth, but Taylor is also a former winner at Pebble Beach who boasts great course history. He's made six of eight cuts here, including his win in 2020 and two additional top-15 finishes. Despite missing two of his past three cuts, Taylor had previously been playing some strong golf, which extended back to the fall swing. The Canadian finished T7 at the Sony Open in Hawaii three weeks ago and had a stretch in mid-September where he posted three top-25 finishes in four weeks, including a T6 at the Fortinet Championship. Taylor's rolling stats have been pretty steady in this time frame as well, ranking 19th in this field in SG: Tee-to-Green, 16th in SG: Approach and 19th in SG: Total. His $8,000 salary is also quite reasonable for both his course history and recent form, and I will gladly go back to the well here. Beau Hossler ($7,400) Hossler was a disappointment last week at the Farmers Insurance Open, but we can chalk it up to an anomaly, as it was his usually steady putter that let him down. Dating back 48 rounds in this field, Hossler ranks seventh in SG: Putting, so as you can see, this is not something we should expect to continue. I am happy to go right back to him this week at a strong price of just $7,400, especially after he gained two strokes ball-striking in his lone round at the South Course at Torrey Pines last week. Prior to last week, Hossler had made five of his previous six cuts, with three top-25 finishes in that stretch. He also has some good familiarity with Pebble Beach, having played here six times in his career, which has resulted in four made cuts and a T3 last season. There is plenty of upside here for the price, and we're getting three guaranteed rounds from him no matter what, so hopefully he can turn his putting around.. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $700K Pitch + Putt [$200K to 1st] Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and customer (my username is Lan1228) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.

The Farmers Insurance Open was Max Homa's sixth PGA TOUR victory. And his first as a father. The change in a player's outlook after the birth of his first child is such a common storyline that it also has become fodder for jokes on social media. Homa has joined in the fun by adding #perspective to some of his posts about fatherhood. Jokes aside, the presence of his wife and son made Saturday's victory at Torrey Pines an emotional one for Homa. He spoke after the win about his wife's difficult labor, his gratitude for her hard work as a mother and his enjoyment of even the dirty side of parenting (aka diapers). Homa also has his son's name stamped on all four of his Vokey wedges. Homa may be one of the most popular players in the game, the FedExCup leader and the 13th-ranked player in the world, but he's also known as "Cam's dad," which is stamped on all four of his wedges. "I work hard at two things now, so it feels a little bit more difficult but it’s a million times more rewarding," Homa said Saturday evening. "To see them behind the 18th green knowing I was probably about to win a golf tournament was cool. ... This will be my corny dad story that I will tell every Thanksgiving or something." Wedges are an important part of any TOUR player's bag, and have to be personalized to match the player's preferences and swing, as well as the conditions he faces. Homa uses four Vokey Design SM9 wedges: the 46.10F, 50.12F, 56.14F and 60.04L models. The numbers to the left of the decimal point are the loft, while the numbers to the right represent the bounce. The letter represents the grind. Vokey's Tour Rep, Aaron Dill, added the "Cam's Dad" stamping before delivering the fresh set of wedges to Homa at Torrey Pines. Dill explained how Homa landed on his current wedge configuration, including a high-bounce sand wedge and low-bounce lob wedge: "When you ask guys the question, ‘Why do you have this grind and this much bounce?' a lot of times they'll say, ‘I don't know. It's just kind of what I've always played.' So spending some time with him, and digging a little deeper into how to build his set makeup, we realized that he was a little limited in the types of shots he could hit, especially greenside," Dill said. "I gave him an option that was a little bit less bounce, and he began to realize that ‘Oh my gosh, some of the shots that I was afraid to hit, I can hit those again.' By taking some of that bounce away and giving him the thinner sole of the L grind, he can now fearlessly go to any shot that he's facing and obviously pull off some miraculous ones. "Max has a high bounce sand wedge (56.14F) and low bounce lob wedge (60.04L), and that combination gives him the ability to hit anything he wants. He was playing an M grind in the 60 before and he just had a little too much width. ... When you have a lot of sole width, it can be tricky to (open the face). So by giving him a little bit thinner sole, he can open it up. It sits nice and close, and he can just freely do the things that he needs to do. "I think when you look at the correlation between the types of players who use an M Grind on the PGA TOUR, they're a little steeper. Max is a very shallow player. He's very good at hitting low and high shots. But I think for him being a shallow guy, he doesn't have to be too fearful about sticking into the ground. So he and (his coach) Mark Blackburn have done a terrific job of dialing in his short game and keeping him out of that style of shot so he can play a low bounce wedge and not have any discomfort with it." Having the correct wedge setup helped Cameron's dad win another PGA TOUR title, and change diapers with an even bigger smile on his face. "These tournaments are hard, man, but it puts you in the best mood ever when you come out on top," he said. "He can poop away and I’ll just be here for him." Perspective, indeed.

MAX HOMA EARNS SIXTH TOUR TITLE AT FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN The roller coaster of Max Homa's career has reached unprecedented heights of late. Anchored by a consistent hope, the upward trend is only continuing. Homa earned his sixth PGA TOUR title in a Saturday finish at the Farmers Insurance Open, carding a final-round, 6-under 66 at Torrey Pines' South Course for a two-stroke victory over Keegan Bradley at 13 under. Homa trailed 54-hole leader Sam Ryder by five strokes into the final round outside San Diego but played a nearly flawless round with six birdies and a bogey, highlighted by birdies on both of the back nine's difficult par 3s, to emerge with the Farmers' signature surfboard trophy. Homa has won in four of his last 29 starts on TOUR; he accrues 500 FedExCup points and moves to No. 2 on the season-long standings. It's his fourth TOUR title in his home state of California; he remembers attending the Farmers as a high schooler, and this marks his first victory as a dad - son Cam Andrew was born last November and was on the scene at Torrey. Homa, who lost his TOUR card twice early in his career, is set to ascend into the world's top 15 for the first time. Don't expect him to stop now. "I always remind myself that, ‘You've seen the darkness of this game. Enjoy this. Enjoy the beauty of it.' People chanting my name, things I could have never imagined," Homa said in the Saturday twilight. He enjoyed it, indeed. PEBBLE BEACH BOUND The PGA TOUR returns to the golf paradise of Pebble Beach for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. 2017 champion Jordan Spieth headlines the field, with Tom Hoge returning to defend. Viktor Hovland and Matt Fitzpatrick are back in action for the first time since the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Hovland has had a solid 2022-23 campaign thus far, plus a victory at the Hero World Challenge. Joel Dahmen is set to join the field and tee it up on TOUR for the first time since becoming a father on Jan. 19. Other notables include Kevin Kisner, Webb Simpson and former FedExCup Champion Justin Rose. Ben Silverman, who won on the Korn Ferry Tour last week in the Bahamas, is among the sponsor exemptions. The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am will once again use its three-course rotation: Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula CC. Among the 156 celebrities teeing it up this week are recently-retired soccer superstar Gareth Bale, NFL QBs Aaron Rodgers and Josh Allen, and plenty of big names from entertainment and music including Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Eric Church, Darius Rucker, and of course, Bill Murray. The winner at Pebble will take home 500 FedExCup points. VIDEO OF THE WEEK MIC CHECK "There was definitely a lot of new pressure, but it was fun ... I think it's only going to feed me." - Farmers 54-hole leader Sam Ryder, who played with Jon Rahm and Tony Finau on Sunday en route to a T4 finish. BY THE NUMBERS 3 – Marcus Byrd earned his third APGA Tour title at the APGA Farmers Insurance Invitational, carding 4 over for 36 holes at Torrey Pines, five clear of the field in the Golf Channel-televised event. Byrd earns a spot in next month's The Honda Classic, a week after receiving the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption into The Genesis Invitational. 2 – Ben Silverman claimed his second win on the Korn Ferry Tour with a playoff victory at The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club on the Korn Ferry Tour. 5 – Max Homa’s last five wins on TOUR have been come from behind victories 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.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Rory McIlroy watched his 15-foot birdie putt roll into the cup, clenched his fist and let out a roar to celebrate a victory. McIlroy finished birdie-birdie to shoot 4-under 68 and win by a stroke from Reed, who shot 65. The 33-year-old had won last season's DP World Tour's season-long Race to Dubai as well as the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup. “Mentally, today was probably one of the toughest rounds I have ever had to play because it would be really easy to let your emotions get in the way,” McIlroy said. “I just had to really focus on myself and forget who was up there on the leaderboard.” “This is probably sweeter than it should be,” McIlroy said. McIlroy started a year with a win for the first time in his career — he has come close numerous times in nearby Abu Dhabi, where he has typically chosen to play his year-opening tournament — and backed up victories at the Dubai Desert Classic in 2009 and 2015. Needing a birdie at the last to win, McIlroy’s drive on No. 18 dribbled into the rough beside the water to the right of the fairway — he watched it all the way, clearly fearing the worst — and he decided to lay up. His third shot from 92 yards was close enough and the world No. 1 rolled in the putt. McIlroy finished on 19-under overall. He wound up winning with his B game and was particularly proud how he held up down the last, having hit shots into the water in front of the green on Sunday and also in the final round last year, costing him the title. “It was a battle all day — honestly, it’s been a battle all week,” McIlroy. “I feel as if I haven’t had my best all week but just managed my game so well and played really smart. Even that second shot at the last. I probably could have got to the green but with what happened yesterday and last year, I tried to give myself a wedge and get it up and down for the win. “Ecstatic that I gave myself the opportunity the first week back out. I managed my game well.” Lucas Herbert of Australia shot 66 and placed third, three strokes behind McIlroy.