After Further Review: Don’t short-change Colonial

DALLAS – Jordan Spieth had just stepped outside the locker room early Sunday evening when he ran into Geoff Ogilvy. The two immediately started chatting about Trinity Forest, the course completing its first week as a PGA TOUR venue. They were practically giddy. That’s no surprise. Spieth is a charter member at Trinity Forest; Ogilvy had sought the job as course designer. Although neither player was close to challenging rookie Aaron Wise for the title Sunday, they are unabashed proponents of the links-style layout designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore. Now the question becomes: Can they get everybody else on board? According to Spieth, many of the players in last week’s 156-man field already have been convinced. “I was talking to all the players. I asked a lot of guys,â€� he said. “I didn’t hear one bad thing said. “A lot of guys said, ‘It’s grown on me day to day, I really enjoyed it as a change of pace, I had a lot of fun playing this golf course.’ Those were lines guys were using this week and shouldn’t be reported any differently. It was an overwhelmingly positive outlook from the players that played.â€� Spieth evidently didn’t run into veteran Matt Kuchar, who entered the week having made 30 consecutive cuts but saw that streak snapped when he shot 1 under to miss the cut by three shots. Afterward, he told the Golf Channel that “I’m mostly disappointed with myself that I probably let my dislike of the golf course affect my performance.â€� Crenshaw was unperturbed when asked about Kuchar’s comments. “That’s his opinion. He’s definitely entitled to it,â€� he said. “I think the world of Matt. He’s a great player. “When you play professional golf on so many golf courses, you’re always going to have your likes and dislikes. That’s fine. This is a different course. I’ve always said this is sort of a distant cousin to links golf. That’s what it set out to be. But no, he’s very well entitled to his opinion. I don’t think any less of Matt.â€� Whether Kuchar returns to Trinity Forest next year remains to be seen. Even if he doesn’t, the goal will be enticing some of the TOUR’s other top players to add the tournament to their playing schedule. Word-of-mouth will be key in that regard. Ogilvy certainly will do his part. “I’m sure not everybody’s as excited as I am about this,â€� Ogilvy said. “But most guys are pretty positive, I think. Most guys are going to leave here and, I’d say worst case, 90 percent of guys are going to say at least you’ve got to go try it because it’s pretty cool. “Some guys are going to be like, aah. But you’re going to get that anywhere, right? If you don’t piss a few off, you probably haven’t done a very good job. If everybody’s happy, then it’s a bit vanilla and there’s nothing to it. “I think [Trinity Forest] is great. I don’t know how it goes from a marketing perspective, that side of things. But from a golf-playing perspective, it’s the most I’ve enjoyed a golf tournament in a really long time.â€� It was word-of-mouth that probably caused a few players to stay away from this year’s event. A caddie tournament held a year ago at Trinity Forest provided an early look at the course. Perhaps too early. “It wasn’t playing the way it’s intended to play,â€� Spieth noted. “It was too new, wasn’t ready yet and got some really bad reviews.â€� But in the year since that event was held, Trinity Forest made some big strides. Another year of maturation should, theoretically, only improve it for 2019. Crenshaw, however, said he doesn’t think it will play that much different than this year. “If anything, it’ll be a little keener, meaning slightly faster,â€� he said. “It’s all predicated by the breeze. The breeze and wind is sort of an unseen hazard on the golf course.â€� It was that lack of wind – for three of the four days at least — that turned Trinity Forest into a birdie-fest. Wise won at 23 under, eclipsing the tournament record of 20 under by Sam Snead in 1957 at Glen Lakes Country Club. Marc Leishman opened with a 10-under 61; Branden Grace closed with a 9-under 62. On Saturday with the wind blowing in dry conditions, the stroke average on the par-71 layout was 70.733. On Sunday, after a four-hour rain delay and no wind, the stroke average was 2-1/2 strokes lower at 68.253. Cumulatively, the average for the week was 69.414. “It got off to a quiet start this week,â€� Crenshaw said. “The wind didn’t blow so much this week. We built this golf course with the wind in mind.â€� Added Spieth: “Springtime in Texas, this is very rare to have three days with no wind. This course typically plays like [Saturday] and whatever the average score was, that’s what you’re looking at normally three out of four days here. So, I think these will be record scores for a number of years here and it will be somewhere around 12- to 16-under if we get typical Texas spring in the future — which I think makes you think more around this golf course. It brings in more trouble. You can’t fire at flag sticks. Got to play wind and different ball flights. That’s the one thing is when there’s no wind because there’s no trees, you can’t make the golf course that difficult or else it’s unplayable with wind. “So, it will get better and better I think for sure.â€� How different the field will be next year may very well be predicated on the revamped TOUR schedule. The tournament is set for May 6-12 in 2019, which puts it the week before the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black. Players who traditionally enter a major by playing the week before will likely be in Dallas. Those who don’t will not. The course – and whatever perception a player holds of it — may be less of a factor. But for those on the fence … “I really enjoyed it,â€� said Keith Mitchell after his career-low 63 left him tied for third. “There’s a lot of different types or different styles of players that are at the top of the leaderboard. That shows a lot about the golf course. It doesn’t favor any one person. I think it’s a great test. It’s a great strategy for us.â€� Added Grace, who celebrated his 30th birthday Sunday: “It feels like a breath of fresh air coming to something different. Really is nice. I really enjoyed the golf course. I enjoyed how it played.â€� Given that Grace is South African, his comments did not surprise Crenshaw. “I knew the Europeans and Australians and South Africans would love it because they’ve seen this type of golf course,â€� Crenshaw said. “They had great comments for us, which we love. “It played beautifully. It played like we envisioned it. Very excited. Anytime the pros play a venue for the first time, they’re trying to learn everything about it. There’s a lot to learn here because there’s a lot of different bounces. In other words, they were taking a cram session the whole week. “We hope the players who play this week will tell the other players, hey, you need to check this place out.â€�

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This isn’t your typical Tuesday. It’s Tuesday of the TOUR Championship, which means that this is the last Fantasy Insider of the 2020-21 season. And because the Power Rankings included all 30 qualifiers – Patrick Reed is going to play (see Returning to Competition below) – this Fantasy Insider is abridged. It allows us to narrow the focus on the task at hand. RELATED: Power Rankings | PGATOUR.COM Expert Picks Generally speaking, whenever something new is introduced, there’s going to be confusion about how it works. Starting Strokes to determine opening position for the 30 golfers at East Lake is in its third year, but if you’re a new gamer in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, bonus points will be based on final leaderboard finish to which Starting Strokes contributes. Also, because FedExCup points are not awarded at the TOUR Championship, for the second consecutive year, PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf manually will assign bonus points worth the customary one-tenth the value of the FedExCup points in the structure of the first two Playoffs events. For an extreme example for both factors, let’s say that Reed, who opens at even par, bests the field with 15-under 265 but finishes alone in fifth place. Only his leaderboard finish will determine his bonus points. In the first two events of the Playoffs, fifth place rewards 440 FedExCup points, so Reed would be credited with 44 bonus points. Last year, Dustin Johnson’s 72-hole aggregate of 11-under 269 tied for third-lowest score, but because he opened as the top seed with a Starting Strokes value of 10-under, he won the TOUR Championship at 21-under and was credited with 200 bonus points in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf (because each of the winners of the first two Playoffs events receives 2,000 FedExCup points). Shifting gears, between now and the Fortinet Championship in two weeks (thus 14 days of birthdays at the bottom), I will be turning over and creating quite a bit of new content for the Fantasy page, so please continue to monitor it and my Twitter if you already don’t. For starters, and as I’ve felt good about repeating in recent weeks since I first broke the news in late April, my full-membership fantasy ranking will publish in early September. The exact date is undetermined as of this moment, but it will be splashed on the Fantasy page and my Twitter when it’s ready. Qualifiers, the Korn Ferry Tour Graduate Reshuffle and Medical Extensions also will be updated soon after the conclusions of the TOUR Championship and KFT Finals. Likewise, exact dates are TBD, and they likely will publish at their own paces. After a season of attending to what were only three rookies and a bevy of non-members who haven’t exhausted rookie eligibility in a previous season in Rookie Watch, I’m as happy as you are that Rookie Ranking will be returning as originally dubbed. Through the second of the three events in the KFT Finals, the class is assured of being at least 23 deep. Because of positive feedback to the pivot to Rookie Watch in 2020-21, I’m keeping the option open to add a section devoted to non-members for 2021-22. Last but hardly least, the new version of PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf that I teased in this space during the week of the Olympics will be launching at the Fortinet. At some point, perhaps in the opening of the FI for the Fortinet, I will be reviewing the basics of game play, strategy and whatever else is relevant to your success. To that end, I’m going to be experiencing the new version in a testing environment for the TOUR Championship. I’ve been briefed on what I should expect, so I’m excited about learning the format and how scoring influences ownership philosophy. Gang, there’s so much that goes into a transformation like this and so little time to prep for it in earnest, and at one of the busiest times of the year to boot, but I’m impressed at how it’s come together. Anyone who knows me even a little bit knows that I have high expectations, and often to a fault, especially as it concerns all matters related to the PGA TOUR, so it just feels good to be as curious as I am about this new offering. Until the next time you read and/or engage with me, thank you so very much for your loyalty to all things fantasy and my work throughout the season and, for many of you, over the years. I feel as fortunate to be a part of this community today as I did the first day in early January of 2010, and you’re responsible for that. Peace and love… PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf My roster for the TOUR Championship (in alphabetical order): Patrick Cantlay Bryson DeChambeau Tony Finau Dustin Johnson Jon Rahm Justin Thomas You’ll find my starters in Expert Picks. Others to consider for each category (in alphabetical order): Scoring: Sam Burns; Harris English; Rory McIlroy; Xander Schauffele; Scottie Scheffler; Cameron Smith; Jordan Spieth Driving: Corey Conners; Harris English; Sergio Garcia; Viktor Hovland; Sungjae Im; Scottie Scheffler RETURNING TO COMPETITION Patrick Reed … After battling an ankle injury and overcoming a bout with double pneumonia, he’s committed to returning to competition at East Lake. He’s the 30-seed and opens at even par, which means that he has nothing to lose, but the general curiosity concerns his stamina. Even in this tiny field with no cut, he doesn’t present emphatically as an option. NOTABLE WDs n/a POWER RANKINGS RECAP – BMW CHAMPIONSHIP Power Ranking Golfer Result 1 Jon Rahm T9 2 Justin Thomas T22 3 Patrick Cantlay Win 4 Xander Schauffele T49 5 Collin Morikawa T63 6 Tony Finau T15 7 Corey Conners T22 8 Cameron Smith T34 9 Sungjae Im 3rd 10 Harris English T26 11 Bryson DeChambeau P2 12 Dustin Johnson T6 13 Sam Burns 8th 14 Brooks Koepka T22 15 Daniel Berger T26 16 Shane Lowry T26 17 Viktor Hovland T17 18 Scottie Scheffler T22 19 Webb Simpson T12 20 Keegan Bradley T60 Wild Card Rory McIlroy 4th SLEEPERS RECAP – BMW CHAMPIONSHIP Golfer (BetMGM prop) Result Cameron Champ (Top 10) T66 Cam Davis (Top 20) T29 Lucas Glover (Top 20) T38 Cameron Tringale (Top 20) T52 Aaron Wise (Top 20) T17 BIRTHDAYS AMONG ACTIVE MEMBERS OF THE PGA TOUR August 31 … Padraig Harrington (50); Charl Schwartzel (37) September 1 … Matt Fitzpatrick (27) September 2 … none September 3 … none September 4 … none September 5 … none September 6 … Brice Garnett (38) September 7 … none September 8 … none September 9 … Hudson Swafford (34) September 10 … none September 11 … Satoshi Kodaira (32) September 12 … none September 13 … none Visit BetMGM.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ years of age or older to wager. 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