Fantasy Insider: WGC-HSBC Champions & Sanderson Farms Championship

2019 Farmers Insurance Open, end of Round 1: Round 1 course scoring averages: South Course (SC): -0.4 strokes per round North Course (NC): -2.6 Current cutline: 73 players at -2 or better (T53rd position) Top 3 most likely projected cutlines: 3 under par: 27.4% 4 under par: 27.0% 2 under par: 16.9% Notable player below the current cutline: (Friday’s course for each player is listed) Rory McIlroy (T74, -1, NC) : 78.7% Make Cut Probability Gary Woodland (T74, -1, NC) : 78.1% Rickie Fowler (T118, +1, NC) : 56.9% Patrick Cantlay (T133, +2, NC) : 41.4% NOTE: These reports are based off the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live “Make Cut�, “Top 20�, “Top 5�, and “Win� probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 10K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of the Farmers Insurance Open, or to see how each golfer’s probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model’s home page.

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The PGA TOUR heads back to Japan for the fourth iteration of the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. Japan’s favorite modern golfing son, Hideki Matsuyama, will headline the field as he looks to defend his title from last season. Matsuyama captured the 2021 ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP by five shots. FIELD NOTES: World No. 5 Xander Schauffele is the top-ranked golfer in the field… Collin Morikawa, at No. 9, is the other member of the world’s top-10 teeing it up… Schauffele – who won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics – and Morikawa are joined by fellow U.S. Team Presidents Cup member Cameron Young, who is making his event debut (and first trip to Japan)… There’s plenty of International Team Presidents Cup flair in Japan as Sungjae Im, Tom Kim, Corey Conners, K.H. Lee, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Cam Davis, Si Woo Kim, Mito Pereira, and Sebastian Munoz are all in the field. Pereira held the 36-hole lead at the Shriners Children’s Open… Matsuyama leads the home-country contingent. The event is co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO) once again for 2022 and there will be more than a dozen members of the JGTO teeing it up… Mackenzie Hughes returns to action after his win at the Sanderson Farms Championship… Sponsor’s exemptions include Matt Wallace, who finished T4 last season, along with TOUR winners Cameron Champ, Satoshi Kodaira, and Rickie Fowler… European Ryder Cup teammates Viktor Hovland (ranked No.11 in the world) and Tommy Fleetwood are also in the field. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, par 70, 7,079 yards. About 40 yards has been added to the official scorecard at the Narashino Country Club for this year’s iteration of the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. The 36-hole facility in Chiba, Japan, was opened in 1965 and played host to a number of high-level golf events in its history before the PGA TOUR arrived in 2019. Designed by Shinya Fujita and east of Tokyo, it’s a stunning parkland layout. STORYLINES: The ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP will once again have a 78-man field, four rounds, and no cut. A full 500 FedExCup points will be awarded to the winner… Tiger Woods and Matsuyama won the two ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP events to take place in Japan, while Patrick Cantlay won the event in 2020, which was moved to Sherwood, Calif… Matsuyama is looking to successfully defend a title on the PGA TOUR for the second time (he won the WM Phoenix Open in 2016 and 2017)… Plenty of youthful Japanese firepower will be teeing it up at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. Two Mark H. McCormack Medal winners in Keita Nakajima and Takumi Kanaya will be in the field along with 20-year-old Ryo Hisatsune, who just turned professional. 72-HOLE RECORD: 261, Tiger Woods (2019) 18-HOLE RECORD: 63, Keegan Bradley (Second round, 2019), Rory McIlroy (Third round, 2019), Hiroshi Iwata (First round, 2021), Naoto Nakanishi (Fourth round, 2021). Tournament Record: 61, Richy Werenski (Second round, 2020 at Sherwood) LAST TIME: Japan’s own Hideki Matsuyama had a flurry of a finish to win the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP last season by five shots. The Masters champion made three birdies in a five-hole stretch on his back nine Sunday – and eagled the par-5 closing hole to put a bow on the week – to top runners up Brendan Steele and Cameron Tringale. Matsuyama closed with a 65 and a 15 under total to capture a TOUR title for the seventh time. He won eight times in Japan previously, including in 2011 as an amateur, but was unable to medal at the Tokyo Olympics so this win was a measure of revenge. Matsuyama held a one-shot lead through 54 holes but that was erased by Tringale by the 10th hole Sunday, who jumped into the first-place position after back-to-back birdies on Nos 9 and 10. That’s when Matsuyama turned it on, however. Matsuyama’s closing eagle featured a beautiful fairway wood from 241 yards which nearly found the bottom of the cup for an albatross. Mackenzie Hughes, Matt Wallace, and Sebastian Munoz rounded out the top five. HOW TO FOLLOW: Television: Wednesday (into Thursday)-Thursday (into Friday): 11 p.m.-3 a.m. ET (Golf Channel). Friday (into Saturday), 10:30 p.m.-2:30 a.m. Saturday (into Sunday): 11 p.m.-3 a.m.

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NBA star Stephen Curry has already impacted the golf community in various ways. In 2019, Curry partnered with Howard University to launch and financially support the school’s first Division I golf program for a six-year period. The previous year, he had donated $25,000 to support longtime pro Scott Harrington and his wife Jenn in her battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Curry announced his latest initiative Thursday afternoon, aiming to provide aspiring college golfers a more accessible path to their dreams. The UNDERRATED Golf Tour, an AJGA-accredited junior tour, will hold five events this summer at highly acclaimed courses across the United States. The Tour will be free of charge for players, including travel, lodging and meals. Players will compete for a season-long “Curry Cup.” The UNDERRATED Golf Tour is an extension of Curry’s UNDERRATED brand, established in 2019 with a mission “to empower underrated and underrepresented individuals all over the world.” The brand was founded with a focus on basketball, with Thursday’s announcement extending its efforts to golf. “Everybody knows I love the game of golf, and I couldn’t be more excited to extend this love to the best young players around the country,” Curry said in a video released Thursday. “Less than 2% of golfers are people of color, and our Tour provides a platform of equity, access and opportunity for girls and boys who want to play and compete with the current best players on the AJGA.” The UNDERRATED Golf Tour will debut at Cog Hill GC in Chicago, June 21-23, with stops in Phoenix (Wickenburg Ranch), Houston (GC of Houston) and Tampa (Innisbrook’s Copperhead) leading to the Tour Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, August 28-30. Cog Hill (BMW Championship), Golf Club of Houston (Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open), Innisbrook Report’s Copperhead Course (Valspar Championship) and TPC Harding Park (PGA Championship, Presidents Cup, WGC-Dell Technologies Championship) are all either current or former TOUR venues. For more information and to register for UNDERRATED Golf events, click here.

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