Day 2 at the Ryder Cup: U.S. has serious work to do

The Masters? The Open Championship? As fans marvel at Tiger Woods’ recovery and anticipate his return, larger questions remain about the circumstances of Woods’ 2021 accident.

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The Regular Season has been nothing short of “regular” but it will conclude this week with FedExCup Playoff spots up for grabs at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, NC. The end of the line is a familiar one as Sedgefield has hosted the final Regular Season event annually since 2008. Eligibility for the 2020-2021 season is not on the line, but only the top 125 players will advance to THE NORTHERN TRUST next week. Usually the only Donald Ross design on TOUR during the Regular Season, Sedgefield was joined this year and last by another, Detroit Golf Club. Kris Spence oversaw the redo here in 2007 and another in 2012, which included adding Champion Bermuda greens. Sedgefield plays 25 yards longer this season as a new tee box was added to Hole No. 14 but still doesn’t stretch over 7,200 yards. Champion Bermuda greens are above average in size and always roll perfectly, hence the low scores. RELATED: Power Rankings | Expert Picks The Par-70 is protected by 52 bunkers and five water hazards but the openness and lack of rough makes it annually one of the easiest tracks on TOUR. In fact, it has played as the easiest or second-easiest Par-70 over the last three seasons and spits out low scores as the rule, not the exception. Wrapping up at the Wyndham means four days of breaking par and keeping any score with 70-something off the card. J.T. Poston will look to become the first to defend his title and win on this track for a second time. He’ll lead the field of 156 competing for a piece of the $6.4 million purse ($1.154 winner) and those very last, precious FedExCup Points (500 winner). Recent Winners at Wyndham 2019: J.T. Poston (-22) Final round 62, tied for the lowest winning score for a winner in tournament history to win by one over Webb Simpson. … Bogey-free winner for the first time ANYWHERE on TOUR since Lee Trevino in 1974. … North Carolina native won for the first time on TOUR. … Trailed by three shots after each round. … Fantastic performance included T2 Fairways, first GIR, T3 Proximity and T1 Scrambling. … Fourth consecutive winner to finish top 3 in Strokes-Gained: Approach. … Third winner in four to finish first or second in Strokes-Gained: Tee to Green. … Tied tournament scoring record. Notables: Simpson, the last native North Carolinian to win before Poston, (T2) and Billy Horschel (T6) co-led the field in par-breakers. … 2015 champ Si Woo Kim (T5) closed with 64. … Josh Teater (T6) was only one of two players in the top 30 to sign for a round above 70. … Brice Garnett (T6) played in the final group and closed with 70. … Sungjae Im (T6) opened with 62, one of three on the week. … Cut was 4-under, as lift, clean and place was in effect the first two rounds. … Top 47 players 10-under or better. … Four rounds above 70 of the top 40 players. … Two players broke into the top 125 (Patton Kizzire, Andrew Landry). 2018: Brandt Snedeker (-21) Fired 59 in the first round to set the course record and a foundation for wire-to-wire victory. … Won by three shots over CT Pan and Simpson. … Only player to win at Forest Oaks (2007) and Sedgefield. … Only fifth 59 of 10 to go on to win. … Missed tournament scoring record by a shot. … Not surprisingly only winner in last six top 10 Strokes-Gained: Around the Green. … Top 10 Par-4 scoring (T3) same as the last six winners. … Only winner in last six (T51) outside top 10 in driving accuracy. Notables: Pan was tied with Snedeker on No. 18 tee box before hitting it OB. … Simpson closed with 62, his best ever. … Jim Furyk (T4) closed with 63. … Brian Gay (T6) had a 63-62 Friday-Saturday. … 2009 champ Ryan Moore (T6) opened with 63. … Cut was 3-under. … Top 40 10-under or better. … One round OVER par in the top 25 players. … Two players broke into the top 125 (Harris English, Nick Taylor). 2017: Henrik Stenson (-22) Set tournament record (Par-70) as he made his one-shot 54-hole lead stand up. … Opened with 62 and trailed by one to Matt Every. … T8 fairways, T3 GIR, 1st Proximity and T3 Strokes-Gained: Putting. … T2 Par-3 and Par-4 scoring. … Led the field in Birdie-or-Better Percentage. … Won on fourth visit. … Second highest OWGR winner (No. 8) in tournament history behind Hal Sutton (No. 4) in 2000. Notables: Simpson (T3) opened with 63 finished four back. … 36- hole leader Ryan Armour (T4) posted 61 in Round 2, good for co-low round of the week with Every. … Rory Sabbatini (T6) picked up his third top 10 in four starts. … Shane Lowry (T7) was joined by Davis Love III (T10) and Harold Varner III (T10) to round out the top 10. … Cut 3-under. … Top 27 10-under or better. … Four players advance to the FedExCup Playoffs. Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2019-2020 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. * – Top 10 at Sedgefield since 2015 Rounds in the 60s 1 Mark Hubbard 2 *Sungjae Im 9 Brendon Todd 13 Doc Redman 13 *Brian Harman (T6, 2019) 19 Patrick Rodgers 19 Henrik Norlander 22 Harry Higgs 22 Harris English (never MC in six) 24 Brian Stuard 24 *JT Poston 24 Carlos Ortiz 24 Maverick McNealy 24 Talor Gooch Greens in Regulation 1 *Jim Furyk 2 Kyle Stanley 3 Aaron Wise 5 Corey Conners 7 Russell Henley 8 *Josh Teater 9 Will Gordon 10 *Paul Casey (T3, 2015) 11 Harris English 12 Doc Redman 14 Nick Watney 15 *Brice Garnett 17 Pat Perez 17 Matthew NeSmith 19 Henrik Norlander 24 *Harold Varner III 25 Russell Knox 25 Chesson Hadley Birdie-or-Better Percentage 4 *Webb Simpson 7 Seamus Power 9 *Patrick Reed (2013 winner) 14 Chesson Hadley 16 Anirban Lahiri 17 Will Gordon 22 Bronson Burgoon 25 Maverick McNealy 26 *Sungjae Im 29 Xinjun Zhang 30 Sebastian Munoz 31 Denny McCarthy 32 Danny Lee 33 Peter Uihlein 35 Charl Schwartzel Greenbacks in Greensboro Webb Simpson: 2011 champ has cashed in 10 of 11 with nine top 25s and seven top 10s. Hit the podium the last three seasons and is 57-under over that stretch with all 12 rounds in the red. Scoring average 66.79. Brandt Snedeker: 2018 champ has been paid off in 10 of 12 with six of those in the top 10. Five straight at the event includes three inside T5. Billy Horschel: T5 2016 began a run of four straight weekends and includes T11 2018 and T6 last year. Of 30 rounds career 27 are par or better including the last 19. Ryan Moore: Enters with five straight at Sedgefield under his belt. T10 in 2015 adds to T24 in 2017 plus T6 on his last visit in 2018. Rory Sabbatini: Top 10 results in three of his last four visits but paydays in all of them. Patrick Reed: Never missed in five chances and the last four are all T24 or better including his win. Sergio Garcia: 2012 champ has never cashed worse than T29 in four starts at Sedgefield.

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Rikuya Hoshino (+10000) … Qualifying for the Olympics in his native Japan is reason enough to celebrate, but he’s also been assigned the opening tee ball at Kasumigaseki Country Club’s East Course on Thursday morning. Fellow countryman Hideki Matsuyama, who is positioned 20th in the Official World Golf Ranking, has hogged international headlines as the first male Japanese golfer to win a major (2021 Masters), but the 25-year-old Hoshino is second-best at 86th in the OWGR and he continues to pace his home circuit’s money list with a trio of victories in the 2020-21 season. The intangible benefits of the home game also should ease him quickly into a comfort zone. Henrik Norlander (+10000) … The 34-year-old from Sweden has had little trouble in retaining his position in the heart of the FedExCup in what is his now his fourth season on the PGA TOUR. He’s 81st in points with a T5 at the Barbasol Championship as the nearest event in his rearview mirror. His performance at Keene Trace was a microcosm of why he’s dangerous every time he pegs it, with better-than-average metrics across the board. His tee-to-green game not only is his moneymaker, it’s also the default expectation to define who medals on the unfamiliar greens of Kasumigaseki. Thomas Detry (+8000) … It’s just a matter of time before he wins for the first time on the European Tour, and if it happens at the Olympics, it’d qualify as his breakthrough since it’s an official event on the circuit. In the last 12 months, the 28-year-old Belgian has a quartet of runner-up finishes, including a pair in his last five starts. Since joining the European Tour in 2017, he’s totaled five seconds and five thirds. While prone to the big number, his proclivity to attack pins is encouraged by large greens and the absence of a cut. Carl Yuan (+15000) … After relocating from his native China to Florida, he played collegiately at the University of Washington for three years before turning professional in 2018. It was that summer when he prevailed as an amateur at the Qingdao Championship on the PGA TOUR China. By 2019, he was a regular on the Korn Ferry Tour where he remains a member. At least for now. Currently 31st in KFT points on the strength of a trio of runner-up finishes among six top 10s, he’s challenging for one of the 25 automatic cards reserved for the 2021-22 PGA TOUR. Ranks 24th in greens hit and second in par-5 scoring average. With that success and his muscle off the tee, the 640-yard par-5 fifth and 625-yard par-5 14th holes will be opportunities for the 24-year-old to separate. Kristian Krogh Johannessen (+40000) … Joins countryman Viktor Hovland and representatives of Norway, and the attention here is all about striking while his irons are hot. It was earlier this month when Johannessen rose to a career-best 280th in the Official World Golf Ranking because the 26-year-old has been lighting up the Challenge Tour for two months. In his most recent six starts on that tour, he’s gone T5-T2-T23-T15-T9-T16. Odds were sourced on Tuesday, July 27 at 5 a.m. ET. For live odds visit betmgm. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.

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