FedExCup update: Tiger, Spieth, Day among notables in danger of ending season

Catching Up Is Hard to Do The second round of the John Deere Classic resumed at 6:38 a.m. CT on Saturday. Eighty-two golfers survived the 36-hole cut, thus triggering the 54-hole cut of low 70 and ties. With 2.3 inches of rain overnight, the local rule for preferred lies on closely mown areas was in play for the third round and threesomes were sent off split tees. Inclement weather then suspended the third round at 10:38 a.m. After another 0.8 inches of rain fell, play resumed at 1:11 p.m. Continuous play lasted until 5:53 p.m. when inclement weather halted action for the third time in just over 24 hours. Forty-five golfers were stranded until 7:12 p.m., but all finished the third round before dark. Following the Leader After building a three-shot lead at the midpoint, Michael Kim expanded his cushion to five strokes with a third-round 64. He concluded it with four consecutive birdies, all after the second weather delay, to post 22-under 191. With a 66 or lower in the final round, he’ll beat Steve Stricker’s tournament record of 258 in 2010. It’s no wonder why Kim is poised to enter the record books at a tournament that began in 1972. He’s putting up historical numbers. Through 54 holes, he co-leads the field in fairways hit (35 of 42) and leads in both greens in regulation (47) and proximity to the hole (24 feet, six inches). If the aerial assault wasn’t enough punishment on the par 71, he also ranks second in both strokes gained: putting and one-putt percentage. It’s video-game golf on beginner mode. Something will give on Sunday, however. Of 203 qualified for official statistics, Kim ranks 195th in final-round scoring average of 73.14. Hurl into the equation that he’s 161st in the FedExCup standings with only five more weeks before the Playoffs and that he’s not yet exempt for next season, and that five-stroke margin is more valuable than it appears. What a -Goon Maybe that whole thing about the third time being the charm is the real deal. After a T6 at the Quicken Loans National and T30 at Greenbrier (where he entered the final round inside the top 10), Bronson Burgoon stands alone in second place at TPC Deere Run tonight. He walked off his third round with three straight birdies and leads the field in par-5 scoring at bogey-free 9-under with three eagles and three birdies. Moving Day Tyler Duncan is capturing our attention once again. After making the cut by two strokes (for his 10th consecutive payday), the PGA TOUR rookie carded an 8-under 63, best in the field in the third round and a personal-best aggregate of 82 scores. With it, he vaulted 34 spots on the leaderboard and into a share of 12th place entering Sunday’s finale. With 5-under 66s, Patton Kizzire and C.T. Pan rose 31 spots. Both are tied for 34th place. It was a long time coming for the two-time TOUR winner this season as Kizzire hadn’t signed for lower than a 68 since the fourth round of the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship (66). This proves why TPC Deere Run is a track where a touring professional can find his form. Moving Day: Wrong Way Ryan Blaum and non-member Dylan Meyer started the third round inside the top 25, but both shot 1-over 72 to plummet 31 places on the leaderboard before landed at T55. Meyer presented promise entering the tournament with top-20 finishes at the U.S. Open and Quicken Loans National. With his equivalent of 92 FedExCup points, he’d rank 184th among members, so he’s all but a lock to qualify for the Web.com Tour Finals if he doesn’t earn a 2018-19 PGA TOUR card sooner. First-round leader Steve Wheatcroft settled for an even-par 71 in the third round to post 12-under 201. It’s a smack in the face after starting it tied for second and only three swings adrift of Kim. The 54-hole cut snipped 11 who failed to finish inside the low 70 and ties the second time through this week. Notables among this grouping include Chesson Hadley, Bill Haas, Ryan Palmer and Andrew Putnam. First Impression Of the 11 golfers inside the top 10 on the leaderboard, only Matt Jones (3rd), Andres Romero (T5), Robert Garrigus (T7) and Johnson Wagner (T7) are PGA TOUR winners. Kim still has complete 18 holes to break through for his first victory, but with his comfortable overnight lead and the bevy of non-winners in pursuit, the odds are good that the tournament will crown its fourth first time winner since Jordan Spieth emerged from a three-man playoff in 2013. Brian Harman (2014) and Bryson DeChambeau (2017) also converted. Know Thy Enemy These were the top-10 most owned in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO. Congratulations, but … Because the Official World Golf Ranking’s strength-of-field [SOF] rating of the John Deere Classic is only 99, the winner will not receive an exemption into the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. Winners of tournaments with a SOF rating of 115 and greater are awarded a spot in the field at Firestone, including this week’s Scottish Open (312), so the champion in the Quad Cities will have to punch his ticket another way. Seven golfers already exempt into the WGC competed at the JDC. Through 54 holes, tournament debutant Francesco Molinari is positioned at T12, fellow first-timer Austin Cook is T30, Patton Kizzire sits T34 and Andrew Landry is T39. Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau withdrew during his opening round, while both Si Woo Kim and Aaron Wise missed the 36-hole cut. Study Hall The third-round scoring average of 68.99 is the lowest at TPC Deere Run since last year’s 68.19, also in the third round. … There were eight bogey-free scores in the third round to bring the tournament total to 26. … Harold Varner III, who has one of those bogey-free scores (second-round 65), continued his red-hot form with a 66 in the third round. He’s alone in fourth place at 15-under 198 after a career-best-tying T5 last week. … Local favorite Zach Johnson jumped 26 spots to T39 with a 67. … Three-time JDC champ and all-time tournament earnings leader Steve Stricker dropped 25 spots to T49 with a 71. The 51-year-old was the only qualifier at the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship inside the top 50 of the Charles Schwab Cup standings who didn’t commit to the fourth major of the season on the PGA TOUR Champions.

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Consecutive Masters among majors? Two Masters in the same PGA TOUR season? Done and done! At a moment in history when the world turns to a sport to turn bogeys into birdies, there isn't a better way to do it for golfers and fans alike. In the past year, whenever you've heard the phrasing of a return to normal, this is what it means and this is how it feels. It's April and it's time for the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. Beneath 20 projected to contend are thoughts about what the field of 88 can expect, the first peek at the weather and other considerations. RELATED: Nine things to know about Augusta National | How the field qualified | Roundtable: Predictions, favorite traditions & more POWER RANKINGS: MASTERS TOURNAMENT Lee Westwood, Daniel Berger, Jason Day, Justin Rose and Hideki Matsuyama will be among the notables reviewed in Tuesday's Fantasy Insider. If you're open to connecting what is accepted as normal with the most predictive professional golf tournament, then the Masters is for you. Even when it was contested in November, it fulfilled the two true outcomes in the sport. Champion Dustin Johnson was a recent winner upon arrival (three times, in fact) and he wasn't a debutant at Augusta National. Indeed, the easiest trivia question involving the tournament has retained the same answer for over four decades because 1979 Masters champion Fuzzy Zoeller remains the most recent of the three first-time participants in tournament history to prevail. In contrast to the 26 first-timers in the November edition, there are only six in this week's field, and only three of them are professionals - Robert MacIntyre, Carlos Ortiz and Will Zalatoris. Certainly, each has the talent to make noise, but none should be expecting to have Johnson slip the green jacket over his shoulders on Sunday. There's a valid argument that DJ's tournament-record of 20-under 268 five months ago deserves an asterisk. There's an equally strong argument that it doesn't. Augusta National wasn't as speedy in the fall and the construct of the tournament required modifications to complete it in four days. On the other hand, he won by five, in part by leading the field in greens in regulation (averaging 15 per round; no one else averaged more than 14 per) and par-4 scoring. He also co-led in par-3 scoring, ranked T6 in par-5 scoring and finished fourth in scrambling. He was in a zone at the time, and the course helped reveal him as a worthy champion. Cancel the asterisk. Still, the jury remains out on whether Augusta National will continue to yield a scoring average lower than par. In the last edition in April in 2019 and in November of 2020, the field beat 72 both times. It hadn't done that even once since 1992. Fairways and greens were easier to hit, but the conversion percentage of those chances also has increased. While weather impacts every tournament, Augusta National has a SubAir system that it, ahem, masterfully controls. It's not a well-kept secret, nor is it a secret at all, but it's still an underrated component to regulate scoring and green speeds that are not publicized. Rain is all but guaranteed to fall at some point during the tournament. The threat tends to be greater in the afternoon due to daytime heating, and all the way through Saturday. High temps will hover around 80 degrees. Wind could cause pause on Thursday, but ground level is so protected by the topography and mature trees that, once again, experience in it will be the most valuable club in the bag over some shots. For the third straight edition, Augusta National tips at 7,475 yards, but this is just the second consecutive time that the new cut rule is in play. Only the low 50 and ties at the conclusion of 36 holes will advance. The previous provision that also included all golfers within 10 strokes of the lead at the midpoint was eliminated in 2020. ROB BOLTON'S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM's Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Fantasy Insider SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM's Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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