Leaderboard: Playoff forced at RSM Classic

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Justin Thomas was already salivating over the prospect of an ice bath. Cameron Smith was craving a cold shower and an even colder beer. Sam Burns went for a nap and Patrick Cantlay was making sure his fluid intake was as high as humanly possible. It wasn’t the hottest PGA TOUR event on record at the BMW Championship but with the elevation changes at Caves Valley coupled with the mercury pushing 90 degrees all day and the humidity making it feel like triple figures, it certainly was a grind. With the race for the FedExCup heating up as much as the conditions players found themselves very focused on recovery between rounds. Those with the ultimate prize and $15million bonus in their sites know they must navigate seven more rounds while staying as fresh as possible. Co-leader Jon Rahm was looking at the bright side of his COVID enforced break from the recent Olympics after an 8-under 64 projected him to the top of the FedExCup standings. “Luckily, I had a month off, so it helps. Those guys that went to the Olympics and played Memphis and played more events than me may be a little bit more tired, but really that shouldn’t be an excuse in my case,” Rahm said. “On Tuesday when I came to the course I didn’t do too much. I didn’t even venture out on the golf course because I knew it was a tough walk. I just hit some balls, a little bit of putting and chipping and went home. “On days like that what I really prioritize is hydration. If you get dehydrated in the middle, it’s going to affect you over the next few weeks.” Water was on Xander Schauffele’s mind as well and he was throwing them back in the early stages of his 5-under 67. Of course the side effect of this was nature calling and when he stopped for relief after the 10th hole, he accidentally left his putter leaning up against the outside of the port-a-john. It wasn’t until after his wedge shot on the 11th hole that the recent gold medalist and caddie Austin Kaiser realized the mistake with Kaiser sent on a sprint back up the hill some 300-yards to retrieve it. Kaiser needed a couple extra hydration beverages afterwards. “Yeah, that’s my fault. I thought he grabbed it, which is my fault, and then I didn’t look, which is my fault again, so I had like a triple whammy there. And then he had to run back, and then I missed the putt after, so it was really not a good hole for me,” Schauffele laughed. “It was nice that the crowd got him going coming in because he was huffing and puffing.” Smith, the runner up at THE NORTHERN TRUST last week, said he was mindful of his walking pace throughout his 4-under 68. Already certain to start the TOUR Championship in a high seed Smith is looking to balance his energy through this week and next. “We were probably walking a bit slower than what we typically do and trying to find shade a lot… it was brutal out there today,” the Australian said. “Those last probably four or five holes, it gets to you and you start thinking, when is this going to end. You’ve just got to be smart about it. “I’m from Queensland where it gets hot, so it doesn’t really bother me, it just takes a lot out of me. So now I’m looking forward to a quick massage, then cold shower and a couple cold beers.” Despite the sunny conditions the PGA TOUR utilized preferred lies in the opening round thanks to remnants of Tropical Storm Henri that have kept the fairways soggy underneath. With temperatures to continue to soar through the final three days, but also the chance of thunderstorms, that could continue throughout. “Based on the remnants of Hurricane Henri that brought 2-3 inches of rain to Caves Valley Golf Club over the weekend, combined with extreme heat, high dew point and humidity, the PGA TOUR Competitions Committee has granted players the ability to utilize preferred lies in closely-mown areas for Round 1 of the BMW Championship,” Chief Referee Steve Rintoul said earlier in the day. “Unfortunately, the conditions we’ve been dealt, along with no wind to speak of, has slowed the drying of the golf course. In some instances, players will be dealing with some extreme mud adhering to the golf ball that will affect its flight in unpredictable ways. THE PGA TOUR has a philosophy in place for using preferred lies for two reasons, one is temporary water and the second is for this exact situation which will allow us to deliver a more-even playing field.”

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• COURSE: TPC Kuala Lumpur (West), 7,005 yards, par 72. Located just five miles from the city’s heart, the facility spent its first 25 years as Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club before joining the TPC Network two summers ago. No stranger to high-level events, the West layout has served as host on both the PGA TOUR and European Tour schedules, holding the Malaysian Open site for seven years. The LPGA also makes the club’s East course an annual stop, with Shanshan Feng set to defend her title at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia at the end of the month. The club’s original 1991 Nelson & Haworth layout was given a thorough redesign in 2008 by Ted and Geoff Parslow.  • FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. • CHARITY: The CIMB Foundation supports some 130 charities, with emphasis on projects relating to community development, education and sports. In addition to developing junior golf in Southeast Asia, the foundation also sponsors programs in squash, soccer and cycling. • FIELD WATCH: New FedExCup champion Justin Thomas, winner of the past two CIMB crowns, and world No. 3 Hideki Matsuyama headline a limited field of just 78 players. Eleven entrants finished among the top 30 in last season’s FedExCup points race. … Matsuyama and THE PLAYERS champion Si Woo Kim are among nine teammates from the International squad that competed in the Presidents Cup at Liberty National. … Xander Schauffele, whose TOUR Championship victory at East Lake sealed Rookie of the Year honors, makes the first start of his second TOUR season. … The field boasts 10 major championship winners, including newly enshrined World Golf Hall of Famer Davis Love III. … Ten berths are held for top Asian Tour players; local exemptions were given to Malaysian pros Danny Chia and Nicholas Fung. • 72-HOLE RECORD: 261, Bo Van Pelt (2011 at The Mines Resort & GC). KLGCC record: 262, Justin Thomas (2015). • 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, Nick Watney (4th round, 2012 at The Mines Resort & GC), Justin Thomas (2nd round, 2015 at KLGCC). • LAST YEAR: Thomas chased down Anirban Lahiri to successfully defend his first PGA TOUR title, closing with an 8-under-par 64 that was two shots better than anyone else in the field. Thomas began the final day four shots behind Lahiri, but birdied four of his first five holes while the Indian pro stumbled with a quadruple bogey at No. 3. From there, Thomas added three more back-nine birdies to finish three shots ahead of Matsuyama (66), who overtook Lahiri for second with birdies at Nos. 17 and 18. After fixing an alignment issue midway through his third round, Thomas played his final 23 holes in 13-under par. He became the first man to successfully defend a title since Matt Every at the 2015 Arnold Palmer Invitational. • STORYLINES: Thomas is the latest with an eye on the TOUR’s first three-peat since Steve Stricker won three John Deere Classics from 2009-11. The only others to do that in the past dozen years: Tiger Woods (three times) and Stuart Appleby (Sentry Tournament of Champions 2004-06). … Matsuyama, who struggled throughout the FedExCup Playoffs and went just 1-2-1 at the Presidents Cup, hopes his singles win over Thomas and a return to his home continent ignites a spark. … No Asian Tour pro has won the CIMB Classic, though Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat nearly pulled it off in 2013. Aphibarnrat finished one shot out of joining Ryan Moore and Gary Woodland in a playoff. • SHORT CHIPS: A total of 29 players are heading to Malaysia from the Safeway Open that starts the new PGA TOUR season. That includes Emiliano Grillo, who also competed in the Presidents Cup a week earlier. … Doubles have been in style since the event moved to the TPC Kuala Lumpur in 2013. Moore won the first two editions, followed by Thomas going back-to-back. … Even with a history dating only to 2010, no one has teed it up in every CIMB Classic. Moore, Marc Leishman and John Senden each played six of the first seven, but none of the three are entered this week. • TELEVISION: Wednesday-Thursday, 10:30 p.m.-2:30 a.m. ET (Golf Channel). Friday-Saturday, 11 p.m.-3 a.m. (GC). • PGA TOUR LIVE: None. • RADIO: None.

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To corn farmers and their communities in the Midwest, to be knee-high by the Fourth of July means something. It’s the easy-to-remember phrase to measure the growth of the crop on a specific date and get a feel for the eventual yield. The statistical abstract of the exercise also can be a way for PGA TOUR members to size up their placement in the FedExCup standings. With only five weeks and seven tournaments contributing to set the field for the Playoffs and begin the process of assigning membership status for next season, the John Deere Classic is a timely checkpoint immediately after America’s birthday. TPC Deere Run annually is there for the taking. It’s right out there in front of the field of 156 assembled in Silvis, Illinois. The only trick is to capitalize on one of the easiest par 71s on the schedule. Scroll past the projected contenders for a confirmation of the expectation, Dylan Frittelli’s curious path to his breakthrough victory in 2019 and more. RELATED: How the field qualified | The First Look POWER RANKINGS: JOHN DEERE CLASSIC Kevin Na, Si Woo Kim, Pat Perez, Charles Howell III and defending champion Dylan Frittelli will be among the notables reviewed in Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider. As golden as the fields surrounding the Quad Cities, so is the anniversary of the John Deere Classic. This week’s tournament is celebrating its 50th since the inaugural staging won by Deane Beman in 1971. It wasn’t an official event until the following year, but Beman won that one, too. Two years later, he became the second commissioner of the PGA TOUR. The 2020 edition was canceled by the pandemic, so Frittelli has been among the throng who has experienced an extra year as a defending champion. The South African already had a pair of victories on the European Tour, but his title at TPC Deere Run in 2019 served as his coronation on the PGA TOUR. In what was his tournament debut (and as a first-time TOUR member), Frittelli adhered to the script for what it takes to tackle TPC Deere Run. He ranked T10 in greens in regulation, 15th in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and second in SG: Putting. Hidden on his scorecards was the fact that he led the field in scrambling, salvaging 15 of 16 chances, but he had to because he was a pedestrian 35th in turning greens in regulation into par breakers. If you were to ask Frittelli which is more important at the Deere, scoring or saving par, the correct answer would be, “Yes.” His missed only two of 62 tries inside 10 feet and was perfect on 53 looks inside seven feet. The output was a two-stroke margin of victory at 21-under 263. The field averaged a predictable 69.510 and it clobbered the ball off the tee like it hadn’t collectively in years. The average distance of all drives was 293.1 yards. That’s nine yards longer than the longest of the previous five editions (2017). Some regression to the historical mean should be expected, but that fact is incentive not to throttle down. There have been no changes to the 7,268-yard walk. Just as it has been in the two non-majors since the U.S. Open at Torrey PInes, primary rough is trimmed to four inches and the bentgrass greens are governed to average 12 feet on the Stimpmeter. After a pleasant opener with a high in the upper 70s, rain and maybe storms could disrupt the proceedings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Wind likely will pose a problem only in the form of outflows from encroaching inclement weather. The final exemption into The Open Championship is reserved for the top finisher at TPC Deere Run, not otherwise exempt. As of Monday, 15 in the field already have qualified. 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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