Leaderboard: What’s happening at the Sony Open

Holding steady in gusty conditions and drawing on close calls earlier this season, Sam Burns cards a final-round 68 to hold off Keegan Bradley (71) by three at the Valspar Championship. With his first PGA TOUR win, Burns moves from 47th to 14th in the FedExCup – making him the biggest mover of the week – and becomes the second-youngest Valspar champ (24 years, 9 months, 9 days) after Jordan Spieth (21) in 2015. Here are five stories you may have missed from the Valspar Championship. 1. Burns back amongst talented peers After a distinguished amateur and collegiate (LSU) career, Burns turned pro but fell behind contemporaries Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa and Matthew Wolff, all of whom won straight away. It wasn’t a lack of talent; instead, Burns broke his ankle playing pickup basketball with neighborhood kids in his rookie season in 2019. Although he had played well enough to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs that year, he shut it down in July. Then he missed the cut in four of his first five starts last season. “I wasn’t ready to play yet, but I tried to play,” he said at the Valspar after converting a 54-hole lead to a victory for the first time in three tries this season. “I just played awful for a month straight and just finally was like, hey, this is not a good idea long-term, I’m only creating bad habits and my body doesn’t feel good, my ankle doesn’t feel good, so let’s just shut it down until we feel like we’re ready. And that was a big learning moment for me.” Strange stat of the week: Burns made two eagles and two birdies to play the par-5 first hole in 6 under for the week, the most under par on that hole for anyone in Valspar Championship history. For more on Burns, click here. 2. Thomas retakes FedExCup lead Justin Thomas had the second-worst putting week of his career in finishing T13. That was the bad news. The good news is that he was aces from tee to green, leading the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, SG: Approach-the-Green, and SG: Tee-to-Green. It was the first time in his career that Thomas has led the field in all three categories for the week. What’s more, he will head to this week’s Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, where he captured the 2017 PGA Championship, as the FedExCup leader again, by 30 points over Bryson DeChambeau. “I’m playing some really good golf and I’m really, really close to, I feel like, getting it going here pretty good,” Thomas said. “So, yeah, it’s a good kind of bonus for a so-so week.” Even better, he celebrated his 28th birthday last week. For more on Thomas, click here. 3. Bradley sees silver lining One day after the Kentucky Derby, the Valspar was a two-horse race. Then Keegan Bradley hit what he admitted was “a terrible shot” into the water at the par-3 13th hole. The ensuing double-bogey gave Sam Burns a lead he would never relinquish, but Bradley still saw the positives after signing for an even-par 71. Bradley’s seventh runner-up finish in 273 TOUR starts marked the third time he’s failed to close out a 54-lead/co-lead on TOUR, but his second-round 63 tied his career low on TOUR. He also climbed 30 spots to 36th in the FedExCup standings and is trending in the right direction. “My game is in great shape,” said Bradley, a four-time TOUR winner whose most recent victory came at the 2018 BMW Championship. “I’m playing (the Wells Fargo) in Charlotte, I got the PGA coming up in a couple weeks – this is the best I’ve played in a very long time, even before I had won even when I had won BMW, this is the best I’ve felt, so I’m excited.” 4. Great run continues for Hovland Viktor Hovland continues to enjoy a spectacular season. Making his Valspar debut, he shot a final-round 65 – low round of the day – for a T3 finish. In the process he moved from seventh to third in the FedExCup, and to 11th in the Official World Golf Ranking. Not bad for a guy who is only 23 and turned pro less than two years ago. “Obviously getting another win would be very fun,” Hovland said, “but just being consistent week in, week out is, yeah, I take a lot of satisfaction from that.” 5. Ancer heads to Quail Hollow in good form Abraham Ancer, the breakout star of the 2019 International Presidents Cup Team, shot a final-round 69 to finish solo fifth at the Valspar. It was his career-best 11th top-25 finish in 17 starts this season. He moved up to 33rd in the FedExCup and this week heads to the Wells Fargo at Quail Hollow Club, which will host the 2022 Presidents Cup. “Just try to figure it out, just try to play it,” he said of his plans. “I only played it I think once before. It’s a big golf course, so I know I have to be in the fairway almost every time to be able to have a chance for birdie, obviously, but, yeah, just to get more comfortable, get some rounds in, practice pretty much every day before the tournament starts and just get as many reps as I can.” As for any Presidents Cup prep with the team, Ancer said it was still too early. “Not really,” he said. “I think we just going to go do our thing. We might catch some dinner, whatever, hang out, but nothing crazy.” COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10 The Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 highlights and rewards the extraordinary level of play required to earn a spot in the TOP 10 at the conclusion of the FedExCup regular season. The competition will conclude prior to the FedExCup PLAYOFFS where the top 10 FedExCup points leaders will be recognized and awarded as the most elite in golf. Week after week, shot after shot, each event matters more than ever before. Who will finish in the Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10? 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After a thrilling U.S. Open, the Travelers Championship is next up on the PGA TOUR docket. The players will travel across the country from San Diego to TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut. The course will play as a short 6,841-yard par 70 and the greens will be a mix of bentgrass and poa annua. This is a full-field event and so there will be around 156 golfers teeing it up, with the top 65 and ties making the weekend. Last year, the event was one of the first in a handful of events that occurred after the COVID restart and was won by Dustin Johnson, who finished at 19-under, one shot ahead of Kevin Streelman. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: $1 Million Dollar Pitch + Putt [$250,000 to 1st] STRATEGY The Travelers is a fun event with a course that caters to scoring and doesn’t play favorites with any one type of style or player. We’ve seen players who knock the ball well under 300 yards off the tee do well here — Jim Furyk shot a 58 at this event in 2016 — but have also had big hitters like Marc Leishman, Bubba Watson and the aforementioned Johnson find success here as well. TPC River Highlands is technically a Pete Dye venue, although it’s more of a Dye redesign as he helped restructure the course back in 1982. Still, the shorter par 70 plays like many of his classic venues in that things typically get harder as you approach the pin. The course is set in a classic parkland setting but does have some man-made water hazards that come into play on five of the holes. Water is also prominent down the stretch, mainly on the driveable par-4 15th and the shorter pa- 3 16th. Despite those holes being shorter and offering birdie chances, they have also been the site of numerous blowups down the stretch. From a statistical perspective, TPC River Highlands has some of the easiest to hit fairways on Tour, with driving accuracy numbers here hitting close to 70% for the field, which is about 5-10% higher than the normal TOUR average. Things get a little tougher as players approach the green, but the greens here aren’t typically that difficult to hit either. Where TPC River Highlands does offer some difficulty is around the greens as scrambling here does tend to be tougher than usual, with scrambling percentages typically being 2-4% below TOUR average. Still, players don’t necessarily need to be expert scramblers to win here as they won’t typically be missing a ton of greens if their irons are firing. Four of the past five winners gained 5.0 strokes or more on approach in the year of their victory. We have seen recent winners like Bubba Watson (2018) and Jordan Spieth (2017) get hot around the greens here too — both gained over 3.0 strokes ATG in the year of their win — so if you’re not targeting a player with top of the line Approach stats, make sure they can at least scramble a bit or have some kind of solid Dye course history to fall back on. Johnson won here last season while going off around +2500 to +3000 in the betting odds, and this event has gifted us a few big winners over time with Russell Knox (2016) and Chez Reavie (2019) going off in the +5000 to +7000 range for betting odds. Still, this event has typically catered to players with great course history, so don’t be afraid to target the big names who have some experience playing the venue. GOLFERS TO CONSIDER Bryson DeChambeau (+1200 to Win, $11,100 on DraftKings) Despite this course catering less to bombers than Torrey Pines, Bryson has shown some real affinity for TPC River Highlands. The 2020 U.S. Open winner has finished inside the top 10 at this venue in each of the past three seasons and has gained 3.0 strokes or more putting in each of those appearances. Bryson’s best weapon is obviously his driver, but he’s started to figure out how to be more consistent around these shorter venues recently and came close to grabbing his first win at THE PLAYERS just a couple of months ago on the claustrophobic TPC Sawgrass — another Pete Dye venue. Bryson ranks eighth in Strokes Gained: Putting on Poa/Bentgrass over the past 50 rounds and should certainly be motivated for a big week after falling apart on the back nine at Torrey Pines on Sunday after being in contention for his second straight U.S. Open trophy. His odds to win here are actually quite fair considering his win rate (three wins in 22 PGA TOUR starts) since the COVID-19 restart occurred. Paul Casey (+1200 to Win, $9,900 on DraftKings) Casey sets up as a great course history play. The Englishman has played in this event in each of the past five seasons and leads the field in Strokes Gained: Total over that span. He lost in a playoff here to Bubba Watson in 2015 and also finished T2 here (again to Bubba Watson) in 2018. Casey clearly loves the layout and sightlines here as he’s gained over 5.0 strokes ball striking at TPC River Highlands in five of his six career appearances at this event. His win rate doesn’t stack up as well to the other young players in the game, but he’s been so prolific at this venue that his outright odds don’t seem too out of line. His recent form is also fantastic as his last two PGA TOUR starts have both yielded top-10 finishes at majors, including a T7 last week at Torrey Pines where he shot seven-under on the weekend and ranked 15th in putts per GIR. Russell Henley (+6000 to Win, $8,300 on DraftKings) Henley is coming off an exciting U.S. Open which saw him enter Sunday tied for the lead and in the second-to-last grouping. The American was firing with his irons in that event and ended the week T8 in Greens in Regulation percentage. He also has one of the more underrated course histories at TPC River Highlands having finished T11 (2016) and T6 (2018) here over the past five seasons. In both those finishes, Henley was in contention late down the stretch and his profile definitely fits this course well. He ranks third in SG: Approach stats over the past 50 rounds and while he can be streaky on the greens, Henley’s definitely capable of getting hot enough with the putter to grab a big week here, especially given what he’s capable of with his short irons. His betting number is more than fair given the setup for the week, which has always been one where shorter hitters like Henley have been able to compete. Aaron Wise (+8000 to Win, $7,400 on DraftKings) Wise looks discounted in the odds here. The 2018 winner of the Byron Nelson has been having a very solid bounce-back year and comes in with momentum after a solid T9 against a very tough field at The Memorial. He missed out on U.S. Open qualifying but will now have the advantage of a week of rest vs. a lot of the field who are coming over from Torrey Pines. He’s gained 3.0 strokes or more on approach in each of his past two starts and has also been positive in strokes gained on and around the greens of late. Wise only finished T46 at this event last season (2020) but was in horrible form at the time so just the fact he made the cut that week should be looked at as a positive. All his metrics are on the rise at this point and he offers himself up as a great mid-range to higher-odds target in betting and for DFS. Refer a friend and get $20 DK Dollars! Head to the DraftKings Playbook Promo page for more details! Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: $1 Million Dollar Pitch + Putt [$250,000 to 1st] Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL). Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ/WV/PA/MI), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (NH/CO), 1-800-BETS OFF(IA), 1-888-532-3500 (VA) or call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN). 21+ (18+ NH). CO/IL/IN/IA/NH/NJ/PA/TN/VA/WV/MI only. Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for full terms and conditions.

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FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Seventy-two holes is a small sample, tiny enough to produce outlier results, but it also provides ample time for regression. That’s what happened to Brooks Koepka on Saturday at Bethpage Black. His record-setting pace slowed, but he still played well enough to put the PGA Championship to a premature end. This thing is over after Koepka shot 70 on Saturday to keep his seven-shot advantage. He sits at 12-under 198 (63-65-70). It’s the largest 54-hole lead in this tournament’s history, one that would require a historic collapse for Koepka to not leave Bethpage Black with the Wanamaker Trophy in hand. “I’m definitely not going to let up,â€� said Koepka, who continued to bash driver with abandon even as his lead neared double-digits early in Saturday’s round. Bethpage Black may feature single-file fairways, but they’re no match for Koepka’s combination of length and accuracy. It was the putter that let him down in the third round. Even though the putts didn’t fall, he still beat the field scoring average by more than two shots on a day when an inconsistent breeze blew through the Black Course. Six shots is the largest 54-hole lead lost in PGA TOUR history. It was done most recently by Dustin Johnson, at the 2017 World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions. Johnson is in the pack of Koepka’s closest pursuers, and he’s the only one with a PGA TOUR victory, let alone a major, to his name. Luke List, Harold Varner III and Jazz Janewattananond also are 5-under par. “I know guys are going to have to push on this golf course, and if you have to push, you’re going to make mistakes,â€� Koepka said. He seems immune to them because he has the strength to recover even on the rare occasions that he does miss his mark. He hit just half his fairways Saturday, but still hit 14 greens. He’s made just five bogeys in 54 holes. The 15th hole provided the perfect example of the advantage that his strength provides. Both he and playing partner Jordan Spieth missed the fairway on that long, uphill par-4. Spieth had to swing with all his might just to get his ball in the front bunker. Koepka was able to give himself a 15-foot birdie putt. Koepka leads the field in greens hit (43 of 54) and proximity (26 feet, 1 inch). His Strokes Gained: Approach is +11.16, four more than the next-best player. “When I’m over the shot, I’m very confident,â€� Koepka said. His iron play was good enough for him to shoot even-par Saturday despite losing more than two strokes on the greens. Two of Saturday’s three bogeys were three-putts, including a miss from 3 feet on the ninth hole. Players can be deserted quickly by a hot putter. It’s less likely that their ball-striking will leave them when they need it most. That’s why it seems unfathomable that Koepka’s incredible week at Bethpage Black would end with him setting an ignominious mark. When asked if he had any doubt that he would win, Koepka was quick to answer. “No.â€� It was the only reasonable answer, even if players are taught to hide behind humility.” “I feel confident. I feel good. I feel excited,â€� Koepka said. “I was excited to get to the golf course and try to build the lead.â€� He did, with birdies on two of his first five holes. But then he had to grind as the wind picked up and he entered Bethpage’s toughest holes. He made back-to-back bogeys on 9 and 10 after making just two in his first 44 holes. Playing the last eight holes in even par, with a birdie on 13 and three-putt on 16, was enough for him to regain a seven-shot advantage. “He’s tough. Major championships are about heart and taking pain,â€� said his instructor, Claude Harmon III. “You ask any of the guys who do it, you’re going to have these runs. He made two bogeys back-to-back and then he made birdie when he needed to and had good looks on 15 and 17. He stands up and hits good shots when it counts.â€� That may be an even bigger asset than his strength. Even brutish Bethpage Black has yet to get the best of him. His demeanor never changed, even when the New York fans booed after he missed short putts. “I know what I’m doing. It’s simpler than what guys think,â€� Koepka said. “It’s just focus. It’s grind it out, suck it up and move on.â€� Koepka kept doing that Saturday, and with each step he got closer to another major championship.

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