Horses for Courses: World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship

Here are nine tidbits from the final round of the AT&T Byron Nelson that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Trinity Forest Golf Club just south of Dallas hosts for the first time and plays 7,380 yards to a Par-71. Wise Won 21-year old Aaron Wise fired a final-round 65 to post 23-under-par 261. He defeated Marc Leishman by three shots to win for the first time in his 26th career start on TOUR. The rookie joins Austin Cook and Satoshi Kodaira as the only rookies to collect the biggest check this season. After finishing T2 at the Wells Fargo Championship two weeks ago, I don’t need to detail his story again but he checks off a major box in fantasy golf: He’s a winner. He won in college, on the MacKenzie Tour and last year on the Web.com Tour. Guys like him have closed the deal enough times to know what it takes to slam the door shut. His stellar play included leading the field in SG: approach the green and GIR as he found 66 of 72. He was second in SG: off the tee and tee to green, plus was T2 with 25 birdies. He was a slacker off the tee as he hit just 50 of 56 fairways, just good enough for T6. I think we learned plenty from the former Oregon Duck this week. I’ve seen plenty of guys finish T2, take a week off and then disappear. Instead he was in the final pairing on Sunday, tied with Marc Leishman, and beat him by three shots. Moving forward gamers have to pay attention as his two best finishes were on a very difficult Quail Hollow Club track and a brand new layout at Trinity Forest. His flexibility to play well on both of those tracks shows how special his game is and can be. PGA TOUR Fantasy Game presented by SERVPRO top selections: So much for Jordan Spieth and his 45 previous rounds on this course! I thought he’d have a distinct advantage this week, especially on the greens, but that was hardly the case. He knocked the cover off the ball but couldn’t get it in the hole as his trusty short game, both chipping AND putting, let him down. He rakes at Colonial so he goes right back into the lineup for me next week. PGA TOUR One & Done presented by SERVPRO top selections: Jimmy Walker doubled No. 18 Saturday and added another bogey on Sunday but after a high-pressure T2 last week at THE PLAYERS, I’m not sure any of us can complain. This is the latest in the season I’ve EVER used him in One & Done games so I’m down with a top 10! It’s great to see him approaching full health as well moving forward. Forest without Trees Trinity Forest played three different styles this week and two of them led to premium scoring conditions. The first two rounds the wind wasn’t in play and Leishman set the low round of the week with 61. After the wind picked up Saturday, the scores went up and the players had to adjust to the cross winds and slicker greens. Finally on Sunday, after a four-hour rain delay, they saw zero wind and optimum scoring conditions including the numbers above in the final round. Of the top 31 players on Sunday, 29 of them were UNDER par. Sunday 62, Again Spieth likened this place to Royal Birkdale before the week started. I opined maybe even similar to Chambers Bay in my preview. Branden Grace has now raked at all three tracks mentioned above. He was leading the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay late on Sunday before one errant tee shot found the train tracks. He is the only player to shoot 62 in a major championship and he did that at Royal Birkdale last summer. His 62 today, with a bogey, on his birthday reinforced his class and a bit of #NappyFactor as he missed the Zurich Classic for the birth of his son. Rounding Off the Podium Keith Mitchell and J.J. Spaun both began the day on 11-under T7. Both finished the day T3 with Grace after firing matching 63’s. This is Mitchell’s third top-10 finish in his last seven events on his own ball. Spaun, who missed time earlier this spring due to a nerve issue in his elbow, picks up his first podium since his solo second at The RSM Classic last November. Spaun opened with 64 so don’t think this is a “one-round wonder”. Open for Business? Most accounts suggested that Adam Scott needed a top-10 finish this week to move into the OWGR top 60 Monday and qualify for the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills next month. With a bogey-free 65 to close, the Aussie finished T9. Since he’s returned to his driver from 2010 and went back to his broomstick putter, he’s cashed T11 and T9 the last two weeks. If he’s No. 61 when it all shakes out on Monday, the former champion at Colonial is in the field this coming week at the Ft. Worth Invitational. Sunday Noise Usually in this section I stick in the contenders that didn’t fire in the final round but with almost the entire field firing under-par scores on Sunday, I’ve chosen a few who might have slipped through the cracks for gamers. Playing on the opposite side of the course, Fabian Gomez, Nate Lashley, Robert Streb and member Beau Hossler all shot 64. They all moved up plenty but there was also a reason they were playing on the other side of the course. … Oh, look, Charles Howell III fired 65-66 on the weekend to claim T9. Study Hall The final round scoring average was 68.253 (-2.747), the easiest of the week and that’s not surprising after the weather delay. … The scoring average for the week was 69.435 (-1.565) as the wind only blew one round of the four. … Ryan Blaum led the field with 26 birdies. … Hideki Matsuyama (T16) beat Spieth this week but I’d take a look at his ball-striking numbers before running him back into the lineup. … Spieth’s longest putt made this week was 12 feet, 11 inches.

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The PGA TOUR uses a standardized system for determining event fields, based off the current season’s Priority Ranking while also including additional exemption and qualifying categories. Field sizes can vary by event, as can the number of event-specific exemptions. Fully exempt PGA TOUR members are guaranteed entry into all full-field events, with various conditional categories subject to periodic reshuffles based upon FedExCup Points accrued throughout the season. Categories with ‘reshuffle’ notation indicate that a reshuffle period has occurred. Mexico Open at Vidanta field list as of Friday, April 22nd at 5 p.m. ET: Check here for updates. Winner of U.S. Open Championship (five-year exemption) Jon Rahm Gary Woodland Winner of Masters Tournament (five-year exemption) Patrick Reed Winner of World Golf Championships event (three-year exemption) Abraham Ancer PGA TOUR tournament winner (two-year exemption) Daniel Berger Cameron Champ Tyler Duncan Tony Finau Lanto Griffin Charles Howell III Matt Jones Sung Kang Nate Lashley Adam Long Graeme McDowell Sebastián Muñoz Kevin Na Carlos Ortiz C.T. Pan J.T. Poston Chad Ramey Chez Reavie Robert Streb Nick Taylor Michael Thompson Brendon Todd Martin Trainer Kevin Tway Richy Werenski Career money exemption Luke Donald Bill Haas * Sponsor’s exemption (Korn Ferry Tour Finals) Isidro Benitez Rafa Cabrera Bello Sponsor’s exemption (members not otherwise exempt) Matt Every Grayson Murray Sponsor’s exemption (unrestricted) Santiago De la Fuente Ben Griffin Jose Cristobal Islas Jose Antonio Safa Designated sponsor exemption Roberto Díaz Armando Favela Manuel Inman Alvaro Ortiz PGA Section Champion\Player of the Year Ben Willman Monday qualifiers Patrick Flavin Jeffrey Kang Bryson Nimmer Turk Pettit Top 125 on prior season’s FedExCup Charley Hoffman Cameron Tringale Aaron Wise Emiliano Grillo Chris Kirk Kevin Streelman Pat Perez Andrew Putnam Doug Ghim Brandon Hagy Peter Malnati Wyndham Clark Adam Schenk Kramer Hickok Brian Stuard Roger Sloan Hank Lebioda James Hahn Russell Knox Matt Wallace Scott Piercy Anirban Lahiri Brice Garnett Scott Stallings # Major medical extension Danny Lee Seung-Yul Noh Jonas Blixt Korn Ferry Tour Points winners (The 25 and The Finals 25) Stephan Jaeger Joseph Bramlett Korn Ferry Tour graduates via The 25 and The Finals 25 (reshuffled) Davis Riley Sahith Theegala Alex Smalley Hayden Buckley Lee Hodges Patrick Rodgers Aaron Rai Christiaan Bezuidenhout Taylor Moore Max McGreevy Vince Whaley Adam Svensson Kurt Kitayama David Lipsky Greyson Sigg John Huh Trey Mullinax Brandon Wu Austin Smotherman Andrew Novak Curtis Thompson Paul Barjon Seth Reeves Justin Lower Dylan Wu Ben Kohles Austin Cook Callum Tarren Nick Hardy Scott Gutschewski Jared Wolfe Kelly Kraft Peter Uihlein David Skinns Michael Gligic Kiradech Aphibarnrat Dawie van der Walt Brett Drewitt Joshua Creel Nos. 126-150 on prior season’s FedExCup Points List (reshuffled) Mark Hubbard Vaughn Taylor Ryan Armour Chase Seiffert Satoshi Kodaira Jim Knous Camilo Villegas Bo Van Pelt Bo Hoag Ryan Blaum $ Reshuffle within categories 34-38 Jonathan Byrd Ben Martin Kevin Chappell Tommy Gainey Aaron Baddeley Robert Garrigus Wesley Bryan Jason Dufner David Lingmerth Mark Hensby Scott Brown Greg Chalmers Ricky Barnes David Hearn Johnson Wagner D.J. Trahan D.A. Points Sangmoon Bae The PGA TOUR uses a standardized system for determining event fields, based off the current season’s Priority Ranking while also including additional exemption and qualifying categories. Field sizes can vary by event, as can the number of event-specific exemptions. Fully exempt PGA TOUR members are guaranteed entry into all full-field events, with various conditional categories subject to periodic reshuffles based upon FedExCup Points accrued throughout the season. Categories with ‘reshuffle’ notation indicate that a reshuffle period has occurred. * = If all prior year Korn Ferry Tour graduates are eligible for event, exemptions become unrestricted # = Latest medical extension information can be found here. $ = Category breakdown can be found here.

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