Time running out to win incredible golf experiences

NOTE: Both fantasy games will begin anew with the Safeway Open on Oct. 5-8. PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO The TOUR Championship punctuates not only the 2016-17 season but also a busy and challenging Segment 4. With 12 tournaments, including two majors, a World Golf Championship and four FedExCup Playoffs events, ownership fatigue for the game’s top talents was certain to settle in. Yet, as we learned last week, the breadth of value kept the coffers full. Paul Casey at No. 12 is the most surprising outside the top 10. He’s been a monster in the Playoffs in recent years and he’s been a horse at East Lake, but the Englishman also has been one of the most durable and reliable options on the board all year. In short, if there was going to be someone in the next tier of popular choices for whom gamers would run dry on starts, it’s not a shock at all that it’s Casey. With only 30 in the field, we’re treated to the full array of ownership percentages below. NOTE: Rob’s Rating refers to where our Fantasy Insider slotted a golfer in his Power Rankings (“PR”) and other preview material. Owned Rank, Player Percentage, Rob’s Rating 1st Justin Thomas 59.2% PR6 2nd Justin Rose 57.4% PR2 3rd Marc Leishman 56.3% PR5 4th Jordan Spieth 53.3% PR1 5th Dustin Johnson 50.0% PR3 6th Jon Rahm 47.2% PR9 7th Jason Day 45.1% PR8 8th Rickie Fowler 38.3% PR4 9th Matt Kuchar 24.5% PR13 10th Patrick Cantlay 21.9% PR15 Golfers in the Power Rankings and outside the top 10 in most owned Power Ranking, Player, Owned Rank, Percentage 7 Paul Casey 12th 20.4% 10 Kevin Chappell 21st 4.4% 11 Webb Simpson 19th 4.6% 12 Brooks Koepka 11th 20.4% 14 Sergio Garcia 14th 15.3% 16 Gary Woodland 25th 2.8% 17 Pat Perez 24th 3.0% 18 Hideki Matsuyama 13th 19.0% 19 Jason Dufner 20th 4.5% 20 Daniel Berger 22nd 4.3% 21 Xander Schauffele 29th 1.8% 22 Adam Hadwin 27th 2.4% 23 Tony Finau 15th 10.3% 24 Brian Harman 30th 1.3% 25 Charley Hoffman 16th 9.1% 26 Patrick Reed 17th 6.6% 27 Russell Henley 26th 2.7% 28 Kevin Kisner 23rd 3.2% 29 Kyle Stanley 18th 5.2% 30 Jhonattan Vegas 28th 1.8% PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO Given that the TOUR Championship is the 40th tournament included, it wasn’t a reach to think that there would be a surprise atop the ownership percentages, but if you would have circled Marc Leishman as that guy even as recently as at the beginning of the FedExCup Playoffs, you’d have had little company. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the Aussie is the latest winner on the PGA TOUR, that he prevailed at the BMW Championship in dominating fashion or that he finished third at the Dell Technologies Championship two weeks prior, but he’s still an upset over the likes of Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson for whom it could have been assumed that gamers were holstering for East Lake for months. Yes, it’s likely that each stole “votes” from the other two, but Leishman emerged as the shiny, new toy when least expected. Enjoy reviewing the full field of 30 below. Owned Rank, Player, Percentage 1st Marc Leishman 13.0% 2nd Jordan Spieth 11.6% 3rd Justin Thomas 10.0% 4th Dustin Johnson 9.2% 5th Justin Rose 5.5% 6th Jason Day 5.3% 7th Patrick Cantlay 5.1% 8th Hideki Matsuyama 3.0% T9 Kevin Chappell 2.8% T9 Paul Casey 2.8% 11th Rickie Fowler 2.7% 12th Brooks Koepka 2.6% 13th Jon Rahm 2.4% 14th Sergio Garcia 2.3% 15th Matt Kuchar 2.1% 16th Daniel Berger 1.9% 17th Pat Perez 1.6% T18 Tony Finau 1.5% T18 Charley Hoffman 1.5% 20th Webb Simpson 1.2% 21st Patrick Reed 1.1% 22nd Jason Dufner 1.0% 23rd Brian Harman 1.0% 24th Kevin Kisner 0.8% 25th Gary Woodland 0.7% 26th Russell Henley 0.7% 27th Kyle Stanley 0.5% 28th Xander Schauffele 0.5% 29th Jhonattan Vegas 0.4% 30th Adam Hadwin 0.4%

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PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – Rory McIlroy’s return to Royal Portrush couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start. McIlroy hit his opening tee shot out-of-bounds and made an 8 on the first hole. That matched the highest single-hole score of his PGA TOUR career. It was just the fourth quad he’s made in more than 10,000 holes played on the PGA TOUR (he’s never made worse than a quadruple-bogey, either), and his second in a major. It couldn’t have come at a worse time. Anticipation has been high for The Open’s return to Northern Ireland after an absence that lasted nearly seven decades. And anticipation was high for McIlroy, who not only set the course record when he was 16 but was enjoying one of the best seasons of his career. McIlroy shot 61 at Royal Portrush when he was 16. On Thursday, he took his 61st stroke on the 15th hole. He also triple-bogeyed the final hole and signed for a 79. McIlroy had finished in the top 5 in his last four Open Championships, including a victory in 2014. He is third in the FedExCup after victories in this year’s PLAYERS and RBC Canadian Open. His hopes of lifting a second claret jug were all but dashed after his first hole of the championship, though. Royal Portrush has internal O.B. that closely hugs the left side of the first and 18th holes. McIlroy’s ball was playable, but the area left of those holes is marked as out-of-bounds because it is land that the club did not own at one time. It was O.B. for the 1951 Open at Portrush and has remained that way. The first hole also has white stakes running down its right side. “I hit the ball out of bounds right yesterday on the practice round,â€� he said. “That might have been in my head a little bit, not sort of wanting to leak it out to the right.â€� McIlroy also missed a tap-in on the 16th hole before driving his ball into a tough lie on the 18th and failing to extricate it with his first attempt. “I didn’t put it in the fairway enough to play,â€� he said. “I kept saying that in the press conference yesterday, you need to put the ball in the fairway here if you want to do well. I didn’t do that enough today to create enough scoring opportunities.â€�

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