Workday Charity Open, Round 3: Leaderboard, tee times, TV times

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NOTE: If you play PGA TOUR Champions One & Done presented by SERVPRO, the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship begins on Thursday. It’s the second of five majors on the circuit and the first of three with a cut. See the possibilities at the bottom of the page to assist you in determining your pick. In a fantasy world not all that long ago, you’d have burned Zach Johnson at the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational and Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic, collected your FedExCup points or earnings and coasted into the following week on a heater. But as all good things come to an end, so did that exacta. Turning the page can be difficult – just ask full-season gamers who drafted Tiger Woods in the last couple of years – but it’s necessary. In fact, it’s a prerequisite for success and it embodies the essence of why fantasy sports are so important to the general fan base. It doesn’t mean that we still can’t root for ZJ and Stricker (and Woods) as fans, but our objective of defeating our competition is the only goal in fantasy. Colonial Country Club has been very, very good to Johnson. He’s 11-for-11 with two wins, a total of five top 10s and sits atop the tournament’s all-time money list, but he’s not a recommendation for even two-man gamers this week. Save him for your No. 1 or 2 slot when the JDC rolls around in mid-July as he replaced Stricker as the main man in their native region. The love for Jason Dufner among my fellow little leaguers is obvious and warranted. He’ll do just fine in bridging you to next week, if not reigniting the feels that ZJ once sparked. Note that this is the last regular PGA TOUR event among Dufner’s suggested Future Possibilities, so it’s nice when decisions are that easy. Colonial member Ryan Palmer is at worst the tail of the tandem for two-man gamers. His level of comfort and course knowledge is second to none. In the entirety of the season, Colonial is the only track at which he’d contend to be the pick in a classic one-and-done game like what’s offered at PGATOUR.COM, but due to how deep we are into 2016-17, he’s even more attractive to plug this gap. Giants such as defending champion Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia present better elsewhere, although I’d be a fool to pretend to talk you out of Spieth if you’re in an earnings-based format. Now that he’s decided to go back to his old putter for the DEAN & DELUCA, it’s a splendid time to pounce as you know some of your opposition won’t be in the know and mesmerized by his 0-for-2 “rut.” As for me, I’ve had my eye on Kevin Kisner for a while. It’s time to pull the trigger. You may recall that I was sizing him up for THE PLAYERS, but veered toward Garcia instead. Other than a mini-slump upon arrival, Kisner checks all of the boxes in terms of course fit and success. What’s most exciting is how he’s proven that the past is the past and it doesn’t dictate the future, so his little skid worries me zero. In addition to Palmer, two-man gamers should give long looks at Bud Cauley, Kyle Reifers, Nick Taylor and Sung Kang. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2016-17. All are pending golfer commitment. Jason Bohn … Greenbrier Paul Casey … Travelers; WGC-Bridgestone; TOUR Championship Jason Dufner … DEAN & DELUCA; U.S. Open; TOUR Championship Harris English … DEAN & DELUCA Tony Finau … Memorial Sergio Garcia … Open Championship; TOUR Championship Bill Haas … Wyndham Charley Hoffman … DEAN & DELUCA; Travelers; Canadian Billy Horschel … St. Jude; TOUR Championship Zach Johnson … DEAN & DELUCA; John Deere; Open Championship; WGC-Bridgestone; TOUR Championship Chris Kirk … DEAN & DELUCA Kevin Kisner … DEAN & DELUCA; Wyndham Matt Kuchar … DEAN & DELUCA; Memorial; Canadian; WGC-Bridgestone Martin Laird … Barracuda Marc Leishman … DEAN & DELUCA; Memorial; Travelers; Open Championship Graeme McDowell … Open Championship; WGC-Bridgestone; Wyndham William McGirt … Memorial (defending); Wyndham Phil Mickelson … St. Jude; Open Championship; PGA Championship Bryce Molder … DEAN & DELUCA; Greenbrier Ryan Moore … Travelers; John Deere (defending); TOUR Championship Ryan Palmer … DEAN & DELUCA; St. Jude Scott Piercy … John Deere; BMW Webb Simpson … Greenbrier; Wyndham Brandt Snedeker … DEAN & DELUCA; U.S. Open; Travelers; Canadian; Wyndham Jordan Spieth … DEAN & DELUCA (defending); John Deere; WGC-Bridgestone; PGA Championship; TOUR Championship Kevin Streelman … Memorial Boo Weekley … St. Jude; Barbasol CHAMPIONS ONE & DONE POSSIBILITIES KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship Trump National Golf Club’s Championship Course in Virginia hosts for the first time. It’s a par 72 measuring 7,130 yards. The tournament’s purse of $2.8 million is tied for second-largest of the season. Only the U.S. Senior Open Championship at $3.75 million is greater. Golfers listed alphabetically. Rob’s serious considerations in bold. Stephen Ames … Chased his breakthrough win with top 20s in the last two. Hasn’t yet recorded a top 10 in a major. Tommy Armour III … The tour’s longest hitter has just one top 10 on the season (T2, Insperity). John Daly … Answered his breakthrough title at the Insperity Invitational with a T32 at the Regions Tradition, and that required a closing 65. Carlos Franco … Eighth in earnings but it’s a top-heavy season with a T2 at the Allianz Championship in February and a victory alongside Vijay Singh at the Bass Pro Shops Legends. Fred Funk … The tour’s most accurate driver has a T3, a T2 and a T4 in his last four starts, but he hasn’t recorded a top 10 in the Senior PGA since his debut in 2009. Jay Haas … Two-time winner (2006, 2008) has a total of five top-three finishes in this tournament in which he’s second on the all-time money list. Two top 10s in individual competition in 2017. Lee Janzen … Ranks 21st on the money list despite just one top 10 at the season opener at Hualalai. Miguel Angel Jiménez … A third-round 74 at the Regions Tradition (T20) thwarted a sixth consecutive top 10, but it’s his only score or par or worse all year. Bernhard Langer … Picked up his eighth career title in a major at last week’s Regions Tradition. The Senior PGA Championship is the only major on the PGA TOUR Champions that he hasn’t won. Tom Lehman … The 2010 champ is 11th on the 2017 money list with a win and no worse than a T16 in his last five starts. T6 at last week’s Regions Tradition. Ranks second in ball-striking. Scott McCarron … Fulfilled the expectation last week with a co-runner-up. Second in earnings this season with a win and another three top-six finishes. Rocco Mediate … The defending champion but on a different course. Only one top 20 in his last seven starts and sits 42nd in earnings. Colin Montgomerie … In three starts in this tournament, he has two wins and a runner-up. Arrives in uncharacteristically pedestrian form, however, and slots 44th on the money list. Kenny Perry … Only one finish outside a top 20 in his last eight starts. Currently sixth on the money list. Gene Sauers … Ranks third on the PGA TOUR Champions in ball-striking and leads in one-putt percentage. No top 10s in four starts in this tournament, but has four this season. T10 last week. Vijay Singh … Tournament debut. After winning the Ball Pro Shops Legends with Carlos Franco, settled for solo 64th at last week’s Region’s Tradition. Jeff Sluman … Hasn’t missed a major since turning 50 in 2007. Seven top 25s this season. Kevin Sutherland … While his top-10 streak ended at nine with last week’s T13, he’s now gone over 13 months without finishing outside a top 20. Fifth in earnings, highest among non-winners. David Toms … Quietly humming along at 18th on the money list. T6 at the Regions Tradition marked his major debut on the circuit. Kirk Triplett … Two top 10s and another pair of top 20s in four starts in this tournament. Strong major record overall. Four top 10s this season. Duffy Waldorf … Solid season features three top 10s and another three top 20s, but he’s converted on just two top 10s in majors since 2014.

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PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – It’s a dichotomy that has a drastically different meaning to each player. Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth both save their best performances for majors. For Koepka, that disparity is by design. Spieth’s perplexing record is the result of a frustrating slump. The two American twenty-somethings with multiple majors are in contention at another one. They both shot 5-under 137 over the first 36 holes at Royal Portrush to sit three shots behind 36-hole leader J.B. Holmes. Spieth continued to struggle with his driver, but rode a hot putter to a 67 on Friday. Koepka showed us at Pebble Beach that he can win a major without his best performance on the putting surfaces. That was the case again Friday. Koepka is trying to continue a run of dominance that can be compared only to Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. He has finished first or second in all three majors this year, and five of the last six. Adding the claret jug to his pair of U.S. Opens and PGAs would give him three legs of the career Grand Slam. He’s trying to become the first person since Tiger Woods to win multiple majors in consecutive seasons. RELATED: Leaderboard | Tee times | Tiger finishes 6 over after 36 holes For Spieth, The Open is a reminder of better times. His 2017 victory at Royal Birkdale represents his last win on the PGA TOUR. His best opportunities to add a 12th PGA TOUR victory have come in majors. He threatened Augusta National’s course record before bogeying the final hole of the 2018 Masters and falling two shots short of Patrick Reed. Then Spieth played in the final group of last year’s Open at Carnoustie. This season, as his struggles increased, his T21 at the Masters was his first top-25 in a stroke-play event. Then he played alongside Koepka in Saturday’s final group at the PGA Championship. The long and brawny Bethpage Black, where thick rough necessitated a pitch-out for all but the strongest players, did not seem to fit Spieth. He rode the best putting week of his career (according to the Strokes Gained: Putting statistic) to a T3 finish. On Friday, Spieth played a four-hole stretch from Nos. 5-8 in 5 under par. It started with a two-putt birdie from 80 feet on No. 5. Then he knocked a 6-iron within 10 feet on the par-3 sixth hole. He holed a curling putt from off the green to eagle the seventh hole. Another 25-footer gave him a birdie at 8. He was 1 over par the rest of the way. “I posted a score that was pretty incredible from where I played my second shots from,â€� Spieth said. He’s hit just 11 fairways in two rounds at Royal Portrush. On Thursday, he compared this year’s venue to Royal Birkdale, the site of his 2017 Open triumph. Both courses require more aerial approaches than the typical links course. Spieth was second on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Approach two years ago, though. “My game is in a different place than it was then,â€� he said. “And I’m working to get it back to where it was.â€� He ranks 141st in that statistic this season and 179th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee. Missing the fairways on Friday may have helped him in his continued quest to fix his swing troubles. It forced him to be creative instead of thinking of swing thoughts. “My shots out of trouble today were really, really nice, and I got some good breaks off of where I hit it to,â€� Spieth said. “But every now and again you’ll get one that sits down in a hole, like on 9, and you can barely get it out. So it’s not worth continuing to try and hit those cool shots. But I’ve got my money’s worth for two days.â€� In his previous two events, Spieth finished T65 at the U.S. Open and missed the cut at the Travelers. He worked hard on his game since his last start, but said he’s at least a few weeks away from trusting those swing changes. Koepka hasn’t been in contention in his most recent starts, either. He finished outside the top 50 in both the Travelers and the 3M Open. Unlike Spieth, Koepka isn’t bothered by those showings. They’re by design. Koepka insists that he doesn’t prepare for the standard PGA TOUR event. “When you see me on TV, that’s when I play golf,â€� he said in his pre-tournament press conference at Royal Portrush. He’s become an expert in bringing his best stuff to the majors. He finished runner-up at the U.S. Open after a T50 in his preceding start, at the RBC Canadian Open. Like at Pebble Beach, Koepka is contending despite being dissatisfied with his putting. Spieth aside, Royal Portrush rewards strong ballstriking. It’s difficult to play run-up shots to the elevated greens. The slopes around the greens repel mishits and make recovery shots more difficult. The rough is lush, as well. Koepka has hit 25 greens in two rounds and 19 of 28 fairways. “I haven’t made a putt all week,â€� Koepka said. “I just need to figure that out. If I can make some putts I could very easily be 10-under, and really maybe more.â€�

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