What’s in Brendon Todd’s bag?

NOTE: For the three events determining who advances in the FedExCup Playoffs, Rob is focusing only on golfers outside the latest bubble. In this last installment, all five below enter the BMW Championship outside the top 30 in points. Lucas Glover (+25000 to win) … If this looks familiar with FedExCup points quadrupled in a three-event series and with him slotted 41st entering the BMW Championship, then you need to audition for a game show testing memory. Indeed, it was two years ago when this format was introduced and he was positioned 41st upon arrival at Medinah. A T7 vaulted him to 29th and into the TOUR Championship. He’d call on that again at Caves Valley without hesitation as he’s just 1-for-4 with a T57 at the no-cut WGC-St. Jude since emerging with victory at the John Deere Classic last month. The long, ball-striker’s track is perfect for his skill set, just like Medinah, which was set up to stretch 7,613 yards. Cam Davis (+15000 to win) … Held steady at 36th in the FedExCup with a T31 at Liberty National. He lost over 3.5 strokes for the week from tee to green, but the Aussie gained more than six with the putter and signed for a red number after every round. That’s Playoffs grit for ya. As one of the longest hitters every time he pegs it, among the most aggressive scorers because he can fill up the cup (see: last week) and as the PGA TOUR’s leader in eagles (19), the confluence of factors at Caves Valley favors a relative surprise with an edge. And he’s not even two months removed from his breakthrough victory in Detroit. Cameron Champ (+10000 to win) … The theme continues with recent winners – he connected at the 3M Open. It fulfilled an attitude adjustment that itself proved that his skill set is off the charts when he’s whole. His current position of 49th in the FedExCup represents a jump of 91 spots in the last month, the last three notches via a T27 at Liberty National where he led the field in par-5 scoring. Do that again at Caves Valley what with its full set of four par 5s and he might be appearing in the full-field Power Rankings for the TOUR Championship. Cameron Tringale (+8000 to win) … It’s hard to reach the TOUR Championship without a victory, but he’s done it before (2014). Still winless in 307 PGA TOUR starts as a professional, he’s on the precipice of doing it again at 34th in points. That reflects a rise of seven slots after a T21 at THE NORTHERN TRUST where he ranked T9 in greens hit and sixth in Strokes Gained: Putting. He’s recorded 11 top 25s this season, including in three of his last four starts. Aaron Wise (+20000 to win) … At 58th in the FedExCup, he’s furthest outside the target to advance than the foursome feature above, but the 25-year-old has been playing on house money essentially since he was the runner-up at Mayakoba in early December. The devil-may-care approach has freed him up for another five top 25s since, including a T21 at THE NORTHERN TRUST. He’ll need something significantly better than that to return to East Lake since he advanced during his Rookie of the Year season of 2017-18, but his above-average length off the tee leads exceptional ball-striking and he’s getting a stage on which those assets can shine. Odds were sourced on Tuesday, Aug. 24 at 7 a.m. ET. For live odds, visit betmgm.

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Twelve-time PGA TOUR winner Jason Day has signed with Bridgestone Golf to use its golf ball. Day, whose victories include the 2016 PLAYERS and 2015 PGA Championship, first became interested in Bridgestone’s TOUR B XS after seeing Tiger Woods use the ball to hit some high-spinning short game shots. Though he had no relationship with Bridgestone Golf at the time, Day began experimenting with Woods’ ball and was impressed enough to start playing it on TOUR. “We were doing some short-game work with Tiger’s ball, the XS, and it caught my attention right away,” said Day. “I initially played the XS and liked it but after working with Bridgestone’s R&D team and really learning about the ball fitting process, it was obvious that the TOUR B X was the best fit for my game.” Day will be playing the 2022 TOUR B X for the foreseeable future. Day, who has been an equipment free agent over the past couple years, is 86th in this season’s FedExCup after finishing third at the Farmers Insurance Open. He is 90th in the Official World Golf Ranking after reaching the No. 1 position earlier in his career. “Every day I look at what I can do to get better and the choice to play Bridgestone feeds right into that,” said Day. “Personally, I feel kind of like I am cheating playing this ball. Of course, I’m not but it’s that good. The performance of the TOUR B affords me opportunities to be aggressive; off the tee, the ball speed is there but it’s still super spinny around the green, which is a nice combination. “I found a lot more consistency in not only the drives but consistency around the greens, as well. Consistency is huge for me.” Day joins Tiger Woods, Fred Couples, Matt Kuchar, Bryson DeChambeau and Lexi Thompson in representing Bridgestone.

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ERIN, Wis. – The house shared by Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas not far from Erin Hills was supposed to be the scene of someone’s breaking out party Sunday night… instead it served as the scene of post mortems. Heading to Sunday the U.S. Open was well and truly up for grabs with 16 players within six shots of the lead, none of whom had a major victory to their name. Of those, Fowler and Thomas were the ones most likely. Fowler had gone through enough near misses in majors to have learned from the experience with four previous top-5 finishes. He had since won THE PLAYERS in 2015. The 28-year-old had also claimed The Honda Classic earlier this season, knocking off the notion from some that he struggled to close although he opened the door to doubters again when he faded from one off the lead through 54 holes at the Masters in April to finish T11. Thomas had invigorated the tournament by terrorizing Erin Hills on Saturday for a record 9-under 63. He already had three wins on the PGA TOUR season and sat second in the FedExCup. Oh and the now 24-year-old joined the 59 club earlier in the year. Surely one of them would kick ahead. Starting two back, Fowler could only muster an even-par 72 to finish six shots back in a tie for fifth. Starting one back in the final group, the U.S. Open was effectively over for Thomas after just five holes and three bogeys. His 3-over 75 left him finishing in a tie for ninth. “I just didn’t have it today. Anytime you don’t win, it stings,â€� Thomas said. “It just sucks to not even have a chance on that back nine. To try to go out there and try to get in a top-5 or trying to get up near the lead is not what I play for, but, unfortunately, that’s really all I was dealt, so it’s what I had to try to do.â€� Fowler tried to take only positives away from the occasion. He only needs to look at his Zurich Classic partner Jason Day, who had nine top-10 finishes in majors before his win at the 2015 PGA Championship, to know he must forge ahead.
 “I feel like golf-wise I’m playing at the highest level. If you look at the negatives too much, you’re going to be stuck doing that the whole time,â€� he rationalized. 

“You have to measure success in different ways, not just by winning, just because that doesn’t happen a whole lot. I think Tiger had the best winning percentage of all time at 30%, and you’re lucky to even sniff close to 10.

“You kind of have to say, hey, it’s a major. We played well this week. I felt like I did a lot of good things, especially in the first round, executing my game plan. To finish in double digits, under par at a major championship, especially the U.S. Open, it was a good week.â€� Perhaps the writing was on the wall for Thomas from the opening tee shot as it sailed left into a hazard and it’s always tough to back up a super low score with another one. The three previous players to shoot 63 in an early round at a U.S. Open all struggled the next day. Jack Nicklaus shot 71 and Tom Weiskopf 75 after their opening 63s in the 1980 U.S. Open. Vijay Singh shot 72 in Round 3 after his second round 63 in 2003. (Johnny Miller shot 63 at Oakmont in 1973’s final round to win.) Only Nicklaus rebounded well enough to win. The gas tank on Thomas just didn’t fill up in time, despite having a long wait before his tee time. Too long he felt. “It was a lot of kind of laying around and just trying to stay off the phone and try to stay away from reading stuff just because there are so many things out there that are being said or written,â€� Thomas explained after he woke early Sunday ahead of his 2:54 p.m. tee time. “I just tried to stay away from it but it was hard to. I would like to think that’s not why I played how I did today.â€�
 The good news for the pair is perhaps this first-time majors thing is going to be a lasting trend. Going back to Day’s win at Whistling Straits, the last seven major winners have been first timers. Perhaps they will get their chance to continue the narrative at the Open Championship next month at Royal Birkdale. “I think it’s a great thing. It’s a lot of new blood, young guys. Kind of some of the younger crew is coming in,â€� Fowler said. “I’m not saying the older guys are out by any means, but I think we’re making our presence a little bit more known.â€�

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