Austin birdies last, up 1 at Champions’ Boeing

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Quail Hollow connection grows deeper for Fowler, McIlroy

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Here are nine tidbits from the final round of the OHL Classic at Mayakoba that gamers can use tomorrow, next weekend or down the road. Be looking for the Emergency 9 shortly after the close of play of each round of the tournament. Winner, winner, chicken enchilada dinner for the first time as Patton Kizzire held off Rickie Fowler by a shot. His 19-under-par 265 featured excellent iron play (T7, GIR) and a hot putter (T4, putts per GIR). His 25 birdies were tied for the most on the week and he only squared four bogeys and a double. There’s no doubt he enjoys the beginning of the TOUR season. In his rookie year of 2016, he finished T2 at Shriners and T4 at Sanderson Farms in back-to-back starts. Last year, he claimed solo second at Safeway to kick off the year. This season he’s rattled off three consecutive top 10s, including this victory. Of his career, 11 top-10 results, he’s posted six of them before Thanksgiving each season. Rickie Fowler isn’t going to get much run in this column because he did exactly what gamers suggested he would do so I’ll turn my eyes to Si Woo Kim instead. Last season he could have been labeled Si WD Kim as he had six, IN-TOURNAMENT withdrawals. Sure, he was immaculate winning THE PLAYERS but he didn’t give gamers any peace of mind after that as he posted only one top 25 the rest of the year. After opening 2017-18 with 12 rounds of 71 or WORSE, it was understandable why he might have been ignored this week. His third-place check this week can’t be ignored. The questions of when to use him should start up again! To “Nappy Factor” or not: Martin Piller’s wife is due this spring and his T4 suggests this fantasy myth as having some credence. Mac Hughes recently missed a couple of events to be with his wife and newborn and he missed the cut. This is Piller’s best result on TOUR so regardless of his impending newborn, I’ll pay attention. It drives me crazy when people say “ATM Machine.” Er, the “M” is for “machine” so go ahead and leave that out when describing Charles Howell III this time of year or at this event. He’s now withdrawn eight checks from nine appearances at Mayakoba with three of the last five in the top 10. His T4 this week is the best of that bunch. He’s truly an Automatic Automated Teller Machine Machine here. It also drives me crazy that I didn’t roster him … Get me in a fantasy league where guys get ANGRY at golfers who don’t close the deal. I’ll gladly jump in and saddle up on J.J. Spaun (saddle not included). Sure, he didn’t close the deal last week in Las Vegas. Sure, he went the wrong way on Sunday at Mayakoba and dropped from T7 to T14. Sure, he hasn’t won on TOUR yet but he’s building some serious scar tissue to help the next time he’s involved. And when did top-15 finishes from non-premium players turn into “bad” things? Fantasy golf is an inexact science and it’s probably why we all continue to keep plugging along. Ryan Moore enhances that theory this week. The two-time CIMB Classic winner decided not to play that event this year. The Las Vegas resident, former UNLV player and 2012 Shriners champion finished T51 last week in a “can’t-miss” week. He missed. He finished T6 this week at an event he’s played one previous time. The grind is real. Pass the paspalum, please! Most gamers will look at past event champions when arranging lineups. Let’s see if that was a good idea: Pat Perez: T34 Graeme McDowell: T34 Charley Hoffman: MC Harris English: MC John Huh: T25 Johnson Wagner: T61 Mark Wilson: MC Brian Gay: T25 There has never been a repeat champion in 11 events. Whee Kim’s streak of finishing rounds inside the top six ended at eight after an opening round 69. But, he sat T14 heading into the final round with another top 10, his third in a row, possibly on the cards. His final-round 75 saw him fall to T45. Apologies to those who arrived week late after T4 and P2 results in his last two events. Ancer me this Abraham … The native of Reynosa, Mexico, cashed his first top 10 in 24 TOUR starts with T9. This is his second go-around on TOUR as he missed 13 of 19 cuts in the 2016 season. He rallied last year to cash seven top 10s on the Web.com Tour which positions him sixth on the priority ranking for the current TOUR season.

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