Monday qualifiers: Shriners Children’s Open

Every time we are presented with the opportunity to play fantasy golf, the first option is to play or not to play. Of course, everything in life that is optional begins with the same step, but it doesn’t always mean that the experience will be on our terms if we choose to play. RELATED: Statistically Speaking, Horses for Courses Baked into the decision is the acceptance of terms and conditions. Although they lay the foundation and framework of the pursuit, they almost always are the most under-respected components of every choice. The benefits are numerous. When you registered for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, you went into it knowing that the conclusion of Segment 4 would be different then any other stretch of the season. With FedExCup points quadrupled for the first two tournaments, FedEx bonus points also would be four times larger. That’s why we ration starts as best we can in Segment 4, and we’re all in the same boat. Focusing only on the finale, FedExCup points are not awarded at the TOUR Championship, but the tournament is not excluded from the fantasy game. It’s always nice when a term presented before your approval to play is an accommodation made for an exception. In this instance, and as detailed in Rules, FedEx bonus points at the TOUR Championship will match the same scale used for the first two Playoffs events. So, when the FedExCup champion is crowned, remain patient until the interface is updated to reflect bonus points for your R4 Starters. It might not be until Monday, which isn’t unusual, but they will be added. As for what determines how the bonus points will be applied, that also hasn’t changed. They will correspond to the actual leaderboard at the conclusion of the tournament. The actual leaderboard is determined using scores in relation to par and beginning with Starting Strokes. This means that aggregate scoring as a stand-alone measurement of performance is irrelevant for our purposes. Because all 30 qualifiers for the TOUR Championship are slotted in my Power Rankings, the Power Rankings Wild Card, Draws and Fades are on ice until this page publishes again on the Tuesday of the Fortinet Championship. It’s why Birthdays at the bottom of this page extend three weeks. In the interim, I’ll be immersed in my full-membership fantasy ranking for the 2022-23 season. I’m hopeful to promote it live right around when the field for Fortinet is released on Friday, September 9. Keep an eye on my Twitter or monitor the ROB BOLTON TWITTERFEED on the FANTASY page of the desktop version of this website. In the meantime, good luck this week and please accept my gratitude for your loyalty. You are my community and we always are in this together. Peace and love… RETURNING TO COMPETITION Cameron Smith … Slipped to sixth in the FedExCup after not playing the BMW Championship due to discomfort in a hip. The release didn’t specify which hip. He’s No. 11 in my Power Rankings for the simple reason that we need to rely on commodities in the finale. Only chasers who have burned through starts on all of the others atop the opening leaderboard should consider rostering. Ryan Armour … He’s been out for a month due to a pulled rib muscle. He had planned on returning in the opening leg of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, but he’ll try again at this week’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship. The 46-year-old finished 155th in the FedExCup this season, so he’d open 2022-23 with Past Champion status if he doesn’t finish among the top 25 in the KFT Finals. NOTABLE WDs Will Zalatoris … A pair of herniated discs in his back is preventing him from giving it a go. He’ll land at 30th in the official results and his position in the leaderboard isn’t replaced. Starting Strokes are not reallocated. The announcement also included the fact that he’s going to be unable to compete in the Presidents Cup in a month. RECAP – BMW Championship POWER RANKINGS Power Ranking Golfer Result 1 Collin Morikawa T44 2 Will Zalatoris WD 3 Tony Finau T28 4 Matt Fitzpatrick T48 5 Rory McIlroy T8 6 Jon Rahm T8 7 Justin Thomas T52 8 Scottie Scheffler T3 9 Patrick Cantlay Win 10 Sungjae Im T15 11 Xander Schauffele T3 12 Viktor Hovland T35 13 Tom Kim T54 14 Joaquin Niemann T8 15 Adam Scott T5 16 Jordan Spieth T19 17 Cam Davis T35 18 Sam Burns T19 19 Max Homa T23 20 Lucas Glover 66th Wild Card Cameron Young T23 SLEEPERS Golfer (Bet, if applicable) Result Shane Lowry (+125 for a Top 20) T12 Denny McCarthy (+275 for a Top 20) T28 Aaron Wise (+110 for a Top 20) T15 Emiliano Grillo T19 K.H. Lee T5 BIRTHDAYS AMONG ACTIVE MEMBERS OF THE PGA TOUR August 23 … none August 24 … Cameron Tringale (35); K.H. Lee (31) August 25 … none August 26 … Ben Martin (35) August 27 … none August 28 … none August 29 … Carl Pettersson (45) August 30 … none August 31 … none September 1 … Matt Fitzpatrick (28) September 2 … none September 3 … none September 4 … none September 5 … none September 6 … Brice Garnett (39) September 7 … none September 8 … none September 9 … none September 10 … none September 11 … Satoshi Kodaira (33) September 12 … none

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Stephen Gallacher, Mackenzie Hughes and children from the Stephen Gallacher Foundation have all been supporting the DP World Tour’s Green Drive at this week’s Genesis Scottish Open, taking part in a beach clean as part of the OCEANTEE Sustainability Series. The stunning 13th is the signature hole at The Renaissance Club and Gallacher and company headed down to the adjacent beach to help the Marine Conservation Society conduct an analysis of the shoreline waste. The data collated from the beach clean will be added to a national database that helps the charity understand ocean pollution. The Marine Conservation Society also carried out an education session for the children before heading to the beach for the first of five sustainability activations that OCEANTEE will deliver at DP World Tour tournaments in the coming year to educate fans on important sustainability topics. The beach by the 13th is a beautiful place but home favourite Gallacher was surprised to find how much mess there was when you get up close. “It looked a perfectly normal clean beach but when you get down to it and you see all the plastic and towels and bags and stuff, it’s great to get it picked up and make it as clean as we can,” he said. “I’ve seen sustainability become more prominent at the Scottish Open. Now we’re seeing electric cars coming in, as Genesis are bringing in electric cars as courtesy cars. “I think you’ve just got to do it slowly and chip away and get the word out there that we’re doing our best and we’re going to keep doing that for the future.” Canadian Hughes has already been impressed by golf’s efforts in sustainability and emphasised the importance of the work both for today and the future. “We have one planet earth, taking care of the ecosystem and the environment is really important for not only us currently but our kids to come,” he said. “I played The Open Championship last year and saw their commitment to reducing plastic waste… the amount of plastic we could use on a weekly basis out here is significant with this many players and staff, so it’s a small change but it’s got a huge impact.” OCEANTEE last month became the DP World Tour’s Official Sustainable Products Supplier and Founder Ed Sandison was delighted to see the partnership raising awareness of how we need to look after our oceans. “This has been a fantastic day,” he said. “Collecting data, like the children and players have today, is an essential part of the work that the Marine Conservation Society carries out. “We all need to understand the impact that our lives have on the ocean and I am delighted that through our partnership with the DP World Tour we are able to raise awareness of the important work this amazing charity does around the country.” To view the details outlined in the Marine Conservation Society’s education session, please click here. This story originally appeared here and was provided courtesy of the DP World Tour.

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Toptracer gave us the juicy details: 165 mph ball speed, 274 yards carry, 74 feet of curvature, left to right. The ball peeled around a stand of cypress trees down the right side, all but winking as it flew by; landed just shy of the green; and bounded up toward the pin, stopping 7 feet short. What happened at the drivable 16th hole at TPC Harding Park changed everything: Collin Morikawa, in just his second major start, had seized control of a PGA Championship in which seven players were at one point tied for the lead. Watching from the tee, Cameron Champ, Morikawa’s playing partner, would liken it to a video-game shot – so flawless as to seem almost unreal. It was late afternoon, and with no on-site fans, walking scorers and laser operators whooped and hollered in the damp, cool air. Morikawa flashed a quick smile at his caddie. The real-time odds swung dramatically in his favor. Paul Casey, playing in the group just ahead, looked back from the 17th tee and realized his chances had just taken a massive setback. Here’s how it happened, according to those who were there. All week, the 16th hole, the last good place to attack at TPC Harding Park, loomed as the potential turning point. And the fact that it was drivable – Justin Thomas hit it to 18 feet in Friday’s second round but missed the eagle putt – added intrigue. Collin Morikawa: I wasn’t planning on going for it at the beginning of the week, so I actually never even tried it. Paul Casey (66, T2): It was wind dependent, flag dependent, tee dependent. It was always going to be a pivotal hole, one you feel like you should birdie, but there was also the possibility of screwing it up because of the penalty area on the left and the tree canopy on the right. There was plenty of danger on the last three holes, but 16 was your last real birdie opportunity. Sue Epstein, walking scorer and former Stanford golfer: I had scored for Haotong Li when he shot 65 on Friday, and he hadn’t gone for it and made par. But Collin was hitting the driver so straight. (He would hit 39 of 56 fairways to finish No. 1 in driving accuracy.) Kerry Haigh, PGA Chief Championships Officer: We had planned to make the 16th drivable for two of the four rounds and felt Sunday would be one of those if weather conditions allowed. It was obviously dependent upon the wind strength and direction. We reviewed the actual hole location for Sunday for a long time on both Friday and Saturday afternoons after play with the hope being to make it extremely appealing for players to attempt going for the green. The new yardage presented a conundrum for big hitters like Dustin Johnson and Casey, playing up ahead of Morikawa. Nonetheless, each found a way to birdie the hole. Casey: Driver was too much; it was a 3-wood hole for me. Left bunker, splashed it out to 4 feet with a really awkward putt with a really awkward hog’s back. Couldn’t tell which way it was going to go, called Johnny (McLaren, his caddie) in. I made it. Dustin Johnson: I think I did hit driver Sunday, and just pulled it left. I couldn’t get there with 3-wood, and driver was probably too much, so I was trying to kind of chip it and just pulled it. Carl Woodland, volunteer laser operator on 16: The day was cold, it was chilly, and this was toward the end of the day, so it was starting to get even cooler. We were 60 yards down the fairway, down the left side, and DJ went right over our heads and into the penalty area. But then he pitched in for birdie. We were still talking about that when Collin got to the tee. Morikawa had game-planned for the hole playing more or less to its scorecard yardage (332). But with the tees moved up so far (it was now 294) the hole had changed drastically. Morikawa: It was just something that — everything fit, the circumstance, and made sense, wind and everything was perfect, and obviously it worked out. Jakovac: He never hit driver there, not even in practice. We didn’t think the tee would be up as far as it was. They had it like 20 yards up from the back of the box, which made it 275-ish to the front. We thought it would be more like 290 front, but we got up there on Sunday and the tee was way up, and it was really a no-brainer because it was a perfect distance for him. The wind was in off the left so he could hit his normal cut off there to the left and let it feed to the right. Epstein: When he pulled the driver, I was like, Wow, he’s going for it. I remember the contrast with Li two days earlier, and thinking it was absolutely the right call. Earlier that summer, Morikawa had faced a similar shot at the par-4 14th hole at the Workday Championship at Muirfield Village. The shot called for his stock cut, and he drove the green, hitting it 12 feet. He missed the eagle putt, but went on to win the tournament in a playoff. Now at the PGA at Harding, having holed his pitch shot for birdie on 14, he was set up for even greater drama on 16. Epstein: There wasn’t much discussion with his caddie. You could tell they were in agreement. Champ (70, T10): That pin on 16, if you missed it, obviously you can miss it slightly left, but there’s not much room right and if you miss there you’re completely screwed. Jakovac: It was just a matter of not having it fade too much and kick in that bunker. Morikawa: When you look at what kind of driver or driver hole that is for me on 16 at Harding, like it was literally perfect, and it was just like made for me to hit a good shot there. The shot came off like a thunderbolt that reverberated across the course. Frank Nobillo, on CBS, called it, “the shot of his life!” Golf Digest’s Shane Ryan, in a story after the PGA, sought to answer the question, “Was Collin Morikawa’s drive on 16 the greatest shot in PGA history?” Champ: When it came off, my caddie, his caddie, we just looked at each other like, this is going to be pretty damned good, and of course it landed 3 feet short of the green, bounced perfectly straight right up there. Jakovac: It just needed one straight first bounce, and it went up there perfect. Casey: I turned around and saw his shot and where it finished. I was on the 17th tee. Hadn’t hit my tee shot yet. Two thoughts: Brilliant shot, and dammit. (Laughs) I always tip my cap to great golf, and of course there’s going to be a sense of thinking there’s still a chance, but that was one of the nails in the coffin right there, wasn’t it? The PGA Championship returns to its May date at Kiawah Island this week, but over the last 10 months Morikawa’s epic shot has barely faded from memory. Webb Simpson (72, T37): Could be the shot of the decade for the PGA Championship. Epstein: My son is a huge golf fan, and he said, ‘Mom, were you there?’ ‘Yes, I was right there when he pulled driver!’ There was no roar, but you could hear people gasping. Woodland: We had no depth perception, so it looked like it was going in the hole and had got to within six inches. We were sort of screaming at each other, like, ‘Whoa, he put it on the green!’ Champ: He pulled off the shot when he needed to the most, and I give him mad, mad props. Jakovac: Under the circumstances it’s the best shot I’ve ever seen. Morikawa: The actual club, it’s just sitting in my house. Definitely haven’t framed it. Just sitting in a bag with a bunch of other clubs. I know which one it is. … I’m sure down the road I’ll kind of look at it and be like, That’s kind of the shot that changed everything, that kind of changed my career at that point at 23.

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