Sleeper Picks: World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba

SANDWICH, England – While red numbers weren’t rare during the opening round at The 149th Open, Royal St. George’s still claimed some big names with U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm and PGA Champion Phil Mickelson among those to struggle. RELATED: Leaderboard | Jon Rahm leads the list of links specialists | Club foot reason for Jon Rahm’s TOUR-winning short swing The season’s previous two major winners will need a form turnaround if they are to make it a double in 2021, with Mickelson shooting a 10-over 80 – his worst ever start to a major – and Rahm battling to a 1-over 71. The man the duo both conquered – South African Louis Oosthuizen – has started his quest to better his back-to-back major runner-ups with a 6-under 64. It left those players on the wrong side of par with an uphill battle as 73 of the 154 players opened the championship at par or better. Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Fitzpatrick and defending champion Shane Lowry were among those joining Rahm at 1 over while Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed are 2 over. Recent PGA TOUR winners Garrick Higgo (73), Patrick Cantlay (74), Marc Leishman (75), Harris English (75), and Lucas Glover (75) also struggled. Rory McIlroy needed a final-hole birdie to shoot even-par 70. Mickelson’s 80 was his worst round in The Open – which he won in 2013 – since an 85 in the third round of the 1998 tournament. Those represent just two of now 93 rounds in The Open where the veteran has failed to break 80. Five bogeys on the front nine started the pain as the six-time major winner turned in 40 and another five dropped shots in his last six holes, including a closing double bogey, left him tied for last in the 154-man field. Spaniard Rahm was the pre-tournament favorite after his impressive U.S. Open victory at Torrey Pines last month, but he lost his way on the ninth hole when he failed to escape from a fairway bunker on the first attempt and made a double bogey. Playing with Oosthuizen, Rahm felt like his wheels were spinning despite making plenty of grinding pars, until a final-hole birdie gave him something to smile about. DeChambeau couldn’t get his radar adjusted off the tee. He managed four birdies on the round but hit the same number of fairways in regulation meaning he was hamstrung by five bogeys. “The driver sucks. It’s not a good face for me and we’re still trying to figure out how to make it good on the miss-hits. I’m living on the razor’s edge,” DeChambeau bemoaned post round. “It’s quite finicky for me because it’s a golf course that’s pretty short, and so when I hit driver and it doesn’t go in the fairway, it’s first cut or it’s in the hay, it’s tough for me to get it out on to the green and control that… I couldn’t control my wedges.”

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Will Brooks Koepka successfully defend his title? Or will somebody else claim the $2 million bonus? The second season of the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 race begins with this week’s season-opening event, A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier. The top 10 players in the FedExCup standings after the final event of the regular season, the Wyndham Championship, will receive bonuses out of the $10 million total pool. Related: WYNDHAM REWARDS TOP 10: How it works, standings, more Koepka claimed first place last season to enter the FedExCup Playoffs as the top seed. Eventual FedExCup champ Rory McIlroy finished second, followed by Matt Kuchar, Xander Schauffele, Gary Woodland, Patrick Cantlay, Dustin Johnson, Paul Casey, Webb Simpson and Jon Rahm in the 10th spot. We asked our PGATOUR.COM writers for their predictions for the 2019-20 season – the winner, the top 10 lock, and a surprise choice. Here are their responses: WHO WILL WIN? MIKE McALLISTER (Managing Editor): Justin Thomas. He finished second in regular-season points in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons before dropping to 17th last season while battling a nagging wrist injury. He showed in the Playoffs that he’s back to full strength. SEAN MARTIN (Senior Editor): Rory McIlroy. He’s coming off the most consistent season of his career, and there’s no reason to think he won’t have a strong follow-up to his FedExCup victory. BEN EVERILL (Staff Writer): Brooks Koepka. The sting of defeat to Rory in the FedExCup finale will fuel another regular-season rise for Brooks, leaving him as the winner of the first two Wyndham Rewards titles.  CAMERON MORFIT (Staff Writer): Rory McIlroy. Upon winning the FedExCup, McIlroy said it was a season in which he easily could have won more. I agree. It was almost a fluke that he didn’t, and I think that little edge, that little swagger that comes from being the only other multiple FedExCup winner besides Tiger, puts him over the top as your year two Wyndham Rewards winner.  TOP 10 LOCK? McALLISTER: Dustin Johnson. Yes, I’m aware he’s having off-season knee surgery. And yes, I’m assuming he’ll make a quick recovery. He’s finished in the regular-season top 10 in the last six seasons. I fully expect him to make it seven straight. MARTIN: Justin Thomas. A wrist injury and some of the worst putting of his career didn’t prevent him from finishing third in this season’s FedExCup Playoffs. He’s won nine times over the past three seasons, and I think he’s primed for another big season. EVERILL: Rory McIlroy. There’s no way McIlroy is going backwards in my eyes after his season. So that means he’ll either be second again or beat out my above choice, Brooks.  MORFIT: Brooks Koepka. It was no accident that Koepka was the inaugural Wyndham Rewards winner. He’s so good from tee to green, thrives on the big stage, and is a great putter, besides. There’s no way he won’t make the top 10.  SURPRISE TOP 10 PICK? McALLISTER: Sungjae Im. Don’t know if it would be a huge surprise, given that he was 23rd in points in his rookie season last year. Once again, he’ll likely play more events than anybody else (and thus, gives himself more opportunities for points). Unlike last season, I expect him to win at least one tournament this time. That should push him inside the top 10. MARTIN: Viktor Hovland. He’s a machine, and as a rookie playing out of the Korn Ferry Tour category, he’ll have inspiration to play a lot early. EVERILL: Cameron Smith. After a few seasons of peaks and valleys, the young Australian will finally figure out a way to play solid all season long. He will springboard into 2020 off the back of a great Presidents Cup performance.  MORFIT: Matthew Wolff. This guy is only going to get more comfortable and more dangerous as he gets used to playing the TOUR. And he’s already plenty dangerous.

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Jordan Spieth will have to call on his Australian Open heroics from 2014 when he shot a final round 63 if he is to have any chance of winning his third Stonehaven Cup.

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