Fantasy Insider: The American Express

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Rory McIlroy is a lock for this week’s PGA Championship, right? He’s made seven starts at Quail Hollow, the host venue for the PGA TOUR’s Wells Fargo Championship from 2003-16. He shot a final-round 62 to win in 2010, and shot a 61 on his way to winning in 2015. He also has four other top 10s. If not him, it’s got to be one of the other players in the field with prior experience at Quail Hollow. Maybe Rickie Fowler, also a winner here. Or Phil Mickelson, who’s done everything but win on this course. Sure, there are changes to the course. The greens have new Bermuda grass. There are countless trees removed. And four holes have been changed. But a large part of the property is the same. The feel is the same. The good memories still hold. It’s a rare opportunity – outside of the Masters at Augusta National – for players to tee off with significant course experience at a major venue. Mickelson, for instance, has played 52 rounds at Quail Hollow. A year ago at Baltusrol, he entered the week having played just four rounds there as a pro. Clearly his experience must count for something, right? If that’s the case, 55 players in the field are apparently starting well behind the 8-ball. When the course was awarded the PGA Championship, McIlroy immediately circled it as a great chance to add to his major trophy case. “I guess there’s courses that you know you’re going to go to that you’ve played well at before and it’s not going to be too much different just because it’s a different tournament,â€� McIlroy said. “It’s the same golf course, sort of same shots you need to hit. Yeah, it’s been on my mind for a while, this is one that I’ve got a good chance at.â€� Mickelson has seen nearly twice as much as McIlroy. Zach Johnson has 11 starts at Quail Hollow. Jimmy Walker, the defending PGA champ, has eight. Same for past Masters champ Adam Scott. Johnson went on an early reconnaissance mission prior to last week’s World Golf Championships – Bridgestone Invitational and couldn’t help but feel like he might have a small edge. “There’s certain pin placements and maybe certain subtleties of any golf course but that one in particular,â€� Johnson said. “That could be an advantage. You cannot hit it here or, you know what, you do want to short-side yourself on this par 5 here, whatever the case.â€� Jordan Spieth is going for the career Grand Slam this week. He’s looking to be the youngest person to do it. While he’s not one of the 55 Quail Hollow rookies, he’s had just one start, a T32 in 2013. Does that leave him at a disadvantage? Well … “I think guys that have played the tournament extremely well, they changed holes but the holes still go along with the rest of the holes, so I would say Rory’s probably the guy to beat at this point,â€� Spieth said. “Someone who’s had such success there, he and Rickie (Fowler). Phil’s played it really well. These guys that have good feelings there, yeah, the golf course is changed, but it’s similar enough that they’ve got good vibes around there. “So we need to try to develop those before it starts.â€� That’s the key for any of the guys unfamiliar with the nuances of Quail Hollow. The lack of course knowledge is not insurmountable; it simply requires an accelerated learning curve. “Course knowledge makes it a lot easier on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but other than that it’s not really a big advantage,â€� said U.S. Open champ Brooks Koepka, making his first appearance at Quail Hollow. “By the time you tee off, everyone knows the golf course, everyone knows what everything does, I don’t see an issue with it. “I’ve played plenty of golf courses before where guys have had years of experience and it’s just a matter of who gets hot.â€� Koepka said his 18-hole practice round on Monday would allow him to pinpoint which side of the course he would focus on over the last two practice days. Thomas Pieters, who led through 54 holes last week in his first trip to Firestone Country Club before fading on Sunday, is also making his first start at Quail Hollow. He doesn’t consider it a detriment. Instead, he sees McIlroy’s success as a sign he too can compete. “Rory, Dustin and guys like that have a similar game to me and they do well around there. I’ll just hit to similar spots and be fine,â€� he said.  “I did well at the Masters and barely played 18 holes. To me, it is just a golf course. You get it around. I sprayed it all over the place at Firestone but you just find a way to par when you can. “When I am in fairways I have confidence my ball striking is good enough to go at any flag and the fairways are a bit wider this week. And maybe they can overthink where not to hit it. I have a clear mind.â€� This last point is one that Jon Rahm believes heavily in. He turned up to the Farmers Insurance Open this year having never seen Torrey Pines before … and won. The way he did it – by destroying the back nine on the South Course Sunday while others paid the tough holes more respect – showed sometimes it’s better to know less. “I don’t feel like I am behind, not at all,â€� Rahm said. “I am more of a person who focusses on where to hit it, I don’t like to know where not to hit it because then it will be on my mind.â€� At the Shell Houston Open earlier this season, Rahm finished T-10 despite playing only nine holes in the lead-up thanks to weather issues. “The back nine, my caddie just said hit it there and I did. I didn’t ask where anything is. I just trust him,â€� he recalled. “You see the obvious. Sometimes knowing too much can be detrimental.â€� Rahm said he will trust caddie Adam Hayes again plenty this week, especially since his looper lives close by. “He knows every blade of grass on that golf course so I trust what he says,â€� Rahm said. Jason Day, who won the PGA Championship in 2015 and was runner-up in 2016, is happy he’s played Quail twice before with a top-10 finish. But he won’t be writing off the Quail Hollow neophytes. “Nothing surprises me,â€� Day said. “This is a course that someone who hasn’t won before or hasn’t played it could win around. No doubt. Everyone has a chance if they play well. It should be a great tournament.â€� QUAIL HOLLOW FIRST-TIMERS Alex Beach, Rich Berberian Jr., Thomas Bjørn, Jamie Broce, Wesley Bryan, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Patrick Cantlay, Stuart Deane, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Ryan Fox, Dylan Frittelli, Branden Grace, Greg Gregory, Cody Gribble, Jaysen Hansen, Tyrrell Hatton, Scott Hebert, Yuta Ikeda, Thongchai Jaidee, Andrew Johnston, K.T. Kim, Søren Kjeldsen, Satoshi Kodaira, Brooks Koepka, Pablo Larrazábal, Alexander Levy, Hao Tong Li, Joost Luiten, Dave McNabb, Chris Moody, Grayson Murray, David Muttitt, Alex Noren, Thomas Pieters, Kenny Pigman, Jon Rahm, Adam Rainaud, Xander Schauffele, Mike Small, Jordan Smith, Brian Smock, Younghan Song, Richard Sterne, Brandon Stone, Andy Sullivan, Hideto Tanihara, Peter Uihlein, Ryan Vermeer, Jeunghun Wang, Bernd Wiesberger, Danny Willett, Chris Wood, JJ Wood, Fabrizio Zanotti.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Notes and observations from the second round of the FedEx St. Jude Classic, where Chez Reavie fired a bogey-free 65 to get to 9 under, then watched as unheralded Colombian Sebastian Munoz (67) and Charl Schwartzel (66) tied him at the top. Stewart Cink, enjoying a career revival at age 44, shot 68 to get to 8 under, just a shot off the lead. For more coverage from TPC Southwind, click here for the Daily Wrap-up. CINK DIALS UP WAY-BACK MACHINE Stewart Cink is seeking his first victory since the 2009 Open Championship, the one in which he beat the suddenly-young-again 59-year-old Tom Watson in a playoff at Turnberry. So you might think Cink looks back on ’09 as a high-water mark in his career. The six-time TOUR winner says that isn’t so. “Going back to 2009, you know, if you really examine that year closely, I won the British but the rest of the year wasn’t all that spectacular,â€� Cink said, when asked when was the last time he felt this good about his game. “So going back to 2008 probably, the first half of ’08, and I really, really felt good about my game and I felt like I had a chance to win a lot of tournaments. “I feel like if I can just hang in there and stay within myself and not get too ahead of myself with the results, then I’ve got a chance here, too.â€� It’s been a banner year for Cink in more ways than one in 2017. Most importantly his wife Lisa’s cancer is in sustained remission, but Stewart’s game has been robust, too. After making 14 cuts in 18 starts this season, including top-10s at The RSM Classic and DEAN & DELUCA Invitational and six other top-25 finishes, he came into this week at 60th in the FedExCup. On Monday, he got through sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open at Erin Hills.   What’s more, he is right at home in Memphis, quite possibly America’s best barbecue town—a fact that is not lost on Cink, who enters his own recipes in competitions. He planned to call fellow barbecue aficionado Davis Love III and perhaps hit up his favorite spot Friday night. Life is sweet, and a victory Sunday would be even sweeter. SOUTH AFRICANS LOVING MEMPHIS Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but South African countrymen Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Charl Schwartzel—who have seven major titles between them—are loving TPC Southwind. Schwartzel leads the way (66, T1), but Goosen (68, T6) is only three off the lead. Then there’s 47-year-old Els, who has had a tough year, making just four cuts in 14 starts coming into this week, but who fired a second-round 69 to get to 3 under par, well inside the cut line here. “I’ve been putting well for a while,â€� said Schwartzel, who is first in strokes gained: putting this week after making 220 feet of putts. “Just some weeks you see the lines better than other weeks. You know, this week I can really see the breaks well, and my speed’s good.â€� At 74th in the FedExCup, Schwartzel is looking to build on a season-best third at the Masters and a sixth-place finish in his title defense at the Valspar Championship earlier this year. With the U.S. Open looming next week, he says he couldn’t pick a better time to heat up. “That’s the ultimate in our sport, is to win majors and peak for those tournaments,â€� he said. “Whichever way suits you to do that, this is what you must do.â€� MICKELSON RUN STALLS Still looking for his first victory since the 2013 Open Championship, Phil Mickelson got hot and was hovering around the lead at 7 under par, sending a jolt of excitement around the course. Then he bogeyed the fifth and sixth holes and hit his approach shot into the water to double-bogey the ninth, his last hole of the day, for a dispiriting 67 to drop to 4 under. At five off the lead, he is tied for 18th place and will need a banner weekend. “Yeah, it’s a disappointing way to finish the round,â€� said Mickelson, who hit 11 of 14 fairways Friday after hitting just five in the first round. “I made a poor swing there and made double, but I hit a lot of really good shots today and had a chance to shoot something really low, and unfortunately didn’t get the score out of it, but it was encouraging that I played really well.â€� ODDS AND ENDS Chez Reavie hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation and is first in the field this week in proximity to the hole on approach shots (23 feet, 2 inches). He has twice led through 36 holes, once at the 2008 RBC Canadian Open, which he won for his first and only TOUR victory, and agains and the 2011 John Deere Classic, where he tied for fifth. … Adam Scott shot the round of the day, a 6-under 64, to get to -5 and T11 going into the weekend. He ranks first in strokes gained: off the tee, first in driving distance (301.4 yards) and first in strokes gained: tee to green. His only weakness so far has been his usual Achilles heel, putting, where his strokes gained number is -2.589 (82nd in the field). … Those at 1 over or better made it to the weekend, although a second cut will come Saturday. Notable names to miss the 36-hole cut included Rickie Fowler (74-70), who was coming off a runner-up finish at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide and came into the week eighth on the FedExCup points list, and Byrson DeChambeau (69-73). … This is the second time Charl Schwartzel has held the 36-hole lead/co-lead in 154 TOUR starts. He was tied for first at the 2011 Dell Technologies Championship but finished T21. … Munoz, 24, would become the 14th different player under 30 to win on TOUR this season. To date, 13 different players have accounted for 16 wins. … Ben Crane, a five-time TOUR winner, came into the week 160th in the FedExCup and ready to try something completely different. Crane, the 2014 FedEx St. Jude champion, decided to celebrate like the former professional wrestler Ric Flair after every made putt. “We’re going two claps and a Ric Flair after you make a putt,â€� he said. “So you go (clap, clap) whoo!â€� CALL OF THE DAY SHOT OF THE DAY BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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