Xander Schauffele in contention at WM Phoenix Open with fill-in caddie

Hey! Remember us? Yeah, so you’re wish didn’t come true in the offseason. It’s still Glass and Rob analyzing the PointsBet boards for PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live. Better luck next time. Then again, Rob put up a decent fight last season to keep his card. He recorded two top 10s among seven top-30 finishes in this game. The highlight was the solo third on the timeliness of the rain at the conclusion of The Honda Classic. It no doubt aided in Sepp Straka hanging on for a breakthrough victory. Rob’s a lifelong Chicago Cubs’ fan, so it’s not the first time he’s benefited from weather late in a competition. Glass forever is the formidable foil, which is just how he likes it. He has Rob exactly where he wants him, or something like that. Our fellas haven’t wasted any time in latching hope to the shiny new toys, er, the latest Korn Ferry Tour Finals graduating class for the Fortinet Championship. As always, they’ve baked strategic advice and tips into their analyses below. Register for PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live here and monitor Rob’s and Glass’ progress as Influencers. For a broader explanation of the format and FAQs, click here. TOURNAMENT TO WIN Rob … Austin Eckroat (+12500) Not that anyone remembers – well, except for me – but I’m fresh off shutting out Glass in the 2021-22 season finale, so I open 2022-23 with the honor. That said, Glass totally has the right idea here. I’m done with limping in with odds shorter than five digits because even when my pre-tournament choices have been in contention on a Sunday and without me touching the dial, the odds have been longer on Sunday. I vow, never again. I’ll call Glass’ sophomore with Eckroat the rookie. He was the runner-up at the KFT Championship just down the road from Glass in The Crossroads of America. Rollovers of KFT studs into the fall portion of the TOUR schedule has been the real deal over time, so in this last experience of the phenomenon, I want to hop on for a ride. Glass … Brandon Wu (+12500) California love usually reigns here and so does painting fairways and greens. The Stanford alum sat 63rd in fairways hit and 19th in greens in regulation on TOUR last season, and he won’t be overwhelmed by his surroundings. With a pair of top-10 paydays and four of six finishes of T30 or better, he is trending in the right direction. As always with this early decision, start high and work your way back down, if necessary. TOP 10 Glass … Will Gordon (+1100) I’m not shy endorsing bombers this week and there are plenty entered. His second tour on TOUR sees him roll into town in fantastic form. A pair of T5s preceded his win on Poa annua at Albertsons in the KFT Finals. Grinding out cuts in the next two events of the Finals suggests he’s not settling this time around. Rob … Justin Suh (+550) Here’s where we need to be sharp about our selection. With this bet historically opening during a reasonable hour in the U.S. after R1, but then infrequently at the same hour after R2 and R3, I want to open with a strong foundation who I believe will shorten after he signs his first scorecard as a member of the PGA TOUR. Suh is everything we want, so I was going to figure out a way to slot the KFT points leader times two into a bet. I’d have been elated with, say, +400. TOP USA PLAYER Rob … Maverick McNealy (+1600) At last check, Eckroat was +8000, which is favorable, but we don’t know how often this bet will unlock, if at all. Before you consider griping, remember, this is gambling and we’re all in it together. Homa is No. 1 in my Power Rankings – he should be as the defending champion and home-state stud – but in respect to the potential that he’s looking ahead to his debut in next week’s Presidents Cup, I’m sliding down to the No. 2. McNealy was the runner-up last year and Silverado is almost as comfortable a stage as its regional neighbor and his personal haunt, Pebble Beach. He’s among the best on TOUR without a victory, but he doesn’t need to win to yield coinage. Glass … Scott Harrington (+15000) Not his first rodeo as he’s cashed in both previous visits to Silverado (T36-T23). Has no problem sending it and his aggregate total of 20-under doesn’t have me panicking. Yet. Good news is the market can be timed over the weekend – if you handle it – and adjustments can be made. Let’s hope that’s not the case in Week 1! ROUND 1 LEADER Glass … Patrick Rodgers (+10000) Five straight entered, five straight paid. The last two have been 68 and 67 so I’m looking for another low one, this time off the second group Thursday morning. The former Stanford player is teeing it up here for the ninth consecutive season so I won’t have to worry about him being motivated getting out of bed. Always dream early so that you can find reality later in the day. Rob … Cam Davis (+6000) Silverado is the most equitable in terms of its nines and how every hole lines up within them. So, there’s no reason to consider either side of the course as the opening half among the morning wavers. With the tournament in my time zone, I don’t have to worry about this window closing before I’m lucid, so it’s nice to know that it’s not entirely a lottery ticket. The Aussie was lighting the world on fire for four months, so he’s a no-brainer to get after it out of the fifth threesome going off 10. Sure, like others, he might be distracted by what’s on deck at the Presidents Cup, but all we care about here is one round. I also believe in thinking less about the action in favor of letting the body and muscle memory do its thing, so therein lies the experiment. NOTE: While Glass and Rob typically stick with their selections as detailed in Pick ‘Em Preview, they are allowed the right to make changes at any time.

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There's an old saying in sports that simply says, “Go hard or go home.” It is an apt line for the Wyndham Championship because if you find yourself in the field at Sedgefield Country Club and you're outside the top 125 in the FedExCup standings, it is the only option you have. Go hard or go home. With FedExCup Playoffs spots on the line a few players did just that. None more so than Jim Herman, who opened the week with a spot inside the top 200 at risk but ended it in dramatic fashion as the winner in Greensboro. Welcome to the Monday Finish where Herman and two others produced enough to extend their season and the final Playoffs field was set. THREE KEYS TO SUCCESS 1. When opportunity knocks, Herman knows you better be ready to take it. Herman has just 10 top-10s on the PGA TOUR from his 195 starts between 2010 and now. But the now 42-year-old can boast that three of those are wins. Herman might not be a regular contender on the PGA TOUR - in fact he came into Wyndham ranked a distant 192nd in the FedExCup standings, leaving him with a win or runner-up scenario to continue his season. But what he has been over the last five seasons is a pretty regular winner. He may have missed 27 cuts in his last 40 starts but there are plenty of players on TOUR who would switch places right now. 2. A record weekend. With four holes to go on Friday, Herman could have been forgiven for starting to crunch numbers in his head regarding staying inside the top 200 of the FedExCup and receiving a safety net for the 2020-21 season via a spot in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. He was outside the cut line at 192nd in the FedExCup and was already planning what to do with his family over the next three weeks. But three straight birdies allowed him the opportunity to play the weekend and Sedgefield, and perhaps gain some momentum before the time off. That momentum came quickly with a 9-under 61 on Saturday, with a 29 on the back side, that rocketed Herman to the periphery of contention. While starting Sunday four back might seem a little far, perhaps he could snag the runner-up finish he needed to continue his FedExCup claims. Forget that. A Sunday 63 meant a weekend total of 134 - which equaled the lowest weekend total for a winner in TOUR history (Stuart Appleby, 2010 Greenbrier). Herman played his last 32 holes with 15 birdies, an eagle and just one bogey. Incredible. 3. A hot putter. Herman turned up at Sedgefield struggling with his putting and decided to change to a cross-handed grip at Wyndham. It was a masterstroke. He ended the week making 444-feet of putts with a 59-foot eagle on the par-5 fifth on Sunday the shot that catapulted him into serious contention. All in all, Herman gained +6.234 shots on the greens, ranking him third in Strokes Gained: Putting. But his tee-to-green game was equally impressive. Herman was fifth in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and fourth in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green. "I got here, and these greens are so perfect, you’ve got to be able to start the ball where you’re looking with the correct speed, and cross-handed just gets the ball rolling a little bit better for me at the moment and just went with it," Herman said. Read more on his putting switch and everything to do with his win here. OBSERVATIONS Jobs may not have been on the line thanks to the COVID-19 reduced schedule but FedExCup Playoffs spots still were and that still brings pressure. While Herman was one man to blitz his way into the Playoffs, two others with impressive pedigree did the same. Major champions Zach Johnson and Shane Lowry were the other two players who did enough to move from the outside of the 125 into the field at THE NORTHERN TRUST this week. Johnson came in ranked 129th and finished No. 104 after a tie for seventh at Sedgefield. He had missed the Playoffs a year ago but would not be denied again. "I don’t like missing cuts, I don’t like missing the FedExCup, I don’t like not being a part of it," Johnson said. "When there’s events that you’re not qualified for, which has kind of been new to me in the last year or two, it’s frustrating. I say that, it’s also motivating." Lowry came in No. 131 and finished 122nd with his T23 at Wyndham. "You look at what I’ve achieved in the last year or two, stuff like that shouldn’t really be as stressful as it was, but it was," said the reigning Open champion. "It’s a big deal. We all know if we can make it to Boston that a good week there, you know, can do big things." Those to fall out of the top 125 were Charl Schwartzel, Fabian Gomez and Russell Knox. Check out a full rundown here. Webb Simpson and Sedgefield are a pretty decent match. No wonder Simpson named one of his children Wyndham given he now has eight top 10s at Sedgefield, including the win in 2011, from 12 starts. Simpson has now finished in the top 3, albeit without winning a second title on the course, in the last four seasons after a T3 this week. In his last 16 rounds at Sedgefield, Simpson has shot 68 or better, averaging out at 65.3125. He has won over $3.5 million at the venue. He also secured $1.2 million this week for finishing third in the Wyndham Rewards regular season race and as such is in great shape for a tilt at the FedExCup. Cinderella doesn't always get to the ball. Rob Oppenheim, a 40-year-old grinder who has spent his career bouncing between the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA TOUR in the FedExCup era but who has yet to make the Playoffs, had a golden opportunity on Sunday. Playing in the final group, Oppenheim needed to stay high on the leaderboard to have a chance of breaking the drought but unfortunately slipped to a tie for 15th thanks to some critical late bogeys. In the end he was four shots adrift of his goal. QUOTEBOARD "I hit it the way I wanted, I felt like I started on my line and about halfway to the hole I thought I made it and it just snapped off. It was disappointing because I had two good looks the last couple holes and just wasn’t able to convert," – runner-up Billy Horschel on a chance to force a playoff on 18. "You get old pretty quick out here with the young guys. They make you feel inadequate off the tee and especially long irons. it’s mentally frustrating. To overcome it all and get here for a third time is pretty amazing." – Jim Herman "It’s an ‘almost’ week. Almost good, almost a low one every day. Today was an almost." Webb Simpson after a fourth top 3 in four years at the Wyndham without winning. "I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m in the same place next week and I wouldn’t be surprised having a chance to win," Jordan Spieth remains upbeat despite continued struggles. WYNDHAM REWARDS The Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is a season-long competition that offers a $10 million bonus for the 10 golfers who end the regular season at the Wyndham Championship inside the top 10 in FedExCup points. The player atop the standings will earn $2 million, with varying payoffs for the others through $500,000 for the 10th place finisher. Justin Thomas officially is the Wyndham Rewards champion after there was no movement in the final week of the regular season. Thomas takes top spot with three wins on the season thus far and Collin Morikawa was able to hold off Webb Simpson for second to get $1.5 million. Jon Rahm kept the 10th and last slot, 37 points ahead of Xander Schauffele. The top 10 combined for 15 wins in the 2019-20 Regular Season. SOCIAL SNAPSHOT

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