Expert Picks: Shriners Children’s Open

How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. Each lineup consists of four starters and two bench players that can be rotated after each round. Adding to the challenge is that every golfer can be used only three times per each of four Segments. The first fantasy golf game to utilize live ShotLink data, PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf allows you to see scores update live during competition. Aside from the experts below, Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at this year’s PGA Championship in his edition of the Power Rankings. For more fantasy, check out Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers and Reshuffle. THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN OUR EXPERTS? The PGA TOUR Experts league is once again open to the public. You can play our free fantasy game and see how you measure up against our experts below. Joining the league is simple. Just click here to sign up or log in. Once you create your team, click the “Leagues” tab and search for “PGA TOUR Experts.” After that? Pick your players and start talking smack. Want to represent the fans against our experts? SEASON SEGMENT

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AUSTIN, Texas — Welcome to Bracket Monday on the PGA TOUR. The 64 players in this week’s World Golf Championships-Dell Technlogoies Match Play will be divided into 16 groups via draw process to be revealed today at 5 p.m. ET on Golf Channel.  Fans can then begin filling out their brackets on PGATOUR.COM until Wednesday when the first tee shot is struck at Austin Country Club to start the Group Stage of the competition. Following three rounds of the Group Stage Wednesday through Friday, the 16 Group winners will advance to the sudden-death stage starting Saturday morning. The Championship Final will be played Sunday morning.  Our Live Blog will provide the results of the draw, as well as the matchups for each round and a quick analysis from our experts. Each player below is listed by his seed, with his WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play career record in parentheses. Group 1 1. DUSTIN JOHNSON (14-12) – Making his 11th appearance and his third straight as the top seed. Won the Championship in 2017, beating Jon Rahm 1 up. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 2 2. JUSTIN ROSE (10-11-1) – Returns after two-year absence for 12th start in event. Quarterfinals back in 2007 remains best result. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 3 3. BROOKS KOEPKA (8-4) – Returns after a year off. Quarterfinalist in 2016, final 16 in 2017 before wrist injury kept him out in 2018. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 4 4. RORY MCILROY (24-11-2) – Recently crowned PLAYERS Champion was runner-up in 2012, won in 2015, was a semifinalist in 2016 … but failed to get out of Group Play the last two seasons. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 5 5. JUSTIN THOMAS ( 6-7-0) – After two uninspiring starts, found his groove last year to make it to the semifinals before losing to the eventual champion Bubba Watson. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 6 6. BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU (0-0) – Making his first Match Play start. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 7 7. FRANCESCO MOLINARI (4-11-0) – The reigning Open Champion has never come out of the Group Stage so will look to his 5-0 Ryder Cup heroics for inspiration. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 8 8. JON RAHM (6-3-1) – Reached the Championship match on debut in 2017, only to be bested by Dustin Johnson. Failed to win a group match last year. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 9 9. XANDER SCHAUFFELE (2-1-0) – Taken out by loss to Sergio Garcia on debut last year after winning first two starts. Has multiple TOUR wins since. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 10 10. PAUL CASEY (25-14-1) – Sunday’s winner of the Valspar Championship lost in the finals in 2009 (to Geoff Ogilvy) and 2010 (to Ian Poulter). Advanced to Sweet 16 in 2017. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 11 11. TOMMY FLEETWOOD (6-5-0) – In three previous starts, he advanced past the Group Stage just once, in 2015 when he lost to fellow Englishman Danny Willett in the Quarterfinals. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 12 12. JASON DAY (22-11-0) – Won the championship in in 2014 (in Arizona) and 2016 when Austin first hosted the Match Play. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 13 13. TIGER WOODS (33-10) – Match Play champion in 2003, 2004 and 2008. Last start in this event was 2013, so he’s never played at Austin CC or in this Group Play format. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 14 14. TONY FINAU (2-1-0) – Won his first two matches last year before losing to Group winner Alex Noren. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 15 15. BUBBA WATSON (20-8-3) – Defending champion was also semi-finalist in 2011. Beat Kevin Kisner 7 and 6 in final last year. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 16 16. PATRICK REED (9-6-1) – Captain America has won his group twice in last four years, only to lose at next hurdle. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD

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One week later. Same golf course. Different scoring conditions. Very different. The Muirfield Village Golf Club that PGA TOUR pros feasted on in last week’s Workday Charity Open was nowhere to be seen in Thursday’s opening round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. A much firmer course, much faster greens, a little higher rough and a significant increase in wind speed along with swirling direction certainly caught the attention of TOUR pros in town for a second consecutive week. Dr. Jekyll had turned into Mr. Hyde. “After playing last week, I’m surprised at how different they could get the golf course,” Charles Howell III said after his 3-under 69, among the best scores shot in the morning. A week ago at Muirfield Village, the field average for the opening round was 72.121 strokes, and it eventually dropped to a cumulative 71.85 after four rounds. For the morning wave on Thursday, the field average was 73.7. “It’s not even remotely close to the same,” noted Justin Thomas, who lost in a playoff to Collin Morikawa last week after finishing 19 under in regulation. Thomas was bogey-free for his first 55 holes at the Workday Charity Open. On Thursday, he shot a 2-over 74 that included four bogeys – matching his total of his entire week at Workday. “It was a totally, totally different golf course,” JT added. “The course is in fantastic shape right now. It’s very tough.” Morikawa, coming off his second TOUR win last week, found it even tougher. He shot a 4-over 76 that included a three-hole stretch of double bogey at the par-4 14th, a three-putt bogey at the par-5 15th and double bogey at the par-4 16th. He also suffered another three-putt bogey at the par-5 fifth. Morikawa knew things would be different immediately after returning to Muirfield Village on Tuesday. “You already saw the greens get about a foot, foot-and-a-half faster, and today when we stepped on the course, even though it was morning you could start seeing a little shine, so you know the first bounces were skipping a little more, getting a little firmer,” Morikawa said. “The rough has obviously just kept growing. They’ve put some water on them. You miss in some spots, sometimes you’ve got to chip out and you never know what kind of lie you’re going to get, but for the most part it’s not going to be good. … Today it played a lot windier, which just made it a little tougher.” Last week was the first time Morikawa had played Muirfield Village since turning pro, so Thursday was his first time to see it in “Memorial” conditions. Meanwhile, last year’s Memorial winner, Patrick Cantlay, wasn’t prepared for what he saw last week. He still tied for seventh, but he appreciated seeing a familiar set-up on Thursday. “I would say really this week feels normal,” Cantlay said after shooting a 2-under 70. “Last week felt a little odd with the different hole locations and how slow everything was. “Last week in a weird way for me was more of an adjustment. Collin obviously hadn’t seen it in previous Memorials so this week is an adjustment for him, but for me, today felt like back to normal.” Cantlay was among many players citing the changing, swirling wind conditions as having a big impact on their scores. Bryson DeChambeau, who did not play last week after winning the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, said “the wind played tricks on us today” during his 1-over 73. “It swirls a lot,” said DeChambeau, who recorded two drives over 400 yards. “For example, on 5 today, I had 230 in and I felt like at the moment when I was standing over it, it was 20 miles an hour downwind, and when I hit it, it dead stopped. Can’t do anything about it. … I hit 7-iron, and that thing flies 207 for me when I hit it good, and I felt like it would carry, and it obviously didn’t. “That’s golf, man. I mean, you’re not going to shoot the lowest number every single day.” The player who shot the lowest score in the morning was Brendan Steele with a 4-under 68. Steele tied for 52nd last week, finishing with a 76 on Sunday, but the tougher set-up on Thursday played more to his strengths. After an early bogey, he kept a clean scorecard for his last 15 holes, including an eagle at the par-5 11th when he holed out from 111 yards. “It was a big adjustment last week,” Steele said. “I don’t think I ever quite got there, but I was hoping that I didn’t get there today, that I wasn’t still feeling like it was going to be soft and a lot slower than we’re used to today. “I was able to adjust. This is more what I’m used to here. You had to kind of flush all your memory of last week if you wanted to do well, and then this week you’ve got to bring it all back. I was able to do that, and it’s much more what we’re used to but very difficult.”

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