How to watch ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, Round 1: Featured Groups, live scores, tee times, TV times

The invitation-only event hosted by Tiger Woods takes place at Albany Golf Course for the fifth straight year in New Province, Bahamas. The good news is the tournament will be a no-cut event, but with just 18 players in the field, your margin for error will have to be close to zero. The field will not include world No. 4, Dustin Johnson, who withdrew due to injury. Meanwhile, Rickie Fowler will be making his first start since the TOUR Championship. Albany Golf Course, similar to many courses we’ve seen this fall, will be subject to windy conditions, if in fact, the gusts start to ramp up. The course plays as a par 72 but will play very different than most on TOUR with five par 5s, five par 3s and eight par 4s. The exposed course layout is similar to links golf with mounds up to 30 feet tall along with a ton of bunkering throughout the course. Albany will measure anywhere between 7,300 to 7,400 yards this week and the golfers who can hit it far may have a slight advantage over the shorter hitters being able to avoid those trouble areas off the tee and reach the par 5s in two. Other than par 5 scoring average, players who stat out highly in birdie or better percentage and those who’ve played recently are golfers we should be targeting in our lineups. Managers should also take roster construction into account. With 18 players in the field, there will be a large number of duplicate lineups, so not using your entire salary should be a good strategy to differentiate yourself this week. TOP VALUES XANDER SCHAUFFELE ($9,800) Schauffele finished eighth last year and his history in no-cut events is stellar, earning a win and a runner-up finish in recent World Golf Championship (WGC) events, winning the Sentry Tournament of Champions as well as the TOUR Championship over the past few years. He’s also playing extremely well, ranking first in birdie or better percentage and first in par 5 scoring average over his past three tournaments. Schauffele finished second at the WGC-HSBC last month, which is the lead-in form we’ve seen from Jon Rahm when he won last season (finished T4 in the 2018 DP World Tour Championship, Dubai), Rickie Fowler when he won in 2017 (finished second at the 2017 Mayakoba Golf Classic) and Hideki Matsuyama in 2016, which was his fourth win in five starts. PATRICK REED ($6,900) Similar to Schauffele, Reed’s also recorded solid finishes in no-cut events over the past few seasons with a top 10 at the 2019 TOUR Championship and wins at both a World Golf Championship event as well as at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in 2015. If Reed happens to find one of the many bunkers, he should be fine ranking third in sand save percentage over his past 12 rounds and even though he’s not known for his length, he ranks 10th in driving distance over his past three tournaments and is inside the top 10 in par 5 scoring if we extend those stats over his past six tournaments. Reed also has solid course history, ranking top-three in Strokes Gained: Total with a couple of top-five finishes and a runner-up in Albany dating back to 2015. Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. About the writer: “I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is reidtfowler) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.�

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AUSTIN, Texas – Keith Mitchell could not waste the chance to pick the brain of one of the best match players golf has seen. The Honda Classic winner was on a scouting mission to Augusta National last weekend when he ran into Ian Poulter and the pair got to talking about travel plans heading to Austin for this week’s World Golf Championships – Dell Technologies Match Play. Turned out both planned to fly over Monday morning so the two decided to come together – and it was in the air that Mitchell pounced. “He asked me a question… Why are you so good at match play?â€� Poulter said. “So we kind of had a chat about it for a minute… I tried not to answer it, to be honest. And he sort of laughed. ‘You don’t have to be humble; you’re sitting in this little cabin with the three of us, you can tell me.’â€� Poulter, who has long been a Ryder Cup hero for Europe and has been to the final four in the WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play three times with a win in 2010, gave up some basic advice. Ironically later that afternoon the pair would be drawn in the same group and now face off on Thursday at Austin Country Club. “We had a laugh about it this morning. So hopefully I didn’t give away too many secrets,â€� Poulter grinned. “He really hasn’t played match play a lot and he just said it’s going to be new for him, and how does he play match play. And I basically said, you’ll figure it out. “Glad I didn’t give him too much info. He’s a great player. He’s coming off a bit of form obviously winning down at Honda.â€� Mitchell lost his opening match Wednesday, going down 2 and 1 to Tony Finau. He will now get a lesson first hand from the victorious Poulter who avenged his quarter final loss to Kevin Kisner a year ago with a 2-up win. The American has to win to have a realistic hope of advancing to the weekend and Poulter expects he’ll be hungry. As such he won’t take his travel mate lightly. “Match play is match play, right? You can make eight birdies and lose,â€� Poulter said. “It’s about trying to get a hold of your match and obviously staying strong.â€�

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Welcome to the Monday Finish where the lights haven’t gone out in Vegas or at Patrick Cantlay’s celebration party. Here’s some observations and insights from the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open where Cantlay joined the youth movement after a gritty win at TPC Summerlin. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. They said it was only a matter of time for Patrick Cantlay. They were right. Five years after turning professional as the hottest thing in youth golf Cantlay hit the jackpot in Las Vegas. The story on why this took as long as it did is well documented, check out the upshot from last night here, or Mike McAllister’s impressive deep dive on him from earlier in the year here. He went through hell both on course and off it. And while his contemporaries like Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas have created a new era in golf he was forced to watch from the sidelines. But no more. Cantlay is clearly the real deal. What impressed me most was perhaps the fact he should’ve blown his chances, but kept fighting. He double bogeyed the 18th on Saturday to fall four back of the lead. He bogeyed his final two holes Sunday to seemingly give up his chance at the title and then when given the chance in the playoff he found a bunker on approach and almost hit that shot into the water before flubbing the following chip. BUT, he continued to dig deep. He made a clutch 8-foot putt to stay alive and then after a wide drive put him in tree trouble he didn’t take the soft option – he went for it. Threading the needle through the trees to the back of the green. A great lag putt and a tap in later and he was your champion. Gritty stuff despite adversity. Cantlay is the real deal. 2. While we have been pushing the youth movement on the PGA TOUR for the last year or so given the incredible success of those in their 20s we cannot forget those on the other end of the scale. The 40-somethings. Alex Cejka, at 46, almost stole the tournament yesterday after an incredible final round 63. Despite giving up some length advantage to Cantlay and Whee Kim in the playoff he had a good look at victory on the first playoff hole just slide by. Last season a 47-year-old Rod Pampling won in Las Vegas. This week’s defending champion at the OHL Classic in Mayakoba is Pat Perez, who has already won again this season in Malaysia. The great thing about golf is you can play it from when you are about 2 to 102. Keep an eye out for tomorrows big Tuesday story from colleague Cameron Morfit where he dives into the 40-somethings and how they remain more relevant than ever in this great game. 3. Whee Kim looks like a future winner. One bad swing cost the South Korean on Sunday when his tee ball on the second playoff hole sailed left into the desert but prior to that he’d been gutsy. His opening round 65 was impressive and came in his first start after contending heavily in his home country at THE CJ CUP @NINE BRIDGES. He then ground out a couple of 72s in tougher conditions and without a cooperative putter. He started Sunday five back and not really in the discussion and with just one birdie on the front nine Sunday it looked like just a decent result was on the cards. Instead he then produced five birdies in seven holes after the turn to catapult into contention. Nerves took hold a little with a bogey on the last and then bogey / double bogey on the playoff holes but he will be better for it. With Shane Joel on his bag he has great experience to work with. Joel caddied for Mark O’Meara for a long time. Perhaps Kim is one to watch in Mexico this week although Joel won’t be on this trip as he completes some immigration paperwork. 4. The wild winds in Las Vegas weren’t everybody’s cup of tea but to be fair it is the defense of the TPC Summerlin layout. The 30mph gusts over the weekend made it extremely difficult to navigate, forcing players into guesswork with clubs and into creativity with ball flight. It might be a little macabre of me but I like to see the best players on the PGA TOUR face this sort of adversity once in a while. The game of golf is not easy and so often our stars make it look like it is so it’s okay that occasionally we see them squirm a little. Patrick Cantlay’s winning score of 9-under 275 is the highest by seven shots (2015) since becoming a single-course event in 2008. It’s just the third time the winning total has been higher than 20-under-par. Last year Rod Pampling led at 11- under after the first round! 5. Congratulations to everyone involved at Shriners Hospitals and also those involved in the whole Vegas Strong movement. The Shriners Hospitals do so much amazing work and this was evident all week as I was lucky enough to meet some of the patients and hear their stories. The tournament is a huge part of growing awareness and support for the great work they do. Of course their graciousness in sharing the light with those affected by the recent massacre in Las Vegas was never in question and both causes were looked after well. Sponsor Invite A.J. McInerney, who was a survivor of the shootings, played incredibly well to a T10 finish and had enthusiastic support from the crowds. UNLV graduate and former national champion Charley Hoffman donated his prizemoney to the victims ($98,600). It was just great to be amongst a strong community. If you are looking for a cause to get behind, by all means check out what Shriners Hospitals for Children do. FIVE INSIGHTS 1. Patrick Cantlay moves to 3rd position in the FedExCup standings with his first career victory. It is his fifth top-15 finish in his last six starts on TOUR. 2. Cantlay led the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-tee, outperforming the field by +1.256 strokes per round. This marked the second time Cantlay has led in this category and fourth time gaining more than a stroke per round in an event from the tee. He was T8 in Driving Distance – All Drives (305.6yards) and T5 in Driving Accuracy at 64.29percent (36 of 56). 3. Cantlay’s performance on the back nine at TPC Summerlin was phenomenal. He played the back nine holes in 8-under par, hit 23 of 28 fairways and outperformed the field by +3.70 in SG: Off-the-Tee. He equaled his career best consecutive birdies streak of four birdies twice on route to victory (Rd 1 & Rd 4). 4. Since 1995, there have now been 11 winners of the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in their 20s, tying the record for most winners in their 20s with the BMW Championship. 5. Chesson Hadley, the front-runner for 2017 Web.com Tour Player of the Year and former PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year, finished T4. This marks his third-consecutive top-5 finish in three starts this season. In his first two starts, he finished T3 at the Safeway Open and runner-up at the Sanderson Farms Championship. TOP THREE VIDEOS 1. Patrick Cantlay’s no lay-up attitude in the playoff helped him to this recovery shot from behind trees. It would effectively be the clincher. 2. Kyle Miller hosts Shriners patients in a special golf clinic. 3. We love hole in ones… how about two in one day? (Kelly Kraft’s ace not pictured here.)

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