McIlroy shoots 65, has 3-shot lead after third round in Dubai

ERIN, Wis. — For the second straight year, Aussies Nick Flanagan and Aron Price will walk the U.S. Open fairways together. This year’s different, though. Flanagan, who caddied for Price at Oakmont last year, will be playing at Erin Hills, while Price will take his turn carrying Flanagan’s bag. “I definitely owed him one,” Price said. This U.S. Open flip-flop has its roots in and around Sydney during the early 2000s, where Price, 35, and Flanagan, who turned 33 on Tuesday, became friendly as they came and went from the junior circuits in Australia. They both moved to the U.S. and lived in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, for a time. Early this decade, they played regularly on the Web.com Tour. They roomed and hung out together on occasion, and Flanagan even caddied for Price at U.S. Open qualifying in 2014. But the real seeds for this pairing were set in 2003 at Oakmont, where Flanagan became the first foreign winner of the U.S. Amateur in 32 years. His name, along with those of Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead are among those etched on a list that hangs at the club, honoring all of Oakmont’s champions. The course has hosted more than a dozen major championships over the years. Price qualified for the U.S. Open last year. Given his knowledge of the course — to say nothing of his fondness for it — Flanagan approached Price about caddying. Flanagan’s biggest worry: making sure he could carry the bag around for seven straight days. (Turns out, he only needed to go five. Price didn’t make the cut.) This year, Flanagan went through qualifying and earned his spot in the U.S. Open, but Price didn’t make it. “Plenty of our friends who caddie on tour, their players weren’t in this week, so I didn’t expect it,” Price said. “But I put my hand up and said, `If you want me to return the favor, I can do it.'” Flanagan said yes, and now, a year later, both players can see the U.S. Open from the other side. “You learn a lot seeing things from the outside, not having any emotion attached to how you’re swinging it or how you’re hitting the golf ball,” Flanagan said when asked what he’s learned as a caddie. “It just seems a lot easier from the outside than it does from the inside. If you can put yourself in that mindset when you’re playing, it helps a ton.” Price and Flanagan know how each other think, and Price says his main goal is to get Flanagan to turn on “autopilot.” They’re on the same page there. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do all year, trying to be automatic,” Flanagan said. “I’ve played a lot of … fun golf, having a few drinks on the course, playing really well after two of them and realizing I don’t have to do anything different technically. I just have to go out there and be free with it.” First, there is the matter of trying to figure out Erin Hills. Unlike Oakmont, neither player had stepped foot on the supersized course until they arrived this week. Then again, most players haven’t. Erin Hills is only 11 years old, and is hosting its first U.S. Open. “You can’t get bogged down in the, `Holy (expletive), I’ve never played this one.’ Everyone’s in the same situation.” Well, not exactly. More than most, these guys will know exactly how the other one feels when the shots start flying for real Thursday. “The motor inside knows what to do,” Price said. “He just needs to turn the ignition on. It’s trying to get him to think less and just take his mind off golf. It’s, think about everything else, anything else, and just try to put it where you want it to go.”

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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. Aside from the experts below, Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at this year’s Wells Fargo Championship in this week’s edition of the Power Rankings. For more fantasy, check out Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers and Reshuffle. RELATED: Play Pick ‘Em Live 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 a team, click the “LEAGUES” tab. Then click on “FEATURED,” and then on the PGA TOUR Experts league that populates. SEASON SEGMENT

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This week, the TOUR heads south of the border, Mexico way, to the El Camaleon Golf Club at the Mayakoba Resort in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico. This will be the 11th-consecutive season on this track but just the fifth event contested in November. The event debuted in 2007 on the calendar in late February but moved to the wrap-around season beginning in 2013. Harris English didn’t seem to mind the change from spring to fall as he set a new tournament record (21-under-par, 263). As shown by the winning scores the last four seasons (-21, -17, -18 and -21 last year), going low and making birdies at El Camaleon is paramount to contending.         TALES OF THE TAPE As highlighted above, none of the last three champs are going to be carded the next time they stop for a cold one at the turn. These savvy veterans lit up the Paspalum greens and rolled in plenty of birdies. Hoffman circled 21 of them, the least of the recent winners, in 2014. The following season, McDowell led the field with a whopping 27 birdies (Fantasy Extra: Brice Garnett was second with 26). Last year Perez “only” made 21, good enough for T8, but he also made an eagle and suffered only four bogeys for the week. It’s obvious when that many birdies are required par-four scoring should stand out. All three checked inside the top 10 in that category on the road to victory. Over the last three years, the top 28 have TOTALLED 11 rounds over par on the weekend. The top 12 last year posted ONE round above 70 for the week! It’s time to make birdies, avoid bogeys and keep up with the veterans! El Camaleon, according the official scorecard, doesn’t make it past 7,000 yards this week and contains three par fives. As Rob Bolton pointed out in his Power Rankings, the par-three holes are not very difficult. In fact, three are 155 yards or shorter with No. 10 being the outlier at 200 yards. The Paspalum greens run true and won’t run any hotter than 11 feet on the Stimpmeter. This means go-time on the greens and one of the reasons plenty of birdies are posted. (Fantasy Extra: Paspalum greens are also used at the Puerto Rico Open and CIMB Classic). Pat Perez remarked last year after his win that if the line was right, the ball was going in. With average green sizes just over 7,000 square feet on this Greg Norman design, there is plenty of target to hit. The experience player will know when to take his medicine or when to attack. NOTE: Golfers inside the top 25 in each statistic on the 2016-17 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.   * – Finished inside the top 10 at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba since 2013. Greens in Regulation Rank  Golfer 5  Ryan Armour 11  J.J. Henry 12  *Gary Woodland 14  *Luke List 18  Stewart Cink 24  Jim Herman Putting: Birdie-or-Better Percentage Rank  Golfer 5  Rickie Fowler 6  Anirban Lahiri 10  Matt Every 11  Camilo Villegas 14  Sam Saunders 18  *Charley Hoffman 22  *Luke List 25  Tom Hoge Par Breakers Rank  Golfer 4  Rickie Fowler 9  *Luke List 14  Anirban Lahiri 16  *Charley Hoffman 20  Sam Saunders 21  *Stewart Cink 26  *Rory Sabbatini Rounds in the 60’s Rank  Golfer 10  *Luke List 12  *Pat Perez 13  Patrick Reed 16  *Chez Reavie 18  *Charley Hoffman 20  Sung Kang 25  *Charles Howell, III The tournament scoring record has been set and equaled in the last four editions of this event. I’m looking for the pros who aren’t afraid to take it low, make bushels of birdies and that are crafty enough to keep it between the yellow lines. It won’t hurt to find players who have thrived on seaside settings (Pebble Beach, Harbour Town, Puerto Rico, Waialae are few that come to mind) in the past. If the ball is not required to travel a long way, the field of 132 will open up. With the rough barely reaching two inches and the wind not howling like last week, we could see the shootout that we were expecting in Las Vegas at TPC Summerlin. The weather looks mild and the winds temperate but that can always change, so double-check before lineups are set. If the wind picks up, count on those who have been here before and understand how to navigate those conditions. NOTE: The groups below are comprehensive to assist in data mining. Inclusion doesn’t imply automatic endorsement in every fantasy game as all decisions are specific to your situation. CONFIDENCE MEN Selected golfers with multiple cuts made sorted by rank on the tournament’s money list. BUILDING CONFIDENCE Sorted by best finish, selected golfers who are either finally finding form on the course or are still relatively new to the tournament but have enjoyed some success. OTHER SIGNS OF COMFORT Sorted by most recent top 10s, selected golfers for whom it’s been a few years since their last.

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