2022-23 PGA TOUR full-membership fantasy rankings: 1-50

Following up on his PGA Tour career-best round on Thursday, Marc Leishman had a 5-under 66 at the AT&T Byron Nelson on Friday, breaking the 36-hole tournament record previously shared by Tiger Woods.

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LA QUINTA, Calif. – Curtis Luck could dramatically change his season with a good weekend at the Desert Classic. The 22-year-old Australian will start Saturday in second place after missing four of his first five cuts this season. He sits at 14-under 130 (64-66), two shots behind fellow U.S. Amateur champion Phil Mickelson. Mickelson is the 36-hole leader following Thursday’s 60 with a 4-under 68. Luck and Mickelson both have 16 birdies this week, the most in the field (Mickelson also has an eagle), but now they have two rounds remaining on PGA West’s Stadium Course, the toughest of the three courses in use this week. Luck made eight birdies in each of his first two rounds, but also had two bogeys Friday. MUST READS: Round 2, Desert Classic “Just like yesterday. Very solid, lot of greens, a lot of fairways. Just missed a couple of short ones today, unfortunately, on the greens,� he said. He’s needed just 23 putts in each of the first two rounds. He is T79 in greens hit (25 of 36) but first in putts per green in regulation (1.44). Luck, the 2016 U.S. Amateur champion, is playing his first season as a PGA TOUR member after earning his card via the Web.com Tour Finals.  He didn’t qualify for the Finals until the last week of the Web.com Tour’s Regular Season, finishing sixth at the WinCo Foods Portland Open to jump inside the top 75 on the money list and qualify for the four-event series that is the only source of PGA TOUR cards. Luck posted two top-10s in the four Finals events to become a TOUR member. Now he’s trying to turn around his season after a tough start. A 50th-place finish at the Sanderson Farms Championship is his best showing this season.

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Editor’s note: Ernie Els is writing a blog in 2017 and this is his latest installment. For more information on the World Golf Hall of Famer, visit www.ernieels.com. This week I was due to make the journey over to Europe for the KLM Open, but events here in Florida over the weekend forced me into having to withdraw. It’s a real shame because I was looking forward to teeing it up there for what would have been the fifth time in my career, and the first since 2001, but you know…sometimes Mother Nature has other plans! As most of you will have seen from the television coverage, Hurricane Irma caused scenes of total carnage as it blew across the Caribbean. My heart goes out to all those affected there. Eventually, the Hurricane made landfall in Florida on Sunday. Like millions of others, we had to evacuate our home and, as you can imagine, it’s been a very worrying time for everyone in this part of the U.S. So obviously, my primary concern right now and over the coming few days is to support my family and also our friends and employees as we come to terms with the aftermath of this devastating storm. It’s going to be a tough time as we all make our way back to our homes, but we’ll all pull together. I just want to take this opportunity to send my best wishes to everyone at the KLM Open and I hope that it’s a great week for everyone involved. Hopefully I can tee it up there in 2018. For now, then, I’ll just update you on a few other items of news. First of all, thank you to everyone who took part in the latest Drive to SA Open fundraiser held last week at my first golf club, Kempton Park. I hear it was a wonderful day. Thank you to Emperors Palace, Concept Recoveries and Courtney Bam. Also Chantelle Bruyns, Mike Sebanz and all the staff at Kempton Park for being such great hosts. We really appreciate your support. On a different note, I want to say what an honor it was to receive the 2017 Heisman Humanitarian Award at a ceremony during an Els for Autism Golf Challenge event at Liberty National on Aug. 28. It’s wonderful to receive these awards, not because that’s what we’re chasing, but because it is a reflection on how far we’ve come and how much of an impact we’re starting to have in our mission to better the lives of autistic children. These awards validate what we’re doing and really, they’re a pat on the back for our dedicated team at Els for Autism. Obviously, my name is up-front, but the whole movement, and all the great work that’s been achieved since we established the Foundation in 2009, that’s down to my wife Liezl and her team. They are amazing. For more information on The Els Center of Excellence, click here.  That event at Liberty National was, as I said, part of this year’s Golf Challenge series. Once again, through the support of our partners, golfers and donors, it’s been a successful campaign. We’re almost at the end of the schedule and we now have one eye on the Grand Finale at the spectacular Breakers Resort in Florida later next month. It’s not too late to punch your ticket there, so visit if you’d like to take part. Of course, being at Liberty National a couple of weeks ago gave me a chance to get reacquainted with the host venue for this month’s Presidents Cup. As it happened, Branden Grace had kindly come along on the day to support Els for Autism, so he and I snuck out and played a few holes together. To be honest, it still feels a little weird for me to not be on the playing side, but at the same time it’s an honor to be part of Nick Price’s team. I’m there to help and motivate the guys and, whatever that entails, trust me I’ll do it. On that note, I’ll leave it there for now and write again in the build-up to the Presidents Cup. In the meantime, you can, of course, follow me on Twitter @TheBig_Easy.

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