An older, confident Simpson eyes Royal Melbourne return

This week’s FedEx St. Jude Classic presents one of the most underrated narratives of the year. On the eve of the season’s second major – the U.S. Open, colloquially accepted to identify the best overall golfer – there isn’t a fairer, more consistent or more reliable host course than TPC Southwind. Now in its 30th consecutive year as the site of the SJC, TPC Southwind rewards one’s game as much as it tests it. In accordance, two-time defending Daniel Berger has solved it as much as he’s survived one of the stingiest par 70s on the schedule. Scroll beneath the ranking for more on his formula, how the course sets up and more. Power Rankings: FedEx St. Jude Classic Rank Player Comment Defied empirical wisdom with a runner-up finish as a debutant at Colonial two weeks ago. Since 2014 at TPC Southwind, he’s 4-for-4 with a T2, a T3 and a scoring average of 68.56. The winner in his debut in 2012 also placed fifth in his last trip in 2016. Pacing the PGA TOUR in adjusted scoring and strokes gained: tee-to-green. Top 20s in all nine stroke-play starts this year. Loves TPC Southwind for the test. His results prove it. Since 2013, he’s 5-for-5 with two T2s, a T3 and a scoring average of 67.95. Led field in birdies-or-better percentage at Memorial to place T13. First trip since a T13 in 2012. Suits his game perfectly. Tops on TOUR in both fairways hit, greens in regulation and par-4 scoring. Also 20th in proximity and sixth in scrambling. The horse-for-a-course label normally doesn’t suit the streaky 31-year-old, but it’s a real thing at TPC Southwind. Since 2013, he’s gone T10-T6-T8-T4 with a scoring average of 68.31. Making his tournament debut. Fresh off a T13 at the Memorial, his sixth top 25 in seven starts. Sits 18th on TOUR in strokes gained: tee-to-green and 15th in adjusted scoring. All he does is win the FedEx St. Jude Classic. Champion in both appearances with a scoring average of 67.13. Just like in advance of last year’s title, he’s scuffling upon arrival this week. At third on TOUR in strokes gained: tee-to-green, TPC Southwind is in his wheelhouse. He’s back for redemption, too. Finished T18 after sitting one stroke off the 54-hole lead last year. Springs in after a bogey-free 66 on Sunday at Muirfield Village yielded a fifth-place finish, his second such result in three starts. Inside the top 20 on TOUR in both par-4 and par-5 scoring. Rebounded from an opening 77 at Muirfield Village with 69, but still missed the cut. It was one bad round on the heels of three straight top 10s. Shared runner-up honors here last year. Already eligible for Special Temporary Membership with three top 10s in five starts as a pro, the former top-ranked amateur in the world is drawing on the Jon Rahm speed slot to the PGA TOUR. If he sticks with his strengths, he’ll piggyback a T10 here in 2017. Currently seventh on TOUR in total driving, third in GIR, T32 in proximity and sixth in strokes gained: tee-to-green. The 2014 champ has earned more at TPC Southwind than at any other course with another five top 20s, including a T10 last year. He’s 7-for-7 since Honda with a T11 at Valero and a T8 at Colonial. After a T5 at the BMW PGA, placed T13 at Memorial in what was his first start with Special Temporary Membership. It was his first top 25 on the PGA TOUR in a non-WGC since 2016. Hey, why not? The 27-year-old has turned open qualifying into “The T.J. Vogel Show.” Six times a four-spotter this season alone, no one matches his mojo. Turned one opportunity into a T16 at Copperhead. Memorial co-runner-up Byeong Hun An, Kevin Chappell, Charles Howell III, J.B. Holmes and Steve Stricker will be among the notables included in Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider. TPC Southwind sets up as properly as any touring professional would want. It’s as good a primer for the U.S. Open as you’re going to find, but it very much stands on its own merit, thank you very much. At 7,244 yards, it’s long enough but it doesn’t eliminate the lightest of knockers. The set of four par 3s and both of its par 5s are scorable, but the dozen par 4s are challenging as a group. Yet, only once in the last nine years has any of the par 4s ranked inside the top-50 hardest on the PGA TOUR (hole No. 5 in 2015). Last year’s field scoring average of 70.630 aligned with its history, which is to say that it’s predictable, which is exactly what any collection of any tournament organizers targets. Finding fairways is a secondary objective to hitting greens that average just over 5,400 square feet, a smaller-than-usual area that helps defend par. The Champion bermuda surfaces are prepped to run as long as 12 feet on the Stimpmeter, so there’s nothing foreign or tricky about that. Tinier targets tend to cater to ball-strikers. Case in point, although Berger is renowned for loving himself bermuda greens, but he’s done his work at TPC Southwind without the putter, leading the field in strokes gained: tee-to-green en route to both of his titles. He finished a respective T1 and T10 in greens hit and T5 and T7 in proximity to the hole. Returning participants in the field of 156 will see some modifications on and around the greens at the par-3 eighth and 14th holes, but the overall yardage of the course is unchanged. The primary rough (also bermuda) has been manicured to reach two-and-a-half inches. Mother Nature will do her part in seeing that the course plays as planned. Warm and dry (but typically humid) air is in store through the 36-hole cut. A risk of rain and storms creeps into the picture on the weekend. Wind is not expected to be a factor. It was announced this spring that this tournament will evolve into the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in 2019. It will replace the existing WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and will continue to be contested at TPC Southwind. The dates for the competition are TBD. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton reviews and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Facebook Live, Fantasy Insider WEDNESDAY: One & Done THURSDAY: Champions One & Done * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO, which also publishes on Tuesdays.

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DUBLIN, Ohio – Early Wednesday morning at an eerily quiet Muirfield Village, the most talked about golfer in the history of the game was playing a practice round with the most talked about golfer over the last month. It made for a very curious scene. One is returning to competitive golf for the first time in five months. The other is turning golf upside down, or perhaps bench pressing it to new places. One can only imagine the conversations between Tiger Woods and Bryson DeChambeau during the nine holes. Facial expressions seemed to convey a full gambit. It looked like periods of education, questioning and thought provoking subjects … and also those of revelry and humor both simple and complex. Whether they talked about shaft stiffness and spin rates or how cheap parmesan cheese smells like vomit we will never truly know … our curiosity remains. But theirs was likely, somewhat, satisfied. Woods is selective with his practice partners and DeChambeau knows it. Throughout his storied career, getting a practice round with Woods before a PGA TOUR event is something only a few have experienced. It is why when the 26-year-old was called out for inadvertently calling Woods old after this preparation round for the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, he laughed it off but yet still squirmed just a little. It’s a treat folks don’t want to jeopardize. In the early years of his career it would routinely be Mark O’Meara or maybe Jay Haas tagging along with Woods. On the odd occasion, caddie Steve Williams would be a conduit to laid back international players getting a spot. But generally speaking, prep time was a closed shop to other competitors. But as Woods matured in age, and continued to add to his golf wisdom, the doors began to open for more to fill the slots. Thanks to his injuries, Woods spent a lot of time watching golf from a distance. One could surmise curiosity was a small branch on his ever growing personal tree during this time. Over the last decade or so, Woods began to accept the advances of those who piqued his interest. Bubba Watson was shaping the ball in a way most couldn’t dream of and then found himself around the Woods camp. Jason Day, who like Woods grew up with an Asian mother, slipped in there as he began to hit his straps on course. Woods also began forging friendships with young players on TOUR who live near him in Florida. Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas come to mind as those who were part of his recovery from back surgery as motivators. And then there is DeChambeau. Perhaps the ultimate curiosity for all involved in golf right now. Already known as an outlier in the golf space thanks to his scientific based methods of analyzing the golf swing, DeChambeau has turned disruptor again with his recent bulking program. His play has once again thrust the distance debate back into golf. The six-time TOUR winner stacked on 40 pounds of muscle during the pandemic break and increased his distance off the tee significantly. He leads the PGA TOUR in driving distance (323 yards) and Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+1.113). In his recent win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic he averaged a near obscene 350.6 yards off the tee for the event. He also led the field that week in Strokes Gained: Putting, the only player to do both and win since 2004. This distance dominance, paired with accuracy and touch, is something the TOUR hasn’t seen since a young Woods joined in the late 1990s and was miles ahead of the competition in strength, fitness and distance. He also had a wicked short game to go with it. So when DeChambeau asked Woods if they could have a hit on Wednesday at Muirfield Village, it brought together two big storylines. But it wasn’t really a surprise the answer was yes. The pair have already shared a connection through Bridgestone, the brand of ball both use, and they share a kinship in their interest in product testing. DeChambeau and Woods have been bonding for some time, a thrill for the former. “Back in the day, he was it. He was the golden star. He was the one everybody looked up to. Junior golfers that I played with were all inspired by Tiger and how far he hit it and how he dominated tournaments,” DeChambeau says. “I watched in just complete awe, going, man, how is he doing this, especially when you’re young and you know you can’t hit it more than 250 or something like that, he’s hitting it 330 back in the day. Even now, he’s hitting it pretty long. There was a couple holes he hit 320, 325. I’m like, that’s pretty good for his age. It’s amazing for his age.” How a 44-year-old Woods takes that last comment is yet to be seen but, in context, with multiple back surgeries behind him it isn’t far from fact. And DeChambeau stressed it is something the man himself says often. Woods was asked about DeChambeau earlier this week and had plenty of praise based on what he’d seen from afar. “He’s figured out a way to increase distance and maximize his efficiency with not only his driver but all of his clubs,” Woods said on Tuesday. “What Bryson has done is no easy task. He’s put in the time and has put in the reps, and he’s figured it out. He’s gotten stronger, faster, bigger, and has created more speed. But more importantly let’s look at the fact that he’s hitting it as straight as he is. “That part of the most difficult thing to do. The further you hit it, the more the tangent goes crooked … the fact that he’s figured that out and has been able to rein in the foul balls to me has been equally as impressive as his gains off the tee distance-wise.” Woods might not have been the one to ask for Wednesday’s round but he would have been happy to get an up close and personal look at DeChambeau 2.0. In turn, DeChambeau also got a sneak peek at Woods, who hasn’t played on TOUR for five months. “Whenever we play, I usually ask kindly. That’s the way it kind of goes about,” DeChambeau admitted Wednesday. “It was more of me wanting to see what he was doing actually to be honest with you. I’m always interested to see what new things he’s doing. And I think it was mutual. Obviously he likes playing with me. We’ve had a great relationship. We have great conversations. So it was just mutually beneficial and we had a lot of fun.” DeChambeau claimed there wasn’t much chatter about his newfound power game save a few jokes. Therein lies another key for Woods these days. Fun. In his early years of heightened mental focus it wasn’t a word often associated with Woods from others. But the 82-time TOUR winner loves to inject humor into his life and enjoys finding good targets who can appreciate the give and take. “First off, it’s amazing to get to play with Tiger. I respect him. I have the highest respect for him and what he’s done for the game and inspired a whole new generation and generations to come,” DeChambeau added. “He played a couple jokes on me today, just messing with me, I’ll keep it personal … but he’s worried about winning the tournament this week just like I am. I don’t feel like we talked too much about it.” If they did talk about it, Woods wasn’t giving anything away either. After all, they say curiosity killed the cat. “I never asked and we didn’t really talk about it. We talked about a lot of other different things and just had a normal practice round,” Woods said wryly as the pair split ways. Normal practice round? There’s no such thing with either of these two. Curiosity remains.

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NAPA, Calif. — Brandt Snedeker birdied the final two holes for a 7-under 65 and a three-stroke lead over Phil Mickelson and two others Friday in the PGA TOUR’s season-opening Safeway Open. Playing alongside Hall of Famer Fred Couples, Snedeker had eight birdies and a bogey on the North Course at Silverado Resort and Spa. The leader won the Wyndham Championship in August, opening with a 59 en route to his ninth PGA TOUR title. “I played really solid golf all the way around,” Snedeker said. “I only played two bad shots all day. My speed has been great for two days. These green can get away from you if you’re not paying attention.” Snedeker had a 12-under 132 total. Mickelson followed his opening 65 with a 69 to join Michael Thompson (65) and Ryan Moore (67) at 10 under. “I’m cautiously optimistic,” Mickelson said. “It’s certainly turning from pessimistic because I didn’t think that I was going to be here on the weekend and the next thing you know I’m up on top of the leaderboard.” A week after going 0-2 in United States’ Ryder Cup loss to Europe in France, the 48-year-old Mickelson bogeyed three of his first eight holes, and rallied with four birdies on his second nine. “I shot 4 under to kind of salvage the round,” Mickelson. “I’m surprised. I’m hitting a lot of good shots. I didn’t expect that. What I am doing well is putting, like I can putt.” Moore won the last of his five PGA TOUR titles in 2016. “I feel like the seasons I’ve played really well I’ve kind of come out with a good start here,” Moore said. “I need a good start. I need something to kind of solidify my schedule for next year or else you’re just kind of floating around in between.” Thompson’s lone PGA TOUR victory came in the 2013 Honda Classic. First-round leader Sepp Straka followed his opening 63 with a 72 to drop into a tie for fifth at 9 under with Kevin Tway (67) and Sungjae Im (69). “I really didn’t hit the ball very well today,” Straka said. “Yesterday I wasn’t flawless. I kept the ball in the right spots. I didn’t do that today. I short-sided myself a lot.” Ricky Barnes matched the course record with a 61 to get to 8 under. The 49-year-old Couples matched Snedeker with a 65 to reach 7 under. Playing on a sponsor exemption, he plans to make the tournament his last PGA TOUR event other than the Masters. Mark Mulder, the former major league pitcher playing in his first PGA TOUR event, missed the cut with round of 75 and 74.  

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