Aon Risk Reward Challenge: Update entering Wells Fargo Championship

1. J.J. Spaun was among the overshadowed rookies on the PGA TOUR last season despite going two events deep into the FedExCup Playoffs. He didn’t win but he’s also gone more than six months with just one top-25 finish on the board. It explains why he’s 84th-most owned in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO (although rewarding the faithful with a lead-high 200 points through the suspension of play on Friday night). There simply was nothing to project that he’d sit comfortably atop the 36-hole leaderboard. The 27-year-old is sticking to his strengths, though, leading the field in both strokes gained: approach-the-green and strokes gained: tee-to-green. He ranked inside the top 50 last season in both total driving and greens in regulation. 2. Of the 90 golfers chosen at least once in PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO, Spaun was not one of them. Meanwhile, Tony Finau paces the field at 14.6 percent. He’s in the house at 4-under 138, seven strokes adrift of the 36-hole clubhouse leader. Webb Simpson was selected by three fewer gamers. While the 2013 champ is T66 at 1-under 143, it’s unlikely that he’ll be sweating the cut line as only four of the 28 stranded by darkness on Friday are within two shots. Three others are at even. Of the top 10 in One & Done ownership percentage, only 2015 champ Smylie Kaufman (No. 8, 4.1 percent) is a lock to miss the cut. 3. The weather forecasters hit the bull’s-eye this week. After the field averaged 71.17 on the par-71 test for a relatively tame opening round (that 25 needed Friday morning to complete), winds freshened a bit for Friday’s second round. The morning wave averaged 71.99, which sounds high at TPC Summerlin until you learn that the interrupted afternoon wavers sat at 72.98 at nightfall. This is the first time since the course assumed duties as the solo host in 2008 that any round averaged over par. The trend is all but guaranteed to extend into the weekend. Sustained winds midday on Saturday are expected to be at least 20 mph. 4. Robert Garrigus crafted a 6-under 65 with eight birdies on Friday at TPC Summerlin to post 7 under through 36 holes. Only a double bogey-6 at the 18th hole (his ninth of the round) thwarted a clean card that included circles on each of the three par 5s. That’s hardly a surprise for the known bomber with an underrated penchant for piling up greens in regulation, but it’s his erstwhile flat stick that has him in the hunt in Vegas. He’s currently leading the tournament in strokes gained: putting. He did the same en route to a T29 at The National this summer and he found a groove in the second half of the 2015-16 season, so this isn’t unprecedented, just impossible to see coming. The soon-to-be 40-year-old (his birthday is Nov. 11) has showed off in the wind in the desert before, too. In the third round of the 2012 CareerBuilder Challenge, he dropped in 11 birdies en route to a bogey-free 61 at PGA West’s Nicklaus Private, beating the field average on the course by 9.29 strokes in that round. Play was suspended due to gusty winds after he had already sunk nine of his birdies. 5. If there’s ever such a thing as a gimme in fantasy golf – there isn’t – Patrick Cantlay presents a compelling case. Since returning from personal and physical challenges at Pebble Beach in February, he’s been perfect in 15 starts. That now includes a position inside the top 10 at the midpoint in Las Vegas where he’s making his first appearance. He’s lurking in part thanks to an eight-hole stretch on Thursday. From Nos. 9-16, he converted six birdies, including on all three par 5s. The 25-year-old is a non-winner on the PGA TOUR, but he just exhausted his rookie eligibility in 2016-17. Still, he’s risen the bar so fast and so high in his return – nine top 25s in 2017, including in each of his last five starts – that it’s only a matter of time before he’s a winner. 6. It wasn’t that long ago when Harris English was a short-lister when you wanted some substance to complement an aggressive roster in weekly action. For his first five seasons, he missed only 27 cuts and withdrew during another in 137 starts for an astounding cuts-made clip of nearly 80 percent. He’s been derailed since. After going just 15-for-27 last season and finishing a career-worst 118th in the FedExCup standings, he’s opened 2017-18 with three missed cuts in as many tries. He’ll get snipped by at least one stroke when the hammer officially falls on Saturday in Vegas. It’ll be his fourth consecutive MC to establish a career long. 7. There is an argument that the Web.com Tour Finals shouldn’t imply a finish line. Sure, it determines who earns the last 25 PGA TOUR cards, but boxing out in the reshuffle category immediately ensues. Get off to a slow start and playing time all but disappears until fields expand with daylight hours in mid-April. Entering the Shriners, 11 golfers in the field had yet to crack their goose egg in the FedExCup points column. At the suspension of play on Friday, only Alex Cejka is assured of making the cut, but Sam Saunders (T13) and Roberto Diaz (T35) are poised to join him once they polish off their second rounds. Four of the other eight are already taillights (Jonathan Byrd, Nate Lashley, Sam Ryder, Andrew Yun), while Kyle Thompson (T81), Keith Mitchell (T89), Denny McCarthy (T96) and Lanto Griffin (T130) have yet to be officially knocked out because they haven’t finished their second rounds. Both the OHL Classic at Mayakoba and The RSM Classic will grant starts to the entire category, so their backs aren’t against the wall again. Yet. 8. Billy Horschel withdrew hours before his second-round tee time due to a sore left shoulder. He opened with 4-under 67 in what was his first round of the season, so this was a tough pill for gamers to swallow. The mid-tournament WD is his first in 177 PGA TOUR starts as a professional. Jonathan Randolph withdrew after eight holes of his second round, also with a shoulder injury. He also recorded his first mid-tourney WD in 53 TOUR starts as a pro. Of the two, only Horschel committed to next week’s OHL Classic at Mayakoba where he’d be making his fourth appearance. Mackenzie Hughes is slated to tee it up in Mexico as well. The Canadian withdrew early from the last two stops in Asia in October to be with his wife for the birth of their first child, Kenton Robert. 9. Jason Day announced that his wife, Ellie, is pregnant with their third child. The due date is in June, which, of course, is when the U.S. Open is contested (June 14-17), so One & Doners likely will be investing elsewhere at Shinnecock Hills. The Days live near the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, but an appearance in his adopted hometown also is in jeopardy because it falls two weeks prior to the season’s second major. Day is 6-for-9 in his backyard but with only one top 25, a T15 in 2017. For Ben Everill’s full story that also includes the news and quotes from Day and Marc Leishman about their decision not to tee it up at the Hero World Challenge next month, click here.

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The U.S. leads the International team by 3-1/2 to 1-1/2 points after Thursday’s opening day of the Presidents Cup. Here’s a look at each of the five Foursomes matches. MATCH 1: USA wins, 6 and 4 Rickie Fowler/Justin Thomas (U.S.) def. Hideki Matsuyama/Charl Schwartzel (International) Holes won: USA 9, Internationals 2 Holes led: USA 11, Internationals 1 Recap: The Internationals took the early lead when the U.S. conceded the second hole, having found trouble with Justin Thomas’ errant tee shot. After that? It was all America. The momentum switched when Fowler chipped in from 72 feet for birdie to win the third hole. Thomas then drained a 12-foot birdie to win the fourth, and the Internationals bogeyed the fifth. All the sudden, the U.S. was 2 up and kept the pressure on. The Internationals struggled, shooting 5 over on the front side. A double-bogey at No. 7 and a bogey at No. 9 put the Internationals 5 down at the turn. Schwartzel rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt to win the 10th, but the Americans responded by winning the next two holes, Thomas rolliing in a couple of birdie putts inside 10 feet. QUOTES Rickie Fowler (on his chip-in): “That was definitely a big turn of events. I feel like we were definitely on the better side of the hole when it comes to missing that green … That was kind of our whole goal going into the day was to manage our way around and put ourselves in the right spots. Felt like we did a good job of that.” Justin Thomas (on Fowler’s chip-in): “It definitely got the round going a little bit and got the momentum going our way. But we played some unbelievable golf after that, too.” Charl Schwartzel: “There was a few key moments where things changed. One was on the fourth hole. Their ball, Rickie and Justin’s ball pitched about a foot over the bunker. It looked like we might actually win that hole; end up losing it. I hit a bad shot on 7 in the water. And then you give Rickie and Justin, which are both unbelievable players, playing good golf now, you give them just a little bit of momentum, they are hard to catch.” Hideki Matsuyama: “”We really didn’t get into our game today. Just the rhythm just wasn’t there.” MATCH 2: USA wins, 1 up Dustin Johnson/Matt Kuchar (U.S.) def. Adam Scott/Jhonattan Vegas (International) Holes won: U.S. 5, Internationals 4 Holes led: U.S. 3, Internationals 6 Recap: A solid performance by both sides, who were all square through 15 holes. At the par-3 16th, Johnson’s tee shot finished seven feet from the pin to set up Kuchar’s birdie putt, while the Internationals bogeyed the hole. That gave the U.S. team its first lead of the match, and they held on from there, playing bogey-free golf for the entire match. QUOTES Matt Kuchar: “We were bogey-free today, which is amazing. In alternate-shot, in these conditions, not to make a bogey and for us to just win 1 up, that’s a heck of a battle that we had with those guys. They played some really good golf and I have a heck of a partner to ride.” Dustin Johnson: “I thought we played really, really solid. Never really got out of position. Didn’t make any bogeys. We just, you know, kept the ball in play.” MATCH 3: USA wins, 5 and 4 Patrick Reed/Jordan Spieth (U.S.) def. Si Woo Kim/Emiliano Grillo (Internationals) Holes won: U.S. 8, International 3 Holes led: U.S. 12, International 0 Recap: Spieth and Reed continued to dominate as teammates, easily defeating two Presidents Cup rookies in Thursday’s foursomes play. Spieth and Reed are now 6-1-2 overall as a team, and 2-0 in the Presidents Cup. Spieth moved to 4-0 in Presidents Cup Foursomes. The American duo never trailed Thursday, winning the par-5 second hole after Kim hit the Internationals’ second shot in the water. Spieth and Reed won Nos. 4-7 to take control of the match. The Internationals looked to be in good shape to win the 11th, but Spieth made a 33-footer and the Internationals bogeyed. Overall, the Americans shot even-par in Thursday’s windy conditions, making three birdies and three bogeys. QUOTES Jordan Spieth: “Other than the flip on 11, this was a pretty boring day for us, but boring is what we needed today. We really only hit, I want to say, two shots that we shouldn’t hit today. We both had an iron shot that we’d like over again.” Patrick Reed: “When it’s windy like this, with how comfortable we are around the greens and on the greens, it just seemed like if we got ourselves in a bad spot we were able it figure out how to get it up-and-down and save par.” MATCH 4: International wins, 3 and 1 Branden Grace/Louis Oosthuizen (Internationals) def. Daniel Berger/Brooks Koepka (U.S.) Holes won: Internationals 6, U.S. 3 Holes led: Internationals 7, U.S. 2 Recap: The South Africans remain perfect, winning three of the last five holes to break open a tight match that had been all square through 12 holes. Two years ago, Grace and Oosthuizen won all four of their matches in South Korea, and delivered yet again for Nick Price. Oosthuizen made a 19-foot birdie putt to win the 13th and grab the lead. The Americans, long-time friends and former Florida State teammates, lost the 15th with a bogey after Koepka found trouble off the tee. The Internationals closed it out with an 11-foot birdie from Oosthuizen. QUOTES Louis Oosthuizen: “In the middle, a few holes, we didn’t hit very good shots but we knew it was going to be a grind all day. Then we started really flushing the ball and really giving ourselves putts for birdies and making pars. In these conditions today, par on some holes is good enough to win.” Branden Grace: “It was nice to hit clutch shots when it mattered. We putted great. His speed was spot on. Down the stretch, we had a couple of long putts when we needed to just put pressure on the guys and did exactly that.” Brooks Koepka: “Just didn’t give ourselves any chances on the back side. We didn’t give ourselves enough chances for birdie and you have to be able to do that, especially as windy as it is today.” Daniel Berger: “We had a few stretch of holes where we lost it a little bit but Brooks played really well. I think I could have played a little bit better, and if that was the case, we may have come out with the win.” MATCH 5: Halved Jason Day/Marc Leishman (Internationals) halve with Phil Mickelson/Kevin Kisner (U.S.) Holes won: U.S. 6, Internationals 6 Holes led: U.S. 9, Internationals 4 Recap: After clawing back into the match and holding the lead through 16 holes, the Internationals could not hang on for a much-needed win. But at least they salvaged a half-point. Day missed a 20-foot par putt on the final hole, giving Mickelson a chance to win the match with a 6-1/2 foot putt, but he missed too. The Americans got off to a quick start and were 3 up through six holes. But the Internationals won four straight holes to take the lead, relying on an eagle, two birdies and a par. The Americans squared the match with a par on the 12th before a nice approach by Leishman set up Day for a birdie at the 14th.  QUOTES Phil Mickelson: “It was interesting. We played some good golf. We were 4-under through 10 in some difficult conditions and we were only 1 up. They had a stretch there where they won four holes and it was just back and forth. It’s too bad we both bogeyed the last hole because we had some good going today.” Kevin Kisner (on Mickelson): “He was my partner in my first Presidents Cup match, something I’ll always remember. He was the epitome of class and partner, and I just can’t thank him enough. He carried me around all day.” Jason Day: “They had us down a lot early in the round and then Leish had a great chip-in on 9 and got us going again. Spread that momentum our way, and you know, obviously the last few holes wasn’t the way we wanted to finish, but with that said, any point is like moving forward even if it’s a half a point.” Marc Leishman: “That’s about as intense as it gets. You have all your teammates there and all the American guys, and the match is on the line.”

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Kyle Stanley won on the PGA TOUR for the first time in more than five years with a par on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff at Quicken Loans National. The former Nike Golf staffer signed a metalwoods deal with TaylorMade at the beginning of the year but left the rest of his bag setup alone. Stanley led the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-green (plus 13.579) and was third in driving accuracy (71.43 percent), but it was his play with a set of Nike Vapor Pro Combo irons — he also carries a TaylorMade 4-iron — that made the biggest difference at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. Stanley, who ranks second on TOUR this season in greens in regulation percentage (71.55 percent), was nearly perfect with his approach shots. He hit 17 and 15 greens in regulation over the final 36 holes, resulting in rounds of 67-66. Stanley is no longer obligated to play Nike equipment, however, the irons and a Covert VRS 2.0 fairway wood have continued to make the equipment cut. Here’s a look at Stanley’s entire bag setup. Driver: TaylorMade M1 2017 (Fujikura Speeder 757 Evolution X shaft), 10.5 degrees 3-wood: TaylorMade M2 2017 (Fujikura Speeder 757 Evolution X shaft), 15 degrees 5-wood: Nike Covert VRS 2.0 (Mitsubishi Rayon Diamana W-Series 80X shaft), 19 degrees Irons: TaylorMade PSi (4-iron; KBS Tour 90S shaft), Nike Vapor Pro Combo (5-PW; KBS Tour C-Taper 125 S+ shafts) Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM6 (52 and 54 degrees; KBS 610 Wedge 125 shafts), TaylorMade Tour Preferred EF (58-10 degrees; KBS 610 Wedge 125 shaft) Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Prototype Ball: Titleist Pro V1

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