Best bets for the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands

OnScene: Steph Curry’s Web.com Tour debut

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HOUSTON - Shortly before Collin Morikawa, Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland stormed the PGA TOUR, Sam Burns was the big prospect coming out of the college game. RELATED: Leaderboard | Will Day’s winless drought end in Houston? | Houston win could be unprecedented for DJ Three years ago, he was the Jack Nicklaus Award winner as college golf's top player. That same year, Burns finished in the top 10 of a PGA TOUR event while still an amateur. Then, in one of his first TOUR starts after turning pro, Burns played alongside Tiger Woods, and beat him. Now Burns, still just 24 years old, has a chance to earn his first PGA TOUR victory Sunday at the Vivint Houston Open. He will start the final round at Memorial Park with a one-shot lead. The reigning FedExCup champion, a former World No. 1 and a demanding golf course all stand between him and the trophy, however. Burns got up-and-down for a scrambling par on 18 to shoot 68 on Saturday. He's at 9-under 201, one ahead of Carlos Ortiz and Jason Day. Ortiz and Day both shot 67 on Saturday. Sepp Straka is two shots back, while Dustin Johnson is three behind. Johnson, who is playing for the first time since the U.S. Open, has shot consecutive 66s after a sloppy 72 in the first round. Johnson and Day, who've combined for 35 PGA TOUR victories, won't be the only thing he has to worry about, however. Memorial Park, the municipal course that is making its return to the PGA TOUR after a hiatus that lasted more than a half-century, has proven to be quite the test. Its scoring average this week is more than a stroke over par. There have been 32 triple-bogeys or worse this week, more than there were the entire week at Winged Foot for this year's U.S. Open. Many of those high scores are attributed to the steep slopes of short grass around the greens. They repel wayward approach shots and make recovery difficult. A chip shot caught heavy will roll back to a player's feet, while a bump-and-run hit too hard can scoot across the green. Combine that challenge with the thick rough along the fairways and firm greens and it's easy to see why this public course has put up such a good fight. "It's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when this golf course will hit you," Burns said. It's also about how you bounce back from those blows. Burns, who started Saturday with the lead, bogeyed two of his first three holes but also eagled the eighth hole and birdied three of his final six holes to grab the solo lead. Burns has already proven he can handle playing with a future World Golf Hall of Famer in the final round of a PGA TOUR event. It was two years ago that Burns played with Woods in the final round of The Honda Classic. Burns was a Korn Ferry Tour player competing on a sponsor exemption, while Woods was beginning to show the form that led to wins at the TOUR Championship, Masters and ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. No one would have blamed Burns if he succumb to the pressure of playing with Woods, who was adorned in his Sunday red. Burns beat him instead. Burns shot 68, two shots lower than Woods, to finish in the top 10. Burns graduated the Korn Ferry Tour that year. He finished third in his second TOUR event as a member, the Sanderson Farms Championship, and kept his card despite suffering a season-ending ankle injury in July. He broke his right ankle while playing pickup basketball with kids in his neighborhood. Burns returned for the start of the new season but admits that may have been premature. He said it wasn't until this January that the ankle stopped bothering him. Two months later, the season was paused by the coronavirus pandemic. Burns finished 111th in the FedExCup this year, but already has been in contention once in this young season. He held the halfway lead at the season-opening Safeway Open and entered Sunday one shot back. A final-round 70, including a 37 on the back nine, left him four shots back of winner Stewart Cink. On Sunday, Burns will play in the final group alongside Day and Carlos Ortiz, who's also seeking his first PGA TOUR win. Day called his game "a work in progress" as he rebuilds his swing to take stress of his ailing back. "I've got to be patient with it," Day said Saturday. Johnson, meanwhile, could accomplish something he's never done before. He has 23 PGA TOUR wins, but none of them have come after he shot over par in the first round. Johnson, who's making his first start since testing positive for COVID-19, opened this week with a 2-over 72. He's quickly found his form, however, and said his game now feels similar to the FedExCup Playoffs, when he finished 1st-2nd-1st to claim his first FedExCup. Having two of the world's top players in pursuit always makes for a stressful Sunday, but beating Woods gives Burns confidence entering the final round. "That day really challenged me," he said of his round with Woods at the Honda. "I think it was good for me to see that I was capable of being able to do that in a pressure-packed situation like that. Tomorrow’s a similar situation."

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The 20th of 24 contributing events for PGA TOUR Champions One & Done presented by SERVPRO is this week’s Shaw Charity Classic. It begins on Friday. Scroll for tournament notes, 16 notables and four wild cards from the field of 78 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Bryson DeChambeau is everything but a scrappy middle infielder just happy to be on the roster, but when he goes two months without doing any damage, sending him to the plate at THE NORTHERN TRUST and asking him to clear the wall was everything we want when we target swinging for the fences. However, his victory – by four strokes at that – also isn’t what we can expect. DeChambeau slotted 25th overall with an ownership percentage of just 0.90 at Ridgewood, so the apathy was evident. Gotta love golf and you gotta love the timing of the crack of the bat. With 2,000 FedExCup points rewarded to each of the four winners in the Playoffs, it’s so, so, sweet when one goes yard. A relatively unfamiliar track like Ridgewood figures to yield that outcome more than, say, TPC Boston. As stated in my Power Rankings on Monday, since the inaugural edition of the Dell Technologies Championship won by Adam Scott in 2003, only Phil Mickelson (2007) has prevailed in a first appearance. Despite your best arguments, that fact rules out the likes of percolating Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Alex Noren, Beau Hossler, Peter Uihlein and 13 others; that is, if all you’re chasing is the trophy. If that goal sounds obvious, then you’re new here. My objective in every tournament is a top 10. Top fives are bonuses and victories are worthy of celebration. Even some contenders late in the season don’t need a win events for league championships. Webb Simpson, McIlroy (twice), Henrik Stenson and Justin Thomas all have emerged victorious at TPC Boston since Mickelson. All are short-listers who will have your attention this week, but only McIlroy and Thomas deserve it. Simpson has been on fire but only in the context of this season. Since 2015 at the DTC, he’s gone T44-MC-T75. That positions him similarly to the previously scuffling DeChambeau, but I’d rather ride Simpson on courses like Aronimink and East Lake where his tee-to-green proficiency enhances his chances. Stenson is still nursing a sore left elbow. He’s an easy pass. Same goes for Wyndham champ Brandt Snedeker, who sat out last week with back spasms. And it was warm at Ridgewood. McIlroy is healthy but he’s getting in his own way, so to speak. As a two-time winner and all-time earnings leader of this tournament, we have to expect a renewal of comfort as he reconnects with conviction and confidence. As stated in this space last week, he’s perfect for chasers. Front-runners can empty the chamber. Course history is your ally. Thomas defends with Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, Adam Scott and Patrick Reed also standing by waiting for the call. Patrick Cantlay, Jon Rahm and Paul Casey are secondary selections for various reasons and all have delivered at TPC Boston at least once before. Do not hesitate regardless of recent form, good or indifferent. When Justin Rose misses a cut at a joint like Ridgewood, you know the course is fair, but his leash is one of the longest. The only issue is that he’s warranted restraint at TPC Boston throughout his career. He’ll regain our attention (and devotion) in earnest at Aronimink where he’s won before. Two-man gamers should focus on surging Billy Horschel and Cameron Smith, the pair at T3 at Ridgewood. A little deeper, the likes of Charley Hoffman and Keegan Bradley should contribute. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2017-18. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Paul Casey … Dell Technologies (2); TOUR Championship (3) Kevin Chappell … Dell Technologies (3) Jason Day … Dell Technologies (5) Jason Dufner … TOUR Championship (7) Billy Horschel … TOUR Championship (4) Dustin Johnson … Dell Technologies (11); TOUR Championship (6) Zach Johnson … TOUR Championship (8) Russell Knox … Dell Technologies (7) Rory McIlroy … Dell Technologies (5); TOUR Championship (3) Ryan Moore … TOUR Championship (6) Louis Oosthuizen … Dell Technologies (3) Patrick Reed … Dell Technologies (2) Justin Rose … TOUR Championship (2) Adam Scott … Dell Technologies (9); TOUR Championship (6) Jordan Spieth … TOUR Championship (4) Henrik Stenson … Dell Technologies (9); TOUR Championship (2) Justin Thomas … Dell Technologies (6; defending); TOUR Championship (3) Jimmy Walker … Dell Technologies (7) Bubba Watson … TOUR Championship (4) CHAMPIONS ONE & DONE Shaw Charity Classic Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club in Calgary, Alberta, hosts the sixth edition of the tournament. It’s a par 70 with five par 3s and three par 5s. Scott McCarron is back to defend a one-stroke victory over Miguel Angel Jiménez. McCarron converted three eagles and 15 birdies against five bogeys en route to 16-under 194. The $2.35-million purse is the largest of the last five tournaments. The winner will pocket $352,500. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2018. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Stephen Ames … Shaw (7) Fred Couples … Usable everywhere. Joe Durant … Shaw (11); PURE (3); SAS (13) David Frost … Shaw (8); PURE (1) Doug Garwood … SAS (1) Miguel Angel Jiménez … Shaw (7); SAS (12) Jerry Kelly … Shaw (5); PURE (2); SAS (4) Bernhard Langer … Usable everywhere. Defending five titles. Jeff Maggert … Shaw (5) Billy Mayfair … PURE (1) Scott McCarron … Shaw (5; defending); PURE (8) Colin Montgomerie … Shaw (4); PURE (7); SAS (3; defending) Tom Pernice, Jr. … Shaw (3); SAS (5) Vijay Singh … Shaw (5); SAS (1) Kirk Triplett … Shaw (4) Duffy Waldorf … Shaw (5) WILD CARDS (short list of golfers not included above but on the rise or still building portfolios after recently turning 50): Steve Flesch; Scott Parel; Tim Petrovic; Wes Short, Jr.

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