Camilo Villegas’ obsessive cycling disorder

One of the rewards for devout fans is rolling out in real time right now. Because school is out for the summer, the best former collegians are splashing onto the scene. They’re paying off your patience and passion to witness the next class of supreme talent. As it has over the years, the Travelers Championship is perfectly positioned to showcase it, and no one will argue that the bumper crop of youth in play this week just might be the best the tournament has ever hosted. Justin Suh, Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff all are in the field of 156 on sponsor exemptions. Suh (Memorial) and Morikawa (Canadian) already have made their professional debuts, while the latter pair of former teammates at Oklahoma State University join the play-for-pay ranks at TPC River Highlands. Remarkably, of the four, only Wolff, who won a school-record six tournaments for the Cowboys, including the NCAA Division 1 individual title, never ascended to No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He leaves his legacy as the No. 2 (to Hovland). Former champions Phil Mickelson (2001, 2002) and Russell Knox (2016) will be reviewed in Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider with Tony Finau, Patrick Reed, Tommy Fleetwood and other notables. You’re excused if you identify with TPC River Highlands as Bubba Watson’s personal playground. He’s connected for one-quarter of his dozen PGA TOUR victories in the tournament, including last year’s three-stroke triumph. It was the first time he didn’t need a playoff to prevail. To help frame Watson’s dominance here, consider that his margin in all-time earnings at the Travelers Championship of $2.111 million over 2007 champ Hunter Mahan in second would rank fourth on the same list. Unquestionably, Watson’s distance off the tee has mattered at TPC River Highlands, a stock par 70 that tips at just 6,841 yards. Over the last six seasons, the only shorter course at which the TOUR has stopped is Pebble Beach (6,816 yards), which is set up as a par 72 for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. (It measured 7,075 yards and played to a par of 71 for last week’s U.S. Open.) However, what makes the track in Cromwell, Connecticut, attractive and fun is that all skill sets can contend. Truth be told, muscle isn’t a prerequisite. It’s counterintuitive given its history as a scorer’s paradise, but course management plays a stronger role. This is revealed in a field scoring average of 69.596 last year. That was in the center of the bull’s-eye of expectations. Hitting greens in regulation never doesn’t matter, but its value is multiplied this week. Putting surfaces average only 5,000 square feet, but the Poa grass is prepped to run as long as 12 feet on the Stimpmeter. This combination yields a stingy scrambling percentage every year. Last year’s clip of 54.94 percent was 13th-lowest of all courses. It’s not quite the challenge of the U.S. Open on Poa at Pebble Beach, but it’s closer to that than for which it gets recognition. Oh, and the primary rough is allow to grow to four inches at TPC River Highlands, further emphasizing the objective of finding the shortest grass on approach. Mother Nature will greet the official start of summer in the heart of the tournament with gradually improving conditions. The likelihood of rain and storms exists through Friday, but terrific weather is expected on the weekend. Moderate winds at worst may influence scoring mid-tournament, while daytime highs will flirt with 80 degrees. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps 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, 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, which also publishes on Tuesdays.

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DUBLIN, Ohio – World Golf Hall-of-Famer Phil Mickelson has announced he will likely forego a spot in the upcoming U.S. Open at Erin Hills in order to attend his daughter’s high school graduation in California, which is scheduled the same day as the tournament’s first round. Mickelson, a 42-time PGA TOUR winner, five-time major winner and six-time U.S. Open runner up, will almost certainly withdraw from the only major championship he has failed to win. Instead he will watch daughter Amanda graduate and give the commencement address at Pacific Ridge School in Carlsbad on June 15. She is set to enter Brown University in the fall. “My daughter is graduating and she’s the school president… and I’m going to be there,â€� Mickelson confirmed. “Unfortunately, it comes on the Thursday of the Open, around 10:00 in the morning Pacific. So, there’s just really no way to make it, no matter what the tee time is.â€� Mickelson said only a major weather delay or unforeseen circumstance with the graduation ceremony will see him in the field. The final spots in the field will be awarded after 36-hole qualifiers at sites across the country on Monday. “I didn’t want Mike Davis and the USGA to be caught off guard when they made their pairings for television on Wednesday, and I want the alternate to know that he most likely will be in and to prepare properly,â€� Mickelson added. “Mike and I both agree there’s no sense in doing it right now, you never know what might happen, maybe something comes up with the commencement, maybe something comes up with the weather. I don’t know what will happen, but it doesn’t look very good. It would have to be something unforeseen.

“I wanted to make sure that they had enough notice to accommodate it. So that’s why I’m saying something today. But it doesn’t look good for me playing. But I’m really excited about this moment in our family’s life.â€�
 Amanda was born shortly after the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst, where Mickelson finished runner-up to Payne Stewart. He had claimed he would leave Pinehurst at any moment to be there for the birth, displaying a family-first attitude he continues today. The 46-year-old is running out of chances to complete the career grand slam, making the decision more difficult. He has three Masters wins plus one Open Championship and a PGA Championship on his resume. But no U.S. Open. “Obviously, it’s a tournament that I want to win the most, and the only way to win is if you play,â€� he said. “But this is one of those moments where you look back on life and you just don’t want to miss it. I’ll be really glad that I was there and present.â€� Mickelson, who has played in 26 U.S. Opens, was also runner up at the 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2013 events. He and wife Amy are the parents of Amanda (17), Sophia (15) and Evan (14), and Phil again left no doubt as to his priorities Saturday. He said Amanda would have supported his decision had he chosen to play the U.S. Open. “I’ll be able to play the next two years solidly before Sofia gets to graduate, hopefully,â€� he joked. “Amanda’s very supportive. She’s always been: ‘Dad, I know you love the Open.’ But it’s one of those things that you just show up. You just need to be there. It wasn’t really something that we discussed, because it really wasn’t much of a decision.â€�

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2019 BMW Championship, End of Round 2. Top 10 win probabilities: Patrick Cantlay (T2, -11, 18.6%) Hideki Matsuyama (1, -12, 18.1%) Tony Finau (T2, -11, 10.9%) Justin Thomas (4, -10, 10.8%) Rory McIlroy (T11, -8, 6%) Xander Schauffele (T5, -9, 4.8%) Rory Sabbatini (T5, -9, 3.3%) Jon Rahm (T15, -7, 3.2%) Chez Reavie (T5, -9, 3.1%) Tommy Fleetwood (T11, -8, 3.1%) Top 5 FedExCup Win Probabilities: Rory McIlroy: 19.2% Brooks Koepka: 15.6% Patrick Cantlay: 13.8% Jon Rahm: 8.1% Justin Thomas: 6.1% NOTE: These reports are based off the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live “Make Cut�, “Top 20�, “Top 5�, and “Win� probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 20K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of the BMW Championship, or to see how each golfer’s probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model’s home page.

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