Canadian rookie Svensson leads Sony Open

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The PGA TOUR takes a break from stroke play for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans at TPC Louisiana. The course is a par 72, measuring 7,425 yards and continues on Bermuda grass this week. Last year, the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19, but this will be the fourth year of the team format. There are 80 teams of two in the field this week, and the top 35 teams and ties will make the cut. Teams will play best ball during the first and third rounds, while the second and fourth rounds will be alternate shot. This week will be a touch different when it comes to DraftKings scoring. In a team event like this, every golfer in the field will be available to roster, similar to a stroke-play event, but only one player from that team can be in your lineup. Each player from that team will receive the same points for each round this week, no matter the format. The defending champions are Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer. STRATEGY TPC Louisiana will be the second Pete Dye course in a row, which means Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green will be a priority this week. With that said, there are minimal stats when it comes to team events other than how players/teams played in this event over the past three years, and how well teams potentially played in events like the QBE Shootout. The issue with trying to parse through the data mentioned above is the efficacy and accuracy of the stats and which golfers from those teams were playing well or not playing well. All of this is a long-winded way of saying stats might not help us as much as they usually do every week. Even though the format is different, players and teams will still need to be great with their ball-striking and ride a hot putter, similar to all Dye courses. They’ll also need to stay aggressive on the best-ball rounds when scores should be going low. Players don’t necessarily have to come into this week with great form; we’ve seen Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown do well here, finishing T5 in 2019 and T15 the previous year and not come in with great form. Past finishes at TPC Louisiana when it was a stroke-play event, past Pete Dye success and, of course, current form are other ways to help us decide which teams to chase this week. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $600K Resurgence [$200K to 1st] GOLFERS TO CONSIDER Billy Horschel/Sam Burns +2200 to Win ($10,500 on DraftKings) Both players were positive in Tee-to-Green last week at the RBC Heritage, a Pete Dye course. Horschel recorded a top 25 at Harbour Town and just won the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club, another Dye course. Burns is starting to look like how he played leading into the Genesis Invitational earlier this season when he finished third. Last week, Burns gained 6.36 strokes Tee-to-Green (12th in the field), 3.1 of which came from his irons. Burns is also returning to New Orleans, where he played his college golf at Louisiana State University. Both guys are excellent Bermuda putters, and Horschel has already won this event in 2018 with Scott Piercy. Jason Kokrak/Pat Perez +6600 to Win ($8,300 on DraftKings) It wasn’t long ago that we saw Perez and Kokrak dominate the charity challenge at Sedgefield CC, beating Charl Schwartzel and Brendan Grace. All kidding aside, these two are good friends and could be great partners this week given how well their games match up. Kokrak is playing unbelievable, with three top 10s in his past four events, and ranks sixth in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green over his previous 12 rounds. Although Perez isn’t playing like his teammate, he finished runner-up here in 2018 with Jason Dufner. Perez can help out his teammate on the greens, where he’s much better than Kokrak on Bermuda. Perez has gained Off-the-Tee in six of his past seven measured tournaments and can get scorching hot with his putter when he (or his team) is playing well. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $600K Resurgence [$200K to 1st] Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL). Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ/WV/PA/MI), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (NH/CO), 1-800-BETS OFF(IA), 1-888-532-3500 (VA) or call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN). 21+ (18+ NH). CO/IL/IN/IA/NH/NJ/PA/TN/VA/WV/MI only. Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for full terms and conditions. I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is reidtfowler) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. 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SAN DIEGO – So what if the TV cameras weren’t there? Someone in J.J. Henry’s group on Monday understood the magnitude of the moment. So, he pulled out his cell phone and recorded the scene as that 14-foot eagle putt slithered into the hole. After all, it’s not every day you shoot a 59. In fact, this was a first for Henry and came after he played the final six holes at the Tradition Golf Club, where Arnold Palmer often spent his winters, in a phenomenal 7 under. “I was pretty nervous,” admits Henry, who had added to the pressure back at the 16th hole when he told the other members of his foursome that a birdie-birdie-eagle finish would do the trick. “I’ve been fortunate to do a lot of things. Ryder Cups, gracious enough to win three times. But it was pretty cool to be able to make that putt. … “At 42 I guess I’ve still got it. (It’s) just matter of doing it when it counts.” Sure, it would have even better if the terrific round of 13 under had come during a PGA TOUR event. But as Henry says, there’s no bad day to shoot a 59. Henry shared the video of the final putt on Tuesday morning as he stood in the shadow of the trees beside the putting green at Torrey Pines. He’ll play in his 502nd event there this week when the Farmers Insurance Open begins on Thursday. That’s a number almost as elusive as a 59. Since Henry played in his first PGA TOUR event in 1988, with his father caddying for the son who had just finished an All-America season at TCU, only five other players have made 500 or more starts. “It’s kind of cool to see (you’re) still tackling milestones and unique things in golf,” says Henry, who joined the TOUR in 2001. “Whether it’s was to play my 500th event at the Sony Open or go out with some buddies and still feel like you can do it. … “Even though it wasn’t in a tournament something like that (59) could really jump-start things. The game’s a bunch of momentum, confidence. So regardless it was just a fun day.” By Henry’s calculations, those 502 starts have probably meant about nine years’ worth of nights spent in a hotel room. He’s averaged 27 starts a year and six times has played more than 30 tournaments, sometimes when he was fighting to keep his card. “That puts it in perspective,” he says. “I don’t know if sacrifice is the right word because we’re out here doing what we love to do. But at the same time, you’re still missing things. “You take for granted sleeping in your own bed. As you get older, I think there’s no question I think it feels more like a job than it does when you were 25 because you want to be there for your wife and your kids.” Before Henry and Lee, the college sweetheart who became his wife, had kids, the two traveled the TOUR together. Ditto for when their children, Connor and Carson, were young. But the kids are now 13 and 9, respectively. They’ve come to understand that their dad’s job sometimes will keep him away from basketball and Little League games and school plays. Thank goodness for Facetime, though. “Last Saturday I’m in a hotel (watching his son’s game),” Henry says. “Of course, my wife puts me on mute because I’m yelling ‘get the ball, be aggressive’ through the phone.” Henry tries to get home for a few days between tournaments whenever he can. After all, in 18 years on TOUR he knows the golf courses and one less practice round won’t make or break things. But there are still moments that tug at his heartstrings. “I am very grateful because my wife is so on top of things and just so great with our kids,” Henry says. “But sometimes you get that, dad, when are you coming home and what do you say? It’s hard.” On the flip side, though, if Henry plays 28 weeks a year, he has another 24 at home – to the point “where my wife is probably saying, when the hell are you going back out on the road? But you get used to that kind of lifestyle.” That’s the glass half full side of life on TOUR. Connor is starting to take a real interest in the game – as well as his dad’s career, which is proving a motivating factor. Recently, after Henry missed two straight cuts, Connor started sending texts — stay positive after a bad hole, just relax, no one can beat you, the mental game wins tournaments. “So here’s my 13-year-old, he’s like my sports psychologist,” Henry says with a grin. While Henry admits there’s “more scar tissue at 42 than 22,” he still feels his best golf is ahead of him. Sure, the game has changed. The players are younger. More fit, too. And they hit the ball a mile. But Henry has persevered. He’s won three tournaments and played on the 2006 Ryder Cup team. Yet, he’s never finished higher than 28th on the money list, and last year he squeaked into the FedExCup Playoffs at No. 125. At the same time, though, Henry only missed the Playoffs twice in the FedExCup’s first decade. He compares himself to a blue-chip stock. “It’s never crazy up or crazy down but you kind of know what you get,” Henry says. As the 500th start approached, many of Henry’s friends contacted him and told him he should appreciate what he’s accomplished. And while he’s still wrapped up in the here-and-now, the unusual longevity of his TOUR career is not lost on Henry. “To be able to play at this elite level for all these years, is something I’m pretty grateful and kind of humbled and still, honored to say,” he says. “And regardless of whatever happens in the next eight years or whether I play out here until I’m 50 and a rookie again, not many people can say they’ve played 500 TOUR events… “So as long as they keep giving me a tee time, I’ll be out here working on my three-footers.”

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