Cantlay, Clark joining Tiger-Rory venture TGL

Here are nine tidbits from the second round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Be looking for the Emergency 9 shortly after the close of play of each round of the tournament. PAIN OR GAIN These were the top five picked golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO: No. 1 on this list has withdrawn and No. 5 has missed the cut so the Fowler (T1)-Noren (T37)-Rahm (T8) supporters will be hoping that they can make up ground in the game with big finishes on the weekend. I’m interested to see if Noren gets a hot start early tomorrow and puts pressure on the leaders. Playing for the first time at Torrey Pines last week didn’t seem to bother him! Mea Culpa I couldn’t believe how many of you left Matsuyama out of the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO. I owe you all an apology for fading the two-time defending champ! Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good and gamers who either forgot or fell asleep tasted that feeling this week. As for the rest of you who lined him up, it’s time to sub him out and make up some ground on the weekend. More proof that NOTHING is guaranteed or a sure-thing in fantasy golf! According to reports his wrist is the issue but it was also noted that his shoulder was being worked on this morning as well. Stay tuned. In-and-Out Berger With two top 10s in his last three visits, Floridian Daniel Berger isn’t going “animal-style” just yet but he’s off to an excellent start (68-65). I wouldn’t expect him to slow down as he’s pounding it tee-to-green and has made the second-most birdies after two rounds. His bogey-free 65 (-6) moved him into the top five. Say Chez! Former Arizona State Sun Devil Chez Reavie posted 65 (-6) in one of the final groups of the day and enters the weekend T3. It’s his best round on the new design and the first time in four tries he’ll play the weekend. His best finish is T41 and he’s missed six weekends in nine events at TPC Scottsdale over the years. Sometimes down really is up! Stalling Out? Scott Stallings also threw up 65 this afternoon and moved up over 20 spots into the top 10. His round on Friday tied his lowest since July when he posted 65 at the Barbasol Championship. He finished T3 that week but hasn’t enjoyed a check bigger than T39 in his last 11 events. Please note he hit all 18 greens today after hitting just 10 yesterday. Forks Up There’s nothing better when watching a big tournament than having Phil Mickelson in the action. Well, maybe except having him live on your fantasy roster! He checked in No. 8 on the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO so there are plenty of faithful followers out there. He rewarded them by firing 65 and moving 38 spots into the top 10 after opening with 70 yesterday. The former Arizona State Sun Devil will no doubt be the crowd favorite on the weekend but is looking for his first win on TOUR since the 2013 Open Championship. He’s carded 65 on SATURDAY the last two years and followed both of those rounds with 71 on Sunday. … Desert Fox Canadian Adam Hadwin has finished in the top six the last three years in at the CareerBuilder Challenge. The last two years he’s cashed T17 and T12 at TPC Scottsdale with never breaking par in the first round. This year he opened with 70 and followed it up with 65, his best round from 10 tries. Like Mickelson, he jumped up into the top 10 and his primed for the weekend. Subs Necessary Jordan Spieth missed the cut for the first time since May at the AT&T Byron Nelson. It is time for gamers to narrow down their starts on him to courses he LOVES, not likes, especially in limited use games. … Webb Simpson and Ryan Palmer also carried heavy action this week and rightfully so, but both are heading home early. … Brandon Harkins MC and breaks up a streak of eight in a row. … Just as I was laying the groundwork for the Harris English revival, he heads home early. … The streak is now three for Tony Finau in the MC department at this event. Sometimes you have to trust the numbers! Study Hall Alex Cejka withdrew with an illness prior to Round 2. … Lee Westwood made 11 birdies while posting 62 at the Maybank Malaysian Open. He’s not leading though. … Robert Garrigus almost pulled an “Andrew Magee” in Round 2 on the drivable par-4 No. 17 hole. His tee shot dinged the flag and stopped an inch from an albatross. Andrew Magee, at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, is the only player in the history of the TOUR to make a 1 on a par-4 hole. #TheMoreYouKnow.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The PGA TOUR has announced that it will implement a new Integrity Program effective January 1, 2018, to protect its competitions from potential outside influences related to gambling. While the TOUR has a longstanding policy prohibiting players from betting or related activities at TOUR-related events, the new Integrity Program is more comprehensive. It will cover all facets of competition and operations on the six Tours overseen by the PGA TOUR, including players and their support teams, all tournament staff and volunteers, the entire PGA TOUR staff and the PGA TOUR Policy Board. The Program’s stated mission is: “To maintain integrity and prevent and mitigate betting-related corruption in PGA TOUR competitions – ensuring competitions always reflect, and appear to reflect, the best efforts of the players, while protecting the welfare of the players and others involved with the PGA TOUR – through clear policies and regulations, ongoing education and training, and effective and consistent monitoring and enforcement functions.� To assist with the implementation of the program the TOUR has engaged Genius Sports, the global leader in sports integrity services, to provide several key services. This includes its state-of-the-art bet monitoring system which tracks real-time betting activity and utilizes proprietary algorithms to identify potentially suspicious patterns occurring in global betting markets. “The bedrock of PGA TOUR competition are the inherent values of golf and the honesty and integrity of our members,� PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan said. “We recognize, however, that no sport is fully immune from the potential influence of gambling. So, we felt it was important to move forward with an Integrity Program to further protect our competition from betting-related issues. Genius Sports will provide essential support as we roll out the Program across the entire PGA TOUR.� The TOUR has worked with Genius Sports to develop a tailored educational program that will help players, caddies and officials to identify, resist and report incidents of potential betting corruption. Educational workshops will reinforce the PGA TOUR’s regulations and highlight the potential consequences related to betting corruption. Additionally, custom-made e-learning modules will be available on a worldwide basis to all PGA TOUR players in multiple languages. Mark Locke, CEO at Genius Sports Group, said: “We are delighted to partner with the PGA TOUR to drive its integrity initiatives. Protecting the integrity of sport has never been of greater importance and it requires forward-thinking organizations such as the PGA TOUR to proactively invest in both proven technology and education driven by true expertise.� The TOUR will receive important insight into global betting activity on its tournaments across the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Web.com Tour, Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica and PGA TOUR China, covering approximately 140 events per year. The Program will be administered by a PGA TOUR Integrity Officer, and investigations will be conducted by an independent group with experience in law enforcement.

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Every sporting event presents a thrill unique to the athletes participating. It means something different to each. Not all goals are achieved but no one ever is stripped of the experience of the competition, no matter what’s at stake at any level. Then there is the Olympics. Golfers who compete regularly on the global stage are accustomed to representing their countries in addition to personal pursuits, but this is different. Regardless of outcome, to be able to be an Olympian and be referred to as an Olympian is heavy, rare and special. For the majority, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it’s happening right now. Sixty golfers representing 35 countries have assembled for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. One-quarter of the field is ranked familiarly below. Beneath the projected contenders for gold, silver and bronze medals is a breakdown of the host course, Kasumigaseki Country Club, what likely will be required to succeed and more. RELATED: Official Field | The First Look POWER RANKINGS: THE OLYMPIC GAMES If competing for a major championship “only” four times in a calendar year feels infrequent, consider that there have been 19 majors contested since the last Olympics in Rio de Janeiro five years ago. Of course, until the 2016 Games, it had been 112 years since golf previously was included in the Olympics, and the Masters and PGA Championship hadn’t yet existed. Furthermore, the originally scheduled 2020 Games were delayed a year by the pandemic, a phrase to which we’ve all become accustomed. While participation in the Olympics is the rarest of all premier competitions, there are nine golfers in the field who are now two-time Olympians, including PGA TOUR members Patrick Reed of the United States, Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela, C.T. Pan of Chinese Taipei and Anirban Lahiri of India. The others are Thomas Pieters of Germany, Ryan Fox of New Zealand, Fabrizio Zanotti of Paraguay, Gavin Kyle Green of Malaysia and Ashun Wu of China. Of the nine, Pieters came closest to medaling in Rio in 2016; he finished fourth and four strokes back of bronze medalist Matt Kuchar. Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson claimed gold and silver, respectively. The East Course at Kasumigaseki CC is a par 71 with four par 3s and three par 5s. It’s located about 25 miles northwest of Tokyo. Its history dates back more than 90 years, but it was renovated recently by Tom Fazio and his son, Logan. It now tips at 7,447 yards with bentgrass greens averaging 7,800 square feet. Those are sizable, but like many larger putting surfaces on inland tracks, they are defended with strategic undulations. Unlike the host course in Rio, which made possible an eagle-birdie-eagle finish to complete the competition for a medal, the birdie-eagle-birdie flourish is in play at Kasumigaseki, but that comes with two stingy qualifiers. First, the par-4 17th is 343 yards, so it’d have to set up as drivable in the finale to yield the realistic likelihood of a 2. Second, the par-4 last is 500 yards, so a walk-off par could feel like birdie with the weight of the medal on the line before the weight of the medal is on the neck. The Olympics is a standard 72-hole contest from Thursday through Sunday. There is no cut. With unfamiliar putting surfaces and slow, soft turf expected, ball-striking likely will correlate to success and to establish history. Another benefit is unquantifiable; that is, there are only so many in the field who have played in and thrived under the pressure of a moment this transformational. That said, it’s worth reiterating that all are pursuing their first Olympics medal. Like many of the sports in the Olympics, golf is conducted outside, so weather can impact performance. Rain and storms cannot be ruled out during any round. Warm, juicy air will dominate. Winds will be moderate at worst. The Olympics is not included in the FedExCup, but it’s an official event on the European Tour, so the champion will be credited with an official win. Official World Golf Ranking points also will be distributed. Because the strength-of-field rating as determined by the OWGR will be greater than 115 – it is 319 as of Monday – the gold medalist will qualify for next week’s World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational if not already exempt. 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: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers; Fantasy Insider FRIDAY: Reshuffle; Medical Extensions SUNDAY: Qualifiers; Rookie Watch * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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