Curiosity, hope and so many fans surround Tiger Woods in 2018

“Let’s play two!” was the famous cry of Cubs hall of fame shortstop Ernie Banks. Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, will become the epicenter of the PGA TOUR for the next two weeks as it will host the Workday Charity Open followed by the Memorial Tournament. The John Deere Classic usually takes place this week but has been put on hiatus until 2021. The Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village Golf Club will feature a field of 157 players and a purse of $6.2 million ($1.116 million/500 FedExCup points for the winner) to kick off the fortnight. Now stretching to 7,456 yards (Par-72), MVGC has added six new fairway bunkers and three new teeing grounds to add to the challenge and deviate from the norm. RELATED: Power Rankings | Sleepers | Expert Picks Tournament Director Dan Sullivan remarked last month that there will be a “clear distinction” between the two events. Tiger Woods has said over the years that these are the fastest greens on TOUR (non-major) but that’s not going to be the case this week. Slower speeds on undulating greens will also bring in new pin placements that will be new to the entire field. This will be the fifth week running that the average green sizes play less than 5,200 square feet and the third week in a row putting on Bent/Poa. While the teeing grounds and pin positions will rotate to alleviate heavy traffic, the course routing and challenge of avoiding 74 bunkers and 13 water hazards remains the same. The rough will be similar in length and species (Bluegrass) as it was last week in Detroit but will be a bit bushier for the 120-man invitational next week. Recent Winners at MVGC 2019: Patrick Cantlay, -19 T11 or better in EVERY SINGLE CATEGORY minus driving distance; missed tying Tom Lehman’s tournament record by a shot as he closed with 64, the low round on Sunday. Weather will be 10-20 degrees warmer this year. Notables: Kevin Streelman (4th) played his final 54 holes 13-under. … Marc Leishman (5th) posted all four rounds in the red. … Hideki Matsuyama, the 2014 champ, signed for 64 on Saturday. … 2017 champ Jason Dufner and Jordan Spieth shared seventh while Bud Cauley, Emiliano Grillo and Billy Horschel rounded out the top 10 (T9). … Only the top eight were 10-under or lower. 2018: Bryson DeChambeau, -15 (not entered) Notables: Byeong-Hun An and Kyle Stanley were the victims of a two-hole playoff. … Cantlay played in the final group and missed the playoff by a shot. … Joaquin Niemann (T6) co-led with Stanley after 36 holes. … Niemann and Matsuyama (T13) opened with 65 to share the 18-hole lead. … 2010 champ Justin Rose (T6) also put all four rounds in the red. … Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas and Patrick Rodgers (T8) rounded out the top 10. … Top 22 players were 10-under or lower. 2017: Jason Dufner, -15 Came from four shots off the lead to win by three over Fowler. … Ball-striking clinic as he led the field in GIR, SG: Tee to Green and SG: Approach. … Set the 36-hole record opening 65-65. … Posted 77 in Round 3 and still won comfortably. Notables: Thomas and Matt Kuchar (T4) nipped Stanley, Bubba Watson and James Hahn (T6) for the last spots in the top five. … Only three players 10-under or better. … Dufner, born in Cleveland, joined Jack Nicklaus as the only Ohio natives to win the event. The following should give you a decent road map on who understands the routing at MVGC. Next week, with the Memorial proper, I’ll dig deeper into the course horses when rough and slick greens return. Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2019-2020 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. * – Top 10 since 2015 Strokes-Gained: Approach the Green 1 *Marc Leishman 3 Collin Morikawa 5 *Patrick Cantlay 6 *Hideki Matsuyama 7 *Justin Thomas 8 Viktor Hovland 10 *Gary Woodland (T4, 2016) 13 Russell Henley 13 Joel Dahmen 13 *Emiliano Grillo 18 Corey Conners 19 *Joaquin Niemann 20 *Jim Furyk (T5, 2015; 2002 winner) 21 Tom Hoge 22 Matthew NeSmith 23 Cameron Tringale 24 Harold Varner III 25 Russell Knox Putting: Birdie-or-Better Percentage 2 *Patrick Reed (T8, 2016) 4 *Justin Thomas 5 *Patrick Cantlay 11 *Justin Rose 12 *Jordan Spieth 13 Cameron Champ 14 Scottie Scheffler 17 *JB Holmes (T4, 2016) 21 Sebastian Munoz 22 Vaughn Taylor 23 Bronson Burgoon 25 Charley Hoffman Par-4 scoring 4 *Justin Thomas 5 Xander Schauffele 6 *Patrick Cantlay 8 Brandt Snedeker 8 Adam Hadwin 10 *Patrick Reed 10 Joel Dahmen 10 Scottie Scheffler 15 *Bubba Watson 15 Gary Woodland 15 Harry Higgs 15 *Hideki Matsuyama 15 Sungjae Im 25 *Matt Kuchar Ohio Connections Entered Ryan Armour (Ohio State; born in Akron) Jason Day (Westerville resident) Jason Dufner (born in Akron) Jim Herman (University of Cincinnati; born in Cincinnati) Bo Hoag (Ohio State; born in Columbus) Mackenzie Hughes (Kent State University) Jason Kokrak (Xavier University; grew up in Cleveland)

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C.T. Pan … Given that he’s missed only two of his last 23 cuts, he’s already a default Sleeper because anything can happen on the weekend. After opening with three straight 71s here last year, his final-round 69 lifted him 14 spots and into a tie for 17th place. For the week, he ranked third in strokes gained: tee-to-green. As a rookie in his tournament debut in 2017, he sat T5 after each of his first two rounds before losing the handle post-cut (to finish T37). At just 5’6″ and 145 pounds, it’s not surprising that he does his best work on shorter tracks like 7,125-yard PGA National. Trey Mullinax … With six straight paydays, the last three of which going for a top 25, he’s not necessarily sneaking up on anyone. However, his propensity to mash it off the tee and pile up the scoring opportunities works counterintuitive to the objective of keeping the ball in play and targeting pars at PGA National. So, something will give in his second appearance (MC, 2017), but the relative absence of wind tilt the favor to his profile. Currently 50th on TOUR in strokes gained: tee-to-green but 213th in fairways hit and 192nd in strokes gained: putting. Kelly Kraft … Not entirely the focus of converging trends as much as he’s at the union of converging coincidences. The 30-year-old finished T9 in his last start at the Genesis Open where his overall game was just short of superb but much further from frustrating. It ended an 0-for-5 drought and a seven-month stretch without a top 30. Meanwhile, after missing the cut in his first look at PGA National in 2017, he connected for a T8 last year and led the field in putting inside 10 feet, missing only three of 67 tries, 28 of which from outside three feet. Carlos Ortiz … Now that he’s back on the PGA TOUR with fully exempt status, he can give PGA National another go. Perhaps the third time will do no harm after missing the cut in his only two previous appearances. The 27-year-old is 71st in the FedExCup standings with a pair of top 10s, the latter of which in his last start at the Genesis Open (T9) where he ranked seventh in strokes gained: putting. Adam Schenk … The PGA TOUR sophomore has displayed an affinity for shootouts, but there’s been evidence of grinding. For example, in his Honda debut last year, he ranked T13 in bogey avoidance en route to a share of 29th place, one of the better results of his rookie season. Having returned via the Web.com Tour Finals, he’s currently 46th in strokes gained: putting and coming off a T16 at the Puerto Rico Open where he slotted T5 in fairways hit and T6 in greens in regulation. But more than anything, his experience is paying off in his second spin on this circuit. Overall, he’s 9-for-12 in 2018-19 with four top 25s. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.

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PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO At first glance of the top 10 in ownership percentages for the Travelers Championship, you’d wonder if Jordan Spieth withdrew. (Relax, he didn’t pull out. On the contrary. He converted birdies on his first two holes to open his debut at TPC River Highlands and is well on his way to making noise this week.) Even if you don’t visit this recap often, that Spieth would slot outside the top 10 in anything should surprise you. Of course, the explanation is obvious, well, as obvious as it gets in the context of reviewing gamer dedication. The Travelers is the last of 11 tournaments in Segment 3, seven of which Spieth has played. Plain and simple, we’ve run dry as a group on starts. In fact, that 19.1 percent of you still had one start remaining is the surprise. Another shocker is who doesn’t appear below. Defending champions usually get some benefit of the doubt with gamers, but not Russell Knox. He slots a distant 27th at just 4.4 percent. The last time Jim Furyk signed a card at TPC River Highlands, it added up to 58. Yet, he’s just 23rd in ownership percentage at 5.3 percent. Other notables off the radar include Zach Johnson (16th, 14.4 percent), Keegan Bradley (19th, 8.1 percent), Chez Reavie (26th, 4.9 percent) and Bud Cauley (32nd, 2.7 percent). NOTE: Rob’s Rating refers to where our Fantasy Insider slotted a golfer in his Power Rankings. Golfers in the Power Rankings and outside the top 10 in most owned PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO No shortage of talent at TPC River Highlands this week, but curious gamers will immediately notice the absence of Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Jason Day among the top 10 most-owned at the Travelers Championship. Of course, this takes nothing away from the golfers listed below because this is entirely about fantasy strategy and not some sort of popularity contest, but it’s still pretty incredible that not even one of the three heavyweights cracked the top 10. McIlroy is 11th at 1.5 percent, Spieth slots 12th at 1.4 percent and Day checks in 14th at 1.3 percent. If one of those guys takes the title, it would be a coup for gamers invested. And that’s precisely the point in an event when their opponents shopped elsewhere. It doesn’t get any better than surprising your competition with 500 FedExCup points when they expect it least. However, the last laugh may await in the Playoffs when a solo fourth-place finish rewards 540 points. From that perspective, McIlroy, Spieth or Day would need to win this week to validate the pick. But, and obviously, only one can. Other notables outside the top 10 include Webb Simpson (15th, 1.3 percent), Tony Finau (16th, 1.1 percent), Jim Furyk (18th, 1.0 percent) and Graham DeLaet (T20, 0.7 percent). Defending champion Russell Knox is 19th at 0.7 percent. Johnson Wagner and Brett Stegmaier paced the morning wave in the opening round with 6-under 64s, but only Wagner was selected as a One & Done and by only one gamer.

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