‘Dangerous’ McIlroy at Kiawah seeking first major since ’14

As the FedExCup Playoffs is concerned, the 11th edition isn’t presenting anything we haven’t seen before, but the combination of unusual facts is unprecedented all the while adhering to the chalk. Jordan Spieth is just the second golfer in Playoffs history to enter the TOUR Championship atop the FedExCup standings without a victory in the Playoffs. Tiger Woods was the first in 2013. Meanwhile, only five golfers who started the series outside the top 30 in points qualified for this week’s 30-man field at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. At least seven climbed in all but once since the first version of the current structure was introduced in 2009. That occurred in 2015 when only four converted. Points have been reset and each of the top five is guaranteed the FedExCup’s $10-million bonus with victory in the finale. So, Spieth, who won the FedExCup in 2015, controls his own destiny to become the second in history to capture multiple titles (Woods, 2007 and 2009). POWER RANKINGS: TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP RANK PLAYER COMMENT Top seed leads the Playoffs in adjusted scoring and strokes gained: tee-to-green. He’s manufactured a season similar to 2014-15, which he concluded with victory at East Lake. Opened 2017 with solo second at Waialae. T2 last week at Conway Farms. Nine top 15s in between. Two seconds and no worse than solo sixth in last four starts at East Lake. THE NORTHERN TRUST champ is third in points. Shared or led outright after all three rounds en route to T6 at East Lake in 2016. Fifth-place finishes in previous two trips. Co-runner-up at the BMW Championship was his eighth top-five finish since February. T5 in the Playoffs in adjusted scoring. One top 10 at East Lake in three appearances. Commanding performance at Conway Farms followed a solo third at TPC Boston. Hasn’t seen East Lake since a T28 in his debut in 2009, but it doesn’t matter. Able to absorb a T47 at Conway Farms as he’s second in FedExCup points. Shared sixth place in TOUR Championship debut last year (after T32 at BMW at Crooked Stick). Horse for the course, but that’s a narrative that could apply almost everywhere in 2017. Four top fives in the last three months alone. Top fives in all three tries at East Lake, too. Fair to label him as a mild surprise to get this far. Opened as the 49-seed and is now 15th. Top 10s in three of last four starts. Three top 10s at East Lake (2011, 2014, 2015). At No. 5 in points, he’s the first debutant since Chris Kirk in 2014 to begin TOUR Championship inside the top 5. The Spaniard has gone a respective T3-T4-T5 in the Playoffs. A T12 at the BMW Championship was his fourth top 15 in his last six starts. Co-led in his debut at East Lake last year before losing in a playoff. Phenomenal story post-anchoring ban and ranks ninth in the Playoffs in strokes gained: putting. Top 10s in three of last four starts. Two top fives at East Lake in four trips. Top 20s in seven of last eight starts dating back to U.S. Open breakthrough. T18 at TPC Boston; T12 at Conway Farms. Second in the Playoffs in birdie-or-better percentage. Remained slump-proof with a T5 at the BMW Championship, his eighth top 10 of 2017. Eighth appearance at East Lake where his only two top 10s are T10s (2012, 2015). In his field-high 10th appearance (ninth at East Lake) but first since a T9 in 2014. Sat out THE NORTHERN TRUST, but wiggled in on a T12 at the BMW Championship. First appearance and the lowest opening seed (78th) to qualify. He’s gone T10-T13-T9, respectively. T2 in the Playoffs in greens in regulation and first in scrambling. Solid not spectacular Playoffs run secured his fifth appearance at East Lake. Top 10s in his last two (2014, 2016). Ranks fourth in these Playoffs in greens in regulation. Making TOUR Championship debut at 41 years young. Enters in spirited form with T6 at TPC Boston and T12 at Conway Farms. Seventh in the Playoffs in strokes gained: putting. First FedExCup points leader at the start of the Playoffs to sit outside the top 5 at East Lake since Nick Watney in 2011. Matsuyama (No. 7) has gone MC-T23-T47 since. Last man inside the bubble dropped 10 slots during the Playoffs despite a T20 at Glen Oaks. Top 10s in his last two appearances at East Lake (2013, 2016). T12 (2015) and T15 (2016) at East Lake, but stumbles in this year without a top 30 in his last four starts. He’s given away nearly two shots in putting per event in the Playoffs. Inside favorite for Rookie of the Year has enjoyed a strong three months since U.S. Open. Includes a pair of top 20s in the Playoffs in which he’s No. 1 in par-5 scoring. Always a threat as a terrific putter, but he’s making his first appearance at East Lake and has just two top-35 finishes in the last four months. After falling outside top 30, got back in with a T7 at the BMW where he ranked third in strokes gained: putting. Fair to wonder how he’ll fare in first go on East Lake’s greens. Scuffling in advance of his debut, surrendering strokes in every facet of the game in the Playoffs. Chased MC at Glen Oaks with T65 at TPC Boston and T40 at Conway Farms. He’s 12th in the Playoffs in strokes gained: tee-to-green, but he may have peaked too soon. Only one top 25 in his last four starts (T17, THE NORTHERN TRUST). Fourth appearance buoyed by late surge, but he’s yet to solve East Lake where his scoring average is 71.75 and he hasn’t broken par in his last eight rounds. One of the quieter qualifiers with only one top 10 in over five months and only one top-35 finish in the last two. Solo 12th in only previous look at East Lake in 2014. Zero top 50s in these Playoffs and no top 25s in last nine Playoffs starts, including both of the last two TOUR Championships, a shocker given East Lake’s Bermuda greens. Tournament debut. Form upon arrival is just OK for the 29-year-old ball-striker. Opened the Playoffs with a pair of T25s before a T47 at the BMW. Capitalized on the format with timely form. Win at Glen Abbey and T3 at Glen Oaks yielded his second trip to East Lake (T24, 2016), but he’s made little noise elsewhere. Returning to the TOUR Championship isn’t easy, but 14 in this week’s field were here last year. However, defending champion Rory McIlroy didn’t qualify. In fact, of all former champions, only Spieth (2015) is in the field. Eight are making their debuts. Aside from the voids left when many mature trees were felled over the winter, East Lake’s changes were minimal, but it will look and set up just as it did last year as a par 70, this time measuring 7,362 yards. That reflects a reduction of 23 yards. The MiniVerde Ultradwarf Bermudagrass greens may run as fast as 12-and-a-half on the Stimpmeter and the Bermudagrass rough has been trimmed to two-and-a-half inches. The 2016 edition of the TOUR Championship was the first in which the nines were reversed for competition. The old par-3 finisher became No. 9. In its place, a par 5 tipping at 590 yards served as the stage for potential heroics. Alas, McIlroy scored a respective 5-5-4-4 on the hole in regulation, while eventual playoff victims Kevin Chappell and Ryan Moore settled for pars in every round. The playoff went four holes, the first two of which at the 18th where McIlroy and Moore pushed with 4-5. Chappell was eliminated with an opening par. Despite the absence of fireworks, the hole averaged 4.581, lowest in history. Among the 117 scores recorded (Jason Day withdrew after one round), three eagles were recorded. Overall, East Lake yielded a scoring average of 69.615 last year. That was a typical split in benign weather conditions. This week’s forecast includes the threat for rain and storms, the greatest landing on Friday. Otherwise favorable elements will serve merely as a backdrop in which the FedExCup champion will be crowned. Tuesday’s Confidence Factor will examine the skills rewarded at East Lake to help identify the latest to join the club. ROB BOLTON’S WRITING SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Columnist Rob Bolton will be filing his usual staples leading up to this week’s event. Look for the following columns this week. MONDAY: Rookie Ranking, Reshuffle, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: The Confidence Factor, Fantasy Insider WEDNESDAY: One & Done THURSDAY: Ownership Percentages in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf and One & Done presented by SERVPRO * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO, which also publishes on Tuesdays.

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Bay Hill was bustling Thursday. The fans were limited in numbers but they all wanted the same dose of entertainment provided by Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau. RELATED: Leaderboard | McIlroy starts strong, Spieth builds on momentum at Bay Hill First it was McIlroy, slowly feeling better about his game, and with good reason. Starting with a 55-foot putt on the par-3 second hole, he ran off five straight birdies for a share of the lead with Corey Conners in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard at 6-under 66. In the group behind McIlroy was DeChambeau, who has been contemplating a shot across the water to cut the 528-yard sixth hole down to size by going for the green. This was not the day with a slight breeze into his face, so the U.S. Open champion had some fun. He took out an iron, and then hit a conservative tee shot (309 yards) to the middle of the fairway. It was a boring birdie, his third in a row, and he opened with a 67. “There was a high expectation level of me trying to go for the green there, and it was a little pressure that I wasn’t expecting,” DeChambeau said. “But no, it was fun. The crowds were great with it. I pulled out an iron as a joke off the tee box. And for me, it was just too much off of the right and more into the wind than anything.” In the group with DeChambeau was Jordan Spieth, making his debut at Bay Hill, and producing high adventure in a 70 that left him satisfied he remained on track — and irritated hitting off the toe of his driver and into the water on No. 6. Even having to hit his third from the tee, he salvaged bogey with a 25-foot putt and made a 35-foot birdie on the next hole. “Definitely proud of the way I responded, but the way I putted today, certainly would have liked a lower number,” Spieth said. “But it all just comes down to one shot for me today.” Conners played in the afternoon and was 6 under through seven holes, capped off by an eagle on the par-5 16th. He took the lead with birdie on the par-5 sixth, but finished with a three-putt bogey from 60 feet to fall into a tie with McIlroy. Jason Kokrak opened with a 68. Of the 60 players who teed off in the morning, only six broke 70. Defending champion Tyrrell Hatton shot a 77, while past Bay Hill winner Francesco Molinari took a step back from his progress with a 78. McIlroy wasn’t too happy with his game after missing the cut — a rarity for him these days — at Riviera, then not having ideal practice sessions. He still managed some improvement last week in the World Golf Championships event, and saw even better results Thursday. Most pleasing was seeing the ball go where and how he wanted it. He made three of his birdies on par 3s, the strength of Bay Hill. What stood out was a pair of 5-irons into the wind on the 14th and 17th holes, both tight draws, flighted the way he wanted to about 15 feet. “Those shots last week that I was trying to hit were missing the target 20 yards left,” he said. “So it was nice to just see them coming out in the window I was anticipating.” He said it was his best round of the year, and it helps being at Bay Hill, where McIlroy had a victory and no finish worse than a tie for sixth the last four years. He has seen enough of Tiger Woods’ eight victories in the Arnold Palmer Invitational to appreciate how to attack. “He played it very conservatively. He took care of the par 5s. And that was usually good enough to get the job done,” McIlroy said. “So sort of take a little bit of a leaf out of his book.” He only made birdie on two of the par 5s, going long on the 16th and having to lay up on the 12th from a fairway bunker. Through it all, it was the activity outside the ropes at Bay Hill that stood out. The Arnold Palmer Invitational was the last PGA TOUR event that had a full complement of fans, one week before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down golf. The tournament is allowing 25% of capacity — roughly 5,000 fans a day — and when they are watching some of golf’s bigger draws such as McIlroy, DeChambeau and Spieth, it feels even larger. All were wearing masks. “It’s nice to hear some cheers and a little bit of energy from the fans,” Martin Laird said after a 69. “It was fun to play in front of a crowd again.”

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The Barracuda Championship takes place today at Tahoe Mountain Club (Old Greenwood). Here’s how to follow the action. Round 2 leaderboard Round 2 tee times HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 7 p.m.-9:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 7 p.m. – 10 p.m. (Golf Channel). MUST READS Two tied for lead at the Barracuda Championship How it works: Stableford format Power Rankings Expert Picks New course has four drivable par 4s

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