DraftKings preview: WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession

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Learning after a heartbreaker at last season’s Wyndham Championship, where he was in the mix until a double-bogey on the last hole doomed his chances, C.T. Pan goes birdie, par, par under pressure and in difficult winds to notch his first PGA TOUR win at the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where Pan shot a final-round 67 to edge FedExCup leader Matt Kuchar (67) and become the tournament’s seventh straight come-from-behind winner. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Pan almost didn’t tee it up. Having played the American Junior Golf Association from 2007 to 2010, Pan was excited to put on the first C.T. Pan Junior Championship, an AJGA event, back home in Houston. One problem: the tournament was scheduled for the same week as the RBC Heritage. In light of Pan’s lackluster results on TOUR of late, his wife and sometime caddie, Michelle, pushed him out the door, saying she’d host the juniors instead. Good decision. “Just listen to your wife and you will have a good life,â€� Pan said with a smile after becoming the sixth international winner on TOUR in the last eight events. As for Michelle, she says she’d done carrying the bag but has already volunteered to caddie for her husband at the Masters Tournament Par 3 Contest next year. 2. Another short hitter tamed Harbour Town. The course rewards precision, but not necessarily length. Pan is only 5 feet, 6 inches tall and ranks 170th in Driving Distance (284.8 yards). In other words, he fits the mold of other RBC Heritage winners like Loren Roberts (1996), Brian Gay (2009), Jim Furyk (2010, ’15) and Graeme McDowell (2013). Dustin Johnson was trying to make like five-time RBC Heritage champion Davis Love III, the most notable long hitter to win here, but after taking a one-stroke lead into the final round he shot a 6-over 77 to finish T28. Xander Schauffele never got much going and finished T63. Pan was studying the final-round pin placements Saturday night, and got to the course four and a half hours before his tee time Sunday. He also plotted out and executed a strict approach to play conservatively over the first four holes (which he played in even par) but go for it on holes 5-13 (4 under). “And that’s how I snuck on the leaderboard,â€� he said. 3. Most notable win for power was Seamus Power. Seamus Power had missed 11 cuts in 15 starts heading into last week, but his 4-under 67 in the final round gave him a T6 finish, his fourth top-10 finish in 69 TOUR starts. “Yeah, a lot,â€� Power said, when asked what he could take away from the good result. “The last four or five tournaments have been much, much better. It’s was a struggle early but starting with THE PLAYERS I started to find some stuff and build it better. “So it’s been encouraging,â€� he added after moving from 189th to 141st in the FedExCup. “A week like this is great. It’s a kick start for me. It’s not where I want to be, but certainly a move in the right direction.â€� 4. Kuchar is building FedExCup lead. In notching his 12th career runner-up finish and second in his last four starts, FedExCup leader Matt Kuchar banked 300 more FedExCup points and is now up to 2,030. Kuchar, a two-time winner this season who has six top-10 finishes in 13 starts, is almost a full 500 points ahead of second-place Xander Schauffele (1,562). “I wish I could tell you,â€� Kuchar said, when asked what has changed this season. “I think I just continue to evolve. The goal as a player every year is to continue to get better. And I feel like the work I’ve done, my instructor, Chris O’Connell, each year we try to get a little bit better. And I think we’ve really done some good work. It’s tiny little things that add up.â€� 5. Lowry almost made like 2015. Shane Lowry was going for his second TOUR victory and first since the 2015 World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, but a final-round 70 wasn’t quite enough (T3). “I personally feel like it almost got away,â€� Lowry said after moving from 203rd to 125th in the FedExCup. “I’m a little bit disappointed. This was my best week in quite a while. So many positives to take from this week. And going forward I’m looking forward to next week.â€� Lowry will play the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with partner Padraig Harrington. FIVE INSIGHTS   1.  Pan won with his short game. After ranking in negative numbers in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (-0.159, 50th in the field), he stabilized at 18th best in SG: Approach-the-Green (+0.872). Then he got really good: He was seventh best in SG: Around-the-Green (+0.928) and fifth in SG: Putting (+1.571). That means he outperformed the field by 2.499 strokes per round from on and around the tiny greens at Harbour Town. And his edge was heightened in the final round, when he was +1.72 in SG: Around-the-Green, the second-best SG: Around-the-Green performance by a winner this season, trailing only Xander Schauffele at Sentry TOC (+1.77) 2. He was flawless from short range. Pan made all 52 putts he hit from inside six feet, one of three players who made the cut who were perfect from that range. Matt Kuchar (second) and Denny McCarthy (T33) were the others. The winner also averaged a very tidy 24.75 putts per round, marking the 15th time a TOUR winner has averaged 24.75 putts per round in a four-round event since 1986. Five of those 15 events have been at the RBC Heritage. 3. There were some big FedExCup movers. Not only did Pan shoot up 87 places, to 26th, in the FedExCup, Shane Lowry (T3) made a jump of 78 spots to 125th, and K.J. Choi (T10) was up 55 spots, to 187th. At 48 years, 11 months and 2 days, Choi would have been the oldest RBC Heritage champion, barely edging 1994 winner Hale Irwin. Choi briefly held a piece of the lead, but could only manage a 1-over 72. 4. Johnson’s 77 was a shocker. The final-round blow-up by world No. 1 and RBC Ambassador Johnson was his worst score since the third round of the 2018 U.S. Open. He was looking to improve on his T16 finish the year before and join 2017 champion Wesley Bryan as the only South Carolinians to win the tournament. Alas, Johnson’s one-stroke lead through 54 holes turned into a T28. 5. The wind sent scores soaring. Johnson wasn’t the only victim of the tricky winds, as defending champion Satoshi Kodaira shot 82 and there were only two bogey-free rounds (J.T. Poston, 66; Brian Stuard, 68) Sunday, the fewest of the week. The course played to a scoring average of 71.170, just slightly over par. WYNDHAM REWARDS The Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is in its first season and adds another layer of excitement to the FedExCup Regular Season. The top 10 players at the end of the FedExCup Regular Season will earn bonus payouts from the Wyndham Rewards Top 10. There were no changes after the RBC Heritage, with Matt Kuchar, a two-time winner this season, strengthening his position at the top with his second runner-up finish in his last four starts. First-time winner C.T. Pan, meanwhile, vaulted from 113th all the way to 26th and looks considerably better as he zeroes in on his stated goal of making the TOUR Championship.

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When Chris Kirk arrives in the Golden Isles of Georgia for The RSM Classic each fall, he expects to play well. And for good reason. The University of Georgia alum won the event’s 2013 iteration by a stroke, kick-starting a memorable 2013-14 campaign that saw him also win the Deutsche Bank Championship and finish second in the FedExCup. Kirk also lived near Sea Island Golf Club for approximately six and a half years, allowing him to grow comfortable in the southeast Georgia community and get to know Sea Island’s Seaside and Plantation courses, home to The RSM Classic. The 32-year-old missed the cut at last year’s event despite rounds of 69-69, and he arrived in 2017 ready to make amends. Through one of four competition rounds, that script has held up, as Kirk fired a 9-under 63 on Thursday at the Plantation track, capped off by an eagle putt from off the green at the par-5 18th hole. Kirk has won four times on TOUR, but not since the 2015 Dean & DeLuca Invitational. He’d like nothing more than to find his way into the winner’s circle as he readies for the TOUR’s holiday break. “It was fun seeing all of those putts going in,� said Kirk of an opening round where he hit 11 of 14 fairways, 14 of 18 greens, and needed just 23 putts. “That’s kind of what I’ve struggled with over the past year, and why I haven’t had the results I’ve come to expect. So to have a day like today … hopefully I can make a bunch more of them.� Kirk now lives in Athens, Georgia – home of his alma mater Bulldogs – and sported the Georgia logo on his hat as he navigated Sea Island on Thursday. Despite an up-and-down 2016-17 season that saw Kirk finish No. 92 in the FedExCup, he remains energized by raising a young family – the newest member, third son Wilder, was born just over three months ago. “Thankfully I have a great wife, that’s for sure … she keeps all of us in line, all three of the boys and me,� Kirk said after the opening round. “This is the first golf trip where they’ve all been able to come. We’ve really been having a great time. My parents are here as well, so couldn’t be better.� The only thing that could make it better, perhaps, would be a second trophy in the Sunday gloaming at Sea Island. OBSERVATIONS HOMETOWN HERO. This year marks the eighth iteration of The RSM Classic, and the fans are still waiting for a current Golden Isles resident to win the event. University of Georgia alum Hudson Swafford would love to play a role in changing that, and he’s in strong position after an opening round of 7-under 65 that included five birdies and an eagle on the Plantation course. After signing his scorecard, Swafford offered his theory about the advantages and disadvantages of this unique type of home game in the close-knit St. Simons Island community. “It’s tough; there’s a lot more going on,� Swafford said. “You’re kind of out of your routine when you’re at home. It’s nice to sleep in your own bed, don’t get me wrong – we don’t do that very much – but a lot more friends and family in town, and everybody kind of wants to hang out. There are a lot more distractions in a home game, but you can take it two ways … you can just go with the flow, or you can let it wear on you.� So far, it appears that Swafford is going with the flow.    NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP FOR DAHMEN. After finishing No. 176 in last season’s FedExCup standings, University of Washington alum Joel Dahmen earned back PGA TOUR membership via the Web.com Tour Finals, and arrived in Sea Island fresh off his first top-25 of the season (T23) at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. The cancer survivor continued the good vibe on Thursday at the Plantation course, closing with two straight birdies to post 8-under 64, the second-lowest score of the day only to Kirk. This marks Dahmen’s second TOUR season, and he’s excited to apply lessons learned over the past year into a strong 2017-18 campaign. “Being out here last year helped a lot,� Dahmen said after the opening round. “I was kind of a deer in the headlights, honestly, for the first half of the year. Seeing the courses, just being familiar out here is a huge thing. I only played nine holes of practice rounds this week; I just felt like my game’s in pretty good shape.� A well-rested Dahmen could be a force this weekend. SNEDEKER MAKES HIS RETURN. Brandt Snedeker posted an opening-round, 3-under 67 at Seaside in his first competitive round since the Travelers Championship in June. The 36-year-old had been sidelined by a rare sternum joint injury. (How rare? Snedeker visited 15 doctors, and not one had seen the injury in a golfer.) He opted for rest rather than surgery, didn’t touch a club for nine weeks, and has adopted a new workout routine and diet that discourages sugar and carbs. It hasn’t been easy, but the game appears just fine, as the Vanderbilt alum hit all 14 fairways and made just one bogey on Thursday. TWO-COURSE SETUP. The RSM Classic marks the first event of 2017-18 to employ a two-course setup; the third and fourth rounds will both be contested solely on the Seaside layout. The par-70 Seaside track played to a yardage of 6,884 yards on Thursday, yielding a stroke average of 69.372. The par-72 Plantation layout, which measures 7,058 yards, produced a scoring average of 70.156. Fifteen of the top 17 players on the leaderboard navigated the Plantation course in the opening round, with Nick Watney and Brice Garnett (5-under 65) signing for the lowest totals at Seaside. NOTABLES BRIAN GAY – The 45-year-old posted a 7-under 65 at the Plantation course, as he strives to become the third player over 40 (Pat Perez, Ryan Armour) to earn a PGA TOUR title this season. Gay holds four TOUR victories, most recently the 2013 CareerBuilder Challenge. BEN SILVERMAN – The Canadian stands T8 after a bogey-free, 5-under 67 at the Plantation course. The TOUR rookie eyes to follow a similar script as fellow Canadian Mackenzie Hughes, who won last year’s The RSM Classic in a playoff. Hughes won last year’s Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper on the Web.com Tour, and Silverman did the same in 2017. PATTON KIZZIRE – The St. Simons resident Patton Kizzire thrilled the local fans with a hole-out eagle at Seaside’s par-4 10th on Thursday, en route to an opening, 4-under 66. The Auburn alum eyes back-to-back victories after breaking through for his maiden TOUR title at last week’s OHL Classic at Mayakoba. CHESSON HADLEY – A day after being named 2017 Web.com Tour Player of the Year in a ceremony at Sea Island GC, Georgia Tech alum Chesson Hadley opened in 3-under 67 at the Seaside course, as he eyes a fourth top-4 finish in his fifth start of the 2017-18 TOUR season. QUOTABLES “It’s big Georgia territory out here on St. Simons, for sure, so hopefully my hat will bring me luck the rest of the week.� – Leader Chris Kirk, a University of Georgia alum, who eyes his fifth PGA TOUR title this week in his former hometown. “If you’re not in top form, it will definitely bite you in the butt.� – Jason Kokrak, who stands T3 after a 7-under 65 on the Plantation course, on the challenge presented by the winds at Sea Island GC. SUPERLATIVES Low round: Chris Kirk opened in 9-under 63 at Plantation, his low round of the season by four shots. Longest putt: Veteran Ernie Els went deep on his opening hole Thursday, draining a 45-foot, 11-inch putt on the par-4 10th at Seaside. Longest drive: Newly minted professional Cameron Champ, a Texas A&M alum, hit a 354-yard drive on Seaside’s par-5 15th hole. Fewest putts: Chris Kirk and Vaughn Taylor each needed just 23 putts to navigate the Plantation course, one fewer than Aaron Baddeley, Tyler Duncan and Jonathan Randolph. Hardest hole: The par-3 third hole at Seaside played to a stroke average of 3.244. Only three birdies were recorded on the day. Easiest hole: The par-5 15th hole at Seaside played to an average of 4.346, with three eagles and 49 birdies recorded.

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