Emergency 9: Fantasy golf advice, CareerBuilder Challenge, Round 3

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson addressed their competitive rivalry as well as their budding friendship after their practice round together Tuesday at the Masters.

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THE OVERVIEW For a minute there, a few people started to lose sight of Brandt Snedeker. Injuries and a winless run of more than two years meant he fell into the shadows of consciousness while others stepped up to fill the breach. Despite the fact he was still playing decent golf, he could feel it. But the 37-year-old and past FedExCup champion was not ready to be forgotten, as he re-announced himself with his sublime efforts at the Wyndham Championship. There he opened with a famous 11-under 59, becoming the 10th and most recent member of the very exclusive (sub-60) club. He would go on to win the ninth title of his PGA TOUR career. Not content to stop there, he has already notched up a runner-up finish in the new season, falling in a playoff to Kevin Tway at the Safeway Open. He now has his sights set on a return to the TOUR Championship and another FedExCup title. His last trip to East Lake came in 2016 – a stat that does not sit well with a man with six trips to the Playoffs finale in the FedExCup era. His trademark putting remains his strength as he’s running fourth in Strokes Gained: Putting through the fall series and was ranked 16th on TOUR last season. As long as he can find the greens in regulation, Sneds is going to be a threat wherever he tees it up. — By Ben Everill Click here to see who else made the Top 30 list. BY THE NUMBERS FEDEXCUP UPDATE Current 2018-19 position: 18th Playoff appearances: 11 TOUR Championship appearances: 6 Best FedExCup result: Won the FedExCup in 2012. SHOTLINK FUN FACT In shooting 59 in the opening round of the 2018 Wyndham Championship, Brandt Snedeker became the fifth player to shoot a sub-60 round and go on to win. INSIDER INSIGHTS PGATOUR.COM’s Insiders offer their expert views on what to expect from Brandt Snedeker in 2019. TOUR INSIDER: After a small lull in his career mainly brought on by injury, Snedeker looks set to find his place back among the elite. The performance at Wyndham last season was epic and just another display of putting brilliance we have become accustomed to. The fire is clearly back in his belly and as such, don’t be surprised to see a 10th TOUR win soon. — By Ben Everill FANTASY INSIDER: Riddled with injuries for the last several years, he’s remained a dynamic contributor exponentially more than we’ve wailed over his absence at key times. Combine that resolve with a busy schedule and a proven record of hoisting hardware (nine career wins!), he simply doesn’t let us down even amid physical challenges. Continue to invest with confidence when it makes sense, which is often. — By Rob Bolton EQUIPMENT INSIDER: Snedeker has been using a White Hot XG Rossie putter (34 inches) for years now, and it’s still in the bag. That’s not likely to change anytime soon. That being said, Snedeker doesn’t mind switching it up when it comes to other clubs in his bag. Snedeker won the 2018 Wyndham with a new Bridgestone Tour B JGR proto driver, and a Graphite Design Tour AD-IZ shaft, but he’s since switched to a TaylorMade M3 with a Fujikura Speeder shaft. Snedeker also currently plays with Bridgestone J15CB irons, and a combo of J40 and J15 wedges. — By Andrew Tursky STYLE INSIDER: Snedeker rarely misses a beat when it comes to style. Consistently sharp looks with contemporary fits are his trademark. While he favors a traditional style, he embraces the latest trends and isn’t afraid to dial up vibrant colors to give his outfits some pop. His best fashion move lately has been the addition of G/FORE’s saddle shoes. The modern take on this classic silhouette is a perfect fit for Brandt’s style. — By Greg Monteforte

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Since there isn’t a clear-cut favorite or a horse for the course who’s in blistering form entering the Valero Texas Open, the pressure is on front-runners to keep the opposition at bay. For those of you in this position, the concern is quieted if Billy Horschel is still on your board. The veteran of eight appearances hasn’t won the tournament, but he’s earned your better judgment with a pair of third-place finishes, one fourth and a T11 among six cuts made at difficult TPC San Antonio. The key word there is difficult. Only if you’re new to the PGA TOUR are you unaware how much the former FedExCup champion relishes a challenge. It feeds his confidence off the tee where he lets others make mistakes, but he’s even better with his irons. Oh, and he’s currently eighth in Strokes Gained: Putting. As a native of Florida, Horschel is most comfortable on bermudagrass putting surfaces, even if they’re overseeded, which is the case this week. The undulations are equalizers. His experience here could be the dagger. Among all of the non-winners at TPC San Antonio, he best fits the profile of what a champion embodies. If Horschel isn’t on his game, TPC San Antonio will get annoying and quickly. Its length demands driver, but if the big stick isn’t cooperating, it’ll take all of his patience to salvage a round. This is how Greg Norman intended it. The Shark was legendary tee to green, so it’s hardly a surprise that the course that he designed reflects what he did best. If you’re in pursuit and you’re going to assume that you’re going to get stymied by Horschel, you’re in terrific position. Lucas Glover, Jason Kokrak and Ryan Palmer are three strongmen who presents as threats. To select Glover is to invest almost entirely on his form throughout 2018-19. He missed the cut in his only prior trip to TPC San Antonio (in 2015), but two rounds of experience never hurts no matter the result. Kokrak fulfills the converging trends, if mildly. He’s never been more consistently strong over this most recent stretch of time, and he’s 5-for-7 at TPC San Antonio with a pair of top 15s, albeit it’s been four years since the latter. Palmer is an example of what happens when there isn’t synergy with the driver. He’s hung up five top-15s in this tournament, but he’s also finished outside the top 50 thrice, twice for a missed cut. That may seem academic and familiar for most veterans on any track, but we already know him to thrive or dive with the 1-metal. Whereas Horschel is the low risk-high reward, Palmer is the medium risk-medium reward. Rickie Fowler, Tony Finau, Matt Kuchar and Jordan Spieth are wasteful in our format this week. Stick with reliable sites for each. How Spieth performs this week will seriously impact his probability at the Masters despite one of the best modern records at Augusta National. Watch him this week specifically with that in mind. No doubt there’s a contingent that’s been holding its breath for the VTO’s all-time earnings leader, Charley Hoffman, to break out of his funk in time for TPC San Antonio. Because he hasn’t, at least enough, slot him with the same mindset as Palmer. Because the course will beat up a few notables, two-man gamers are advised to reach a bit for your tandem this week. Consider Aaron Baddeley, D.J. Trahan and Sung Kang. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2018-19. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Byeong Hun An … Memorial (1) Daniel Berger … Travelers (1) Tony Finau … Valero (5); Memorial (2) Rickie Fowler … Masters (2); Wells Fargo (6); PGA Championship (9); Memorial (5); U.S. Open (10) Brian Harman … Charles Schwab (1); Travelers (5); John Deere (4) Russell Henley … Masters (3) Charley Hoffman … Valero (3); Masters (4); Heritage (7); Charles Schwab (6); Travelers (1) J.B. Holmes … Wells Fargo (5) Billy Horschel … Valero (2); New Orleans (3; defending); Wyndham (6); TOUR Championship (1) Si Woo Kim … Heritage (1) Chris Kirk … Valero (3); Charles Schwab (2) Matt Kuchar … Masters (6); Heritage (2); Charles Schwab (7); Memorial (1); Open Championship (8) Martin Laird … Valero (5); Reno-Tahoe (2) Ryan Moore … Valero (7); Masters (13); Memorial (11); Travelers (6); John Deere (8); Wyndham (2); TOUR Championship (9) Ryan Palmer … Valero (2); Charles Schwab (4) Jordan Spieth … Masters (1); PGA Championship (7); Charles Schwab (5); Memorial (13); U.S. Open (4); Travelers (9); Open Championship (6); TOUR Championship (8) Brendan Steele … Valero (8); Wells Fargo (9); Travelers (4); Reno-Tahoe (3) Kevin Streelman … Valero (9); Heritage (5); Memorial (4); Travelers (7) Jimmy Walker … Valero (2); Byron Nelson (6)

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