Emergency 9: Fantasy tidbits from the second round of the Sony Open in Hawaii

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – No matter what happens in his promising career, Barclay Brown will be able to say he held the clubhouse lead at The 150th Open Championship at the Old Course in St. Andrews. The 21-year-old amateur from Sheffield, England, took advantage of playing in the second group of the morning in relatively calm conditions to post a very tidy 4-under 68. Here are five things to know about the surprise standout at the Home of Golf. 1. The Fitzpatrick connection Brown is a member of Hallamshire Golf Club, where he is joined by recent U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, and Fitzpatrick’s brother Alex with whom he partnered on the 2021 Walker Cup team. He gained his place in the field with a dominant performance at Final Qualifying at Hollinwell, gaining medalist honors by three strokes, before saying it was Fitzpatrick’s success at Brookline that helped inspire his performance. “Matt was unbelievable (at the U.S. Open) and it was incredible to watch him. He’s texted me to say congratulations, which is really nice of him, and hopefully I can play with him early in the week at St. Andrews,” Brown said at the time. 2. Amateur records Brown is currently ranked 46th in the world amateur golf ranking. He had a 1-2-1 record in the 2021 Walker Cup, partnering with Fitzpatrick in team play. He advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2020 Amateur Championship at Royal Birkdale in England and shot 70-65 to be the co-medalist in stroke-play at the 2022 Amateur at Royal Lytham but was knocked out in the first round of match play by Gustav Frimodt (4 and 3). He was the 2018 Carris Trophy winner (English Boys’ Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship). 3. Cardinal at college He plays college golf at Stanford in California where he studies economics and has two years remaining to finish his degree. Recently posted runner up efforts at the Pac-12 Championships and the NCAA Stockton Regional. He won the 2021 Cowboy Classic, finishing at 14-under, one of eight top 10s in his time at Stanford where his scoring average is 71.71. Honors so far include All-Pac-12 Second Team (2022), PING All-Region Team (2021), All-Pac-12 First Team (2021), All-Pac-12 Newcomer Team (2021), Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar (2021), Two-time Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll (2021, 2022). He is also teammates with Michael Thorbjornsen, who recently made a splash as an amateur by finishing 4th at Travelers. 4. Sporting all-rounder Attended the Birkdale School (high school) where he not only played golf, but also was an accomplished badminton, soccer and tennis player. Brown enjoys music, finding good food and working out as his hobbies. 5. New experience at Old Course His only previous experience at the Old Course was a round with his parents when he was a wee lad. “I played when I was probably 9 or 10, but other than that is was my first time,” Brown said. “They used to do a thing in like January or February where you could play the Old Course so we came up as a family and played. I don’t really remember playing it at all … I probably shot in the millions. (Today) I was unbelievably nervous at the start and once I got through the first couple of holes it was nice to calm down a little bit and just get into it. I want to play the best I can and I want to win the Silver Medal (low amateur).”

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Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed are among the big names in the 156-player field for the AT&T Byron Nelson, which is in year two at the unique Coore/Crenshaw-designed Trinity Forest Golf Club. Eight of the top 30 in the FedExCup will tee it up in Dallas, including defending champion Aaron Wise, who at 21 years, 10 months was younger than every previous AT&T Byron Nelson winner besides Tiger Woods (21 years, 4 months in 1997). Reed will make his first start at Trinity, while FedExCup No. 8 Koepka will look to build early momentum for his PGA Championship title defense next week. This will mark Spieth’s ninth start in his hometown event; his best finish remains the T16 he recorded in his first appearance in 2010, when he was a sponsor exemption. This time around the most notable exemption is Dallas Cowboys quarterback turned CBS broadcaster Tony Romo.    Here’s a look at some of the Featured Groups (FedExCup ranking in parenthesis). Please note that there will be a fan vote on Twitter to determine the second Featured Group on Friday. We will provide the final results near the end of Thursday’s first round. HOW TO FOLLOW GOLF CHANNEL, CBS: Thursday-Friday, 3:30-6:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6:30 p.m. (Featured Groups). Saturday-Sunday, 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups). International subscribers (via GOLF.tv): Thursday-Friday, 12:00 to 22:30 GMT. Saturday-Sunday, 14:30 to 22:00. TWITTER WINDOW: 8 a.m. to approximately 9:15 a.m. Thursday and Friday. RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 1-6:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.COM). THURSDAY Keith Mitchell (21) – The Honda Classic champion is coming off a T8 at the Wells Fargo, his sixth top-25 finish this season, and may be just starting to grasp how good he is. C.T. Pan (30) – Diminutive pro broke through with maiden victory at the recent RBC Heritage, finished T32 at Trinity Forest last year. Kevin Tway (28) – It’s been a feast-or-famine season for Tway, who won the season-opening Safeway Open in Napa, Calif., but later racked up six straight missed cuts. Tee time: 8:20 a.m. ET Brooks Koepka (8) – The highest ranked player in the field, he has six top-25 finishes, including a win at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, this season. Aaron Wise (89) – Reigning Rookie of the Year has fallen off slightly in his sophomore season, with just one top-10 finish in 12 starts. Coming off a T18 at the Wells Fargo. Ryan Palmer (19) – Enjoying rare home game after recently breaking nine-year win drought with partner Jon Rahm at Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Tee time: 8:30 a.m. ET FRIDAY Jordan Spieth (153) – Some home cooking might help Spieth, whose form is a far cry from his FedExCup winning season in 2015. He’s fallen to 39th in the world, and at Trinity will play alongside Stenson, another former FedExCup winner who has slipped to 40th. Henrik Stenson (117) – The 43-year-old is coming off a T28 at the Wells Fargo Championship, and has one top-10 finish in eight starts this season. Hideki Matsuyama (43) – Has rebounded since last season, with seven top-25 finishes in 12 starts, including a T9 at the Genesis Open and T8 at THE PLAYERS Championship. Tee time: 8:30 a.m. ET Fan vote choices: Patrick Reed (62) – Has dropped off slightly on the heels of his Masters-winning season, with just one top-10 finish in 13 starts. Coming off a T28 at the Wells Fargo. Marc Leishman (13) – Opened the tournament with a sizzling 61 last year, which remains the Trinity Forest tournament course record. Already a winner this season at the CIMB Classic. Charles Howell III (10) – Enjoying a banner season at 39, Howell has racked up nine top-25 finishes, including a win at The RSM Classic. Tee time: 8:20 a.m. ET Dylan Frittelli (136) – The consummate world traveler, South Africa’s Frittelli has made nine cuts in 13 starts this season, with three top-25s. Scott Scheffler (NA) – In the midst of a solid season on the Web.com Tour with two runner-up finishes and six top-10s in 10 starts. This will be his third TOUR start of the season. Tony Romo (NA) – Sponsor exemption Romo, an amateur, will be a favorite amongst the locals after playing 14 seasons as quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. Tee time: 9:30 a.m. ET

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This week will feature another difficult tournament in the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow. The course will play as a par 71, measuring 7,521 yards and be putt on Champion G12 Bermudagrass overseeded with Poa trivialis. The tournament was canceled last year due to COVID-19, making Max Homa (2019 winner) your defending champion this week. There are 156 players in the field at press time, and the top 65 and ties will make the cut. STRATEGY Ten of the top-15 ranked golfers will be playing this week with the PGA Championship just two weeks out. Jon Rahm (+1100, $10,800), Xander Schauffele (+1400, $10,500), Bryson DeChambeau (+1600, $11,000) and Patrick Cantlay (+2800, $9,600) have elected to make a stop in Charlotte, North Carolina. One of the first things you notice about Quail Hollow is the length, especially on eight of the par 4s that measure above 450 yards — two of which measure over 500 yards. The average driving distance here is also more than the TOUR average, as are the approach shots from 200-plus yards, coming in at 8% higher (31.1%). This week is one of the few tournaments where Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee is the predominant statistic that leads to success. Winners here are gaining an average of 1.545 strokes Off-the-Tee, which is twice as much as Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green. Focusing on driving this week doesn’t mean approach isn’t essential. Quail Hollow sports four water hazards in play on seven holes and greenside bunkers on every hole. The fairways are tight, and the greens historically play hard and fast, so ball-striking is vital. The course starts with three par 4s over 450 yards and ends with the Green Mile – Nos. 16-18 – which also have two par 4s over 494 yards. The top 10 in DraftKings scoring in 2019 was reasonably balanced, with an average price of just under $8,500. The cheapest golfer was the eventual winner, Max Homa, who was $6,600. The most expensive was Rickie Fowler at $10,600; he finished eighth in DraftKings scoring but fourth in the tournament. In 2018, the average price was about $500 less, averaging just above $8,000. The most expensive golfer was the eventual winner, Jason Day, at $10,200; the cheapest was Johnson Wagner at $6,800. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $750K Flop Shot [$200K to 1st] GOLFERS TO CONSIDER Jon Rahm +1100 to Win ($10,800 on DraftKings) When it’s a long, difficult, traditional American course, Rahm should be at the top of the list. There isn’t a ton we need to say about world No. 3 that you don’t already know. He’s excellent on these courses, ranking 14th in Strokes Gained: Total over the previous 50 rounds in difficult scoring conditions. He also won the Memorial Tournament last season, a comparable test of golf similar to this week. Quail Hollow will demand a robust Off-the-Tee game, and few are better than Rahm, who hasn’t lost strokes in this category since August 2019. Rahm finished fourth here back in 2017, which is his only time teeing it up at Quail Hollow before this week. Will Zalatoris +3000 to Win ($9,400 on DraftKings) A second at Augusta National, a 21st at THE PLAYERS Championship, a 10th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, a 15th at The Genesis Invitational and a sixth place at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot should tell us that when the scoring conditions get challenging, Zalatoris shows up. He lost just under five strokes Off-the-Tee at the RBC Heritage, which could’ve been some post-Masters hangover. His driving becomes much better when we zoom out, gaining Off-the-Tee in nine of his last 11 measured rounds. His ball-striking has been fantastic, and he should be able to score on the par 5s, ranking fifth over his previous 24 rounds. Also, consider Joaquin Niemann (+3000, $9,100) in this range. Like Zalatoris, Niemann’s strength Off-the-Tee gives him a significant advantage over the field, more so than Zalatoris. Over his last 24 rounds, Niemann ranks eighth in Off-the-Tee and 22nd in approach. Erik van Rooyen +16000 to Win ($7,200 on DraftKings) Like Rahm and Zalatoris, we should be looking for players who can take down Quail Hollow with their driver, and van Rooyen has gained strokes Off-the-Tee in three of his last four events. Van Rooyen finished inside the top 15 at the Valero Texas Open last month, where he gained 4.7 strokes driving. Van Rooyen has strong performances on similar courses, finishing 22nd at the Memorial Tournament (Muirfield Village) and 23rd at the U.S. Open (Winged Foot) last season. Another player to consider is Ryan Moore (+12500, $7,100), who has a knack for playing on these longer, American-style courses with his driving and long-iron accuracy. Over his previous 24 rounds, Moore ranks 15th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, and inside the top half of the field in both approach proximity from 175 to 200 yards and 200-plus yards away. If we scale out the timeframe to the last 50 rounds, Moore ranks top three in approach proximity from 175 to 200 yards. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $750K Flop Shot [$200K to 1st] Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL). Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ/WV/PA/MI), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (NH/CO), 1-800-BETS OFF(IA), 1-888-532-3500 (VA) or call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN). 21+ (18+ NH). 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