Ex-NBA guard Smith makes tournament debut as college golfer

When it was announced in the early fall of 2014 that the former TPC Avenel was slated to return as host to a PGA TOUR stop, veteran gamers may have been surprised. If you were playing fantasy golf when the Booz Allen Classic completed its run there in 2006, you may recall the general criticism about the layout. So, serious credit was and remains due the dignitaries who approved a massive renovation that rose easily into eight figures in 2007-2008. The product was the newly named TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. If time heals all wounds, the clock resets with this week’s Quicken Loans National. It plugs a gap created when nearby Congressional agreed to hosting the tournament every other year through 2020. (The host site for 2019 remains undetermined at the moment.) It’s always an intriguing exercise and a learning experience to go into any PGA TOUR event with little empirical data around which to form a profile of the host course. However, there is a handful of default mechanisms that helps shape and refine our focus. Brief explanations are included with each identifier below. Beneath them are the results of the two Web.com Tour events that were staged at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm in 2012 and 2013. Any experience is helpful, but just as you wouldn’t push all of your chips into any one statistic, limit the course experience that exists to aiding in tiebreaker situations that arise in DFS. NOTE: For each of the stats below, all in the field who rank inside the top 25 on the PGA TOUR are cited. * – In the Power Rankings Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green The value of season-long statistics is greater on full shots. Just as we reviewed the top two categories here for the Wells Fargo Championship at unknown Eagle Point Golf Club, both apply at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. Rank, Golfer 5 Tony Finau 8 Kyle Stanley 11 *Rickie Fowler T17 Byeong Hun An T17 *Brendan Steele 20 Lucas Glover 21 *Marc Leishman 22 Luke List Proximity to the Hole Averaging 5,300 square feet, greens are smaller, so the combination of confidence and execution while taking aim matters more. Rank, Golfer T2 Kyle Stanley 6 *Boo Weekley T7 Nick Watney T15 Chris Kirk T15 Kevin Na T15 Scott Stallings 21 Blayne Barber T22 Graham DeLaet T22 David Hearn T25 Lucas Glover T25 Ollie Schniederjans T25 *Brendan Steele T25 Chris Stroud T25 Vaughn Taylor Scrambling If the first three sanctioned events contested at renovated TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm are any indication, par will be a good score at the Quicken Loans National. Furthermore, having a knack at getting up and down for par on smaller greens will be critical since totals for missed greens in regulation will be elevated. Rank, Golfer 1 John Huh 2 Charles Howell III 6 *Rickie Fowler 7 *Bill Haas 10 Adam Hadwin 11 Matt Jones 12 Zac Blair 14 *Brendan Steele T15 Tim Wilkinson 24 Whee Kim Finishes of those in this week’s field at the Web.com Tour event in 2012 Sorted by finish (players in bold appeared in both 2012 and 2013) Win: David Lingmerth T6: Morgan Hoffmann T8: Sam Saunders T13: Luke List T25: Adam Hadwin; Robert Streb T36: James Hahn T38: Troy Merritt T44: Tim Wilkinson T52: Fabian Gomez T57: Jason Gore 65th: Andrew Loupe MC: Jim Herman; Ben Martin; Hudson Swafford; Tyrone Van Aswegen WD: Derek Fathauer Finishes of those in this week’s field at the Web.com Tour event in 2013 Sorted by finish (players in bold appeared in both 2012 and 2013) T6: Sung Kang 10th: Tim Wilkinson T11: Jason Gore; Si Woo Kim T15: Jim Herman T27: Hudson Swafford T34: Kevin Tway T47: Adam Hadwin; Tyrone Van Aswegen 60th: Brett Stegmaier MC: Blayne Barber; Derek Fathauer; Billy Hurley III; Whee Kim; Kelly Kraft; Danny Lee; Andrew Loupe; Troy Merritt; Kyle Reifers; Sam Saunders WD: Alex Cejka

Click here to read the full article…

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Lost in the chaos of Tiger Woods’ record-tying 82nd PGA TOUR win at last season's ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Japan was the runner-up. Only Woods could make Hideki Matsuyama second fiddle in his home country. A year later, Matsuyama leads an eight-strong Japanese contingent looking to make Woods second fiddle in his backyard. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced a temporary move of Japan's PGA TOUR event to the U.S. mainland - and to Southern California no less - where Woods grew up. Sherwood Country Club has been a venue where Woods has notched five wins and five runners-up at his World Challenge. RELATED: Historic look at Japan’s history on the PGA TOUR But while Matsuyama and his countrymen won't hear a throng of local support like they would back home, they do feel the energy of their country. The will to win their event is just as strong over 5,500 miles from the homeland. Matsuyama has been part of the TOUR landscape for some time now. He was just a teen when we first saw him as a standout amateur at the Masters and now at 28 he is a five-time TOUR winner. He was the first Japanese player (and first Asian) to win a World Golf Championships event and he still hopes to be the first to win a major championship and a FedExCup. And of course the first to win the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. "I’m very happy that we’re able to have this tournament with this coronavirus. We didn’t really know what was going to happen," said Matsuyama, who ended up three shots behind Woods a year ago in Japan. "I would love to win this week and be able to have the fans come out in Japan next year and be the defending champion, that would be awesome." While Matsuyama has been a beacon of consistency in making the TOUR Championship in every season since he joined the PGA TOUR in 2014, the last of his five wins came back in 2017 at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. He's had 17 top-10s since without winning. "It’s been three years since I’ve won and I definitely think about that quite a bit. I always try my best and every week feel like I’m getting there, but definitely hasn’t happened," he added. "So I’m preparing myself and hoping that week will come sooner than later." Joining him in the field this week is perhaps the biggest threat to beating Matsuyama to major success. At just 22, Takumi Kanaya has been following in his idols footsteps. Until turning pro last week Kanaya was the world's best amateur who, like Matsuyama, won the Asia Pacific Amateur to earn a spot at the Masters and Open Championship. "Obviously Matsuyama's success on the PGA TOUR gave not just myself, but a lot of the Japanese players, big confidence that we could compete against the world like he did," Kanaya said. "Although the goal is high, he set a good goal for us and for that I really admire him and admire him as a role model." While it is still premature to expect Matsuyama-like success from Kanaya, plenty of good judges expect big things. He has already won on the Japan Tour and went close to winning the Australian Open last year. In his first pro start last week he was seventh in the Japan Open. He has a serious passion for his country, one solidified by watching Matsuyama at home events and Adam Scott in his home country of Australia where the fans returned the love. "I would like to be just the same as that moving forward. If I play well enough overseas, I think a lot of people back in Japan will cheer for me whenever I go back and play in my home country." TOUR regular Satoshi Kodaira - winner of the 2018 RBC Heritage - has the pedigree to win this week even if his form hasn't been at peak. Having missed his last five cuts prior to the pandemic break, Kodaira only returned to the TOUR a few weeks ago to play at the Sanderson Farms Championship and the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He failed to make the weekend at both. Here is a look at the remaining Japanese players looking to win. Rikuya Hoshino - A 24-year-old who has won three times on the Japan Golf Tour. Missed the cut at the 2018 U.S. Open, finished T67 at 2019 Sony Open in Hawaii, T51 at the 2019 ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP and was T45 at 2020 Sony Open in Hawaii in his only previous TOUR starts. Shugo Imahira - A 28-year-old with four wins on the Japan Tour who finished first on the 2018 money list. Makes 17th PGA TOUR start with a T27 at the 2019 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational his best result. Was 61st at the recent 2020 U.S. Open. Ryo Ishikawa - Now 29, Ishikawa first won on the Japan Tour at 15 and has 17 total wins including one where he shot 12-under 58 in the final round. Played 151 TOUR events since 2009 with two runner-up finishes his best result. Represented the International Team in the Presidents Cup in 2009 and 2011 and has at least one top-30 finish in each of the four major championships. Mikumu Horikawa - Turned pro in 2014 and claimed his first Japan Golf Tour title in June 2019. Shot final-round 64 before losing playoff to Rikuya Hoshino at the 2020 Fujisankei Classic and said afterwards, "I gained 7kg (15 lbs.) while working out hard. I don't know if my method is correct or not, but I am aiming to be like DeChambeau." In six previous PGA TOUR events, a T49 at the WGC-HSBC Champions is his best result. Naoki Sekito - Making first PGA TOUR appearance. Won twice on the Asian Development Tour in 2019, including an 11-stroke win at the Gunung Geulis Golf Invitational.

Click here to read the full article…

Click here to read the full article…