Fantasy golf advice, One & Done: Valero Texas Open

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JACKSON, Miss. – Notes and observations from the first round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson. LEADING LIGHTS Cameron Champ is just one start into his rookie season, but he already appears on the cover of this month’s Golf Digest. Fans are enamored with the long ball, and Champ feeds that fascination. Champ, 23, set the Web.com Tour driving distance record this year (343.7 yards) but also proved that he’s more than just a one-man long-drive contest. He finished sixth on the money list, including a win at the Utah Championship, to earn a PGA TOUR card less than a year after turning pro. His strong play has continued into the PGA TOUR season. He holds the first-round lead at the Sanderson Farms Championship after finishing T25 in his debut at the Safeway Open. Champ made eight birdies and one bogey in a 65 Thursday at the Country Club of Jackson. He closed the round with a birdie at 18 that was set up by a 347-yard drive, the longest of the day on that hole. He shot a back-nine 31 after hitting six of his seven tee shots over 300 yards. He also drove it over the green on the 315-yard, par-4 15th hole. After he finished his round, he led the field in driving distance on all tee shots (304.5 yards), Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (+2.14). He hit 9 of 14 fairways, including five of seven on the back nine, and missed just two greens. “I know the rough here is pretty brutal in some areas, but today I drove very well off the tee,â€� he said. OBSERVATIONS ANOTHER CAMERON: Until Champ’s birdie at the final hole, there were two Camerons, Champ and Tringale, tied for the lead. Tringale, playing in the day’s first group, shot 66. The 31-year-old has played on TOUR ever since turning pro out of Georgia Tech in 2009; the Sanderson Farms Championship is his 245th start. His impressive streak almost came to an end, though. After missing the cut in 19 of 26 starts last season, he regained his card with a T3 at the Web.com Tour Championship. He finished fifth at the same event last year to regain his playing privileges. “I drove it really poorly last (season) and it was hard to play golf short and crooked,â€� he said. “I’ve been driving it a lot better since the Web.com Tour Finals. … (I’m) trying to see my shot more clearly and hit the shot I’m trying to play instead of thinking about the shot I don’t want to have happen. When you hit a lot of bad ones, it’s a lot harder than it sounds to get those out of your mind.â€� OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: The Sanderson Farms Championship is an opportunity for nonmembers to get a TOUR start, and two players who fit in that category are off to a strong start. Chad Ramey, a Monday qualifier from Mississippi, shot 67 on Thursday. Scottie Scheffler fired 68. Ramey, a Mississippi State alum, survived a 10-for-3 playoff to make the field. He finished 80th on the Web.com Tour money list in 2018. Scheffler turned pro earlier this year; he was teammates with Champ on last year’s Walker Cup team. Scheffler recently advanced out of the first stage of Web.com Tour Q-School. Last year, Monday qualifier Scott Strohmeyer finished T4 at this event.

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ATLANTA –  FedExCup leader Jordan Spieth knows he doesn’t need to win the TOUR Championship to walk away with the PGA TOUR’s biggest prize. There’s a plethora of hypotheticals that would see him finish atop the FedExCup standings even if he doesn’t shoot the lowest score this week at East Lake Golf Club. Spieth hasn’t studied the scenarios, though. “And I’m not interested in it, to be honest,â€� he said. He knows several strong players are nipping at his heels, all of whom want to supplant him atop the FedExCup standings. He doesn’t want to leave his fate in their hot hands. There is just one way he can ensure FedExCup success: win the TOUR Championship. The top 5 in the standings are all in the same enviable position. And what a group it is. The FedExCup’s top 5 as we head into the season finale is the youngest and most fruitful top 5 in FedExCup history. The five men atop the TOUR’s season-long standings have combined for 15 wins in 2016-17 and their average age is 27.4. Both are FedExCup records. RELATED: Scenarios for each of the top 30 to win the FedExCup “The likelihood is the guys that have been playing really well, the guys that are hot, you’re likely to see toward the top of the leaderboard again,â€� Spieth said. The three players immediately behind Spieth the FedExCup standings – Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson and Marc Leishman – are the winners of the first three events of the FedExCup Playoffs. Three of the past four FedExCups have been won by a player who won one of the first three Playoffs events. The lone exception was Spieth in 2015. Spieth is looking to join Tiger Woods as the only players to win multiple FedExCups. Thomas is trying to put the perfect cap on his breakout season, just as Spieth did at the 2015 TOUR Championship. The two 24-year-olds have combined for eight wins this season, including two majors. Spieth’s three wins include The Open Championship and that dramatic bunker hole-out at the Travelers Championship. Thomas has won five times, fired a 59 and a record-setting 63 at the U.S. Open. Leishman, 33, is trying to replicate Billy Horschel’s hot finish to the 2014 FedExCup. Leishman, long respected as one of the game’s most underrated players, won last week’s BMW Championship to leap inside the top 5. It was his second win in his past 17 starts after he had just one win in his first 206. Johnson, also 33, is seeking redemption. It was at East Lake last year where he let both the TOUR Championship and FedExCup slip away with a final-round 73. He started Sunday tied for the lead, but his back-nine struggles opened the door for Rory McIlroy’s dramatic FedExCup-winning finish. “For me, it’s more about winning the TOUR Championship and becoming the FedExCup champion than it is about the money,â€� Johnson said. “Obviously that’s just a very nice bonus.â€� Rahm, the youngest member of the top 5, has finished in the top five at all three postseason events, the only player to do so. The 22-year-old is little more than a year removed from his college days at Arizona State. He’s trying to pull a Tom Brady by winning his sport’s biggest prize in his postseason debut. A FedExCup victory for Rahm would be unprecedented, as no player has won the top prize in his first trip to the Playoffs (outside of Woods and his win in the FedExCup’s first season). They’ll face a demanding East Lake course that requires strong ball-striking. Only once has a player gone lower than 13 under. The winning score has been single-digits under par in five of the 10 TOUR Championships at East Lake in the FedExCup era. “One of the things I always loved about East Lake … is that you can’t fake it,â€� said NBC commentator Jim “Bonesâ€� Mackay, the longtime caddie for two-time TOUR Championship winner Phil Mickelson. “Typically the guy that plays the best this week is going to win. … You really have to show up and play. I think that’s terrific for a tournament of this magnitude.â€� That will be especially true this year with such a strong leading contingent in the FedExCup standings. Four of the past five FedExCup champions were ranked inside the top 5 when they arrived at East Lake Golf Club. The exception? McIlroy, who was No. 6 before hoisting two trophies on that Sunday evening at East Lake last year. This season’s top 5 all have had successful seasons. Now have one more opportunity to add the perfect finishing touch. The season finale will be anything but a stroll to the finish line. It will be a sprint. The stakes are too high. Take Thomas’ word for it. “It doesn’t matter who you are or how much you’ve achieved, you always want more,â€� he said.

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