Fantasy Insider: RBC Heritage

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Magnolia Lane. Amen Corner. Butler Cabin. “Hello, friends.â€� The Season of Championships continues with the year’s first major. This week’s Masters has a field of 87 players from 22 countries, with six amateurs and 17 first-timers at Augusta National. A couple of guys named Nicklaus and Player will get it all started with their ceremonial first tee shots Thursday morning. THE FLYOVER Don’t be surprised if the 18th green utilizes a new hole location this week. Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said the recent rebuild of that green has “recaptured some areas on the back part of the green that had been lost to encroachment. … The back right, I think, is going to give us an opportunity for a really good hole location. There’s plenty of room back there, but it kind of looks like it’s almost tucked, almost in the bunker, when you’re in the fairway.â€� Ridley said he received some positive feedback during Tuesday’s Champions dinner. Of course, before reaching the green, players must first find the fairway on this uphill dogleg right hole protected by two fairway bunkers on the left. Two more bunkers guard the green. LANDING ZONE Statistically, the hardest hole at Augusta National is the 495-yard par-4 10th. Since 1942 when the Masters began calculating stroke averages per hole, the 10th has played at 0.31 strokes over par. But it’s not the longest par 4 on the course – the 505-yard 11th has played to a cumulative average of 0.30 strokes over par. And in recent years, the 11th has been more difficult than the 10th. The last time the 10th was the most difficult hole was in 2001; since then, the 11th has ranked as the most difficult 11 times, including last year when it played to a stroke average of 4.400 (compared to the 10th’s 4.082, which was its lowest average in tournament history). Here’s a look at the 11th, which starts Amen Corner. WEATHER CHECK From the Masters official forecast: “Thursday’s first round will feature partly cloudy skies, while clouds increase later in the day. Easterly winds at 6-12 mph in the morning, turn southeast at 10-15 mph during the afternoon with gusts up to 20 mph possible late day. A warm front lifts into the area on Friday, bringing a chance for scattered showers and thunderstorms. The front hangs just to the north on Saturday, keeping isolated showers in the forecast. The main cold front associated with this system is expected to approach Sunday afternoon, bringing increasing chances for showers and thunderstorms. After a breezy Friday with gusts of 15-20 mph possible, winds settle down for Saturday, and then pick back up ahead of the front on Sunday when the strongest winds of the week are expected.â€� For the latest weather news from Augusta, Georgia, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK This event, is so different, and is so unique. It’s pure golf. You know, it’s just player and caddie out there playing. We’re prepping together and there’s no other distractions inside the ropes. BY THE NUMBERS (AMEN CORNER EDITION) 3.63 – Jon Rahm’s stroke average at the par-4 11th in eight career rounds. That’s the lowest of any player in the field. 2.96 – Hideki Matsuyama’s stroke average at the par-3 12th in 26 career rounds. That’s the lowest of any player in the field with 25-plus rounds at Augusta National. 4.24 – Phil Mickelson’s stroke average at the par-5 13th in 98 career rounds. That’s the lowest of any player with a minimum of 25 rounds at Augusta National. In case you’re wondering, Tiger Woods’ stroke average at that hole in 82 career rounds is 4.39. SCATTERSHOTS Need a fast start: If you’re not in the top 10 after Thursday’s first round, you can probably forget about winning a green jacket. Since 2006, every winner has been T-10 or better after 18 holes. The last player who wasn’t? Tiger Woods, who opened with a 74 in 2005, which had him sitting T-33 on Thursday night. Woods rallied the next day, shooting 66 and was solo third headed into the weekend. “Obviously you’ve got to get off to a good start in a major and at least build some confidence and kind of get it rolling,â€� said Brooks Koepka, winner of three of the last seven majors but still searching for his first Masters victory. Mickelson’s 100th: On Friday, Phil Mickelson will play his 100th round at Augusta National. “I didn’t even know that until you brought it up,â€� he said when asked about it on Tuesday. “I’ve been fortunate to play a lot of rounds here, and I cherish and love every one of them, even the practice rounds.â€� Challenging prep work. With two inches of rain falling on Augusta National since the start of this week, the course has played softer and the greens have been slower during practice rounds. But with Augusta National’s sub-air system, and no rain expected until Friday, the course conditions could be completely different for Thursday’s first round. That means the players will need to lean on previous experience than on this week’s prep work. “Gotta pull on a lot of history,â€� said Brandt Snedeker. “… Kind of a little tough to get fully prepared.â€� Softer conditions=more contenders. Jordan Spieth said that softer conditions at Augusta National might widen the number of players who could win the tournament. “I think there’s less strategy when it’s softer,â€� he said. Spieth won in soft conditions in 2015, but he’s also contended in firm conditions in 2014, his first Masters start when he tied for second. “I think either way, you just have to step up and play some really good golf,â€� he said. FedExCup leaders: All 30 players who qualified for last year’s TOUR Championship are in this week’s field. In addition, 24 of the top 30 players in the current standings will tee off Thursday, including Corey Conners, who moved from 64th to 13th in the standings after winning the Valero Texas Open. Just two players have won the Masters after winning the PGA TOUR’s event the previous week – Sandy Lyle in 1998 and Phil Mickelson in 2006.

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India first-ever female pro golfer Simi Mehra speaks to ESPN about finding love, coming out, and the joy of giving.

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DETROIT – No, golf is not life and death. But sometimes, it is death then life, and when you come across people built of such incomparable strength that they handle that most excruciating of sequences, you want for them to have a stage basked in brilliant sunshine and surrounded by adoring supporters. That moment arrived early Sunday evening for Nate Lashley – the stunning winner of the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club – and it could not have been more perfect. Not because he had the 18th green to himself after romping to a six-stroke win over Doc Redman, but because he was embraced by his sister, Brooke, perhaps the only person is this world of ours who could even fathom the emotions that have consumed the two of them since that horrific day in May of 2004 when a plane crash claimed the lives of their parents, Rod and Char, and Nathan’s then girlfriend, Leslie Hofmeister. They had flown in Rod’s four-seat, single-engine Mooney M20K from Nebraska to watch Nate and his team play in the NCAA Regional and were returning home. “The rest of us don’t have a clue how he feels,� said Rick LaRose, who was Lashley’s coach at the University of Arizona 15 years ago when life changed forever. Brooke Lashley, who traveled to Pebble Beach two weeks ago to watch her brother play in the U.S. Open, was back home in Phoenix and a trip to Detroit GC “wasn’t on my radar.� At least, not until her brother, who got into the field mid-day Wednesday as the last alternate, started making birdie upon birdie upon birdie and Saturday’s third-round 63 propelled him into a six-shot lead. Then, the older sister said to herself, “I cannot not be there,� and that sentiment resonated in various homes in the Phoenix area, as well as with a small army of family friends in western Nebraska. Next thing you know, Saturday evening flights were made and Nate Lashley had an even larger following Sunday’s final round and when he birdied two of the first three holes, it was as if tens of thousands of people who flocked to this first-ever PGA TOUR tournament inside Detroit’s city limits were galvanized in a compelling drama of human spirit. “It made me feel like I wasn’t out there alone,� said Lashley, 36, a second-year member playing in just his 33rd TOUR tournament. Which was in stark contrast to all those times when he couldn’t help but feel alone and never felt the need to pull others into his private world. “Honestly, we’ve never talked about it and I’ve known him a long time,� said Ricky Romano, who played for the University of Houston, then on a series of minitours, crossing paths for years with Lashley. Two years ago, he agreed to caddie for Lashley, so, yes, there have been plenty of opportunities, but those who know Lashley afforded him well-deserved privacy. “I know Nate’s thinking about it. It’s got to be always on his mind,� said Greg Luebe, who coached Lashley in basketball at Mitchell High School in Mitchell, Neb. “But there was no way we needed to talk to him about it.� LaRose said he even offered Lashley as much time off as he wanted in the 2004-05 season, just months after the crash, “but he said no, that he wanted to return to school, play, and earn his degree.� Lashley did all of that, then he turned pro and struggled mightily, a poor season on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2006 led to one minitour stint after another until. What stands out is his success; Lashley won the Colorado Open, a couple of Waterloo Opens, he won on the Gateway Tour, on the EGolf Tour, on the Dakotas Tour, then in 2015 he won three times on the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica, which afforded him a chance to play on the Korn Ferry Tour where in 2017 he won the Corales Puntacana Resort. The list was read off to Scott Stallings, a TOUR winner who smiled. He was one of those who competed against Lashley in the 2008 Waterloo Open, so he can appreciate the man’s spirit. “I have so much respect for what he’s done, because the valleys are way more than the peaks,� said Stallings. “I’m rooting for him.� Stallings stood in line and Adam Shenk was right there with him. A second-year TOUR member, Shenk played against and traveled with Lashley on the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica and wasn’t surprised by the 27 birdies he made against just two bogeys in rounds of 63-67-63-70 – 263. “He’s not scared to go low, not scared to win,� said Shenk, who chose Lashley as his partner for a Latinoamerica team event in Mexico City. They finished eighth of 30 teams. “I think that attitude might have come from the adversity he faced in his life, that when compared to that, nothing really scares him.� Shenk, like Romano, never talked about the plane crash, but in the aftermath of his dominating win at Detroit GC – one that rewarded him with a check for $1.314 million, plus priceless job security – Lashley conceded that Luebe was correct. “I’ve been through a lot. It took a lot of years for me to get over (the deaths). It was mentally holding me back for a long time,� said Lashley, the world’s 353rd-ranked player whose only other top 10 before this week was a T-8 in Puerto Rico. “I think of my parents all the time. Without them, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now.� Mixed into all those years of minor league golf was a time wen Lashley felt he needed to get a real job, so he turned to real estate. Brooke Lashley laughs when asked if she served as counsel for her brother. “Nate’s his own man,� she said. She also rejects the notion that he walked away from golf. “I always felt it was more of a break than a quit.� But will commiserate with Lashley’s colleagues and peers, nearly all of whom described him similarly. Very competitive on the course, almost to the point where he spent too much time beating himself up, but gentle and lighthearted off it. In fact, on Tuesday evening of the U.S. Open, there was a small gathering, a cookout with steaks and beverages and good talk. “It was a great evening,� said Romano, “so I said to (Nate), ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but why can’t you be like this on the golf course?’ � Romano isn’t sure, but he wonders if Lashley took that to be the compliment it was intended to be. Because even after he failed to get through the Monday qualifier for the Rocket Mortgage Classic, he remained upbeat. On Tuesday, Lashley was playing Detroit GC and came across veteran rules official Mark Russell, who encouraged him to stay positive, that he’d likely get in. He did and oh, did he take advantage. He birdied the very first hole, went out in 32, and little did anyone know that a story that would define the human spirit was being scripted. The vibes started building and out in Mitchell, Neb., the man who cherished his days as a high school basketball coach, embraced everything about this developing story. “Just amazing, given the tough times in his life,� said Luebe. “He was only 6-1, but he’d come up to me, knowing the other team’s best player was 6-4 and he’d say, ‘I’ll guard him, coach.’ Just a tremendous competitor.� If you sensed there were tears at the other end of the phone line, it was for good reason. Luebe was great friends with Rod Lashley, “we used to play a lot of golf together,� and it’s painful to recall the day that single-engine plane crashed into Gannett Peak in Wyoming. “The whole story still gives me a sense of sadness. But if anybody deserves something like this to happen to him, it’s Nate.� And Brooke, of course. The proud and incredibly strong sister stood greenside with Ashlie Reed, Lashley’s girlfriend, and a dozen or so friends from Phoenix and Nebraska. Everyone got a hug in with the winner, but Brooke’s was long and warm and filled with tears. “It’s a great lesson, that you can go through really, really tough times and still come out on top,� she said. Asked for what she said to her brother, Brooke wiped away tears and shook her head. They will remain private, just for brother and sister. The rest of the story is for everyone, for which we are blessed.

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