Farmers Insurance Open Fantasy Golf Power Rankings

The calendar now reads 2019 – and that means the current PGA TOUR season ends its six-week hibernation and cranks up again. As customary, the locale is Maui at the winners-only Sentry Tournament of Champions in Kapalua. For most fans, that means prime-time golf on TV …. and yes, you’ll spend the next four days wishing you lived in Hawaii. THE FLYOVER The final three holes at the Plantation Course stretch out to nearly 1,600 yards and can be both challenging and fun. The 365-yard par-4 16th is not drivable due to the crossing trade wins, so most tee shots will finish short of the fairway bunker that guards the green. The 549-yard 17th is the longest par 4 on the PGA TOUR, and yet ranked just 271st among the 551 par 4s in stroke average. The 663-yard 18th is the longest par 5 on the TOUR and yet, just like the 17th, is not difficult; it ranked 97th out of the 163 par 5s in stroke average last season. LANDING ZONE The par-4 14th is listed at 305 yards on the scorecard, and yet played less than 300 yards in each of the four rounds last year. Nearly half of all tee shots tried to drive the green, and yet just two of those 67 attempts were successful. One of those was by Dustin Johnson in the final round en route to victory (the other was by Jhonattan Vegas). Here’s a look at where all tee shots landed last year. WEATHER CHECK From PGA TOUR meteorologist Joe Halvorson: “Gusty east-northeasterly trade winds are expected for much of the week, peaking on Friday before beginning to slacken on Saturday. Passing showers will be possible mainly during the overnight and morning hours Wednesday through Friday, with rainfall totals expected to be rather light. Passing shower chances will persist through the day on Saturday, though rainfall is forecast to remain light. Sunday will see showers become isolated in coverage as easterly trade winds weaken substantially, perhaps weak enough for winds to becoming variable in direction.â€� For the latest weather news from Kapalua, Hawaii, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK It doesn’t get any better than being in Hawaii. … it’s a small field, a chance to get a lot of FedExCup points and get a good jump start to the year if you’ve either been behind or haven’t played yet. BY THE NUMBERS  155 – Combined career PGA TOUR victories by the 34 players in the Sentry Tournament of Champions field. 24,815 – Combined days between victories for 11 players who last season ended victory droughts of at least 1,600 days – Charles Howell III, Paul Casey, Kevin Na, Keegan Bradley, Ted Potter Jr., Ian Poulter, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Webb Simpson and Gary Woodland. All but Woods and Mickelson are in the field this week. 11 – Consecutive seasons since the start of his PGA TOUR career in which Dustin Johnson has won at least one TOUR event. Only Arnold Palmer (17 seasons), Jack Nicklaus (17 seasons) and Tiger Woods (14 seasons) have longer streaks to start their TOUR careers. 532 – Drives of 400 yards or more on the PGA TOUR in the ShotLink Era (since 2003). Of those 532 drives, 301 (56.6 percent) have been recorded at the Plantation Course. And of those 301 drives, 96 have been at the 18th hole. SCATTERSHOTS  The par-4 fourth has a new teeing area and is now at 424 yards after previously playing at 382 yards. What once had been a wedge for most players on their approach shots will now be a mid-iron – depending on the wind conditions, of course. “I usually have somewhere between 110 to 120, 125 every time I play that hole and I had 188 yesterday,â€� Justin Thomas said after his practice round Tuesday. “I hit 5-iron in. That green’s tough with a wedge let alone with a 5-iron.â€� A year ago, the fourth was the ninth toughest hole on the Plantation Course, playing at a stroke average of 4.037. When it comes to the FedExCup Playoffs, winning the Sentry Tournament of Champions (the second smallest field of the season) has become a vital element in reaching the TOUR Championship (the smallest field of the season). Each of the last 10 Sentry winners have advanced to the 30-man TOUR Championship; only the Valspar Championship and the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship can match that streak among regular-season events. All eight winners from the fall portion of the 2018-19 season are in the field, including one rookie (Cameron Champ). Not surprising, all eight of those players are in the top 10 of the FedExCup standings, including current leader Charles Howell III. The Plantation Course has ranked inside the top 5 among easiest courses on TOUR in 10 of the last 11 seasons. It had the lowest field stroke average in relation to par five times. Last year, the field averaged 1.779 strokes under par, fifth lowest among all courses.

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DJ reminds us (again) why he’s No. 1

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HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Cameron Smith birdied the difficult 17th and 18th holes at Harbour Town to shoot a 9-under 62, his career low on the PGA TOUR, and take a one-shot lead over Stewart Cink at the RBC Heritage on Thursday. RELATED: Leaderboard | Paul Casey’s circuitous journey to cross-handed putting Cink finished his 63 around lunchtime and no one appeared likely to beat that score in overcast, breezier afternoon conditions. Yet Smith played his best down the challenging stretch. The Australian chipped in for birdie on the par-3 17th, then stuck his approach to the lighthouse finishing hole within 5 feet to take the lead. Smith surpassed his previous low of 63, accomplished three times on TOUR. The 47-year-old Cink shot his lowest score in 75 career rounds at Harbour Town — not bad, considering he won here in 2000 and 2004. Collin Morikawa, who will defend his PGA Championship title up the South Carolina coast next month, shot 65 along with Matt Wallace. Charles Howell III, Billy Horschel and Harold Varner III shot 66. Smith is coming off a tie for 10th at the Masters Tournament, his second strong finish in five months at Augusta National. He was runner-up to Dustin Johnson last November. “I feel like Augusta really gets my mind going, my creativity going,” he said. Smith got a free drop after his second shot to the par-5 15th was near a temporary structure and played it to 3 feet for birdie. He missed the fairway and the green on the 16th before pitching to 6 feet to save par. He saved his best for the last two holes, where the winds off Calibogue Sound regularly batter shots that appear on the mark. Smith’s tee shot on the par-3 17th landed in a bunker well below the putting surface. Smith figured it would be a difficult up-and-down until he saw a nice lie and more green to work with than he anticipated. “The ball was sitting nice,” he said. It sat in the cup after Smith’s next stroke, which moved him into a tie with Cink at 8 under. On the 18th, Smith smashed a 3-wood down the middle of the fairway and a 9-iron to near tap-in range, matching Davis Love III in 2002 and Peter Lonard in 2005 for the lowest opening round at Harbour Town. “That was the icing on the cake,” he said. Smith has never finished better than 15th in five previous appearances at the Heritage and missed the cut the last two years. “Everything just came together,” he said. “It was a great day on the greens. I was hitting my irons really good. I had lots of good looks, and I just took advantage of them.” Cink is enjoying a late-career renaissance. He won his first tournament in 11 years this past September, added five more top-20 finishes including a tie for 12th at the Masters and has pocketed more than $1.9 million this season — his most since 2009, when he won The Open Championship. Cink started on No. 10 and drove into the water left for a bogey. “It got my attention,” Cink said. “We were really good and clean the rest of the way. No more mistakes. I played really, really well the rest of the way.” Johnson opened with a 1-under 70. Will Zalatoris, the fast-rising 24-year-old who was runner-up to Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, played with Johnson and shot 68. “Admittedly, I’m a little fried from last week,” Zalatoris said. “Coming out of the gates making a couple of birdies was nice. Kind of set the tone.” Morikawa shot in the 60s for the fourth time in five rounds at Harbour Town and said it was one of his best rounds of the year, which already includes a victory. It “puts a lot of confidence in my game,” he said. Defending champion Webb Simpson, who set an event scoring record last year at 22 under, started with an even-par 71. He had shot in the 60s in 13 of his previous 16 rounds here.

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