FedExCup update: Rose projected at No. 1

Round 4 of the RBC Heritage takes place Sunday. Stewart Cink leads by five with Collin Morikawa, Emiliano Grillo, Matt Wallace and Sungjae Im among the chasers. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action, including Featured Groups for PGA TOUR LIVE. Leaderboard Full tee times HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel/PGA TOUR LIVE Freeview). Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS) PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups), Saturday-Sunday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio). TOURCast: Get shot-by-shot info in real time with shot tracks and video with TOURCast. TOUR Pulse: Get the PGA TOUR app to utilize TOUR Pulse, which provides users the ability to experience a mix of content, such as video highlights, written hole summaries and stat graphics on every player after every hole they complete. FEATURED GROUPS 9:40 a.m. ET: Ian Poulter, Charles Howell III 10:55 a.m. ET: Dustin Johnson, Cameron Davis MUST READS Cink maintains five-shot lead Win probabilities Behold the Carolina Swing Paul Casey’s journey to cross-handed putting Insider: How Fitzpatrick dives deep into stats to improve CALL OF THE DAY

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The invitation-only event hosted by Tiger Woods takes place at Albany Golf Course for the fifth straight year in New Province, Bahamas. The good news is the tournament will be a no-cut event, but with just 18 players in the field, your margin for error will have to be close to zero. The field will not include world No. 4, Dustin Johnson, who withdrew due to injury. Meanwhile, Rickie Fowler will be making his first start since the TOUR Championship. Albany Golf Course, similar to many courses we’ve seen this fall, will be subject to windy conditions, if in fact, the gusts start to ramp up. The course plays as a par 72 but will play very different than most on TOUR with five par 5s, five par 3s and eight par 4s. The exposed course layout is similar to links golf with mounds up to 30 feet tall along with a ton of bunkering throughout the course. Albany will measure anywhere between 7,300 to 7,400 yards this week and the golfers who can hit it far may have a slight advantage over the shorter hitters being able to avoid those trouble areas off the tee and reach the par 5s in two. Other than par 5 scoring average, players who stat out highly in birdie or better percentage and those who’ve played recently are golfers we should be targeting in our lineups. Managers should also take roster construction into account. With 18 players in the field, there will be a large number of duplicate lineups, so not using your entire salary should be a good strategy to differentiate yourself this week. TOP VALUES XANDER SCHAUFFELE ($9,800) Schauffele finished eighth last year and his history in no-cut events is stellar, earning a win and a runner-up finish in recent World Golf Championship (WGC) events, winning the Sentry Tournament of Champions as well as the TOUR Championship over the past few years. He’s also playing extremely well, ranking first in birdie or better percentage and first in par 5 scoring average over his past three tournaments. Schauffele finished second at the WGC-HSBC last month, which is the lead-in form we’ve seen from Jon Rahm when he won last season (finished T4 in the 2018 DP World Tour Championship, Dubai), Rickie Fowler when he won in 2017 (finished second at the 2017 Mayakoba Golf Classic) and Hideki Matsuyama in 2016, which was his fourth win in five starts. PATRICK REED ($6,900) Similar to Schauffele, Reed’s also recorded solid finishes in no-cut events over the past few seasons with a top 10 at the 2019 TOUR Championship and wins at both a World Golf Championship event as well as at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in 2015. If Reed happens to find one of the many bunkers, he should be fine ranking third in sand save percentage over his past 12 rounds and even though he’s not known for his length, he ranks 10th in driving distance over his past three tournaments and is inside the top 10 in par 5 scoring if we extend those stats over his past six tournaments. Reed also has solid course history, ranking top-three in Strokes Gained: Total with a couple of top-five finishes and a runner-up in Albany dating back to 2015. Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. About the writer: “I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is reidtfowler) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.�

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Catching Up Is Hard to Do The second round of the John Deere Classic resumed at 6:38 a.m. CT on Saturday. Eighty-two golfers survived the 36-hole cut, thus triggering the 54-hole cut of low 70 and ties. With 2.3 inches of rain overnight, the local rule for preferred lies on closely mown areas was in play for the third round and threesomes were sent off split tees. Inclement weather then suspended the third round at 10:38 a.m. After another 0.8 inches of rain fell, play resumed at 1:11 p.m. Continuous play lasted until 5:53 p.m. when inclement weather halted action for the third time in just over 24 hours. Forty-five golfers were stranded until 7:12 p.m., but all finished the third round before dark. Following the Leader After building a three-shot lead at the midpoint, Michael Kim expanded his cushion to five strokes with a third-round 64. He concluded it with four consecutive birdies, all after the second weather delay, to post 22-under 191. With a 66 or lower in the final round, he’ll beat Steve Stricker’s tournament record of 258 in 2010. It’s no wonder why Kim is poised to enter the record books at a tournament that began in 1972. He’s putting up historical numbers. Through 54 holes, he co-leads the field in fairways hit (35 of 42) and leads in both greens in regulation (47) and proximity to the hole (24 feet, six inches). If the aerial assault wasn’t enough punishment on the par 71, he also ranks second in both strokes gained: putting and one-putt percentage. It’s video-game golf on beginner mode. Something will give on Sunday, however. Of 203 qualified for official statistics, Kim ranks 195th in final-round scoring average of 73.14. Hurl into the equation that he’s 161st in the FedExCup standings with only five more weeks before the Playoffs and that he’s not yet exempt for next season, and that five-stroke margin is more valuable than it appears. What a -Goon Maybe that whole thing about the third time being the charm is the real deal. After a T6 at the Quicken Loans National and T30 at Greenbrier (where he entered the final round inside the top 10), Bronson Burgoon stands alone in second place at TPC Deere Run tonight. He walked off his third round with three straight birdies and leads the field in par-5 scoring at bogey-free 9-under with three eagles and three birdies. Moving Day Tyler Duncan is capturing our attention once again. After making the cut by two strokes (for his 10th consecutive payday), the PGA TOUR rookie carded an 8-under 63, best in the field in the third round and a personal-best aggregate of 82 scores. With it, he vaulted 34 spots on the leaderboard and into a share of 12th place entering Sunday’s finale. With 5-under 66s, Patton Kizzire and C.T. Pan rose 31 spots. Both are tied for 34th place. It was a long time coming for the two-time TOUR winner this season as Kizzire hadn’t signed for lower than a 68 since the fourth round of the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship (66). This proves why TPC Deere Run is a track where a touring professional can find his form. Moving Day: Wrong Way Ryan Blaum and non-member Dylan Meyer started the third round inside the top 25, but both shot 1-over 72 to plummet 31 places on the leaderboard before landed at T55. Meyer presented promise entering the tournament with top-20 finishes at the U.S. Open and Quicken Loans National. With his equivalent of 92 FedExCup points, he’d rank 184th among members, so he’s all but a lock to qualify for the Web.com Tour Finals if he doesn’t earn a 2018-19 PGA TOUR card sooner. First-round leader Steve Wheatcroft settled for an even-par 71 in the third round to post 12-under 201. It’s a smack in the face after starting it tied for second and only three swings adrift of Kim. The 54-hole cut snipped 11 who failed to finish inside the low 70 and ties the second time through this week. Notables among this grouping include Chesson Hadley, Bill Haas, Ryan Palmer and Andrew Putnam. First Impression Of the 11 golfers inside the top 10 on the leaderboard, only Matt Jones (3rd), Andres Romero (T5), Robert Garrigus (T7) and Johnson Wagner (T7) are PGA TOUR winners. Kim still has complete 18 holes to break through for his first victory, but with his comfortable overnight lead and the bevy of non-winners in pursuit, the odds are good that the tournament will crown its fourth first time winner since Jordan Spieth emerged from a three-man playoff in 2013. Brian Harman (2014) and Bryson DeChambeau (2017) also converted. Know Thy Enemy These were the top-10 most owned in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO. Congratulations, but … Because the Official World Golf Ranking’s strength-of-field [SOF] rating of the John Deere Classic is only 99, the winner will not receive an exemption into the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. Winners of tournaments with a SOF rating of 115 and greater are awarded a spot in the field at Firestone, including this week’s Scottish Open (312), so the champion in the Quad Cities will have to punch his ticket another way. Seven golfers already exempt into the WGC competed at the JDC. Through 54 holes, tournament debutant Francesco Molinari is positioned at T12, fellow first-timer Austin Cook is T30, Patton Kizzire sits T34 and Andrew Landry is T39. Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau withdrew during his opening round, while both Si Woo Kim and Aaron Wise missed the 36-hole cut. Study Hall The third-round scoring average of 68.99 is the lowest at TPC Deere Run since last year’s 68.19, also in the third round. … There were eight bogey-free scores in the third round to bring the tournament total to 26. … Harold Varner III, who has one of those bogey-free scores (second-round 65), continued his red-hot form with a 66 in the third round. He’s alone in fourth place at 15-under 198 after a career-best-tying T5 last week. … Local favorite Zach Johnson jumped 26 spots to T39 with a 67. … Three-time JDC champ and all-time tournament earnings leader Steve Stricker dropped 25 spots to T49 with a 71. The 51-year-old was the only qualifier at the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship inside the top 50 of the Charles Schwab Cup standings who didn’t commit to the fourth major of the season on the PGA TOUR Champions.

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