Hastings wins LAAC, into Masters, 2 other majors

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• COURSE: Firestone Country Club (South), 7,400 yards, par 70. From beginnings as a generous perk from Harvey Firestone to employees of his tire company, the club wound up making its own name as a major host even before joining the World Golf Championships lineup. The South course opened in 1929, with Robert Trent Jones overseeing upgrades for the 1960 PGA Championship captured by Jay Hebert. The PGA of America brought its showcase event back again in 1966 and ’75, by which time Firestone had become home of the World Series of Golf. That event moved under the WGC banner in 1999. • FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 550 points. • CHARITY: The First Tee is the primary beneficiary of World Golf Championships events. In addition, Northern Ohio Golf Charities has designated Akron Children’s Hospital and University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital as the tournament’s signature recipients. In all, the event has donated more than $46 million to Northeast Ohio causes. • FIELD WATCH: Newly crowned Open Championship winner Jordan Spieth joins defending champion and FedExCup No. 2 Dustin Johnson atop a current roster of 78 qualifiers. The field features 33 of the top 35 in the FedExCup standings. … Berths remain available for the RBC Canadian Open winner, plus anyone who enters the top 50 in Monday’s world rankings. … Recent winners Bryson DeChambeau (John Deere Classic) and Xander Schauffele (Greenbrier Classic) are among eight men making their World Golf Championships debut. … Rod Pampling, winner in Las Vegas last November, is playing his first WGC since the 2009 WGC HSBC Champions in China. … Lee Westwood is set for his 58th WGC start, still in pursuit of his first WGC victory. • 72-HOLE RECORD: 259, Tiger Woods (2000). • 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, José María Olazábal (1st round, 1990), Tiger Woods (2nd round, 2000 and 2nd round, 2013), Sergio Garcia (2nd round, 2014). • LAST YEAR: Johnson followed up his breakthrough U.S. Open triumph with another victory on the big stage, using a 66-66 weekend to overtake Jason Day for his third WGC crown. Coming off a post-Open trip to the Bahamas, Johnson showed some early rust before finding his groove again on the weekend. He trailed Day by three with six holes left, but birdies at Nos. 13 and 14 trimmed the gap before a double bogey by Day, who found water at Firestone’s 655-yard 16th hole. Another Johnson birdie at No.17 sealed the win, holding off Scott Piercy’s late charge. Piercy (70) finished one shot back, the second time in three weeks he’d come in as runner-up to Johnson. Day’s 72 left him three behind, sharing third with Spieth, Matt Kuchar and Kevin Chappell. • STORYLINES: Johnson, already a winner at Mexico and Dell Technologies Match Play, has a chance to become the first man to capture three WGC crowns in the same year. Though Tiger Woods owns 18 WGC titles, he never won more than two in a season. … Johnson hasn’t won since the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play, before hurting his back in a slip-and-fall mishap in Augusta. He said last week he’s still feeling effects from the injury. … Spieth, whose triumph at Royal Birkdale moved him to the top of the FedExCup chart and No.2 in the world rankings, returns to action in quest of a third straight victory. He won the Travelers Championship before heading across the Atlantic. … Rory McIlroy, the 2014 champion, hopes to build on an uptick in form at Royal Birkdale that propelled him to a share of fourth. He had missed three of his previous four cuts. • SHORT CHIPS: Shane Lowry, who triumphed in 2015, and Hunter Mahan (2010) are the only Firestone champions in the past 22 years who don’t also have a major title to their names. That includes the last five editions of the old World Series of Golf. … Argentina’s Andres Romero is the only man who comes to Firestone outside the top 125 in the FedExCup standings, though he’s focused more attention on Europe this year and has made just eight PGA TOUR starts. He’s in via his victory at Europe’s BMW International Open. • TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 1:30-6:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, noon-1:30 p.m. (GC); 2-6 p.m. (CBS). • PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. (featured groups), 2-6:30 p.m. (featured holes). Saturday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured holes). • RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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Built as a hybrid between a roster and one-and-done formats, PGA TOUR Captain’s Pick is a stand-alone fantasy game for the Presidents Cup, the four-day competition at Liberty National on Sept. 28-Oct. 1. It’s open for registration now – just click here. If you were already signed up to play any of the incumbent games, simply toggle over to the page dedicated to the newest offering. The rules (found in the upper right) spell out everything you need to know, but this primer will assist you in making decisions for the Captain’s Pick, which is unique. It requires an approach at game play not experienced in the other platforms. FORMAT & SETUP The beauty of the game is in its simplicity, but just as staying on top of your team is critical, timing and luck are also inherent to success. This means that even if you have just basic knowledge of how the Presidents Cup is organized, you’ll have just as much of a puncher’s chance to prevail as hardcore gamers. You’ll start by selecting the team you expect to win. “Scoring and Prizes” below addresses this value, but it’s important to understand that you’ll be selecting golfers only from the team you select. After deciding on the squad, it’s time to build the daily order in which you want your charges to count. Start by selecting three players for Day 1, and then save that lineup. Repeat the process for Days 2, 3 and 4 until all 12 are selected. Finally, you’ll set your tiebreaker. Select a value from zero to 30 for how many of the matches you think will go exactly 18 holes. Once your tiebreaker is saved, you can begin rearranging your team. Daily deadlines fall with the first tee time of the session (or the first session on Day 3). Once it does, the three golfers you’ve selected for that day will be locked in and unavailable to you for the remainder of the competition, even if they don’t play on the day you’ve chosen for them. SCORING & PRIZES Gamers who pick the winning team are awarded five points. Golfers collect points per match, including those who play in both on Day 3. Those who win their match yield one point plus the equivalent of the holes up at the conclusion of the match. This applies to both golfers on the winning side of Four-ball and Foursomes. Halves are worth one-half of one point for all golfers in a match. In 11 editions of the Presidents Cup, there’s never been a conceded match due to injury or illness, but Captain’s Pick is prepared for the contingency. In addition to one point for winning a qualifying conceded match, the winner will receive one point for every hole not played, with a maximum bonus of five points for the holes up when the match is conceded. At the conclusion of the tournament, the gamer with the most points wins. First prize is a set of Titleist 716 AP1 irons. The runner-up will receive a Titleist 917 driver. Third place nets a Scotty Cameron putter. TIEBREAKER If there is more than one fantasy team that totals the most points, a tiebreaker will determine final position. You can modify your tiebreaker until the deadline on Day 1 falls. Going back four editions, 11 of 34 matches in both 2009 and 2011 went exactly 18 holes. In 2013, 15 of 34 matches went the distance. The U.S. won each competition overall by five, four and three points, respectively. The Presidents Cup’s format was reduced to 30 matches in 2015 and half of them went exactly 18 holes. The U.S. squeaked out the victory, 15-1/2 to 14-1/2. STRATEGY There are three components to building a competitive team, and it helps to think of the format of the Presidents Cup in reverse order of the sessions. Since all 12 golfers on both teams will compete in singles on Sunday, all gamers are guaranteed a full lineup. And because it’s the last session, your team will be comprised of your last three available, naturally. Consider this as insurance at the beginning of the competition, but just as you took a fluid approach in PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO during the FedExCup Playoffs, remain flexible throughout the Presidents Cup.   Day 3 will pose the greatest challenge because there are two sessions of four matches each. Because the deadline for the day will fall with the first tee time of the first session and the matches for the second session aren’t announced until the first session is underway, it’s possible that one of your selections will not play at all on Day 3. See, after you’ve burned three golfers each in Days 1 and 2, it’s possible that all of your first six will be scheduled to play in the first session on Day 3, which means that you’re guaranteed just two of the eight actively participating.   In 2015, all 12 members on the U.S. squad competed at least once on Day 3, but just nine of the Internationals were in play. Captain Nick Price has returned this year, so it’s feasible he’ll take the same course of action even though he’ll be reacting to the competition in real time. However, if you’re going to choose the International squad, your objective should be to save three of the strongest members for Day 3. The following seven Internationals laced it up in both sessions on Day 3 two years ago: Hideki Matsuyama, Jason Day, Adam Scott, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace and Sangmoon Bae. Only Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed, J.B. Holmes and Bubba Watson represented the U.S. in both sessions on the same day. Your decision to select the Internationals to win should hinge on what you’re going to do on Day 3. Even if the U.S. wins the Presidents Cup and shuts you out of five points, bonus points for holes up at the conclusion of matches will cover for it and then some in some cases. Having two cracks at it in one day increases potential player impact from 25 percent (one of four days) to 40 percent (two of five sessions). Just like any golf tournament, you can’t win early, but you can lose it with misguided and anxious thinking. While a 6-and-5 victory in Four-ball on Days 1 or 2 would be more valuable than, say, a pair of 1-up wins on Day 3, you’d need that unlikely scenario to play out to validate the decision not to hope for golfers who will get two starts on Day 3. In preparation for this, consider rostering one or two of your weakest options at some point on Days 1 and/or 2. This will keep you in the game for a potentially game-changing Day 3. And who knows, you just might catch lightning in a bottle in the meantime.   PHILOSOPHIES Qualifying for team competitions requires long stretches of terrific form and usually a PGA TOUR victory along the way. This is to say that discerning between the best and next-best options in your lineup is as relative as it gets in fantasy golf. It’s akin to debating which golfer you want to take in a first round of a draft. Yet, the embarrassment of riches is most definitely affected by the captain’s thirst for team victory. Thus Price’s beefed-up lineups on Day 3 in 2015. Another element that can go overshadowed by the host country’s domination throughout the history of the competition is that it’s still match play. Toss in the variable that 60 percent of the matches involve two-man teams and you can slide into overthinking quicker than you can say, “Pick it up.” These unpredictable realities are constants, but it doesn’t mean that we are entirely at their mercy when constructing lineups. Do it smartly to put yourself in position to get lucky. RECAPS & PREVIEWS This primer is just the beginning. I will be writing daily reports based on the results, golfers’ form, matches for the following day and everything else that matters in your quest to win The Captain’s Pick. So, if you haven’t already bookmarked PGATOUR.COM/Fantasy, please do so.  

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