Hoffman letter implores Tour golfers to ‘speed up’

Scottie Scheffler was all smiles after he almost made it through another round at Colonial without a bogey, as the world’s top-ranked player earned the lead alone heading into the final round of this Texas tournament.

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Put on your blue suede shoes, board the plane as it’s time for a walk in Memphis. TPC Southwind is on deck for the 32nd-consecutive season and second running as host of the WGC FedEx St Jude Invitational. Ron Pletcher’s test served as the warm-up for the U.S Open since 2007 but this year will be the tune-up before the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco next week. TPC Southwind lines up 40 yards deeper this year with the addition of two new tee boxes but length hardly bothers these elite players. New bunker positioning and re-shaping will make the pros think twice as the choice of sand (76 bunkers), water (11 penalty areas) or dealing with 2.5 inches of Bermuda rough. Defending champion Brooks Koepka is the only winner of the last five to finish top 10 in fairways so accuracy isn’t a premium. The focus this week will be second shots into the well-protected, undulating 4,300 square foot Bermuda greens. Small targets will require scrambling skills if missed and conversions of birdie chances with the flat stick when found in regulation. Walking off with par will not be a bad score this week. Taking advantage of the two Par-5 holes won’t hurt either. Returning to Bermuda greens for the first time since Harbour Town will take a quick recalibration. The heat of Memphis won’t bother anyone who has been practicing in Florida or playing on TOUR the last few weeks. A field of 78 will feature 17 players making their course debut but plenty of familiar names are on site. Of the 50 OWGR top players, 45 are on property as they prepare for the first major of the season with a major-like purse. Nothing gets the attention, just check the winners all-time of WGC events, of the best of the best than a big field on a big-time course. There’s no exception this week as the total purse of $10.5 million will see the winner take $1.82 million of that plus 550 FedExCup points. The good news is there isn’t a cut so everyone will get four rounds of prep before heading to San Francisco. RELATED: Power Rankings | Sleepers | Expert Picks 2019 WGC-FESJC Invitational: Top 25 (* – course debut) 1 Brooks Koepka 2 Webb Simpson 3 Marc Leishman 4 *Tommy Fleetwood 4 Rory McIlroy 4 *Matthew Fitzpatrick 7 *Jon Rahm 8 Ian Poulter 9 Billy Horschel 9 Bubba Watson 11 *Justin Rose 12 Rafa Cabrera Bello 12 *Patrick Cantlay 12 Patrick Reed 12 *Cameron Smith 12 *Jordan Spieth 12 *Justin Thomas 20 Dustin Johnson 20 *Haotong Li 20 *Louis Oosthuizen 24 *Matthew Wolff (1st WGC event) Recent Winners 2019: Brooks Koepka (-16) Started in the final group one back of McIlroy and fired 65 to win by three … Bogey-free effort beat McIlroy by six. … Fifth straight winner top 10 GIR (T8). … First winner in five NOT to lead in Strokes-Gained: Tee-to-Green (6th). … Led the field in Bogey Avoidance, Par-4 scoring, Scrambling and Bogey Avoidance. … Only winner of last five NOT to finish in top 3 in Par-5 scoring (T48). … Only winner in the last six to finish top 10 in driving accuracy. … Fifth player to win a major and a WGC event in the same season. … Entered off T4 The Open Championship week prior. … Sick most of the week. Notables: Webb Simpson posted the round of the day on Sunday, 64, to take second. … Marc Leishman closed 63-67 for solo third. … Tommy Fleetwood closed 65-66 for T4. … Matthew Fitzpatrick (T4) led after 36 holes. … McIlroy (T4) matched the course record on Saturday to lead after 54 holes by one. Jon Rahm (7th) tied the course record, 62, to lead after the first round. …… Top 10 players 10-under or lower. … Only 14 bogey-free rounds. … The top 23 players posted just 13 rounds above 70. … Last three winners of this EVENT have been either Nos. 1, 2 or 3 in the OWGR AND FedExCup at the time. #Chalk. 2018: Dustin Johnson (-19) Walk-off eagle to win by six. … Last regular TOUR event played here. … Won here in 2012. … Led after 36 and co-led after 54 holes. … Missed the tournament record by a shot. … Clinic in all phases minus Driving Accuracy. … Led the field in Par-4 scoring and Strokes-Gained: Tee to Green; Second in Bogey Avoidance, Strokes-Gained: Approach the Green and Proximity. Notables: Chez Reavie (T6) and Brandt Snedeker (T6) were the only others entered this week that finished in the top 10, just 12 shots back! … Snedeker tied the course record (62) in Round 2, his only round below 70 of the week. … Phil Mickelson closed with 65 for T12. … CT Pan and JT Poston shared T18. … Only two players double digits under-par. … Only 10, bogey-free rounds on the week. Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2019-2020 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green (* – previous WGC event winner) 1 *Justin Thomas 2 Sergio Garcia 3 *Rory McIlroy 4 *Hideki Matsuyama 5 Tyrrell Hatton 6 Collin Morikawa 7 Bryson DeChambeau 8 Patrick Cantlay 9 Jon Rahm 10 *Xander Schauffele 11 Tony Finau 12 Viktor Hovland (first WGC event) 13 Paul Casey 14 Webb Simpson 15 Joaquin Niemann (first WGC event) 18 Daniel Berger (won FESJC 2016-17) 19 Corey Conners 21 Abraham Ancer 23 Tommy Fleetwood 24 Scottie Scheffler 25 *Jason Day Bogey Avoidance 1 Tyrrell Hatton 2 Bryson DeChambeau 3 Webb Simpson 5 Jon Rahm 6 *Justin Thomas 9 Abraham Ancer 10 *Xander Schauffele 11 Daniel Berger 12 *Rory McIlroy 14 Brendon Todd 15 Gary Woodland 16 Brandt Snedeker 20 Kevin Na 25 Adam Hadwin Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee 1 Bryson DeChambeau 2 Cameron Champ (debut) 3 Sergio Garcia 4 *Rory McIlroy 6 Jon Rahm 7 *Xander Schauffele 8 Viktor Hovland 9 Paul Casey 10 Scottie Scheffler 11 Jason Kokrak 12 Tommy Fleetwood 13 *Bubba Watson 14 *Dustin Johnson 15 Matthew Wolff 16 Corey Conners 17 *Brooks Koepka 18 Sungjae Im (debut) 20 Ryan Palmer 21 *Justin Thomas 23 Collin Morikawa 25 Billy Horschel Heat Checks Brooks Koepka: In six starts, he’s found the podium three times and is the defending champion; happy hunting ground. Dustin Johnson: Won on debut in 2012 and won the last TOUR event here in 2018 with two more top 10s squeezed in between; T20 last year and WD last week. Daniel Berger: Won on debut in 2016 and backed it up in 2017; mc last visit 2018. Billy Horschel: In seven paydays, five have produced top 10s, including four straight trips (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017); six straight weekends before adding T9 last year. Phil Mickelson: Annual attendee to tune up for the U.S. Open saw him rattle off T12 or better in six straight before 57th last year. Rafa Cabrera Bello: T4 debut in 2017 included 65-66 sandwich; T12 in his second visit last year included 67-66 weekend.

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Here are nine tidbits from the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open that gamers can use tomorrow or down the road. Be looking for the Emergency 9 shortly after the close of play of each round of the tournament. Can’t Ignore Him For the second year in a row an international player is looking to win the Farmers Insurance Open as Sweden’s Alex Noren holds the 54-hole lead at 11-under-par. Noren will try and join Jon Rahm as consecutive international winners that win on their maiden voyage in the event. Before last year, Arnold Palmer (1957) was the last player to do this. Before last year, Jay Don Blake was the first player to make the Farmers Insurance Open their maiden PGA TOUR win since 1991. Noren admitted on television after the round he’s nervous but he didn’t get to be No. 19 in the Official World Golf Ranking by accident. He’s won five times in his last 46 events worldwide. San Diego Charger Torrey Pines High School alum and native San Diegan Michael Kim sits two back of Noren. I’m not sure if any gamers had him marked for the low Southern California player after 54 holes but he’s earned his spot. He sits in the top five in fairways, proximity to the hole and SG: Putting on the South Course this week. Pro gamers will remember that Kim sat two shots off the 54-hole lead in 2016 but shot 80 in the difficult conditions on the Monday finish. I’m encouraged to see what he learned from that tomorrow. Upon Further Inspection J.B. Holmes carded the lowest round of the week on the South Course with a 65 on moving day. His first nine he played in even-par 36 but he made seven birdies on the front nine, coming home in 29. He leapt 44 places to T3 and will play with Michael Kim in the penultimate group Sunday. Holmes is looking to extend his top-10 streak to three in four years with another solid round tomorrow. He also has some unfinished business as he played in the final group in 2015 but his 72 was only good enough to join a four-man playoff that Jason Day eventually won. Moving Day: Up Gamers were on edge after Thursday as Gary Woodland opened with 74 on the North Course. It’s absolutely no secret that Woodland prefers the South Course and he’s embraced the challenge the last two rounds. His 68 with four bogeys on Friday saw him jump 78 spots to T47. His round of 66 on Saturday, that included just one bogey, moved him up 42 more to T5. He is also in the “almost” club here. The big hitter was the 54-hole leader in 2014 but his 74 on Sunday saw him fade to T10. Moving Day: Down Jon Rahm played his final eight holes in 3-over-par to limp home in 38. He dropped 10 spots to T12 but I would suggest he will be ultra-focused tomorrow. Last year he shot a 65 on Sunday which included two eagles on his final eight holes. Gamers who loaded up on him in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO (third-most selected) and PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO (most selected) will be hoping for a repeat performance. Pan-demonium Get carried away! In Study Hall last week I pointed out that C.T. Pan tweeted that he had the flu and that was part of his issue missing the cut at the CareerBuilder Challenge. He put all four rounds at 70 or better here last year as a rookie and finished T2. In his second event here he has also posted all rounds at 70 or better, including a 68 on Saturday that moved him up 18 spots to T5. He’s not long (T68 driving distance) but he’s 6 under on the South Course and has only made three bogeys. Eye on the Tiger Have you seen enough from Tiger Woods in three rounds to make up your mind for future events? I haven’t and that’s just fine. As I opined earlier in the week, this week was going to be a different test. It’s not a resort course with minimal rough and a small field. He’s accounted himself well this week as he’s grinding out scores on a course where par is a decent score. His ball-striking leaves plenty of questions so I’ll let him figure that out before I include him. ‘Siri, Where’s Suri?’ Each week Rob Bolton publishes his Sleeper Picks and each Saturday I take a look at a few who caught my eye. Julian Suri opened with a 68 on the South Course but only made ONE birdie combined in Rounds 2 and 3. He sits No. 62 in the OWGR on the back of rattling off four top-10 finishes in his last five on the European Tour. … If you jumped on the Corey Conners train because of his streak of cashing in seven consecutive events, you were rewarded again. The young bomber made it eight in a row and sits T17 after three rounds of par or better. He’s a very good driver of the golf ball but he’s T1 in GIR after 54 holes. Study Hall After his MC last week at Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, World No. 60 Haotong Li is the 54-hole leader at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic on 20-under-par. Rory McIlroy will play in the final group with the 22-year old Chinese budding star Sunday. … J.J. Henry shot a 59 at The Tradition Golf Course in La Quinta Monday. He’s currently T31. Hot golf is hot golf. … Sitting at T44, Hideki Matsuyama will need a low one tomorrow to best his T16 finish in his maiden voyage in 2014. The last three years have resulted in MC, MC and T33 last year. He’ll be the favorite regardless next week at TPC Scottsdale as he has won the last two at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. … Tom Lovelady began Saturday inside the top 10 but dropped to T25 after a 73. He’s been given a sponsor exemption for next week. Eyes open!

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