Hootie Johnson, former Augusta National chairman, dies

Matt Wallace (+6600) … If you thought that Emiliano Grillo was an easy call as the most valuable Sleeper for the Valspar Championship – raises hand – then try the Englishman on for size. He’s 52nd in the Official World Golf Ranking and he enters with a solo third (Valero Texas Open) and a T18 (RBC Heritage) in his last two individual non-majors, but he’s connected five consecutive paydays for good measure. The 31-year-old also is an intriguing fit for Quail Hollow at 10th in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and T19 in par-5 scoring. Matthew NeSmith (+12500) … The fact that this is his fourth appearance as a Sleeper this season is a good test on whether you see the glass half-full or half-empty, but there’s no room for pessimism here. The 27-year-old is in his second season and 74th in the FedExCup with seven top 25s, including a T21 at Valspar on Sunday. He ranks 14th on the PGA TOUR in total driving and leads in greens in regulation. His putting comes and goes, but he was in good form at Copperhead, finishing sixth in conversion percentage inside 10 feet. Seamus Power (+30000) … He and his partner, David Hearn, were positioned No. 10 in the Power Rankings for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, but that promise was extinguished when the 34-year-old Irishman tested positive for COVID-19. The duo was tracking from multiple angles, including Power’s modest form upon arrival. He had just finished T9 in the Korn Ferry Tour event in Las Vegas. He’s cashed only thrice in eight starts on the PGA TOUR this season, but that includes in each of his last two events. The odds are with him to extend it at Quail Hollow where he’s 2-for-2 with a T13 in 2019, also during a sudden surge of form. Because he’s plowing forward on conditional status, he had been scheduled to compete in this week’s Simmons Bank Open on the KFT, but a bogey-free, 8-under 62 at Monday’s open qualifying for the Wells Fargo Championship at Gaston Country Club punched his ticket into the tournament proper. Vincent Whaley (+25000) … If the old adage is true that it’s easier to stay on the PGA TOUR than it is to get there, then what do you tell a guy who finished 183rd in the FedExCup in his abbreviated rookie season of 2019-20? This was the reality of the Georgia Tech product who managed only 15 starts before eligibility was extended for 2020-21 due to the pandemic. Like many others, he’s making it count as he preps for his debut at Quail Hollow. Currently 137th in the FedExCup with seven consecutive cuts made in tow, the highlight a T15 in Puerto Rico. What he lacks in firepower tee to green, he betters the average in cleaning up around and on greens. Justin Suh (+25000) … Confirmed as the late recipient of a sponsor exemption when Camilo Villegas opted out after gaining entry with one, Suh has lot riding on his first appearance at Quail Hollow. This will be his last start on a sponsor exemption in 2020-21 unless he achieves Special Temporary Membership [STM]. To do that, he needs no worse than a two-way share of eighth place. A top 10 but short of the two-way T8 would yield a start at next week’s AT&T Byron Nelson where he could continue to chase STM. Short of that and his only realistic method of entry into an event would be via open qualifying. There are nine more of those chances beginning with the AT&T Byron Nelson. Worst case, he’s a virtual lock to qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals since his non-member equivalent of FedExCup points would slot him 142nd among members. As it concerns his fit at the Wells Fargo Championship, the 23-year-old is 13th on TOUR in greens hit and T3 in par-5 scoring. Only seven of his 22 rounds in individual competition have been lasered by ShotLink, so there’s not enough of a sample size to buy heavily into it, but it’s still impressive that he’s put himself in this position just nine months after sitting outside the top-1,000 of the Official World Golf Ranking. He’s currently 403rd. Odds were sourced on Tuesday, May 4 at 5 a.m. ET. For live odds visit betmgm. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.

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KAWAGOE, Japan – A last-minute flight and lack of a practice round weren’t enough to keep Patrick Reed from excelling in a red, white and blue uniform. Despite arriving in Japan on the eve of the Olympics’ first round and not hitting a shot before Thursday’s opening tee ball, Reed fired 68 on Thursday. It matched the low score among the four-man U.S. contingent – Xander Schauffele also shot 3 under – and left him in a tie for 12th place, five shots back of Sepp Straka. RELATED: Leaderboard, tee times | How the format works | How to watch Reed has wholeheartedly embraced the Captain America moniker he earned early in his career with his heroics in international team competitions. That’s why he didn’t hesitate when he found out about another opportunity to play for the United States. Reed was informed Saturday about Bryson DeChambeau’s positive COVID-19 test, shortly after finishing his third round at the 3M Open. Reed said it was “a duty of mine to go out and play for our country … whenever I get the call.” Because of the plethora of paperwork needed to enter Japan during a pandemic, Reed only got 35 minutes of sleep before his flight to Tokyo early Tuesday. “I actually almost feel like that helped me because it allowed me to go to sleep on the plane and get on the (Japan) time zone,” he said after Thursday’s round. “I slept through the night last night.” He arrived in Japan on Wednesday but didn’t have time to hit a shot at Kasumigaseki. He toured the course in a golf cart, driving the final four holes in darkness. “I felt good today coming out and … the swing actually held in there all day,” Reed said. “A couple mistakes out there, not really knowing spots to hit it, kind of ended up in bad spots, but besides that it wasn’t too bad.” He shot bogey-free 33 on his front nine before making two birdies and two bogeys on the back nine. His bogey on 17 was an example of where his lack of preparation hurt him. He thought the green was sloping toward him, so he hit a low wedge shot with less spin. “The back part of the green actually slopes away from you, so it skipped over the green, made bogey,” he said. “If the green was running away like that, I would just hit a normal 61-degree and not worry about spinning too much.” Reed is one of four players here representing the United States. They are competing in individual stroke play but the fact that they share a uniform made players more willing to help than most weeks. There was only so much Reed could glean from his teammates, though. “JT hits it way past me. And then you have Xander, he spins his irons more than I do. Then you go to Collin and he hits cuts and I hit draws,” Reed said. Thomas shot even-par 71 with 18 pars today. He is in 41st place. Morikawa, making his first start since winning The Open, shot 69.

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