Hovland on 3-shot lead at BMW Open

Round 1 of the Rocket Mortgage Classic begins Thursday from Detroit Golf Club. Reigning FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay leads the field as the PGA TOUR inches closer to crowning the champion of this season’s FedExCup. Rookie of the Year frontrunner Cameron Young returns to action after his runner-up at The Open. Will Zalatoris, Sahith Theegala, Tony Finau, Max Homa, Kevin Kisner, Harris English and Rickie Fowler are also in the field. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action, including Featured Groups for PGA TOUR LIVE and newly expanded and extended coverage on ESPN+. Click here for more details. Leaderboard Full tee times HOW TO FOLLOW (All times ET) Television: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m. ET. Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio) For outside of the U.S., click here for GOLFTV powered by the PGA TOUR PGA TOUR LIVE PGA TOUR Live is available exclusively on ESPN+ • Main Feed: primary tournament-coverage featuring the best action from across the course • Marquee Group: new “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group • Featured Groups: traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups • Featured Holes: a combination of par-3s and iconic or pivotal holes FEATURED GROUPS THURSDAY Marquee Group Webb Simpson, Jason Day, Rickie Fowler Featured Groups Tony Finau, Cam Davis, Nate Lashley Patrick Cantlay, Gary Woodland, Cam Champ Featured Holes: No. 5 (par 3), No. 11 (par 3), No. 15 (par 3), No. 17 (par 5) FRIDAY Marquee Group Davis Love III, Will Zalatoris, Cameron Young Featured Groups Max Homa, Joel Dahmen, Luke List Adam Scott, Kevin Kisner, Keegan Bradley Featured Holes: No. 5 (par 3), No. 11 (par 3), No. 15 (par 3), No. 17 (par 5) MUST READS The First Look Power Rankings Expert Picks Five Things to Know: Detroit Golf Club

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The PGA TOUR travels to Jackson, Mississippi, for the Sanderson Farms Championship located at The Country Club of Jackson. The field should be similar to last week’s season-opening A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, with another opportunity for a handful of TOUR veterans and rookies looking to make an early impact. Zach Johnson, Jimmy Walker and Jason Dufner join another slew of rookies such as Doug Ghim, Maverick McNealy, Scottie Scheffler and Kristoffer Ventura looking to gain important FedExCup points as well as an early victory similar to last year’s winner, Cameron Champ. The course will measure at 7,421 yards, sets up as a par-72 and will be putted on Bermuda grass this week. Country Club of Jackson measured as the ninth longest course last season but shouldn’t be an issue for the “non-bombersâ€� on TOUR. The average driving distance is shorter here than the TOUR average and a lot of the distance comes from the four par 5s, three measuring more than 550 yards and one measuring more than 600 yards, as well as the par-4 18th, measuring just over 500 yards. Players such as Champ, Luke List and Wyndham Clark all ranked inside the top-five in driving distance last season, but they might choose to club down this week. The fairways are narrow and recorded 11% less fairways hit in regulation compared to the TOUR average. This is also why the highest approach shot distribution comes from 200-plus yards, with the second-most coming from 125-150 yards. Even though hitting fairways is important, hitting your irons well is a higher priority. In 2018, of the golfers who finished inside the top 10 at Sanderson Farms, nine gained strokes in Strokes Gained: Approach The Green. Looking back to 2017, the top five finishers gained an average of 5.52 with their approach shots, so starting your lineups with golfers who’ve been hitting their irons well isn’t a bad strategy. Another key metric to focus on this week is par-5 scoring average — 56% of the total birdies came from the par 5s in 2018. TOP VALUES Emiliano Grillo ($9,400) Grillo is making his first start of the new season and ranks first in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green over the past six tournaments. He also has gained strokes with his irons in nine of his past 10 starts, averaging three strokes gained over the field in that stretch. Grillo missed just three cuts last season and much of it was due to his poor putting, losing more than 10 strokes on the greens. Grillo has done well during the fall season with two top-10s (2016, 2017 OHL Classic at Mayakoba) and a victory (2015 Safeway Open), so hopefully he leans on experience while showing improvement in his putting. Aaron Wise ($8,500) Even though distance off the tee isn’t a huge advantage over the field, it never hurts. Wise ranked just inside the top 35 in driving distance last season, and he’ll use that to his advantage on the par 5s this week. Speaking of those par 5s, Wise ranks first in par 5 scoring average and second in birdie or better gained in the past 24 rounds. Cameron Tringale ($7,300) Tringale finished a respectable T36 last week at Greenbrier and shot three rounds in the 60s but left room to play better, hitting just 69% of his greens in regulation and 51% of his fairways. He also didn’t do much on the greens when he did hit them, gaining less than a stroke with his putter, but he’s been playing solid golf over the past few months. Coming into last week, Tringale ranked inside the top 15 in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green, top 20 in par-5 scoring average and first in birdie or better gained over the past six tournaments. Wes Roach ($6,300) Roach finished his 2019 season gaining strokes through approach in four of his last five tournaments and enters Sanderson ranking 13th in Stroke Gained: Approach the Green, as well as inside the top five in birdie or better gained over the past six tournaments. He struggles on Bermuda greens, ranking 63rd in Strokes Gained: Putting over the past 24 rounds, but is so precise with his irons that he’s worth a look in his salary range. Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. Writer’s bio: “I’m 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.â€�

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ATLANTA – An emotional Tiger Woods broke a five-year win drought, most of which he spent coping with debilitating back pain, and completed a long and arduous career comeback with his victory at the TOUR Championship at East Lake on Sunday. On a difficult day for most of the field, his 1-over 71 gave him a two-shot win over a surging Billy Horschel (66). Dustin Johnson (67) finished alone in third, four back. “There was a point in time I didn’t know if I’d ever do this again,â€� Woods said. He meant merely playing golf, not winning, and admitted to being near tears as he came down 18. For more on Woods’ comeback, click here. Justin Rose, who began the final day three off the lead and needing to finish in a two-way tie for fifth, at worst, struggled for most of the day. Knowing he needed to birdie either 17 or 18 to win the FedExCup, he birdied the par-5 18th after hitting the green in two. The closing birdie gave him a final-round 73 and left him in a three-way tie for fourth. It was Rose’s worst round of the week by five, but it was good enough, and he became the second European winner of the FedExCup in the last three years (Rory McIlroy, ’16). “A ton of top 10s,â€� Rose said, explaining his success. “Obviously had a couple of wins on the PGA TOUR, as well, this year, and managed to keep that going into the Playoffs with finishing the year with three top 5s. There were a lot of scenarios at play.â€� Woods’ victory at the TOUR Championship capped a season of comeback victories that included Phil Mickelson at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship and extended all the way down to Paul Casey, Gary Woodland, Kevin Na and Keegan Bradley. Woods did most of the work for this one Thursday through Saturday, when he made over 300 feet of putts and posted scores of 65-68-65. Taking a three-shot lead into the last round, he birdied the first hole and watched his closest pursuers, Rory McIlroy and Rose, slide backward. “I felt like if I just went out there and did my own thing and shot under par, the tournament would be over,â€� Woods said after he made pars at the last two holes to salt away the victory. He didn’t shoot under par, and the lead went down to two after he bogeyed the 15th and 16th holes, but he did collect his 80th PGA TOUR win, two behind all-time leader Sam Snead. The only tense moment was when the huge crowd broke free and followed Woods and McIlroy down the 18th fairway. Woods said he heard it but didn’t see it as he didn’t turn around. “That was awesome,â€� said Woods’ caddie, Joe LaCava. “I thought that was terrific. And I kept telling the cops, ‘As long as they don’t trample us, let ’em keep comin’.’ Why not?â€� It was Woods’ first win since the 2013 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational.  OBSERVATIONS FEDEXCUP PROVIDES DRAMA: The winner of the FedExCup was in doubt for most of the day after Justin Rose sputtered for the first 16 holes, throwing everything up in the air. When the wild Rose had to work hard just to salvage a bogey at the tough, par-4 14th hole, it dropped him into a three-way tie for fourth, and going the wrong direction. His struggles continued as he drove into the trees at the 16th hole and dropped his driver in disgust. At this point it began to look like Woods, who came into the week at a distant 20th in the standings, was on the verge of winning his third FedExCup in addition to the TOUR Championship. Dustin Johnson, putting cross-handed for the first time in his career, worked his way up the leaderboard but missed a six-foot birdie try at the 18th hole. Although he still shot a final-round 67, Johnson’s miss was big, taking him out of consideration for FedExCup No. 1. That left the spoils to either Woods or Rose, who finally stabilized with no time to spare. He hit the fairway at the par-4 17th hole and gave himself a birdie look but left it short. Needing to birdie the last, he crushed a 359-yard drive down the fairway and reached the green with his second shot, leaving himself a relatively easy two-putt birdie for the FedExCup. “I knew I had to birdie one of the last two,â€� Rose said, “and I actually said to myself, I’m glad we’re playing East Lake this way around, because if I had to birdie 17 or 18 the other way around, it would have been a pretty tough proposition.â€� (The nines had been switched since Woods first won the TOUR Championship at East Lake, in 2007.) “So I knew that there were two birdie holes,â€� Rose continued. “The key was hitting the ball in the fairway at No. 17. I did that, hit a wedge right over the top of the pin. I thought that was going to actually be much tighter than it actually was. And a super quick putt, but I knew it wasn’t a putt to try and race at that point because 18 is a par-5, it’s a birdie hole. And I had to play the long game in my mind and just trust the fact that I could birdie 18 to win.â€� NOTABLES PHIL MICKELSON – Shot 72 and finished last at 13 over for the week, but a three-birdie, one-bogey back nine Sunday at least provided reason for optimism at he heads to Paris for the Ryder Cup. Mickelson lingered around the tail end of the field in both Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (he hit just 25/56 fairways) and Strokes Gained: Putting. The off-week with the putter was the big surprise, given that he was second to Jason Day in that stat coming into the week. BUBBA WATSON – Three-time winner ended comeback season on a sour note with final-round 75 that left him second from last. Hit just 21/56 fairways, worst in the field. PATRICK REED – Masters champion shot a final-round 72 to finish near the back of the pack at 9-over. Reed hit just 23 fairways for the week, two fewer than Mickelson. BRYSON DECHAMBEAU – FedExCup No. 1 and two-time Playoffs winner ran off a streak of four straight birdies but hit his tee shot in the water at the 226-yard, par-3 15th hole and did well to make bogey. Three-putt from 11 feet at the 17th hole also left a sour taste. Needing help from Rose to win the FedExCup, DeChambeau didn’t get it, but his final-round 67 was another step in the right direction after a rough opening 36 holes, and left him a very respectable 2-under total. QUOTABLES I would have hit it the same way.This is a tough, tough golf course. Lots of opportunities to slip up.You know what? I could still blade this thing out of bounds. SUPERLATIVES Low round: 5-under 65 by Rickie Fowler and Hideki Matsuyama. Longest drive: 361 yards (Gary Woodland/No. 14) Longest putt: 39’ 3â€� (Bryson DeChambeau/No. 14) Toughest hole: The 455-yard, par-4 first played to a 4.300 average. Easiest hole: The 525-yard, par-5 sixth played to a 4.267 average. CALL OF THE DAY For play-by-play coverage of the PGA TOUR, listen at PGATOUR.COM. SHOT OF THE DAY

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