How to watch Farmers Insurance Open, Round 3: Live leaderboard, tee times, TV times

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AUGUSTA, Ga. – Before what promises to be an intense day at a Masters chock-full of contenders, the tournament got off to a genteel start with its traditional opening ceremony. Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus strolled out of Augusta National’s white clubhouse shortly before 8:15 a.m. on a chilly Thursday morning, parting the patrons as they made their way to the first tee. Augusta National’s new chairman, Fred Ridley, introduced the two honorary starters as “men whose legacies will live forever throughout the history of Augusta National.� The tee shots of Nicklaus and Player offered a quaint respite from a modern age focused on quantitative analysis. Even the fitness-crazed Gary Player doesn’t care about his swing speed. Jack Nicklaus is as competitive as they come – and of course he’d love to sneak his drive past Player’s – but we’re not worried about his launch angle. We’re honoring history. “I said, ‘Jack, don’t worry about outdriving me now. You’ve been outdriving me for 50 years,’� Player said. In an era obsessed with what’s next, this short ceremony offers a sweet sentimentality that can easily be lost in a cynical age. The rest of the day will be about parsing through the performances of the game’s best players. Instead of worrying about the future, the honorary tee shots are an opportunity to reflect on the past. With nine Green Jackets between them, they’re two of just five men who have won the Career Grand Slam. The tradition of honorary starters began in 1963 with Jock Hutchison and Fred McLeod. Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson and Sam Snead were the first tee’s legendary triumvirate from 1984-1999. The Big Three of Nicklaus, Player and Arnold Palmer reunited on Augusta National’s first tee from 2012-16. This is the second year that Nicklaus and Player have teed off together since Palmer’s passing in 2016. While it pains the two proud champions to no longer see their shots sail over the valley in the first fairway, the patrons are pleased simply to see the two legends swing a club and appear on Augusta National one more time. “Time moves on,� Nicklaus said. And now, a potentially historic Masters is officially underway.

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If you thought that last week was easy, good. This week ain’t. No, I didn’t have Max Homa at the Wells Fargo Championship. No one did. Seriously. Zero gamers in PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done selected him. However, Justin Rose, Paul Casey, Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia all finished inside the top five and two-time champ Rory McIlroy checked in at T8. Save Homa’s storybook achievement, it was chalk central in the Queen City. Perhaps one day Trinity Forest will boast a comparable Who’s Who of go-to talent in our format. Until then, we default to logical analysis, sound reasoning and, of course, the spinning dartboard. Rarely does a first-time defending champion who was a rookie when he prevailed deserve attention in fantasy circles, but Aaron Wise defies conventional, ahem, wisdom. Obviously, no one has better course history, but he’s also arriving with solid form in tow. Still, I’m advising him as a tail of a tandem in two-man games. No need to lead. If you need to swing from your heels and Brooks Koepka is burning a hole in your chinos, then I’m not going to stop ya. Just remember that he’s defending two of the remaining three majors and he plays his best in them. He’s available to me and I didn’t think twice at pulling the trigger, but I’m the pacesetter. His offense will be a dandy defense later. Marc Leishman sits atop my Power Rankings and he’s also on my board, but I’m leaving only for my lineup in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. While the Aussie has lifted into the category of the consistently strong, his core value is a reliability to stay hot. If I could use Charles Howell III again, I wouldn’t hesitate. Alas, I’m left with merely endorsing him emphatically if you still possess the pleasure. He connected four sub-70s here en route to a T9 last year and projects to do the same this week. He’s done nothing to suggest that his comfort level dipping deep into red numbers has been adversely affected. Scott Piercy is beside CH3 in terms of my confidence in this format. He’s been fantastic all season and you already know how much he loves to go low. I already invested confidently in his title defense at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans (T13). Sungjae Im leads the PGA TOUR in rounds under par and he’s performed well on all kinds of tests. If lightning is to strike twice for rookies at Trinity Forest, he’s most likely to be raising the 1-iron overhead. (He’s yet another who I’ve already exhausted.) Holster Hideki Matsuyama, Jordan Spieth, Henrik Stenson and Patrick Reed. There’s too much random to the madness this week. I was torn between Keith Mitchell and Rory Sabbatini, a couple of guys who should present as complementary pieces in two-man formats and not the primary or the only selection, such as in our game. However, both strut in with momentum and success at Trinity Forest last year. In fact, if both are available to you in your two-man league, there’s your ticket. Thomas Pieters, Seamus Power and Scottie Scheffler are calculated fliers for two-man teams as well. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2018-19. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Daniel Berger … Travelers (1) Rafa Cabrera Bello … Wyndham (4) Branden Grace … Byron Nelson (5); U.S. Open (4) Bill Haas … Charles Schwab (2); Wyndham (6) Brian Harman … Charles Schwab (1); Travelers (5); John Deere (4) Brooks Koepka … PGA Championship (2; defending); Charles Schwab (6); U.S. Open (1; two-time defending); Open Championship (8) Martin Laird … Barracuda (2) Marc Leishman … Byron Nelson (6); Memorial (4); Travelers (3); Open Championship (8) Hideki Matsuyama … PGA Championship (13); Memorial (8); U.S. Open (14); Wyndham (7); TOUR Championship (5) Ryan Moore … Memorial (11); Travelers (6); John Deere (8); Wyndham (2); TOUR Championship (9) Kevin Na … Charles Schwab (3); Wyndham (5) Ryan Palmer … Charles Schwab (4) Scott Piercy … Canadian (7; last winner at Hamilton in 2012) Patrick Reed … PGA Championship (4); U.S. Open (3); Travelers (7) Jordan Spieth … PGA Championship (7); Charles Schwab (5); Memorial (13); U.S. Open (4); Travelers (9); Open Championship (6); TOUR Championship (8) Henrik Stenson … PGA Championship (4); Open Championship (6); Wyndham (8); TOUR Championship (7) Jimmy Walker … Byron Nelson (6)

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