How to Watch: Presidents Cup, Thursday

COPY HERE The 12th of 24 contributing events for PGA TOUR Champions One & Done presented by SERVPRO is this week’s Principal Charity Classic. It begins on Friday. Scroll for tournament notes, 18 notables and three wild cards from the field of 78 in Des Moines, Iowa. There’s an argument to be made that there are five 3-0 fastballs and one 3-2 changeup in the mix at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. Daniel Berger hasn’t been beaten in two consecutive appearances. He’s a go-to for front-runners but he’s humming along at only 84 mph or so with little movement. If your objective is to play defense, then look no further, but if you’re leading your league and still want to swing for the fences, pivot to … Dustin Johnson, the 2012 champ, who brings the heat just about everywhere and is buzzing beneath the radar of late, but that’s not a compliment. Besides, you’ll want him for a majors or in the FedExCup Playoffs, which brings into play … Billy Horschel, he of four straight top 10s at TPC Southwind since 2013 and recent winner (with Scott Piercy) in New Orleans, but he’s a better fit for chasers because of his higher risk not to contend. For the opposite experience, consider … Phil Mickelson, who shores up the left side of the rubber and remains in pursuit of his first title in Memphis, loves this tournament and the golf course. We hear that a lot from the soon-to-be 48-year-old (on June 16), but he’s backed it up in each of the last five editions of the St. Jude. Regardless of your position, he’s your man. But if you’ve already burned him, it’s time for … Brooks Koepka, the No. 1 in my Power Rankings and for whom I wrote in this space during the week of the Masters, “And who knows, there’s plenty of time for Brooks Koepka to crash the conversation.” That was in response to his extend his time away due to injury for what was another month. And indeed, it’s time to cash in on your patience regardless of your position. That’s quite a staff from which to choose your starter for the FedEx St. Jude Classic, but what if, like me, you’re looking to guess off-speed pitch on the full count? I never mind playing the push, which is to say that I subscribe to J-Wall’s philosophy on Koepka below, but I need to force the action even more. This is why Henrik Stenson gets the spot start. I’ve invested in almost nothing but chalk. I’ve drifted from my once-defiant narrative of playing aggressively. What’s more, I’ve started to hear from readers that I’ve gone soft and become predictable. Who better than the Swedish machine to silence the critics? Two-man gamers should consider Joaquin Niemann, Chez Reavie, Matt Jones, Austin Cook and Ben Crane. 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 2017-18. 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 … St. Jude (1; two-time defending); Travelers (2) Kevin Chappell … St. Jude (5); WGC-Bridgestone (2); Dell Technologies (3) Tony Finau … Greenbrier (2); Canadian (4) J.B. Holmes … Greenbrier (5) Billy Horschel … St. Jude (1); TOUR Championship (4) Dustin Johnson … St. Jude (8); U.S. Open (13); Canadian (10); WGC-Bridgestone (14); PGA Championship (9); Dell Technologies (11); TOUR Championship (6) Brooks Koepka … St. Jude (3); U.S. Open (1; defending); Open Championship (4); WGC-Bridgestone (6); PGA Championship (2) Phil Mickelson … St. Jude (1); Open Championship (5) Ryan Palmer … St. Jude (6) Scott Piercy … John Deere (6) Charl Schwartzel … U.S. Open (5); Open Championship (6); WGC-Bridgestone (2) Brandt Snedeker … U.S. Open (5); Travelers (6); Canadian (3); Wyndham (4) Henrik Stenson … Open Championship (6); WGC-Bridgestone (4); PGA Championship (7); Wyndham (8; defending); Dell Technologies (9); TOUR Championship (2) CHAMPIONS ONE & DONE Principal Charity Classic Wakonda Club in Des Moines, Iowa, has served as the host since 2013. It’s a stock par 72 stretching 6,831 yards. Brandt Jobe returns to defend what remains his only title on the PGA TOUR Champions. At 14-under 202, he clipped co-runners-up Scott McCarron and Kevin Sutherland by one stroke. All previous champions at Wakonda are committed to play, including McCarron (2016), Mark Calcavecchia (2015), Tom Pernice, Jr. (2014) and Russ Cochran (2013). The total prize money of $1.75 million ties for lowest of all remaining tournaments this season. The winner will bank $262,500. 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. 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. Stephen Ames … Principal (8); U.S. Senior Open (6); Boeing (2); Shaw (7) David Frost … U.S. Senior Open (4); 3M (7); Boeing (5); Shaw (8); PURE (1) Fred Funk … Boeing (6); PURE (5) Doug Garwood … SAS (1) Paul Goydos … 3M (1; defending); DICK’S (3); SAS (5) Lee Janzen … U.S. Senior Open (2) Brandt Jobe … Principal (3; defending); U.S. Senior Open (4); SENIOR PLAYERS (1); 3M (5); Boeing (8) Jerry Kelly … Boeing (1; defending); Shaw (5); PURE (2); SAS (4) Bernhard Langer … Usable everywhere. Defending five titles. Tom Lehman … Principal (1); U.S. Senior Open (3); SAS (9) Billy Mayfair … Boeing (2); PURE (1) Scott McCarron … Principal (1); SENIOR PLAYERS (3; defending); Senior Open Championship (10); DICK’S (4; defending); Shaw (5; defending); PURE (8) Tom Pernice, Jr. … Principal (2); Shaw (3); SAS (5) Kenny Perry … 3M (1); DICK’S (10); SAS (2) Gene Sauers … U.S. Senior Open (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (6); Boeing (1) Kevin Sutherland … Usable everywhere. David Toms … Boeing (2); SAS (4) Duffy Waldorf … Principal (6); Shaw (5) WILD CARDS (short list of golfers not included above but on the rise or still building portfolios after recently turning 50): Steve Flesch; Rocco Mediate; Scott Parel

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AUGUSTA, Ga. - Justin Thomas vividly remembers his first round at Augusta National. He recalls what else was happening in his golfing life, that he was a freshman at Alabama, and that he played with Jeff Knox, the best golfer amongst Augusta National members. Rounding out the foursome: Thomas’ Alabama teammates Lee Knox (Jeff's son) and Bobby Wyatt. "It was straight after I think our first event in Puerto Rico, and we were so excited," said Thomas, who shot a second-round 69 to reach 9 under par, tied atop the Masters leaderboard with Dustin Johnson (70), Abraham Ancer (67) and Cameron Smith (68). "... It felt like a tournament round you’re getting ready for, you’re nervous on the first tee. We had a great day." RELATED: Leaderboard | Nine things to know: Augusta National Golf Club Johnson (world No. 1) and Thomas (world No. 3) will never be mistaken for one another, even if their first names are separated by only one letter. But they have this in common: Each has one major to his name, and each initially struggled to find his A game for the Masters. That's not uncommon; learning the nuances of the course is a rite of passage for almost everyone not named Fuzzy Zoeller, who remains the only first-timer to win (1979). "I think it’s taken me a little bit to get over, not - I guess maybe the fear of Augusta National," said Thomas, whose T12 finish last year was the first he'd begun to play to his potential. "... I kind of go back to that (first) round, like, dude, remember you made six birdies when you were a freshman in college. I would hope you’d be able to handle it your fifth appearance now." While this weekend will present a different kind of nerves for Thomas, there may be similarities to his first time here. It was February 2012 - not far from November on the golf calendar - and it was wet and scoreable, and Thomas really, really wanted to play well. In the end he threw in some mistakes with his six birdies and shot even. He was low man in the group and was especially excited to beat Knox, whom he calls Mr. Jeff, because "he tears this place up." Still, that first flush of success didn't immediately translate once he'd earned a coveted Masters invite. He scheduled practice rounds with players like Tiger Woods and Fred Couples, soaking up as much knowledge as possible, but finished T39 as a rookie in 2016, then T22 and T17 the next two years. He was improving, but not exactly by leaps and bounds. Today, Thomas says he just needed to learn where to miss, where to be aggressive, and that he didn't need to do anything superhuman. He also had to shed that fear factor. His Ryder and Presidents Cup teammate Johnson got off to an even slower start here. He was T30 in his rookie year in 2009, then got worse with a pair of T38s in 2010 and 2011. Not until Johnson committed to a new level of precision with his wedges, and improved his putting, did he begin to figure out how to play what is often referred to as a second-shot course. Today, the world No. 1, expects to contend for the green jacket. His T2 finish last year, one behind Tiger Woods, was one of four top-10 finishes in the last five years. He might have had another top-10 in 2017 but slipped on some stairs and hurt himself, leading to a WD. Many experts had pegged Johnson as the clear pre-tournament favorite that year. He had just won three times on TOUR, including two WGCs, and climbed to No. 1 in the world. In that respect what's happening this week, or what could happen, has been a long time coming. As with the roughly half the field that didn't finish the first round Thursday, Johnson began his Friday early, with a 4:05 wakeup call. Then it was straight back out to the back nine. He hasn't been great on the greens, with 32 putts in the second round, and bogeyed the par-5 15th. But otherwise, he said, he's been mostly pleased, especially with his two 2s at the testy 12th hole. "It’s been a long day," he said, when asked to name his best shot so far this week. "I mean, both the shots I hit on 12 today, I like. I made birdie both times. So I take that any day of the week." Now the top two Americans in the world have a chance to take a quantum career leap even if it's taken a little extra perseverance to get here. They'll take that any day of the week, too.

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Round 1 of the Valero Texas Open gets underway on Thursday. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action at TPC San Antonio. Round 1 tee times Round 1 leaderboard HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 1-3:30 p.m. (GC), 3:30-6 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, 1-2:30 p.m. (GC), 2:30-6 p.m. (NBC). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m. (featured groups). Saturday-Sunday, 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (featured groups), 3:30-6 p.m. (featured holes). International subscribers (via GOLF.tv): Thursday-Friday, 12:30 to 23:00 GMT. Saturday-Sunday, 15:00 to 22:00. RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com). NOTABLE TEE TIMES Rickie Fowler, Andrew Landry, Jimmy Walker: 8:50 a.m. ET (No. 10) Tony Finau, Jim Furyk, Matt Kuchar: 9 a.m. ET (No. 10) Billy Horschel, Jordan Spieth, Jhonattan Vegas: 1:40 p.m. ET (No. 1) J.B. Holmes, Adam Long, Graeme McDowell: 1:50 p.m. ET (No. 1) MUST READS Quick look at the Valero Texas Open Insider: Former Valero champ Bowditch upbeat in return from back injury ‘Just a normal problem’ Power Rankings: Valero Texas Open Expert Picks: Valero Texas Open Sleeper Picks: Valero Texas Open

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