Inside the Field: Houston Open

HONOLULU (AP) — Different islands, vastly different golf courses, same good play from Brian Harman. One week after Harman shared the 36-hole lead at Kapalua, he ran off three-straight birdies and closed with a 15-foot eagle putt for a 7-under 63 and a three-shot lead going into the weekend at the Sony Open. Harman was at 13-under 127, and no one could catch him on Friday afternoon. Chris Kirk, who shared the 18-hole lead with Harman, opened by pitching in from 25 yards for eagle on No. 10. He ended his day by driving into the canal on the easy par-5 ninth and making bogey for a 67. Kirk was three behind along with Zach Johnson (67), John Peterson (64), Tom Hoge (65) and PGA TOUR rookie Talor Gooch. Except for the tropical warmth, the two golf courses on the Hawaii swing are nothing alike. The Plantation Course at Kapalua was built on the side of the mountain on the west tip of Maui and features fairways that can stretch nearly 90 yards wide and big slopes in the greens. Waialae is at sea level — waist-high hedges along the 16th and 17th holes and behind the 11th green are all that separate grass from the beach — with smaller, flatter greens and fairways framed by trees. “The biggest elevation change here is from the walk down from the hotel,” Harman said. “I’ve always kind of felt like as long as there’s fairways and greens and holes to putt it, then I’m going to be fine.” The Georgia native is playing just as well on Oahu as he did on Maui. He surged ahead in the morning with two quick birdies on the back nine, made the turn in 32 and ran off three-straight birdies early on the front nine. After making his only bogey from a bunker on the par-3 seventh, Harman hit 7-iron from 172 yards to 15 feet on No. 9 for a closing eagle. It’s all just golf to him. “I’m making putts, but I’m also putting myself in position to make those putts,” he said. “I’m getting a bunch of looks. I’m not making everything I’m looking at, but I’m hitting a lot of good putts and made a few. I’m just going to show up tomorrow and try to hit the first tee shot best you can and go from there.” On another glorious day of sunshine and good scoring conditions, Johnson had a nine-hole stretch of eight pars and a bogey until a strong finish. He birdied the par-3 seventh and closed with an eagle to salvage a 67. Defending champion Justin Thomas was closer to the cut line than the lead until he made a trio of 8-foot putts — two for birdies, one for eagle — to close out a 67. He is seven shots behind. Jordan Spieth made the longest putt of his PGA TOUR career — just over 90 feet on No. 5 — but didn’t give himself many good looks. Spieth birdied the last hole for a 68 and is 10 shots behind. “I didn’t think I had enough club,” Spieth said of his long putt. “I considered hitting a lob wedge because I had something like 30 yards to the hole into the breeze.” The putt looked good all the way, though it had some pace. There was some debate among his two playing partners, Xander Schauffele and Daniel Berger, along with caddie Michael Greller on what would have happened had the ball not slammed into the back of the cup. “Xander said it was 4 or 5 feet by. Michael said 6,” Spieth said. “Berger said off the green.” Schauffele birdied his last four holes and was among those at 8-under 132, five shots behind. The cut was at 2-under 138. Harman still looks back to a key tournament last year. He played the Zurich Classic, a two-man team event, with Johnson Wagner and used Wagner’s Titleist golf ball during the alternate-shot portion. Harman put one in his bag the following week at the Wells Fargo Championship and won. The change wasn’t so much about distance as the way he was able to control the trajectory of the ball, especially in the wind. “The wind doesn’t seem to take it as much,” he said. “That’s just a personal thing for me. I feel like I did when I was a kid again. I felt like I was a better ball-striker when I was a kid. … I’m starting to get some of those feelings back.” Harman played in the final group last week and tied for third, though no one was about to catch Dustin Johnson. Peterson is playing on a medical extension because of hand surgery, and he has eight tournaments to make $375,165 (or earn 274 FedExCup points) to keep a full card the rest of the year. He doesn’t sound overly worried, which is not to suggest he’s overconfident. He has a 3-month-old son, one reason he decided to take the entire fall off before resuming his bid to keep his card. “If my attitude is good, I’m going to play good,” he said. “I’ve never been in a better spot lifestyle-wise than I am right now, so that probably has a lot to do with it. I’ve got eight events to make $350,000. If I do, great. If I don’t, who cares? I’m just out here free-wheeling.

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All right, you know the drill. We did this last week. The Open Championship at St. Andrews is just 12 miles due north of The Renaissance Club, so, yes, it’s in the same time zone. This means that the tournament begins at 1:35 a.m. ET on Thursday in the United States. That’s 10:35 p.m. on Wednesday on the West Coast. That’s the given, but what we don’t know is if PointsBet will open a market for the Top 20 bet during the tournament. It was not made available after both R2 and R3 at the Genesis Scottish Open. Plan accordingly. Register for PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live here and monitor Rob’s and Glass’ progress as Influencers. For a broader explanation of the format and FAQs, click here. TOURNAMENT Rob … Joohyung Kim (+15000) Wrestled back the honor with a 24th-place finish at the Genesis Scottish Open. It’s my seventh top 30 in PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live. Not too shabby given, as predicted in this space last week, I wouldn’t be awake in time to adjust my (failed) bets for R1 and R2 leader. This week presents a rare challenge. St. Andrews is going to crown a big, big name as its champion. It’s the 150th edition and, well, that’s just how these things tend to develop. However, as much as I’d like to just sit on Rory McIlroy (+1000) or Jon Rahm (+1600) deep into Sunday, we have a game to play! It ain’t broke, so I ain’t gonna break it. The Tank Engine is the reason why I finished 24th last week. He talked about how much he enjoyed his foray at links-style golf. His solo third was evidence. At 20, he’s probably young enough not to have the fully formed feel of the significance of what a victory here and now represents, and I like it like that for the purpose of this opening selection. Glass … Kevin Kisner (+20000) Did you think I was going to trot Rory out here at +1000? Kisner was an afterthought at Carnoustie in 2018 before finishing T2. Earlier that season, he finished second at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. Wanna guess how he finished at Match Play this year? Kisner paints fairways, and the firm and fast should help shorten the yardage book. Grinder mentality evident with five straight paydays at this event. Reminds me a bit of Zach Johnson in 2015, plus Kisner has a comfortable pairing with Chris Kirk for the first two days. Plenty of time to reload if this longshot doesn’t fire. Last week’s winner hopped on Xander Schauffele at +8000 after Round 1. It can happen! TOP 10 Rob … Joohyung Kim (+1000) Reset and repeat. He was +2000 for this finish last week and delivered. Always room on the bandwagon for ya, especially since Glass refuses to take a seat. Glass … Thomas Pieters (+750) Rolls in on six straight with three top 10s, so I’m leaning into his form, plus he’s never MC in four attempts at this championship. The “other” news is that he’s never painted the top 10 here, but for +750 that’s not surprising. As is the case weekly with this pick, hit the window and change it when it goes sideways. TOP 20 Glass … Stewart Cink (+600) Admittedly, I’ve struggled to intersect value with form, but that’s the best part of this game: Perfect is NOT required. Chances can be taken, even 49-year old chances. His best performances this year were on demanding ball-striking layouts like Innisbrook and TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. Also finished T23 at Southern Hills and T24 last week at The Renaissance Club. Rob … Keita Nakajima (+1400) I went into more detail in Sleepers on why the long-standing world’s top-ranked amateur is attractive this week, but the abridged version is that if an amateur is going to connect at an Open, it’s going to be at St. Andrews. Three ams recorded a top-15 finish in the last time the course hosted in 2015, and it’s the last time it’s happened in any Open. ROUND 1 LEADER Glass … Webb Simpson (+10000) First group out, perfect greens. I’m not going to overthink this. My USUAL selection of McIlroy can still be in play 18 groups later but at +1200, I can patiently wait. Or sleep in. Or both. Rob … Rory McIlroy (+1200) With all 52 threesomes in single file off 1, there’s a greater likelihood that I’ll be alert before this window closes as compared to last week. Still, I’m doing what Glass will regret … again. In his last six starts, McIlroy has averaged 66.17 in the first round. Yes, it includes a 62 a TPC River Highlands, but it also includes two majors and another two tough tracks. NOTE: While Glass and Rob typically stick with their selections as detailed in Pick ‘Em Preview, they are allowed the right to make changes at any time.

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All right, you know the drill. We did this last week. The Open Championship at St. Andrews is just 12 miles due north of The Renaissance Club, so, yes, it’s in the same time zone. This means that the tournament begins at 1:35 a.m. ET on Thursday in the United States. That’s 10:35 p.m. on Wednesday on the West Coast. That’s the given, but what we don’t know is if PointsBet will open a market for the Top 20 bet during the tournament. It was not made available after both R2 and R3 at the Genesis Scottish Open. Plan accordingly. Register for PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live here and monitor Rob’s and Glass’ progress as Influencers. For a broader explanation of the format and FAQs, click here. TOURNAMENT Rob … Joohyung Kim (+15000) Wrestled back the honor with a 24th-place finish at the Genesis Scottish Open. It’s my seventh top 30 in PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live. Not too shabby given, as predicted in this space last week, I wouldn’t be awake in time to adjust my (failed) bets for R1 and R2 leader. This week presents a rare challenge. St. Andrews is going to crown a big, big name as its champion. It’s the 150th edition and, well, that’s just how these things tend to develop. However, as much as I’d like to just sit on Rory McIlroy (+1000) or Jon Rahm (+1600) deep into Sunday, we have a game to play! It ain’t broke, so I ain’t gonna break it. The Tank Engine is the reason why I finished 24th last week. He talked about how much he enjoyed his foray at links-style golf. His solo third was evidence. At 20, he’s probably young enough not to have the fully formed feel of the significance of what a victory here and now represents, and I like it like that for the purpose of this opening selection. Glass … Kevin Kisner (+20000) Did you think I was going to trot Rory out here at +1000? Kisner was an afterthought at Carnoustie in 2018 before finishing T2. Earlier that season, he finished second at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. Wanna guess how he finished at Match Play this year? Kisner paints fairways, and the firm and fast should help shorten the yardage book. Grinder mentality evident with five straight paydays at this event. Reminds me a bit of Zach Johnson in 2015, plus Kisner has a comfortable pairing with Chris Kirk for the first two days. Plenty of time to reload if this longshot doesn’t fire. Last week’s winner hopped on Xander Schauffele at +8000 after Round 1. It can happen! TOP 10 Rob … Joohyung Kim (+1000) Reset and repeat. He was +2000 for this finish last week and delivered. Always room on the bandwagon for ya, especially since Glass refuses to take a seat. Glass … Thomas Pieters (+750) Rolls in on six straight with three top 10s, so I’m leaning into his form, plus he’s never MC in four attempts at this championship. The “other” news is that he’s never painted the top 10 here, but for +750 that’s not surprising. As is the case weekly with this pick, hit the window and change it when it goes sideways. TOP 20 Glass … Stewart Cink (+600) Admittedly, I’ve struggled to intersect value with form, but that’s the best part of this game: Perfect is NOT required. Chances can be taken, even 49-year old chances. His best performances this year were on demanding ball-striking layouts like Innisbrook and TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. Also finished T23 at Southern Hills and T24 last week at The Renaissance Club. Rob … Keita Nakajima (+1400) I went into more detail in Sleepers on why the long-standing world’s top-ranked amateur is attractive this week, but the abridged version is that if an amateur is going to connect at an Open, it’s going to be at St. Andrews. Three ams recorded a top-15 finish in the last time the course hosted in 2015, and it’s the last time it’s happened in any Open. ROUND 1 LEADER Glass … Webb Simpson (+10000) First group out, perfect greens. I’m not going to overthink this. My USUAL selection of McIlroy can still be in play 18 groups later but at +1200, I can patiently wait. Or sleep in. Or both. Rob … Rory McIlroy (+1200) With all 52 threesomes in single file off 1, there’s a greater likelihood that I’ll be alert before this window closes as compared to last week. Still, I’m doing what Glass will regret … again. In his last six starts, McIlroy has averaged 66.17 in the first round. Yes, it includes a 62 a TPC River Highlands, but it also includes two majors and another two tough tracks. NOTE: While Glass and Rob typically stick with their selections as detailed in Pick ‘Em Preview, they are allowed the right to make changes at any time.

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