Jon Rahm takes solo lead at THE NORTHERN TRUST

Welcome to PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live! This is the PGA TOUR’s first offering of an interactive game using live odds, which are powered by PointsBet. It’s a weekly contest developed by Low6 and it’s free to play on desktop and mobile devices. RELATED: FAQs for PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live! Fittingly, its launch aligns with The Genesis Invitational. The annual stop at The Riviera Country Club hosts a smashing field of 120. What you’re reading now is the first edition of Pick ‘Em Preview, the weekly space dedicated to tournaments that PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live will be presenting. Our resident fantasy writers, Rob Bolton and Mike Glasscott, have been collaborating on various projects for many years, so we hope that you enjoy their analysis, insight, opinion, and banter as much as they do. Before you go on though be sure to sign up at https://pickemlive.pgatour.com/ and join the free fun! Not sure who to pick where? Never fear, our gurus are here! After having reviewed the board at PointsBet, Rob and Glass are sharing their opening selections for the weeklong component and for the first round. With this debut, they’ve dug into some of the strategic components of the gameplay. As we navigate PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live for ourselves, we will present more perspective, tips and other helpful hints from the experience. A cash prize bounty of $5,000 is on offer ever tournament for the top five scorers. $2,500 for first place, $1,000 for second, $750 for third, $500 for fourth and $250 for fifth. You cannot lose points at any time, so there’s no reason to abstain from any pick. And with three weeklong wagers hovering over 12 props for which progressive multipliers of 25, 50, 75 and 100 drive the action, you’re never out of the hunt. Odds for weeklong outrights will change in real time, and quite often in your favor. So, if you’re locked in at, say, +1200, and he moves to +2000, and you still want him as your choice, cancel and reselect at more favorable pricing. Just like that. Enjoy! WEEKLONG Outright Rob … Francesco Molinari (+15000) Unless you’re the punter who’d rather set and forget, à la Glass turning to shorter odds below, reaching for a longshot before R1 is the way to go in PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live. The experience and phenomenon of monitoring odds changing in real time is fascinating for me as someone who has never played in this space. With the power to modify the investment at any time, and with the insurance that I still can select the winner just before he is determined, consider making it a weekly routine to start outside the box. Thing is, despite what the board says, Molinari really isn’t a longshot on a course where he is a member. His value is long in part because of his form, but also because of the depth of the kind of field over which he hasn’t prevailed in recent memory – his and ours. Glass … Xander Schauffele (+2200) Uh, Rob, how many times has Webb Simpson won at Quail Hollow? How about Ryan Palmer at Colonial? I’ll hang up and listen to your answer. Meanwhile, it’s hard to turn down a number on Schauffele after he led the field last week in Strokes-Gained: Tee-to-Green for a T3. SoCal player has never missed the cut here in four tries and won’t have to figure out Poa. Max Homa won on his fifth try last year. Top 10 Rob … Francesco Molinari (+1000) There are a few ways you can go with this and your top-20 prop. First and foremost, unlike the outright, the lines for top 10 and top 20 will freeze during live action. You will be unable to modify either selection until play concludes every day. That could be challenging depending on where you are and your lifestyle because there isn’t a set period of time after any round when the window will reopen. As for the strategy, when an outright is as long as Molinari is at Riviera, and there aren’t any others valued more favorably (in your opinion) for a top 10, then you might as well double dip. Although my outright and top 10 match in the tournament for which PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em launches, it’s unlikely to happen again for a while. Regardless, with the promise to have the power to change picks in between rounds, ignoring the chalk for a longshot makes sense early. Once again, however, Glass has other ideas, but I’m used to that. It’s what makes his world go round. Glass … Matthew Fitzpatrick (+360) Value smacks me right in the forehead, so I’ll take it! The Englishman has stacked back-to-back top 10s at Pebble and Scottsdale in his first two TOUR events of 2022. Posted par or better in seven of eight career rounds here with T5 the highlight last year. Top 20 Glass … James Hahn (+650) Let’s gamble. I write Horses for Courses, so let’s get #OnBrand. I get that he’s ICE COLD right now but the 2015 champ hasn’t finished worse than T15 here the last three years. Remember, you can change all of your weeklong picks throughout the week, so riding a longshot isn’t the worst strategy in the business! Rob … C.T. Pan (+850) Gee, partner. Thanks for the advice! I’ll have to remember that. Molinari checks in at +425 here but Pan at twice the payoff is totally worth the early nod. He finished T20 here last year (in his fourth start) and he’s peppered leaderboards at times with top 20s. That’s all well and good, but the 30-year-old always has presented as a go-to on tough tracks. No, it’s not a sure thing, nothing is, but he does some of his best work when par is a good score. Pan isn’t quite at the class-is-permanent level, but he can see it from where he operates. The sequence of variables at Riviera are aligned to prove it. ROUND 1 Leader Glass … Patrick Cantlay (+2500) Saddle up, folks! Ready? Last four first rounds here: 67-68-68-66. Also, a bit hot in ALL FACETS of his game, no? Rob … Luke List (+6000) In full disclosure, either I’m missing something or I don’t have a mechanism for blind confidence. Connecting for the first-round leader, or the leader of any round, is akin to playing the lottery. Sure, you can kind of rule out a percentage of possibilities, but this is just an educated dart. For me, I’ve always espoused steering toward the draw with the better weather and/or wind. When it’s balanced and neutral as it will be throughout Thursday in Pacific Palisades, California, I default to the morning wave, and I’m hardly alone. Softer conditions from overnight moisture that settles and pure greens allow for better scoring. It’s that simple. Cantlay is perched atop my Power Rankings, but he goes out at 12:21 p.m. PT in the opening round. Pass. List tees off at 7:46 a.m., and he starts on the par-5 first hole with that elevated box beside the clubhouse. It’s been the easiest hole on Riviera for forever and it’s among the easiest par 5s on the PGA TOUR annually. He just captured his first TOUR title at Torrey Pines and he’s been among the best performers all season. So, give me the bomber to circle a birdie or even an eagle to ignite his day and keep that rally rolling. Make the Cut Rob … Francesco Molinari (-188) How do you say, “Duh,” in Italian? Not only is he already my outright, but his odds are the longest of the offerings. It’s almost an insult at this point. It’s important to note that, unlike the weeklong props, you will not be able to change this pick after the R1 deadline, but you won’t see an outcome on your home page until the 36-hole cut falls. Glass … Cameron Tringale (-277) Again, sniffing around for some value. I’ll ride his nine paydays from 10 starts at The Riv. Of them, seven are T30 or better, so you might shoehorn him in somewhere else if you need! Oh, and he’s on the “every” this week of his “every other week” streak of big finishes. Matchup Glass … Joaquin Niemann over Robert Streb and Adam Long. Opened his season T6 on Poa at Torrey before jetting off to Saudi Arabia for another top 10 (T8). Dialed in and easily the class of this 3 ball as Long is 0-3 and Streb is 0-7 here. Rob … Talor Gooch over Erik van Rooyen and Chez Reavie It’d be logical to double down on my FRL, Luke List, but the angle here isn’t the same. It’s relative to the group and the potential influence of its dynamics, but I do like the opportunity to take advantage of the vacuum of the morning conditions. I also like putting points on the board early for psychological reasons. With a multiplier of only 25 in R1, it’s not worth reaching. Can’t win the thing on Thursday! Moreover, of the first six wagers we make, this is the easiest to convert, so go ahead and drive to the hoop for the layup. Gooch, who goes off the par-4 10th at 7:13 a.m. PT, is having himself a season. In addition to his breakthrough victory at Sea Island, he’s second on TOUR in both red numbers (34) and sub-70s (30). In three appearances at Riviera, he’s finished a respective T20, T10 and T12 with a scoring average of 69.75. EVR is 0-for-1 with an average of 72.50 in his two rounds. Stallings exploded for a T4 in 2018, but it’s his only top 40 among three paydays in six trips. His scoring average in 30 rounds is 72.37. LATER ROUNDS Don’t forget, if you want to get the maximum chance at points, you’ll need to return prior to rounds 2, 3 and 4 to pick from three categories each round! There will be some variance between tournaments but the choices will come from the markets PointsBet provides. It’s likely most second rounds will see you picking two separate 3-ball results and which player will lead at the halfway mark. Start thinking about which players grind to make cuts, or who is prone to producing rebound rounds. It might be prudent to also think about those who may be mentally moving on to the following week a little early. Round 3 is slated to provide you with six match ups (2 or 3-Balls depending on tournament), from which you’ll have to make three selections. Who are the moving day masters? The final round, which carries the 100-point multiplier, will have you select three matchups from the final six groups of the tournament. As you watch those key players down the stretch remember you can change your weeklong outright winner if your choice has faded! How long will you keep the faith before jumping ship? Will a late change be enough to finish in the cash? If not, well you live to fight another week as we all go back to zero to kick off the next tournament! We hope you enjoy the ride as much as we intend to. Good luck!

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Byeong Hun An (+400 for a Top 20) … For some, it probably doesn’t feel like it was all that long ago that they teed it up at Congaree; for him, it probably feels like it’s been a minute. In the PGA TOUR season in between editions, he forged forward on the Korn Ferry Tour and promptly regained status in the big leagues just in time for this second appearance in the Lowcountry (T52). Opened this season with a reminder of his talent in the form of a T4 at Silverado, so he’s back with some momentum piggybacking the purpose. He’s also representing his homeland in the only TOUR stop positioning South Koreans in the spotlight, so the 31-year-old also is buoyed by national pride this week. J.J. Spaun (+350 for a Top 20) … Breakthrough winner in San Antonio just six-and-a-half months ago, it’s basically an insult to drop him in here, but value is value. He scuffled for a while after the coronation at the Valero Texas Open but has since reconnected with the kind of form that yielded the career-defining experience. In his last seven starts, he’s cashed six times, four of which for a top 25, including in each of the last two times out. While he missed the cut at Congaree in 2021, the experience was invaluable for him to get an edge on where to miss and from where to make. Luke List (+275 for a Top 20) … Another first-time winner from earlier this year, when considering the champion of the Farmers Insurance Open for any outcome, it’s best to lean all the way into one direction or the other. Since he relies as much on power and precision from tee to green as anyone, the hope is for no worse than a push with the putter. In a week like this, when only 19 in the field competed at Congaree in 2021, including him (MC), understanding the nuance and undulations of the greens requires time for course debutants. That increases the value of his skill set. The exercise isn’t unlike how it was at Narashino last week, albeit on a much shorter track. Naturally, he led the field in measured drives (ShotLink wasn’t utilized) and ranked T12 in greens hit, but he finished second-to-last in putts per GIR. A final-round 72 bumped him 12 spots on the leaderboard to a T29, his best finish in eight starts. Keith Mitchell … His active narrative can be traced all the way back to about a month before the PGA TOUR first swung through town. It was at the Wells Fargo Championship in May of 2021 when he eliminated pressure of qualifying for the Playoffs and keeping his card. Although he’d missed the cut at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree, he’s gone on record 11 top-15 finishes on the shoulders of a strong, balanced bag. He’s missed only three cuts in individual competition in the last 12 months and only one (Open Championship) in his last 11 starts. Alex Smalley … Among the throng of those who call the Carolinas home, the resident of Greensboro, North Carolina, and Duke University product has emerged quietly and comfortably as a touring professional on the biggest stage. He advanced to the second leg of the FedExCup Playoffs as a rookie last season and has opened 2022-23 with a pair of paydays in three starts, including a T25 last week in Japan. Already proven to improve closer to the hole, so he shouldn’t be playing from behind off the tee at forgiving Congaree. Odds were sourced on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. For live odds, visit BetMGM. Responsible sports betting starts with a game plan. Set a budget. Keep it social. Play with friends. Learn the game and know the odds. Play with trusted, licensed operators. CLICK HERE to learn more at HaveAGamePlan.org.

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Numbers to Know, where we’ll take a closer look at Bryson DeChambeau’s victory at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. DeChambeau’s radical transformation of his game, and body, finally led to a victory after several weeks in contention. Let’s take a closer look at how he did it. 1. DIGGING THE LONG BALL: You may have heard that DeChambeau is hitting it farther. Just how far? He led the field with an average of 350.6 yards per measured drive. That was 9.6 yards farther than the second-place finisher in that statistic, Cameron Champ. DeChambeau hit 16 drives over 350 yards at Detroit Golf Club, an average of four per round. That was more than twice as many as the next two players on the list, Matthew Wolff (7) and Cameron Champ (6). Those are two players who aren’t exactly known for being short hitters. 2. LONG AND SHORT OF IT: DeChambeau is the first player in the ShotLink era to win an event while leading the field in both Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Strokes Gained: Putting. He’s been outstanding with the clubs he hits the farthest and shortest. He’s gaining +1.113 strokes off the tee per round, trailing TOUR leader Cameron Champ by just 0.003. DeChambeau is 12th in Strokes Gained: Putting (+0.69). Just nine players have averaged +1.0 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee per round over an entire season. DeChambeau is on pace to become the first player to gain at least 1 stroke off the tee and 0.5 strokes on the greens in the same season. Players who have gained at least 1 stroke off the tee have averaged just +0.06 strokes gained on the greens in the same season. DeChambeau is on pace to gain the most strokes per round from the driver and putter in a season since ShotLink began in 2004. Every player who gained at least 1.4 strokes per round with their driving and putting won multiple times in that season. 3. GAINING ON THEM: The Rocket Mortgage was the best Strokes Gained: Putting performance of DeChambeau’s career. It wasn’t the top Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee performance of his career – it was his third-best – but it continued a recent trend. The top four Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee performances of his career have all come in his last six starts. 4. WHAT A TURKEY: DeChambeau and Wolff were separated by just a stroke after DeChambeau’s bogey on the par-5 14th and Wolff’s birdie on the par-3 15th. DeChambeau sprinted away from his closest pursuer with birdies on the last three holes to win by three shots. It was a measure of revenge for DeChambeau, who watched Wolff eagle the 72nd hole to beat him by one on the previous Fourth of July weekend. DeChambeau is the first player since 2016 to birdie the final three holes to win a stroke-play event by three or fewer strokes. 5. BREAKING BAD: Wolff started the final round with a three-shot lead, but shot 38 on the front nine to fall off the pace. He put some pressure on DeChambeau, though, with four birdies in the final seven holes. Wolff led the field with 31 par-breakers (30 birdies, 1 eagle) but was undone by 12 bogeys. It was the most par-breakers in a 72-hole event by a player who didn’t win since Ryan Palmer at the 2014 AMERICAN EXPRESS. It was the first time since 2008 that a player made that many par-breakers at an event other than THE AMERICAN EXPRESS and didn’t win. In the last decade, only two players have made more birdies and eagles in a 72-hole event than Wolff’s 31. Justin Thomas (2015 CIMB) and Patrick Reed (2014 AMERICAN EXPRESS) both made 32 in their victories.

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