Jordan Spieth talks Netflix doc before playing at Pebble Beach

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A year ago, Bubba Watson was languishing at 115th in the FedExCup standings when he teed it up at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier at The Old White TPC in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Mired in a two-year win drought and fighting an undisclosed illness that saw him lose more than 20 pounds, he was at the lowest point in his career. Today, Bubba Golf is back. Watson is third in the FedExCup, the only three-time winner on the PGA TOUR this season, and one of the most dramatic turnaround stories of this season. “It’s been good,â€� Watson said in his press conference from the Greenbrier on Tuesday. “Looking back, I’m a golfer, so there’s always things I wish was better. It was a slow start to the year, missed a couple cuts. But I knew I was headed in the right direction.â€� Players are almost always trending in one direction or the other, up or down, with the exception of FedExCup No. 1 Dustin Johnson, who was also No. 1 a year ago at this time. With the start of the Playoffs seven weeks out, a snapshot of the current Top 30, who would get into the season-ending TOUR Championship if it started today, shows several dramatic upward trajectories. “If you make it to Atlanta, no matter how you play throughout the year, you’ve done something right,â€� said big mover Webb Simpson, who is 10th in the FedExCup (up from 33rd a year ago) after his big win at THE PLAYERS Championship, and is looking good for East Lake. Chesson Hadley, 19th in the FedExCup, has made the biggest leap; he was 224th a year ago. Ryan Armour, who is in the Greenbrier field and 30th in the FedExCup, has made the second biggest jump, from 185th. “I’m a different player over the last year,â€� Armour, 42, said recently, and as if to offer further proof, he finished second to runaway winner Francesco Molinari at the Quicken Loans National last week. Bryson DeChambeau, who will defend a TOUR title for the first time at next week’s John Deere Classic, is the third biggest mover over the last 12 months, having shot up from 128th position a year ago to 6th today. Whether you measure it with a calculator or a compass, that’s a huge improvement. Their transformations have been stark, as have those of TOUR winners Aaron Wise (FedExCup No. 23) and Austin Cook (No. 28), both of whom are playing the Greenbrier. They’re battling for Rookie of the Year honors, which begs the question: When you talk meteoric rises, do Cook and Wise get the nod over even Hadley? How do you measure the upward trajectory of a guy who wasn’t even on TOUR last year? Phil Mickelson, who is making his first start since a disappointing U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, has gone from 40th in the FedExCup a year ago to eighth today. Patton Kizzire, who also is playing the Greenbrier this week, has gone from 89th to ninth. No player, though, is enjoying as thrilling a run as Tony Finau. At No. 11 in the FedExCup, the soft-spoken, long-hitting Utahan is up 20 spots from a year ago. He has six top-10 finishes, including two at the season’s first two majors, and has proven just as adept at figuring out less brawny courses, like The Old White TPC (7,286 yards, par 70), as he is taming longer ones. “It’s been a great season for me,â€� said Finau, who is coming off a fifth-place U.S. Open finish in which he had a chance to win late Sunday. “Really solid season, and my best season thus far. I’ve played some really nice golf and I’ve learned a lot about myself both mentally and physically. I’ve been working really hard on my game, and I think it’s starting to show this year.â€� Finau is used to making big moves. After switching back to a conventional putting grip before the 2017 BMW Championship, he shot a final-round 64 at Conway Farms to tie for seventh and play his way into the TOUR Championship at East Lake, where he also finished T7 to finish 19th in the season-long race for the FedExCup. He’s kept that good run going in 2018. “I like the position I’m in,â€� Finau said. Being well inside the Top 30, he added, beats being on the outside looking in, as he was last year. But he’s loathe to take his eye off the ball at the Greenbrier and beyond. The same goes for Watson, Mickelson, Kizzire and Simpson. Late-bloomer Armour, in the 30th position, can’t afford much of a letdown if he wants to get to Atlanta for the first time. The biggest movers of 2018 have worked hard to get where they are, but plenty of work remains.

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When it was decided that THE PLAYERS Championship would be canceled after one round last year, it guaranteed that THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass wouldn't prevail for once. Indeed, Pete Dye's menacing track at the PGA TOUR's headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, cannot be defeated. Regardless of score, it is survived. Although professional golf is an individual sport, success at TPC Sawgrass must be measured solely in relation to the competition, for the pursuit for perfection is more futile here than anywhere else. As of Monday, an expanded gathering of 154 golfers is poised to demonstrate how Dye's design does not discriminate. For detail on the special construct of the field, what TPC Sawgrass has in store and more, scroll past the extended ranking of projected contenders. RELATED: The First Look | Inside the Field POWER RANKINGS: THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP Max Homa, Patrick Reed, Tyrrell Hatton, Patrick Cantlay and Joaquin Niemann will be among the notable reviewed in Tuesday's Fantasy Insider. The traditional build of 144 golfers for THE PLAYERS is heavier by 10 since it recently was decided by membership to include the top 125 in the 2019-20 FedExCup standings. It's an annual criterion for entry, but it had been replaced by a special points list that ran from the beginning of the 2019-20 season through the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession and the Puerto Rico Open on Feb. 28. Both criteria have been used to grant access, but the 10 who qualified only via the top 125 in the 2019-20 FedExCup are considered add-ons, so if any withdraws, he will not be replaced. (They are listed under "Top 125 on the 2019-2020 FedExCup Points List in Inside the Field.) As the 2019 champion, Rory McIlroy is the most recent winner of the tournament. As such, he's next up to attempt to become the first to successfully defend at TPC Sawgrass. This is the 39th edition of THE PLAYERS on the course. While he's winless since the WGC-HSBC Champions 16 months ago, his form is sufficiently encouraging that he'll have a reasonable go at consecutive titles; that is, if you subscribe to conventional thinking. Consider that of the last 10 defending champions, 2018 winner Webb Simpson is the only to finish with as strong as a top 55. He placed T16 in 2019. That there hasn't been a golfer to go back-to-back at TPC Sawgrass helps legitimize the fairness of the test. It's a stock par 72 and all 7,189 yards have been overseeded. The primary rough is lush and trimmed to two-and-a-half inches, while the TifEagle bermuda greens should reach 13 feet on the Stimpmeter. In its return to March after a dozen years in May, it averaged 71.513 in 2019. McIlroy's pace of 16-under 272 was consistent with history. Because of the omnipresence of the risk-reward component, experience defines most champions of this tournament. McIlroy contributed to that narrative as having appeared nine times before capturing the title. Since Tiger Woods won for the second time in 2013 - he first won it in 2001, so he's the only winner in both March and May - Martin Kaymer, Rickie Fowler and Jason Day each needed exactly five trips before connecting. Si Woo Kim surprised in his second appearance in 2017, but Simpson had eight starts under his belt before his victory. Ball-striking is the other weapon that most winners possess. On cue, McIlroy ranked second in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, T3 in greens in regulation, 11th in proximity to the hole and first in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green en route to the title. He also led the field in par-3 scoring. In contradiction to so many editions of THE PLAYERS in March, outstanding weather is forecast all week. Passing clouds won't prevent daytime highs from climbing into the low 70s throughout. The primary challenge will be a persistent easterly breeze, but only gusts scare golfers of this field's caliber, most sincerely at the famous penultimate target. Fair conditions in general can influence an urgency to score, so the likelihood of taking risk rises, and that makes for a more compelling viewing experience. Speaking of which, Every Shot Live has returned for the TOUR's flagship event. As its name implies, every stroke by every golfer will be on camera and with visual enhancement such as tracing of tee balls. As a reminder, if a winner isn't determined in regulation, a three-hole playoff consisting of aggregate scores on holes 16, 17 and 18 will be used to settle the score. If still knotted after that, a traditional hole-by-hole playoff beginning at the 17th and alternating with the 18th will be used. Last and very much not least, the prize fund is a record $15 million of which $2.7 million is reserved for the champion. He also will receive 600 FedExCup points and a five-year membership exemption. ROB BOLTON'S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM's Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Fantasy Insider SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM's Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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