Latest in golf: Top three back, PGA Tour-LIV progress, what’s next for Tiger

Andy Ogletree has imagined hitting that tee shot many times. It always ends up in the same spot, just past the deep bunker that guards the right side of Augusta National’s first fairway. Ogletree was scheduled to hit that tee shot today in the first round of the Masters. But then the world was turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic. Sports, like the rest of life, were impacted, and the Masters is no exception. The tournament was pushed back seven months, to Nov. 12-15. Related: The Masters in November: What to expect | Roundtable: Most emotional Masters | Ranking Tiger’s top 10 clubs Fans and players alike anticipate this rite of spring with unparalleled excitement, but Ogletree has a unique perspective. He wasn’t just scheduled to play his first Masters. He was going to play with Tiger Woods. “I’ve thought about it a lot. I’m not going to lie,â€� he said. He doesn’t let those thoughts travel past the first tee shot, though. “I’ve played that tee shot a lot in my head, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. The gameplan is to focus on the first one and then add them up from there,â€� he said. Pairings for this year’s Masters haven’t been released, but pairing the U.S. Amateur and Masters champions is one of the tournament’s many traditions. Augusta National was co-founded by the greatest amateur of all time, the incomparable Bobby Jones, and its respect for the amateur game runs deep. Woods put on his fifth green jacket last April. Ogletree watched the final round in his apartment with his teammates. “We all went crazy,â€� he said. “It’s definitely a day I’ll remember forever.â€� Another one came four months later, at the historic Pinehurst Resort. Ogletree knew what was at stake when he faced John Augenstein in the final match of the U.S. Amateur. “(Playing with Woods) was a big interview topic throughout the week,â€� Ogletree said. Both finalists already had Masters invitations in hand, but only the winner would play with the 15-time major champion. Ogletree was 4 down after five holes but won four of the final seven holes for a 2-and-1 win. His four-hole deficit is believed to be the fourth-largest overcome by a champion. Woods was 6 down through 13 holes against Trip Kuehne in 1994. Two years later, he was 5 down after the morning round of the 36-hole match, as was Labron Harris in 1962. “I was definitely looking forward to it,â€� Ogletree said about the Masters. “I’ll just keep looking forward to it for a while. It’s all perspective. I just have to have a positive outlook. That’s all I can do now.â€� Ogletree also joins Jones and Matt Kuchar as Georgia Tech alums to hoist the Havemeyer Trophy as the U.S. Amateur champion. Kuchar, Ogletree and Jones’ grandson, Bobby Jones IV, all met at last year’s TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. Kuchar also played with Woods in the Masters after winning the 1997 U.S. Amateur. Woods won that year’s Masters by 12 shots. Woods beat Kuchar by just a stroke, 71 to 72, in the first round and just three strokes for the week. Woods finished T8, six shots behind Mark O’Meara, while Kuchar, then a college sophomore, impressed with a T21 finish. He finished T14 at that year’s U.S. Open, as well. Kuchar and Ogletree are scheduled to play a practice round at the Masters, but perhaps Ogletree can also dispense some advice. He’s already played Augusta National in November. Last fall, he played the same weekend that that this year’s tournament is scheduled to be played. Now he has even more time to prepare for his first major. His senior season at Georgia Tech was cut short by coronavirus, so he returned home to Mississippi to be with his family. His hometown of Little Rock, Mississippi, has approximately 2,000 residents. “It’s a lot easier to social-distance here,â€� he said. His U.S. Amateur win also earned him spots in The Open Championship, which has been pushed to back to 2021, and U.S. Open, which is now scheduled to be played in September. These changes have likely delayed his plans to turn pro. Every aspect of life is full of uncertainty right now. For now, Ogletree is working on his game at two local courses. “I’m sure I’ll watch this week. Anytime it’s Masters week, I’m watching with multiple screens,â€� Ogletree said. “It was always a big week for my family, as golf fans.â€� This year, it will be even bigger.

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The eighth of 24 contributing events for PGA TOUR Champions One & Done presented by SERVPRO is this week’s Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge. It begins on Thursday. Scroll for tournament notes and 21 notables from the field of 36 two-man teams in Ridgedale, Missouri. If decisions were as easy as plugging in Charley Hoffman at the Valero Texas Open, then fantasy wouldn’t be as much fun. But wait a minute. Is Hoffman the prohibitive favorite in our format? In one sense, very much so. As of midday Wednesday, he’s way out front in ownership percentage at 20 percent. That’s eight clicks better than Luke List in second and 14 points clear of both Sergio Garcia and Brendan Steele. Surely, there are options. Indeed. List presents as a perfect fit for chasers. The league leaders among us are more likely to stick with the chalk at TPC San Antonio because that contingent, which includes Steele, is so reliable on one of the toughest tracks on the schedule. List continues to impress regardless of the test. His profile as a long hitter shadows the fact that he’s actually the total package. Billy Horschel has a glowing track record in this tournament, but all of us might swerve if not for his T5 at the RBC Heritage. Conservative front-runners will still abstain because of his inconsistency, but the rest of us will latch onto his immediate success after returning to a putter of familiar length. There’s also his penchant for staying hot after finding a spark. If Hoffman wasn’t available and I hadn’t already burned Steele, Horschel would get the at-bat with confidence. Ryan Palmer is a curious option given his run of success in San Antonio, but there’s a little chicken-and-egg variable with him. In other words, does the course bring out his best (probably) or does he need to be feeling it off the tee first to play well (never hurts). There’s always Colonial (Fort Worth Invitational) at the end of May. As a rule, some gamers avoid defending champions, and Kevin Chappell’s current form clinches that decision. There’s also the matter of his first experience in those shoes, er, boots, so holstering is the sensible decision for multiple reasons. Pat Perez may not crash our short list again this season, so he’s a bailout if you’re stuck and you’ve somehow not employed him yet. In fact, I’m surprised that three of my fellow Experts have yet to go to him this season. Because of the timing, two-man gamers for whom Perez is available don’t need to look further. Match him up with any of the aforementioned suggestions. Chesson Hadley also works best as a complement for two-man lineups. So does Martin Laird, Aaron Baddeley and Scott Piercy. We can keep Garcia, Matt Kuchar and Ryan Moore shelved for another event. Because of the elevated interest in Garcia in PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO, I’ll take the cue to remind you that he’s among the best fits for THE PLAYERS and The Open Championship, both of which we’re annually scrambling for reliability. 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. Kevin Chappell … Valero (1; defending); St. Jude (5); WGC-Bridgestone (2); Dell Technologies (3) Jim Furyk … Memorial (7); U.S. Open (8); Canadian (3); WGC-Bridgestone (2); THE NORTHERN TRUST (9); TOUR Championship (4) Sergio Garcia … PLAYERS (5); Open Championship (1); TOUR Championship (4) Bill Haas … Wyndham (2) Charley Hoffman … Valero (1); Fort Worth (4); Travelers (2); Canadian (3) J.B. Holmes … Wells Fargo (7); Greenbrier (5) Billy Horschel … Valero (3); St. Jude (1); TOUR Championship (4) Zach Johnson … Fort Worth (2); John Deere (1); Open Championship (5); WGC-Bridgestone (6); TOUR Championship (8) Chris Kirk … Valero (4); PLAYERS (3); Fort Worth (2) Russell Knox … PLAYERS (8); Dell Technologies (7) Matt Kuchar … Valero (10); PLAYERS (11); Fort Worth (6); Memorial (2); Canadian (3); WGC-Bridgestone (7); THE NORTHERN TRUST (9) Martin Laird … Valero (7); Barracuda (1) Graeme McDowell … WGC-Bridgestone (3) William McGirt … Memorial (4) Ryan Moore … Travelers (2); John Deere (3); TOUR Championship (6) Kevin Na … Memorial (10); John Deere (9); Wyndham (3); THE NORTHERN TRUST (11) Ryan Palmer … Valero (1); Fort Worth (2); St. Jude (6) Pat Perez … Valero (7) Scott Piercy … John Deere (6) Adam Scott … PLAYERS (5); U.S. Open (10); Open Championship (8); WGC-Bridgestone (3); Dell Technologies (9); TOUR Championship (6) Brandt Snedeker … Fort Worth (11); U.S. Open (5); Travelers (6); Canadian (3); Wyndham (4) Brendan Steele … Valero (6); Wells Fargo (7); Travelers (3) Kevin Streelman … Wells Fargo (3); Memorial (1); Travelers (2) Jimmy Walker … Valero (6); Greenbrier (8); Dell Technologies (7) CHAMPIONS ONE & DONE Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge The second-oldest tournament on the PGA TOUR Champions just might be the most progressive and PGA TOUR Champions One & Done gamers get their first lick at it this year. (It was taken off the fantasy board in 2017 due to a technical glitch.) This is the second of two non-majors that begins on Thursday, so adjust accordingly. Thirty-six teams of two will rotate on three courses totaling 67 holes of competition: Par-71 Buffalo Ridge Golf Course will host the first 18 holes. New to the event is the 13-hole Mountain Top, a par-3 track. It will be played once by every team either Friday or Saturday. Top of the Rock, a nine-hole par-3 course, also will be played by every team either Friday or Saturday. It will then host the entire field in Sunday’s final round. All told, 36 holes will be contested on this course, meaning that every team will loop it four times. Carlos Franco and Vijay Singh are the defending champions of what was a weather-shortened edition that went just 36 holes. Total prize money of $1.8 million reflects the lowest purse since 2001, but the tournament extended its partnership with the title sponsor and site through 2021. Each member of the winning team will earn $174,375. Just like next week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, because team members are rewarded equally, the format of the Bass Pro Legends urges One & Doners to select the golfer who you won’t miss as much as his teammate. For example, you could argue that Singh is more valuable than Franco in individual competition, so if you wanted to ride the defending champs, select Franco and save Singh for another tournament. If you’ve already burned Singh, it’s a free pick to do it again. For all 36 teams, click here. 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. Billy Andrade … Bass Pro Shops (4) Joe Durant … Bass Pro Shops (5); Insperity (15); Principal (2); American Family (8); U.S. Senior Open (7); SENIOR PLAYERS (1); 3M (6); DICK’S (12); Boeing (10); Shaw (11); PURE (3); SAS (13) David Frost … Bass Pro Shops (3); U.S. Senior Open (4); 3M (7); Boeing (5); Shaw (8); PURE (1) Paul Goydos … Bass Pro Shops (2); Insperity (7); 3M (1; defending); DICK’S (3); SAS (5) Lee Janzen … U.S. Senior Open (2) Miguel Angel Jiménez … Insperity (13); Senior PGA (6); Principal (10); U.S. Senior Open (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (3); Senior Open Championship (4); 3M (9); Shaw (7); SAS (12) Brandt Jobe … Senior PGA (2); 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 … Bass Pro Shops (7); Insperity (8); Regions Tradition (5); Principal (1); U.S. Senior Open (3); SAS (9) Jeff Maggert … Insperity (1); American Family (3); Shaw (5) Scott McCarron … Regions Tradition (2); Senior PGA (11); Principal (1); SENIOR PLAYERS (3; defending); Senior Open Championship (10); DICK’S (4; defending); Shaw (5; defending); PURE (8) Colin Montgomerie … Senior PGA (1); U.S. Senior Open (6); SENIOR PLAYERS (2); Senior Open Championship (10); Shaw (4); PURE (7); SAS (3; defending) Tom Pernice, Jr. … Principal Charity (2); Shaw (3); SAS (5) Kenny Perry … Bass Pro Shops (8); Insperity (3); Regions Tradition (5); Senior PGA (6); 3M (1); DICK’S (10); SAS (2) Gene Sauers … Insperity (7); Regions Tradition (3); U.S. Senior Open (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (6); Boeing (1) Vijay Singh … Bass Pro Shops (4; defending); Senior PGA (3); U.S. Senior Open (2); Shaw (5); SAS (1) Kevin Sutherland … Usable everywhere. David Toms … Regions Tradition (3); Boeing (2); SAS (4) Kirk Triplett … Insperity (2); Regions Tradition (6); American Family (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (1); Shaw (4) Duffy Waldorf … Bass Pro Shops (2); Insperity (4); Principal (6); Shaw (5)

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Alex Cejka birdied two of the final three holes for a 6-under 64 and a two-stroke lead in the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship.

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