Leaderboard: CIMB Classic Round 1

Only one thing can bump the lede this week – another reminder that the Farmers Insurance Open is scheduled to begin on Wednesday. As a result, the roster deadline for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf is 9:00 a.m. PT. That’s noon on the East Coast. Adjust accordingly. All right, hopefully you arrived here without too much trouble. Whatever your experience, thank you for making the effort and, as always, for your loyalty. Indeed, the Fantasy Insider now is Draws and Fades. RELATED: Five Things to Know: Torrey Pines | How to watch Wednesday start That’s it. Nothing else changes. It’s just a rebranding. Everything you’ve come to expect from this space remains, well, except for my lineup at PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. That’s over in Expert Picks where it always has been. Once ShotLink was removed from scoring, it became redundant to park it here, too. I’d ask for you to tell the others of the name change, but I learned long ago in this business that the more I help you, the less you share it. As a result of that, it’s still a strange feeling when any gamer spreads the word, but, and of course, it’s always appreciated. With that message out of the way, you know what to do at the Farmers Insurance Open. As noted in Monday’s Power Rankings, the North Course at Torrey Pines will surrender much lower scores in comparison to the South, so exploit it. With the North co-hosting the first and second rounds, PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf gamers can map out a maximum of six starts on it. Weather conditions should be similar in both rounds, so it won’t matter if you load up with four in either round or split it into three per. POWER RANKINGS WILD CARD Scottie Scheffler (+110 for a Top 20) … Consider him as an extension of the Power Rankings proper. Paid off sneaking inside the cut line at The American Express with a Sunday 67 and a T25. You love to see it. He’s 0-for-2 at the Farmers but connected for a T7 at the 2021 U.S. Open, so he deserves our trust. DRAWS Daniel Berger (+200 for a Top 10) … It took him a while but he finally got over on Torrey Pines for a T7 at the 2021 U.S. Open. He’s been dynamite just about everywhere for two years, so it’s fair to say that he’s a snub from the Power Rankings. Jordan Spieth (+160 for a Top 20) … He’s never contended at Torrey Pines – last year’s T19 in the U.S. Open equaled his best finish in six Farmers starts (2014) – but this is as simple as being able to trust in him again. His last missed cut anywhere was here last year, but that’s a long time ago. The site is a coincidence. Dustin Johnson (+100 for a Top 20) … This is just his second start of the season and first in over three months since a T45 at THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT. It’s especially hard to believe given the time of year because he didn’t qualify for the Sentry TOC, but don’t let that fool you into a no-play. He’s logged 30 rounds in this tournament where he’s 6-for-9 with three top 20s (albeit it’s been six years since his most recent) and another four en route to a T19 at the 2021 U.S. Open. Go ahead and let this dog eat. Brooks Koepka (+150 for a Top 20) … He never makes it easy on us, but I believe his rhetoric about wanting to perform consistently stronger in non-majors. He wouldn’t put himself out there if that wasn’t the case. A T4 in last year’s U.S. Open is his only top 40 among two paydays in four appearances at Torrey Pines, so he’s had success here. Yeah, yeah, that was a major, but the stage showcases the best for a reason. Joaquin Niemann (+275 for a Top 20) … His 3-for-3 record at Torrey Pines is highlighted by a T31 at the 2021 U.S. Open, but he closed out his first two Farmers with an 80 and a 75, respectively. So, as every touring professional can attest, it’s just a matter of putting four rounds together. Although he closed out the fall with a pair of missed cuts, he’s battled for paydays at an exponentially higher rate than even gamers realize. Keegan Bradley Corey Conners Talor Gooch Billy Horschel Sungjae Im Matt Jones Maverick McNealy J.T. Poston Brandt Snedeker Matthew Wolff Odds sourced on Monday, January 24 at 5 a.m. ET. For live odds visit betmgm. FADES Hudson Swafford … It’s not wrong to label The American Express as a putting contest, but only when you accept that those putts better be for par breakers. He averaged 13 greens in regulation per round to rank T21 and converted a higher percentage into par breakers (55.77%; 29-for-52) than everyone else. He used the same formula to prevail at Corales in 2020, and he acknowledged his timely knack for finding the hole that week. Putting isn’t necessarily a strength, but it’s not a liability, either, so we need him to put it on display in consecutive starts. At Torrey Pines, he’s cashed only once (T13, 2016) in five trips, so we can play the role as spectator this week. Mackenzie Hughes … Off to a blazing start this season with a T4 (ZOZO) and a solo second (RSM) baked into a 5-for-5 record. He’s also signed for a pair of 62s and a 63. I’m inclined to go all-in or abstain completely because he hasn’t made much noise at the Farmers (2-for-5, no top 25s), but he did finish T15 here at the 2021 U.S. Open. This typically means that he’d be a gamechanger in DFS. Mito Pereira … Given how he seemed to be everywhere last summer – because he was – it’s been odd not to follow him for over two months now. After opening his rookie season with a solo third at Silverado, he lowered his sails by comparison, so use the deep field at Torrey Pines as an opportunity to see how he fares in his debut. Cameron Champ Jason Day Rickie Fowler Emiliano Grillo Keith Mitchell Patrick Rodgers Jhonattan Vegas Gary Woodland RETURNING TO COMPETITION Bryson DeChambeau (+180 for a Top 10) … He’s in the Power Rankings, but it’s relevant to add here that this is his first start since citing a sore left wrist that precluded his appearance at Waialae two weeks ago. It shouldn’t be surprising given how he tests the limits of his body, but we also shouldn’t be concerned given his intelligence in resolving challenges. In other words, trust him. NOTABLE WDs Charley Hoffman … This stinks as it would have been his 25th appearance at the Farmers. The San Diego native hasn’t competed since missing the cut at Mayakoba in early November. He withdrew early from Houston with a sore back, and he was an early exit from last week’s Amex. Lucas Herbert … He’s committed to the DP WORLD Tour’s Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic. The recent winner of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship is juggling the welcome problem of calculating when to honor obligations on multiple circuits. We watch it happen every year with dual-tour members. K.H. Lee … Connected for his sixth consecutive payday last week, but closed with a 76 and a three-way share of 63rd place. Whatever. He’s rapidly become a favorite among hardcore gamers and he’s 74th in the FedExCup. Nate Lashley … After opening this season with three paydays in as many starts, he’s gone just 1-for-5 with a T51 at Sea Island. The 39-year-old deserves consideration only in the deepest of full-season formats. Ryan Moore … After missing the cut at The American Express, he’s down to three starts on his Major Medical Extension to earn 94.203 FedExCup points and retain status. His safety net is conditional status, but the 39-year-old is too close to the primary target to settle for that. Still, it makes it difficult to own him in any long-term format until he shows signs of escaping the worst-case scenario, not to mention the proof that he can put four rounds together again. Kelly Kraft … Has five starts on his medical, but he’s safe all season as a Korn Ferry Tour grad. It’s just that there’s only one paycheck on the board in eight starts this season. Chris Stroud … Yet another on a medical extension, his in the KFT graduate reshuffle category. With 14 starts remaining, he can spread those over quite a bit of the remainder of the season and not sweat it in the short-term. RECAP – THE AMERICAN EXPRESS POWER RANKINGS Power Ranking Golfer Result 1 Jon Rahm T14 2 Patrick Cantlay 9th 3 Matthew Wolff MC 4 Scottie Scheffler T25 5 Sungjae Im T11 6 Seamus Power T14 7 Tony Finau T40 8 Corey Conners MC 9 Talor Gooch MC 10 Abraham Ancer T40 11 Justin Rose T33 12 Patrick Reed T55 13 Michael Thompson MC 14 Cameron Tringale MC 15 Will Zalatoris T6 Wild Card Si Woo Kim T11 SLEEPERS Golfer (Prop) Result Sebastián Muñoz (top 20) MC J.T. Poston (top 20) T25 Rory Sabbatini (top 20) MC Brendan Steele (top 20) MC Vince Whaley (top 20) T40 GOLFBET Bet, Result Hayden Buckley – Top 30 (+310) MC BIRTHDAYS AMONG ACTIVE MEMBERS OF THE PGA TOUR January 25 … Andrew Putnam (33) January 26 … Adam Schenk (30); Nick Hardy (26) January 27 … Jonathan Byrd (44) January 28 … none January 29 … none January 30 … none January 31 … none

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Cameron Smith ... Sure, it feels like cheating to circle the 51st-ranked golfer in the world who advanced to the TOUR Championship in early September and has opened 2020-21 by going 3-for-3 with top 25s in his last two starts, but the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD is limited to 78 golfers, so his position as a Sleeper is more relative than usual and he deserves the attention. If you agreed to split hairs, consider that the Aussie hasn't recorded a top 10 since hoisting the hardware at the Sony Open in Hawaii nine months ago. Joel Dahmen ... With 100 PGA TOUR starts under his belt, he's among the throng that appreciate the mountain that Jason Kokrak finally conquered at THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK on Sunday. It's rare for a first-time winner to emerge in a limited-field invitational with no cut. The last was Russell Knox at the 2015 World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions the week after Justin Thomas broke through at the now-defunct CIMB Classic. Dahmen's impressive form over time supports his inclusion on the short list of the non-winners in our crosshairs week over week. Ryo Ishikawa ... Time passes more quickly for some than for others. Even if you've been a fan of the PGA TOUR for a minute, it still might surprise you that he hasn't possess status since the 2016-17 season, the last of five consecutive with a card. It also might come as a shock that he's 29 years old and a veteran of 151 starts. Nevertheless, the once can't-miss prospect from Japan arrives having just finished T3 at the Japan Open Golf Championship with a field-low 65 in the final round. His astounding 17 victories on his home circuit include three in 2019. Takumi Kanaya ... It's not often when a PGA TOUR non-member wedges his way into this select grouping twice in six tournaments, but he's not just any PGA TOUR non-member. While he missed the cut at the U.S. Open, it's merely a matter of time before he's a fixture on the world stage. Already 218th in the Official World Golf Ranking thanks in part to a solo seventh in his professional debut at the Japan Open Golf Championship on Sunday, the 22-year-old also is a winner on the Japan Golf Tour. That title helped propel him to the top spot in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Gunn Charoenkul ... If you read my Father's Day special about how becoming a father influences performance inside the ropes, then his progression to the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD makes sense. He learned that his wife, Koyy, was pregnant in mid-2019. She delivered the couple's first child in February of this year. In the interim and since the birth, the first-time father converted 18 top-15 finishes worldwide, including in all of his most recent eight starts. The most recent was a co-runner-up in his native Thailand two months ago. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Commissioner Jay Monahan said Wednesday the PGA TOUR will not split from the game’s governing bodies to operate under its own set of rules. The Rules of Golf have been a hot topic of conversation, with some players questioning a few of the newly simplified rules that went into effect at the start of 2019 and wondering if the TOUR should make its own rules for the game’s best players to follow, leaving the USGA and the R&A to make and implement rules for others. Monahan was adamant that would not happen. “We have two fantastic professional governing bodies of the game,â€� he said during his annual press conference prior to the start of THE PLAYERS Championship. “We have always played by their rules and we will continue to play by their rules – and we are not going to be playing by our own rules. “We think that the game is best served with everybody playing by the same rules and the same standards. We think it’s a source of inspiration for the game.â€� Monahan said he wasn’t surprised by the rules discussions that have taken place among players and others in the golf community. What was unanticipated, he said, was the lack of communication and transparency between players along with primary organizations. On Wednesday morning, Monahan met with officials from the R&A, the USGA, the LPGA, the European Tour, the PGA of America and Augusta National for two hours in hopes of addressing these issues. “We’re doing what we should be doing as leaders of this industry, which is talking about, one, where we are in the current state of rules. And again, everybody agrees we’re where we thought where we would be,â€� Monahan said. “But more importantly,â€� he added, “I think what’s happened here the last few weeks has just exposed a weakness in our working relationship, which happens when you got a lot of different organizations. So, we’re going to tighten that up, and we’re going to move forward in a way that is going to be good for the game and certainly is going to get us to the right place over time with these new rules, and I think we’re in a really good place right now.â€� Some players have pushed back against Rule 10.2b(4), in which caddies are forbidden from lining up their players from behind. Intent is tricky to pin down, as many caddies stand on the line of their player’s shot not to line up the boss but instead to better understand the demands of the shot at hand. Denny McCarthy was assessed a two-stroke penalty for an alleged violation in the second round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, and both he and his caddie denied any wrongdoing. After a great deal of debate on Twitter and elsewhere, the penalty was rescinded the next day. “In no way, shape or form did I think what I did yesterday was a penalty,â€� McCarthy said. The new drop protocol, Rule 14.3b, which dictates that players take penalty drops from knee height as opposed to shoulder height, also has come under fire, especially after Rickie Fowler was penalized for forgetting and dropping the old way at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship. Players have come to one another’s defense, and in some cases publicly called out the new Rules and the governing bodies. Monahan, though, reminded that the changes have been part of a six-year collaboration between the TOUR and the governing bodies. “We were fully supportive of the new Rules because we were a participant in creating them,â€� he said. “We had equal share, just alongside the other organizations.â€� Rolling out 50 changes at once, he added, meant there were bound to be some things that worked well and others that created debate. The USGA already has revised and clarified Rule 10.2b(4), which also tripped up Haotong Li at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, a European Tour event, in January. Li, who also denied wrongdoing, dropped from a T3 to a T12 finish. “Lost in some of the discussion is all the things that are working really well,â€� Monahan said, “and the list is long, and I think it’s right that we’re two and a half months in and there’s some rules, some existing rules, that are causing debate and discussion. Again, exactly where we thought we would be.â€� Other topics that the Commissioner addressed: MOVE TO MARCH: Asked if he could see THE PLAYERS still holding down its March date in 2050, Monahan didn’t hesitate. “The reason that we’re in March,â€� he said, “is because when you look at the global competitive sports calendar, we felt this was a very strong position and an opportunity for more fans to follow and engage the players and the PGA TOUR earlier in the season, which is good for the event and for the TOUR, and it also showcases our players and hopefully is good for the game, creating a bigger championship earlier in the season.â€� He cited THE PLAYERS as the start of the Season of Championships, the five biggest events in golf over the next five months, and went out of his way to especially thank the PGA of America, which moved the PGA Championship from August to May (New York’s Bethpage Black is the host course this year). “We feel like we put the product in the right place to grow,â€� Monahan said, “and, yes, I do expect that in 2050, which is a long ways off, that we’ll be here in March. And I know you’re going to ask the follow-up question. We’ll be playing THE PLAYERS in March.â€� THE PLAYERS AND MAJORS: Any discussion of THE PLAYERS invariably comes around to whether or not it should be defined as a major. In this case, the first question posed to Monahan asked him to define the tournament. He spoke of its unsurpassed depth of field (50 of the top 50 in the world), the demanding test that is the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, and the exquisite spectating experience. As for its status as a fifth major? “I think we all have to recognize that when you look at the major championships, they’re competitors and they’re also partners,â€� Monahan said. “And the beauty of our game, some people might say, well, you got a lot of different organizations involved in the game of golf. The beauty of the game is we are all trying to build, do the same thing, build the best possible championships. “As we compete,â€� he continued, “I think we’re moving the game forward, we’re growing, we’re improving, and candidly we’re watching each other and those championships inspire us and hopefully in some way we inspire them. But in the long run we’re hopeful that the game is benefiting.â€�

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