Leaderboard: Round 1 of The Players

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CROMWELL, Conn. — Jordan Spieth reached the 18th green at TPC River Highlands during his practice round Tuesday at the Travelers Championship. He felt no need to try any shots out of the front bunker. “I know what it does,� he told caddie Michael Greller. Indeed. Spieth’s hole-out a year ago in the first playoff hole against Daniel Berger didn’t just produce a win. It also ignited a celebration that was just as memorable. Spieth’s club throw with his gloved left hand toward the back bank of the bunker. Greller’s casual rake toss to his left. Then the side bump/chest bump between the two. Spieth — and perhaps others in this week’s field — may very well hole out from that same bunker this week. It’s doubtful anyone, though, could recreate the impromptu and unfettered show of emotion that followed. “That was pretty special,� Spieth said. “I don’t think we could do that again, no matter how many times we tried.� It’s a good thing, considering Spieth admitted he basically “blacked out� after his ball rolled into the cup for the unlikely birdie. He knew the shot was a good one but thought the ball would roll a few feet past the cup, so he strained to pick up the read for the comebacker over the lip of the bunker. “Then it drops,� Spieth said, “and you just react.� The fortunate thing, according to Spieth, was that no one got hurt in the process. Spieth said that while he’s thrown clubs in the past, he’s never done it in celebration. But this time, he couldn’t help himself. In typical Spieth fashion, he explained in detail Tuesday how he usually twirls the club after a bunker shot or chip shot, so his hand slid halfway down the shaft instead of staying on the grip. That gave him better accuracy and control as he tossed the club. “If my hands are still on the grip and I really threw it, it could have hurt somebody,� he said. “Instead, it was like throwing a baton, like throwing the middle of the baton.� Meanwhile, Greller’s rake toss — the unsung moment of the celebration — was a nice, high lob to his left. Greller, incidentally, retrieved the rake after the awards ceremony and has it in his home. Then as Spieth climbed out of the bunker, he launched sideways at Greller, who opted for the full chest bump. “Better than the other way around,� Spieth said. “There’s been a lot of pretty bad celebrations on the PGA TOUR. There’s been a lot of missed high fives — I’ve been part of plenty of them. It’s pretty hard to miss when I’m going into Michael for a chest bump.� The holed shot didn’t end the tournament, though. Berger still had a 50-foot birdie putt to extend the playoff, and Spieth followed his celebration by helping to quiet down the frenzied crowd. Spieth’s win was sealed when Berger narrowly missed. “I don’t regret anything of the celebration,� Spieth said. “I thought it just pure emotion. … It felt the moment and that’s where I was living. Then it was OK, I had it now Daniel’s got his turn. You know, let’s chill out. Once that was done, then it was time to celebrate.� Spieth, of course, has seen the replays of the shot many times — “every single day� for the following week or two after the tournament. Then it pops up every now and then on social media. Bill Haas knows what it’s like to produce a highlight moment in a pressure-packed situation. His chip shot from a half-submerged lie in the water at the 17th hole finished inside 3 feet, allowing him to save par in a playoff against Hunter Mahan at the 2011 TOUR Championship. One hole later, Haas won not only the tournament but the FedExCup title. “That was a really good shot that worked,� Haas said Tuesday after walking off the 18th hole (no, he did not try to recreate Spieth’s shot from the bunker). “But I seem to remember the bad ones more than the good ones. The best players remember the good ones more.� Haas is being too humble, of course. After all, he has six TOUR wins along with that FedExCup title. Yet when Spieth and Greller talk about the moment, they don’t focus on the shot. Only what followed. “More about the celebration, for sure,� Spieth said.

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PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO In any other fantasy game, it would be harsh to judge investment profiles that resemble the ownership dispersion of the top 10 below, but in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO, it’s evident that many gamers don’t care about the influence of fractional fantasy scoring and that The Open Championship often requires more luck to succeed than usually minimally acceptable. I get that there are two schools of thought when ShotLink has the week off, but in Segment 4, we still have three no-cut tournaments and the PGA Championship among the remaining eight stops, all of which ShotLink will be there to document. More power to the gamers who navigate the land mines of Royal Birkdale, but if you don’t nab the winner or a couple of strong also-rans, here’s to at least hoping that you’ve blended in a couple of complements who you won’t miss when points are going to your opposition later. The slew of notables not grouped below includes Marc Leishman (16th, 8.1 percent), Justin Thomas (19th, 7.0 percent), Zach Johnson (21st, 4.7 percent), Jason Day (23rd, 4.2 percent) and Patrick Reed (30th, 2.9 percent). Bryson DeChambeau, who was the last man to qualify when he won the John Deere Classic, is 40th at 1.3 percent. NOTE: Rob’s Rating refers to where our Fantasy Insider slotted a golfer in his Power Rankings and other preview material. Golfers in the Power Rankings and outside the top 10 in most owned. PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO – The Open Championship Love seeing Sergio Garcia atop the ownership percentages for The Open Championship. That’s where he belongs. You can count the number of reliable talents at THE PLAYERS Championship on one hand and the number of reliable talents at the season’s third major on the other. Garcia would be on both. Bravo. There are other sensible and timely choices who populate the top 10 – Rose, Fowler, Scott, Casey – but the devotion to Southport, England’s own Tommy Fleetwood is a recipe of regret. Consider your interest if he wasn’t a local. That he opened with 6-over 76 is beside the point in principle. The 26-year-old simply isn’t One & Done-worthy. He made sense only as the tandem in two-man games. Notables outside the top 10 include Dustin Johnson (12th, 2.8 percent), defending champion Henrik Stenson (13th, 2.7 percent), Phil Mickelson (14th, 2.4 percent), Brooks Koepka (15th, 1.5 percent), Matt Kuchar (16th, 1.5 percent), Marc Leishman (17th, 1.4 percent) and Jason Day (20th, 1.2 percent). PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO – Barbasol Championship One of the reasons I was drawn to fantasy golf in the 1990s was that I needed to learn about the rank and file, at least if I was going to be good at it. The correlation I drew then still applies today; that is, while most fans couldn’t identify an unknown in a crowd of two, gamers in team sports are more likely to be aware of and possess working knowledge of reserve infielders in MLB, backup running backs in the NFL and defense specialists in the NBA. So, why not the fellas on the fringe of the PGA TOUR? Additional events like the Barbasol Championship in Alabama serve up the opportunity for us to learn all about them, well, at least those who committed. Another benefit to its timing is that it’s contested concurrently with The Open Championship because it’s the only game in town for the second half of the day due to the intercontinental time difference. All of that said, it’s still smart to enjoy that educational process separately. How we choose to invest in our various formats should align with what got you here. So, it comes as zero surprise that Jim Furyk headlines the crop at Grand National. With Chad Campbell and Daniel Summerhays, the household threesome commands over 40 percent of the picks. Love the attention given to Jonathan Byrd, who slots seventh. Easy guy for whom to root and has made 228 cuts in a career that started in 2002, but he’s in his second season without fully exempt status on TOUR. His Past Champion status would have granted entry into the Barbasol, anyway, but a T5 at the John Deere Classic lifted both his prospects of reaching the FedExCup Playoffs (he’s 165th in points) and our interest this week. Notables outside the top 10 include Boo Weekley (12th, 1.5 percent), Matt Jones (13th, 0.9 percent) and David Hearn (16th, 0.7 percent).

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