Leaderboard: Round 2 of Tour Championship

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – To mark the PGA TOUR’s return to competition at the Charles Schwab Challenge, June 11-14 at Colonial Country Club in Ft. Worth, Texas, the TOUR and Twitter today announced a global live content execution that will be a first-of-its kind for the social media platform. “Twitter Multicast� will take place on Thursday, June 11, from approximately 1-2:30 pm ET and will showcase athletes, celebrities and other personalities creating their own live, audio/video commentary in conjunction with PGA TOUR LIVE Featured Groups coverage during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge. Twitter Multicast will feature the likes of Danny Kanell, Dude Perfect, Darren Rovell, Darius Rucker, Annika Sorenstam, Golden Tate and others. Learn more about Twitter Multicast “The PGA TOUR is proud to be among the first major sports leagues to return to competition,� said Rick Anderson, Chief Media Officer of the PGA TOUR. “With no spectators on site, we want to work harder than ever to connect our fans to the event, across numerous platforms and devices in addition to the PGA TOUR LIVE, Golf Channel and CBS broadcasts. Working with Twitter on this all-new fan engagement initiative is a nod to how important fans are to the TOUR and our players.� The Charles Schwab Challenge features the top-five ranked players in the world and 17 of the top 20 in the FedExCup Standings. The Twitter Multicast will offer nine versions of the live stream with distribution from more than 20 different Twitter accounts. The video streams will cover pre-game, practice sessions, and the first two holes of competition of players such as Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth. Each stream will carry PGA TOUR LIVE featured groups coverage complemented with live audio/video commentary from commentators who will provide their point of view on the return of the TOUR. A full list of the guest commentators across nine video streams: “This first-ever Twitter Multicast will give golf fans a viewing experience they won’t find anywhere else,� says TJ Adeshola, head of U.S. sports partnerships for Twitter. “By adding conversation and commentary from a range of Twitter notables to premium golf content, the Multicast will have something for everyone, regardless if you’re looking for real-time reactions, analysis or just some laughs to pair with live footage from Colonial. This is a prime example of how to create a richer, more customized fan experience through the power of Twitter.� The PGA TOUR and Twitter initially teamed up to live stream tournament coverage when portions of PGA TOUR LIVE’s premium window was streamed during the opening rounds of the first two events of the 2016 FedExCup Playoffs. The two companies formalized their live stream relationship in January 2017 when they began offering PGA TOUR LIVE coverage from select events during the 2016-2017 PGA TOUR Season, expanding the agreement in 2019 to include live daily coverage on Twitter during every PGA TOUR event.

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Since there isn’t a clear-cut favorite or a horse for the course who’s in blistering form entering the Valero Texas Open, the pressure is on front-runners to keep the opposition at bay. For those of you in this position, the concern is quieted if Billy Horschel is still on your board. The veteran of eight appearances hasn’t won the tournament, but he’s earned your better judgment with a pair of third-place finishes, one fourth and a T11 among six cuts made at difficult TPC San Antonio. The key word there is difficult. Only if you’re new to the PGA TOUR are you unaware how much the former FedExCup champion relishes a challenge. It feeds his confidence off the tee where he lets others make mistakes, but he’s even better with his irons. Oh, and he’s currently eighth in Strokes Gained: Putting. As a native of Florida, Horschel is most comfortable on bermudagrass putting surfaces, even if they’re overseeded, which is the case this week. The undulations are equalizers. His experience here could be the dagger. Among all of the non-winners at TPC San Antonio, he best fits the profile of what a champion embodies. If Horschel isn’t on his game, TPC San Antonio will get annoying and quickly. Its length demands driver, but if the big stick isn’t cooperating, it’ll take all of his patience to salvage a round. This is how Greg Norman intended it. The Shark was legendary tee to green, so it’s hardly a surprise that the course that he designed reflects what he did best. If you’re in pursuit and you’re going to assume that you’re going to get stymied by Horschel, you’re in terrific position. Lucas Glover, Jason Kokrak and Ryan Palmer are three strongmen who presents as threats. To select Glover is to invest almost entirely on his form throughout 2018-19. He missed the cut in his only prior trip to TPC San Antonio (in 2015), but two rounds of experience never hurts no matter the result. Kokrak fulfills the converging trends, if mildly. He’s never been more consistently strong over this most recent stretch of time, and he’s 5-for-7 at TPC San Antonio with a pair of top 15s, albeit it’s been four years since the latter. Palmer is an example of what happens when there isn’t synergy with the driver. He’s hung up five top-15s in this tournament, but he’s also finished outside the top 50 thrice, twice for a missed cut. That may seem academic and familiar for most veterans on any track, but we already know him to thrive or dive with the 1-metal. Whereas Horschel is the low risk-high reward, Palmer is the medium risk-medium reward. Rickie Fowler, Tony Finau, Matt Kuchar and Jordan Spieth are wasteful in our format this week. Stick with reliable sites for each. How Spieth performs this week will seriously impact his probability at the Masters despite one of the best modern records at Augusta National. Watch him this week specifically with that in mind. No doubt there’s a contingent that’s been holding its breath for the VTO’s all-time earnings leader, Charley Hoffman, to break out of his funk in time for TPC San Antonio. Because he hasn’t, at least enough, slot him with the same mindset as Palmer. Because the course will beat up a few notables, two-man gamers are advised to reach a bit for your tandem this week. Consider Aaron Baddeley, D.J. Trahan and Sung Kang. 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 2018-19. 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. Byeong Hun An … Memorial (1) Daniel Berger … Travelers (1) Tony Finau … Valero (5); Memorial (2) Rickie Fowler … Masters (2); Wells Fargo (6); PGA Championship (9); Memorial (5); U.S. Open (10) Brian Harman … Charles Schwab (1); Travelers (5); John Deere (4) Russell Henley … Masters (3) Charley Hoffman … Valero (3); Masters (4); Heritage (7); Charles Schwab (6); Travelers (1) J.B. Holmes … Wells Fargo (5) Billy Horschel … Valero (2); New Orleans (3; defending); Wyndham (6); TOUR Championship (1) Si Woo Kim … Heritage (1) Chris Kirk … Valero (3); Charles Schwab (2) Matt Kuchar … Masters (6); Heritage (2); Charles Schwab (7); Memorial (1); Open Championship (8) Martin Laird … Valero (5); Reno-Tahoe (2) Ryan Moore … Valero (7); Masters (13); Memorial (11); Travelers (6); John Deere (8); Wyndham (2); TOUR Championship (9) Ryan Palmer … Valero (2); Charles Schwab (4) Jordan Spieth … Masters (1); PGA Championship (7); Charles Schwab (5); Memorial (13); U.S. Open (4); Travelers (9); Open Championship (6); TOUR Championship (8) Brendan Steele … Valero (8); Wells Fargo (9); Travelers (4); Reno-Tahoe (3) Kevin Streelman … Valero (9); Heritage (5); Memorial (4); Travelers (7) Jimmy Walker … Valero (2); Byron Nelson (6)

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Slow play is one of the biggest issues in golf. The Tour is trying to fix it. We asked a player to give us the truth. He wasn’t shy in what’s wrong and how make the problem go away.

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