Lexi Thompson’s trying year continues

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If it feels like it’s a treat to able to lean on course history as a tool, you’re right. Of the most recent eight completed tournaments, only the Charles Schwab Challenge and the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday were contested on courses with enough reasonable history to apply to our decisions. This week’s Travelers Championship has been at TPC River Highlands for decades. That kind of bank of data not only can weed out a few talents, it serves as entry-level intel for rookies among us. That said, when scanning over your considerations in PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live, historical record is but one component to the madness, er, responsibly generated preview material. Yeah, that’s it. In addition to combing through our stand-alone content for the Travelers, Rob and Glass have zeroed in on opening selections for PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live below. Naturally, they’ve used said stand-alone content because, well, they reviewed the data, analyzed it and compiled it for the purposes of all. Here’s your chance to use it against them if you don’t scale into the top five as well. Register for PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live here and monitor Rob’s and Glass’ progress as Influencers. For a broader explanation of the format and FAQs, click here. TOURNAMENT TO WIN Glass … Mackenzie Hughes (+12500) Trending nicely, yet quietly, with T24-T28-T37 in his last three. He’ll enjoy the “break” this week as the three above were The Country Club, St George’s and Muirfield Village. The Canadian is 5-for-5 here and opened with 60 en route to T3 in 2020. Rob … Beau Hossler (+10000) Glass has owned me for three weeks, but his mini-reign of terror, er, terrific form ends now. Beau knows. One of the most popular questions posed to me this week was how Hossler could start as fifth alternate despite slotting 56th in the FedExCup. If you, too, are curious, understand that only invitationals use in-season FedExCup standings to fill fields. It’s how he got into THE PLAYERS, Schwab and Memorial. However, opens like the Travelers use the season-opening Priority Ranking in which he’s way down in Category 32 on conditional status. The category reorders but he can’t be promoted from it without a victory. Although the 27-year-old never has won on the PGA TOUR, he’s going to be a popular pick to do just that at TPC River Highlands. It’s the site of one of his pair of runner-up finishes (2018) and he finished T10 last year. He’s a phenomenal putter who will need to sharpen his tee-to-green game to elbow for position come Sunday, which is when the real fun begins. In 11 final rounds this season, he’s broken par just twice – neither for a sub-70 – and ranks 202nd in final-round scoring average.. TOP 10 Rob … Kevin Streelman (+900) Because this window unlocks every night, I’m comfortable in reaching, but is it, really? Streels famously walked off the win here with seven straight birdies in 2014. It’s one of five top 10s in 14 consecutive trips, the last a solo second in 2020. In this week’s edition of “PGA TOUR: The CUT,” he reiterated his affinity for TPC River Highlands, the tournament and the community, and that’s plenty good for me. Glass … Brendan Steele (+500) No point overlooking the intersection of form meeting course history! Steele has found another gear after a dreadful winter. It’s six straight cuts made on his own ball with a T9 at Southern Hills and a T10 at Memorial in his last two. His eight paydays from 11 starts at TPC River Highlands are T25 or better. DNS at The Country Club, so he should be fresh as well. TOP 20 Glass … Hank Lebioda (+750) I was lined up early last weekend for changes and they worked out quite well. Something about early birds and worms! Taking chances in this format is what makes the action round to round enjoyable, so try to take advantage. The lefty has found a bit of form lately and his best round of the spring was 66 to close in Canada last time out. He’s never MC here in three tries, and he cashed T5 last season, so let’s try and catch him on the up. If not, I’ll switch my horse. Rob … Tommy Fleetwood (+270) Unlike Glass, I can’t stay up late enough in Arizona for this window to open on weekends – I’ve tried! – so I need to cast aside that plan. The proper adjustment is to choke up and accept what the pitcher gives. In his only prior appearance, the Brit finished T13 in 2019 with a set of sub-70s, and he’s piled up the top 20s worldwide in 2022, eight to be exact. Since the kickback on this play doesn’t have as strong of an impact on other bets – even if Glass connect with Lebioda at +750 – easing off the throttle should contribute to the enjoyment. ROUND 1 LEADER Glass … Jason Day (+5000) Posted 62 here in Round 2 last year and 63 in Round 2 in 2019, so he’s got the LOW figured out. Now, just shift it into Round ONE and we have action. Well, we ALWAYS have action, and the Aussie is out at 7:15 am on No. 10. Not perfect but plenty of time to chase down whoever is leading if not him! Rob … Xander Schauffele (+3300) Not that we need incentive in PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live to circle an early starter, but rain overnight and into Thursday morning will present TPC River Highlands for target practice when the balls start flying. Because the nines are equal enough, I’m not partial to either side of the draw. I just want a guy who’s comfortable being aggressive in part because he’s done it here before. In three trips, Schauffele (7:35 a.m. ET) has scored 66, 67 and 63 in opening rounds of the Travelers. The tail of that trio was in 2020 when Mackenzie Hughes opened with 60. Hughes also co-led with an opening 64 in 2019. Jordan Spieth can match the multiple with at least a share of the R1 leads in 2017 and 2018, both times with 63. I’d have plucked either of those two, but both go out in the afternoon. So, they are Plans 1b and 1c. NOTE: While Glass and Rob typically stick with their selections as detailed in Pick ‘Em Preview, they are allowed the right to make changes at any time.

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. –  Even when the Internationals won a hole on Saturday, it seemed to backfire on them. A ruling on the 325-yard par-4 12th disqualified Jordan Spieth from the hole, but that only served to fuel his rally with partner Patrick Reed, as they won the final three holes of their afternoon Four-ball match to claim a 2 and 1 win over Jason Day and Louis Oosthuizen at the Presidents Cup. The match was all square going into the drivable 12th. The Americans had already conceded a birdie to Day when Oosthuizen attempted a chip for eagle from behind the green. The ball rolled well past the hole, then Spieth scooped up the ball while it was still in motion with the back of his putter. “The crowd was all cheering for it to continue to go down the slope,â€� Spieth said in explaining his actions. “I thought that was a little excessive, so I just tried to pick it up so we could just then … be quiet and we could go on with the rest of the hole.â€� The ball had not yet come to rest, and European rules official Andy McPhee had no choice but to disqualify Spieth from the hole. That prevented Spieth from attempting a 12-foot birdie putt that could’ve halved the hole. Instead, the Internationals won the hole to go 1 up. A discussion took place on the 12th green after the ruling, with Spieth explaining his actions to McPhee. U.S. Captain’s Assistant Tiger Woods also spoke with McPhee. “It’s a bad rule. We all agree,â€� Spieth said. “The Internationals wanted to concede the 13th hole. They felt so bad, even though I was a good 12-, 15-feet away from the hole. They handled it so well. Obviously we were trying to do the right thing; a rule’s a rule.â€� The International duo each said they did not want to win the hole that way. “I had no idea that there was a rule like that,â€� Oosthuizen said. “Unfortunately, you know, he’s there — a rules breach — we didn’t want to halve it. We wanted Jordan to putt and we offered the 13th hole to them, to walk to 14, and Jordan said, no, that’s the rule, and that’s how it is and don’t worry about it. “You know, that is the rule but again, silly rule. Added Day: “This is what’s wrong with rules sometimes in golf. He’s just doing the courtesy thing. I understand that Andy is trying to do his job and we’ve got to live by the rules out here in golf but it’s just unfortunate. “We wanted him to putt. No one wants to win a hole like that. It’s kind of a stupid rule. That’s why I think golf rules should be simplified a lot more.â€� NBC rules analyst Stephen Cox said that if McPhee hadn’t been assigned to the match, “I think you probably would have seen a situation where nothing would have happened. But as he has been assigned by the committee to accompany that match, if he spots a breach of the rules, unfortunately – as innocuous as it may seem and not necessarily in the spirit of the game – unfortunately he has got an obligation to act upon that. And unfortunately that’s the way it’s played out.â€� It only served to rile up the Americans. Spieth squared the match three holes later with a birdie at the 15th, then Reed and Spieth posted back-to-back birdies to win the next two holes and close out the match. “Yeah, I was fired up,â€� Spieth said. “I hit my next putt on the next hole about 8 feet by, really trying to throw it down the throat. Fortunately we both were able to come through and ham-and-egg it nicely coming in and make a comeback.â€� The comeback win moved the Spieth/Reed partnership to 3-0-1 this week.

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