Live leaderboard: Round 2 of the Masters

Here are nine tidbits from the first round of the TOUR Championship gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. East Lake Golf Club just outside Atlanta plays 7,362 yards to Par-70. Know Thy Enemy These were the top-10 selected golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game presented by SERVPRO. I included all players who were owned by 20 percent or more. Warm and humid conditions made for excellent scoring conditions. The greens are in perfect shape and there was barely any wind to move the flags. Déjà vu For the second FedExCup Playoff event running Tiger Woods put his name on the top of the leaderboard with the co-low round of the day. He matched Rory McIlroy’s 62 at Aronimink at the BMW Championship and this week his 65 was joint best. After bogeying No. 1 the two-time FedExCup Playoffs champion played his final 17 holes in six-under and capped it off with a 27-foot eagle at the last. The next step is backing this round up tomorrow before I start getting excited. Co-Leader Rickie Fowler rebound from an oblique injury by firing a trio of 65’s over the first three rounds of the BMW Championship last time out. He’s added another 65 after six birdies against one bogey today. His flat stick gained checked in at No. 2 in Strokes-Gained: Putting and he was T2 in GIR (16 of 18). People’s Choice There was no surprise this week that gamers loaded up on the brand-new OWGR No. 1 Justin Rose. After clinching the top spot in the world after losing in a playoff at Aronimink, gamers were quick to jump on the fact that he’s collected top-10 checks in his last five visits to East Lake. He led the field in Strokes-Gained: Off-the-Tee, Tee-to-Green and GIR. Right on schedule! Wrist, Reward? Justin Thomas has never finished worse than T6 in two trips in the last two years but he was healthy in both of those events. A slight wrist issue was taped and bandaged today and a bogey-bogey start had gamers (read: me) running for the Kleenex. He turned in one-over 36 before storming home in 31. Whew. Now, let’s see how it reacts in Round 2. No. 1 Struggles With three wins on the season including two in the FedExCup Playoffs, it’s hardly a stretch that Bryson DeChambeau ended up on the second-most rosters this week. The 25-year old matches the average winning age over the last three years but the front nine won the first battle in Round 1. Going out in 39 dug a nice hole but a clean card with three birdies on the back righted the ship. He’s just six back with three rounds to play so he’s hardly out of it. New Faces Not only is Tommy Fleetwood playing in the TOUR Championship for the first time but he was paired with Woods in the first round. The Englishman circled five birdies but squared four bogeys to check in T12. He hit 14 of 18 GIR but could only get up-and-down once. He leads all of the debutants after one round. … Francesco Molinari didn’t break par but he wasn’t in the black either as he carded 70 in his first loop around East Lake. … Rookie Aaron Wise squared five bogeys but also circled five birdies as he looks to join Xander Schauffele as the only rookie to win at East Lake. He’s also T17 and just five back. Defender Nobody has ever won back-to-back TOUR Championships and nobody has ever defended any event during the FedExCup Championships so the deck is stacked against both Thomas and defending champion Xander Schauffele. These young bucks don’t seem too concerned about history other than making their own as Schauffele did last year. It’s obvious that this course fits his eye as he carded another round in the red with 68 (T8) to get it started in Round 1. Study Hall Round 1 played under-par at 69.3 with 20 of 30 rounds under-par. … As expected, there will be bogeys and nobody turned in a clean card. … Keegan Bradley couldn’t conjure the magic he provided at Aronimink as his card consisted of 15 pars and three bogeys (T28). … If the FedExCup Playoffs ended today, Rose would be the champion. This would mark the fifth time in the last six editions that No. 2 entering the final week would win the title. We’ll see how that washes out in 54 holes!

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THE OVERVIEW NAPA, Calif. — This week’s Safeway Open not only is the 2017-18 season opener, it’s the start of the eight-tournament fall stretch that sets the tone for the rest of the season. Consider last year’s winner at Silverado, Brendan Steele. After taking the first-week lead in the FedExCup standings, he maintained a top-10 spot for the first 23 weeks of last season and never fell below 16th in points, the position he was in entering the FedExCup Playoffs (he eventually finished 33rd). His win helped set him up to play in all the majors and the three World Golf Championships in 2017. “It set up my whole year,â€� said Steele, who made the cut in his next 12 events after winning at Silverado. “I was able to play all four majors and three WGCs this calendar year, one way or another because of that win. “That’s seven events that you’d have to work hard to get into; it totally changes your year. You get to play all the big-boy events. And in effect, it gives you a three-year exemption on TOUR, because I’m exempt until the end of 2019. And I got a little bit of wine; it’s definitely a fun place to win. It’s nice for me, being from California, too.â€� Now consider what happened at last year’s CIMB Classic at TPC Kuala Lumpur, with Justin Thomas shooting 23 under par to edge Hideki Matsuyama by three shots. Although no one knew it then, the victory touched off a five-win season for Thomas — a season in which he would win the PGA Championship for his first major, and be voted the PGA TOUR Player of the Year. Matsuyama wouldn’t have a bad year, either, winning three times. What’s more, of the top five finishers at the CIMB (Thomas, Matsuyama, Derek Fathauer, Anirban Lahiri and Marc Leishman), four wound up playing in last week’s Presidents Cup at Liberty National. That’s where Matsuyama, incidentally, flipped the switch on Thomas, beating him 3 and 1 in a wildly entertaining singles match that saw the winner make (or was conceded) eight birdies and an eagle. Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes, who won The RSM Classic to start the 2016-17 season, came within a whisker of making the International Team. Emiliano Grillo, who won the Safeway to open the 2015-16 season, did make the International Team. Kevin Kisner, who won The RSM Classic that fall, was a rookie on the U.S. Team, where he won 3 points with partner Phil Mickelson, went 2-0-2 overall, and generally looked like he was having the time of his life. Want to know who’s going to be playing in golf’s most exclusive late-season events? Look at who’s playing well in the PGA TOUR’s early-season events. Of the top six players in the fall the last three seasons, 17 of 18 ended the regular season in the FedExCup top 30, setting up a deep Playoffs run. Now consider Pat Perez. A year ago, he was coming off a shoulder injury, his career in flux at age 41. His sponsor dropped him. He had 15 events in which to earn enough money to keep his TOUR card via a major-medical exemption. Then, just three events in, he won the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. Lo and behold, Perez played his way all the way to the TOUR Championship at East Lake, meaning he will get into the majors and the World Golf Championships in 2017-18. “I didn’t even know if I was going to even have a job this time last year,â€� Perez said. “Coming back, I was only going to have 15 starts; who knew how I was going to do? The whole thing, how it’s all gone for me this year, has been unbelievable.â€� Simply put, keep an eye on who wins these fall tournaments over the next eight weeks. From the Napa Valley to Asia, Las Vegas to Georgia, and Mississippi to Mexico, they’re going places. THREE PLAYERS TO PONDER Eleven of his 42 career wins have come in his native California. Time to make it an even dozen. Making his return to the PGA TOUR after a mandatory two-year military commitment in Korea. Won here in 2014. Celebrated amateur player at Stanford making his pro debut after going unbeaten at the recent Walker Cup. THE FLYOVER A closer look at one of the PGA TOUR’s easiest closing holes, the 575-yard par-5 18th at Silverado’s North Course. Last year, the stroke average was 4.734, ranking it as the eighth easiest 18th hole on TOUR (and the second easiest at Silverado behind the par-5 fifth). It’s one of two par-5s in Silverado’s closing three-hole stretch, allowing players to make big moves later. THE LANDING ZONE The eighth hole at Silverado is the shortest par 4 on the course, at a scorecard length of 360 yards. In two of the four rounds last year, it played to under 335 yards. With a slight dogleg left, players are unable to drive the green; Jon Rahm had the longest drive last year at 301 yards in the third round. While it may be short, the hole is actually one of the tougher ones on the course, ranking fifth toughest with a stroke average of 4.021. Check out the scattershot chart of all tee shots struck last year at the eighth. WEATHER CHECK Rain hampered the playing schedule last year, but this week there should be no issues. According to meteorologist Willis Young, no rain is expected at Silverado. The dry atmosphere and light winds will lead to chilly mornings, but the afternoon temperatures could reach 90. For the latest weather news from Napa, California, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK If there’s a negative of being here, it’s my wife’s not here with me. Seems like it’s one of those destinations you want to have family, specifically your spouse with you. But that’s OK. I’m here to work, so what a cool place. ODDS AND ENDS 1. PRESIDENT CUPPERS. Captain’s picks Phil Mickelson (U.S.) and Emiliano Grillo (International) are the only two players in the field who played last week at Liberty National. Mickelson went 2-0-1 while Grillo went 0-2-0. Grillo won the Safeway in 2015, while Mickelson is making his third start in this event; he tied for seventh a year ago. 2. WEB.COM TOUR GRADS. Nearly a third of the field consists of players from last week’s Web.com Tour Finals, including Sam Saunders, who shot a 59 last week at Atlantic Beach on his way to tie for second. 3. ROOKIES. Several members of the 2017-18 rookie class are also in the field, including California natives Brandon Harkins and Beau Hossler.

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Justin Thomas wins the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational for his third victory of the season. RELATED: Final leaderboard Driver: Titleist TS3 (9.5 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX 3-wood: Titleist TS3 (15 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw Blue 85 TX 5-wood: Titleist 915 Fd (18 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Motore Speeder VC 9.2 Tour Spec X Irons: Titleist T100 (4), Titleist 620 MB (5-9) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design Raw SM7 (46-10F @ 47.5, 52-12F @ 52.5), Vokey SM8 (56/14F @ 57), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (60T @ 60.5) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (46), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (52-60) Putter: Scotty Cameron X5.5 Tour Prototype Grip: SuperStroke Pistol GT Tour Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord

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