Live leaderboard: Round 2 of WM Phoenix Open

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Here are nine tidbits from the final round of the Travelers Championship that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. TPC River Highlands hosted since 1991 and measures 6,841 yards (Par-70). Wonderful Watson Bubba Watson overcame a six-shot deficit as he posted 17-under-par 263 to win the Travelers Championship for the third time in nine years. This was his second come-from-behind victory at the event when trailing by six shots. The left-hander’s final round of 63 put the pressure on the leaders and in the end his margin of victory was a comfortable three shots. He becomes the first player to win three times on TOUR this season and the first player to win this event three times since Billy Casper in 1968. The regret is palpable from gamers who passed on Watson this week based on his current form (raises hand). With nothing to lose on a course he already painted for 63 earlier in the week he let it fly heading out in 33. His inward 30 saw him match his low round of the week (63) and it dropped the hammer on the guys still on the course. The exclamation point was his wedge to less than three feet on the final hole for his eighth and final birdie of the day and the clubhouse lead on 17 under. There wasn’t any surprise to the formula he used as he didn’t hit many fairways (T70) but still found plenty of GIR (T7). He measured T22 or better in every strokes-gained category but the key was he was fifth-best in putts per GIR. After opening level par he played the final 54 holes in 17 under with only four bogeys (no others). The mystery of Watson shouldn’t exist anymore for gamers. When he’s in the mood, and boy has he been this season, there are a handful of tracks where he is no-brainer, green-light special. He’s won on two of them (Riviera and TPC River Highlands) this year and added a “new” title with World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. Gamers aren’t out of luck yet as he’s gone close at Glen Abbey (if he plays) and Firestone South so there may be time to right the ship and get one more. Know Thy Enemy These were the top-10 selected golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game presented by SERVPRO: It’s been tough sledding for gamers who leaned on Berger at the last two TPC stops where he’s had immense successes. I guess the “up” side is that he did outscore Casey in the final round but that’s hardly a consolation. Pain or Gain These were the top-10 selected golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO: It was a brutal Sunday two ways for Casey’s investors. He had the largest 54-hole lead at TPC River Highlands in history and his share of second was chopped four ways. If fantasy golf was played in a vacuum it would have been, on paper, a great week. Instead it was probably a disappointment. N-Cink Stewart Cink matched the round of the week with 62 and picked up his first podium since 2009. The course historians were rewarded again as the two-time champ felt right at home Sunday circling a magnificent 10 birdies against two bogeys. To say the disappointment of his 72 in the final round in Memphis (T4) was squashed is probably underplaying it. He’s as hot as the Georgia summer and is 22 under in his last eight rounds. Next in Line I’ve been asked multiple times who I believed to be this year’s Xander Schauffele and the retort I’ve given is Beau Hossler. Although he hasn’t won yet he’s been a consistent force. This week he picked up his 10th-consecutive paycheck and his second runner-up finish of the season. At No. 36 in the FEC standings a trip to Atlanta isn’t out of the realm of possibilities. No Memphis Blues Similarly to Cink, J.B. Holmes was looking to build on his excellent week in Memphis but a missed six-footer for par on the last saw him share second instead of claiming it himself. He won’t be upset with back-to-back podium finishes on TOUR but I bet the putting green will get a work out starting next week. His last 13 rounds on TOUR are in the red and so are 15 of the last 16. He demands a detailed look next week at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farms. Life of Brian The “other” left-hander on the weekend that was trying to make noise was 36-hole leader Brian Harman. He posted rounds of 69-68 but dropped all the way to T6 when the dust settled. After two years of deflated scoring, TPC River Highlands was back to its original giving self this year but Harman couldn’t get it over the finish line. He quietly goes about his business and his top-10 payday is his eighth of the season, tying Dustin Johnson for the most on TOUR. Sunday Silence There were only three scores on Sunday worse than Paul Casey’s 72 with only five players accumulating 73 or worse. His worst finish when making seven of his last eight cuts is T17 so I’m not going anywhere. … Russell Henley (T6) was in charge of putting the pressure on his playing partner in the final pairing but his 69 was also left in the dust by the peloton. He squared only two bogeys and nothing worse for the week so it’s obvious he likes it here. He’s 22 under in two trips with a 67.25 scoring average. … Anirban Lahiri is still trying to become the first Indian to win on TOUR and that can’t be easy with a couple of billion people weighing on his shoulders. His 69 dropped him from T6 to T9 but he cashes his first top 10 since November and is comfortably inside the top 100 in the FEC standings at No. 89. Study Hall Round 1 scored 69.776 (-0.224) while Round 2 crept just higher at 69.994 (-0.006). Saturday’s excellent scoring conditions were realized as the field averaged 69.108 (-0.892) but the field went even lower on Sunday. Even with the course tipped out past the scorecard total of 6,841 at 6,868 the final round produced the lowest aggregate of the week at 68.865 (-1.135). … Interestingly there were only two bogey-free rounds as Sam Ryder (64) and Adam Hadwin (66) will take their momentum forward. Neither cashed in the top 25. … Matthew Fitzpatrick accepted STM this week and will have unlimited exemptions for the rest of the TOUR season. He’s currently ranked No. 39 in the world. Remember, he’s only eligible for the FEC Playoffs if he wins a TOUR event before they begin. … Brooks Koepka was looking to join Ernie Els (1997) as the last player to win the U.S. Open and win the following week. Koepka, who is clearly not human, signed for 65 in the final round to move up 19 spots to T19. … Phil Mickelson is the last player to defend at TPC River Highlands as Jordan Spieth’s 63 on Thursday never kept any momentum. He cashed T42 in his defense.

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THE OVERVIEW By Ben Everill, PGATOUR.COM For years, Marc Leishman flew under the radar, hardly noticed on the PGA TOUR. Despite being the 2009 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year and winning the 2012 Travelers Championship, the affable Australian just kind of fell into the background of TOUR life. TOP 30 PLAYERS TO WATCH IN 2018: We’ll countdown our list with one new player each day in December. Click here for the published players. MORE: Top 30 explanation and schedule Partly because of his laidback demeanor and partly because he didn’t chase the limelight, his profile only took modest upward moves when he almost won the Masters in 2013 and the Open Championship in 2015. His amazing wife Audrey almost lost her life to sepsis in 2015. Even with that storyline, Leishman couldn’t find his way into the higher conscious of the golf public. But in 2017, Leishman finally started making more inroads. He showed that his skill can turn up more than just the odd week. A win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational was a long time coming and the way he surged late on Sunday would’ve made Mr. Palmer proud. But he didn’t let things lull there. Leishman missed just three cuts all season and was in the top-10 seven times and the top-25 16 times. One of those was a win at the BMW Championship, where he went wire-to-wire in ultra-impressive fashion after opening with a 62. Even more impressive was it came after losing the lead on Sunday to Justin Thomas the week before at the Dell Technologies Championship. He showed a mettle reserved for those with mental toughness. For most of this decade, the focus of Australian golf has centered on Jason Day and Adam Scott, but Leishman’s 2017 season was light years ahead of both his countrymen last season. He is now within striking distance of being the top-ranked Australian in the world, having already overtaken Scott and sniffing down Day’s neck. He started the new season with a playoff loss to Thomas, someone whose accolades he’s looking to emulate. He has the ability to have a year like Thomas did last year and if he does that, no one will ever be asking who Marc Leishman is anymore. Click here to follow Ben on Twitter BY THE NUMBERS How Marc Leishman ranked in Strokes Gained statistics during his last full season on the PGA TOUR. FEDEXCUP Current 2017-18 position: 13th Playoff appearances: 9 TOUR Championship appearances: 2 Best result: 6th (2017) INSIGHTS FROM THE INSIDERS PGATOUR.COM’s Insiders offer their expert views on what to expect from Marc Leishman in 2018. TOUR INSIDER by Cameron Morfit I like Leishman’s resilience. He had his best season in 2017 with two wins, including the BMW Championship in his first start after he’d blown a great chance to win the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston two weeks earlier. (Leishman fell apart on the back nine of his final round in Boston to finish third.) He’s shown he has the game; now he’ll need to find more consistency if he is to improve on his sixth-place FedExCup finish, add to his three TOUR wins, and take the next step to elite status. Click here to follow Cameron on Twitter FANTASY INSIDER by Rob Bolton This is higher than where he belongs in draft leagues, but not by much. The talented Aussie is in his prime at 34 years of age and his results in 2017 prove it. Still a lock to start when the wind blows, he’s scaled leaderboards all over the place when it hasn’t thanks to a measured balancing of weapons throughout his bag. Because it took him a while to get there, the expectation is that the bubble won’t last long, but that same doubt enhances his value for the faithful because their pool isn’t overcrowded. Click here to follow Rob on Twitter EQUIPMENT INSIDER by Jonathan Wall Leishman added three Callaway GBB Epic metalwoods to the bag at the beginning of the year.  One of two PGA TOUR winners this season with a 7-wood in the bag. Only non-Callaway club is a 58-degree Titleist Vokey SM6 wedge.  Click here to follow Jonathan on Twitter STYLE INSIDER by Greg Monteforte The big Aussie has a closet full of classic looks with traditional fits. When Leishman tees it up in 2018, you can bet he will sport a variety of stripes and prints in his wardrobe. He would do well to improve his fashion game in the New Year by eliminating the white belts from his repertoire. Click here to follow Greg on Twitter

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