MacIntyre eagles 17th, has 4-shot lead in Canada

The 14th annual FedExCup Playoffs opens with a new but familiar backdrop. THE NORTHERN TRUST will be contested at TPC Boston for the first time. The par 71 was the only host of the Dell Technologies Championship when it was a staple in the 2-hole of the old four-event series from 2007-2018. Eight of the 12 winners on the course during the FedExCup era qualified for the 2020 Playoffs. As of midday Monday, all 125 who are eligible are committed. Scroll past the expanded ranking of projected contenders for the adjustments made for the Playoffs, details on TPC Boston and more. RELATED: The First Look | One-liners for every player in the Playoffs POWER RANKINGS: THE NORTHERN TRUST Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider will include reviews of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler, each of whom is a former winner at TPC Boston, as well as Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood among other notables. Nothing has seemed to evade the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FedExCup Playoffs included. About halfway into the three-month hiatus, it was announced that the Playoffs would be shifted forward a week on the calendar. In other words, THE NORTHERN TRUST originally was scheduled for last week. The other modification to THE NORTHERN TRUST and next week’s BMW Championship addressed the FedExCup Playoffs points earned. Instead of the usual quadrupling of the points versus what’s available during the regular season, they are tripled. For example, the winner of the first two events receives 1,500 FedExCup points instead of 2,000. This helps offset the elimination of 13 tournaments, including THE PLAYERS, three majors and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. What you remember about last year’s introduction of the reduction to three Playoffs events hasn’t changed. At the conclusion of THE NORTHERN TRUST, the top 70 in FedExCup points will advance to the BMW Championship. It’s just that with the points up for grabs shaved by one-quarter, it could be more challenging to survive. (Tuesday’s special Power Rankings for the Playoffs will analyze this in greater detail.) TPC Boston’s position on the PGA TOUR schedule dates back to 2003, and it always hosted right around the first week of September. Of this week’s field, 86 have competed here before. Save a handful for whom it’s been a few years since they qualified, what they’ll see isn’t much different than how they remember it. TPC Boston tips at 7,308 yards. The field will average under par comfortably, but the trio of par 5s - Nos. 2, 7 and 18 - are just inside the top-half of the harder par 5s on any course, so capitalizing on them is at a relative premium and more valuable than usual. Distance off the tee in general will carry an additional benefit, but because greens are smaller than average at 5,200 square feet, course management will win the race. THE NORTHERN TRUST will be a borderline shootout during which hitting greens in regulation and connecting with pace and read on the putting surfaces should define the champion. Aside from combination fescue-bluegrass primary rough allowed to grow upwards of three-and-a-half inches, bentgrass serves as the shortest grass across the property. This includes the greens that are prepped to measure 12-and-a-half feet with a Stimpmeter. With favorable weather through the 36-hole cut - the last of the 2019-20 season - there is unlikely to be an imbalance in the draw - also the last of the season. Daytime temperatures will rise into the upper 80s on Saturday when winds are expected to freshen. A reasonable chance of rain if not storms elbows its way into the equation on Sunday. ROB BOLTON'S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM's Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Power Rankings (THE NORTHERN TRUST) TUESDAY*: Power Rankings (FedExCup Playoffs), Sleepers, Fantasy Insider * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM's Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico — Local favorite Rafael Campos took a share of the lead Saturday in the PGA TOUR’s Puerto Rico Open, waiting out a series of rain delays to shoot a 5-under 67 at windy Grand Reserve. The 32-year-old from San Juan followed a birdie on the par-4 17th with a bogey on the par-5 18th to drop into a tie for the lead with Grayson Murray at 14-under 202. “I know there’s a lot of things that can basically change my life tomorrow,” Campos said. “But truth is, I’m just really happy. I have been playing good golf the last two weeks, and I really want to keep that mindset of the work I have been putting in the last four months, I’m starting to see good results. “I think I will just focus on that, focus on playing the golf course the way I know how to play it, be aggressive when I have to be aggressive, and be conservative when I obviously don’t feel comfortable. So, yeah, I really don’t want to think about tomorrow. I just want to go out and hopefully play some good golf.” Murray bogeyed 17 and birdied 18 in a 65. Cameron Percy (67) and Branden Grace (68) were a stroke back. Play was delayed three times for about an hour total in the afternoon because of the short, heavy downpours. With expected heavy rain overnight and into the morning, the final round will feature threesomes off split tees. Campos has two top-10 finishes in the event, tying for eighth in 2016 and tying for 10th in 2017. After missing the cuts in seven of eight events to start the PGA TOUR season, he tied for seventh last week in Florida in a Korn Ferry Tour event. In 2019, he won the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic to become the first Puerto Rican winner in Korn Ferry Tour history. The former Virginia Commonwealth player played the front nine in 3 under, with birdies on the par-5 second, par-4 third and par-5 fifth. He also birdied the par-4 10th and 12th. “I felt today I hit the ball very well, with the exception of the last couple of holes,” Compos said. “But I’m really happy with where I’m standing right now, and I really think I can’t be in a better position basically for tomorrow. Hopefully, just kind of keep doing the same thing we’re doing. I really feel comfortable with my swing.” He won’t get to play in front of many of his fans Sunday because of coronavirus restrictions. “It feels very weird only seeing them for like three holes out of 18 holes,” Campos said. “So I got my mom, I got my wife, I got family supporting me. So that’s all I really need right now. And, obviously, I feel the great positive energy the fans actually give me, either text messages or out here on the course.” The tournament is being played opposite the World Golf Championships event in Florida. The winner will get into the PGA Championship in May. Murray won the 2017 Barbasol Championship, also played opposite a WGC event, for the 27-year-old former Arizona State player’s lone TOUR title. “It’s been a long time since I have been in a situation like this, but I’m not afraid of the moment,” Murray said. “And at the end of the day, you still got to play good golf, no matter — no matter who’s chasing you or who I’m chasing.” He birdied five of the first nine holes. “I had the putter rolling and just kind of kept it rolling throughout the round,” Murray said. “We had to stop and start. We were a little unfortunate, but they were quick. And the PGA TOUR did a good job of kind of keeping us out there and not bringing us in each time.” Second-round leader Brandon Wu (71) was 12 under with Andrew Putnam (67) and Nelson Ledesma (68). “Had to scramble a little bit harder today,” Wu said. “I think it was playing tougher, the start and the stop, the rain, crazy conditions.”

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It’s a star-studded field this week at the Charles Schwab Challenge, but one of the most interesting players to watch will be a player whose recent struggles stand in stark contrast to his past performances at Colonial Country Club. It can be argued that no one has had more success at Colonial over the past few years than Jordan Spieth. In seven starts, he has a win (2016), two runner-up finishes and a pair of other top-10s. Twenty-one of his 28 rounds at Colonial have been in the 60s. Of players with at least a dozen rounds in the Charles Schwab Challenge over the last 30 years, Spieth’s scoring average leads all players (67.8). RELATED LINKS: 15th Club But before competition halted in March, Spieth’s ball-striking numbers were far from his peak. Spieth is 195th on the TOUR this season in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green and 198th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee. For the fourth consecutive season, his greens in regulation rank has dropped – from fourth in 2017, all the way down to 221st so far in 2019-20. Spieth has hit less than 48% of his fairways this season – only four of 231 qualified players on the PGA TOUR currently have a lower percentage. Comparing Spieth’s career Strokes Gained statistics at Colonial with what he’s done the last two seasons on TOUR provides an even starker contrast. Spieth is 195th on the TOUR this season in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green and 198th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee. For the fourth consecutive season, his greens in regulation rank has dropped – from fourth in 2017, all the way down to 221st so far in 2019-2020. Spieth has hit less than 48% of his fairways this season – only four of 231 qualified players on the PGA TOUR currently have a lower percentage. Comparing Spieth’s career Strokes Gained statistics at Colonial with what he’s done the last two seasons on TOUR provides an even starker contrast. Over the last 15 years, no player has averaged more Strokes Gained: Total (+2.41) and Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green (+1.83) per round at Colonial than Spieth. Spieth is ranked 82nd and 166th (of 205 players) in those two statistics since the beginning of last season. He has gained 1.28 strokes per round at Colonial in ‘long game’ – a statistic that combines Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Strokes Gained: Approach. That’s fifth-best among players with 12 or more rounds at Colonial since 2005. Over the last two seasons, he’s losing -0.69 strokes per round in that stat, ranking 187th. Colonial could provide a great opportunity for Spieth to rediscover his best self on the golf course. Statistically speaking, the venue plays to Spieth’s strengths and masks the less glittering aspects of his performance. For one, missing fairways at Colonial is not as penalizing at other PGA TOUR events. ‘Missed fairway penalty’ is the difference in the field’s average when hitting the fairway versus missing it. Last year at Colonial, only one hole (the fifth) had a penalty of a half-stroke or more. Spieth is the all-time leader in scoring average at this tournament despite hitting just over 50% of his fairways at Colonial. Driving distance does not reap huge rewards at Colonial, either. Not that Spieth has ever been a short hitter off the tee – he’s always ranked among the top half of PGA TOUR players in driving distance – but the typical benefits reaped by the longest players just aren’t present at Colonial. A player outdriving the field average by 25 yards will gain one stroke less throughout the course of a tournament compared to the average PGA TOUR event. Throughout his career, Spieth has struck his approach shots better at Colonial than anywhere else on TOUR. Jordan’s average proximity to the hole in 28 career rounds at Colonial is 31 feet, 10 inches. To put that into perspective, that is about two feet closer, on average, than his proximity for the entirety of his FedExCup-winning 2015 season. Spieth has averaged +0.88 strokes gained approach per round at Colonial – fifth-best among all players over the last 15 years. Fans seemingly remember Spieth making every putt he looked at when he played his best – from the famous ‘Go Get That’ at The Open Championship, to the putts he made all over East Lake in his 2015 TOUR Championship win. But narratives, often punctuated by highlights, can mask the statistical reality behind performance. Such has often been the case with Spieth in his career. When Spieth was playing his best golf, it wasn’t because he was making every putt in sight. It was because he was outperforming the field with his irons. Consider his aforementioned halcyon season of 2015. That year, Spieth actually ranked better on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green (fourth) than he did in Strokes Gained: Putting (ninth). Colonial, a place where Spieth has had immense success, reflects that, too. Spieth is ranked 20th among all players at Colonial since 2005 in Strokes Gained: Putting per round – a worse ranking than any of his ball striking metrics in that span. Spieth has been putting better in regular PGA TOUR events the last two seasons (+0.73 strokes gained per round) than he has at Colonial in his career (+0.58 per round). It’s been Spieth’s exceptional performance tee-to-green at Colonial that has set him apart. Over the last decade, no player has averaged more strokes gained tee-to-green per round than the Texan has (1.83). If there’s one place best suited for Spieth’s on-course revival, Colonial just might be it.

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