Massive snake slowly slithers across South Africa golf course

Two months ago, Tiger Woods won the TOUR Championship, the 80th career title of his illustrious PGA TOUR career. The percentages are not in his favor that he’ll be able to defend that title next August at East Lake. In the five seasons since the TOUR introduced its wraparound schedule, just 21 players (out of 150) have advanced to the FedExCup Playoffs finale without accruing a single FedExCup point in the fall portion of the season. That averages to just about four players a season – or 14 percent of the 30-man field who reach the TOUR Championship. Of course, Woods’ greatness is such that historical averages and low percentages are things that usually don’t apply to two-time FedExCup champion. And to be fair, he did make the TOUR Championship last season without benefit of a start in any fall event. He’ll hope to do the same this season. Two more past FedExCup champs also reached East Lake last season without acquiring a single point in the fall – Rory McIlroy and Billy Horschel. So, it’s not impossible. It’s just much easier if you’re able to get a quick start. That’s what makes this week’s RSM Classic extremely important for those looking for the last chance this calendar year to make a move. The crosshairs are firmly on the likes of Zach Johnson and Kevin Kisner at Sea Island. Both players opened their seasons last week in Mexico but failed to make the cut, thus rendering this week’s result a little more important. They’re not alone. Fellow TOUR winners Sangmoon Bae, D.A. Points, Wesley Bryan, Retief Goosen, John Huh, Padraig Harrington, Sean O’Hair, David Lingmerth, Jim Herman, Cody Gribble, Freddie Jacobson, Tommy Gainey, Brendon Todd, Tim Herron, Eric Axley, Jason Gore, Will MacKenzie, and Chad Campbell are also in the field this week but are yet to open their FedExCup accounts. Of the 147 TOUR members in this week’s field, 25 are still seeking their first FedExCup point. That’s just the former winners, let alone the rest of those looking to get a wriggle on. Joining Woods as high-profile players certified to start January on zero are former FedExCup and PLAYERS champion Henrik Stenson; another former PLAYERS champ in Sergio Garcia; plus Bubba Watson and Daniel Berger. You can already see the talent trying to cram into those likely few open spots at East Lake. To make matters more interesting, there is one less Playoffs event this season, as the season was reconfigured to end the FedExCup Playoffs before Labor Day. There will now be just two Playoffs events prior to the TOUR Championship. “I don’t necessarily think it gives you a head start now, I think it’s more so you don’t go into January behind the 8-ball because if you don’t play in the fall, if you don’t play well, you’re so far back,â€� Rickie Fowler explained when describing his starts at the Shriners Hospitals For Children Open and the Mayakoba Golf Classic. “You might be playing catch-up the first few months, on the west coast and then Florida.â€� Even Jason Day, who managed to make the TOUR Championship in each of the first four wrap-around seasons without playing the fall, relented to playing in Asia last season and again this season. Jordan Spieth managed the feat in 2017 but this season decided on fall golf. With the introduction of the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 system where regular-season play is rewarded financially, Spieth saw added value. “No matter what anybody says, that’s a goal of every PGA TOUR member … to try and win the regular season and FedExCup playoff bonus,â€� Spieth said. Unfortunately, with just six FedExCup points to his name he hasn’t exactly given himself the big leg-up that he wanted. Still, it’s better than nothing. One man who does have a head start is CIMB Classic winner Marc Leishman. The Australian was sick of looking at his name so far down the list in Hawaii each January but also saw the value in playing to try to free yourself up for the remainder of the season. “It is definitely very important to get off to a good start. You don’t want to get to the Masters next year and still trying to get into that top 125,â€� the four-time winner said. “Having success early in the season … it just makes you think about winning more and you can take a few more risks, which sometimes you need to do to win. “Sometimes early in the season if you’re one or two back, you don’t want to do anything silly because you don’t want to go from second back to 12th. But once you’ve got a good early start, you can really just think about winning and that’s exciting.â€� Of course next season, with more events to come before the turn of the calendar, early success will likely become even more critical. You can’t win the FedExCup in the fall … but you can certainly lose it.

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2021 The RSM Classic, Round 2 Top 10 win probabilities: 1. Robert Streb (1, -14, 21.1%) 2. Harris English (T5, -10, 19.2%) 3. Patton Kizzire (T3, -11, 6.4%) 4. Camilo Villegas (2, -12, 6.3%) 5. Bronson Burgoon (T3, -11, 6.2%) 6. Kyle Stanley (T5, -10, 5.4%) 7. Zach Johnson (7, -9, 5.3%) 8. Kevin Kisner (T8, -8, 5.0%) 9. Emiliano Grillo (T8, -8, 2.2%) 10. Joel Dahmen (T11, -7, 1.8%) Top Strokes-Gained Performers from Round 2 (Seaside course only): Putting: Beau Hossler +4.1 Around the Green: James Hahn +2.8 Approach the Green: Joel Dahmen +3.2 Off-the-tee: Keegan Bradley +1.8 Total: Joel Dahmen +7.7 NOTE: These reports are based off the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live "Make Cut", "Top 20", "Top 5", and "Win" probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 20K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of The RSM Classic, or to see how each golfer's probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model's home page.

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Jordan Spieth, who turned a playoff loss in 2015 into a Masters crown, and World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship winner Phil Mickelson headline the final tuneup for the year’s first major, facing a Golf Club of Houston layout traditionally set up to approximate Augusta National. Justin Rose, twice a Masters runner-up after playing Houston, also returns among 16 players coming to put finishing touches on their Augusta preparation. For the rest, a final Masters berth is available if the winner hasn’t already qualified. [Check out the full field here] FIELD NOTES: Rickie Fowler, Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar help give the lineup six of the top 20 players in the world rankings. … India’s Shubhankar Sharma, given a special Masters invite after holding the 54-hole lead at the Mexico Championship, also has chosen to do his prep work at GCH. … Two-time major winner Martin Kaymer tees it up on U.S. soil for just the third time since last year’s U.S. Open. … Ernie Els and Lee Westwood are set to tee it up in longshot hopes of extending lengthy Masters runs. Els has missed Augusta just once since 1994; Westwood has a run of 13 straight in jeopardy. … Steve Stricker, who recently notched his first win on the PGA TOUR champions circuit, returns to Houston after a year’s hiatus. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. STORYLINES: Mickelson, whose 4 ½-year winless drought came to an end in Mexico, will fine tune after his Friday departure from the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. He had four straight top-10 finishes before Austin. … Spieth also failed to make it out of group play in Austin, though he was 2-0 before falling to Ryder Cup partner Patrick Reed. The reigning Open Championship winner has yet to place higher than ninth this season. … The lineup features three players who reached the Round of 16 in Austin – Kuchar, Charles Howell III and Ian Poulter. … The last-gasp Masters berth has been in play in four of the past five editions, with Russell Henley last year joining Jim Herman (2016), Matt Jones (2014) and D.A. Points (2013). … For Westwood, Houston is the only non-major U.S. stop he’s played since 2015. … The Houston Open has gone to a playoff 23 times in 72 editions – almost one in three. Only the U.S. Open has seen more playoffs (33). COURSE: Golf Club of Houston (Tournament), 7,441 yards, par 72. Widely praised for its ability to imitate Augusta National’s setup, the 2005 Rees Jones design returns for its 12th edition as the lead-in venue for the Masters. Carved from wooded countryside in Houston’s northeast suburbs, Jones and consultant David Toms took care to preserve the many natural lakes and wetlands throughout the property. For this event, though, club officials annually go the extra mile to deliver shaved banks, collection areas around the greens and a Stimpmeter reading of 13 or more. 72-HOLE RECORD: 266, Curtis Strange and Lee Trevino (1980 at Woodlands CC), Vijay Singh (2002 at TPC Woodlands). GCH record: 268, Phil Mickelson (2011), Russell Henley (2017). 18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Ron Streck (3rd round, 1981 at Woodlands CC), Fred Funk (3rd round, 1992 at TPC Woodlands). GCH record: 63, Johnson Wagner (1st round, 2008), Adam Scott (1st round, 2008), Jimmy Walker (1st round, 2011), Phil Mickelson (3rd round, 2011), Scott Piercy (1st round, 2015), Sung Kang (2nd round, 2017). LAST YEAR: Henley used 10 birdies to overcome a four-shot deficit on the final day, booking the final Masters reservation with a three-stroke triumph. The Georgia native caught 54-hole leader Sung Kang with five birdies in his first eight holes, slipped a bit with a double bogey at No. 9, then took control with three straight birdies midway through the back nine. A pitch to 3 feet at the par-5 13th moved Henley in front for good, while Kang missed a 15-footer. Henley followed with a 35-foot birdie at No. 14 and completed the run by getting up-and-down for birdie at the par-5 15th. A bogey at No. 18 kept Henley from breaking Phil Mickelson’s tournament record at GCH. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 2-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (NBC). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. (featured groups), 4-7 p.m. (featured holes). RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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