Matt Jones plays it safe in the wind, regains lead at The Honda Classic

Quick 9: Anticipation, questions surround return

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The Asian Swing kicks off a three-event “mini-season” on Jeju Island South Korea for the third edition of the CJ CUP. The Club at Nine Bridges hosts for the third consecutive year of this relatively new event with a select field of 78 players. RELATED: Expert picks | Daily fantasy advice | Sleeper picks For the first time in three events the CJ CUP AT NINE BRIDGES will be the first stop in the Far East. The old warm-up act, the CIMB Classic, is no longer on the schedule so it will be a week of body-clock adjustment for most. Jeju Island has taken on over 50 inches in the last five weeks as three different typhoons have battered the area. The bentgrass layout, which drains well, should be lush and somewhat soft after the pounding it has taken. The major defense for this layout is the wind. Generous landing areas and massive green complexes (7,800 square feet on average) give plenty of targets to aim at but this par-72 doesn’t even stretch to 7,300 yards. While the recent rains should keep the roll off the tee to a minimum, the altitude of 3,500 feet should shrink this track even more. The two winners have been the reigning PGA TOUR player of the year and winners of the PGA Championship but that streak ends this week as Rory McIlroy isn’t entered! Need more Course Info? Check Rob Bolton’s Power Rankings, The First Look and Course Preview. Recent Winners  2018: Brooks Koepka (-21, 267) Fresh off two majors and a Player of the Year, Koepka rolled into town, set the 54-hole and 72-hole scoring record and kicked off the new season with a four-shot win over Gary Woodland. Won in his first appearance. … Played the last 54 holes 20 under. … Closed with 29 on the inward 18 on Sunday. … T2 birdies (23). … Led Par-4 scoring. Notables: Woodland led the field with 27 birdies and was 18 under his final 54 holes. … Ryan Palmer circled 10 birdies, including the final seven holes, in the final round to set the course record of 62. … The top four on the leaderboard posted 64, 63, 65 and 62 in the final round. … Rafa Cabrera Bello (T3) posted 65-65 on the weekend. … Scott Piercy (T5) led after 36 holes. … Si Woo Kim (T23) was the best Korean finisher. … Defending champion Justin Thomas was T36. 2017: Justin Thomas (-9, 279) Sizzling hot after winning the PGA in August and a FedExCup event in September, Thomas continued his heat-check by winning the inaugural event in a windy playoff over Marc Leishman. … Neither Thomas nor Koepka finished in the top 20 of fairways or greens hit for the week. … Both finished in the top five of Birdie-or-Better Conversion Percentage, Putting Average, Par-4 and Par-5 scoring. … Scoring average was 73.187 versus 70.944 last year. #Windy. Notables: The only bogey-free round on Sunday was 68 by CIMB champion Pat Perez (T5). … Cameron Smith (3rd) missed a birdie putt at the last to join the playoff. … 36-hole leader Luke List (T5) opened 68-67 before closing 76-72. … Byeong-Hun An (T11) posted the lowest round of the weekend, 67, in Round 3. … There were a TOTAL of eight rounds in the 60s on the weekend. … Whee Kim (4th) was the best Korean finisher. Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2018-19 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week.  * – previous top 10 finish here Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green  2  *Justin Thomas  3  Hideki Matsuyama (T18, 2018)  7  Byeong-Hun An  9  Corey Conners 12 *Brooks Koepka 13 Tommy Fleetwood (first appearance) 15 Emiliano Grillo 16 *Gary Woodland 19 Kevin Streelman (first appearance) 23 Joaquin Niemann 24 Sergio Garcia (first appearance) 25 Lucas Glover Birdie-or-Better Percentage  2  Jordan Spieth (first appearance)  3  *Justin Thomas  5  *Gary Woodland  8  Wyndham Clark (first appearance) 11 Si Woo Kim 13 Andrew Putnam 16 *Rafa Cabrera Bello 17 *Brooks Koepka 18 Hideki Matsuyama 20 Troy Merritt (first appearance) 22 *Ryan Palmer 23 Vaughn Taylor 30 Phil Mickelson (first appearance) Par-5 Scoring  1  *Justin Thomas  2  Wyndham Clark  4  *Gary Woodland  6  Sungjae Im 10 *Brooks Koepka 12 Matt Jones 12 *Ian Poulter 12 Troy Merritt 17 Jhonattan Vegas 17 Sergio Garcia 23 Hideki Matsuyama 23 *Luke List 23 Kevin Tway 31 Si Woo Kim 31 Rory Sabbatini 31*Marc Leishman Frequent Fliers Cameron Smith: One of only two players to cash in the top 10 in the first two appearances. He’s 19 under over eight rounds with six of those in the red for T7 and 3rd. Pat Perez: While both winners are in their 20s, Perez, 41 at the time, backed up his 2017 CIMB win with T5 and last year added T7. Decided to WD the morning before the Houston Open to fill out this year’s field. That tells me all I need to know about what he thinks of the course/event. Two-for-Two-Top 18 Edition Rafa Cabrera Bello: Didn’t break 71 in his first visit (T11) or in his first two rounds last year (73-70) before unlocking the mystery (65-65) to cash T3. Jason Day: The Aussie has found solace in a wide-open, target-rich environment to show off his short game and putter. Backed up T11 with T5 (65-67) last season as six of eight rounds are under par. Chez Reavie: Rattled off four rounds of 70 or better last year (T7) after T15 in the first go-around. Hardly a big hitter, Reavie is hyper-accurate off the tee and an above-average putter. Ian Poulter: Seven of his eight rounds are in the red as the Englishman cashed T10 last year after T15 the year prior. Marc Leishman: I had to go back and change the title to this section when I realized he was T18 last year. It shouldn’t be lost in the shuffle that he closed 68-66 last year after struggling in the first two rounds.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Justin Thomas was already No. 1 in the FedExCup when he got to TPC Sawgrass for THE PLAYERS Championship. Now he’s No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking, too. “I don’t care how I get it, if I get it,â€� Thomas said, “but I would much rather shoot 10 under on the weekend and earn it as opposed to missing the cut and have D.J. not play well.â€� After making the cut on the number at 1-under and rebounding with a third-round 68, Thomas shot a final-round 66 at overcast TPC Sawgrass to finish 11-under (T11). It was out of his hands at that point, and Johnson spun his wheels during a final-round 72 to finish T17, opening the door for the change at the top. “It means a lot,â€� Thomas said, “but it’s something I want to have for a long time, it’s not something I just want to have once.â€� Thomas has won seven times on the PGA TOUR, including twice this season, since the start of the 2017 season. He also won the FedExCup last year. He came into this PLAYERS on the heels of a T21 at the Wells Fargo Championship and a missed cut with partner Bud Cauley at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Although he admitted he got sidetracked earlier this season by the prospect of potentially reaching No. 1, Thomas was able to put it out of his mind at TPC Sawgrass on Sunday. He made six birdies, an eagle and a double-bogey, missing birdie chances from close range on 17 and 18. He said he was headed home with his family to relax and play pool, part of a much-needed rest after three straight weeks on the road. “I love this golf course,â€� he said. “I always have; I’ve always said that. There’s something about it. It’s so exciting to go play because I truly feel like you can shoot 9-, 10-, 11-under, you really can, just because of the length of the golf course and if you’re driving it well and how good the greens are.â€� Tom Lehman, who was at THE PLAYERS in a social capacity before driving to the Regions Tradition, next week’s stop on the PGA TOUR Champions in Birmingham, Alabama, was No. 1 for one week in 1997. “It’s something that’s always next to your name,â€� Lehman said. “No one can take it away, and there aren’t many people who have gotten there.â€� Thomas, who was the college Player of the Year in his freshman year in Alabama, is the 21st person to reach No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He wouldn’t say whether or not the achievement appeared on his goals list, which he keeps on his phone. “It’s important,â€� he said, “but like I said, it’s not something where it’s like I just want to do it once. I want to do it for a really, really long time.â€�

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