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Because you’re reading this, you’ve already positioned yourself ahead of your competition. See, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans is a two-man team competition and you’re selecting only one golfer, so this is either a free play for a cornerstone or a “two-and-done” version of the same game, however you’d like to think of it. For example, whatever Justin Thomas totals in FedExCup points, teammate Bud Cauley does as well. Same goes for Jordan Spieth, Kevin Kisner and Jon Rahm for teammates Ryan Palmer, Scott Brown and Wesley Bryan, respectively. Take your cue from Ben and Mark. Why burn Jason Day, who both Experts will continue to holster, when Ryan Ruffels will yield the same reward? How do I know that your competition who has not made time for this reminder will miss out. Easy. Consider that last year, partners Cauley and Thomas were started by the identical number of gamers to rank T7 in ownership percentage. Cauley is a viable talent to be sure, but Thomas won twice later in the season en route to five total victories, the FedExCup title and Player of the Year honors. After they recorded a T5 in NOLA, Cauley managed only one more top 10 the rest of the way. The non-winner was easily the better choice at TPC Louisiana. Need another? Chase Koepka’s shares at the Zurich totaled 0.2 percent while brother-teammate Brooks slotted 10th overall at 3.4 percent. They also tied for fifth. Using his top-10 exemption at the Wells Fargo Championship the following week, Chase missed the cut and has since played abroad. All Brooks did later was prevail at the U.S. Open. Just like last year, some partnerships at TPC Louisiana this week boast two headliners, both of whom will warrant selection at some point. If you’re eyeing the likes of Patrick Reed or Patrick Cantlay, Justin Rose or Henrik Stenson, and Bubba Watson or Matt Kuchar, your next step is to review Future Possibilities below for additional planning. However, the format encourages you to swerve around all. Best ball and alternate shot in stroke-play competition dances around the proverbial vagaries of matchup and momentum in match play, but the dynamics are still different when you’re not playing only for yourself. Consider that the following teams missed the cut in the inaugural edition of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans last year: Stenson-Rose, Keegan Bradley-Brendan Steele, Day-Rickie Fowler, Tony Finau-Daniel Summerhays, Kevin Chappell-Gary Woodland and Daniel Berger-Thomas Pieters. Meanwhile, no matter your current rank, one potential turnoff for the finicky is that FedExCup points distributed are shared. Each member of the winning team gets “only” 400 points instead of 500 points reserved for winners of individual competitions in non-majors and -World Golf Championships. If there’s a solo runner-up duo, each guy will receive 162.5 points (instead of 300). And so on. This wrinkle is further motivation to invest in Cauley, Palmer, Brown or Bryan. Even after sifting through all of that, you’re still left with a smorgasbord of opportunity. With half the season behind us and bunches of terrific connections, ownership dispersion should be widespread. It’s a great week to bust a move. Now, about that walk-up music … FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2017-18. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Daniel Berger … St. Jude (1; two-time defending); Travelers (2) Kevin Chappell … St. Jude (5); WGC-Bridgestone (2); Dell Technologies (3) Jason Day … PLAYERS (13); U.S. Open (2); Canadian (11); WGC-Bridgestone (9); PGA Championship (1); THE NORTHERN TRUST (8); Dell Technologies (5) Jason Dufner … Fort Worth (2); Memorial (3; defending); U.S. Open (4); Wyndham (6); TOUR Championship (7) Tony Finau … Memorial (3); Greenbrier (2); Canadian (4) Jim Furyk … Memorial (7); U.S. Open (8); Canadian (3); WGC-Bridgestone (2); THE NORTHERN TRUST (9); TOUR Championship (4) Sergio Garcia … PLAYERS (5); Open Championship (1); TOUR Championship (4) Charley Hoffman … Fort Worth (4); Travelers (2); Canadian (3) J.B. Holmes … Wells Fargo (7); Greenbrier (5) Billy Horschel … St. Jude (1); TOUR Championship (4) Zach Johnson … Fort Worth (2); John Deere (1); Open Championship (5); WGC-Bridgestone (6); TOUR Championship (8) Chris Kirk … PLAYERS (3); Fort Worth (2) Russell Knox … PLAYERS (8); Dell Technologies (7) Brooks Koepka … St. Jude (3); U.S. Open (1; defending); Open Championship (4); WGC-Bridgestone (6); PGA Championship (2) Matt Kuchar … PLAYERS (11); Fort Worth (6); Memorial (2); Canadian (3); WGC-Bridgestone (7); THE NORTHERN TRUST (9) Martin Laird … Barracuda (1) Graeme McDowell … WGC-Bridgestone (3) William McGirt … Memorial (4) Ryan Moore … Travelers (2); John Deere (3); TOUR Championship (6) Kevin Na … Memorial (10); John Deere (9); Wyndham (3); THE NORTHERN TRUST (11) Louis Oosthuizen … U.S. Open (5); PGA Championship (4); Dell Technologies (3) Ryan Palmer … Fort Worth (2); St. Jude (6) Scott Piercy … John Deere (6) Patrick Reed … Travelers (5); PGA Championship (8); Wyndham (7); THE NORTHERN TRUST (9); Dell Technologies (2) Justin Rose … Wells Fargo (4); PLAYERS (9); Memorial (6); Open Championship (8); WGC-Bridgestone (7); TOUR Championship (2) Charl Schwartzel … Memorial (4); U.S. Open (5); Open Championship (6); WGC-Bridgestone (2) Adam Scott … PLAYERS (5); U.S. Open (10); Open Championship (8); WGC-Bridgestone (3); Dell Technologies (9); TOUR Championship (6) Brandt Snedeker … Fort Worth (11); U.S. Open (5); Travelers (6); Canadian (3); Wyndham (4) Jordan Spieth … Fort Worth (2); Travelers (6; defending); John Deere (7); Open Championship (9; defending); WGC-Bridgestone (10); TOUR Championship (4) Brendan Steele … Wells Fargo (7); Travelers (3) Henrik Stenson … Open Championship (6); WGC-Bridgestone (4); PGA Championship (7); Wyndham (8; defending); Dell Technologies (9); TOUR Championship (2) Justin Thomas … Wells Fargo (9); Dell Technologies (6; defending); TOUR Championship (3) Jimmy Walker … Greenbrier (8); Dell Technologies (7) Bubba Watson … Memorial (6); Travelers (5); Greenbrier (8); WGC-Bridgestone (1); TOUR Championship (4) Gary Woodland … Wells Fargo (5); Barracuda (1); Dell Technologies (3)
With conditions tough, a 5-under-par 67 was enough to give Thomas Pieters the 18-hole lead at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. (Getty Images)
NASSAU, Bahamas – George H.W. Bush not only loved golf, but he liked to play fast. Tiger Woods got a taste of that one time as an amateur when he had the opportunity to play with the former President during a practice round in Houston. “It was one of those very quick ones,� Woods recalled Saturday, a day after the 41st President died at the age of 94. “18 holes in probably under 2-1/2 hours.� Asked how fast Bush played, Woods replied: “It was basically club, ball, one look, gone.� Woods was among the many players who had the late President on their minds during the third round of the Hero World Challenge. Several players scrawled the number “41� on their caps in memory of the President, who is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and was the honorary chairman of the Presidents Cup in 1996. “I met him on numerous occasions,� Woods said. “He was fantastic to be around. He was just one of the smartest people I’ve ever been around, and so down to earth.� Justin Thomas was 11 years old when he met the former President at the 2004 Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills in Michigan. Thomas was a spectator, rooting for the American team that included his fellow Kentuckian, Kenny Perry. “It was on the first tee,� Thomas recalled. “He was standing there – I can just picture it, although I don’t know Oakland Hills well enough to know exactly where it was. He was inside the ropes but there was a little gated area. “I was with maybe Kenny Perry, someone that I knew knew him, and he took us up and introduced him and just said ‘Hi.’ I remember him being very nice but again, I was just 11 years old, so I didn’t really understand the impact or how cool it was. But yeah, looking back, it was a pretty cool moment.� Keegan Bradley also met President Bush a couple of times, at the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah and the 2013 Presidents Cup at Muirfield Village. The meetings were brief, but Bradley is well aware of the impact the 41st President had on golf. “Probably more than any other president because of what he did in the golf world, the Presidents Cup,� Bradley said. “I read that his dad and grandfather were both presidents of the USGA. Pretty incredible. They did a lot for the game.� Current Houston resident Patrick Reed also has met both of the Bush presidents, including the 41st President at a golf tournament. “Shocking, right?� Reed said. “I was playing and all of a sudden I kind of turned around right when I finished and he was there. I walked over and said hello, took my hat off, kind of talked to him for a little bit, talked a little about Houston and how he’s doing.� Asked if he would describe Bush as an avid fan, Reed replied: “Oh, he’s more than just an avid fan, he’s beyond that. He absolutely loved the game. You know, to have the support from presidents and have them come as much as they do and how often they’re out there, it means a lot. To lose a guy and to lose a person like President Bush, it’s said because of how much he’s touched all of us.� Bryson DeChambeau never met the 41st President, but he does run into No. 43, George W. Bush, from time to time in Dallas, either at Brookhollow or Dallas National. “He always says, ‘DeChambeau, what’s up?’ “ DeChambeau said with a smile. “He’s a great guy and I wish I could’ve known his father a little bit.� Whether they met him or not, the TOUR pros appreciated what the Bush family did for the game. “The Bush family has been incredibly supportive of competitive golf, from the Walker Cup to any major event,� DeChambeau said. “They’re always supporting it, always watching. That means a lot for the game of golf, and we need to pay our tributes to the Bush family and what they’ve done for the game.� Said Woods, who will be the U.S. Captain at next year’s Presidents Cup: “Getting a chance to be around him at Presidents Cup and him being involved in since its inception in ’94 … he was such a class act. Anyone who’s ever been around him knows how much he loved his golf and how much he supported it … “We’re going to miss him.�
