No. 17: Matt Kuchar

To steal from the familiar slogan, when the PGA TOUR lands in Vegas, it stays in Vegas. At least this year. Because the annual excursion to Asia was canceled due to the pandemic, the TOUR is setting up shop for a second consecutive week in the Entertainment Capital of the World instead of South Korea. THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK is the fourth edition of the fledgling tournament with 78 golfers and no cut. As its eponymous name instructs, the substitute stage is none other than Shadow Creek Golf Course in North Las Vegas, and it's a treat. For some detail on the host course, what some will find in the dirt and more, scroll past the projected contenders. RELATED: Inside the Field | Five things to know about Shadow Creek POWER RANKINGS: THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa, Hideki Matsuyama and Justin Rose will be among the notables reviewed in Tuesday's Fantasy Insider. Our lasting images of Shadow Creek in the mainstream date back to Thanksgiving weekend of 2018 when Phil Mickelson defeated Tiger Woods in the dark in Capital One's The Match. The lasting imagery of the course excites the senses. Tom Fazio did more with flat desert than should be humanly possible when he designed the track in 1989. He returned in 2008 for a whole-scale renovation. Shadow Creek is a stock par 72. It'll tip at a respectful 7,527 yards and closes 5-3-5, a natural embodiment of the risk-and-reward experience of the city to the south. Bermudagrass that blankets everything but the greens is overseeded with rye. The four-inch primary rough will help frame the visuals. Bentgrass greens that are almost average in size have enough undulation to take seriously. They'll run out to 12 feet on the Stimpmeter, which is the bull's-eye of TOUR standards. The notion of not finding one's game at a specific course does not apply to Shadow Creek. It's likely that notables who have been out of form will connect with the kind of scoring that led them to be a notable in the first place. In addition to the promise of 72 holes, unfamiliar settings reward proper preparation and ball-striking. Unpredictably hot putters notwithstanding, the greens are equalizers because of the absence of experience in knowing where to leave approaches and the nuance of the uneven surfaces. As a result, course management will rise as a premium over four days. Furthermore, the weather will be perfect. Nothing but sunshine with daytime highs right around 90 degrees is expected. Any wind will blow in from the north and east with the strongest push midday on Thursday. 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: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: 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.

Click here to read the full article…

Phil Mickelson would neither confirm nor deny that he has been suspended or banned by the PGA Tour for joining the rival LIV Golf tour and offered his apology for recent controversial comments that led to his decision to take time away from golf.

Click here to read the full article…

If you’ve ever wanted one of those weeks when you can go off the board without fear of forfeiting the obvious play, the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open has chauffeured a limo and rolled out the red carpet for you. And by you, I mean us. I’m normally as conservative as it gets in fantasyland and it cost me last season. I abandoned my aggressive nature in PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO in 2016-17 in favor of anchoring my season with a strategy that didn’t deliver. It didn’t deliver the previous season, either, but I managed to hang on for a narrow margin of victory. I told a few gamers privately that I don’t know if I learned anything other than that there is no virtue in crawling to the finish line just as much as there is no virtue in galloping through it, just as long as you’re the one breaking the tape. Retain that swing thought for a moment. As we direct our attention to the 72-hole contest at TPC Summerlin, two variables have my attention. First, if there’s a betting favorite, it’s only because the house can’t lose. Resist equating its favorite with an actual favorite for fantasy purposes. It’s coincidence when it happens. Second, the wind is going to blow in the desert. That is not normal. Put the two together and we’re poised for an absolute crapshoot. On the third rail is the reality that you’re unlikely to miss anyone you burn. This promotes as aggressive a strategy as we get in this format. Luke List was my clubhouse leader before reviewing the weather forecast. He’s in my lineup for the Roster game, but he owns one of the highest ball flights on the PGA TOUR. Only Kevin Chappell (No. 1) and J.B. Holmes (No. 2) recorded a higher apex height in 2016-17. List slotted ninth. Gary Woodland was 10th, Jamie Lovemark was 13th and 2015 Shriners champion Smylie Kaufman was 21st. Not surprisingly, all are long off the tee. Distance goes hand in hand with height. It’s going to yield success for multiple golfers at TPC Summerlin, but I can’t condone the philosophy to push all of your chips into any of these guys in a One & Done. Oddly enough, defending champion Rod Pampling owned the second-lowest apex heights last season, but I share that as fact over friction. If there’s a low ball flight that I’d consider endorsing in varying degrees, 2014 champion Ben Martin, 2011 winner Kevin Na, Brian Stuard and Kevin Tway are attractive. However, I can’t get away from the No. 1 in my Power Rankings, Webb Simpson. So much for swinging for the fences, huh? Not only does he keep it nearer solid ground than most, but he’s been a horse at TPC Summerlin. The 32-year-old has also been nails of late. Two-man gamers are going to be enticed by the likes of Lovemark and List, but consider sticking with more experienced tacticians like Kevin Streelman and 2009 champ Martin Laird. Tway is the bold move no matter where you rank early on. 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. All are pending golfer commitment. Kevin Chappell … RSM; Valero (defending); St. Jude; WGC-Bridgestone; Dell Technologies Luke Donald … Pebble Beach; Honda; Valspar; Heritage Tony Finau … Farmers; Valero; Memorial; Greenbrier; Canadian Charley Hoffman … Genesis; Heritage; Houston; Valero; DEAN & DELUCA; Travelers; Canadian J.B. Holmes … Farmers; Waste Management; Pebble Beach; Genesis; Houston; Wells Fargo; Greenbrier Billy Horschel … RSM; Honda; Arnold Palmer; Valero; St. Jude; TOUR Championship Chris Kirk … RSM; Valero; PLAYERS; DEAN & DELUCA Russell Knox … Mayakoba; Sony; Honda; Heritage; PLAYERS; Dell Technologies Martin Laird … CareerBuilder; Farmers; Waste Management; Genesis; Valero; Barracuda Jamie Lovemark … RSM; Sony; Arnold Palmer Graeme McDowell … Mayakoba; RSM; Pebble Beach; Honda; WGC-Bridgestone William McGirt … Genesis; Heritage; Memorial Ryan Moore … Shriners; Sentry; Waste Management; Genesis; Valspar; Masters; Travelers; John Deere; TOUR Championship Kevin Na … Shriners; Waste Management; Valspar; Arnold Palmer; Heritage; Memorial; John Deere; Wyndham; THE NORTHERN TRUST Scott Piercy … Shriners; Mayakoba; Sony; Houston; John Deere Webb Simpson … Shriners; RSM; Sentry; Sony; CareerBuilder; Waste Management; Genesis; Wells Fargo; Travelers; Greenbrier; Wyndham Kevin Streelman … Shriners; CareerBuilder; Pebble Beach; Wells Fargo; Memorial; Travelers Jimmy Walker … Sentry; Sony; Farmers; Pebble Beach; Genesis; Valero; Greenbrier; Dell Technologies Bubba Watson … Sentry; Waste Management; Genesis; Memorial; Travelers; Greenbrier; WGC-Bridgestone; TOUR Championship Gary Woodland … Sony; Farmers; Honda; Wells Fargo; Barracuda; Dell Technologies

Click here to read the full article…