‘Not sharp’ Mickelson (69) needs more reps but likely won’t get them at Safeway

How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. Each lineup consists of four starters and two bench players that can be rotated after each round. Adding to the challenge is that every golfer can be used only three times per each of four Segments. The first fantasy golf game to utilize live ShotLink data, PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf allows you to see scores update live during competition. Aside from the experts below, Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at this year’s Wells Fargo Championship in this week’s edition of the Power Rankings. For more fantasy, check out Rookie Watch, Qualifiers and Reshuffle. THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN OUR EXPERTS? The PGA TOUR Experts league is once again open to the public. You can play our free fantasy game and see how you measure up against our experts below. Joining the league is simple. Just click here to sign up or log in. Once you create your team, click the “Leagues” tab and search for “PGA TOUR Experts.” After that? Pick your players and start talking smack. Want to represent the fans against our experts? SEASON SEGMENT

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MEDINAH, Ill. – Justin Thomas was already nervous. He had probably lingered too long on his phone, reading the good-luck and you-got-this texts from well-wishers who assumed that closing out a six-shot lead on Sunday is a mere formality. JT hadn’t even arrived at the course yet for his final round at the BMW Championship. When he did, some friendly advice was waiting for him from the locker room attendants at Medinah, who evidently decided that a guy who’s won a FedExCup, a major, and multiple PGA TOUR events needed help on how to close out a tournament. OK, it has been a year since Thomas has won. People like him and want him to succeed. But still … Their advice? Talk to your caddie. A lot. Make sure you keep talking. “OK, as long as you stop talking, it’s fine with me,â€� JT thought to himself. Thomas knows all too well that large leads do not come with guarantees. Sure, six-shot leads seem safe – since 1928, just seven 54-hole leaders in PGA TOUR history have lost such a lofty lead. But Thomas remembered the 2017 Sentry Tournament of Champions, when he led by five shots after 13 holes but saw it whittled to one by Hideki Matsuyama before JT closed it out. Matsuyama was at it again on Sunday, going out in 5-under 31 en route to his second 63 of the week. Matsuyama’s first 63, on Friday, had set the course record – one that lasted for 24 hours until Thomas eclipsed it with a magnificent 61 on Saturday that set him up with the huge advantage. Matsuyama was too far away from posing any real threat, but one of Thomas’ playing partners, future Presidents Cup teammate Patrick Cantlay, was offering some high heat. When Cantlay produced his fourth consecutive birdie at the par-5 10th while Thomas bogeyed the hole after an errant second shot with a 3-wood – “Just a bad shot,â€� JT said – the lead was reduced to two shots. Related: Leaderboard | What’s in Thomas’s bag? | FedExCup standings | Meet the top 30 | How it works: TOUR Championship Cantlay had the momentum. “I knew I had to make birdies,â€� he said. But that’s when Thomas flipped the switch. The game was officially on – and that got the competitive juices flowing. In fact, his nervousness to start the day with a six-shot lead was now replaced with the bravado and fearlessness of a closer. “If I have a two-shot lead with eight holes left,â€� Thomas said, “I feel confident I can pull it off.â€� Thomas responded at the par-4 11th by hitting an approach shot from 106 yards to 2 feet. Birdie. Lead now three shots. An errant drive on the next hole posed trouble, but Thomas saved par by rolling in a 14-foot putt. Then, after Cantlay rolled in a birdie putt at the par-3 13th from 15 feet, Thomas responded with his own birdie from inside 12 feet. They matched birdies again at the par-4 15th, before Cantlay finally flinched on the next hole with a bogey. With a four-shot lead and two to play, JT was safely home. “I needed to make any of the putts on 12, 14 or 15 if I really wanted to get some momentum on my side,â€� Cantlay said. “Seemed like him saving par on 12 was big. Then obviously I tried to get one back on 13, and then he made it on top of me. “So he just played really well. It was going to be hard for me to get to 25 under anyway.â€� Indeed, that’s where Thomas ended up, just three shots off the tournament scoring record on a course that normally offers more resistance. In the end, Thomas needed the pressure of being pushed so that he could offer the proper – and winning – response. “It’s always easy when things are going well,â€� Thomas said. “When your back is up against the wall or when you get pressured or put a little heat on you, I think how you respond is sometimes a little bit better or show a little bit more.â€� OK, so talking about leads … in winning the BMW Championship, Thomas now moves to No. 1 in FedExCup points. Under the new Starting Strokes format that will be used at the TOUR Championship, Thomas will start the tournament at 10 under. He’ll lead No. 2 Patrick Cantlay by two strokes, No. 3 Brooks Koepka by three shots, and so on, with the back end of the field 10 shots behind. “I can certainly say 1000% I never slept on a Wednesday lead,â€� joked Thomas. But he knows the opportunity is immense. He’s already won one FedExCup, back in 2017 when he won five times and established himself as one of the world’s top golfers. Only Tiger Woods has won multiple FedExCups. Thomas is in the driver’s seat to join him. Just like six-shot leads on Sunday, though, there will be no guarantees at East Lake. Thomas is taking nothing for granted. Never in his golfing career, even as a junior, has he been given strokes before a tournament.  It will be a different format, but the mindset remains the same. Close it out. “There’s nobody in the history of this sport that has experienced it, so nobody knows,â€� Thomas said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be weird. It’s going to be different, I know that. “I know that I’m in a lot better position than I was at the start of the week. I just have to be grateful and thankful for that.â€� More thankful, no doubt, than any locker room advice he may receive the next few days. Don’t worry about JT – he still knows how to win.

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The European Tour plans to resume its season the last full weekend in July with six tournaments in England and Wales that will include COVID-19 testing and depend on the U.K. lifting its quarantine restrictions. It would start July 22 with the British Masters, hosted by Lee Westwood. The next five in the “U.K. Swing” are new tournaments the European Tour will pay for out of its tournament development fund. Three will be at former Ryder Cup venues — two at Celtic Manor in Wales, one at The Belfry in England. The purse at each new event is 1 million euros. The tour said it will add 500,000 euros for the U.K. Swing for charities — half for the markets they play, half for the top 10 players from a “mini money list” to decide. No spectators will be allowed at least for the UK swing. “There is no question that we’re back,” Keith Pelley, the tour’s chief executive, said in a conference call Thursday. The European Tour also set dates for four Rolex Series events — the Scottish Open and BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in October, the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa and DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in December. Pelley expects the rest of the schedule — with hopes for 24 events — to be announced later. He said the U.K. Swing depends largely on lifting the 14-day quarantine for players arriving from other countries. The PGA Championship in San Francisco is scheduled for Aug. 6-9. If the quarantine is not lifted, top European Tour players would have to choose between a major and four European Tour events with minimal prize money. “Hotels need to be in operation and the quarantine needs to be lifted to continue with these events,” Pelley said. He said he was encouraged and optimistic that will be the case, based on numerous conversations with government officials. “We wouldn’t be announcing these events without having had significant dialogue with the UK government,” Pelley said. “They know about the announcements. They’re worked feverishly with us.” The tour returns under an initiative called “Golf for Good,” which Pelley said will underpin the rest of 2020. The key points are the charitable contributions — 50,000 euros to the five venues and 250,000 euros for the leading 10 players from a money list of the U.K. Swing. He recalled a conversation with one European Tour partner in which Pelley said, “This might not be the biggest event that you have ever done in terms of crowds and hospitality, but it will be the most important event, and it should be the most emotional event.” The European Tour was last played March 8 at the Qatar Masters. Eight tournaments have been canceled, including a World Golf Championships event in Texas and the British Open. Nine others have been postponed, and officials across several tours worldwide have been trying to piece together the season. The majors set the framework with the PGA Championship going to Aug. 6-9, the U.S. Open planned for Sept. 17-20 in New York and the Masters moving to Nov. 12-15. Pelley did not take any questions on the Ryder Cup — with or without fans — except to say it remains on the schedule for Sept. 25-27 in Wisconsin. The Scottish Open, originally planned for July, moves to Oct. 8-11 and precedes the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. He said other events, such as the Irish Open and other key stops in continental Europe, were close to being announced. Pelley was quick to point out the tour’s strength — a worldwide tour — has become an obstacle from having to work with so many different governments and their regulations for the pandemic. “Moving 30 events with one in its place (Dunhill Championship in Scotland on Oct. 1-4) has been challenging,” he said. Andrew Murray, the tour’s chief medical officer, says testing will include an antigen test for the coronavirus when players arrive, along with daily thermal readings and questionnaires about their health. No media will be allowed at tournaments for the U.K. Swing, and the tour expects no more than 500 people on site. Pelley said fans and hospitality account for only 5% of revenue, so having fans is more important for optics than business. Even so, he expects tournaments to gradually have more spectators. However the rest of the season is put together, all will offer Race To Dubai points toward the conclusion. The European Tour said no one will lose status for 2021 and there will not be a Q-school at the end of the year.

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