Notebook: Adam Scott enjoys rare fast start at 83rd Masters Tournament

Welcome to the PGA TOUR’s version of the play-in game. In the void of the annual NCAA basketball tournaments in 2020, sports fans will latch onto the twist at the Wyndham Championship, for it is the last tournament before the FedExCup Playoffs. It determines who gets into the annual series. RELATED: Featured Groups | The First Look | Inside the Field Of course, so much more also is at stake at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina. Scroll past the projected contenders for a review of the Wyndham Rewards, secondary goals within reach, what’s different about the course and more. POWER RANKINGS: WYNDHAM CHAMPIONSHIP Defending champion J.T. Poston will be reviewed in Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider along with fellow champions at Sedgefield, Sergio Garcia (2012) and Brandt Snedeker (2018). Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood and Sungjae Im also will be included among the notables. The season-long Wyndham Rewards will conclude this week. The top 10 in the final standings earn bonus (unofficial) prize money. All but the No. 1 position (held by Justin Thomas) are undetermined. As of midday Monday, eight of the 29 who are mathematically alive to finish inside the top 10 are scheduled to compete in the Wyndham Championship. Meanwhile, as detailed on April 30, all jobs are safe for the 2020-21 season because of the pandemic, but qualifying for the Playoffs can elevate status for dozens of golfers who currently don’t carry status strong enough to have advanced to last season’s Playoffs. As a result, the action around the top-125 bubble is much more volatile than it is around the top 10. From Graeme McDowell at 108th in points through Rob Oppenheim at 145th, every golfer is committed to the Wyndham Championship. Many more beneath Oppenheim also are in play. For those who finish 126-200 in the FedExCup, they will secure eligibility in the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Finals. With what hopes to be a full season on deck, and with all cards retained, that perk may not seem to be critical now, but it likely will matter for a handful. Sedgefield presents as a speed track to the finish line. Since it began hosting the Wyndham Championship in 2008, it’s been the easiest or second-easiest par 70 every season but one (2013). Last year’s scoring average of 68.175 was its record low. While there is value in splitting fairways, there’s just not enough to penalize wayward shots, so it’s a bomb-and-gouge opportunity even though the leaderboards don’t reflect that profile in the aggregate. Because scoring is so low, the objective is to hit as many of the Champion bermudagrass greens as possible and trust in the putter. Now, what’s sort of hilarious about believing in oneself to prevail and convert on the many benefits that go with winning is that J.T. Poston not only played video-game golf, it was cheat code kind of stuff. En route to his breakthrough victory in 2019, he ranked T2 in fairways hit (45 of 56), co-led in greens in regulation (62 of 72) and paced the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. Most impressively, he got up and down all 10 times to complete the tournament in bogey-free, 22-under 258. (By comparison, Scott Stallings also was perfect in scrambling for the week – he went 14-for-14 – but he three-putted five times, each resulting in a bogey. He finished T31.) Sedgefield has a new overall yardage for the first time since 2012. It’s only a couple of paces longer at 7,131 yards, all four extra yards as a result of a new tee on the par-4 14th hole, which now tips at 505 yards. Greens are dialed to measure 12 feet on the Stimpmeter. The longest rough will top out at a customary two-and-a-half inches. It’s mid-August in the Triad, so it’d be a surprise only if rain wasn’t in the forecast. And, well, it is. Storms also could fire with daytime heating. Sticky conditions will be the constant. Wind will not be a factor. 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: Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, 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.

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You had to go low to earn a spot in the Barracuda Championship. A 65 in Monday’s qualifier at Hidden Hills Country Club in Reno, Nevada, didn’t earn anything except a pat on the back. The four qualifiers combined for 34 birdies and three eagles. Sulman Raza made 11 birdies in his 62. Scott Strohmeyer birdied eight of his first nine holes en route to a 63. John Oda also shot 63, thanks to two eagles. Two of the qualifiers — Strohmeyer and Oda — already have top-10 finishes this season. Strohmeyer is trying to lock up his spot in the Web.com Tour Finals, while Oda qualified for his fourth event of the season. With three weeks remaining in the season, Strohmeyer is clinging to one of the last spots in the Web.com Tour Finals. Oda’s spot in the four-event series looks secure. Here’s a closer look at this week’s qualifiers. SULMAN RAZA (62) Age: 24 Hometown: Eugene, Oregon Alma mater: Oregon PGA TOUR starts: 1 Cuts made: 0 Best TOUR finish: MC, 2018 U.S. Open Notes: Raza was teammates at Oregon with AT&T Byron Nelson winner Aaron Wise. Raza, who grew up in Eugene, was the hometown hero at the 2016 NCAA Championship, scoring the clinching point for the Ducks at Eugene Country Club. He also led Oregon back to the final match of the NCAA Championship in 2017, but the Ducks fell to Oklahoma. He went 5-1 in match play in his NCAA career. He was working for a golf bag company before turning pro after qualifying for this year’s U.S. Open. SCOTT STROHMEYER (63) Hometown: Auburn, Ala. Alma mater: Alabama PGA TOUR starts: 2 Cuts made: 1 Best TOUR finish: T4, 2017 Sanderson Farms Championship Notes: Justin Thomas’ former Alabama teammate has the best finish by a Monday qualifier this season, but he hasn’t made a start since the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He could use a good week in Reno to clinch his spot in the Web.com Tour Finals. He has 68 non-member FedExCup points. He needs to stay ahead of No. 200 in the FedExCup points list to make The Finals. Rod Pampling currently holds that position with 61 points. JOHN ODA (63) Age: 22 Hometown: Honolulu Alma mater: UNLV PGA TOUR starts: 8 Cuts made: 3 Best TOUR finish: 8th, 2017 OHL Classic at Mayakoba Notes: Like Strohmeyer, Oda had a top-10 in the fall. Oda’s position in the Web.com Tour Finals should be safe, though. He has 101 non-member FedExCup points. Oda played his college golf in Nevada. He was a first-team All-American for UNLV in 2017. This is the fourth time Oda has Monday qualified this season. He also made the cut in the Sony Open in Hawaii (T67) and Barbasol Championship (T34). He also has two top-10s on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada this year. EDDIE OLSON (64) Age: 31 Hometown: Aptos, California Alma mater: UNLV PGA TOUR starts: 1 Cuts made: 0 Best TOUR finish: MC, 2010 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open Notes: Olson joins Oda as a UNLV alum to qualify for the Barracuda. Olson was an All-American for the Rebels, whom he played for until 2010. He has made just seven starts on the PGA TOUR, Web.com Tour and Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada since. He won the Northwest Mississippi Classic on the Adams Pro Tour earlier this year. RBC CANADIAN OPEN QUALIFIERS MC. Michael Gligic, 69-77 MC. Russell Budd, 75-72 MC. Mitchell Sutton, 74-80 MC. Justin Yong Woo Kim, 81-76 THIS SEASON’S QUALIFIERS Qualifiers: 87 Made cut: 26 Top-10s: 4 (Scott Strohmeyer, T4 at Sanderson Farms; Trey Mullinax, T8 at Valspar; Julian Suri, T8 at Houston; Chase Seiffert, T9 at Travelers) Top-25s: 6 Most times qualified: T.J. Vogel (7)

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