Patrick Cantlay wins second Memorial Tournament title and takes FedExCup lead

The PGA TOUR returns to the mainland for the third week of the 2020 calendar year. The American Express will still be headlined by two-time champion Phil Mickelson, but now he goes from tournament ambassador to tournament host. The storied event, which was most famously hosted by Bob Hope, is in its 61st year but its first with American Express as title sponsor. It will be played on the par-72, 7,159-yard Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West, the par-72, 7,060-yard La Quinta Country Club, and the par-72, 7,113-yard host course, the Stadium Course at PGA West. Adam Long will defend his first TOUR title a year after he edged Mickelson and Adam Hadwin by one. This year’s field features 17 of the top 30 in the FedExCup standings, led by Brendon Todd (2) and Sebastian Munoz (4). RELATED: Tee times | Power Rankings THREE PLAYERS TO PONDER THE FLYOVER The 168-yard, par-3 17th hole, known as Alcatraz, was one of the signature creations of famed golf course architect Pete Dye, who died last week at 94. True to its name, the hole features an island green with a tiny pot bunker, all of it surrounded by a ring of rocks and then water. It played as the third hardest hole last year, with a 3.093 stroke average. There were 35 birdies, 16 bogeys and, not surprisingly, 20 double-bogeys. LANDING ZONE The 560-yard, par-5 16th hole is this week’s Aon Risk-Reward hole. Since 2016, 86% of players who found the fairway off the tee went for the green. Players who go for the green have a 60% chance of making birdie or better when avoiding the greenside bunker on their second shot. Adam Long made two pars on the hole on the way to capturing his first victory last year, but it was the second easiest hole on the course, with a 4.590 stroke average. There were 96 birdies and six eagles compared to just 11 bogeys and two double-bogeys. WEATHER CHECK From meteorologist Stewart Williams: “A weakening cold front will move across Southern California late Thursday night into early Friday bringing a small chance for showers. The wind will likely increase during the afternoon to 12-18 mph and continue into the overnight out of the WNW 15-20 gusting to 30 mph. This system will quickly pass by Friday morning with partly cloudy skies and slightly cooler temperatures in the 60s. A gradual warming trend can be expected this weekend with highs warming near the mid 70s by Sunday. High clouds will likely stream over the region this weekend filtering the sun at times as well.â€� For the latest weather news from Palm Desert, check out the PGA TOUR weather Hub. SOUND CHECK When I stop hitting bombs I’ll play the Champions Tour. BY THE NUMBERS -601 – Cumulative score to par in California PGA TOUR events by Phil Mickelson since 1983, second best behind only Fred Couples. 26 – Number of Top-10 finishes by Tony Finau the last four seasons, the most by any player without a win. 255 – Low 72-hole score, by Steve Stricker, who is in this week’s field, in 2009. +121 – Move up the FedExCup standings by Brendan Steele after his runner-up finish at the Sony Open in Hawaii last week, the biggest mover of the week. SCATTERSHOTS Casey still in mid-season form: Paul Casey, 42, finished a lackluster T19 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, but says not to be fooled. He’s playing well. Why? Because with his T17 at the inaugural ZOZO Championship, followed by a start at the Australian Open in December, he never really stopped competing over the holidays. “My off-season’s been very, very short,â€� he said from The American Express, a tournament he last played in 2017 (T58), and only twice before that (MCs in 2002 and 2015). “I feel like I’ve just kind of continued, continued my year, not really stopped, which is a bit strange, but I’m actually fine about it.â€� It’s a Ryder Cup year, which always perks him up, and he’ll be the two-time defending champion at the Valspar Championship in the Florida Swing. “I feel like the game’s in a really good place,â€� he said. “And normally this time of year I would still be trying to get going and learning where my game is at, but I feel like my game’s in a good position, so the lack of off-season, if anything, is probably going to put me in a good position.â€� New-look Mickelson aims to end slump: Phil Mickelson won the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 2018 and 2019, respectively, but then went cold. Now he’s back with a new look after altering his diet to include fasting, specialty coffee, and a moratorium on junk. “It’s embarrassing the way I looked,â€� Mickelson said Wednesday. “… I wasn’t really accountable for my health.â€� Now that he is, he said he feels better than he did then and, “there’s no reason that would hold me back from being able to play and practice as hard as I can to play well out here.â€� He’s tried to address his wildness off the tee, which he said led to a water ball on the ninth hole on Sunday last year that cost him the tournament. His clubhead speed, he said, is up. Energy: up. Interest level: up. He loves the challenge of coming back to beat the greatest young players in the world, especially now that he’s feeling renewed. “There’s something that resonated with me,â€� he said, “and that was that everything I put into my body is either helping to fight disease or it’s causing disease. And that saying has me look at everything I eat as to is this helping me or hurting me. And for the most part, I’m not a hundred percent, but most of the things that I put in are helping me.â€�

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2021 Valspar Championship, Round 2 Top 10 win probabilities: 1. Keegan Bradley (T1, -12, 31.1%) 2. Sam Burns (T1, -12, 24.2%) 3. Charley Hoffman (T3, -8, 6.1%) 4. Max Homa (T3, -8, 5.1%) 5. Lucas Glover (T3, -8, 4.4%) 6. Sungjae Im (T6, -7, 3.9%) 7. Jason Kokrak (T11, -6, 2.5%) 8. Joaquin Niemann (T11, -6, 2.5%) 9. Cameron Tringale (T11, -6, 2.0%) 10. Abraham Ancer (T16, -5, 1.6%) Top Strokes-Gained Performers from Round 2: Putting: Charl Schwartzel +5.0 Around the Green: Lucas Glover +4.0 Approach the Green: Rafael Campos +3.2 Off-the-tee: Gary Woodland +1.8 Total: Sam Burns +7.9 NOTE: These reports are based off of the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live “Make Cut”, “Top 20”, “Top 5”, and “Win” probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 20K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of the Valspar Championship, or to see how each golfer’s probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model’s home page.

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ATLANTA — Each of the top five players in the FedExCup standings can guarantee a FedExCup victory with a win at this week’s TOUR Championship. In addition, there are certain scenarios for winning the FedExCup should some other player outside the top five wins the tournament. Here’s a look at how each top-5 player fared during Friday’s second round at East Lake. 1. Jordan Spieth: He sits in the middle of the 30-man field, tied for 15th place after shooting 67-70 in the first two rounds. He’s four shots behind co-leaders Justin Thomas, Paul Casey and Webb Simpson. Spieth is in danger of being passed in the FedExCup standings after a second consecutive day of inconsistent ballstriking. He ranks 19th in greens hit this week after hitting only 10 on Friday. 2. Justin Thomas: He’s tied for first, halfway to a FedExCup-clinching victory that would provide the perfect ending to an impressive season that’s seen him win five times. “It’s nice to have everything in my own hands and know that if I just take care of what I need to do, then it’s over with,â€� Thomas said. He sits at 7 under par after shooting 66 on Friday, including an eagle at No. 18. Thomas leads the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee after hitting 20 of 28 fairways and averaging more than 300 yards off the tee on all tee shots. 3. Dustin Johnson: He’s tied with Spieth for 15th place, four shots off the lead. Johnson, the 54-hole leader here last year, ranks 22nd in the 30-man field in Strokes Gained: Putting. “The next two days are all about if I can hole some putts,â€� Johnson said. “I feel like I’m swinging really well, I’m hitting it great, so just have to roll some putts in,â€� he said. 4. Marc Leishman: The BMW Championship winner battled his way around East Lake for the second day running, putting up his second straight 71 to be T24. Now nine shots off the pace, it is going to take something super-human for Leishman to become the first Australian to win the FedExCup. He hit just four fairways in round two. “More fairways, more greens and some hot putting. I’ve got to just go for it on the weekend,â€� he said. 5. Jon Rahm: The 22-year-old is trying to become the first player to win the FedExCup in his first Playoffs appearance. He’ll start Saturday just one shot off the lead after shooting 67 on Friday. He made nine consecutive pars on the front nine before making three birdies on the back-nine. It was Friday’s only bogey-free round. “I mean I can’t help but be a little frustrated just because I hit so many greens both days and I made so many close calls that the frustration just piles up,â€� Rahm said. “It’s hard to let it go when it’s hole after hole after hole. But after thinking about it, 3 under par both days are obviously two scores I would have taken, for sure.â€�

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