Patrick Reed withdraws from THE NORTHERN TRUST with ankle injury

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland – The beauty of links golf is that superhuman strength isn’t necessary for success. The courses over here reward control and creativity. Distance is an advantage anywhere, but the firm turf allows players to advance the ball on the ground instead of requiring them to send it into orbit. That’s why players like Tom Watson and Greg Norman can contend at this championship when they’re well past their prime. Pat Perez is further proof that links courses make The Open Championship accessible to the widest variety of players. He’s 42 years old, two years removed from shoulder surgery and sporting a little paunch. He shows up at most majors knowing that he doesn’t stand a chance. Making the cut on the supersized courses used in the four Grand Slam events is a moral victory. Halfway through this year’s Open, though, he has a chance to hoist the Claret Jug. He’ll start Saturday just one shot behind two other players who will never be confused for linebackers, Zach Johnson and Kevin Kisner. Perez shot 69 and 68 in the first two rounds at Carnoustie. “That’s what’s so awesome about this place. You can play it so many different ways,� Perez said. Take the par-5 sixth hole, where the fairway is bisected by pot bunkers. While Ben Hogan famously squeezed his tee shots between the traps and an out-of-bounds fence, today’s big hitters can fly the trouble and reach the green in two. Not Perez. Perez hit two 4-irons and a 9-iron. He loves the links so much that he often returns to Scotland in the fall to compete in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, which is contested on the Old Course, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. Perez isn’t afraid to acknowledge that the odds are against him. He has one top-10 in 24 major starts while missing the cut 10 times. The spotlight will shine this weekend on players like Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth, all of whom will start Saturday within three shots of the lead. But Perez thinks that will work to his advantage. “The best part for me is that no one thinks that I can win,� Perez said. “For me, that makes it easier to play. I don’t have any pressure.� He may try to downplay his chances, but Perez is in the midst of a renaissance after that shoulder surgery. The winner of one PGA TOUR title in his first 15 years, he has a victory in each of the past two seasons. Last year, he qualified for the TOUR Championship for the first time in his career. He is 22nd in this season’s FedExCup after winning the CIMB Classic. “You can have 22-year-olds playing great. Phil, 48, is winning World Golf Championships. That’s what’s so awesome about our sport,� Perez said. “But if I’m there, I’m there. If I’m not, I’m used to that.�

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There’s something about the additional (colloquially known as opposite) events that’s as irritating as they are fun to play. Only one time has a golfer successfully defended his title in one of the tandems to the weekly doubleheader, and that was way back in 2005 when Vaughn Taylor went back-to-back at the Barracuda Championship. It’s not guaranteed that last year’s winner or an additional event will qualify for the more prestigious tournament the same week as his title defense, but that he’s back to defend at all likely means that he’s not as attractive due to a dip in form. Case in point, Cody Gribble is back in Jackson, Mississippi, to defend his breakthrough crown at this week’s Sanderson Farms Championship. Note the absence of depth in Future Possibilities below. Gribble is omitted. Speaking of which, he hit a wall post-victory to the extreme that he was the only rookie who won a tournament last season who wasn’t a finalist for the Rookie of the Year award. He also wasn’t one of my 10 in the Power Rankings this week. Needless to say, I’m not endorsing the lefty in PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO no matter the positive vibes he must have this week. Even if he was worthy of pause, his duties as a first-time defending champ would generate enough distraction from the job at hand to dissuade me. Call it an abstention by default. The pick du jour is the rangy Chesson Hadley. Ever since he renewed his outlook over the summer, he’s been nails. It’s so similar to his public admission (on Twitter) about losing focus early in 2014 when he missed several consecutive cuts. Within a matter of weeks (but essentially overnight), he turned his freefall into fortune and emerged with his first TOUR title in Puerto Rico. Chris Kirk has owned this tournament regardless of its location. He captured his first TOUR title at Annandale Golf Club in 2011, but also shared second place in his debut at the Country Club of Jackson last year. What’s scary about him coming in is that he entered the 2016 edition in a groove. That’s not the case this time around. So, while he’ll be inspired by the digs and local hospitality, we need to let him go it alone. If you’re compelled to play the contrarian and sidestep Hadley, who will saturate the landscape, think about attaching to the trend that’s developed at the CC of Jackson. Each of the three champions was a first-time winner on the PGA TOUR. There are three non-winners in my Power Rankings: Andrew Landry (No. 3), Jason Kokrak (No. 5) and Bronson Burgoon (No. 6). While I’m endorsing Kokrak to fill in your blank in the One & Done (because he’s the known value), the other two don’t have the kind of baggage that Kokrak has lugged around sans hardware now 158 starts into his professional career. Landry has made only 20, Burgoon just 28 as a pro. Both are fresh and in form. Fantastic. The incentive to take a flier is that it’s an additional event with the fewest FedExCup points and earnings of any tournament other than the other three additional events later in the season. This is why these concurrent contests are so much fun. Two-man gamers can hedge with the a combo of, say, Hadley and Burgoon or Kevin Streelman (No. 4 in the Power Rankings) and Kokrak. 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. Chris Kirk … RSM; Valero; PLAYERS; DEAN & DELUCA William McGirt … Sanderson Farms; Genesis; Heritage; Memorial Kevin Streelman … Shriners; CareerBuilder; Pebble Beach; Wells Fargo; Memorial; Travelers

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