PGA featured holes: John Deere Classic

Updated: Thursday, 10 a.m. ET Cameron Young opened his first The Open Championship by shooting 8-under 64 to take a three-stroke clubhouse lead at St. Andrews. Among the players on his tail are a couple of former champions. RELATED: Leaderboard | How to Watch Young two-putted for birdie at No. 18 to complete a clean card in his first competitive round at the Home of Golf. The American was 7 under after 12 holes and looked set to challenge the lowest 18-hole score at a major championship, Branden Grace’s 62 at The Open in 2017. Young made five straight pars — including three-putting at the par-5 No. 14 — before his eighth birdie of the round at the last. Rory McIlroy, the 2014 champion, and the 52-year-old Ernie Els, who lifted the Claret Jug in 2002 and ’12, were 5 under midway through their back nines. Cameron Smith of Australia is in the clubhouse after a 67.

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It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. That classic line is what defined my come-from-behind, worst-to-first victory among the Experts in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO last season. Justin Rose’s bogey-bogey close en route to his playoff loss at the BMW Championship didn’t come back to bite after all. That’s the beauty of the format on this site. By using FedExCup points to measure performance, just about anyone within a whiff of the leader can roar from the outside and threaten late. In earnings-based leagues, the fate of those who won’t win is known weeks if not months in advance. I admit that it took me time to come around on using FedExCup points, but I’ve grown to love the volatility that the quadrupled points in the Playoffs present. (And that’s even before my timely surge. In fact, it’s my second league championship.) You still have to plan ahead and you still have to connect, but the possibilities don’t rule you out at the buzzer. And hey, the front-runners are in the same boat. If they leave that door open, someone just might sneak in and steal the trophy. With the parade over and the celebration complete, we now venture into a new season. Here are a few critical things to keep in mind that I’m parking on this page. Use it as a resource throughout the 2018-19 season: • The Houston Open, A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier and the Dell Technologies Championship are off the schedule. • The RBC Canadian Open will be contested at Hamilton Golf & Country Club, which hosted in 2003, 2006 and 2012. • TPC Southwind now hosts the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. (Firestone Country Club no longer hosts a PGA TOUR event.) • Only three events will be included in the 2019 Playoffs. Among them, East Lake is the only recurring host (of the TOUR Championship). • THE NORTHERN TRUST will be contested at Liberty National Golf Club, which hosted in 2009 and 2013. The BMW Championship migrates to Medinah Country Club, which hasn’t hosted an individual competition since the 2006 PGA Championship. • Unlike the Masters (held every year at Augusta National), the PGA Championship (at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course), the U.S. Open (at Pebble Beach) and The Open Championship (at Royal Portrush) always demand real-time decision-making over long-range planning due to the variables in play during each of those weeks (even though Bethpage Black and Pebble Beach are familiar to many PGA TOUR members). All of these changes for 2018-19 are reflected in the organization of Future Possibilities below. The section is dedicated to notables who are most likely to warrant consideration in all One & Dones. I’ve updated my confidence values for all golfers and extended a few to assist two-man gamers. With the new season comes turnover among the notables as well. For example, Patrick Cantlay, Emiliano Grillo and Adam Hadwin represent this week’s newcomers in Future Possibilities. This process will continue until all notables make their season debuts. You’ll also notice the +1 in my little league. Mike Glasscott joined (and doubled) the fantasy writing team at PGATOUR.com during last year’s fall stretch. He authors the Confidence Factor every week, wrote the Emergency 9 after every round of every tournament through the TOUR Championship and will continue to contribute in various roles. Also note Glass’ willingness to step out on a limb with his first-ever selection. It’s always easy to pick on the rookie, but at least he doesn’t miss the bunny. Even before Brendan Steele connected victories at Silverado in 2016 and 2017, he delivered for a pair of top 25s on the course. Now he’s attempting to become the first since Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic from 2009-2011 to win the same tournament in three consecutive years. Steele is a no-brainer of a No. 1 in my Power Rankings, but investors can’t ignore suspect form spanning his last 10 starts. Since THE PLAYERS, he’s made just five cuts and finished no better than T47 at The Open Championship. Maybe it’s the euphoria of my surprise triumph in the Playoffs, but my confidence is higher in Ryan Moore, who sits No. 2 in the Power Rankings. No one’s record at Silverado can stack up against Steele’s, but Moore has a T10 (2015) and a T17 (2017) in two tries. He’s always a reliable bridge during the heart of the season, but the course feeds into his accuracy off the tee and experience in blending going low with salvaging a score during a tough round. While former champion Emiliano Grillo, Patrick Cantlay and Martin Laird are tempting for different reasons, I love Sean’s decision to piggyback red-hot Denny McCarthy. The events of the Web.com Tour Finals aren’t PGA TOUR events, but they’re play-in copetitions for the real thing. So many of the graduates ride the momentum of their latest achievement. Citing a historical example, Grillo made history when he concluded the 2015 Finals with victory at the Web.com Tour Championship before repeating the achievement at Silverado two weeks later. Now that’s euphoria! 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 2018-19. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Patrick Cantlay … Shriners (1; defending); Genesis (4); Valspar (2); Memorial (3) Jason Dufner … CareerBuilder (9); Honda (3); PLAYERS (7); Valspar (4); New Orleans (1); Charles Schwab (6); Memorial (5); U.S. Open (2); Wyndham (8); TOUR Championship (10) Emiliano Grillo … Mayakoba (1); Arnold Palmer (2); Charles Schwab (3) Bill Haas … Safeway (5); RSM (7); CareerBuilder (1); Genesis (3); WGC-Match Play (8); Heritage (4); Charles Schwab (2); Wyndham (6) Adam Hadwin … CareerBuilder (1); Waste Management (4); Genesis (3); Valspar (2); John Deere (5) Russell Henley … Shriners (5); RSM (1); Sony (2); Honda (4); Masters (3) J.B. Holmes … Farmers (1); Waste Management (3); Pebble Beach (2); Genesis (4); Wells Fargo (5) Chris Kirk … Sanderson Farms (6); RSM (1); Sony (4); Valero (3); PLAYERS (5); Charles Schwab (2) Russell Knox … CIMB (5); WGC-HSBC (4); Mayakoba (1); Sony (3); Heritage (2) Martin Laird … Safeway (4); CareerBuilder (6); Waste Management (1); Genesis (3); Valero (5); Barracuda (2) Phil Mickelson … Safeway (7); CareerBuilder (10); Waste Management (4); Pebble Beach (5); Genesis (6); WGC-Mexico (1; defending); Masters (9); Wells Fargo (2); Open Championship (8); WGC-St. Jude (3) Ryan Moore … Safeway (4); CIMB (1); Shriners (10); Waste Management (12); Genesis (5); Valspar (3); Valero (7); Masters (13); Memorial (11); Travelers (6); John Deere (8); Wyndham (2); TOUR Championship (9) Scott Piercy … Safeway (2); CIMB (4); Shriners (5); Mayakoba (6); Sony (3); New Orleans (1; defending); Canadian (7; last winner at Hamilton in 2012) Brandt Snedeker … Sentry (4); Farmers (3); Waste Management (8); Pebble Beach (2); Masters (10); Heritage (6); Charles Schwab (7); U.S. Open (5); Travelers (9); Wyndham (1; defending) Brendan Steele … Safeway (1; two-time defending); CIMB (5); CareerBuilder (6); Waste Management (2); Honda (7); Valero (8); Wells Fargo (9); Travelers (4); Reno-Tahoe (3) Kevin Streelman … Sanderson Farms (3); Shriners (6); Mayakoba (2); CareerBuilder (8); Pebble Beach (1); Valero (9); Heritage (5); Memorial (4); Travelers (7)

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Rickie Fowler guesses he’s 10 yards longer this season after making a golf ball change at the outset of 2019. But is he also straighter? Fowler hit 11 of 14 fairways and shot a third-round 64 to open up a four-shot lead at the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale on Saturday. “If he keeps driving it like this, he’s going to be tough to catch,â€� said Justin Thomas, his friend and housemate for the week, and also one of his third-round playing partners. Told that Thomas was wowed by his driving, Fowler jokingly pumped his fist. “Yes!â€� he said. He is four shots clear of second-place Matt Kuchar (65), who is enjoying a career revival at 40 and will be going for his third win in his last three starts. MUST READS: Round 3, Waste Management Phoenix Open Jarrod Lyle memorial at No. 16 brings perspective Denny McCarthy rules violation rescinded “It’s been nice to kind of have some things click on the swing this week,â€� Fowler said. “We have been working on some things the last few weeks pretty hard and trying to just get into some better positions to make things more efficient and ultimately more consistent.â€� Thomas shot 68 and was five back, in solo third. He and Fowler paired up to go unbeaten at the 2017 Presidents Cup, but there was little doubt which one came to play Saturday. “I really didn’t play very well today,â€� Thomas said. In all fairness, playing alongside Fowler may have made his round look and feel worse than it was. Fowler has now hit 30 of 42 fairways for the week, which is tied for fourth in Driving Accuracy. He is third in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, and first in SG: Tee to Green. The question now is whether Fowler can keep it going, silencing the one consistent knock on one of the most liked players on TOUR: He doesn’t win enough. “Yeah, but the thing about Rick though is he doesn’t listen to that,â€� Thomas said. “And that’s why he has the probably the best demeanor on TOUR, that’s why he continued to play great golf, he continues to get himself in contention in the biggest tournaments.â€� Should he hang on to win Sunday, Fowler would notch his fifth TOUR victory and first since The Honda Classic in 2017. He has posted an over-par score in the final round following each of his previous six 54-hole leads/co-leads, converting for the win just once. “Everybody goes through stretches like that,â€� Thomas said. “And he would be the first to tell you he should have won more than he has. But it’s hard to win, there’s only one winner every week, and he’s played plenty well enough, and I’m sure it’s going to happen plenty of times.â€� Fowler came into this week 65th in the FedExCup, but with a history of stellar play at TPC Scottsdale. All he got out of it was two runner-up finishes, and heartache. He lost to Hideki Matsuyama on the fourth hole of a playoff in 2016, and by a shot to Hunter Mahan in 2010. He turned 30 last month, and just keeps knocking on the door. “I played with Rickie the first two days; he’s playing great golf,â€� said Kuchar, who won the Mayakoba Golf Classic and Sony Open in Hawaii, and has shot a perfect 19 of 19 rounds of par or better this season. “Certainly he’s going to be the player to beat, especially if he keeps up on the form he’s on, but, however, I feel like my form’s pretty good, as well.â€� Asked what a victory here would mean after the close calls, Fowler didn’t mince words. “It would be awesome,â€� he said. “It’s been a long time coming. I obviously want to win here. This is a special place. The Thunderbirds have been amazing to me, the fans are awesome and obviously very supportive of me. I always have friends and family in town here; it would be great. Like I said, another good solid 18 holes of golf and we’ll be in the right spot.â€�

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