PGA featured holes: Moving day at Travelers

Wake up. Step out of your room. Hop onto a boat. Arrive at the first tee. Theoretically, that’s how you could start the day at Mayakoba, the resort course hosting this week’s event. Of course, players will need to warm up on the range first, but it’s easy to get distracted at the Riviera Maya, with all the fresh-water canals, emerald jungles and wildlife in the area. And yes, those are spider monkeys roaming the fairways. THE FLYOVER The 532-yard par-5 13th is the easiest hole at El Camaleon. A year ago, it played to a stroke average of 4.475, which made it the 31st easiest par 5 of the 163 played on the PGA TOUR last season. A prevailing left-to-right wind will impact a player’s strategy, but those who fail to make at least a birdie are giving up significant strokes to the field. Here’s a look at an Aaron Wise chip-in for eagle at the 2016 Mayakoba. LANDING ZONE Of the 918 holes played on the PGA TOUR last season, the 452-yard par-4 14th at El Camaleon was the 11th toughest, playing to a stroke average of 4.373. Just one eagle and 19 birdies were made, compared to 113 bogeys and 29 doubles or others. The fairway offers a fairly generous landing zone, but a headwind and dense mangroves surrounding the hole turn par into a difficult task. WEATHER CHECK From PGA TOUR meteorologist Stewart Williams: “High pressure will keep the tranquil weather pattern going through Friday. Can’t rule out an isolated shower or thunderstorm on any given day, but the bulk of the area will likely remain dry. Just enough increase in moisture may increase our chances for seeing scattered showers and thunderstorms on Saturday. Showers may linger into Sunday morning with dry conditions returning for the afternoon. A cold front will drop south and bring a good chance for t-storms by Tuesday.â€� For the latest weather news from Playa del Carmen, Mexico, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK Brought a smile to my face really just stepping on this property.This is an extremely relaxing week, which I’ll take advantage of that. Definitely a couple spa days. BY THE NUMBERS 68.65 – Scoring average by Charles Howell III in his nine appearances at Mayakoba. He has three top-10s in his last five starts in this event. 70 – Number of birdies made individually this season by Beau Hossler, Emiliano Grillo, Si Woo Kim, Chez Reavie and Gary Woodland, each of whom is in the field this week. That’s one birdie shy of the current birdie leader Kevin Tway (71). 1 – Number of players who have competed every year of the Mayakoba. That distinction belongs to Chris Stroud, who has three top-5 finishes in those 11 starts. 2 – Number of Mexico natives who have won PGA TOUR events. Cesar Sanudo won the 1970 Azalea Open Invitational, while Victor Regalado won twice, in 1974 (Pleasant Valley Classic) and 1978 (the tournament now known as the John Deere Classic). SCATTERSHOTS  A record four players from Mexico – Carlos Ortiz, Roberto Diaz, Jose de Jesus Rodriguez and Abraham Ancer — have their PGA TOUR cards this season, and all four are in the field this week. They’ve each played and made the cut at Mayakoba in previous starts. “Having four Mexicans playing with a full card this year, it’s incredible,â€� Ancer said. Added defending champion Patton Kizzire: “They didn’t just get here by chance; those guys are really good golfers.â€� U.S. Amateur champ Viktor Hovland of Norway is making his PGA TOUR debut this week. Hovland, who played collegiately at Oklahoma State, is playing on a sponsor exemption. So is Adria Arnaus, who also is making his TOUR debut. Arnaus, who played collegiately at Texas A&M, is from Spain. Green speeds this week will be between 10.5 to 11 feet due to the contours of the green and the sea breeze. The latter is most noticeable on the ocean holes No. 4 and 15.

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Wyndham Clark … After enduring a spring slump, which is common for rookies, the 25-year-old connected top 20s at TPC River Highlands and Detroit Golf Club to position himself for a return to the PGA TOUR in 2019-20. With two top 10s among six top 20s this season, he’s 99th in the FedExCup. At a glance, it’d seem logical that a sketchy tee-to-green game not only would get in the way of success, it’d apply too much pressure on his short game. But, wow, his short game. He’s ninth on the PGA TOUR in strokes gained: putting, first in putts per GIR, fifth in one-putt percentage, second in conversion percentage inside 10 feet, third in putting: birdies-or-better and first in three-putt avoidance. Yet, he’s hardly a one-trick thoroughbred at sixth in par-5 scoring. Denny McCarthy … No sophomore slump for this guy. Besides, when you’re exempt from the reshuffle and lead the PGA TOUR in strokes gained: putting, expectations are higher and there are no excuses. Save a week off in early March, he’s been positioned inside the top 125 of the FedExCup standings since a T7 at the Sanderson Farms Championship in his second start. Thrills and spills ensued, but a rock-steady T21 in Detroit last week lifted the 26-year-old to 110th. One more decent showing and he’s a lock to keep his card. Tom Hoge … Regional flavor. The 30-year-old from Fargo, North Dakota, could use a injection of the kind of confidence that guided him to state amateur titles in Minnesota in 2009 and 2010. He arrives with consistent form, albeit lackluster. Since late April, he’s 7-for-8 but without a top-30 finish. However, he did place T43 at the U.S. Open, so that demands some respect. Currently 170th in the FedExCup standings. Tyrone Van Aswegen … Buried in the same category out of which Nate Lashley emerged with victory at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, the South African is no stranger to playing for his job, it’s just that the deck is stacked against him this deep into this season. He’s just 3-for-11 with only one top 40 in 2018-19, and that was but a T29 at Colonial near his residence in late May. So, the bad news is that he’s 217th in the FedExCup standings. The good news is that he needs only 32 points to crack the current top 200 and qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals to begin anew in 2019-20. He’s also gliding in on a T14 at the Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank where he led outright after 36 holes. Collin Morikawa … It’ll take some time before the Class of 2019 can be compared fairly to the Class of 2011 that includes Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Daniel Berger, Emiliano Grillo and others, but it has the makings. With Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Matthew Wolff and Justin Suh all having turned pro in recent weeks, the clock has started. The very early leader as the most impressive is the 22-year-old who logged a decorated career at Cal. Morikawa already is 3-for-3 with a T14 at the RBC Canadian Open. His equivalent of 88.833 FedExCup points as a non-member would slot him 192nd among members and inside the bubble to qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.

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