Daniel Berger won the Charles Schwab Challenge in a playoff, but it was a wild ride to the finish in the first PGA event in three months.
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British Open champion Jordan Spieth will join Masters champ Sergio Garcia and U.S. Open winner Brooks Koepka in the marquee group at Quail Hollow.
Unscheduled Monday finishes present a handful of challenges to everyone they touch, but if there’s a positive to the loss of one day between THE NORTHERN TRUST and this week’s scheduled Thursday start of the BMW Championship, it’s that the next host is as close to a neutral site as the field of 69 will tackle. (Patrick Reed, who is seeded 26th, withdrew due to a bout with pneumonia. For an introduction to Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland, the format and more, keep reading beyond the expanded ranking of projected contenders. POWER RANKINGS: BMW CHAMPIONSHIP Louis Oosthuizen, Hideki Matsuyama, Jordan Spieth, Alex Noren and Rory McIlroy will be among the notables reviewed in the Fantasy Insider. Situated in Baltimore County, Caves Valley GC is about a dozen miles to the northwest of downtown Baltimore as the oriole flies. It’s significant not only as the host of the top 70 in the updated FedExCup standings for the penultimate tournament of the 2020-21 season, but neither the City of Baltimore nor Baltimore Country has hosted the PGA TOUR since, well, before the PGA TOUR was the PGA TOUR. This marks the first visit to the region since 1962 when the final edition of the Eastern Open Invitational was contested at Mount Pleasant Golf Club in Baltimore proper. Doug Ford prevailed by one over Bob Goalby. Caves Valley has hosted a handful of competitions since it opened in 1991. For men only, in addition to a pair of events of note for seniors, the 2005 NCAA Division I Men’s Championship and the 2007 Palmer Cup were staged on site. Of those who participated in the more recent, Dustin Johnson (22nd seed), Billy Horschel (27th), Brian Harman (39th), Webb Simpson (52nd) and Chris Kirk (60th) are back this week. But again, it’s been 14 years since they were here and when they were amateurs. Suffice it to say that the statute of limitations for relevant course history has elapsed. At 7,542 yards, the stock par 72 designed by Tom Fazio is a bigger ballpark than most. The full complement of four par 5s serves as default scoring opportunities on unfamiliar greens that, in turn, will reward ball-strikers until the field finds the pulse for the bentgrass greens. Furthermore, because the targets average just 5,200 square feet, the approach game likely will determine the final leaderboard. The combination fescue-bluegrass rough has been allowed to grow to four inches on the perimeter, so with putting surfaces stretching to 12½ feet on the Stimpmeter, Caves Valley sets up as a first- and second-shot track. That, of course, brings us back to the ball-striker model. There’s so much more at stake at the BMW Championship than the official victory, the membership extension through at least 2022-23 for the winner and official earnings. Golfers inside the top 30 of the FedExCup standings at the conclusion of the tournament not only will advance to the TOUR Championship but each will receive an exemption into the 2022 editions of the Masters, the U.S. Open and The Open Championship. Consider that even winners of some tournaments rewarding the full allocation of FedExCup points don’t qualify automatically for the last two. With no cut at Caves Valley, it’ll be a 72-hole race for all the spoils. There will be physical sweating in addition to the mental variety. Daytime temperatures will eclipse 90 degrees on Thursday and Friday before a gradual cooling occurs, albeit with highs still ranging into the mid- to upper-80s on the weekend. Juicy air will promote the development of clouds, rain and possibly storms every day. Wind will not be a factor, which means that every bit of the elevated heating will be felt, but unlike the course, that’s something that all have experienced. 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. TUESDAY*: Power Rankings; Sleepers; Fantasy Insider SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Rookie Watch * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.
The 11th of 24 contributing events for PGA TOUR Champions One & Done presented by SERVPRO is this week’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. It’s the second of five majors, all of which are contested over 72 holes and begin on Thursdays. Scroll for tournament notes, 21 notables and three wild cards from the field of 156 in Benton Harbor, Michigan. In the context of the Fort Worth Invitational and nothing else, we’re in a weird position. Whether you measure performance with FedExCup points in PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO or earnings, Jordan Spieth should be the clear-cut favorite as your selection. Of course, this assumes that he’s still available because the same thing was said at the Masters. However, he continues to waver between locking in on a solution with his putter and losing the handle. It’s not an uncommon challenge for a touring professional, and he continues to say the right things, but at what point does he begin to worry that there’s a mental roadblock on some level? That he’s not there yet, at least publicly, speaks to the expectation to overcome, but experiencing mere snippets of success also prolongs the frustration. He’s consuming arguably as good a dose of understanding his mettle than at any other point of his career. The same thing can be said for Adam Scott, albeit on a lesser scale because he’s in a different phase of his profession and life outside the ropes, and his struggles with the putter have been a narrative for a longer time. As a result, and oddly enough, the Aussie presents as a stronger option at Colonial if only because you’re going to want Spieth in a major or the Playoffs. If Scott isn’t doing it for you, look at Zach Johnson. He’s enjoyed a really solid season. As the all-time earnings leader at Colonial, you’re going to consider burning him now or at the John Deere Classic. Frankly, it’s a coin flip. With Spieth scuffling, ZJ presents as a worthy pinch-hitter. Kevin Kisner defends his title, and he has to be happy that this tournament rolled around when it did because of his own mild slump. However, swerving based on two consecutive missed cuts (Wells Fargo, PLAYERS) is micromanaging. He checks all of the other boxes. Jason Dufner is the defending champion of next week’s annual northward trek to the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, but he’s a decent option at Colonial. Not unlike how Charl Schwartzel was given a kick in the rear at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Dufner received the same treatment en route to a runner-up finish (with Pat Perez). In his last start, he tied for fifth at THE PLAYERS on his own ball, of course, and where no one can hide. If I hadn’t already burned him, he’d be my pick in Fort Worth. The smattering of notables omitted above includes Jimmy Walker, Brian Harman, Matt Kuchar, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler and Jon Rahm. All make sense for another time or test. (Harman’s form prompts patience until the John Deere Classic, which, in turn, green-lights Johnson now.) Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele size up as swings for the fence as relatively inexperienced talents at Colonial, so if you’re front-running, you don’t need to reach. Meanwhile, Chesson Hadley and Adam Hadwin are sound pivots regardless of your current position. If you’re a two-man gamer and you still can’t build a tandem from the endorsements above, consider Danny Lee, Nick Watney and Rory Sabbatini. Steve Stricker also makes sense because he’s basically week-to-week in moonlighting on the PGA TOUR Champions. Grab him while you can. Last but nowhere near least, in a rare bury-the-lede routing of this preview, keep Webb Simpson in your pocket. He’s atop my Power Rankings, but his victory at THE PLAYERS two weeks ago deserves some time to marinate before you use your only opportunity to invest. Naturally, the Wyndham Championship is the default play, but he’s regained the kind of game worthy of consideration in a major. 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. 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. Jason Dufner … Fort Worth (2); Memorial (3; defending); U.S. Open (4); Wyndham (6); TOUR Championship (7) Rickie Fowler … WGC-Bridgestone (3); THE NORTHERN TRUST (10); Dell Technologies (6) Bill Haas … Wyndham (2) Brian Harman … Fort Worth (4); John Deere (3) Russell Henley … Greenbrier (2) Charley Hoffman … Fort Worth (4); Travelers (2); Canadian (3) Zach Johnson … Fort Worth (2); John Deere (1); Open Championship (5); WGC-Bridgestone (6); TOUR Championship (8) Chris Kirk … Fort Worth (2) Kevin Kisner … Fort Worth (1; defending); Memorial (5); Wyndham (6) Russell Knox … Dell Technologies (7) Brooks Koepka … St. Jude (3); U.S. Open (1; defending); Open Championship (4); WGC-Bridgestone (6); PGA Championship (2) Matt Kuchar … Fort Worth (6); Memorial (2); Canadian (3); WGC-Bridgestone (7); THE NORTHERN TRUST (9) Martin Laird … Barracuda (1) Marc Leishman … Fort Worth (7); Memorial (5); Travelers (2); Open Championship (1) William McGirt … Memorial (4) Kevin Na … Memorial (10); John Deere (9); Wyndham (3); THE NORTHERN TRUST (11) Louis Oosthuizen … U.S. Open (5); PGA Championship (4); Dell Technologies (3) Ryan Palmer … Fort Worth (2); St. Jude (6) Scott Piercy … John Deere (6) Justin Rose … Memorial (6); Open Championship (8); WGC-Bridgestone (7); TOUR Championship (2) Adam Scott … U.S. Open (10); Open Championship (8); WGC-Bridgestone (3); Dell Technologies (9); TOUR Championship (6) Webb Simpson … Fort Worth (4); Travelers (8); Greenbrier (5); Wyndham (1) Brandt Snedeker … Fort Worth (11); U.S. Open (5); Travelers (6); Canadian (3); Wyndham (4) Jordan Spieth … Fort Worth (2); Travelers (6; defending); John Deere (7); Open Championship (9; defending); WGC-Bridgestone (10); TOUR Championship (4) Kevin Streelman … Memorial (1); Travelers (2) Jimmy Walker … Greenbrier (8); Dell Technologies (7) CHAMPIONS ONE & DONE KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship For the fourth consecutive even-numbered year, Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Michigan, hosts. It’s a par 71 at 6,852 yards with five par 3s and four par 5s. Rocco Mediate established numerous tournament scoring records at Harbor Shores in 2016, including the 72-hole mark of 19-under 265. Bernhard Langer is not defending his title due to his son’s graduation from high school. This is the first of three tournaments (all are majors) with a 36-hole cut. Total prize money is $3.25 million of which the champion will earn $585,000. Only the U.S. Senior Open Championship with a purse of $4 million is more lucrative. 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. 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. Stephen Ames … Principal (8); U.S. Senior Open (6); Boeing (2); Shaw (7) Joe Durant … Principal (2); American Family (8); U.S. Senior Open (7); SENIOR PLAYERS (1); 3M (6); DICK’S (12); Boeing (10); Shaw (11); PURE (3); SAS (13) David Frost … U.S. Senior Open (4); 3M (7); Boeing (5); Shaw (8); PURE (1) Fred Funk … Boeing (6); PURE (5) Doug Garwood … SAS (1) Paul Goydos … 3M (1; defending); DICK’S (3); SAS (5) Lee Janzen … U.S. Senior Open (2) Miguel Angel Jiménez … Senior PGA (6); Principal (10); U.S. Senior Open (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (3); Senior Open Championship (4); 3M (9); Shaw (7); SAS (12) Jerry Kelly … Boeing (1; defending); Shaw (5); PURE (2); SAS (4) Tom Lehman … Principal (1); U.S. Senior Open (3); SAS (9) Jeff Maggert … American Family (3); Shaw (5) Billy Mayfair … Boeing (2); PURE (1) Scott McCarron … Senior PGA (11); Principal (1); SENIOR PLAYERS (3; defending); Senior Open Championship (10); DICK’S (4; defending); Shaw (5; defending); PURE (8) Colin Montgomerie … Senior PGA (1); U.S. Senior Open (6); SENIOR PLAYERS (2); Senior Open Championship (10); Shaw (4); PURE (7); SAS (3; defending) Tom Pernice, Jr. … Principal (2); Shaw (3); SAS (5) Kenny Perry … Senior PGA (6); 3M (1); DICK’S (10); SAS (2) Gene Sauers … U.S. Senior Open (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (6); Boeing (1) Vijay Singh … Senior PGA (3); U.S. Senior Open (2); Shaw (5); SAS (1) Kevin Sutherland … Usable everywhere. David Toms … Boeing (2); SAS (4) Duffy Waldorf … Principal (6); Shaw (5) WILD CARDS (short list of golfers not included above but on the rise or still building portfolios after recently turning 50): Bob Estes; Rocco Mediate; Scott Parel
