PGA TOUR champion Brian Gay donates $50,000 to Diamond Resorts International Foundation to Support Military Families

Here are nine tidbits from the first round of A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. The Old White TPC at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia hosts for the eighth time and measures 7,287 yards and plays to Par-70.   KNOW THY ENEMY These were the top-10 selected golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game presented by SERVPRO. The morning wave had the best greens and best weather. The afternoon wave had to deal with a 1 hour 55 minute weather delay. Play was halted at 3:51 p.m. and resumed at 5:46 p.m. after the conditions were deemed safe. Don’t be surprised if there is more weather that causes play to stop and start again Friday! The splits were barely noticeable so when in doubt with the weather tomorrow, split/blend accordingly. Round 1 scoring average was 69.340 (-0.660) and there are 87 golfers currently at one-under par or better. There were seven bogey-free rounds Thursday as play was completed even with the weather delay. No tee times have been adjusted for Friday. PEOPLE’S CHOICE There’s good news and bad news for Bubba Watson and his investors. He was cruising along at four-under-par before a sloppy double late in his round knocked him back to 68 (-2). Watson jammed his hand/wrist early in the round as he had to navigate a bunker shot near the lip. Luckily he shook it off in a couple of holes and it wasn’t bothering him according to his post-round interview. Whew. Don’t forget the winner of this tournament has NEVER LED after any round except Round 4 in the seven previous editions. No lead is safe and there have been no 54-hole conversions. Strange, but true. STREAK BUSTER If Webb Simpson is going to rack up his first win and fourth top-10 payday at The Greenbrier, he’s going to have to do it in historic fashion. Knowing that he will have another mouth to feed shortly, I doubt he’s worried about streaks by previous champions. He needed to birdie the last two to tie the course record 59. He made pars on the final two holes to sign for a bogey-free, career-best 61 and the outright lead.  WHERE’S WHEE? It’s never hard to find the guy who circled 10 birdies on the day! Whee Kim sits T2 after making six on his opening nine to go out in 30. His score could have been even better but he squared two bogeys during that opening run. He played the back in bogey-free 32 and sits one behind Simpson’s lead. His 62 is his career-best round on TOUR. NOTHING NEW FOR NIEMANN I get that Joaquin Niemann is 19, but this isn’t his first event at The Old White TPC. Last year as an amateur he showed up and opened 68-68 to easily play the weekend. Saturday got the best of him as he stumbled to 75, but it was Sunday’s 64 that should have caught your attention! His bogey-free 63 is his third bogey-free round in his last four on TOUR. Don’t be late to this party. HE’S KRAFTY Grabbing gamers attention in late February with a T8 and a solo third in late March, Kelly Kraft looked like he was heading to “regular” status in his column. His next 11 events saw him pack early seven times and T35 was his biggest payday. He must like it here as he was T5 with all four rounds in the 60’s last year in his first try. This year he extends to five in a row with seven birdies against one bogey for 64 in Round 1. HOWELL-ING AT THE MOON The human ATM doesn’t have a very stellar track record here compared to some of his other stomping grounds. Charles Howell’s T9 in his first visit in 2010 is his only top-10 finish, and he’s not cashed for anything better than T32 in his next six tries. Gamers still backed him heavily as his recent form is impossible to ignore. He didn’t win the tournament on Thursday but his 68 surely didn’t lose it.  DEFENSE It’s never easy to win tournament No. 1, and it’s probably just as difficult to arrive for the first time as the defending champion. Xander Schauffele will get it out of the way this week so he won’t have to worry about it at East Lake (if he qualifies) to wrap up the season. His opening round 66 didn’t beat his 64 from last year but he played his last 12 holes in five-under to keep it around the top 10. He’s now 18-under in five rounds. COURSE HORSE Robert Streb has finished second and lost in a playoff in his last two starts in West Virginia and was 26-under combined. He’s picked up right where he’s left off as his opening round 66 runs his streak of rounds in the 60’s to nine. His best finish on TOUR this season is T40 so something has to give this week! STUDY HALL Norman Xiong is making his pro debut this week. As of this evening he was leading the event in SG: off the tee, striped 12-of-14 fairways and checked in on 17-of-18 GIR. His round of 69 (-1) could have been much better but he needed 33 putts. You’ve been alerted.  Billy Hurley III was of the 36 and 54-hole leaders (2014) who couldn’t close the door. His 66 in Round 1 gets him out of the blocks nicely. The fellas with babies on the way all were red figures after Round 1. Austin Cook (-4), Wesley Bryan (-1) and Simpson have all announced recently that their families are expanding.  Smylie Kaufman signed for 79 and then WD with an elbow issue.  The highest round on a winner’s scorecard for the week is 70. Scott Stallings is the only victor of seven to accomplish this. Stallings fired 70 this year in Round 1 as well.

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Here are nine tidbits from the third round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village Golf Club, just outside Columbus, Ohio, has hosted for the 42 previous events and plays 7,392 yards to a Par-72. PAIN OR GAIN These were the top-10 picked golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO: With another day of excellent scoring conditions, MVGC played under-par for the second day in a row. We saw plenty of movement in both directions from the most selected players! The roller coaster rolls on tomorrow as thunderstorms are forecast for the afternoon. Trying to beat the weather, tee times are now threesomes off No. 1 and No. 10 starting at 7: 30 am and concluding with leader Bryson DeChambeau (-14), Patrick Cantlay (-13) and Kyle Stanley (-13) at 9:30 am. Make sure your lineups are sorted tonight! Also, LIVE STREAMING will be provided on PGATOURLIVE.COM and CBSSports.com starting at 11 am. Alone Last week at Colonial, Bryson DeChambeau birdied his first two holes on Saturday from T6 and looked to be in the fight. He played the rest of his round in three-over-par and finished the round T31. This week on Saturday he racked up a bogey-free 66 to move into first place alone after 54 holes. His only win on TOUR was last summer at the John Deere Classic where he came from four shots off the lead. That’s where Justin Rose will start tomorrow with Tiger Woods one behind the Englishman. Recent Experiences Patrick Cantlay will make up one third of the final pairing tomorrow as he also posted 66 in Round 3. Unlike DeChambeau, Cantlay picked up a pair of eagles, including an ace on No. 8, but squared two bogeys for his total. Like DeChambeau this is only his second event at MVGC. He’ll be looking to join the group of multiple winners this season as he picked up his first at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas last November. Rear View Mirror Kyle Stanley and Joaquin Niemann both posted 70 from the final two-some Saturday and will sit one off DeChambeau’s lead. Stanley won last summer at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farms in a playoff and has a pair of top-10 finishes at MVGC, including T6 last year. In Niemann’s two top-10 paydays this year he’s closed with 67 (Valero) and 66 (Colonial) but he wasn’t one shot off the lead. If he cards four or five-under tomorrow again I’ll LOVE his chances but I’m more interested to see how he reacts with a chance to win! Large Cat Prowling With a birdie on No. 15, Tiger Woods was tied for the lead on 11-under. With bogeys, plural, on two of the next three holes, Woods donated two shots to the field and eventually ended the day T7. He’s leading the event in SG: tee to green and proximity but his putter hasn’t blown up yet. He finished Round 3 69th in SG: putting (of 81 players) so it’s back to the practice green again tonight. He had troubles closing rounds at THE PLAYERS and don’t look at his front nine vs. back nine scores from this week either. Since he’s my O&D this week, I’ll be in charge of the pompoms tomorrow! On Your Marc I usually mention at least once during the week about #Play72. The most difficult part of fantasy golf is waiting for it to end some weeks and this is one of those weeks for the Marc Leishman supporters. He made the cut on the number and faced the MDF on Saturday before making six birdies to move to T37. He’s first off tomorrow on No.1 and will have perfect greens to putt. Don’t give up just yet! Moving Day Rory McIlroy fired a bogey-free 64 for the lowest round of the week and moved up 58 spots to T11. He has a wonderful top gear that was on display with an eagle and six birdies. The 63 he fired in the first round in 2014 is still his best so he’s hardly in uncharted waters. … We haven’t mentioned Whee Kim since he fell in a playoff at the Shriners to Cantlay. His best payday since the first weekend in November was the following week when he cashed for T45 at OHL Classic at Mayakoba. He moved up 28 spots to T7 after 67 in Round 3. He’s second in SG: putting for the week. Moving Day: Wrong Way Just when I think I’ve solved the Jason Day mystery at MVGC he drops 24 spots to T28 in Round 3. On another day with optimum scoring conditions, the Aussie and club member limped around in 74. There were only six scores worse than 74 Saturday. … The frustration for gamers who back Henrik Stenson at MVGC continued again in Round 3. The Swede couldn’t bounce from his 66 in Round 2 as he dropped 12 spots to T21 after an even-par 72. He’s painting fairways and greens but his trusty short game hasn’t been on point. … MDF claimed eight players including Kevin Kisner and Adam Hadwin as more than 78 players made the 36-hole cut. Study Hall Round 1 scored 72.558 (+.558) and there were just three bogey-free rounds. Round 2 entered the history books as it was just the 13th round in history to average less than 71.00 (70.458). Round 3 fell right in the middle at 71.173 (-0.827). … Byeong-Hun An (5th) is the only player with two bogey-free rounds (Rounds 2 and 3). … Francesco Molinari, like Rose, is looking to win back-to-back events as he’ll begin the final round of the Italian Open one behind England’s Lee Slattery.

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