PGA Tour hopes to ‘never leave Japan’

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FORT WORTH, Texas – News and notes from Saturday’s third round of the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational, with Webb Simpson leading by two shots after a 3-under 67. Click here for more from Colonial Country Club. SIMPSON HOPES TO SOLVE SHIFTING WINDS The good news: Temperatures for Sunday’s final round should be about 10-plus degrees cooler than Saturday’s scorcher of 96 degrees with a heat index of 108. That should make it slightly more palatable for players and fans at Colonial (but you’ll still need to drink plenty of water!). More good news: Strong overnight thunderstorms should improve scoring conditions on softer greens. In addition, wind gusts are not expected to be as severe as the previous three rounds. The storms also forced tournament officials to adjust the tee times, with threesomes now going off on two tees starting at 11:14 a.m. ET. Now for the challenging news: The wind is expected to shift, and will come out of the north for the first time since the tournament started. It had been a southerly wind the first three days. Thus, the player who makes the quickest adjustment might very well have the advantage Sunday. Tournament leader Webb Simpson (9 under) hopes it’ll be him. “There is going to be probably six holes where we hit a different club off the tee, knowing it’s a north wind,â€� Simpson. “I’m thankful I played in the practice round. I’ve seen this wind before. “You know, just got to map it out a little different.â€� Simpson has the 54-hole lead for the first time in four years. While it’s been a while, he did convert that lead into a victory at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in 2013, the last of his four wins on TOUR. The 2012 U.S. Open winner had a chance to end his victory drought earlier this year at the Waste Management Phoenix Open but lost in a playoff to Hideki Matsuyama. That remains his only top 10 in 16 starts this season, but he feels his game is on the upswing. He tied for 11th at the RBC Heritage in April, and tied for 16th earlier this month at THE PLAYERS Championship. “I feel like Hilton Head, I had a chance to win Sunday,â€� Simpson said. “PLAYERS Championship, I was in the mix after two days. So I feel like that’s starting to happen more, where I’m part of the conversation of contending.â€� CINK, CASEY SEEK TO END DROUGHT Paul Casey’s only TOUR win remains the 2009 Shell Houston Open. Stewart Cink’s last TOUR win was also in 2009 – The Open Championship. Casey, tied for second with Danny Lee, is two shots back of Webb Simpson; Cink is three shots off the pace. Both are excited about the possibilities on Sunday. “I think in your career out here, season after season, you give yourself five or six chances to win, being in the mix on Sunday,â€� Cink said. “One of those times, it might happen, maybe more. “You can’t expect it to happen unless you get yourself in position on Saturday. Got 18 more holes to go. I would love to be down the stretch in the mix here, too, and enjoy that challenge.â€� Cink actually has been in the mix before at Colonial. In 2000, he led by three shots after 54 holes, but closed with a 71 and lost to Phil Mickelson, who shot a 7-under 63. “When I finished that tournament, that was one that I remember I probably let get away,â€� Cink said. “… I took it and learned what I could from it and tried to get a little bit better that day and the rest of the year. It did become a good year for me.â€� As for Casey, he’s won five times on other tours since his win in Houston, the last in 2014 at the European Tour’s KLM Open. He said the few times since then that he’s been in contention, “I haven’t been firing on all cylinders. If I can string together the ball-striking that I’ve been doing and hole putts, then my chances are better than they were before.â€� Casey said he feels “a pretty good calmnessâ€� about entering Sunday’s round in contention. “I would like this to be kind of like a new norm, if possible,â€� he said. SHOT OF THE DAY HEAT TALK Stewart Cink said Saturday’s heat was the No. 1 topic of conversation in the locker room. Here’s what a few of the contenders said about it. Jordan Spieth: “It was tough out there because it was so hot. Legs getting jello-y. Real loose. … I got a little lapse of concentration for a few holes, just a dizziness where anybody would have, where you just kind of not fully there. It kind of let me down. Made a mental mistake hitting my putt too hard. Pounded a bunch of waters and got it back at the end.â€� Jon Rahm: “It really is tough. There’s been some putts where you’re like standing on it and couple sweat drops came down. I’m like, Oh, boy. That’s why I had to move back. Your hands get sweaty. Just be patient and take a couple extra seconds to hit the ball and make sure you stay hydrated.â€� Stewart Cink: “I think the main thing is it’s really the first heat of the year we’ve experienced. You have to go back all the way to, you know, well back into 2016. So we’re just not accustomed to it. Not yet. It’ll be hot like this again in Memphis. Who knows? Could be hot anywhere. We’re getting to that time of year.â€� Paul Casey: “It’s not good. I’m a dry heat kind of guy. God forbid what this place is like in the summertime. Texas is just so extreme. … All credit on the people coming out and watching. I don’t know how they do it. I don’t know how they drink and watch golf in this kind of heat, but I’m glad they do.â€� Webb Simpson: “My trainer says hydration is more important before and after than during [a round]. I’ve just been drinking about a 1,000 ounces of water a day.â€� Kevin Kisner: “Didn’t bother me. I’m fine with it. I love it.â€� CALL OF THE DAY   ODDS AND ENDS Webb Simpson has played Colonial’s Horrible Horseshoe (hole Nos. 3, 4 and 5) in 1 under this week. That three-hole stretch is the toughest on the course. Closest chasers Paul Casey and Danny Lee are each even par for those holes … Until Jordan Spieth won last year, the 54-hole leader at Colonial had not won in the previous seven years … Paul Casey has played seven rounds on the weekend at Colonial, and has broken par each time, including Saturday’s 2-under 68. In his three previous final rounds, his average is 67. … Sergio Garcia’s 1-over 71 dropped him into a tie for eighth, five shots off the pace. Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson shot a 1-under 69 and moved into a tie for 32nd, 10 shots back. BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA #TopTracerGoals pic.twitter.com/f3JvpPWASb — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 27, 2017 If only it was this easy.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/CH7cnWss42 — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 27, 2017 147 yards to 11″. 🎯#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/qoG6SwarN4 — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 27, 2017

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THE OVERVIEW By Cameron Morfit, PGATOUR.COM Although Justin Thomas won the FedExCup last fall, he’s the first to admit that among the highly decorated high school Class of 2011, Jordan Spieth (who finished second in the Playoffs) remains the valedictorian. Simply put, no one else can match Spieth’s numbers: He has won 11 times, including three majors, since the start of 2015. More mind-boggling still, he will go for the career grand slam at the PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Aug. 9-12. And he’s still just 24. (He will be 25 by the time he plays the PGA.) TOP 30 PLAYERS TO WATCH IN 2018: We’ll countdown our list with one new player each day in December. Click here for the published players. MORE: Top 30 explanation and schedule In case you were living on the moon last season, Spieth made the bogey of the year at The Open Championship, his 5 from the driving range next to the 13th hole at Royal Birkdale featuring a wide-right tee shot; a 20-minute ruling; and an up-and-down to limit the damage. Two holes later, Spieth rolled in a long eagle putt and told his caddie, Michael Greller, “Go get that.â€� (Golden State Warriors shooting guard and sensational amateur golfer Stephan Curry would later repeat the unforgettable quip at the Web.com Tour’s Ellie Mae Classic.) Spieth would go 5 under on the last five holes to defeat playing partner Matt Kuchar by three strokes.   Keep in mind, all of this riveting theater took place a month after Spieth hit the unofficial shot of the year, his delirium-inducing bunker hole-out to beat Daniel Berger in a sudden-death playoff at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut. The image of a flying rake and a soaring Spieth and Greller crashing into one another in celebration won’t soon be forgotten. Spieth led the TOUR in scoring (68.846), birdies per round (4.49), and Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green (.906). He will defend titles in 2018 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Travelers and The Open. But the truth is Spieth can win anywhere; of his 11 TOUR titles, he has hoisted only one tournament trophy twice, at the John Deere Classic. This is one of the most staggering talents we’ve seen in decades. BY THE NUMBERS How Jordan Spieth ranked in Strokes Gained statistics during his last full season on the PGA TOUR. FEDEXCUP Current 2017-18 position: N/A Playoff appearances: 5 TOUR Championship appearances: 5 Best result: Won in 2015. At 22, he was the youngest winner in FedExCup history. INSIGHTS FROM THE INSIDERS PGATOUR.COM’s Insiders offer their expert views on what to expect from Jordan Spieth in 2018. TOUR INSIDER by Ben Everill Everyone is always keen to highlight the friendship between Justin Thomas and Spieth but don’t think for a second there isn’t a fierce rivalry as well. While happy for Thomas’ achievements last season, Spieth sees it as a benchmark to strive past. We have the makings of many sensational battles going forward. His win at the Open Championship put him just a PGA Championship shy of the career slam but he will probably have multiple wins again before we reach that part of the year. If the putter gets hot, he will return to world No. 1. Click here to follow Ben on Twitter FANTASY INSIDER by Rob Bolton We’ve given him a pass because the adjustment in the wake of the lesson worked. Like so many before him, he nibbled on the allure to travel abroad early in 2016 and he didn’t fully recover from the physical toll in time to stake a stronger case for becoming the first to successfully defend the FedExCup. With that wisdom filed, he resisted opportunities early this year. Lo and behold, it transpired much more like his historic 2015 campaign. As long as he sticks with that model, there’s zero reason to doubt him at any time. Just 24 years old. Sigh. Click here to follow Rob on Twitter EQUIPMENT INSIDER by Jonathan Wall Spieth used the end of the 2017 season to make some major changes to his equipment setup. Added Titleist 718 AP2 irons and Vokey SM7 wedges during the Australian Open. Replaced Aldila NV 2KXV Blue 70X driver shaft with Graphite Design’s new Tour AD-IZ 6X. Continues to wield Scotty Cameron 009 putter from his junior golf days.  Click here to follow Jonathan on Twitter STYLE INSIDER by Greg Monteforte Spieth is consistent in his style, often gravitating towards similar designs (solids and classic stripes) and colors (blue and gray). For 2018, Jordan’s focus will be on fit. He’ll wear Under Armour’s new Showdown pant, which features a slimmer fit, increased stretch, and a lightweight fabric. Click here to follow Greg on Twitter

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