PGA Tour Power Rankings: Does the top spot belong to Hovland, McIlroy or Scheffler ahead of 2024 season?

* * * BREAKING NEWS * * * We interrupt Segment 4 of PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf for the Olympics. Officially dubbed the Olympic Men’s Golf Competition, it is not an official event on the PGA TOUR, so it does not contribute to the fantasy game at PGATOUR.com. Segment 4 will resume with next week’s World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. But you already knew that, so that’s not all. RELATED: Power Rankings | PGATOUR.COM Expert Picks The real breaking news is that PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf is undergoing a renovation for the 2021-22 PGA TOUR season. The bones of the game as you know it today will remain the same. They include roster construction of up to four starters and two bench players per round, as well as limited starts per golfer per X-number of Segments. The refinements are many but they are being introduced to simplify and improve gamer experience. So, if you’re inclined to be overwhelmed by change, you’ll be fine. It begins with a fresh interface. There will be a familiarity to it but design upgrades will make it more intuitive. Once you learn the basics, it’ll be easier to navigate. The most notable modification is that ShotLink no longer will be used to measure performance. So, no shot-level data will be gathered. Only actual scores and bonus points will be tabulated. Scoring per hole will resemble what you’d find in DFS, which was, in part, derived from Modified Stableford scoring. The FedExCup points bonus at the conclusion of the tournament will remain 10 percent. By eliminating ShotLink, real-time fantasy scoring and its completion after a round and a tournament will be faster, plain and simple. Save Monday finishes, obviously, the days of waiting until Monday afternoon every week for confirmation that everything is buttoned up are over. If you participate in a league, your experience also will be enhanced. Roster comparisons, sending invites and other concepts will be seamless and, again, more intuitive. In addition to finer detail to much of the aforementioned, other tweaks and performance upgrades also will be baked into the platform. I’ve seen the mocks and they’re impressive. This evolution was made possible largely because your opinions and feedback have been heard. Too often gamers or users of anything digitally consumed can’t feel or quantify how their voices make a difference. I experience the same in my own pursuits away from the gig, so I get it. Well, I’m here to tell you that your voice has mattered, and it’s not unprecedented in my tenure. The tech team, as I’ve often referred to it, went to work and on your behalf. I’m still digesting what I’ve learned in the short period of time I’ve known about what’s coming, so it’d be presumptuous to predict how ownership philosophies and game play will be affected. In due time, gang. Until then, it’s back to regularly scheduled preview material next week! PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf RETURNING TO COMPETITION Si Woo Kim … Sidelined since withdrawing during his first round of the John Deere Classic with a sore back. It’s been the through line of the career for the 26-year-old. Can’t help but wonder if it could complicate matters if he fulfills his military conscription in his native South Korea. Unless he medals at this week’s Olympics, he’ll be required to register by age 28. Sungjae Im also is pursuing the same dispensation, but he’s only 23, so he could have another chance in Paris for the 2024 Games if he doesn’t medal in Tokyo. NOTABLE WDs Jon Rahm … Tested positive for COVID-19. Just prior to the news, he announced that he wouldn’t be competing in next week’s World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, but the commitment deadline for the season’s final WGC isn’t until this Friday at 5:00 p.m. ET. So, it’s reasonable that he’d change his mind and compete. Bryson DeChambeau … Also tested positive for COVID-19. POWER RANKINGS RECAP – 3M Open Power Ranking Golfer Result 1 Louis Oosthuizen T2 2 Dustin Johnson MC 3 Emiliano Grillo MC 4 Tony Finau T28 5 Bubba Watson T51 6 Luke List T58 7 Hank Lebioda WD 8 Charl Schwartzel T2 9 Ryan Moore MC 10 Matthew Wolff T39 11 Robert MacIntyre MC 12 Stewart Cink MC 13 Mito Pereira T6 14 Steve Stricker MC 15 Dylan Frittelli MC Wild Card Patrick Reed T34 SLEEPERS RECAP – 3M Open Golfer Result Brandon Hagy MC Wes Roach MC Roger Sloan T16 Cameron Tringale T16 Erik van Rooyen T58 BIRTHDAYS AMONG ACTIVE MEMBERS OF THE PGA TOUR July 27 … Jordan Spieth (28) July 28 … Will Gordon (25) July 29 … Harrison Frazar (50) July 30 … Graeme McDowell (42); Justin Rose (41) July 31 … none August 1 … none August 2 … Jonathan Kaye (51); Brian Davis (47) Visit BetMGM.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ years of age or older to wager. CO, IA, IN,MI, NJ, NV,PA, TN, VA or WV only. Excludes Michigan Disassociated Persons. Please Gamble Responsibly. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-522-4700 (CO, NV, VA), 1-800-270-7117 for confidential help (MI), 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, PA & WV), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), Call or Text the Tennessee REDLINE: 800-889-9789 (TN), or call 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN).

Click here to read the full article…

SILVIS, Ill.  — Patrick Rodgers is 18 holes away from his first PGA TOUR win. But the 25-year-old former Stanford star knows that it’ll likely take a lower score than the one he shot Saturday to secure such a milestone victory. Rodgers shot a 3-under 68 in the third round, maintaining a two-stroke lead in the John Deere Classic. Rodgers had a 16-under 197 total at TPC Deere Run. He’s trying to become the third player in five years to win the Quad Cities event for his first PGA TOUR title. “It’s going to be a shootout because there’s a lot of birdies to be made out here, and I’m going to have to make my fair share in order to stay at the top,” Rodgers said. Daniel Berger had a 63 to match Scott Stallings (64) at 14 under. Nicholas Lindheim (66) was 13 under, and Jamie Lovemark (66), Bryson DeChambeau (70) and J.J. Henry (68) were another stroke back. Area favorite Zach Johnson had a 70 to drop five strokes back. Rodgers, who opened with rounds of 65 and 64, was hampered by a pair of bogeys. But Rodgers also had five birdies, and he saved par on the 17th after hitting his tee shot into the gallery. “I wasn’t as sharp as I was the past couple of days. So, I guess I did a good job mentally to get in at 3-under par,” Rodgers said. “All in all, if you told me at the start of the day that I’d have the same lead I started with, that’s a positive thing.” Berger, who won the FedEx St. Jude Classic last month in Memphis and lost a playoff at the Travelers Championship in his last event when Jordan Spieth holed out a bunker shot, birdied seven of his first 11 holes. Six of those birdie putts came from inside 10 feet. Berger and Rodgers are among four players with a tournament-high 19 birdies. “In Memphis I drove the ball phenomenally. This week I haven’t driven it that well, but I’ve kind of kept it in play for the most part and I’ve made a bunch of putts, which has been the difference,” said Berger, one of only two players in the top 10 in the FedExCup standings in the field. Stallings shot a 30 on the back nine and eagled the par-5 17th hole with a 22-foot putt. He’s shot back-to-back 64s after opening with a 71 on Thursday. “I can’t control what anyone else does. I couldn’t event tell you some of the other guys that are on the leaderboard,” Stallings said. “We’ve gotten ourselves this far, and we’re happy to be in the position we’re in Johnson, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native who won at TPC Deere Run in 2012 and notched six top-three finishes in his last eight appearances, again drew the biggest galleries. But he followed an eagle on the 14th hole with a double bogey on No. 15. Bubba Watson’s decision to skip the Scottish Open for the chance to accumulate FedExCup points might not work out in his favor. Watson had a 68 and was tied for 57th at 6 under. Kelly Kraft made arguably the day’s most impressive shot on No. 17. His tee shot landed on a walkway behind a hospitality tent, and Kraft hit his second shot over 200 yards and eventually saved par.

Click here to read the full article…

Andrew Putnam (+170 for a Top 20) … If you’ve been paying attention, then you have solid ground on which to stand and argue his absence in the Power Rankings, but he’s just 2-for-4 at Mayakoba with zero top 60s. Furthermore, anytime a guy who’s been simmering takes a blow, he can be forgotten quickly. It’s the phenomenon of the sport. Case in point, since a T11 at the 3M Open in late July, he’s connected nine paydays, two of which going for a top five and another three for a top 25. At 33 years of age, he’s in his prime and befitting of the model proven to succeed at El Camaleón, but he’s also the ball-striker that the course rewards. Obviously, the projection is for a personal best this week. Nick Taylor (+350 for a Top 20) … The 34-year-old from Canada is on a heater to start the new season. He’s covered one missed cut with a T6 (Fortinet) and a pair of top 25s, including a T23 in Bermuda on Sunday. He’s a two-time PGA TOUR winner who’s retained his fully exempt status since splashing in 2014-15, but this burst is unlike him. Consider that in each of the last four completed seasons, he totaled no more than four top 25s. He’s cycled through Mayakoba six times previously, four of which yielding a payday, the only top 25 of which a T15 in 2016, but piggyback his confidence and reach for this finish. Ryan Armour … He led the PGA TOUR in both fairways hit and proximity to the hole last season, but he was limited to 19 starts due to conditional status. No biggie. He regained fully exempt status via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals and already has a T13 on the board this season at the Sanderson Farms Championship. As a bunter of a certain age (46), he’s among the throng licking its chops this week. He’s also a regular attendee when eligible. Since 2017, he’s 3-for-4 with a set-best T21 in 2018. Tyler Duncan … With his profile and despite the results more often than not, he looks good a lot, but he looks even better this week, and it doesn’t hurt that this is a short course. Give a 33-year-old ball-striker a stage like El Camaleón and watch him dance. He’s 5-for-5 in the tournament with a personal-best T23 in 2020, so if you can find a top-30 market, go shopping. He’s also coming off a full season during which he ranked eighth in fairways hit, T11 in proximity to the hole and 34th in scrambling. Adri Arnaus … With the DP World Tour dark this week, the Spaniard had an opening to take on Mayakoba, albeit not for the first time. He made the first of seven career PGA TOUR starts here in 2018. He missed the cut, but that was before he was a rookie on what is now his home circuit. Since 2019, he’s finished a respective 41st, 39th and 33rd in DPWT ranking, and he’s currently 27th with this season’s finish line on the horizon. He also broke through for victory for the first time on that tour six months ago. A month later, he crashed into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time. He just turned 28 and he speaks the native language of the Riviera Maya, so the transatlantic trip will have had a soft and welcome landing. Odds were sourced on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022. For live odds, visit BetMGM. Responsible sports betting starts with a game plan. Set a budget. Keep it social. Play with friends. Learn the game and know the odds. Play with trusted, licensed operators. CLICK HERE to learn more at HaveAGamePlan.org.

Click here to read the full article…