Tiger Woods won’t play as much as he did in 2018, which — considering the schedule — is why he could be in Hawaii in January.
Click here to read the full article…
| Do you enjoy classic casino table games? Check out our partner for the best casino table games for USA players! |
When he completed his second round in the chilly morning, Woods believed he had a 25-footer down the hill to make the cut. Woods went through the first four holes of his third round in five-under. Granted, he has some major-winning former world No 1s ahead of him and trails Thomas, who is on 13-under, by seven.
OVERVIEW The next step for Marc Leishman is to have others looking over their shoulder when he’s in the mix — and for it to happen more often. The affable Australian notched PGA TOUR win No. 4 in the fall with a very impressive effort at the CIMB Classic – a victory that came after he was annoyed at a winless 2017-18 season. Two victories in the prior season had him on the brink of a FedExCup title, and although he returned to the TOUR Championship last season, he did so at the back of the pack of those at East Lake. He wasn’t satisfied with that and it spurred him to the win soon after in Malaysia. As one of the most likable players on TOUR, Leishman has a perceived lack of killer edge, but his talent is immense and when the chips are down the more he converts — and the more others will realize he’s a serious contender for majors and the FedExCup. A pair of runner-up finishes in his home country – first as part of a team at the ISPS Handa Melbourne World Cup of Golf and then to his World Cup teammate Cameron Smith at the Australian PGA Championship – has Leishman even more fired up. Wait for this to manifest into on course performance early in the new year. If the winds get up in the two Hawaii events, he will be hard to beat but where you can almost bank on him being in the Sunday sprint is at Torrey Pines for the Farmers Insurance Open, where he has two prior runner-ups. — By Ben Everill Click here to see who else made the Top 30 list. BY THE NUMBERS FEDEXCUP UPDATE Current 2018-19 position: 5th Playoff appearances: 10 TOUR Championship appearances: 3 Best result: 6th in the 2016-17 season SHOTLINK FUN FACT Marc Leishman is one of eight players to average 25.50 putts (or fewer) per round in multiple PGA TOUR wins. INSIDER INSIGHTS PGATOUR.COM’s Insiders offer their expert views on what to expect from Marc Leishman in 2019. TOUR INSIDER: Just one stat becomes key with Marc Leishman — when he has accuracy off the tee, he turns it into contention. The rest of his game is consistent enough to be in the mix most weeks. Ranked 114th last season in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee was a serious dip on previous seasons and it cost him. Fix that and more wins are coming. — By Ben Everill FANTASY INSIDER: Already a well-oiled machine, the wins are now coming as he’s entered his prime. Funny how that happens. With three victories in his last 45 PGA TOUR starts and exactly 25 events in each of his last three completed seasons, the Aussie has elevated into a cornerstone in full-season formats, so his position in the Top 30 series is rightful and warranted. What makes him special is his knack for tracks like Bay Hill, Torrey Pines and TPC River Highlands all the while presenting as a default safety net when Mother Nature is blowing things around. — By Rob Bolton EQUIPMENT INSIDER: X-Forged iron lovers — they are a passionate group — know that Leishman has a bag full of X-Forged 2018 irons (3-9); his are equipped with Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 130X shafts. He also uses a red version of Odyssey’s Versa #1 Wide putter. Leishman fills out the rest of his bag with Callaway equipment, and a Chrome Soft X golf ball, but he does employ a Titleist Vokey SM7 58-degree wedge. It’s always interesting to see what “otherâ€� club players in 13-club contracts decide to go with. For Leishman, he’s elected the lob wedge. — By Andrew Tursky STYLE INSIDER: The big Aussie has found a comfort zone with his game and his wardrobe. He builds his outfits from the top to the bottom. He uses bold and colorful striped shirts to make a strong statement while neutral colored pants help to keep his kits well balanced. — By Greg Monteforte
C.T. Pan … Given that he’s missed only two of his last 23 cuts, he’s already a default Sleeper because anything can happen on the weekend. After opening with three straight 71s here last year, his final-round 69 lifted him 14 spots and into a tie for 17th place. For the week, he ranked third in strokes gained: tee-to-green. As a rookie in his tournament debut in 2017, he sat T5 after each of his first two rounds before losing the handle post-cut (to finish T37). At just 5’6″ and 145 pounds, it’s not surprising that he does his best work on shorter tracks like 7,125-yard PGA National. Trey Mullinax … With six straight paydays, the last three of which going for a top 25, he’s not necessarily sneaking up on anyone. However, his propensity to mash it off the tee and pile up the scoring opportunities works counterintuitive to the objective of keeping the ball in play and targeting pars at PGA National. So, something will give in his second appearance (MC, 2017), but the relative absence of wind tilt the favor to his profile. Currently 50th on TOUR in strokes gained: tee-to-green but 213th in fairways hit and 192nd in strokes gained: putting. Kelly Kraft … Not entirely the focus of converging trends as much as he’s at the union of converging coincidences. The 30-year-old finished T9 in his last start at the Genesis Open where his overall game was just short of superb but much further from frustrating. It ended an 0-for-5 drought and a seven-month stretch without a top 30. Meanwhile, after missing the cut in his first look at PGA National in 2017, he connected for a T8 last year and led the field in putting inside 10 feet, missing only three of 67 tries, 28 of which from outside three feet. Carlos Ortiz … Now that he’s back on the PGA TOUR with fully exempt status, he can give PGA National another go. Perhaps the third time will do no harm after missing the cut in his only two previous appearances. The 27-year-old is 71st in the FedExCup standings with a pair of top 10s, the latter of which in his last start at the Genesis Open (T9) where he ranked seventh in strokes gained: putting. Adam Schenk … The PGA TOUR sophomore has displayed an affinity for shootouts, but there’s been evidence of grinding. For example, in his Honda debut last year, he ranked T13 in bogey avoidance en route to a share of 29th place, one of the better results of his rookie season. Having returned via the Web.com Tour Finals, he’s currently 46th in strokes gained: putting and coming off a T16 at the Puerto Rico Open where he slotted T5 in fairways hit and T6 in greens in regulation. But more than anything, his experience is paying off in his second spin on this circuit. Overall, he’s 9-for-12 in 2018-19 with four top 25s. 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.
