Phil Mickelson on U.S. Open wager with potential $3.375M payout: ‘I'm going to play hard for him'

If you’re keen to attach to the trend that’s opened 2019, you’re in luck. Well, as long as you haven’t burned Charles Howell III, the stars are aligned. Xander Schauffele and Matt Kuchar respectively opened and closed the Aloha Swing with their second titles of the season, but there’s only one golfer in the 156-man field at the Desert Classic who has a win in 2018-19: Chucky Three Sticks. You know, CH3 is No. 4 in my Power Rankings and only next week’s Farmers Insurance Open is included in his Future Possibilities below. OK, so Torrey Pines arguably is his best spot in our world and this week’s tri-course experience caters to surprise exponentially more than it does expectation. Patrick Cantlay, defending champion Jon Rahm and Justin Rose sit 1-2-3 in my Power Rankings, but I’d sit on each if it’s still an option. All look good everywhere. Everywhere. What’s more, while Rose is the epitome of a professional, his thoughts might not be undivided as his regular caddie, Mark Fulcher, will be having heart surgery this week. Even if you like the inspirational angle, remember the nature of this tournament and add the variable that the Englishman will be making his debut on the current rotation of courses. In fact, he hasn’t appeared since 2010. Among the other notables, considering holstering Phil Mickelson as well. He’s spoken openly about focusing more than ever for opportunities on the biggest stages. Granted, you might not be terribly interested in the World Golf Hall of Famer in those situations what with him turning 49 in mid-June, but the Desert Classic barely pinged the radar of smartest choices, anyway. Instead, consider using the Desert Classic as a bridge. Even though Hudson Swafford (2017) is the only first-time winner in the last seven years, this is a terrific time to burn red-hot Corey Conners, the dynamic Peter Uihlein and Bud Cauley, or the sneaky Richy Werenski. Those are endorsements that extend to the back half of two-man One & Done lineups, especially. Meanwhile, Adam Hadwin’s course history almost is to glossy to believe with a T6-2nd-T3 slate since the current rotation debuted in 2016. Pairing him with CH3 is saucy. Same with the surging Andrew Putnam. Desert cornerstone Lucas Glover makes sense no matter your game. He and Chez Reavie always seem to attract our attention at the same time, so it’s kind of them to join forces once again. And if you’re game to have some fun – well, more than usual – roll out the quinella of Swafford and/or oft-mistaken lookalike Harris English. The moral of this story is that you’re not going to miss most of the guys who have taken a step forward above. We always want to be bold, but that dose of reality can help finalize your decision. 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 2018-19. 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. Daniel Berger … Waste Management (2); WGC-Mexico (3); Travelers (1) Patrick Cantlay … Genesis (4); Valspar (2); Memorial (3) Jason Dufner … Desert Classic (9); Honda (3); PLAYERS (7); Valspar (4); New Orleans (1); Charles Schwab (6); Memorial (5); U.S. Open (2); Wyndham (8); TOUR Championship (10) Bill Haas … Desert Classic (1); Genesis (3); WGC-Match Play (8); Heritage (4); Charles Schwab (2); Wyndham (6) Adam Hadwin … Desert Classic (1); Waste Management (4); Genesis (3); Valspar (2); John Deere (5) Brian Harman … Desert Classic (3); Arnold Palmer (7); Charles Schwab (1); Travelers (5); John Deere (4) Russell Henley … Honda (4); Masters (3) Charley Hoffman … Genesis (5); Arnold Palmer (2); Masters (4); Heritage (7); Valero (3); Charles Schwab (6); Travelers (1) Charles Howell III … Desert Classic (4); Farmers (1) Zach Johnson … Waste Management (6); Arnold Palmer (7); Valero (4); Charles Schwab (5); John Deere (1); Open Championship (2); TOUR Championship (8) Si Woo Kim … PLAYERS (3); Heritage (1) Chris Kirk … Valero (3); PLAYERS (5); Charles Schwab (2) Kevin Kisner … Heritage (3); New Orleans (5); Charles Schwab (2); Memorial (6) Russell Knox … Heritage (2) Martin Laird … Desert Classic (6); Waste Management (1); Genesis (3); Valero (5); Barracuda (2) Phil Mickelson … Desert Classic (10); Waste Management (4); Pebble Beach (5); Genesis (6); WGC-Mexico (1; defending); Masters (9); Wells Fargo (2); Open Championship (8); WGC-St. Jude (3) Ryan Palmer … Desert Classic (1); Valero (2); Charles Schwab (4) Pat Perez … Farmers (2); Pebble Beach (5) Scott Piercy … New Orleans (1; co-defending); Canadian (7; last winner at Hamilton in 2012) Jon Rahm … Desert Classic (3; defending); Farmers (6); Waste Management (4); Masters (5); Charles Schwab (1); TOUR Championship (7) Justin Rose … Farmers (6); Genesis (9); Arnold Palmer (3); Masters (1); PLAYERS (10); Charles Schwab (7; defending); Memorial (4); Open Championship (8); TOUR Championship (2) Brendan Steele … Desert Classic (6); Waste Management (2); Honda (7); Valero (8); Wells Fargo (9); Travelers (4); Reno-Tahoe (3) Kevin Streelman … Desert Classic (8); Pebble Beach (1); Valero (9); Heritage (5); Memorial (4); Travelers (7)

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KAPALUA, Hawaii – Patton Kizzire was more than happy to talk about his first PGA TOUR ace before his first round was over at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. The two-time TOUR winner became somewhat of a pioneer when he fronted up to chat about his 186-yard 7-iron on the par-3 8th hole which bounced just short of the cup before hopping up and in. While mid-round interviews have been conducted on the PGA TOUR Champions before it is a rare occurrence on the PGA TOUR. Maybe not so anymore. Kizzire chatted to Golf Channel’s Aaron Oberholser on the 15th fairway. “I was just trying to hit the green. The toughest part is judging the wind,â€� he said of his ace before signing for a 4-under 69 and share of sixth. “It was pretty sweet.â€� Players have the choice of making themselves available or not for the walking quick fire chats intended to bring a better experience to the viewers. Playing with Kizzire was Marc Leishman who had surged he way to one shot off Kevin Tway’s lead when he provided a few mid-round soundbites. The Australian, who led after the first round a year ago, attributed his scoring to his driving. He then promptly went to the 17th tee box and wildly blocked his ball into a native area, leading to a double bogey. He refused to blame the talk as a distraction or jinx. “Nah that was just me, that was just a crap shot,â€� Leishman joked after his 5-under 68 left him fifth. “I do (those type of interviews) in Australia every year; I think it’s cool as it gives good access for the fans. “I’m certainly not blaming my bad shot on it as it was walking up to 16 green so it wasn’t as though it was right before (that tee shot). “No one is going to blame an interview if they go birdie, birdie, birdie.â€� Another to get a taste of the chat was defending champion Dustin Johnson who pieced together a 6-under 67 to be tied second just one shot back. “It was fine. I don’t like pre-round interviews and such normally but hey we are in Hawaii,â€� Johnson said. “Now if we were at Augusta maybe I wouldn’t do it but it’s okay.â€� MUST-READS Tway taps in to Kapalua memories

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The PNC Championship is underway this weekend and although the news cycle is dominated by the introduction of Charlie Woods, the other buzz has been around the father-and-son duo of Mike and Justin Thomas. The former FedExCup champ and his long-time PGA Professional father (and coach) are paired with the Woods duo and are an early favorite to compete for the title. Mike, a fine player in his own right, knows Florida golf well and Justin is an obvious asset to the team. If you look at the bags of the Louisville duo, you will however see a stark difference (beyond the company name). Justin is a high-speed, high-launch player who requires a setup that gets the ball flight down, all while enhancing or mitigating spin where it's required. Mike, on the other hand, has a set built to get the ball in the air. All of his shafts are on the light side and his utility/iron setup are mid-to-high launch profiles that don't knock spin down all that much. For better golfers over the age of 60, Mike's bag is a study in efficiency and one to take note of. His wood shafts mitigate spin but not too much, his irons (in combo with the shafts) are forgiving, packed with tech, and will help get the ball up, increase distance, and steepen the descent angle. Where are they similar? Both of these golf bags are well thought out leaving each player with a ton of versatility and very little to chance. So, in that sense, like father like son. Mike Thomas WITB Driver: Titleist TSi3 (9 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Kuro Kage 50 S 3-wood: Titleist TSi3 (13.5 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Kuro Kage 60 S Utilities: Titleist U510 (2, 3) Shafts: Mitsubishi Tensei Blue CK Pro 70 S Irons: Titleist CNCPT CP-03 (5-P, W) Shafts: Mitsubishi Tensei Red CK Pro 70 S Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM8 (54-14F, 60-12D) Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold S200 Putter: Scotty Cameron Studio Design Prototype 1.5 Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Justin Thomas WITB Driver: Titleist TS3 (9.5 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX 3-wood: Titleist TS3 (15 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw Blue 85 TX 5-wood: Titleist 915 Fd (18 degrees @18.75) Shaft: Fujikura Motore Speeder VC 9.2 Tour Spec X Irons: Titleist T100 (4), Titleist 620 MB (5-9) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design Raw SM7 (46-10F @47.5, 52-12F @52.5), Vokey SM8 (56-14F @57), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (60T @ 60.5) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (46), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (52-60) Putter: Scotty Cameron X5.5 Tour Prototype Grip: SuperStroke Pistol GT Tour Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord

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