Power Rankings: John Deere Classic

We live in an advanced age where science and technology have given us a deeper understanding of the world around us. Science can’t answer every question, though, and when it falls short, people often flock to the transcendent. That’s true in life, and in golf. Such a dichotomy is apparent in an age of Trackman and analytics. Some lean on math and science in their quest to conquer the unconquerable game. Others take a more artistic approach. Can the two sides coexist? That’s the question that Brett Cyrgalis tackles in his book, “Golf’s Holy War,� released this month. We spoke to Cyrgalis to learn more about his book and his views on the current state of the game. PGATOUR.COM: The book’s title implies conflict. Do you see competing factions in the game? BRETT CYRAGALIS: There’s a conflict there between thinking you can know everything and knowing that … there’s more to the game than just the data. That’s really where the conflict is. There’s two works that show these two factions. One is “The Golfing Machine,� which is like this super-technical book that Bryson DeChambeau aligns himself with. And there’s “Golf In The Kingdom,� which is this very weird, mystical, semi-fictional book written by Michael Murphy who started a consciousness camp on the shores of Big Sur. People attach themselves to science and want to be objective, but there is this longing and (“Golf In The Kingdom�) resonates a lot more with people. It comes down to what makes you love the game? It’s probably not having your elbow in the perfect position. It’s probably seeing the grass and smelling the ocean and enjoying your time. This isn’t meant to poo-poo science and data. They’re very useful. The more information and knowledge you have, it’s good. But that doesn’t necessarily make you a better player. And for almost everybody in the world, you’re not trying to make a living playing golf. You’re trying to enjoy yourself. PGATOUR.COM: There are two characters from your book that I want to talk about. The first is Michael Murphy. Tell us about him and the time you spent with him. CYRAGALIS: Michael Murphy is as interesting as you imagine. He’s tall and broad-shouldered. When I met him, he was 82, but he looked like he was in his late 60s. He has this intelligence that you can’t avoid. And he’s funny and irreverent, but he has such a strong belief in the mystical that he kind of drops little hints every now and then. He told me that he thought Tiger Woods had a shamanistic gift and how he had this transcendent moment watching Tiger Woods at The Honda Classic one year, and how he thinks watching Tiger is like watching Frodo Baggins on his journey and he can’t get enough of it. He had this spiritual awakening when he was at Stanford, and he decided that he wanted to study at a Hindu ashram in India and on his way he was going to play a round of golf. And so he stopped in St. Andrews and played a round of golf and went on his way. In the book, he tells the same story of a guy named Michael Murphy, who is traveling to India but stopped to play golf in Scotland. He plays a course called Burningbush, and he bumps into a teacher and a student, and the teacher is giving a lesson in golf mysticism. He sees orbs floating around the ball and talks about how to channel your inner game, in a Hindu, spiritual, religious kind of way. It’s a weird book. It sounds weirder to explain it than to read it. It’s connected with so many people. Clint Eastwood bought the movie rights. Murphy is a character and the book, I think it’s seminal in the game. PGATOUR.COM: And tell us about Sam Byrd, the former Yankee who had a hand in the modern golf swing. CYRAGALIS: Sam Byrd played for the Yankees in the early ‘30s. He was known as “Babe Ruth’s Legs� because he would come in and replace Babe Ruth late in games. He was a great golfer. Bobby Jones said he was the best driver of the golf ball he’d ever seen. He ended up turning pro and (winning six times on the PGA TOUR). I found this story because when I started asking about the first player on the PGA TOUR to really use a coach, it went back to this guy Mac McLendon. He was a good player out of college, but he didn’t think he hit it far enough and got all fouled up. So, he was looking for answers and he went to see Jimmy Ballard. Jimmy taught Mac McLendon and Mac became a good player and won a couple times on TOUR. So everyone started going to Jimmy Ballard, like Curtis Strange and Sandy Lyle. But Jimmy Ballard goes back to Sam Byrd because Sam ran a driving range and a young Jimmy Ballard worked there. This was the beginning of the drill of putting the headcover under the lead arm. It used to be a very common sight on driving ranges. That goes back to Sam Byrd because Sam said that when he was called up to the Yankees, Babe Ruth told him to put a handkerchief under his arm when he swung. That was the idea of connection. When Hogan saw Byrd play in the PGA Championship, he went up to him after that and said, “What do you know about putting a stick on a ball that no one else does?� PGATOUR.COM: So, who wins this war? CYRAGALIS: I don’t think a side wins. I think the answer is in the middle ground. Now that all the science is so prolific and everyone has their hands on it and sees it, it’s not proprietary info anymore. Every teacher needs to know a little bit of this stuff. I think the next wave is about figuring out how your student learns. You need all of this info in your head. You need to know how all this stuff works, but then you need to know how to say it to the student, so they become better. It’s a fascinating idea because golf is this weird, esoteric game with this history, and it’s in a really interesting place right now.

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NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Henrik Stenson delivered the biggest shot on a back nine filled with them, a 5-wood within inches on the 15th hole for eagle that carried him to a 6-under 66 and a one-shot victory Saturday in the Hero World Challenge. Tournament host Tiger Woods was among five players who had a chance to win on the back nine, four of them with at least a share of the lead at some point at Albany Golf Club. RELATED: Final leaderboard Woods fell out with a chip that didn’t make it up the slope on the 14th hole, and he had to scramble for bogey. Justin Thomas had a pair of 12-foot birdie putts burn the edge. Defending champion Jon Rahm, in his final event before getting married in Spain, appeared to seize control with a birdie-eagle-birdie stretch to take the lead. And then Stenson struck the decisive blow. From 259 yards away on the par-5 15th hole, he hammered 5-wood and couldn’t see beyond a dune as it bounced onto the green, tracked toward the hole and settled about 8 inches away for a tap-in eagle. That took him from one shot behind to one shot ahead, and he closed with three pars. Rahm had to settle for two pars to close out his 66. Stenson won for the first time in 50 tournaments worldwide, a drought dating to the Wyndham Championship in August 2017. His world ranking plunged from No. 6 to No. 40. But after wrapping up the European Tour season in Dubai last week, he worked with swing coach Pete Cowen and took some momentum to the Bahamas. Patrick Reed, who took a two-shot penalty on Friday after a Rules violation, shook that off for a 66 to finish alone in third. Woods hasn’t won his holiday event since 2011, and he put himself in position with timely birdies while playing alongside Thomas. It looked like quite a battle with Woods setting the pace early, and Thomas catching and passing him with an 8-foot eagle putt on the 11th hole. But that was as good as it got for both of them. Woods tried to drive the par-4 14th hole and wound up in the waste area with a bad lie. He sent that over the green, and his chip up the slope wasn’t hard enough and came back down the hill. His fourth shot barely made it onto the green and he holed a 15-foot putt to escape with bogey. But he spent more time in the waste area on the par-5 15th and had to scramble for par, and that was the end of his chances. Woods closed with a 69. The only victory — a hollow one — was finishing with a lower score than Thomas for the first time in some 15 pairings together. Even that required a double bogey by Thomas on the last hole, giving him a 70. “I don’t think that’s how we wanted it to end up,” Woods aid with a laugh. “If I was going to get him, it would have been nice for either of us to have a chance to win the tournament.” U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, who started the final round with a one-shot lead, ran into trouble chipping up the slope on the par-5 third hole and made double bogey. He never recovered, shot 73 and tied for seventh. The Hero World Challenge was just the first stop for 11 of the Americans in the field. They had a few hours to get changed for a charter flight from the Bahamas to Australia for the Presidents Cup, which starts Thursday with Woods as the first playing captain in 25 years. Stenson wants to patch back his game, and this was a big step. After five straight years in the top 10, the 43-year-old Swede is eager to get back. “It’s down, but it’s not a disaster,” Stenson said of his ranking. “I can compete with the best, and I guess I showed that.”

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How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO. Each lineup consists of four starters and two bench players that can be rotated after each round. Adding to the challenge is that every golfer can be used only three times per each of four Segments. The first fantasy golf game to utilize live ShotLink data, PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO allows you to see scores update live during competition. Aside from the experts below, Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at this year’s Sentry Tournament of Champions in his edition of the Power Rankings. THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN OUR EXPERTS? The PGA TOUR Experts league is once again open to the public. You can play our free fantasy game and see how you measure up against our experts below. Joining the league is simple. Just click here to sign up or log in. Once you create your team, click the “Leagues” tab and search for “PGA TOUR Experts.” After that? Pick your players and start talking smack. SEASON SEGMENT

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