Power Rankings: Valspar Championship

Joaquin Niemann … All right, here we go. It doesn’t seem like 10 months ago when he first appeared in this space (for the U.S. Open), but he kept busy in the interim. His whirlwind schedule included redemption at the Latin America Amateur Championship and another victory in a professional event in his native Chile, this time by five strokes four weeks before his first appearance at the Masters that his LAAC victory yielded. Speaking of debuts, the Valero Texas Open marks his first tournament anywhere as a pro. He leaves behind the No. 1 ranking in the World Amateur Golf Ranking at just 19 years of age. Starts at the AT&T Byron Nelson (May 17-20) and Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide (May 31-June 3) are among others to follow. Chris Kirk … A moving target no matter your criteria, he connected for a T8 and T13 at TPC San Antonio in 2015 and 2016, respectively, but bracketed them with a T48 in 2011 and a missed cut last year. The 32-year-old also has registered a trio of top 15s in 2018, the last a 13th-place finish at Bay Hill a month ago, but he finished outside the top 30 in all of his other seven starts. While inconsistency among most touring professionals isn’t unusual, it is surprising that he’s competed the entire season while positioned no better than 150th in the Official World Golf Ranking, especially when you further consider that he’s 41st in strokes gained: tee-to-green, 46th in proximity, 43rd in adjusted scoring and 28th in bogey avoidance. Shawn Stefani … As he has before at the Houston Open, the native Texan delivered in his last start there with a T24. He warmed up the previous week with a T13 in the strong winds at Puntacana. While comfortable in that challenge, he’s also proven to be streaky, so there’s multiple reasons to expect him to sustain form in San Antonio where he’s 3-for-3 since 2015 but still chasing his first top 25. His confidence comes to life on the greens on which he’s 41st in strokes gained: putting this season. Nate Lashley … The 35-year-old has endured the usual challenges facing rookies at this level, but he’s turned it around just enough to warrant some attention in the wind of the Hill Country. After placing T28 at Corales where he prevailed on the Web.com Tour last year, he recorded a career-best T18 in Houston. What’s more, his strength of striping irons matters most in his debut at TPC San Antonio. Currently 49th on the PGA TOUR in greens in regulation and leading the circuit in proximity to the hole. Also T26 in bogey avoidance. Daniel Summerhays … A tournament that has been very, very good to him extended another opportunity in the form of a sponsor exemption this week. Saddled with conditional status this season, playing time has been limited to seven starts. He failed to crack a top 50 in the three cuts he made, but since 2012 at TPC San Antonio, he’s 6-for-6 with three top 10s and a T13.

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Here are nine tidbits from the first round of the World Golf Championship-Mexico Championship at the Club de Golf Chapultepec outside Mexico City that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Be looking for the Emergency 9 shortly after the close of play of each round of the tournament. Know Thy Enemy These were the top-10 picked golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO. As expected with a deep field there is plenty of separation throughout the top 10. There was more separation out of the top 10 as pick No. 11 was Thomas Pieters. He garnered only 15.6 percent of the action, another large gap between gamers’ choices. As always in this format, substitutions are allowed, so you better guess who’s going to turn it up tomorrow! People’s Choice Playing at Par-71 and stretching 7,345 yards, Club de Golf Chapultepec was kind to Tommy Fleetwood last year as he finished second to Dustin Johnson by one shot. Fleetwood was a massive selection this week as his ball-striking is fantastic and he picked up T4 last week at The Honda Classic. Gamers will need to remind themselves that his opening round 72 (+1) is just that, his opening round. With no cut this week he has plenty of time to find his iron game that let him down today as he found only 11 of 18 GIR. That will be corrected tomorrow so he stays in my lineup. Leader Louis South African Louis Oosthuizen blitzed the field with a bogey-free 64, his lowest round ever in a WGC event.  Buoyed by nine fairways and 15 GIR, Oosthuizen only needed 24 putts to set the target for Friday. After sitting just five off the lead entering Sunday at The Honda Classic, his final round 75 didn’t inspire (T24). He mentioned on television after his round today that he’s glad there’s not a Bear Trap this week! 21 and Up Shubhankar Sharma kicked the door open in December as he won the Joburg Open. The spotlight found the 21-year old Indian player again in February as he won the second time in three months at the Maybank Championship in Malaysia. He closed out that win posting 62 in the final round so there was nothing fluky about that. Playing in his first WGC event and first PGA TOUR event hasn’t seemed to bother him, yet. His opening round saw him lead the field in strokes-gained: tee-to-green and T1 in scrambling (six up-and-downs). He added a bogey-free card with an eagle and four birdies for 65 (-6) for T2. Chris Cross Englishman Chris Paisley drew attention to gamers before the week because of his form all over the world in 2018. He opened 2018 by winning the BMW Open in South Africa for his first on the European Tour. He backed up that performance in the Middle East desert with a T5 in Abu Dhabi and a fifth-place check in Dubai. There was no chance T27 in Malaysia was going to slow this train down! After taking three weeks off he showed he was sharp and fresh today as he circled seven birdies against one par (65) to sit T2. Defending Champ Dustin Johnson missed 16 putts inside 10 feet last year and won by a shot. Round 1 saw him rank sixth in strokes-gained: putting but he hit it all over the map. He found a way to circle six birdies as he overpowered the course as usual but a pair of bogeys and a sloppy double stalled out his round at 69 and T13. I’ll lean on his ball-striking to return tomorrow and for him to make a dash up the leaderboard. Montana Rusa A quick Google search for roller coaster in Spanish turned up “montana rusa”. Bubba Watson stuck gamers on some ride in the opening round.  The champion at the Genesis Open in his last time out started seven-under-par thru his first 11 holes. He followed that with a three-hole stretch of bogey, double bogey and bogey to suck the air out of his round. He added one more bogey before signing for 69 (-2) and T13.  Worry? Who Me? After Gary Woodland’s playoff win in Scottsdale many gamers thought he would be ready for THE season. Since his win he’s posted MC at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and MC last week at The Honda Classic. His opening round of 74 saw him beat just five players. … Paul Casey closed 67-66 last year to rally for T16. His opening round 73 is one better than his 74 from last year so I’m going to be patient, again. Study Hall The field was reduced to 64 people as American Chan Kim WD before teeing it up, citing a wrist injury. He must be really injured to pass up a no-cut event with a guaranteed payday! Adjust your lineup accordingly. … Pat Perez turned 42 today and gave himself a present as he signed for 68 (-3). … The four bogey-free rounds recorded in Round 1 all ended up T5 or better: Oosthuizen (1st), Shubhankar Sharma (T2), Xander Schauffele (T2) and Rafael Cabrera-Bello (T5). … Watson (T13), Paisley (T2) and Sergio Garcia (T8) led the field with seven birdies each.

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