Putting woes plague Koepka in Round 2

There’s something about the additional (colloquially known as opposite) events that’s as irritating as they are fun to play. Only one time has a golfer successfully defended his title in one of the tandems to the weekly doubleheader, and that was way back in 2005 when Vaughn Taylor went back-to-back at the Barracuda Championship. It’s not guaranteed that last year’s winner or an additional event will qualify for the more prestigious tournament the same week as his title defense, but that he’s back to defend at all likely means that he’s not as attractive due to a dip in form. Case in point, Cody Gribble is back in Jackson, Mississippi, to defend his breakthrough crown at this week’s Sanderson Farms Championship. Note the absence of depth in Future Possibilities below. Gribble is omitted. Speaking of which, he hit a wall post-victory to the extreme that he was the only rookie who won a tournament last season who wasn’t a finalist for the Rookie of the Year award. He also wasn’t one of my 10 in the Power Rankings this week. Needless to say, I’m not endorsing the lefty in PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO no matter the positive vibes he must have this week. Even if he was worthy of pause, his duties as a first-time defending champ would generate enough distraction from the job at hand to dissuade me. Call it an abstention by default. The pick du jour is the rangy Chesson Hadley. Ever since he renewed his outlook over the summer, he’s been nails. It’s so similar to his public admission (on Twitter) about losing focus early in 2014 when he missed several consecutive cuts. Within a matter of weeks (but essentially overnight), he turned his freefall into fortune and emerged with his first TOUR title in Puerto Rico. Chris Kirk has owned this tournament regardless of its location. He captured his first TOUR title at Annandale Golf Club in 2011, but also shared second place in his debut at the Country Club of Jackson last year. What’s scary about him coming in is that he entered the 2016 edition in a groove. That’s not the case this time around. So, while he’ll be inspired by the digs and local hospitality, we need to let him go it alone. If you’re compelled to play the contrarian and sidestep Hadley, who will saturate the landscape, think about attaching to the trend that’s developed at the CC of Jackson. Each of the three champions was a first-time winner on the PGA TOUR. There are three non-winners in my Power Rankings: Andrew Landry (No. 3), Jason Kokrak (No. 5) and Bronson Burgoon (No. 6). While I’m endorsing Kokrak to fill in your blank in the One & Done (because he’s the known value), the other two don’t have the kind of baggage that Kokrak has lugged around sans hardware now 158 starts into his professional career. Landry has made only 20, Burgoon just 28 as a pro. Both are fresh and in form. Fantastic. The incentive to take a flier is that it’s an additional event with the fewest FedExCup points and earnings of any tournament other than the other three additional events later in the season. This is why these concurrent contests are so much fun. Two-man gamers can hedge with the a combo of, say, Hadley and Burgoon or Kevin Streelman (No. 4 in the Power Rankings) and Kokrak. 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 2017-18. All are pending golfer commitment. Chris Kirk … RSM; Valero; PLAYERS; DEAN & DELUCA William McGirt … Sanderson Farms; Genesis; Heritage; Memorial Kevin Streelman … Shriners; CareerBuilder; Pebble Beach; Wells Fargo; Memorial; Travelers

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How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. 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 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 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in his edition of the Power Rankings. For more fantasy, check out Rookie Watch, Qualifiers and Reshuffle. 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. Want to represent the fans against our experts? SEASON SEGMENT

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Despite a jam-packed leaderboard at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the back nine on Sunday at Pebble Beach Golf Links mostly was about grazed edges, lipped-out putts and missed opportunities. Daniel Berger held his head near the lead throughout most of the day, performing steadily, and remained optimistic that if he stayed patient long enough, the birdies would arrive. RELATED: Final leaderboard | What's in Berger's bag? Stepping to the 18th tee on one of the most photographed holes on the planet, Berger, 27, needed birdie to win, then did one better. Berger has that kind of flair, that boldness, the confidence that makes him relish the big stage, not shy from it. A beautiful drive (Berger had blocked one out-of-bounds at 18 a day earlier) was followed by what he called "the 3-wood of my life" from 253 yards to 30 feet. The putt for eagle-3 was trickier than it looked, downhill and fast, but was struck with perfect weight, and tumbled in for Berger's fourth eagle of the tournament, his second of the round. He stared at the sky. Victory was his. He punched the air with his right fist, his late heroics pushing him to a final-round, 7-under 65 and an 18-under 270 total. All that drama at the end? "It's just as good as it gets for me," Berger said after his fourth PGA TOUR triumph. Stanford grad Maverick McNealy, 25, a son of California seeking his first victory not far from where he was raised, played nicely on Sunday, making five birdies on his second nine in shooting 66, setting the bar high for Berger to clear. McNealy's solo second finish marked his top showing on TOUR, and he said he learned a lot about the way he handled himself down the stretch. Jordan Spieth, who started the round with a two-shot lead over five players, seeking to break a three-plus year winless stretch, struggled with the driver but birdied his final two holes to shoot 70 and share third with Patrick Cantlay (68). Standing out there on that 18th fairway, knowing McNealy had posted 16 under, Berger decided he was all-in. It's his style, something developed from his younger upbringing as a golf teen in South Florida, trying to keep up with the likes of PGA TOUR players such as Steve Marino and Will MacKenzie. "I've been in this situation before, coming down the last hole, having to hit a good shot," Berger said. "Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t, but you really have to be bold, and I feel like did I that today. "I think the biggest thing is playing fearlessly. You can step up there and be concerned with all the different outcomes and all the different places that ball can go, but in the end it’s just golf, it’s just a golf shot and if you can step up there and kind of free your mind and be fearless, then you have such a better opportunity to hit a good shot." The shot actually called for a draw, but with the wind off the right and Stillwater Cove and rocks awaiting everything hit left, Berger was able to rip his comfortable cut and let the breeze bring the ball back. He said the yardage called for a full 3-wood, and that's what Berger gave it, executing precisely. For the longest time, it appeared he and Nate Lashley, the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic champion, would be battling over the final holes, as they were the two who held or shared the lead most of the round. Lashley made a rough exit at the par-4 16th though, missing the green from 152 yards, pitching on, and four-putting from 13 feet. He finished with 69 despite the triple-bogey, and tied for fifth. Just as Berger had to be patient all of Sunday - he did start fast, with an eagle at the par-5 second - golf has been patiently waiting for Berger. People sometimes forget the the is part of that loaded 2011 high school class that includes Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele. Berger is playing catch up, to an extent. He first had to get on the other side of a bad wrist injury, and the time away taught him that he missed the game more than he realized. It took him time to put Pebble on his schedule, but after three top-10 finishes in as many starts, you can count on him being as loyal as Bill Murray. One element to his growth, Berger said, has been his work with teacher Cameron McCormick, best known as Spieth's longtime instructor. Berger said McCormick has helped him develop a new outlook on the game, not doing much to his unique swing but helping him with new perspective on his short game. He encourages him to be an artist. When Berger told him he had one type of chip shot, with pretty much the same trajectory, same spin, McCormick asked, "How many of the best chippers in the world hit the same shot all the time?" Point taken. Berger, a winner twice in 10 months (2020 Charles Schwab Challenge) now can start looking at his career trajectory a little differently, too. He has a good jump on making the U.S. Ryder Cup team, and now sits 10th in FedExCup standings. He is not afraid to say he wants to be the very best player in the world one day. As in No. 1. Sunday's victory moved him to 13th. No. 1? Some players get ridiculed for such brash statements. But Berger isn't afraid to be bold. On Sunday at Pebble Beach, that approach paid off quite handsomely.

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