Quick look at the Genesis Open

Far be it for me to tell you not to have a good time. After all, my Rule No. 1 of fantasy golf is to have fun. If you can’t get even that far, start over, because the rest of the experience is pointless otherwise. However, when we have a team competition directly in front of us, the advice is to only have fun. Shed the kinds of expectations you have during an individual event when golfers control their own destiny. Consider that the teams of Jason Day and Adam Scott, Patrick Cantlay and Patrick Reed, Joaquin Niemann and Dylan Frittelli, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, Tony Finau and Kyle Stanley, Cameron Champ and Sam Burns, Carlos Ortiz and Sebastián Muñoz, and Abraham Ancer and Jhonattan Vegas all missed the cut at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans … in 2019 alone. Even the inaugural team to win – Cameron Smith and Jonas Blixt in 2017 – missed the cut in 2018 and 2019. RELATED: Power Rankings | Expert Picks | How it works Rule No. 2 is to listen and learn, but there’s really nothing to be logged for another time. Same can be said about the recent Match Play and for both the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. The success and failure you have likely will be coincidental because of the formats. The moral of the matter is to leave well enough alone. Stop short of judging your performance no matter how lucky or unlucky. It’s why I’ve always defaulted to a position as a fan in these events. There’s always next week. Speaking of which, PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf takes this week off. It will resume with the Valspar Championship on April 29-May 2. So, this edition of the Fantasy Insider omits Draws and Fades. POWER RANKINGS WILD CARD Viktor Hovland & Kris Ventura (+3300) … Had this been contested in, say, October, the duo representing Norway would have been in the Power Rankings proper. However, Ventura has slumped in a big way since. He’s cashed just four times in his last 14 starts, none for a top 35. Meanwhile, Hovland’s consistency aligns directly with his profile as a balanced performer. He’s been rock-solid just about every time out. If necessary, he could carry this twosome and not feel any pressure. Odds sourced on Tuesday, April 20 at 5 a.m. ET. For live odds visit betmgm. RETURNING TO COMPETITION James Hahn … This is a good sign. He hasn’t played since an injured rib forced him to retire from The Honda Classic during his opening round. At 69th in the FedExCup and ninth in greens in regulation, teammate Martin Trainer is in a good place to make a dent in his own season. Trainer is just 3-for-16 and 214th in points. Both guys are making their debuts in the team competition, and it’s Trainer’s first-ever look at TPC Louisiana. Michael Kim … Walked off Harbour Town during his second round last week. An explanation wasn’t released. He dealt with a sore back on two different occasions in 2020 during which he failed to cash in all 15 starts. He opened 2021 with four cuts made in six starts, but he’s gone 0-for-4 since. He and former Cal-Berkeley teammate Brandon Hagy have joined forces this week. NOTABLE WDs Seamus Power … Tested positive for COVID-19. Alternate Zack Sucher assumes Power’s position as David Hearn’s teammate. Hearn and Power slotted No. 10 in my Power Rankings on Monday. Tyler McCumber … Second consecutive early withdrawal. No news has surfaced to explain why and, as of Tuesday afternoon, he hasn’t alerted his followers on social media. The 30-year-old has experienced an inconsistent but fruitful season. Currently 59th in the FedExCup, so he can be patient. Ryan Brehm … Currently 165th in the FedExCup with one top 25 (T11, Puerto Rico) among six cuts made in 10 starts. Lanto Griffin replaced him as Joel Dahmen’s teammate. Brehm owns the distinction of ranking second on TOUR in distance of all drives at 309.1 yards. Of course, Bryson DeChambeau (311.4 yards) is longest, but to name a few notables with muscle, Cameron Champ (3rd), Rory McIlroy (4th), Brooks Koepka (5th), Dustin Johnson (6th) and Matthew Wolff (8th) trail. Not too shabby for a 35-year-old. It doesn’t hurt that Brehm checks in at 6’4” and 220 pounds. POWER RANKINGS RECAP – RBC Heritage Power Ranking Golfer Result 1 Webb Simpson T9 2 Corey Conners T4 3 Daniel Berger T13 4 Patrick Cantlay MC 5 Brian Harman T13 6 Will Zalatoris T42 7 Tyrrell Hatton T39 8 Matt Fitzpatrick T4 9 Cameron Smith T9 10 Abraham Ancer T18 11 Matt Kuchar T18 12 Ian Poulter T48 13 Kevin Streelman T33 14 Harris English MC 15 Dustin Johnson T13 Wild Card Kevin Kisner MC SLEEPERS RECAP – RBC Heritage Golfer Result Doug Ghim T33 Chesson Hadley MC Russell Henley T9 William McGirt MC Chase Seiffert T42 BIRTHDAYS AMONG ACTIVE GOLFERS ON THE PGA TOUR April 20 … John Senden (50) April 21 … none April 22 … Eric Axley (47) April 23 … none April 24 … Jason Bohn (48); Lee Westwood (48); Jonas Blixt (37); Carlos Ortiz (30) April 25 … Nick Watney (40) April 26 … J.B. Holmes (39) Visit BetMGM.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ years of age or older to wager. CO, IA, IN,MI, NJ, NV,PA, TN, VA or WV only. Excludes Michigan Disassociated Persons. Please Gamble Responsibly. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-522-4700 (CO, NV, VA), 1-800-270-7117 for confidential help (MI), 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, PA & WV), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), Call or Text the Tennessee REDLINE: 800-889-9789 (TN), or call 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN).

Click here to read the full article…

At the conclusion of the TOUR Championship, the final event of the FedExCup Playoffs, bonus money will be distributed as follows: Top 30 FedExCup bonus money distribution Other FedExCup bonus money distribution

Click here to read the full article…

MAMARONECK, N.Y. - This was already the least conventional U.S. Open ever. It was the first not played in June since 1931. There were also no spectators, a necessary evil in the COVID era but one that was felt even more acutely at a New York metropolitan area major. So maybe it was fitting that on top of all that strangeness we got the 1:30 p.m. final twosome of iconoclasts Matthew Wolff and Bryson DeChambeau. After a year-long physical transformation that raised eyebrows, DeChambeau validated his methods by swinging away and winning his first major at Winged Foot, his final-round 67 good for a six-shot victory over Wolff (75). "I think I’m definitely changing the way people think about the game," DeChambeau said. "Now, whether you can do it, that’s a whole different situation. There’s a lot of people that are going to be hitting it far. Matthew was hitting it plenty far today. RELATED: Final leaderboard | What's in Bryson's bag? "A couple of putts just didn’t go in for him today and kept the momentum on my side." DeChambeau his just 41 percent of the fairways but proved that he could pick apart the course from the rough. His final round was the best of the day by three, and he was the only player to finish the tournament under par. It was his seventh PGA TOUR win and first major. His eyes welled with tears after he signed his scorecard and was presented with a video link to his family. Louis Oosthuizen (73) finished third, eight back. Harris English (73) was fourth. The winner said his confidence was at an "all-time high" and he played like it Sunday. "Where's the flag?" DeChambeau asked his caddie Tim Tucker as they stood on the tee at the 444-yard, par-4 14th hole. At this point DeChambeau, who has always sought every piece of information available, was already three up on a faltering Wolff. "Twelve on and four off the left," Tucker said. With that, DeChambeau swung from the heels and ripped a 296-yard drive - into the wind. Did it hit the fairway? Oddly enough, DeChambeau made that question a moot point. He hit six of 14 fairways Sunday and 23 of 56 for the week, but thrived, anyway. That flew in the face of the conventional wisdom that there was absolutely no way to play Winged Foot from the rough. "Everyone talked about hitting fairways out here," said Xander Schauffele (74, 4 over, solo fifth). "It’s not about hitting fairways. It’s about hitting on the correct side of the hole and hitting it far so you can kind of hit a wedge instead of a 6-iron out of the rough. "Yeah, he’s sort of trending in the new direction of golf," Schauffele added, "and he said he wanted to do everything he’s doing, and yeah, happy for him. He’s playing unbelievable." DeChambeau has engineered his approach every step of the way, forever using math and science to try and outsmart the competition. The single-length clubs, the one-plane swing, and now the emphasis on protein shakes and gaining weight in order to bludgeon drives and stack the deck in his favor. It's all clearly working; this was his second victory of 2020. "No chance," said Rory McIlroy (75, T8), when asked if he could have foreseen a player hitting so few fairways and winning. "I don’t really know what to say because that’s just the complete opposite of what you think a U.S. Open champion does. "Look, he’s found a way to do it," McIlroy added. "Whether that’s good or bad for the game, I don’t know, but it’s just - it’s not the way I saw this golf course being played or this tournament being played. It’s kind of hard to really wrap my head around it." One of the confounding things about DeChambeau is that while he generates the most buzz with his driving, he's not one-dimensional. His 67 was the best final round by three shots over Dustin Johnson, Erik van Rooyen and Taylor Pendrith. Was it all just brawn? Hardly. DeChambeau also tied for fifth in greens in regulation and tied for 11th in putting. "You still have to be able to control your ball," said Shane Lowry (72, 15 over), "you still have to be able to chip and putt. If it was just about hitting the ball long, the long drivers would be out here playing in these major championships and they’re not." The putting, in particular, has been a long time coming for the winner. "The putting has gradually improved over the course of my career," DeChambeau said. "I was dead last when I came out on TOUR, and the SIK guys, SIK golf, they helped me understand how a ball needs to roll in order to give me the best chance to hole a putt. "Over the course of these four years, every year I’ve gotten a little bit better," he added. How much better can he get? He doesn't know, he said, but he intends to find out. He intends to keep powering through, ignoring the doubters, and changing the game. "I’m not going to stop," he said. "Next week I’m going to be trying a 48-inch driver." DeChambeau has a major, and the Bryson DeChambeau experiment gets more interesting by the day.

Click here to read the full article…