Rickie Fowler WD from THE NORTHERN TRUST due to injury

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Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau plans to return to Bay Hill after navigating a few injuries through the early part of the 2021-22 season. He’s joined by a field full of the game’s biggest names include two-time FedExCup champion and past Arnold Palmer Invitational winner Rory McIlroy and world No. 1 Jon Rahm. FIELD NOTES: Bryson is back. DeChambeau, who won the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, has been battling some injuries early this season. His agent, Brett Falkoff, told PGATOUR.COM that DeChambeau will “continue to rehab” and is hopeful to compete … Recent winners who are returning to Bay Hill include Rory McIlroy – a winner already this season – along with Tyrrell Hatton and Marc Leishman … World No. 1 Jon Rahm is set to tee it up … FedExCup leader Hideki Matsuyama is returning to action as he inches closer to his Masters title defense … Scottie Scheffler is back in action. He earned his maiden PGA TOUR victory at the WM Phoenix Open and backed that up with a T7 at The Genesis Invitational … Lee Westwood returns to Bay Hill after a runner-up last season … 2021 U.S. Amateur winner James Piot is in the field. It’s the PGA TOUR debut for the Michigan State product … Will Zalatoris will forever be connected to Arnold Palmer. Zalatoris, who is teeing it up at Bay Hill, played at Wake Forest on the Arnold Palmer Scholarship and won the 2020-21 Arnold Palmer Award as TOUR Rookie of the Year … Sponsor exemptions include a wide mix of TOUR veterans and fresh faces. Former FedExCup winner Brandt Snedeker in addition to major winners Graeme McDowell, Henrik Stenson, Padraig Harrington and Danny Willett are all in the field. They’re joined by Nicolai Hojgaard – who made his TOUR debut at The Honda Classic – John Pak, Davis Thompson and Min Woo Lee, among others … Texas A&M’s Sam Bennett earned his way into the field as the Arnold Palmer Cup representative from 2021. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 550 FedExCup points. COURSE: Bay Hill Club & Lodge, par 72, 7,466 yards. The Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard has been held at Bay Hill every year on TOUR since 1979. The mostly flat layout challenges the TOUR’s best mostly with water that comes into play on many of the holes. The last two years have seen some blustery conditions as well, resulting in tough scoring conditions. For example, Tyrrell Hatton’s winning total of 4-under 284 was the highest since 1983, while last season’s final-round scoring average of 75.49 was the highest in a final round since 1980. STORYLINES: The biggest question heading into Bay Hill is how Bryson DeChambeau will fare, as he recovers from a pair of injuries – to his left hip and left hand. This marks his first PGA TOUR start since missing the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open. He was scheduled to play The Genesis Invitational, as well, but withdrew before the event began … DeChambeau was the first American winner at Bay Hill since Matt Every six years prior. International players had won in five consecutive tournament iterations … The winner at Bay Hill earns a three-year PGA TOUR exemption instead of the usual two due to the event’s elevated status … There is plenty of firepower set to tee it up at Bay Hill, with five of the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking in the field. That number includes world No. 1 Jon Rahm, who announced on social media last week that he and wife Kelley are expecting their second child. Rahm finished T21 at The Genesis Invitational, his first finish outside the top-15 in the 2022 calendar year. 72-HOLE RECORD: 264, Payne Stewart (1987). 18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Andy Bean (Round 2, 1981), Greg Norman (Round 2, 1984), Adam Scott (Round 1, 2014). LAST TIME: Sunday at Bay Hill proved to be one of the toughest days on record, so it should have been no surprise that Bryson DeChambeau overpowered the field the best. DeChambeau shot a final-round 71 a year ago, matching the low score of the day. No one broke 70 on Sunday at Bay Hill for the first time since 1980. It was DeChambeau’s second win of the season. He opened with a bogey, but he made birdie on Nos. 4 and 6 – after a 377-yard drive over water on a memorably aggressive line at the par-5 sixth – and stayed steady the rest of the way home. Lee Westwood shot a 1-over 73 and finished runner-up. He and DeChambeau were never separated by more than one shot over the final 15 holes. Corey Conners finished in third alone, while Andrew Putnam, Richy Werenski and Jordan Spieth rounded out the top five. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 2 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12–6 p.m. ET. Saturday, 1–6 p.m. Sunday, 1-6:30 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio) For outside of the U.S., click here for GOLFTV powered by the PGA TOUR PGA TOUR LIVE PGA TOUR Live is available exclusively on ESPN+ • Main Feed: primary tournament-coverage featuring the best action from across the course • Marquee Group: new “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group • Featured Groups: traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups • Featured Holes: a combination of par-3s and iconic or pivotal holes

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The last tournament of the season and the final stop of the FedExCup Playoffs is here. The TOUR Championship will be at East Lake in Atlanta, Georgia. The course will play as a par 70, measuring 7,346 yards and will be putt on Bermuda greens. This course is a Donald Ross design. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $1M Flop Shot [$250K to 1st] STRATEGY The top 30 in FedExCup standings will be playing for a chance to win $15 million. After his six-hole playoff win over Bryson DeChambeau (+550, $12,300), Patrick Cantlay (+400, $13,400) has moved into first place in the FedExCup standings. The new scoring system implemented two years ago, which the PGA TOUR refers to as a “strokes-based bonus,” correlates to the FedExCup standings heading into The TOUR Championship. With the most points, Cantlay starts at 10-under, with second place starting two back at eight-under and descending by a stroke to fifth place. Head to the FedExCup page on the PGATOUR.COM for a complete list of where the golfers will start. Ross courses are about position golf off the tee and hitting elite approaches from the correct angles into these Bermuda greens. Speaking of which, they should play lighting fast, recording 12 to 12.5 on the stimpmeter over the past few years. While iron play is paramount on a Ross design, Strokes Gained: Putting has proved almost twice as crucial over Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green for the winners over the previous five years. Par 4 efficiency from 450 to 500 yards and long iron (175-200-plus yards) proximity will be important this week, with five par 4s measuring between 450 to 500 yards and one at 520 yards (no. 14). Fading some of the golfers high on the leaderboard could prove prudent when filling out rosters. The golfers will be starting with their “finishing” position points on DraftKings, but as we’ve seen in the previous two years, those points can go away fast if or when the leaders are no longer where they started. The top of the leaderboard golfers only come in with their starting points, not the birdies or better points they usually get on the path to their victory. Note: These odds are with the players’ starting strokes position. GOLFERS TO CONSIDER Tony Finau (+700 to Win, $11,800 on DraftKings) A strong Sunday should put Finau in the right mindset heading into the TOUR Championship. Finau will be in second place, and while he doesn’t seem like a value, he could potentially go lower rostered given the names around him. Finau didn’t start great last week, but as mentioned earlier, his Sunday was stellar, shooting 9-under par (63), which was the lowest round of the day. A win at THE NORTHERN TRUST and a great weekend at Caves Valley GC have Finau right in the mix to win the FedEx Cup. Xander Schauffele (+2500 to Win, $8,900 on DraftKings) Few players dominate no-cut events like Scahuffele, ranking fourth in Strokes Gained: Total, and DraftKings points gained over the previous 24 rounds in the format. Schauffele has a scoring average of just under 67.4 to go with his two runner-up finishes and a win back in 2017 in his four starts at East Lake. On Ross designs, Xander is only second to Rory McIlroy (+2500, $9,300) in Strokes Gained Total over the previous 50 rounds and ranks second in putting on Ross courses over the same timeframe. He’s starting in 17th place, so we should expect a lot of aggressive iron play from him this week. Scottie Scheffler (+6500 to Win, $6,800 on DraftKings) Scheffler’s 22nd-place finish last week should not deter you from rostering him this week at such a low price. He’s starting in 25th place, so he’s most likely not winning the tournament. Still, Scheffler ranked seventh in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green over the weekend at the BMW Championship and shot three rounds in the 60s last year at East Lake, with his final round being the low score of the day (65). We should also consider Erik Van Rooyen (+40000, $5,000) at the minimum price this week. He was in the final group at THE NORTHERN TRUST and just finished top 5 last week, gaining 6.5 strokes with his irons and shooting the second-lowest round on Sunday, a 7-under 65. He also ranked first in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green last week. Van Rooyen should only be considered for DFS. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $1M Flop Shot [$250K to 1st] Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests. 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