Rookie Park leads in bid for historic LPGA win

LONDON, UK — IMG ARENA, a leading sports betting service and content hub, announced today that BetMGM has signed an agreement to utilize IMG's Golf Event Centre product. The Golf Event Centre is IMG ARENA's unparalleled, front-end sports betting solution, designed to revolutionize the golf betting experience by enabling interactive in-play betting on the sport. Created in association with the world's leading golf tours, the Golf Event Centre is a real-time experience for golf fans and bettors. The industry-first product is the only place to find fast, comprehensive, shot by shot data and markets, live streaming which is purpose-built for in-play betting, and interactive course visualizations. The Golf Event Centre is available to sports betting operators worldwide where betting is legal. "The Golf Event Centre allows us to introduce a totally new and captivating concept to BetMGM customers," said Ryan Spoon, Chief Operating Officer, BetMGM. "It's a product that is both useful and exciting, putting a wealth of information at players' fingertips, with an intuitive and interactive delivery that augments golf viewing and betting." Max Wright, SVP Commercial of IMG ARENA, said: "BetMGM has embraced the Golf Event Centre platform that we have worked so closely with our key federation partners to create. The Golf Event Centre is an incredible product that allows operators the ability to genuinely differentiate their sportsbook offering on one of the world's most popular sports." "The Golf Event Centre is a first-class product that will transcend sports betting on golf," said Scott Warfield, Vice President of Gaming at the PGA TOUR. "BetMGM is an Official Betting Operator of the PGA TOUR and acquiring the Golf Event Centre will be a dynamic addition to its golf offering that will allow them to grow and distinguish themselves in the marketplace." BetMGM will also utilize IMG ARENA's golf live streaming video feed that allows customers to closely follow golf action on two par-3 holes per week from the PGA TOUR. These holes will be captured by three cameras tee-to-green and feature dedicated shot and hole score bets for each group that arrives on tee. To learn more about the Golf Event Center product, please click here. In 2018, IMG ARENA was named as the PGA TOUR's official data distributor for media and betting purposes. The PGA TOUR's official data is collected through its proprietary ShotLink system, powered by CDW. With an elaborate network of walking scorers, lasers and greenside cameras, ShotLink collects and distributes a rich set of data points from each shot in PGA TOUR competition in real time. IMG ARENA's officially licensed Event Centres are produced collaboratively with the agency's federation and governing body partners, to ensure the safe and correct use of their proprietary data and intellectual property Headquartered in London, IMG ARENA works with more than 460 leading sportsbook operators worldwide, providing always-on services including 24/7 live streaming and on-demand virtual sports products designed to evolve and inspire engagement by placing fans at the heart of the action. In 2020, more than 210 million hours of IMG ARENA content was watched by 69 million unique viewers around the globe. IMG ARENA's clients include the ATP, UFC, European Tour,PGATOUR, FA Cup and Serie A. For more information, please click here.

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It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. That classic line is what defined my come-from-behind, worst-to-first victory among the Experts in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO last season. Justin Rose’s bogey-bogey close en route to his playoff loss at the BMW Championship didn’t come back to bite after all. That’s the beauty of the format on this site. By using FedExCup points to measure performance, just about anyone within a whiff of the leader can roar from the outside and threaten late. In earnings-based leagues, the fate of those who won’t win is known weeks if not months in advance. I admit that it took me time to come around on using FedExCup points, but I’ve grown to love the volatility that the quadrupled points in the Playoffs present. (And that’s even before my timely surge. In fact, it’s my second league championship.) You still have to plan ahead and you still have to connect, but the possibilities don’t rule you out at the buzzer. And hey, the front-runners are in the same boat. If they leave that door open, someone just might sneak in and steal the trophy. With the parade over and the celebration complete, we now venture into a new season. Here are a few critical things to keep in mind that I’m parking on this page. Use it as a resource throughout the 2018-19 season: • The Houston Open, A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier and the Dell Technologies Championship are off the schedule. • The RBC Canadian Open will be contested at Hamilton Golf & Country Club, which hosted in 2003, 2006 and 2012. • TPC Southwind now hosts the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. (Firestone Country Club no longer hosts a PGA TOUR event.) • Only three events will be included in the 2019 Playoffs. Among them, East Lake is the only recurring host (of the TOUR Championship). • THE NORTHERN TRUST will be contested at Liberty National Golf Club, which hosted in 2009 and 2013. The BMW Championship migrates to Medinah Country Club, which hasn’t hosted an individual competition since the 2006 PGA Championship. • Unlike the Masters (held every year at Augusta National), the PGA Championship (at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course), the U.S. Open (at Pebble Beach) and The Open Championship (at Royal Portrush) always demand real-time decision-making over long-range planning due to the variables in play during each of those weeks (even though Bethpage Black and Pebble Beach are familiar to many PGA TOUR members). All of these changes for 2018-19 are reflected in the organization of Future Possibilities below. The section is dedicated to notables who are most likely to warrant consideration in all One & Dones. I’ve updated my confidence values for all golfers and extended a few to assist two-man gamers. With the new season comes turnover among the notables as well. For example, Patrick Cantlay, Emiliano Grillo and Adam Hadwin represent this week’s newcomers in Future Possibilities. This process will continue until all notables make their season debuts. You’ll also notice the +1 in my little league. Mike Glasscott joined (and doubled) the fantasy writing team at PGATOUR.com during last year’s fall stretch. He authors the Confidence Factor every week, wrote the Emergency 9 after every round of every tournament through the TOUR Championship and will continue to contribute in various roles. Also note Glass’ willingness to step out on a limb with his first-ever selection. It’s always easy to pick on the rookie, but at least he doesn’t miss the bunny. Even before Brendan Steele connected victories at Silverado in 2016 and 2017, he delivered for a pair of top 25s on the course. Now he’s attempting to become the first since Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic from 2009-2011 to win the same tournament in three consecutive years. Steele is a no-brainer of a No. 1 in my Power Rankings, but investors can’t ignore suspect form spanning his last 10 starts. Since THE PLAYERS, he’s made just five cuts and finished no better than T47 at The Open Championship. Maybe it’s the euphoria of my surprise triumph in the Playoffs, but my confidence is higher in Ryan Moore, who sits No. 2 in the Power Rankings. No one’s record at Silverado can stack up against Steele’s, but Moore has a T10 (2015) and a T17 (2017) in two tries. He’s always a reliable bridge during the heart of the season, but the course feeds into his accuracy off the tee and experience in blending going low with salvaging a score during a tough round. While former champion Emiliano Grillo, Patrick Cantlay and Martin Laird are tempting for different reasons, I love Sean’s decision to piggyback red-hot Denny McCarthy. The events of the Web.com Tour Finals aren’t PGA TOUR events, but they’re play-in copetitions for the real thing. So many of the graduates ride the momentum of their latest achievement. Citing a historical example, Grillo made history when he concluded the 2015 Finals with victory at the Web.com Tour Championship before repeating the achievement at Silverado two weeks later. Now that’s euphoria! 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 2018-19. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Patrick Cantlay … Shriners (1; defending); Genesis (4); Valspar (2); Memorial (3) Jason Dufner … CareerBuilder (9); Honda (3); PLAYERS (7); Valspar (4); New Orleans (1); Charles Schwab (6); Memorial (5); U.S. Open (2); Wyndham (8); TOUR Championship (10) Emiliano Grillo … Mayakoba (1); Arnold Palmer (2); Charles Schwab (3) Bill Haas … Safeway (5); RSM (7); CareerBuilder (1); Genesis (3); WGC-Match Play (8); Heritage (4); Charles Schwab (2); Wyndham (6) Adam Hadwin … CareerBuilder (1); Waste Management (4); Genesis (3); Valspar (2); John Deere (5) Russell Henley … Shriners (5); RSM (1); Sony (2); Honda (4); Masters (3) J.B. Holmes … Farmers (1); Waste Management (3); Pebble Beach (2); Genesis (4); Wells Fargo (5) Chris Kirk … Sanderson Farms (6); RSM (1); Sony (4); Valero (3); PLAYERS (5); Charles Schwab (2) Russell Knox … CIMB (5); WGC-HSBC (4); Mayakoba (1); Sony (3); Heritage (2) Martin Laird … Safeway (4); CareerBuilder (6); Waste Management (1); Genesis (3); Valero (5); Barracuda (2) Phil Mickelson … Safeway (7); CareerBuilder (10); Waste Management (4); Pebble Beach (5); Genesis (6); WGC-Mexico (1; defending); Masters (9); Wells Fargo (2); Open Championship (8); WGC-St. Jude (3) Ryan Moore … Safeway (4); CIMB (1); Shriners (10); Waste Management (12); Genesis (5); Valspar (3); Valero (7); Masters (13); Memorial (11); Travelers (6); John Deere (8); Wyndham (2); TOUR Championship (9) Scott Piercy … Safeway (2); CIMB (4); Shriners (5); Mayakoba (6); Sony (3); New Orleans (1; defending); Canadian (7; last winner at Hamilton in 2012) Brandt Snedeker … Sentry (4); Farmers (3); Waste Management (8); Pebble Beach (2); Masters (10); Heritage (6); Charles Schwab (7); U.S. Open (5); Travelers (9); Wyndham (1; defending) Brendan Steele … Safeway (1; two-time defending); CIMB (5); CareerBuilder (6); Waste Management (2); Honda (7); Valero (8); Wells Fargo (9); Travelers (4); Reno-Tahoe (3) Kevin Streelman … Sanderson Farms (3); Shriners (6); Mayakoba (2); CareerBuilder (8); Pebble Beach (1); Valero (9); Heritage (5); Memorial (4); Travelers (7)

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PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO When reviewing where allegiances lie at THE PLAYERS, you may be surprised that the most-owned golfer isn’t the defending champion (Jason Day, 10th overall), the Masters champion and all-time earnings leader at TPC Sawgrass (Sergio Garcia, third) or the FedExCup points leader (Dustin Johnson, second). Instead, it’s Rickie Fowler at 65.0 percent. Yes, Fowler won THE PLAYERS in 2015, but he still garnered more than four times the love of Day this week. So, if you were to cite the apples-to-apples comparison of the last two winners here, you’ll quickly understand that confidence extends beyond that. Yet, what’s most impressive is that Fowler resides No. 1 over the deepest field in golf. Fowler is among nine who populate at least one-third the lineups submitted. This includes tournament debutant Jon Rahm (seventh), who continues to shatter expectations and molds. The exponential devotion for Fowler over Day is one thing, but note that the faith in Hideki Matsuyama in ninth is more than double that of the defending champ’s. Notables who aren’t included in either section below include Phil Mickelson (13th, 9.1 percent), Jason Dufner (18th, 5.6 percent), Kyle Stanley (20th, 5.1 percent) and Henrik Stenson (T24, 3.4 percent). NOTE: Rob’s Rating refers to where our Fantasy Insider slotted a golfer in his Power Rankings. Golfers in the Power Rankings and outside the top 10 in most owned PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO Do I or don’t I? That was likely the thought regarding Sergio Garcia when deciding if he’d be your pick for THE PLAYERS. Entering the season, the Spaniard arguably makes the most sense to holster for this tournament. Then he went out and won the Masters. How dare he disrupt the balance of our universe. Still, and not surprisingly, Garcia slots first in shares at 16.2 percent. That feels a little low but only when you ignore the quality and depth of the field. No doubt his cut would be smaller if the Masters was just one or two weeks ago. Certainly the separation since he converted his first major title assuaged our concern in the long-term. Speaking of worry, at least mildly, defending champion Jason Day is 11th overall at 2.7 percent, but that makes sense. It represents both reasonable confidence and the strategy of just allowing him time to heat up and perhaps even connect for victory again. That he’s started 2017 slow only supports my decision to pencil him in for the BMW Championship. Other notables outside the top 10 include Adam Scott (13th, 2.1 percent), Kevin Kisner (14th, 1.7 percent), Francesco Molinari (18th, 1.2 percent), Henrik Stenson (19th, 1.2 percent) and Phil Mickelson (22nd, 0.6 percent).

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