Scott falters at U.S. Open qualifier; streak on line

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Patrick Reed became famous playing for his country. He won for himself on Sunday at the Masters. Rory McIlroy came after him early. Jordan Spieth briefly tied him for the lead. Rickie Fowler birdied the last hole to leave him no room for error. Reed never flinched through it all on a raucous afternoon at Augusta National, calmly rolling in a 3-foot par putt for a 1-under 71 and a one-shot victory. Captain America is now the Masters champion. Even as the loudest cheers were for everyone else, Reed earned all the respect with two big birdie putts on the back nine, one key par and plenty of grit. The 27-year-old Texan becomes the fourth straight Masters champion to win his first major. Fowler holed an 8-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 67. He had to settle for his third runner-up finish in a major. He left the scoring cabin when Reed two-putted for par down the slippery slope on the 18th green and waited for a chance to greet Reed. “Glad I at least made the last one, make him earn it,” Fowler said with a grin. “You had to do it didn’t you?” Reed told him as they exchanged a hug. “You had to birdie the last.” Spieth put up the most unlikely fight and was on the verge of the greatest comeback in Masters history. He started nine shots behind going into the final round, and was inches away on two shots from a chance at another Green Jacket. His tee shot on the 18th clipped the last branch in his way, dropping his ball some 267 yards from the green. His 8-foot par putt for a record-tying 63 narrowly missed on the right. He had to settle for a 64. Reed won for the sixth time in his PGA TOUR career, though he was best known for the trophies he shared at the Ryder Cup. He is ferocious in match play, especially the team variety, and his singles victory over McIlroy at Hazeltine in 2016 led to the nickname of Captain America. McIlroy, meanwhile, will have to wait another year for a shot at the career Grand Slam. Trailing by three shots to start the final round, he closed to within one shot after two holes. That was as close as he came. McIlroy’s putter betrayed him, and he was never a factor on the back nine. He closed with a 74 and tied for fifth.

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Scott McGuinness, the caddie for PGA Tour rookie Scottie Scheffler, went down in the ninth fairway with a leg injury and had to be carted off the course in the final round of The Northern Trust.

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The eighth of 24 contributing events for PGA TOUR Champions One & Done presented by SERVPRO is this week’s Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge. It begins on Thursday. Scroll for tournament notes and 21 notables from the field of 36 two-man teams in Ridgedale, Missouri. If decisions were as easy as plugging in Charley Hoffman at the Valero Texas Open, then fantasy wouldn’t be as much fun. But wait a minute. Is Hoffman the prohibitive favorite in our format? In one sense, very much so. As of midday Wednesday, he’s way out front in ownership percentage at 20 percent. That’s eight clicks better than Luke List in second and 14 points clear of both Sergio Garcia and Brendan Steele. Surely, there are options. Indeed. List presents as a perfect fit for chasers. The league leaders among us are more likely to stick with the chalk at TPC San Antonio because that contingent, which includes Steele, is so reliable on one of the toughest tracks on the schedule. List continues to impress regardless of the test. His profile as a long hitter shadows the fact that he’s actually the total package. Billy Horschel has a glowing track record in this tournament, but all of us might swerve if not for his T5 at the RBC Heritage. Conservative front-runners will still abstain because of his inconsistency, but the rest of us will latch onto his immediate success after returning to a putter of familiar length. There’s also his penchant for staying hot after finding a spark. If Hoffman wasn’t available and I hadn’t already burned Steele, Horschel would get the at-bat with confidence. Ryan Palmer is a curious option given his run of success in San Antonio, but there’s a little chicken-and-egg variable with him. In other words, does the course bring out his best (probably) or does he need to be feeling it off the tee first to play well (never hurts). There’s always Colonial (Fort Worth Invitational) at the end of May. As a rule, some gamers avoid defending champions, and Kevin Chappell’s current form clinches that decision. There’s also the matter of his first experience in those shoes, er, boots, so holstering is the sensible decision for multiple reasons. Pat Perez may not crash our short list again this season, so he’s a bailout if you’re stuck and you’ve somehow not employed him yet. In fact, I’m surprised that three of my fellow Experts have yet to go to him this season. Because of the timing, two-man gamers for whom Perez is available don’t need to look further. Match him up with any of the aforementioned suggestions. Chesson Hadley also works best as a complement for two-man lineups. So does Martin Laird, Aaron Baddeley and Scott Piercy. We can keep Garcia, Matt Kuchar and Ryan Moore shelved for another event. Because of the elevated interest in Garcia in PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO, I’ll take the cue to remind you that he’s among the best fits for THE PLAYERS and The Open Championship, both of which we’re annually scrambling for reliability. 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. 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. Kevin Chappell … Valero (1; defending); St. Jude (5); WGC-Bridgestone (2); Dell Technologies (3) Jim Furyk … Memorial (7); U.S. Open (8); Canadian (3); WGC-Bridgestone (2); THE NORTHERN TRUST (9); TOUR Championship (4) Sergio Garcia … PLAYERS (5); Open Championship (1); TOUR Championship (4) Bill Haas … Wyndham (2) Charley Hoffman … Valero (1); Fort Worth (4); Travelers (2); Canadian (3) J.B. Holmes … Wells Fargo (7); Greenbrier (5) Billy Horschel … Valero (3); St. Jude (1); TOUR Championship (4) Zach Johnson … Fort Worth (2); John Deere (1); Open Championship (5); WGC-Bridgestone (6); TOUR Championship (8) Chris Kirk … Valero (4); PLAYERS (3); Fort Worth (2) Russell Knox … PLAYERS (8); Dell Technologies (7) Matt Kuchar … Valero (10); PLAYERS (11); Fort Worth (6); Memorial (2); Canadian (3); WGC-Bridgestone (7); THE NORTHERN TRUST (9) Martin Laird … Valero (7); Barracuda (1) Graeme McDowell … WGC-Bridgestone (3) William McGirt … Memorial (4) Ryan Moore … Travelers (2); John Deere (3); TOUR Championship (6) Kevin Na … Memorial (10); John Deere (9); Wyndham (3); THE NORTHERN TRUST (11) Ryan Palmer … Valero (1); Fort Worth (2); St. Jude (6) Pat Perez … Valero (7) Scott Piercy … John Deere (6) Adam Scott … PLAYERS (5); U.S. Open (10); Open Championship (8); WGC-Bridgestone (3); Dell Technologies (9); TOUR Championship (6) Brandt Snedeker … Fort Worth (11); U.S. Open (5); Travelers (6); Canadian (3); Wyndham (4) Brendan Steele … Valero (6); Wells Fargo (7); Travelers (3) Kevin Streelman … Wells Fargo (3); Memorial (1); Travelers (2) Jimmy Walker … Valero (6); Greenbrier (8); Dell Technologies (7) CHAMPIONS ONE & DONE Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge The second-oldest tournament on the PGA TOUR Champions just might be the most progressive and PGA TOUR Champions One & Done gamers get their first lick at it this year. (It was taken off the fantasy board in 2017 due to a technical glitch.) This is the second of two non-majors that begins on Thursday, so adjust accordingly. Thirty-six teams of two will rotate on three courses totaling 67 holes of competition: Par-71 Buffalo Ridge Golf Course will host the first 18 holes. New to the event is the 13-hole Mountain Top, a par-3 track. It will be played once by every team either Friday or Saturday. Top of the Rock, a nine-hole par-3 course, also will be played by every team either Friday or Saturday. It will then host the entire field in Sunday’s final round. All told, 36 holes will be contested on this course, meaning that every team will loop it four times. Carlos Franco and Vijay Singh are the defending champions of what was a weather-shortened edition that went just 36 holes. Total prize money of $1.8 million reflects the lowest purse since 2001, but the tournament extended its partnership with the title sponsor and site through 2021. Each member of the winning team will earn $174,375. Just like next week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, because team members are rewarded equally, the format of the Bass Pro Legends urges One & Doners to select the golfer who you won’t miss as much as his teammate. For example, you could argue that Singh is more valuable than Franco in individual competition, so if you wanted to ride the defending champs, select Franco and save Singh for another tournament. If you’ve already burned Singh, it’s a free pick to do it again. For all 36 teams, click here. 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. 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. Billy Andrade … Bass Pro Shops (4) Joe Durant … Bass Pro Shops (5); Insperity (15); Principal (2); American Family (8); U.S. Senior Open (7); SENIOR PLAYERS (1); 3M (6); DICK’S (12); Boeing (10); Shaw (11); PURE (3); SAS (13) David Frost … Bass Pro Shops (3); U.S. Senior Open (4); 3M (7); Boeing (5); Shaw (8); PURE (1) Paul Goydos … Bass Pro Shops (2); Insperity (7); 3M (1; defending); DICK’S (3); SAS (5) Lee Janzen … U.S. Senior Open (2) Miguel Angel Jiménez … Insperity (13); Senior PGA (6); Principal (10); U.S. Senior Open (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (3); Senior Open Championship (4); 3M (9); Shaw (7); SAS (12) Brandt Jobe … Senior PGA (2); Principal (3; defending); U.S. Senior Open (4); SENIOR PLAYERS (1); 3M (5); Boeing (8) Jerry Kelly … Boeing (1; defending); Shaw (5); PURE (2); SAS (4) Bernhard Langer … Usable everywhere. Defending five titles. Tom Lehman … Bass Pro Shops (7); Insperity (8); Regions Tradition (5); Principal (1); U.S. Senior Open (3); SAS (9) Jeff Maggert … Insperity (1); American Family (3); Shaw (5) Scott McCarron … Regions Tradition (2); Senior PGA (11); Principal (1); SENIOR PLAYERS (3; defending); Senior Open Championship (10); DICK’S (4; defending); Shaw (5; defending); PURE (8) Colin Montgomerie … Senior PGA (1); U.S. Senior Open (6); SENIOR PLAYERS (2); Senior Open Championship (10); Shaw (4); PURE (7); SAS (3; defending) Tom Pernice, Jr. … Principal Charity (2); Shaw (3); SAS (5) Kenny Perry … Bass Pro Shops (8); Insperity (3); Regions Tradition (5); Senior PGA (6); 3M (1); DICK’S (10); SAS (2) Gene Sauers … Insperity (7); Regions Tradition (3); U.S. Senior Open (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (6); Boeing (1) Vijay Singh … Bass Pro Shops (4; defending); Senior PGA (3); U.S. Senior Open (2); Shaw (5); SAS (1) Kevin Sutherland … Usable everywhere. David Toms … Regions Tradition (3); Boeing (2); SAS (4) Kirk Triplett … Insperity (2); Regions Tradition (6); American Family (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (1); Shaw (4) Duffy Waldorf … Bass Pro Shops (2); Insperity (4); Principal (6); Shaw (5)

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