Singh settles anti-doping lawsuit with PGA Tour

Everyone wants to be the front-runner, but the Masters lays out so many sensational choices that this is the most dangerous week of the season pre-FedExCup Playoffs to be the target. Concluding the season’s first major in the same position often feels more like an escape than the achievement that it is.  With that confidence-building pep talk for the rest of us setting the framework for our decision at Augusta National, this is also the time of the season when you should first take stock of who’s left on your board for the long haul.  My process is simple. I literally print out the top 50 of the latest Official World Golf Ranking, and then cross off everyone I’ve burned. In theory, only those inside this bubble will build my short list to carry me through an entire season of 48 tournaments. Of course, it never works out that way due to field construction and a handful of PGA TOUR non-members on it. Through the first 22 events, I’ve used only 16 of the current top 50.  From here, and especially for PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO gamers, you’re going to want to set aside at least three notables for the Playoffs since FedExCup/fantasy points are quadrupled for that series.  What you read next is a little bit of evidence with a mixture of good and bad luck, so take it for what it’s worth.  En route to my league title in 2015-16, I reserved Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth for the first, third and fourth events of the Playoffs, respectively, and still won despite a T31, T42 and T17 from those cornerstone investments. (Emiliano Grillo’s T33 at TPC Boston didn’t help much, either.) So, despite that patience, including the planned stymie with Spieth as the anchor, and no top 30s in the seven tournaments immediately preceding the TOUR Championship, I crawled to the finish line. It was a painfully ugly win, but it was also a lesson learned – build for now and later.  Once you’ve determined who’s still available from the top 50, highlight the notables who you can’t imagine going an entire season without using. Once you’ve done that, assign locked-in locations for the obvious. I’ve always advised setting Sergio Garcia aside for THE PLAYERS or The Open Championship because no one owns a more consistently strong record at both crapshoots than the defending champion of this week’s Masters. Weave in his continuously superb play just about everywhere and you’ll appreciate that confidence entering either tournament.  In this space a week ago, I proclaimed the probability that Rose would be my pick for the Masters. After going through the aforementioned process, I’ve changed my mind. Given my position (of power) in pursuit, I’m going with the modern-age horse for the course – Spieth. Rose could fill in the blank that Garcia doesn’t later.  I’m left with McIlroy, Jason Day and Henrik Stenson atop my list of probables for the Playoffs (with the backburner thought of the Ryder Cup tugging at the Euros), while Rickie Fowler still figures to size up as a strong contender in the majors. And I’ll still have the likes of Matt Kuchar, Patrick Reed, Louis Oosthuizen, Bubba Watson, Tommy Fleetwood, Branden Grace and Kevin Chappell at my disposal. And who knows, there’s plenty of time for Brooks Koepka to crash the conversation.  So as not to swerve around the focus of the Masters entirely, it’s one of those weeks when you really don’t even need my approval. It’s chalk city straight from the Power Rankings. In fact, the more valuable analysis is to fire away with brief parenthetical phrases to describe my concern on some you might be considering and shouldn’t. All can be found in QUESTION MARKS in the Power Rankings:  • Jason Dufner (track record)  • Tommy Fleetwood (inexperience)  • Martin Kaymer (track record and right wrist)  • Francesco Molinari (track record)  For two-man gamers eyeing Fred Couples, shop elsewhere. After opening the PGA TOUR Champions season with a T6 at Hualalai, his chronically sore back prevented him from defending his title at the Chubb Classic and teeing it up at the Toshiba Classic down the street from his residence in Newport Beach, California. I slotted him 20th in last year’s Power Rankings and got railed for it. He then finished T18. You know I wasn’t surprised, but I will be if he’s a factor this year 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.  Daniel Berger … St. Jude (1; two-time defending); Travelers (2)  Paul Casey … Masters (1); Travelers (4); WGC-Bridgestone (5); Dell Technologies (2); TOUR Championship (3)  Kevin Chappell … Valero (1; defending); St. Jude (5); WGC-Bridgestone (2); Dell Technologies (3)  Jason Day … Masters (4); PLAYERS (13); U.S. Open (2); Canadian (11); WGC-Bridgestone (9); PGA Championship (1); THE NORTHERN TRUST (8); Dell Technologies (5)  Jason Dufner … Fort Worth (2); Memorial (3; defending); U.S. Open (4); Wyndham (6); TOUR Championship (7)  Tony Finau … Valero (5); Memorial (3); Greenbrier (2); Canadian (4)  Rickie Fowler … Masters (8); Wells Fargo (7); PLAYERS (9); WGC-Bridgestone (3); THE NORTHERN TRUST (10); Dell Technologies (6)  Sergio Garcia … Masters (3; defending); PLAYERS (5); Open Championship (1); TOUR Championship (4)  Branden Grace … Heritage (1); Valero (2); U.S. Open (4); WGC-Bridgestone (3)  Brian Harman … Fort Worth (4); John Deere (3)  Russell Henley … Greenbrier (2)  Charley Hoffman … Heritage (7); Houston (5); Valero (1); Fort Worth (4); Travelers (2); Canadian (3)  Billy Horschel … Valero (3); St. Jude (1); TOUR Championship (4)  Dustin Johnson … Masters (4); Memorial (12); St. Jude (8); U.S. Open (13); Canadian (10); WGC-Bridgestone (14); PGA Championship (9); Dell Technologies (11); TOUR Championship (6)  Zach Johnson … Fort Worth (2); John Deere (1); Open Championship (5); WGC-Bridgestone (6); TOUR Championship (8)  Kevin Kisner … Heritage (4); Fort Worth (1; defending); Memorial (5); Wyndham (6)  Matt Kuchar … Masters (5); Heritage (1); Valero (10); PLAYERS (11); Fort Worth (6); Memorial (2); Canadian (3); WGC-Bridgestone (7); THE NORTHERN TRUST (9)  Marc Leishman … Fort Worth (7); Memorial (5); Travelers (2); Open Championship (1)  Hideki Matsuyama … Masters (5); Wells Fargo (13); PLAYERS (9); Memorial (10); U.S. Open (6); WGC-Bridgestone (8; defending)  Rory McIlroy … Masters (2); Wells Fargo (1); PLAYERS (8); Memorial (9); Open Championship (4); WGC-Bridgestone (7); Dell Technologies (5); TOUR Championship (3)  Phil Mickelson … Masters (4); Wells Fargo (2); St. Jude (1); Open Championship (5)  Francesco Molinari … PLAYERS (2)  Ryan Moore … Masters (8); Travelers (2); John Deere (3); TOUR Championship (6)  Louis Oosthuizen … Masters (2); U.S. Open (5); PGA Championship (4); Dell Technologies (3)  Pat Perez … Heritage (5); Valero (7)  Patrick Reed … Travelers (5); PGA Championship (8); Wyndham (7); THE NORTHERN TRUST (9); Dell Technologies (2)  Justin Rose … Masters (1); Wells Fargo (4); PLAYERS (9); Memorial (6); Open Championship (8); WGC-Bridgestone (7); TOUR Championship (2)  Charl Schwartzel … Memorial (4); U.S. Open (5); Open Championship (6); WGC-Bridgestone (2)  Adam Scott … Masters (4); PLAYERS (5); U.S. Open (10); Open Championship (8); WGC-Bridgestone (3); Dell Technologies (9); TOUR Championship (6)  Webb Simpson … Wells Fargo (7); Fort Worth (4); Travelers (8); Greenbrier (5); Wyndham (1)  Jordan Spieth … Masters (1); Heritage (12); Fort Worth (2); Travelers (6; defending); John Deere (7); Open Championship (9; defending); WGC-Bridgestone (10); TOUR Championship (4)  Brendan Steele … Valero (6); Wells Fargo (7); Travelers (3)  Henrik Stenson … Open Championship (6); WGC-Bridgestone (4); PGA Championship (7); Wyndham (8; defending); Dell Technologies (9); TOUR Championship (2)  Justin Thomas … Wells Fargo (9); Dell Technologies (6; defending); TOUR Championship (3) Jimmy Walker … Valero (6); Greenbrier (8); Dell Technologies (7)  Bubba Watson … Memorial (6); Travelers (5); Greenbrier (8); WGC-Bridgestone (1); TOUR Championship (4)  Gary Woodland … Wells Fargo (5); Barracuda (1); Dell Technologies (3)  Tiger Woods … Masters (2); WGC-Bridgestone (3)

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When Agustin Piza was a kid growing up in Tijuana, Mexico, golf was just one of the many sports he learned to play. “It never really caught my attention,” Piza says. “I preferred to play football, basketball, tennis — whatever I could sweat and bump into somebody and get all muddy from the experience and everything. So, I was just being a kid out there. “Golf never did it for me at that time. After he graduated from college with a degree in architecture and a desire to work in the sports arena, though, Piza decided it was time to give the game another try. He grabbed his old clubs and started to practice only to find his swing had deserted him. “Then I was mature enough … to now stop and listen to the birds, listen to nature, enjoy the experience,” Piza says. “And of course, by then, since I lost my swing, I was like, holy moly, this is difficult. “I’m like, whoa, wow. I thought this was easy. … Wait a minute. So, it taught me all these lessons in one afternoon, and I just got hooked.” Piza has gone on to become a highly respected golf course architect with a masters from the University of Edinburgh and more than 70 projects on three different continents on his resume. He counts himself lucky to have worked with Jack Nicklaus and Tom Fazio, to name a few. The decision to give back to the industry he loves was an easy one. First, Piza designed short course in Lima, Peru that serves 100 kids who might not otherwise have the chance to play the game. And seven years ago, he created Primer Swing to introduce youngsters to golf. Carlos Ortiz and Abraham Ancer, who each picked up their first PGA TOUR wins last year, and Esteban Toledo, the first Mexican to win on PGA TOUR Champions, were on hand to help launch the program. Among those on Primer Swing’s board of directors was Benjamin Salinas, a billionaire businessman who is the vice president of the board of Grupo Salinas and was instrumental in bringing PGA TOUR golf to Mexico. “And Mr. Benjamin Salinas spoke to me and said, ‘Hey, Agustin what do you think if we do it the other way around? What do you think if Primer Swing evolves to the First Tee of Mexico?’” Piza recalls. “Let’s do this together.” With Grupo Salinas as the primary sponsor, Salinas as the chairman and Piza as the director, First Tee — Mexico was launched in November 2017. It’s one of six international chapters in the First Tee network which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Less than four years after launching First Tee — Mexico, some 300 kids participate at the 10 chapters, including the newest, Lomas de Coyococ, at Club Lomas de Coyococ, Morelos, announced earlier this week. “There is a saying, and a very famous saying that if everybody played golf, the world would be a better place, and I truly believe that,” Piza says. “It gives us all these tools and skills to understand life, to live it in an 18-hole round. … “So, all of these lessons can translate into better human beings, better citizens of Mexico, better citizens of the world. And that is the objective.” Ortiz, who grew up playing with his parents and grandfather and a close-knit circle of friends, loves seeing how First Tee — Mexico is exposing the game to a wider audience of kids. “It’s great, especially in a country like Mexico, having golf accessible to everybody — all kinds of people, not depending on having a private club or if your parents come from money or not,” he says. “I think what they’ve done starting and taking it on, the Salinas family, it’s great to grow the sport because having these kids involving in sports and actually in a sport like golf, it’s huge. “Even though they end up becoming professionals or not, it’s always going to have an impact in, in their life.” One of the chapters is in Puerto Vallarta where the Mexico Open presented by Vidanta is being played this week. About 25 First Tee members were on hand to meet and take selfies with some of the PGA TOUR’s top players on Tuesday and attend a clinic presented by Ancer. “These children appreciate everything,” Piza says. “It’s arguably one of my favorite days of the year.” First Tee — Mexico offers a character building program created around core values and empowering youth to build inner strength, self-confidence, and resilience that they can carry to everything that they do.. But First Tee — Mexico has added a key pillar – empathy. “We thought that one was a very important pillar to have,” Piza says. “We think empathy is what’s lacking in this world nowadays.” In addition to the character building and teaching the kids how to play golf, First Tee — Mexico has a program built around the skills it takes to maintain a golf course — how to mow a green, how to rake a bunker, how to edge the bunkers, … and ultimately how to operate a golf course. “So, we’re teaching them not only the core values, not only the game, but also a set of skills so that they can, when they finish the program, they would hopefully push themselves and become part of this industry,” Piza says. “And with our context, somebody can give them a job or a part-time job, and they could hopefully pay for their studies and continue with their lives. “That’s what we want to achieve. That’s what we’re shooting for. We’re shooting for a chapter in every state of Mexico so that every corner of Mexico can have this opportunity of learning this fabulous game of life that has all of these and offers all of these indirect and direct advantages — sustainable advantages, the economic and the ecologic, and in the social aspect.”

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