Six players to watch on moving day at The Open

Two months ago, Tiger Woods won the TOUR Championship, the 80th career title of his illustrious PGA TOUR career. The percentages are not in his favor that he’ll be able to defend that title next August at East Lake. In the five seasons since the TOUR introduced its wraparound schedule, just 21 players (out of 150) have advanced to the FedExCup Playoffs finale without accruing a single FedExCup point in the fall portion of the season. That averages to just about four players a season – or 14 percent of the 30-man field who reach the TOUR Championship. Of course, Woods’ greatness is such that historical averages and low percentages are things that usually don’t apply to two-time FedExCup champion. And to be fair, he did make the TOUR Championship last season without benefit of a start in any fall event. He’ll hope to do the same this season. Two more past FedExCup champs also reached East Lake last season without acquiring a single point in the fall – Rory McIlroy and Billy Horschel. So, it’s not impossible. It’s just much easier if you’re able to get a quick start. That’s what makes this week’s RSM Classic extremely important for those looking for the last chance this calendar year to make a move. The crosshairs are firmly on the likes of Zach Johnson and Kevin Kisner at Sea Island. Both players opened their seasons last week in Mexico but failed to make the cut, thus rendering this week’s result a little more important. They’re not alone. Fellow TOUR winners Sangmoon Bae, D.A. Points, Wesley Bryan, Retief Goosen, John Huh, Padraig Harrington, Sean O’Hair, David Lingmerth, Jim Herman, Cody Gribble, Freddie Jacobson, Tommy Gainey, Brendon Todd, Tim Herron, Eric Axley, Jason Gore, Will MacKenzie, and Chad Campbell are also in the field this week but are yet to open their FedExCup accounts. Of the 147 TOUR members in this week’s field, 25 are still seeking their first FedExCup point. That’s just the former winners, let alone the rest of those looking to get a wriggle on. Joining Woods as high-profile players certified to start January on zero are former FedExCup and PLAYERS champion Henrik Stenson; another former PLAYERS champ in Sergio Garcia; plus Bubba Watson and Daniel Berger. You can already see the talent trying to cram into those likely few open spots at East Lake. To make matters more interesting, there is one less Playoffs event this season, as the season was reconfigured to end the FedExCup Playoffs before Labor Day. There will now be just two Playoffs events prior to the TOUR Championship. “I don’t necessarily think it gives you a head start now, I think it’s more so you don’t go into January behind the 8-ball because if you don’t play in the fall, if you don’t play well, you’re so far back,â€� Rickie Fowler explained when describing his starts at the Shriners Hospitals For Children Open and the Mayakoba Golf Classic. “You might be playing catch-up the first few months, on the west coast and then Florida.â€� Even Jason Day, who managed to make the TOUR Championship in each of the first four wrap-around seasons without playing the fall, relented to playing in Asia last season and again this season. Jordan Spieth managed the feat in 2017 but this season decided on fall golf. With the introduction of the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 system where regular-season play is rewarded financially, Spieth saw added value. “No matter what anybody says, that’s a goal of every PGA TOUR member … to try and win the regular season and FedExCup playoff bonus,â€� Spieth said. Unfortunately, with just six FedExCup points to his name he hasn’t exactly given himself the big leg-up that he wanted. Still, it’s better than nothing. One man who does have a head start is CIMB Classic winner Marc Leishman. The Australian was sick of looking at his name so far down the list in Hawaii each January but also saw the value in playing to try to free yourself up for the remainder of the season. “It is definitely very important to get off to a good start. You don’t want to get to the Masters next year and still trying to get into that top 125,â€� the four-time winner said. “Having success early in the season … it just makes you think about winning more and you can take a few more risks, which sometimes you need to do to win. “Sometimes early in the season if you’re one or two back, you don’t want to do anything silly because you don’t want to go from second back to 12th. But once you’ve got a good early start, you can really just think about winning and that’s exciting.â€� Of course next season, with more events to come before the turn of the calendar, early success will likely become even more critical. You can’t win the FedExCup in the fall … but you can certainly lose it.

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1. J.J. Spaun was among the overshadowed rookies on the PGA TOUR last season despite going two events deep into the FedExCup Playoffs. He didn’t win but he’s also gone more than six months with just one top-25 finish on the board. It explains why he’s 84th-most owned in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO (although rewarding the faithful with a lead-high 200 points through the suspension of play on Friday night). There simply was nothing to project that he’d sit comfortably atop the 36-hole leaderboard. The 27-year-old is sticking to his strengths, though, leading the field in both strokes gained: approach-the-green and strokes gained: tee-to-green. He ranked inside the top 50 last season in both total driving and greens in regulation. 2. Of the 90 golfers chosen at least once in PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO, Spaun was not one of them. Meanwhile, Tony Finau paces the field at 14.6 percent. He’s in the house at 4-under 138, seven strokes adrift of the 36-hole clubhouse leader. Webb Simpson was selected by three fewer gamers. While the 2013 champ is T66 at 1-under 143, it’s unlikely that he’ll be sweating the cut line as only four of the 28 stranded by darkness on Friday are within two shots. Three others are at even. Of the top 10 in One & Done ownership percentage, only 2015 champ Smylie Kaufman (No. 8, 4.1 percent) is a lock to miss the cut. 3. The weather forecasters hit the bull’s-eye this week. After the field averaged 71.17 on the par-71 test for a relatively tame opening round (that 25 needed Friday morning to complete), winds freshened a bit for Friday’s second round. The morning wave averaged 71.99, which sounds high at TPC Summerlin until you learn that the interrupted afternoon wavers sat at 72.98 at nightfall. This is the first time since the course assumed duties as the solo host in 2008 that any round averaged over par. The trend is all but guaranteed to extend into the weekend. Sustained winds midday on Saturday are expected to be at least 20 mph. 4. Robert Garrigus crafted a 6-under 65 with eight birdies on Friday at TPC Summerlin to post 7 under through 36 holes. Only a double bogey-6 at the 18th hole (his ninth of the round) thwarted a clean card that included circles on each of the three par 5s. That’s hardly a surprise for the known bomber with an underrated penchant for piling up greens in regulation, but it’s his erstwhile flat stick that has him in the hunt in Vegas. He’s currently leading the tournament in strokes gained: putting. He did the same en route to a T29 at The National this summer and he found a groove in the second half of the 2015-16 season, so this isn’t unprecedented, just impossible to see coming. The soon-to-be 40-year-old (his birthday is Nov. 11) has showed off in the wind in the desert before, too. In the third round of the 2012 CareerBuilder Challenge, he dropped in 11 birdies en route to a bogey-free 61 at PGA West’s Nicklaus Private, beating the field average on the course by 9.29 strokes in that round. Play was suspended due to gusty winds after he had already sunk nine of his birdies. 5. If there’s ever such a thing as a gimme in fantasy golf – there isn’t – Patrick Cantlay presents a compelling case. Since returning from personal and physical challenges at Pebble Beach in February, he’s been perfect in 15 starts. That now includes a position inside the top 10 at the midpoint in Las Vegas where he’s making his first appearance. He’s lurking in part thanks to an eight-hole stretch on Thursday. From Nos. 9-16, he converted six birdies, including on all three par 5s. The 25-year-old is a non-winner on the PGA TOUR, but he just exhausted his rookie eligibility in 2016-17. Still, he’s risen the bar so fast and so high in his return – nine top 25s in 2017, including in each of his last five starts – that it’s only a matter of time before he’s a winner. 6. It wasn’t that long ago when Harris English was a short-lister when you wanted some substance to complement an aggressive roster in weekly action. For his first five seasons, he missed only 27 cuts and withdrew during another in 137 starts for an astounding cuts-made clip of nearly 80 percent. He’s been derailed since. After going just 15-for-27 last season and finishing a career-worst 118th in the FedExCup standings, he’s opened 2017-18 with three missed cuts in as many tries. He’ll get snipped by at least one stroke when the hammer officially falls on Saturday in Vegas. It’ll be his fourth consecutive MC to establish a career long. 7. There is an argument that the Web.com Tour Finals shouldn’t imply a finish line. Sure, it determines who earns the last 25 PGA TOUR cards, but boxing out in the reshuffle category immediately ensues. Get off to a slow start and playing time all but disappears until fields expand with daylight hours in mid-April. Entering the Shriners, 11 golfers in the field had yet to crack their goose egg in the FedExCup points column. At the suspension of play on Friday, only Alex Cejka is assured of making the cut, but Sam Saunders (T13) and Roberto Diaz (T35) are poised to join him once they polish off their second rounds. Four of the other eight are already taillights (Jonathan Byrd, Nate Lashley, Sam Ryder, Andrew Yun), while Kyle Thompson (T81), Keith Mitchell (T89), Denny McCarthy (T96) and Lanto Griffin (T130) have yet to be officially knocked out because they haven’t finished their second rounds. Both the OHL Classic at Mayakoba and The RSM Classic will grant starts to the entire category, so their backs aren’t against the wall again. Yet. 8. Billy Horschel withdrew hours before his second-round tee time due to a sore left shoulder. He opened with 4-under 67 in what was his first round of the season, so this was a tough pill for gamers to swallow. The mid-tournament WD is his first in 177 PGA TOUR starts as a professional. Jonathan Randolph withdrew after eight holes of his second round, also with a shoulder injury. He also recorded his first mid-tourney WD in 53 TOUR starts as a pro. Of the two, only Horschel committed to next week’s OHL Classic at Mayakoba where he’d be making his fourth appearance. Mackenzie Hughes is slated to tee it up in Mexico as well. The Canadian withdrew early from the last two stops in Asia in October to be with his wife for the birth of their first child, Kenton Robert. 9. Jason Day announced that his wife, Ellie, is pregnant with their third child. The due date is in June, which, of course, is when the U.S. Open is contested (June 14-17), so One & Doners likely will be investing elsewhere at Shinnecock Hills. The Days live near the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, but an appearance in his adopted hometown also is in jeopardy because it falls two weeks prior to the season’s second major. Day is 6-for-9 in his backyard but with only one top 25, a T15 in 2017. For Ben Everill’s full story that also includes the news and quotes from Day and Marc Leishman about their decision not to tee it up at the Hero World Challenge next month, click here.

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