Sleeper Picks: 3M Open

This week’s RBC Heritage slots familiarly immediately following the Masters where Scottie Scheffler prevailed for the first time in a major. For the 42 who competed at Augusta National and are committed at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina (as of Monday afternoon), the tournament promises that – hang on one sec … checks field to confirm that Scheffler isn’t playing –someone else will win. Notwithstanding Scheffler’s historic surge, the tournament also is known for its heaters. In its first 53 editions dating back to 1969 – all contested at Harbour Town – there have been 10 golfers who have won it multiple times. Davis Love III headlines the club with five titles, while Hale Irwin and this year’s defending champion, Stewart Cink, have won thrice. Twelve former RBC Heritage champions are among the 132 in the field this week, including all of the last nine. Continue reading beneath the ranking of projected contenders for how Harbour Town tests, which boxes Cink checked en route to victory, what’s new this year and more. RELATED: Play Pick ‘Em Live | The First Look | Inside the Field POWER RANKINGS: RBC HERITAGE Jordan Spieth, Kevin Na, Jason Kokrak, Tommy Fleetwood and defending champion Stewart Cink will be among the notables reviewed in Tuesday’s Draws and Fades. DL3 scattered his Ws at Harbour Town over 17 editions (1987-2003) and in his 20s and 30s, but both Irwin (24) and Cink (22) stretched longer from the first to their last. What’s more, Irwin was 48 years old for his third; Cink was 47. That’s part of the magic of the place. It doesn’t discriminate against age. Or relative lack of muscle off the tee. Or putting. Ranging just 7,191 yards and with 18 of some of the PGA TOUR’s smallest greens on average (at 3,700 square feet), the par 71 rewards the shot-makers among the ball-strikers. It’s not as much about finding fairways as it is paying off finding the most strategic angles on approach. But with bermuda rough, which is overseeded, extending just three-quarters of an inch high, accuracy off the tee is secondary to piling up greens in regulation. Because targets demand precision, hitting it close is the default of getting it on. Cink ranked T57 in fairways hit last year, but he co-led the field in averaging 14 GIR per round. He also finished 11th in proximity, so it was no wonder why he paced the tournament in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. Cink also was T4 in scrambling en route to his four-stroke margin of victory. While the parlay of tidy into- and around-the-green work should be rewarded handsomely, the latter is the softest underbelly of Harbour Town. Small greens usually surrender high rates of salvaging pars after missing them in regulation. Furthermore, because the overseeded bermuda greens are ready to run up to 12 feet on the Stimpmeter, which essentially is the TOUR norm, talents who don’t profile as superior putters can circle this week as an opportunity to make a dent. The 2021 field averaged 70.332 on the scorecard. That’s second-lowest in recorded tournament history (1983-present) to the special June date of 2020 (when the course doesn’t require overseeding) and reflective of how a gathering worthy of a strength-of-field rating as determined by the Official World Golf Ranking of 481 can make a difference. (The SOF in 2020 was 712.) However, slightly higher scoring should be expected this week as the two easiest holes on the course are longer. New tees at the par-5 second and fifth holes have extended the pair. No. 2 is 48 yards longer at 550 yards; No. 5 now tips at 569 yards after a 20-yard increase. Also, for the record, after the new expanded tee box at the par-3 17th introduced an additional 22 yards last year, even newer modifications bumped it up again, this time by two yards to 198. The most challenging of the weather conditions will be the swirling winds that will blow a bit at least through the first two rounds and as energy threatens rain and storms that will linger into the weekend. Otherwise, comfortably cool air blankets the week as daytime highs extend into the mid-70s. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Draws and Fades WEDNESDAY: Pick ’Em Preview SUNDAY: Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Rookie Ranking * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – There’s not much additional inspiration necessary this week for Spain’s Jon Rahm, who can become the world’s top-ranked golfer for the first time with a win at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. But just in case the current world No. 3 needs a little boost, he can draw upon his memorable pro-am pairing Wednesday at TPC Scottsdale. Rahm played alongside another of the world’s best, as 28-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps joined him in the pro-am. The former competitive swimmer got an up-close look at the red-hot Rahm, who enters the week fresh off a solo second at the Farmers Insurance Open. “The guy is unbelievable to watch,â€� Phelps said. “He has got a ton of power, and he putted the ball great today. It’s always fun when you get to watch someone getting the putter hot. It’s a special treat. It was great to watch him roll a couple in and get ready for this week. “He is a possible No. 1. There are so many talented players out there. It just depends on who is going to want it bad enough.â€� Related: Amy paying it forward one year later | Insider: Woodland putting in work to reach new heights   Phelps, of course, is best known for his record 23 gold medals, including an incredible 13 in individual events. Rahm, meanwhile, is still waiting on his first. He will get the chance to change that this summer at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. “I never grew up with that being a goal of mine because golf wasn’t in the Olympics,â€� Rahm said. “ … To be an athlete and have a gold medal, I don’t think there’s anything better than that. There are not many things that you can say that would be a better feeling than to say you have a good medal from the Olympics. “It’s a very select group of people that can say that in human history. So it’s definitely a goal and I hope it can be there in Tokyo and fight for it.â€� Rahm was not in Rio de Janeiro four years ago when golf returned to the Olympics after a 112-year absence. Both Spanish players who did participate finished in the top 10 – Rafa Cabrera Bello was T5 and Sergio Garcia was T8. As for the Rahm-Phelps pairing on Wednesday … they’re actually quite familiar with one another, as they’re members of the same Scottsdale golf course. That should provide Phelps more than enough time to offer any sage Olympics advice he may have. Rahm will eagerly soak it in. “To be at that level at every single one of those events and to be able to win every single one of the events one year, it’s absolutely mind-blowing,â€� said Rahm, who played collegiately at Arizona State. “I don’t think a lot of times people appreciate some of what these Olympians accomplish because we only hear about it every four years. If he’s not the greatest Olympian of all time, I don’t know who is. I’ve got to say. Really, the discussion of greatest athlete of all-time could not be had without him.â€�

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