Sleeper picks: A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Davis Love III still thinks he can re-write the record books. “Winning is always my goal,â€� he said. Love, 54, may be a grandfather, but he has no plans to pare down his PGA TOUR schedule. He actually hopes to play more than he did in the previous two seasons. Love could become the oldest winner in PGA TOUR history, surpassing Sam Snead’s record of 52 years, 10 months and 8 days. Raymond Floyd’s record of longest span between first and last victories (28 years) also is within reach. Love won for the first time in 1987. No one has ever won multiple titles in their 50s. He was 51 when he won the 2015 Wyndham Championship. That was his 21st PGA TOUR win. He is a lifetime member for reaching 20 wins and 15 seasons on TOUR. “Obviously, like a few years ago at Greensboro, everything would have to go right. You (have to) hit it good and putt good at the same time,â€� Love said. “I think that can still happen. You get me within two or three of the lead on Sunday, I’m going to have a chance. I just have to get there. “The odds obviously continue to decrease every year. But I look at what Tom Watson almost did, Greg Norman almost did at The Open Championship, what Sam Snead did late in his career, what Jack Nicklaus did at the Masters, that’s the reason I keep working.â€� As is often the case with players of advanced age, injuries and putting have been the problem. Love has played more than 750 PGA TOUR events, but he it’s been three years since he played more than 15 in a season. He had hip-replacement surgery after last year’s RSM and played just nine PGA TOUR events and four on PGA TOUR Champions in 2018. “Like I told you, if Tiger plays a full season, he’ll win a golf tournament. Well, he played a full season and won a golf tournament,â€� Love said. “I would like a shot at playing a full season without being hurt. … I haven’t played my normal 23 or 24 or 25 events. I would like to do that this year and just see how I play.â€� The RSM Classic, where he also serves as host, will be his third start of the season. He finished T59 at the CIMB Classic and 57th at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He plans to play the Sony Open in Hawaii, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Open. He is a two-time winner at Pebble Beach. The Charles Schwab Challenge and RBC Heritage, played at two of the TOUR’s shorter courses, also are on his schedule. He has five wins at the Heritage, including his first PGA TOUR victory. There were promising signs in his last start. At TPC Summerlin, he was second in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green and eighth in proximity to the hole. He was second-to-last in Strokes Gained: Putting, though. He missed three putts from 3-5 feet and was just 1 for 5 from 7-10 feet. He only made 3 of 18 attempts from 10-15 feet, as well. “As usual, it’s going to come down to putting for me. If I can putt well enough to beat them (on PGA TOUR Champions), I think I can probably sneak in a win out here,â€� Love said. “Obviously, like a few years ago at Greensboro, everything would have to go right.â€� He has experimented with the arm-lock method that Matt Kuchar, Webb Simpson, Bryson DeChambeau and Keegan Bradley used to win recently. Love said he’s had “very little successâ€� with it, though. “I’m rolling the ball great. I have to relax and play and quit trying to force it,” Love said. “Calling (sports psychologist Bob) Rotella probably is the answer.” It may be the only thing standing between him and history.

Click here to read the full article…

DUBLIN, Ohio – Xander Schauffele is trying to adjust from the underdog mentality that led to much of his success as he looks to address his closing issues this season. Schauffele played amateur and college golf amongst the likes of Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas but never gained the same exposure, leading to a determined mental spirit of trying to prove people wrong. This competitive desire within saw immediate success as he burst onto the scene as the Rookie of the Year in 2017, winning twice including the TOUR Championship. Even when he kept winning in following seasons ,Schauffele would continue to create the underdog theme in his mind as his success pushed him higher in the estimation of his peers and pundits alike. But now, despite being in the midst of an impressive season that boasts six top-5 finishes and has him sitting sixth in the FedExCup, Schauffele says it’s time for a mindset adjustment. He is without a win since claiming the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January of 2019 and it is this fact that has the 27-year-old rethinking how he has approached the mental side of his game. “I think it’s funny… I think this whole underdog role is probably why I’ve been successful… and it’s always important to play with a chip on your shoulder, but at the same time I think it might be the reason that’s maybe holding me back in big moments,” the world No. 5 said as he prepares for the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. “When you’re trying to win tournaments and once you’re at the top of a leaderboard, you can’t chase a ghost. So there’s no one in front of you to sort of bite at and so I think mentally it’s such a new realm for my brain that I’m just trying to process it all and really get more comfortable and think differently, once I’m at the top. “I’ve talked a lot with my dad about that… (and I’m) trying to read some material that will help me sort of explore some new kind of avenues with how my brain will think.” In all four of Schauffele’s TOUR wins he started the final round behind. On the four occasions he’s taken a 54-hole lead on TOUR he’s failed to close and the same is said for the four times he’s held the 36-hole lead and the one time he held an 18-hole lead. Three of Schauffele’s near finishes this season have been runner up results. He was bested by Jason Kokrak at THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK, finished second to Patrick Reed at the Farmers Insurance Open and was overrun by Brooks Koepka at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. April’s Masters also saw him well and truly in the mix before his tee shot on Sunday at 16 found the water allowing Hideki Matsuyama a passage to the green jacket and leaving Schauffele to settle for third place. Coming off the back of a missed cut at the PGA Championship, which Schauffele attributed to a poor mental attitude, the four-time TOUR winner has put significant focus on his mind game ahead of an assault on Muirfield Village. He’s reprogramming himself. “I think it’s OK to chomp at the bit moving up, but once you’re up there you got to be assertive and comfortable and do the right things still, you can’t really be like waiting for someone to get ahead of you to chase again,” Schauffele explained. “I still need to get to the top of the leaderboard to try out all these new things and I think all these experiences in the past are going to help me be more comfortable once I’m back there. But it’s more of an overall thought process I’m trying to change moving forward.”

Click here to read the full article…

Short of winning any tournament, it’s arguable that emerging as one of the 30 at East Lake in Atlanta is the hardest objective on the PGA TOUR. Of the 35 unique winners this season, 15 didn’t advance to the finale of the FedExCup Playoffs. Identifying the most confident golfers at the TOUR Championship isn’t too hard. Just read the field. Reaching the summit is one reason why each qualifier is treated to exemptions into the first three majors of 2018 as well as spots in the first two World Golf Championships. It’s nothing short of a life-changing achievement for the eight first-timers in the field. The other lane of confidence isn’t as smooth and fluid, but it matters more when making decisions for your fantasy lineups. This is where you determine who deserves the attention and your faith as a fit at East Lake. Billy Horschel caught such a blazing heater in 2014 that a kneejerk reaction would be to ignore how he prevailed by three strokes in the TOUR Championship. However, upon closer inspection, his formula for success was no more out of the ordinary than the two champions since. Horschel, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy showcased the complete game en route to their titles. All four identifiers below align with what worked for them and what projects to work for this week’s champion. East Lake’s putting surfaces average 6,200 square feet and could touch 12-and-a-half feet on the Stimpmeter, but they are not dastardly, devilish or diabolical. From just about every metric, they’re easier on average to solve and they are fair. With that accepted component factored in, we can widen our focus to use bogey avoidance as the catchall for short game and putting. In a nutshell, that explains why East Lake is a ball-striker’s paradise. Something to keep in mind as your watch, listen to and/or read about the tournament, since Tiger Woods won the FedExCup without winning the TOUR Championship in 2009, which was the inaugural year of the first iteration of the current points structure, every champion at East Lake also captured the FedExCup. NOTE: Golfers inside the top 20 in each statistic in the FedExCup Playoffs are listed only if they are scheduled to compete in the TOUR Championship. * – Finished inside the top 10 at the TOUR Championship in 2014, 2015 and/or 2016. Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee 1  *Dustin Johnson 2  Jon Rahm 3  *Rickie Fowler 4  *Jordan Spieth 5  Brooks Koepka 6  Xander Schauffele T7  *Kevin Chappell T7  Charley Hoffman 9  Tony Finau 11  Jhonattan Vegas 12  *Paul Casey 15  *Justin Rose 16  *Justin Thomas 18  Patrick Cantlay Greens in Regulation T2  Patrick Cantlay T2  *Jordan Spieth 4  *Gary Woodland 5  Marc Leishman 7  *Justin Rose 8  Jon Rahm T9  *Sergio Garcia T9  *Dustin Johnson 13  *Rickie Fowler T16  *Matt Kuchar 19  *Paul Casey T20  Pat Perez T20  Kyle Stanley Proximity to the Hole 1  *Dustin Johnson 4  *Justin Rose T6  *Jason Day 10  *Jordan Spieth T11  Russell Henley T13  Daniel Berger 16  Jon Rahm 19  Brian Harman Bogey Avoidance 1  Patrick Cantlay 2  *Jordan Spieth 3  *Justin Rose T4  Pat Perez T4  Jon Rahm 6  *Dustin Johnson T8  *Justin Thomas 10  Marc Leishman T11 *Rickie Fowler T13  *Sergio Garcia T15  Daniel Berger T15  *Paul Casey T15  Webb Simpson T19  *Jason Day With only 30 in the field, the usual groupings below are sparsely populated, but half of the field is still represented. Jordan Spieth (2015) is the only prior winner of the TOUR Championship back this week. NOTE: The groups below are comprehensive to assist in data mining. Inclusion doesn’t imply automatic endorsement in every fantasy game as all decisions are specific to your situation. CONFIDENCE MEN Selected golfers with multiple cuts made sorted by rank on the tournament’s money list. BUILDING CONFIDENCE Sorted by best finish, selected golfers who are either finally finding form on the course or are still relatively new to the tournament but have enjoyed some success. OTHER SIGNS OF CONFIDENCE Sorted by most recent top 10s, selected golfers for whom it’s been a few years since their last.

Click here to read the full article…