Sleeper Picks: ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP

The picks are in, and Tiger Woods has picked … well, himself, along with Tony Finau, Patrick Reed and Gary Woodland to round out the U.S. Team that Woods will captain next month at the Presidents Cup in Australia. It’s going to be highly entertaining at Royal Melbourne, especially if Tiger keeps talking about himself in the third person as he did Thursday night when Tiger the captain was citing the merits of Tiger the player. RELATED: Tiger makes his captain’s picks | International Team Captain Els announces picks | Youth movement for Internationals “He’s made, what, nine Cups and he’s played in Australia twice in the Presidents Cup, so this will be his third appearance as a player,â€� Woods said before catching himself and chuckling slightly. “I find it interesting talking in the third person.â€� Fifteen more things of interest: • I asked Tiger how the conversation went with assistant captains Fred Couples, Steve Stricker and Zach Johnson concerning himself as a potential captain’s pick. He relayed a story prior to winning The ZOZO Championship in Japan three weeks ago, his only start since undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee two months earlier. “They said, ‘You’re on the team, you’re playing,’â€� Woods replied. “I said, ‘Hold on, slow your roll. I’m coming off of knee surgery. I don’t know how it’s going to be. Let me have Japan to test it and feel it and figure it out.â€� “Freddie was pretty ardent. ‘You’re on the team. Quit being stupid.’ I said, ‘No, hold on. I haven’t swung a club yet. Let me rehab this knee and get it going. Give me Japan and I’ll get back to you.’ “Well, I got back to him after Japan.â€� • Tiger’s success in Japan – winning his 82nd PGA TOUR event to tie Sam Snead in the record book – certainly was a big factor. But perhaps just as big was that his body held up after a long journey to Japan. It’s roughly 7,500 miles from Florida to Tokyo. Tiger realized he could make the trip and find a winning form, and now he hopes to do the same next month on another long trip. The distance from the Bahamas – where he’ll play the Hero World Challenge – to Melbourne is roughly 9,800 miles. “The long haul to Australia is very much like the one to Japan,â€� Woods said, “and seeing how my body felt and how I reacted in Japan and how I was able to play, it certainly gives me a lot of confidence that it will hold up over the long haul down to Australia. • Last year, Woods followed his memorable win at the TOUR Championship by immediately hopping on a plane to Paris to play for the U.S. at the Ryder Cup. He was visibly tired at Le Golf National, and his performance reflected that, as he lost all four of the matches he played, including a 2 and 1 loss to Jon Rahm in Singles. Now Woods once again will play the week before a team event. But he sees few similarities, and thus, fewer concerns. “I think the emotional stress and the emotional release of finally winning an event coming back from my back surgery, that took a toll on me a bit,â€� Woods said about last year. “So this is a different — a totally different animal. I’m playing the Hero World Challenge, not a TOUR event, even though we have World Ranking points. It’s a very easy week. I do have some duties there that the night, but overall, it’s a very easy week. And then our flight down to Oz will be easy — just long.â€� • Tiger said the key to balancing his captain responsibilities with his playing duties will be communication – with his assistants, with his players, asking them questions, putting their minds at ease, making sure everybody knows the schedules for practice, rest, workout, etc. “Having that direct communication with these guys,â€� Woods said. “The texts or phone calls have been free flowing, any time, doesn’t matter, just shoot me a text. I want that open line of communication. “There will be no stone unturned, and if you have an issue or a problem, let’s talk about it. Let’s figure it out.â€� • Tiger could limit himself to the minimum of two matches required for each player. One would be with a partner, and the other would be in Sunday Singles. That could help reduce the strain on his body. Right now, he’s not putting an exact number on it. “If I happen to play more, I have to play more,â€� he said. • Speaking of partners, Tiger did say he’s given specific thought to his own partner, having discussed that possibility with his assistants and some of his players. He wouldn’t reveal a specific name, of course. “It’s one of the other 11 players,â€� he said coyly. Of those 11 other players, he’s partnered with four of them in either a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup – Patrick Reed, Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Kuchar and Dustin Johnson. • Here’s an incentive that might push Tiger to play more than two matches: He’ll arrive at Royal Melbourne with 24 matches played in his Presidents Cup career. The record is 26 held by longtime rival/U.S. teammate Phil Mickelson. Tiger is guaranteed to tie Mickelson, but maybe he finds a way to add a third match to sit alone atop the record books. • Speaking of Mickelson, his streak of making every U.S. Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup team ended with Thursday’s announcement. Mickelson had made 24 consecutive teams, including every Presidents Cup. He also saw his streak of 25-plus seasons inside the world top 50 also end recently. • One potential U.S. pairing might be Woodland, one of the captain’s picks, with automatic qualifier Matt Kuchar. They were partners in 2011 when the won the World Cup for the U.S. That’s the only team event the reigning U.S. Open champ has appeared in. For now, Woodland’s just happy to be on the team. “I’ll play with anybody,â€� he said. • Whether Mickelson was one of the five players Tiger called to deliver the bad news of not being a captain’s pick is unclear. The only player Woods identified that he called was Rickie Fowler, who was married this fall and has yet to play since the FedExCup Playoffs. Fowler has made six U.S. national team appearances, including the last two Presidents Cups. “That was a tough phone call,â€� Woods said. “Rickie’s a good friend of mine and I’ve known him for a long time. Kept it short and quick. No reason to make it a lengthy conversation. He’s obviously going to be very disappointed by it. I’ve been on that side. I’ve been there when the captain didn’t choose me, and I get it. It’s not easy. “But Rickie is a hell of a player and he’s going to start winning tournaments here. He’s fresh off of his new wedding, his bride and honeymoon, and he’ll be focused and he’ll start winning tournaments.â€� • Fowler, though, might be on the short list of players Tiger considers should he need a replacement for Brooks Koepka, who aggravated an injury to his left knee during the Asian Swing. Woods said he has until Wednesday morning of Presidents Cup week to make a final determination on whether Koepka is ready to play. “Right now we’re just waiting on Brooks’ rehab and playing back to golf and when he’ll be ready,â€� Woods said. “That’s open-ended and we’ll cross that bridge when we cross it.â€� • Speaking of roster adjustments … Because he’s now a playing captain, Woods will need his assistants to take up some of the slack while he’s on the course. Right now, Woods has three assistants, but he has room to add another if he wants. “It’s nice having that option,â€� Woods said. “… although we can roll with just the four of us that we have right now.â€� Woods’ counterpart, International Team Captain Ernie Els, has four assistants – Geoff Ogilvy, Trevor Immelman, K.J. Choi and Mike Weir. • Tiger becomes just the second player in Presidents Cup history to become a playing captain. Another American, Hale Irwin, was the first at the inaugural Presidents Cup in 1994. Unlike Woods, Irwin qualified without needing a captain’s pick, as he ranked seventh in points to earn an automatic spot. Irwin played three matches that week at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia. He and partner Loren Roberts beat David Frost and Fulton Allem in Friday Foursomes, 3 and 1. In Saturday Foursomes, Irwin and Jay Haas lost to Frost and Peter Senior, 6 and 6. Then in Sunday Singles in the opening match, Irwin beat Australian Robert Allenby, 1 up. • Eleven of the 12 players on the U.S. Team are ranked higher in the Official World Golf Ranking than the highest-ranking International player. The only American ranked below an International is Matt Kuchar at No. 22. Adam Scott (17) and Hideki Matsuyama (20) are currently above him. Understatement of the day from Woods: “We’re going to have a pretty solid team.â€� • Ages of the U.S. players in 1998, the only time the Americans lost the Presidents Cup: Justin Thomas, 5 years old; Patrick Cantlay, Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele, 6 years old; Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed, 8 years old; Tony Finau, 9 years old; Webb Simpson, 13 years old; Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland, 14 years old; Matt Kuchar, 20 years old; Tiger Woods, 22 years old.

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At times it was wild and windy, and in the end a worthy winner returned to the top of a leaderboard for the first time in a long time. Here are some storylines you might have missed as Brian Gay needed an extra hole to get the job done in the Bermuda Championship. 1. Gay proves accuracy can still be winning factor on TOUR Brian Gay can't hit the long bomb. He knows it. He's 48, long away from his prime strength years. But he's still cunning. And usually very accurate. And while a surge towards prodigious distance is happening in the world of golf, Gay showed that accuracy and solid nerves on the right course at the right time can very much still prevail in this sport. Gay birdied the final hole in regulation to put a bow on a final round 7-under 64 and then stood up and birdied the hole again in a sudden death playoff to capture a fifth career win, but first since 2013. With Stewart Cink (Safeway Open) and Sergio Garcia (Sanderson Farms Championship) recently proving wins aren't exclusive to the young, fit and strong on the PGA TOUR, Gay felt energized coming to Bermuda where he'd been third a year prior. Despite tough winds through most of the tournament, Gay ranked fourth in driving accuracy and on Sunday hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation as he put on a clinic to overcome the two-shot deficit he started with in the final round. Outdriven in the playoff, he applied pressure with a great wedge to 15-feet only to see Wyndham Clark hit his approach inside 10 feet. Gay wasn't deterred - sinking his birdie putt in the heart of the cup to reapply the pressure. Clark tried to ram his effort in to match but it fell low and the trophy was won. Now instead of counting the days until PGA TOUR Champions status, Gay is mapping out a few more years of big TOUR starts including THE PLAYERS Championship, Sentry Tournament of Champions and the Masters. Get more on a brilliant win here. 2. Zalatoris completes mission one; next missions begin It was all but a formality that Will Zalatoris would claim Special Temporary Membership on the PGA TOUR after an incredible run of golf lately. The Korn Ferry Tour points leader needed to make it to the weekend to ensure he can accept an unlimited amount of sponsor invites this season and he impressed with a T16 finish in Bermuda. Now the focus turns to whether or not he will earn enough non-member points this season to secure playing privileges into next season. This is also basically a formality as with 334 of those already on his plate it would take a serious dip in form for him to fall outside whatever mark the 125th player in the FedExCup sets. As it stands right now, Zalatoris would be 16th on the current FedExCup list if he was eligible, slotting in right ahead of Jon Rahm. And even if he were to falter, chances are he's not going to drop 26 slots on the KFT list either. So the real focus actually shifts to whether he can find a way to win on the PGA TOUR this season, thus becoming eligible for the Playoffs. And whether he can continue his climb up the world rankings before year end. At 57th, Zalatoris could work his way into the 2021 Masters should he get inside the top 50 on Dec. 31. 3. Off the Schnied It had been a lean experience for Ollie Schniederjans in PGA TOUR events. The once-celebrated amateur has been an afterthought amongst a plethora of young talent bursting on the TOUR scene in the last few seasons, thanks mainly to a 2018-19 season of woe that ended at 180th in the FedExCup. Prior to his third place finish this week in Bermuda, Schniederjans’ last 10 TOUR starts had provided eight missed cuts - including in Bermuda a year ago - and a best finish of T47. This week provided his first top-10 since August of 2018 when he was fifth at the Barracuda Championship. But time back on the Korn Ferry TOUR has allowed him to work things out away from the spotlight. And perhaps the arrival of his brother in the Bermuda field was the little competitive spark the sponsor invite needed. The result brings with it another start on TOUR this week at the Vivint Houston Open where he hopes to prove, as was once touted almost as an afterthought, he rightfully belongs. 4. Wounded Clark can take heart Losing a playoff always hurts and Wyndham Clark was certainly far from pleased when he missed three critical putts during the final two holes in regulation and during the playoff. "I’m pretty bummed. Obviously, I would have liked to have won. I played so good, just had a little mishap on 16 and 17 and then really didn’t make those two putts on 18," he said in the immediate aftermath. "I played great. It was a great tournament. Obviously I’m disappointed. I had chances, I just didn’t capitalize." Hopefully Clark can feel many positives as he continues to debrief, particularly given how he ended last season. The return to golf wasn't great for Clark, who in his nine starts after the COVID-19 break dropped from 81st to 125th in the FedExCup. He snuck into the Playoffs despite missing the cut at the Wyndham Championship, a sixth MC in those nine starts that also included a walk off WD. He's now 14th in the FedExCup this season thanks to his runner-up result, a first top-10 in just over a year and his best TOUR finish ever. 5. The Funk in the Cink brings family fun Brian Gay wasn't the only veteran having a great time in Bermuda, a paradise where family fun was the order of the week for the Cinks and the Funks. Stewart Cink, the recent winner in the season-opening Safeway Open, continued his impressive resurgence by finishing fourth. As was the case at his win, son Reagan was on the bag as his caddie. It's a partnership hard to ignore. "It’s been a couple of factors. Reagan caddying for me, my son, we have great chemistry. Half his DNA is mine and we just see things the same way on the golf course and we have really good communication out there on our shots," Cink explained. "It makes me be really decisive and committed. That certainly helps when you’re searching for ways to separate you from the competition out here where everybody is so good." Cink also tinkered with his equipment. The two factors have him second in the FedExCup just four points behind Bryson DeChambeau's lead. "I kind of lowered my spin rates through my whole bag, driver all the way down through my irons, and when we came here and we had the crazy winds there for a couple days, I think I was able to keep my ball sort of like mildly, less out of control than maybe I would have before," he added. Fred Funk had the pleasure of playing with his son Taylor in the opening two rounds and while the younger Funk didn't bring his absolute best stuff the 64-year-old produced another highlight to his impressive resume. Facing what at the time seemed a birdie or bust scenario on his final hole of the second round, the elder Funk chipped in from just off the green to become just the fourth player aged 64 or older to make the cut in a TOUR event since 1970. He joined Jack Nicklaus, Sam Snead and Tom Watson. The family celebration on the green was everything that can make this sport great and more. TOUR TOP 10 The PGA TOUR Regular Season top 10 will receive bonuses for their efforts.

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Man, it’s good to be back. That goes both with you and as it concerns our motley task force vying to take down 2016-17 champion Jonathan Wall. Not unlike your experience with fellow opponents, some of us don’t connect unless there’s action, so the Sentry Tournament of Champions couldn’t roll around soon enough. Before we dive into the headliners among the 34-man field at Kapalua, two matters of business need to be tackled. • The Puerto Rico Open has been modified to an unofficial charity event over the first weekend of March. (It will return as an official event in 2019.) Proceeds will go to the ongoing recovery due to the devastation from Hurricane Maria. It’s a terrific decision for obvious reasons, but the tournament has been removed from the choices in PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO. There are now 48 events contributing to the game in 2017-18. • Future Possibilities below has been enhanced. In addition to potential spots to burn all listed, you’ll now see my subjective ranking of those tournaments (that are still listed chronologically). This additional layer is meant only as a guide when planning long-term, but it also could help break some ties down the road. When the PGA TOUR Champions opens its 2018 season on Jan. 18-20 for the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, the dedicated section for those guys will be presented similarly. This is to say that if you’re new to that game and not as familiar with the 50-and-over circuit, it will have immediate added value. You’ll see. Shifting to the here and now, with not even three dozen pegging it on Maui where there is no cut, your only interest might be to learn why I’m not on board a usual suspect, but if you read my Power Rankings, you’ve pretty much gleaned where my allegiances lie. Cross off first-timers. The popular dots connected between Kapalua and Augusta National what with their dastardly greens run parallel to the same for first-timers. If you’re a veteran, you know to avoid the wide-eyed at the Masters and stick with experience. This week is no different. That’s because it matters. That leaves 20 options. Scanning Future Possibilities, five are accompanied with bolded mentions that the Sentry TOC should be considered. None other than defending champion Justin Thomas is tagged with the only “1” among them, but his collection of smart sites runs seven deep, so feel free to remain patient. In a vacuum, only Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama and Marc Leishman would generate the automatic selection if this tournament was slotted later in the season, but even then, the promise of slapping something significant on the board begs you to steer into a next-tier talent. This is why I’ve circled Brendan Steele. At No. 8 in the Power Rankings and with prior experience at Kapalua, including a T6 just last year, that’s enough for me. He’d be my pick for the Barracuda Championship in seven months, but he’s already eligible for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational contested concurrently (which explains why the Barracuda is omitted from his list of events in Future Possibilities). Brian Harman was the only other in the field who tempted me, but I want to keep him available for one of the next two weeks. Two-man gamers can ignore the rule against exhausting a first-timer. Give Xander Schauffele and Cameron Smith consideration as your tail of the tandem. 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). All are pending golfer commitment. Daniel Berger … Waste Management (4); Houston (3); St. Jude (1; two-time defending); Travelers (2) Kevin Chappell … Valero (1; defending); St. Jude (4); WGC-Bridgestone (2); Dell Technologies (3) Jason Dufner … CareerBuilder (5); Valspar (1); DEAN & DELUCA (2); Memorial (3; defending); U.S. Open (4); Wyndham (6); TOUR Championship (7) Rickie Fowler … Sentry (2); Waste Management (5); Honda (1; defending); Houston (4); Masters (8); Wells Fargo (7); PLAYERS (9); WGC-Bridgestone (3); THE NORTHERN TRUST (10); Dell Technologies (6) Brian Harman … Sony (2); CareerBuilder (1); Arnold Palmer (5); DEAN & DELUCA (4); John Deere (3) Russell Henley … Sony (3); Houston (1; defending); Greenbrier (2) Billy Horschel … Honda (2); Arnold Palmer (5); Valero (3); St. Jude (1); TOUR Championship (4) Dustin Johnson … Sentry (4); Pebble Beach (2); Genesis (1; defending); WGC-Mexico (6; defending); WGC-Match Play (15; defending); Houston (14); Masters (3); Memorial (11); St. Jude (7); U.S. Open (12); Canadian (9); WGC-Bridgestone (13); PGA Championship (8); Dell Technologies (10); TOUR Championship (5) Kevin Kisner … Sony (2); Heritage (3); DEAN & DELUCA (1; defending); Memorial (4); Wyndham (5) Brooks Koepka … Sentry (6); WGC-Match Play (7); St. Jude (3); U.S. Open (1; defending); Open Championship (4); WGC-Bridgestone (5); PGA Championship (2) Marc Leishman … Sony (5); Arnold Palmer (3; defending); DEAN & DELUCA (6); Memorial (4); Travelers (2); Open Championship (1) Hideki Matsuyama … Sentry (2); Waste Management (1; two-time defending); Genesis (5); Arnold Palmer (9); Masters (3); Wells Fargo (10); PLAYERS (7); Memorial (8); U.S. Open (4); WGC-Bridgestone (6; defending) Pat Perez … Sony (3); Farmers (2); Pebble Beach (1); Houston (5); Heritage (4); Valero (6) Jon Rahm … Farmers (defending) Jordan Spieth … Sentry (3); Pebble Beach (5; defending); Valspar (8); Houston (11); Masters (1); Heritage (12); DEAN & DELUCA (2); Travelers (6; defending); John Deere (7); Open Championship (9; defending); WGC-Bridgestone (10); TOUR Championship (4) Brendan Steele … CareerBuilder (3); Waste Management (1); Honda (4); Valero (5); Wells Fargo (6); Travelers (2) Justin Thomas … Sentry (1; defending); Sony (3; defending); WGC-Mexico (5); Valspar (6); Wells Fargo (7); Dell Technologies (4; defending); TOUR Championship (2)

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