Sources: Tiger-Phil set for turkey day weekend

With the Power Rankings for the TOUR Championship slotting all 30 qualifiers in pursuit of the 14th FedExCup title, this weekly Fantasy Insider column is predictably abridged. But that's not to say that it's without valuable and timely information. After all, the 2020-21 season begins in nine sleeps with the Safeway Open on Thursday, Sept. 9. First, the bad news. I will not be writing a full-membership fantasy ranking. Given that membership isn't turning over and with only two days in between seasons, the energy and focus is devoted elsewhere. Ever since the wraparound season was introduced in 2013, I've joked that it's stressed fantasy planning due to tight scheduling, but this year's squeeze is unprecedented. In place of the ranking will be a season primer that will read a lot like the customary introduction to the annual ranking. It'll be an evergreen guide. More on its timing below. RELATED: Power Rankings | Expert Picks | Eight things to know about East Lake While membership isn't changing, there is movement in the ranks. The next update to the Korn Ferry Tour graduate reshuffle page will list the opening order of the golfers who didn't qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs and who don't have status via a victory. Because there are no KFT grads in 2020-21, the title of the page will change. That'll be your cue for what's new if you don't already look at the date at the top. Medical Extensions will be updated at the same time as the Reshuffle. Plan on both being ready by Monday. Qualifiers will remain as fluid as it's ever been as the governing bodies around the world continue to adapt to the pandemic and how it influences their schedules. If you draft with an emphasis on who is exempt into the events included on that page, plan on no worse than the baseline constructs of how those fields have been assembled in recent memory. Anything unusual will be considered a bonus. The Rookie Ranking will be taking on a different form in 2020-21. Because there won't be any rookies to start the season, there won't be anything to rank. However, in due time, non-members will begin totaling the equivalent of FedExCup points in pursuit of Special Temporary Membership. (The target remains 288.035 points. That's a holdover from the 2018-19 season because 2019-20 was compressed.) Non-members will include the top 10 in Korn Ferry Tour points at the conclusion of the KFT Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance as they will have exemptions into all additional events in 2020-21. All three-time winners on the combined 2020-21 KFT season also will earn an automatic promotion to the PGA TOUR and could qualify as a rookie. With so many moving parts, Rookie Ranking will demand attention, just in a different way. With the Monday finish of the TOUR Championship, my preview material for the Safeway Open will slide back a day. So, the Power Rankings will publish on Tuesday, as will the season primer referenced above. Sleepers, Expert Picks and the Fantasy Insider will publish on Wednesday. We'll return to the regular schedule in advance of the U.S. Open the following week. Speaking of primers, this is a great time to reacquaint yourself with the fantasy primer for the restart of this season. It published in early June, but it can serve as a bridge into next week's primer and should help with some direction for draft leaguers. Before all of that, of course, there's the little matter of settling fantasy league championships at East Lake. Round scoring in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf isn't influenced by the staggered start of the TOUR Championship, but the bonus points earned will be based on actual finish in the tournament, not by actual score over 72 holes. As I reminded gamers in this space two weeks ago and as the old One & Done determined values for the 2019 TOUR Championship, because no FedExCup points are up for grabs in the finale, bonus points in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf will follow the same breakdown used at THE NORTHERN TRUST and the BMW Championship. So, the winner will yield 150 bonus points as a starter for his owners in the final round. PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf My roster for the TOUR Championship (in alphabetical order): Bryson DeChambeau Dustin Johnson Jon Rahm Xander Schauffele Webb Simpson Justin Thomas You'll find my starters in Expert Picks. Others to consider for each category (in alphabetical order): Scoring: Daniel Berger; Tony Finau; Tyrrell Hatton; Scottie Scheffler Driving: Daniel Berger; Tyrrell Hatton; Hideki Matsuyama; Collin Morikawa; Scottie Scheffler RETURNING TO COMPETITION Martin Laird ... Scheduled to tee it up at the Korn Ferry Tour's Lincoln Land Championship presented by LRS. He was among the internationals who didn't return to the PGA TOUR this summer. Finished 182nd in the FedExCup, but he'll keep his fully exempt status due to the eligibility adjustments announced during the hiatus. Kelly Kraft ... Also committed to the KFT event in Springfield, Illinois. This constitutes his first sanctioned start since he underwent surgery on his left hip (labrum, impingement) on Sept. 26, 2019. When he returns to the PGA TOUR, he'll have a Major Medical Extension with a full season's slate of 23 starts. NOTABLE WDs None. POWER RANKINGS RECAP - BMW CHAMPIONSHIP Power Ranking Golfer Result 1 Dustin Johnson P2 2 Webb Simpson DNP 3 Justin Thomas T25 4 Jon Rahm Win 5 Bryson DeChambeau 50th 6 Daniel Berger T25 7 Collin Morikawa T20 8 Kevin Kisner T25 9 Harris English T40 10 Scottie Scheffler T20 11 Alex Noren T40 12 Xander Schauffele T25 13 Tony Finau 5th 14 Louis Oosthuizen T25 15 Jason Day 64th 16 Viktor Hovland T40 17 Hideki Matsuyama T3 18 Matt Kuchar T59 19 Russell Henley T25 20 Ryan Palmer T40 Wild Card Rory McIlroy T12 SLEEPERS RECAP - BMW CHAMPIONSHIP Golfer Result Corey Conners T33 Matthew Fitzpatrick T6 Mackenzie Hughes T10 Mark Hubbard T51 Matthew Wolff T16 BIRTHDAYS AMONG ACTIVE GOLFERS ON THE PGA TOUR September 1 ... Matthew Fitzpatrick (26) September 2 ... none September 3 ... none September 4 ... none September 5 ... none September 6 ... Brice Garnett (37) September 7 ... none September 8 ... none

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Kuala Lumpur – American golf star Justin Thomas headlines the US $7 million CIMB Classic on Thursday, looking to become the first golfer to win the tournament three times at a venue which he holds the lowest scoring average. Thomas, the 2017 FedExCup champion, won his first two PGA TOUR titles at TPC Kuala Lumpur’s West course in 2015 and 2016 before finishing T17 last year as he watched Pat Perez triumph by four shots. Coming off another strong campaign in the recently concluded 2017-18 PGA TOUR Season where he won three times, the 25-year-old is aiming to launch his 2018-19 campaign off on a winning note on the West course, which recently underwent a renovation programme, where he is a staggering 60 under par over 12 rounds. “It’s just a place that I’ve obviously played well. I’m comfortable. I think being a little bit of a longer hitter you have an advantage, but I mean, the fact of the matter is that I’ve just played well the years I played here.  I think my wedge game is a strong suit of mine and you have a lot of wedges out here, so I’ve been able to take advantage of that,â€� said Thomas. Now a nine-time PGA TOUR winner, a major champion and even a World No. 1 for a brief period in May, Thomas looked back at how the early wins in Malaysia provided the launchpad to his blossoming career. “This is always going to be a special place to me. This is always going to be the place I got my first PGA TOUR victory and that’s very, very special. Every time I look at that trophy in my office at home, it brings back a lot of great memories, anytime I see videos or clips of it.  It was a very instrumental part of my career, for sureâ€� said the world No. 4. “Anytime you win three times in a season, it’s still a pretty good season. Obviously not winning a major was a big difference and not winning the FedExCup, but I played plenty well enough last season to win the same amount of times. You know, when you win that many times in a year, you have a lot of things go your way.â€�  While Thomas will be shooting for a hat-trick at the CIMB Classic, which is the only PGA TOUR tournament in Southeast Asia and the first of three PGA TOUR tournaments in Asia this month, title holder Perez will be hoping to maintain a trend of winners winning in back-to-back years. American Ryan Moore won the CIMB Classic in 2013 and 2014 before Thomas enjoyed his double here in 2015 and 2016. “I love coming here, my caddy loves coming here. We’ve had fun ever since the first time we came a lot of years ago. I love this course, I love the greens. I love the greens at Mayakoba, they’re the exact same and I’ve won both of them. So I get confident with the putter, it’s a big thing for me,â€� said Perez. “I think over the last five years this tournament has really become one where the fields have gotten better and better. I think guys are excited to come over here. I’m not surprised that the strength of field is getting better. We’ve got a great sponsor in CIMB and unbelievable tournament host, Todd Rhinehart (PGA TOUR Vice President and Executive Director), so I’m not surprised.â€� Horschel, the 2014 FedExCup Champion, arrived for the CIMB Classic in top form after finishing fifth in the 2017-18 FedExCup final standings following a runner-up outing in the TOUR Championship, the season finale. It culminated a strong season for Horschel, who finished T3 in two other FedExCup Playoff events. A five-time PGA TOUR winner, Horschel will play in his third CIMB Classic following appearances in 2013 and 2014 where he finished T11 and T37 respectively. “I haven’t been back in about four years, so the course I knew had always played really a lot of low scores.  To see the golf course with the new Bermuda grass, the course is in unbelievable shape.  It’s going to play a lot tougher. It’s going to be a great test of golf,â€� Horschel said. India’s Anirban Lahiri, the last man to get into the elite field on Sunday, is hoping to contend once again in the CIMB Classic. He finished T10 and T3 in the last two years here and also won the Malaysian Open on the West course in 2015. “I’m quite relieved actually,â€� said Lahiri, now an established PGA TOUR member. “I’m going to familiar territory, I play well here, I know what to do, I know the golf course, the weather, how far the ball’s going to go, pin positions.â€� Already a two-time International team member, Lahiri is keen ensure he makes the Presidents Cup again for December, 2019 under the captaincy of Ernie Els who is also in the CIMB Classic field. “I know how badly he wants us to win the Cup back. It rubs off on all of us. Any Presidents Cup is special, but this time we’re going to be playing on home ground, on home turf rather, and I think it’s going to be different. It’s very, very important.â€� Other stars competing in the CIMB Classic include Europe’s Ryder Cup star Paul Casey, last week’s winner Kevin Tway, World Golf Hall of Famers, Davis Love III and Ernie Els, Brand Snedeker, Xander Schauffele and Keegan Bradley, last year’s runner-up here. The CIMB Classic will celebrate its ninth edition this year, and is the second tournament of the new 2018-19 PGA TOUR Season. The PGA TOUR-sanctioned CIMB Classic features a limited field of 78 players comprising of the top 60 available players from the 2017-18 FedExCup points list, eight sponsor exemptions and the top-10 available players from the Asian Tour.

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Dustin Johnson made a few alterations to his equipment setup ahead of the 2019 WGC-Mexico Championship after winning in Saudi Arabia earlier this month. He switched from a TaylorMade M6 driver to an M5 driver, he opted for a TaylorMade P-790 3-iron instead of a P-790 UDI 2-iron, and he changed his wedge setup. Johnson used 54- and 60-degree TaylorMade Hi-Toe wedges in Saudi Arabia, but in Mexico he used 52- and 60-degree TaylorMade Milled Grind wedges, and he added in a 64-degree Hi-Toe wedge. Driver: TaylorMade M5 (10.5 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Speeder 661 Evolution 2.0 Tour Spec X-Flex Fairway Wood: TaylorMade M5 Titanium (15 degrees) Shaft: Project X HZRDUS 95 grams 6.5-flex Irons: TaylorMade P-790 (3-iron), TaylorMade DJ Proto (4-PW) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 Wedges: TaylorMade Milled Grind (52 and 60 degrees), TaylorMade Hi-Toe (64 degrees) Shafts: KBS Tour 120S Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour Black Grip: SuperStroke Pistol GT 1.0 Golf Ball: TaylorMade 2019 TP5x (No. 1)

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