Style Insider: Southern Tide becomes official style sponsor of the RBC Heritage

Here are nine tidbits from the opening round of The RSM Classic that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Be looking for the Emergency 9 shortly after the close of play of each round of the tournament. Change in Course: Yesterday, 22 of the top 27 players posted their rounds on the par-72 Plantation course. With similar weather conditions on the cards Friday, I thought those playing Plantation would have the advantage again. Wrongo. Of the eight lowest rounds of the day, seven were carded on the par-70 Seaside course. The winning scores the last two years have been 22-under-par and 17-under-par, so there are still birdies to be made on the weekend. What’s Cookin’?: Veteran gamers will remember the summer of 2015 when Austin Cook burst on the scene. He racked up five T22 or better finishes in his first six events, which included a T11 and a pair of top 10’s. Flash forward two years and he’s posted two top 25’s in three starts in the new season playing from the Web.com priority list. His bogey-free 62 on Seaside was the best of the day. Add that to his bogey-free 66 on Plantation yesterday, and he’s our leader by one. Hey, Bud. What’s your problem? No problem at all! After an even-par round at Plantation yesterday, Bud Cauley jumped right back into the tournament by signing for 63 on Seaside, moving him up a whopping 83 places (T12). The first two years Cauley played here he finished T15 (2011) and T20 (2012) but the last two years he’s MC. He’s already posted a top 10 (T7, Safeway Open) in three events this year. Hubba Hubba, Bubba: Bubba Watson, coming off his worst season since his rookie year of 2006, made his season debut this week. I guess gamers love a famous name as almost THIRTY percent of you made Watson the sixth-most selected player in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO game. After shooting a 71 at Plantation yesterday, he repaid your faith with 64 on Friday that included 23 putts and a double bogey. He moved up 61 places and sits T12 entering the weekend. Welcome back, Brandt: The last time we saw Brandt Snedeker in tournament action he was firing a final round 64 at TPC River Highlands (T14). His sternum injury caused him to miss time and eventually change his swing. The change is working as he hit all 14 fairways on Thursday and nine of 14 on Friday. A pair of 67’s positions him inside the top 10 at T6. OAD Crash and Burn: Charles Howell III was the most popular selection in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO. His percentage was almost DOUBLE of second choice Kevin Kisner. With three holes remaining, he sat three-under on the day and one shot above the cut line (-4). After a double on No. 16 and a bogey on No. 17, he was two shots underwater. Brutal result for gamers as Howell had never MC in seven previous trips. OAD Crash and Burn II: PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO gamers saw the fourth-most selected player, Ollie Schniederjans, fall short as well. There are two schools of thoughts in OAD that will always push and pull gamers. With only 48 tournaments, there’s no need to select players off the radar. Just play the chalk! Others suggest fortune favors the bold and stealing top 10’s throughout the year with outliers is the key to victory. Chose wisely, my friends. Blame me for Jamie? Nope, but you’re welcome for Howell! Turn your furor to Rob Bolton as Lovemark was his choice in the experts One & Done. After a win with Patrick Cantlay at Shriners, I have thrown out Kevin Chappell (MC) at Mayakoba and Howell (MC) this week. I’m not expecting the phone to ring from that group anytime soon! Fantasy Golf is hard, Part 1,293,399: Si Woo Kim (MC) was third last week at Mayakoba and didn’t break par in two chances this week…Patrick Rodgers (MC) gave it a sniff last week and returned to a course where he was T10 last year…Mac Hughes had a baby, changed his name and was defending for the first time. That’s a full plate, and his MC is not surprising…After my terrible suggestion of lining up Brandon Harkins for Friday, move cautiously with my next suggestion. Kevin Streelman is bogey free through 36 holes and finished T6 in 2011. He’s played 10 rounds on Seaside and four of them are 66 or 67. Good luck!

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FORT WORTH, Texas – Since Phil Mickelson’s last appearance at Colonial in 2010, he has: • Received induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame. • Won five tournaments, including the fifth major of his career. • Came close to shooting 59, his birdie bid on the final hole at TPC Scottsdale lipping out. • Played on three winning Presidents Cup teams and had an influential hand in Ryder Cup changes that led to a U.S. win last fall. • Changed swing coaches. • Dealt with health concerns, including arthritis and two sports hernia surgeries. However, on Wednesday as Mickelson reoriented himself with Colonial, he wasn’t exactly focused on the changes in his life but the changes on a course in which he’s won twice. “It still always kind of surprises me,â€� Mickelson said after his pro-am round. “Like, no bunker on 13 caught me off guard. Like, wow, I thought there was a bunker behind the green. “Or the bunker on 14 used to be on the right side of the hole. Now it’s on the left. I guess it’s been that way for seven years. I just haven’t really picked up on it.â€� Mickelson said there was “no real specific reasonâ€� for adding the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational back to his playing schedule this year. Considering he’s a two-time winner of this event but has gone four years since his last PGA TOUR win (the 2013 Open Championship), his return to a place with winning vibes needs little explanation. In 2010 when Mickelson last played here, he ranked sixth on the PGA TOUR in driving distance with a 300.4-yard average. This week, he comes in ranked 65th on TOUR with a 293.8-yard average. Of course, he remains one of the TOUR’s most creative players. A few years ago, Mickelson said Colonial’s course redesign in 2009 no longer gave him a power advantage, and thus he took it off his schedule. Does he think Colonial is a better fit for his game now? “Hard to say,â€� Mickelson responded. “I think if you’re playing well, you can play just about any golf course. “The thing about Colonial is that you can’t overpower Colonial. There are only two par 5s. There are no given birdie holes. “But you can be rewarded. You can birdie just about every hole if you hit a good shot, so there’s a lot of reward for well-struck shots here. I think that’s my favorite thing about this course is that very rarely is a well-struck shot penalized.â€� The first time Mickelson won at Colonial was in 2000. He shot a final-round 7-under 63, which ties for the lowest final-round by the eventual winner. A year later, he was victimized by Sergio Garcia’s final-round 63, losing by two strokes. In 2008, Mickelson won again, hitting a memorable wedge shot out of the trees on the 18th hole to set up his clinching birdie. As his ball rolled into the cup, a jubilant fan dove into Crampton’s Lake next to the green. The next year – the first year of the course redesign — Mickelson was unable to defend his title. His wife Amy had been diagnosed with breast cancer earlier that month and Phil immediately suspended his playing schedule. When he returned in 2010, he shot 71-73 and failed to make the cut. His memories of the course focus on his successful rounds here. “I still remember the course prior to it going under some renovation,â€� he said. On Wednesday, he began plotting out a game plan. With wind gusts to 30 mph this week, and potential rain on the weekend, he isn’t sure how aggressive he’ll be. “That’s kind of a momentary … answer, because I think it changes,â€� he said. “I think it changes with the wind, with the pin position each hole. I think it changes with how you feel, what you feel more comfortable with off the tee. “I think that you have to attack this golf course to win. I think the years that I won, I ended up shooting low scores at some point. I know I shot 63 the first time I won it. “You have to kind of get after this course and make birdies, but you also have to kind of pick and choose when to get aggressive.â€� After choosing to return to Colonial this week, he hopes to reignite some of his past glory. A lot has happened since his last visit, but like a reunion of old friends, Mickelson hopes this week’s experience will be fun and memorable.

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Rickie Fowler failed to finish high enough at the Memorial Tournament on Sunday to earn a place in the June 17-20 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, so he will be one of among 120 players at a 36-hole final qualifying event Monday.

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