He admits he is distracted. Also, more importantly, his results on the golf course aren’t there. He needs to hit the reset button. But can he?
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AUSTIN, Texas – The PGA TOUR’s biggest hitter faces a first-timer who’s almost eligible for PGA TOUR Champions. The FedExCup leader squares off with a match-play master. Some potential Presidents Cup previews and a rematch that dates back to amateur golf also are on the docket for Day 1 at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. There are 32 matches scheduled for Wednesday, but here’s five that we’re especially keen on (seedings in parentheses). GROUP 5: Scottie Scheffler, USA, (5) vs. Ian Poulter, ENG, (59), 1:38 p.m. ET. Scottie Scheffler was still a Texas guy with promise, but no PGA TOUR wins, when he went on a run at Austin Country Club a year ago. The former Longhorn made a push all the way to the final match before losing to Billy Horschel. En route to the championship match, Scheffler scored a big win against Ian Poulter, a man with a reputation as a match play ninja, in the Round of 16. Scheffler wasn’t intimidated by facing a player who’s fearsome in this format. Poulter may have eight top-10s at this event, including a win in 2010, and is known for his work in Ryder Cup Singles but Scheffler won easily, including a clutch chip-in. Scheffler was 3 up through 10 holes, but Poulter looked set for one of his trademark comebacks when he drained a 41-foot birdie putt on the 11th green. Scheffler responded by chipping in from off the green for a birdie of his own and marched on to a 5-and-4 win. Scheffler then beat Jon Rahm that afternoon, who he’d go on to beat again later that year at the Ryder Cup. Oh, and Scheffler has earned his first two PGA TOUR titles in his last four starts and sits atop the FedExCup standings. You don’t think Poulter would love a little revenge? GROUP 9: Bryson DeChambeau, USA, (9) vs. Richard Bland, England, (54), 2:44 p.m. ET Because of a persistent wrist injury, we haven’t seen Bryson DeChambeau since he missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open back in January. He had to sit out his title defense at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and THE PLAYERS, but is set to return at Austin Country Club. The questions surrounding DeChambeau are plenty. Just how fit is he? Can he rein in his distance on the tricky, tight front nine? And can he overcome a poor record (2-3-1) at Austin Country Club in this event, where he has fallen to the likes of Antoine Rozner and Kiradech Aphibarnrat in the past. His next opponent is Bland, who made a great run at the U.S. Open last year at Torrey Pines. He finds his place in the field mainly through last year’s British Masters victory, which was his first DP World Tour win in his 478th start, but his run didn’t stop there. The Englishman has five other top-five finishes on that tour since, including a runner-up at the Dubai Desert Classic, and will fancy himself against a rusty DeChambeau despite being closer to PGA TOUR Champions eligibility than he will be to some of the American’s drives. GROUP 6: Kevin Kisner, USA, (29) vs. Marc Leishman, Australia, (37), 10:53 a.m. ET Here is a matchup you might think to overlook but, you’d be missing out if you did. Kisner, the 2018 runner-up and 2019 champion of this event is still smarting after missing out on the 2019 Presidents Cup and 2021 Ryder Cup squads despite showing his skills in this format. Now he gets to present his prowess against a player who will undoubtedly be part of Trevor Immelman’s International Team for the 2022 Presidents Cup set for Quail Hollow latter this year. Kisner did represent the U.S. in the 2017 Presidents Cup, and Leishman will remember that appearance. Leishman, with countryman Jason Day, faced off against Kisner and Phil Mickelson over the opening two days. After a halve in Thursday’s Foursomes, their Four-ball match came down to the 18th hole. Mickelson made a midrange birdie before producing a “Three Amigos” celebration dance with Kisner. What is not lost on six-time TOUR winner Leishman is that this came before he had a chance to tie the match with a putt of his own. When he failed to convert his putt, it left a sour taste that no doubt remains today. GROUP 7: Xander Schauffele, USA, (7) vs. Takumi Kanaya, Japan, (56), 12:10 p.m. ET The Olympic gold medalist from the Tokyo Games faces the next star from Japan. Kanaya represents Japan’s best hope now that Hideki Matsuyama is sitting out this week because of a balky back before his Masters defense. This match could help Kanaya in his Presidents Cup candidacy, as well. Kanaya, 23, already is a three-time winner on the Japan Tour and once was the world’s top-ranked amateur. Schauffele has had the chance to burst out of the group stage three times at Austin Country Club but fallen short at the final hurdle each time. Last year, he lost in a sudden-death playoff for the opportunity to advance to the Round of 16. He’s burning to atone. GROUP 2: Collin Morikawa, USA, (2) vs. Robert MacIntyre, Scotland, (61), 12:54 p.m. ET One of the surprises a year ago was Robert MacIntyre getting through to the Round of 16 after collecting just one win in Group 1. The plucky young Scot, now 25, found his way out of the same group as then-world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, Kevin Na and Adam Long despite only beating Long. Ties against Johnson and Na ended up being enough after upset results in other matches. MacIntyre was bounced by Victor Perez in the knockout stage. Now he gets the chance to face Morikawa, the world’s second-ranked player, in a group that also has Sergio Garcia and Jason Kokrak. Morikawa failed to win a match in his tournament debut last season, settling for a halve with J.T. Poston but losing to Max Homa and Billy Horschel in group play. Morikawa has seen MacIntyre before. While they didn’t go head-to-head, both were part of the 2017 Walker Cup where Morikawa’s U.S. team won handsomely over MacIntyre’s Great Britain and Ireland squad. That 2017 U.S. team also featured Scheffler, Cameron Champ, Will Zalatoris, Maverick McNealy, Doc Redman and Doug Ghim. The U.S. rolled, 19-7, at Los Angeles Country Club, site of next year’s U.S. Open. Before a missed cut at THE PLAYERS and T68 last week at Valspar, Morikawa was showing some improved putting to roll to five straight top-10s, including two runers-up. Can Morikawa match up his stellar approach game with his short game as the Masters looms? If so, he could be dangerous here. MacIntyre could prove to be a tougher opponent than paper would indicate, however.
When Justin Rose captured the FedExCup in 2018, he became the first champion without a victory in the same Playoffs. That possibility no longer exists with the revised format of the TOUR Championship. The winner of this week’s TOUR Championship is the FedExCup champion. It’s that simple. What requires a moment to understand is why all 30 in the field aren’t starting the tournament at even par like usual. So, scroll past the ranking for an explanation on the format, other wrinkles of the tournament and more. NOTE: This full-field Power Rankings includes starting score for every golfer in the field. POWER RANKINGS: TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP The 13th TOUR Championship of the FedExCup era is unlike every other. The FedExCup Starting Strokes scoring system segregates the field by FedExCup ranking upon arrival. As the top seed, BMW Championship winner Justin Thomas begins the 72-hole competition at East Lake at 10-under. Patrick Cantlay, the 2-seed, opens at 8-under. The cascade effect continues all the way down to those seeded 26-30, who start traditionally at even par. While there likely will be curiosity for who actually scores best, the starting leaderboard will reflect official position. If it helps understand it at first, think of the opening round as if at least one round was already played and you’re viewing the continuation of the same tournament. There is no cut, so all qualifiers are guaranteed 72 holes. The winner of the TOUR Championship will be credited with an official victory, but the earnings will be bonus in nature only. The champ will receive $15 million, the runner-up $5 million, and so on down to $395,000 for 30th place. So, there is no stand-alone purse with official money for the field. The BMW represented the last tournament of the 2018-19 season with official earnings. The FedExCup Starting Strokes scoring system could be responsible for the end of a nine-year drought during which the top seed entering the TOUR Championship has failed to win the FedExCup. Five of the last six FedExCup champions arrived as the 2-seed, including defending champ Justin Rose. No golfer ever has won consecutive FedExCups. Only Tiger Woods (2007, 2009) has captured multiple titles. This year’s field is populated by seven golfers who started the three-event Playoffs outside the top 30 in FedExCup points. The lowest opening seed to qualify is Abraham Ancer. He started THE NORTHERN TRUST seeded 67th and parlayed it with a runner-up finish at Liberty National into debuts in the TOUR Championship and the Presidents Cup. Ancer, who is now seeded 10th, also is one of four PGA TOUR non-winners in the field. Tommy Fleetwood (22nd), rookie Sungjae Im (24th) and Jason Kokrak (30th) are the others. The highest opening seed who failed to advance to East Lake was Shane Lowry. He started 20th and finished 33rd after going a respective T52-T48 in the first two events. He withdrew early from a pair of commitments late in the regular season, but, and of course, his consolation prize is the claret jug. Not too shabby. After two weeks of tackling migrating host tracks, the field lands at the only site used for the TOUR Championship in Playoffs history. All but four – Ancer, Im, Kokrak and Corey Conners – have pegged it at the consistently firm and fair test of East Lake in Atlanta. The stock par 70 tips at 7,346 yards. This is the fourth year since the nines were reversed so that the tournament concludes on a par 5 instead of a par 3. Last year’s field averaged 69.617, which hit the bull’s-eye of the expectation when you consider the setup and the quality of the competition. As the longest of the par 70s in non-majors, smashing drivers is encouraged and capitalizing on the pair of par 5s is all but a prerequisite to contend. While always vulnerable, Nos. 5 and 18 surrendered a scoring average of just 4.43 last year. That’s lowest in the FedExCup era since the inaugural of 2007 and fourth-easiest of 51 courses last season. With FedExCup Starting Strokes now in play, the premium of converting eagles and birdies on the eight times through these holes is more valuable than ever. Overall, like all worthy courses, the test toughens nearer the green. Hitting the averaged-sized greens in regulation 11 or 12 times per round is keeping up with the joneses even in the tiniest field of the season. Putting on what might be the fastest surfaces groomed by the PGA TOUR multiplies the challenge. The MiniVerde bermudagrass greens could roll up to 13 feet on the Stimpmeter. That said, top speeds are unlikely with the persistent threat and likely reality of rain throughout the week. As a result, scoring will favor the aggressive, which only will make it more difficult for those starting at the bottom of the leaderboard to gain ground. Warm and humid air won’t be impacted much by light winds, either. In addition to the richest prize in the history of the PGA TOUR, the FedExCup champion also will receive a three-year membership exemption. By qualifying for the tournament, all 30 in the field are exempt into the Masters, the U.S. Open and The Open Championship, as well as the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions and WGC-Mexico Championship next season. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Rookie Ranking, Reshuffle, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Fantasy Insider WEDNESDAY: One & Done * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.
